CEO shake-up at Google: Page replaces Schmidt

From left (Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin)

(Credit:Google)

Google shook up its ruling triumvirate today, announcing that CEO Eric Schmidt would be taking the role of executive chairman, while co-founder Larry Page will become CEO. Sergey Brin, who has also shared power with the two others, will work on"strategic projects,"Google said.

Schmidt, who washired by the co-founders to be Google's CEO in 2001, will focus on external partnerships and business deals starting on April 4, when Page will take over the day-to-day management role.Schmidt said in a blog postthat Page,"in my clear opinion, is ready to lead."

On a conference call originally scheduled to discuss Google's fourth-quarter results, Schmidt said"I'm going to get a chance to work on the things I'm most interested in,"which will include talking to customers, partners, and the government regulators breathing down his company's neck.

Page, 37, will actually become Google's third CEO, though heheld the role during the first few yearsof the company's efforts. He'll be tasked with making sure Google toes the line internally and said several times during the call that he's excited to lead Google at a time when computing is still a relatively new way of life for many people.

Brin will continue to focus on technology products, assuming the title of co-founder, as opposed to his current role of president of technology."He's an innovator and entrepreneur to the core, and this role suits him perfectly,"Schmidt wrote in his post.

Brin is currently working on several new products that he didn't want to discuss, citing criticism that Google has been prone to launching"vaporware"in the past: Google Wave comes most prominently to mind. Schmidt deferred a question about Google's social strategy to Brin, suggesting that social technologies make up one big area of his focus.

The shake-up comes at a time when Google's search dominance is unquestioned, and its efforts to expand its business into display advertising and mobile technologies has given it a few more sources of funding for its dreams. However, the company has struggled to confront a new way of obtaining information on the Web--that curated by your friends in social networks--and also must deal with the wandering eyes of several Googlers wondering where the next big stock market payout can be found in Silicon Valley.

Departing employees have also complained that as Google has grown--now with 24,400 employees--it has gotten harder and harder for good ideas to make it up the corporate ladder. Schmidt alluded to that in his statement, suggesting that Google is hoping to become a bit more nimble.

"As Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey, and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making--and over the holidays, we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured,"Schmidt wrote in his post.

In announcing fourth-quarter earnings results alongside the management news, Google said revenue minus traffic acquisition costs amounted to $6.37 billion, ahead of analyst estimates. Net income for the quarter was $2.54 billion, or $2.85 billion, excluding onetime charges. Analysts were expecting earnings per share, excluding charges of $8.09, and they got $8.75 from Google.

Investors seemed pleased with the numbers, and they didn't seem freaked out enough by the management shake-up to react in after-hours trading. Google's stock rose $14.63, or 2.33 percent, in trading, after the bell after closing down for the day.

Google management over the years
JANUARY 1996	Two Stanford University Ph.D. students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, begin to collaborate on a search engine using a newly devised algorithm called PageRank. They originally call the search engine BackRub, but the following year change its name to Google.
JANUARY 1998	Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim becomes Google's first investor, offering $100,000 to Page and Brin even though Google has not even been registered as a company and the domain name google.com was registered just months earlier.
SEPTEMBER 1998	Google files for incorporation in California. Larry Page serves as CEO; Sergey Brin as president and chairman of the board.
SEPTEMBER 1998	Housed in Page and Brin's friend Susan Wojcicki's garage in Menlo Park, Calif., Google hires another Stanford Ph.D student, Craig Silverstein, as its first employee. To this day Silverstein retains the title"Director of Technology"at Google, though he has relocated to its New York office.
JUNE 1999	Google announces a $25 million funding round from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, whose respective partners Michael Moritz and John Doerr join Google's board of directors.
NOVEMBER 1999	Google hires Charlie Ayers, a former caterer to the Grateful Dead, as its first chef, after he wins the job in a cook-off judged by Google's 40 employees.
JUNE 2000	Portal pioneer Yahooselects Google as the provider for its search engine technology, ditching Inktomi in the process.
MARCH 2001	Google names Eric Schmidt, on the cusp of leaving his post as chairman and CEO of Novell, to be the chairman of its board of directors. He replaces Brin, who remains president of the company. It's a crucial time in Google's short history as the tech bubble has just burst.
AUGUST 2001	Schmidt is named CEO of Google, leaving his post at Novell, where he had been chairman and CEO since 1997. Page steps down as CEO and takes on the title"president of product"; Brin becomes"president of technology."
JUNE 2004	Eric Schmidt is named to a four-year term on the board of trustees at his alma mater, Princeton University. A year later, Princeton president Shirley M. Tilghman is named to Google's board of directors.
AUGUST 2004	Google goes public with an opening price of $85 per sharein a rare auction-style IPO.
SEPTEMBER 2005	Google hires Vinton Cerf, widely considered a"father of the Internet,"as vice president and chief Internet evangelist.
FEBRUARY 2006	Google hires Dr. Larry Brilliantas the executive director ofGoogle.org, its philanthropic arm.
AUGUST 2006	In what will prove to be a fateful move, Eric Schmidt joins Apple's board of directors.
OCTOBER 2006	Google makes its first billion-dollar acquisition when it purchases YouTube for $1.6 billion, a price tag that Eric Schmidtlater admits was overvalued.
APRIL 2007	Google plans to make its biggest acquisition yet, the $3.1 billion purchase of ad firm DoubleClick. The FTC puts up some red tape.
OCTOBER 2007	Google share pricessoar past $700 for the first timeon Oct. 31.
MARCH 2008	Google's acquisition of DoubleClick is complete.
OCTOBER 2008	Googlebacks out of a proposed agreement to supply Yahoo with search advertisementsdue to regulator scrutiny.
NOVEMBER 2008	Amid rumors that Eric Schmidt, a prominent supporter of Barack Obama, may be at the top of the president-elect's list of potential chief technology officers,the Google CEO says that he prefers to stay where he is.
APRIL 2009	Schmidt takes a spot on thePresident's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology(PCAST).
AUGUST 2009	Few are surprised whenSchmidt announces his resignation from Apple's board of directors. Conflicts of interest between the two companies have been escalating for months.
DECEMBER 2010	Google is reported to be mulling an acquisition even bigger than YouTube and DoubleClick, offering as much as $6 billion for online deals-broker Groupon.Groupon turns it down and reportedly plans an IPO of its own instead.
JANUARY 2011	Eric Schmidt announces in Google's 2010 fourth-quarter earnings call that he is handing over the CEO title at Google to co-founder Page. He will remain chairman of the board.
Source: CNET research

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Paging Larry: Google's new CEO has lots to do

Google's Larry Page (right) has plenty of work now that Google's ruling trio of Eric Schmidt (left) and Sergey Brin has changed.

(Credit:Joi Ito/Flickr)

Back in 2001, Larry Page wasn't ready to lead Google's 200 employees. Ten years later, with 24,400 employees, Page takes control of a much more complex operation, and both still have much to prove.

Ready or not, it's Page's company now,following news that former CEO Eric Schmidtwould be moving up and out of the way to assume a traveling statesman role as Google's public face. Page's longtime partner Sergey Brin will focus more on product and technology direction while Page assumes control of Google's overall strategy and financial performance, which is a similar working relationship the two enjoyed before Schmidt came on the scene.

For all who levy the one-trick pony accusation at Google these days, back then that's exactly what is was. Now not only does Page have to make sure that Google stays atop the search world, he needs to figure out a way to make Google relevant in social media, oversee a burgeoning mobile software platform, nurture an enterprise-software sales and support group, and figure out a way to keep Google's best employees from departing for Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and the other darlings of the start-up world. Oh, and the government is watching.

Page is easily the shyest member of Google's Big Three, and with his elevation arguably becomes the most socially awkward CEO of any of the ruling powers of Silicon Valley. His performanceon stage at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Showwas awkward even by geek standards, as Page's monotone delivery and handheld paper notes lulled the Vegas crowd to sleep.

But he is not one to be underestimated; the engineer who created PageRank with a keen mind for strategic concerns and a sense of what people want from Google. For example, he bootstrapped the Google Street View projectby driving around Palo Alto, Calif., with a video recorderhanging out the side of hiscar.

He famously wrote in theletter accompanying Google's 2004 initial public offeringthat"Google is not a conventional company. Eric, Sergey and I intend to operate Google differently, applying the values it has developed as a private company to its future as a public company."Now that that ruling troika has changed, what's next for Page?

Perhaps the most immediate change is that Page now holds the legal responsibilities of a CEO, responsible for Google's financial statements and accountable to the demands of any legal actions in which Google is involved. Like most companies its size, that's quite a few, and staying on top of all those considerations will sap a lot of time from Page's schedule.

The aforementioned 2004 letter was inspired by Warren Buffett's approach to management, and if Page adopts many of the Oracle of Omaha's tactics, he'll probably be all right. Yet while Google is far from broken as a financial and technical machine, Page's biggest challenge is the longer-term problems facing Google.

As notedin our 2011 resolutions for Google, in addition to the social-media concerns, it needs to successfully confront government regulators and ramp up its game in consumer software to match the Apples of the world. IfSchmidt is free to concentrate on Google's externalopportunities and threats, Page and Brin can tag-team Google's strategic and execution problems when it comes to product development.

Page also needs to figure out a way to make Google a more nimble decision-maker and more attractive place for those with entrepreneurial leanings. Google has experimented with alternative management structures that created autonomous teams, as it has did with the Google Wave team (perhaps not the best examplefrom Google's point of view).

However, there's just no getting around the fact that young, talented engineers looking to make a score before they settle down aren't as attracted to working for Google has they once were five years ago, when Google was the place to be. While life at Google has hardly turned into sweatshop labor, there are alternatives to its particular brand of engineering playgrounds filled with gourmet food and volleyball courts.

Is Page merely a placeholder CEO, keeping the chair warm until another adult can be brought in to supervise? It's certainly hard to imagine Google adding an external CEO at this point in its career, but an additional challenge for Page will now besuccession planning and executive retention. For when the CEO is only 38, the experienced senior vice presidents who are invaluable when it comes to running the company can do the math and calculate whether their careers would be better served elsewhere.

In any event, it's his company now. When Page wrote that 2004 letter, he envisioned working as one leg of a stool alongside Schmidt and Brin for a long time. While Schmidt isn't exactly leaving, he is putting an outsized amount of responsibility on the back of a brilliant engineer who hasn't run a company in 10 years.

It's up to Page to prove that he's ready for the challenge of running one of America's most important and most targeted organizations. Google might wait a while beforebooking him on the Stephen Colbert show.

See also:
•Schmidt: 'Adult supervision' at Google no longer needed
•CEO shake-up at Google: Page replaces Schmidt
•Eric Schmidt's letter on stepping down as CEO

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More consolidation among major music labels?

Warner Music Group is reportedly entertaining acquisition offers even as the third-largest record company continues to pursue its own acquisition of troubled rival label EMI.

The New York Timesreported that after being approached by buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Warner Music hired Goldman Sachs to seek out buyers. Instead of selling to KKR, Warner's management wanted to see what kind of price it could get on the open market.

Warner Music is home to such artists as Green Day, Faith Hills and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. According to the Times' story, Warner's private-equity investors want Warner to either place bet big on music by buying EMI, the smallest of the four major labels or"cash out."

Terra Firm, the company that acquired EMI in 2007, could default on it's loan from Citigroup and soon be forced to turn over control of EMI. The Internet age has not been kind to the top labels. Overall U.S. music sales shrank last year more than 2 percent while digital sales grew by only 1 percent according to Nielsen SoundScan. Sales have shrunk four consecutive years and many in the music industry have placed much of the blame on illegal file sharing.

Virgin Mega Store closed its stores in the United States nearly two years ago.

(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)

While many skeptics say that there isn't credible proof that piracy has contributed to the music industry's woes, there is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence that the music sector is melting before our eyes.

We could very well see EMI, which produced the Beatles, absorbed by one or more of its competitors. Retail brick-and-mortar music chains, such asTower Recordsand Sam Goody have shut down. Wal-Mart has dramatically cut back space dedicated to selling CDs.

Sony announced last week that in March, the company willshut downone of its two remaining CD-manufacturing plants in the United States and lay off 300 workers.

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Google readies Groupon competitor

Google is preparing to launch its own Groupon competitor called Google Offers.

The venture"is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email,"according to a fact sheet first published byMashable.

A Google spokesperson confirmed that the Internet giant was actively recruiting businesses for a daily-deals offering.

"Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program,"the company said in a statement."This initiative is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new products, such as the recent Offer Ads beta, that connect businesses with customers in new ways. We do not have more details to share at this time, but will keep you posted."

With the effort, Google is playing catch up in the nascent but profitable social-buying sector. The Internet giant reportedlytried to buy market leader Grouponfor as much as $6 billion but was rebuffed in that effort last month. Groupon, which is rumored to be doinging $2 billion a year in revenue, has since increased its muscle by raising $950 million in financing, giving it a value of about $6.4 billion.

In addition to Groupon, Google will have to contend with Amazon.com-backed LivingSocial, which recently made headlines and fans by selling more than a million $20 Amazon gift cards for $10 each. Living Social said last month it is"currently booking revenues of more than $1 million a day on average and is projected to book well over $500 million in revenue in 2011."

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Do iOS icons confirm iPad 2 front-facing cam?

And it can also slice a tomato after chewing through a tin can.

(Credit:Matt Hickey/CNET)

It's almost considered certain among fanboys that Apple's nextiPad--which so far we're imaginativelycalling the iPad 2--will come out in the next couple of months. It might be as early as April, as it was April of last year that saw the launch of the original iPad, whichnow has 87 percent of tablet market share.

Because the supposed unveiling is so close--some say within the next few weeks--the gossip mongers arein overdrivetrying to find out what it will and won't have. And the latest rumor, which we spotted onMacRumors, features what may be evidence of something people have wanted since the original:a front-facing camera.

Of course, a front camera almost seems a given, since theiPhone 4and the latest iPod Touch both already include such a device to allow FaceTime to work. Besides that, a graphic in the latest beta of iOS 4.3 for iPad has new default icons on the homescreen that appear to show a few applications that utilize such a camera. One's simply"Camera;"one's"PhotoBooth,"an app that ever MacBook and iMac currently ships with; and the last is"FaceTime,"Apple's mobile video chat software.

The icons themselves are small, as is the graphic they're part of. But blow them up, like we did above using Photoshop, you can extrapolate what the text under the icons say, with very little imagination.

It's possible that Apple is just throwing us a curveball (were I an Apple engineer I, too, would be tempted to mess with the minds of fanboys), but this looks legit. While we may not get Retina with the next iPad, it's indeed looking like we'll get at least one camera.

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AMD more upbeat about chances in tablet market

Advanced Micro Devices executives made relatively upbeat statements abouttabletsand seemed to go beyond previous comments by former CEO Dirk Meyer, who was ousted earlier this month.

AMD posted fourth-quarter earnings today of 14 cents a share (non-GAAP basis), higher than the 11 cents per share that analysts had expected. Net income fell to $375 million, or 50 cents a share, from a year earlier when it reported net income of $1.18 billion, or $1.52 a share. Revenue was $1.65 billion, flat compared with the previous year.

During the company's earnings conference call this afternoon, executives were asked by analysts about the tablet market. Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager at AMD, said the chip supplier sees opportunities for its new"Brazos"processor design, which is being used today in small laptops and Netbooks from companies like Hewlett-Packard and Sony. That's a departure from the vision of Meyer, who had downplayed the market.

"I've been in the PC industry 20 plus years and we've really struggled to get into the living room, and it's clear that tablets are finding their way into the living room,"Bergman said.

He continued."As consumers start to utilize these tablets, they start to demand a better end-user experience, which invariably means processing power, incredible graphics, incredible video,"he said, referring to AMD's strengths."And already we're seeing a number of design win opportunities for us with Brazos today, and certainly as we develop new products in that category, we'll account for those new trends and market opportunities."

Interim CEO Thomas Seifert chimed in, too."Look at the product roadmap and what we have been delivering with Brazos shows us that if we continue to develop products with ever lower power consumption and at the same time delivering superior graphics and processing performance, then we can address applications that are outside of {current} market segments."

When asked about cannibalization from tablets, Bergman said:"As we talk with our OEM partners, we don't see a deterioration of the market in a major way in the notebook area. And any cannibalization is built into estimates."

Bergman also took a shot at Intel's Sandy Bridge processor, which integrates new Intel graphics technology."Prior toCES{Consumer Electronics Show} there were claims of discrete {high} level graphics performance...as real benchmarks were run on real applications, it {Sandy Bridge} fell well short of what we would offer in discrete graphics capabilities,"he said.

And Seifert commented on AMD's server market struggles."We were disappointed with our performance in that segment in the fourth quarter. This is one of the areas where we see significant room for improvement,"he said.

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Xiph resumes work on Ghost audio codec

The Xiph.Org Foundation, creators of the royalty-free Vorbis audio encoding technology made suddenly relevant by Google's WebM project, are nearing completion of a next-generation codec calledCELTand have resumed development of one due after that called Ghost.

"Ghost research was postponed until recently to devote more resources to improving video,"said Monty Montgomery, who worked on Vorbis and CELT, in ablog postlast week."Ghost development now resumes where it left off in 2007."

Vorbis, CELT (Constrained Energy Lapped Transform), and Ghost all are audio codecs, meaning that they're designed to compress sound data for more compact storage and easier streaming over a network. Codecs must balance compression with quality and rely on a combination of mathematical processing techniques and tricks to discard data that a human audience won't notice is missing.

Vorbis, which competes with codecs such as MP3 and AAC that come with patent royalty fees, came to fruition in combination with the Theora video codec. The latter wasn't much of a success, but a more modern cousin called VP8 from Google has more potential. And Vorbis, combined with VP8, are part of the open-source, royalty-free WebM technology with which Google hopes to lower barriers to video on the Web.

The Google backing has helped move the largely overlooked Vorbis toward the mainstream. And it's possible that CELT and Ghost could follow in Vorbis' footsteps as a relevant technology.

CELT is getting closer to one critical step in completion, freezing the bitstream, which defines the sequences of data as it's streamed over a network.

"As of December 2010, CELT is nearing bitstream freeze and has been submitted to the IETF {Internet Engineering Task Force} codec working group as an input codec,"Montgomery said in aDecember update. Specifically, he's hoping to freeze the bitstream in January.

CELT is designed to use less processing power than Vorbis to decode and to suffer less of a delay from when data starts arriving to when audio is decoded. With Vorbis, there's a lag of a tenth of a second, but CELT is designed to have a delay of only a twentieth that long--5 milliseconds.

Short delays are important for natural conversation to avoid the alternating problems of awkward pauses and speakers talking at the same time that afflict high-latency communications.

Ghost, in comparison, is designed with Vorbis' higher 100-millisecond latency. And it's far from completion.

"First and foremost, Ghost is vaporware,"Montgomery said."At present it is merely a collection of ideas and some early-stage research. Eventually, it is intended to be a codec that improves upon and supersedes Vorbis in its current niche."

A hiatus of more than three years may sound crippling in the fast-paced technology world, but codecs have a long lifespan. Vorbis was designed for a 20-year run, and it's halfway through.

One improvement planned for Ghost is a wider range of useful bitrates, meaning that the codec would make audio sound better low-bandwidth and add more quality on high-bandwidth connections. Another is elimination of"pre-echo,"in which sound compression artifacts arrive before the actual sound is supposed to arrive.

And Ghost is intended to break from the past. Codec gurus might be interested in Montgomery's words:

Ghost will be a hybrid tone + noise codec that splits and separately encodes strong sinusoids {sine waves representing pure tones} from the time-domain 'toneless' signal {that's less regular}. It attempts to abandon the lapped transform techniques that have had a stranglehold on audio codec design for the past 20 years, beginning with MP3 and continuing on to AAC and Vorbis (and CELT).

The work is funded by Linux and open-source software specialist Red Hat, so it's no surprise Ghost continues with Vorbis' intellectual property freedoms: no licenses are necessary to use the technology.

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Report: Mobile e-mail rises; Web e-mail dips

Mobile e-mail is growing in popularity while the use of Web-based e-mail seems to be waning, according to a new study from ComScore.

Looking back at November, ComScore found that the number of people sending e-mail via a dedicated client on a mobile device was up 36 percent from the prior November. Over the same period, the number of visitors to Web-based e-mail sites fell by 6 percent.

(Credit:ComScore)

Even further, those who visited Web-based e-mail sites spent less time doing so. The amount of time spent at such sites dropped 9 percent in November year over year, while the number of total pages viewed fell 15 percent.

"From PCs to mobile devices, whether its e-mail, social media, IM, or texting, consumers have many ways to communicate and can do so at any time and in any place,"Mark Donovan, ComScore senior vice president of mobile, said yesterday in a statement."The decline in Web-based e-mail is a byproduct of these shifting dynamics and the increasing availability of on-demand communication options."

Despite the move toward mobile, e-mail is still one of the most popular activities on the Web, with more than 70 percent of online users accessing their messages via the Web each month. For November 2010, ComScore reported that 153 million people checked their Web-based e-mail accounts. That compares with 70.1 million mobile users--30 percent of all mobile subscribers--who accessed e-mail through their mobile devices.

(Credit:ComScore)

Still, the rise in mobile e-mail usage is significant. ComScore found that 43.5 million people used their mobile phones for e-mail on a daily basis in November, a jump of 40 percent from the prior year.

The disparity between mobile and Web was even greater among the younger crowd.

People ages 25 to 34 were 60 percent more likely to check mobile e-mail than the average mobile subscriber, while those from ages 18 to 24 were 46 percent more likely. In contrast, the use of Web-based e-mail fell 24 percent among those ages 12 to 17, while the total amount of time spent checking their Web e-mail dropped 48 percent.

ComScore based its results for this study on data from itsMedia MetrixandMobiLensservices.

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Ask Maggie: On iPhones vs.Droids, again

Nearly two weeks afterVerizon Wireless announced it will get the iPhone,iPhonefever is still gripping many CNET readers.

I dedicatedlast week's Ask Maggieto answering questions about theVerizon iPhone. And this week I got several more questions related to Verizon's upcoming launch of the iPhone. So in this week's Ask Maggie column I answer some follow-up questions. Specifically, I clarify for one reader that both iPhone and Droids support Outlook e-mail andMicrosoft Officedocs. I also advise another reader not to ditch his Comcast broadband for the Wi-Fi tethering feature of the iPhone 4 on Verizon. And finally, I answer one eager Sprint customer's question about where the iPhone might be launched next in the U.S.

Ask Maggie is a weekly advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. If you've got a question, please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put"Ask Maggie"in the subject header.

Still deciding between an iPhone vs. a Droid

Dear Maggie,

Thank you for last week's column comparing the Verizon iPhone and the Droid smartphones. I have a few follow-up questions for you on this.

I use Microsoft Office Outlook for my contacts, calendar, and e-mail. Would this work with a Droid or iPhone?

I also want to be able to access Microsoft documents from my smartphone so I need Microsoft Office mobile formats like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Can I use this with either of these phones?

When do you think that Verizon might offer a"Global iPhone"with both CDMA and GSM capability? Could be on an upcoming iPhone 5 for Verizon.

Thanks for your advice in advance!

Howard

Dear Howard,

These are some great follow-up questions for anyone considering buying either an iPhone or a Google Android phone.

You are in luck, the iPhone and the Droid each support Microsoft Outlook and some of Microsoft's other business suites. I spoke to CNET Reviews mobile experts Kent German, Nicole Lee, and Bonnie Cha to get more detail about this.

Kent said that it's very easy to set up Microsoft Exchange on your iPhone if you know the necessary information. You'll need your e-mail address, username, password, and server name. For some accounts, you might need the domain as well.

If you have Outlook Web Access, then you shouldn't need to involve your IT department. But if you don't, you may need to contact them for the correct settings.

As for accessing, reading, and altering Microsoft documents, you can do this on the iPhone, but you'll have to purchase an app, Kent said. He suggests QuickOffice apps which cost between 4.99 and $16.99. There are cheaper and even free apps available, but they won't offer a lot of functionality, he said.

Android subscribers can also access and sync their e-mail and calendar to their Outlook accounts. But if you are not using a Microsoft Exchange account it gets tricky. CNET Reviews editor Nicole Lee says that Android phones are optimized for Google products, such as Gmail and Google Calendar. So she recommends switching over to those tools rather than going through the trouble of syncing to Outlook.

But if Outlook is what you like to use then there are workarounds and you can sync Outlook with your Google account or use a third-party solution, such as gSyncit, Bonnie Cha said. If you want more information check out Nicole's explanation inher column on the 411.

Bonnie added that all Android phones come with some kind of free Microsoft Office suite, such as QuickOffice, which allows you to, at the very least, open and view Office documents. Most have basic editing functions, but if you want the ability to create new docs on your phone, you'll often have to pay to upgrade the app to a premium version of the suite.

Now to answer your final question: Do I think Verizon will come out with a GSM/CDMA iPhone? Honestly, I don't know the answer to that. I was surprised that the version Verizon announced two weeks ago was not a"world phone."

I suppose that adding the additional radio increase device costs and takes up room in the device. So if there is a way to mitigate either of those things, then there's a chance that Verizon and Apple will add GSM in a future version.

What I think is more likely to happen is that Apple will add an LTE radio chipset to a newer version of the Verizon iPhone. LTE is the technology used for Verizon's"4G"network. If LTE is added to the phone, then it will be backward compatible with GSM networks. So when you're traveling abroad, you'll be able to roam onto other GSM networks.

When will this happen? I don't know. But I don't think Verizon will get another release of the iPhone for at least a year. Maybe it will release an update in six months, but Apple typically only releases one new version of a product per year. A new GSM version of the iPhone is likely to be released this summer.

Ditching broadband for the iPhone's hot spot?

Hi Maggie,

I have a question I was hoping you could answer in regards to the release of the Verizon iPhone, and its ability to become a Wi-Fi hot spot. I was thinking about getting rid of my broadband Internet provider (Comcast) at home and adding the $20 tethering, so that I could connect my desktop and Xbox 360 all at once. I figured this could help reduce my bill. I was wondering how much slower my devices would operate if I did this. And if I would notice a real difference if i just used my iPhone instead of Comcast's 15Mbps service.

Thanks,

Mullarky

Dear Mullarky,

In theory this sounds like a great idea. Why not share the bandwidth from your iPhone account with all the other Internet-enabled gear you have in your home? The $20 Wi-Fi tethering fee that Verizon charges for its other Wi-Fi hot-spot phones is nothing compared to the $50 or $60 you are paying for Comcast's broadband service. Right?

There are a couple of reasons why this isn't a good idea. For one, Verizon's iPhone operates over Verizon's 3G network. This is a network that provides average download speeds between 700Kbps and 1.2Mbps. And that's if you are in a place with good cell phone reception. Speeds can be much slower when connections aren't great or if the network is congested.

If you're used to a 15Mbps cable modem service, and you plan to do a lot of gaming and video streaming via your Xbox 360, you will notice the difference in performance.

Now, if you were to use one of Verizon's new LTE smartphones coming out later this year for Internet access, that's a different story. The LTE network, which Verizon calls its"4G"network gets average download speeds between 6Mbps and 12Mbps. Some users have even reported download speeds around 20Mbps. So an LTE device would definitely provide you a fast enough broadband connection so that you could stream movies and play interactive games on your Xbox. And you likely wouldn't notice the difference in terms of performance.

But there's a catch to this as well. And that's price. Verizon doesn't want people using its wireless broadband services as a replacement to fixed broadband. Remember, the company has a wired broadband business selling DSL and Fios fiber to the home service. So the company makes sure to keep limits on how much data can be used on its wireless broadband networks. It's been doing this for years with its 3G wireless data service, capping usage at 5GB per month. Traditionally, customers using the $20 a month tethering feature via a smartphone, have been held to the same 5GB cap.

Verizon hasn't yet announced data pricing for either the iPhone or the new LTE smartphones it is launching this year. So I don't know the specific pricing for the data services for these devices or what Verizon plans to charge for tethering.

But the company has released pricing for its USB data stick customers on its LTE service. Subscribers can get 5 gigabytes of data per month for $50 or 10GB of data for $80 a month. Customers who exceed this limit will be charged $10 for every 1GB over the limit. The $50 pricing of the service is $10 cheaper than Verizon's existing 3G wireless service. The company said it will offer text alerts that will warn customers about the usage of their data plan.

Based on this pricing model or a similar one that will charge you if you exceed your monthly usage cap, you're probably better off keeping your Comcast broadband service.

Sprint iPhone?

Dear Maggie,

I am currently on the Sprint network, and was wondering if there is any chance that the iPhone 4 will be released on Sprint anytime in the future. I have read rumors that say that it will be released, but I have also read articles saying it won't. I am hoping you have some good news for me! ;)

Thank you so much!

Ben

Dear Ben,

I wish I could look into my crystal ball and tell you for certain one way or another. But honestly, I don't have magical powers to predict the future and Apple doesn't fill me on its device launch plans.

That said, during the press conference two weeks ago, Tim Cook, Apple's COO, said that the deal with Verizon to sell a CDMA version of the iPhone was not exclusive. So you could infer that Apple will be looking to strike deals with other CDMA providers. So my guess is that Sprint will eventually get the iPhone. In fact, I suspect that eventually several U.S. carriers will have a version of the iPhone.

When will this happen? I don't know. Again, I suspect that Verizon will get a semi-exclusive on the iPhone for at least a few months. Before Apple starts selling the CDMA iPhone elsewhere in the U.S., I think it's more likely that the company will announce a deal with China Telecom, another big CDMA provider.

It makes sense for Apple to sell the iPhone through as many carrier channels as possible. It will be interesting to see what happens as it adds these new carriers. Will it offer older models of the device to other carriers? Will it keep the newest versions of the product for AT&T or, in the future, Verizon Wireless?

The iPhone is so popular that people seem willing to buy it even when the latest version of the product doesn't have all the same bells and whistles that its competitors have. We'll have to wait and see if customers are as eager to buy an older version of the iPhone on Verizon this spring, even though AT&T is likely to get a new version this summer.

Sorry I couldn't more precisely answer your question. I'll be sure to write a story should I hear of an exact release date for a Sprint Nextel iPhone.

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Report: Android code identical to Java

Did Google take code from Java when it built Android? Oracle sure thinks so, and now an expert on software patents seems to agree.

Florian Mueller, who writes the blog FOSS Patents,posted a lengthy examination todayof 37 files within the Android 2.2 source code. Those files match files found in Oracle's Java technology, and were even marked"PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL"by Sun Microsystems, the inventor of Java which Oracle acquired last year.

Oracle sued Google in Augustalleging that Android and the Dalvik virtual machine used in Android infringed copyrights and patents that Oracle now held after buying Sun.It later amended its complaintto include a line-by-line comparison of code between the two technologies, whichGoogle later claimed was misleading.

Mueller took Oracle's complaint and compared it against Android 2.2, which anyone can download and examine. In addition to the code outlined by Oracle, Mueller found an additional 37 files in Android that he said were identical to those found in Java2 Standard Edition version 5.

"Whether under a proprietary license or the GPL, the related code could not be legally relicensed under the Apache license by anyone other than the right holder (Oracle/Sun),"Mueller wrote in his post. It doesn't look good for Google (it declined to comment to IDG News Service), but the matter will have to be hashed out in a courtroom before all is said and done.

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Schmidt: 'Adult supervision' at Google no longer needed

Modern CEOs live on airplanes. But in stepping down from the CEO role to become executive chairman, Eric Schmidt's travel schedule is about to go into overdrive.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will do a lot of talking in his new role.

(Credit:James Martin/CNET)

Google's bombshell announcement this afternoonthat Schmidt, the company's second CEO but the first to provide"adult supervision"to Larry Page and Sergey Brin's world-changing creation, thrusts Schmidt into a role where he won't see the Googleplex very often. In ceding control of day-to-day operations to Page, Schmidt told financial analysts that he's preparing to focus on"the things I'm most interested in."In other words, meet Google's new schmoozer in chief.

Schmidt will focus exclusively on spreading Google's message around the world, talking to customers, partners, governments, and businesses thinking about spending money on Google's products. To a certain extent, that's what he's been doing already, but being able to focus his considerable energies on external threats and opportunities might allow Google's ruling triumvirate to adapt to a world that has found them nearly atop the tech world.

"For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there's clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company,"Schmidt wrote in a blog post announcing the management moves.

While Google continues to operate perhaps the finest cash machine ever created on the Internet, one of its main problems over the last few years is that it has been late to realize that the world no longer sees it as a scrappy multicolored Silicon Valley start-up focused on Web search.This is perhaps most evident in Washington, where Google has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years and has faced trouble completing key projects, such asits Google Books settlementwith authors and publishers andits proposed acquisition of ITA Software, both of which currently lie in limbo.

"An awful lot of the problems we've been having (in Washington) is that people don't understand what we really do,"Schmidt said, admitting that Google let competitors and critics define the company in the absence of strong messages from Google. That's about to change, and Schmidt has an excellent place to start as a member of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology and a prominent supporter of Democratic politicians for years.

Google has also faced resistance from industries towards which it has directed its considerable intelligence, computing horsepower, and resources. One area where Google can use an image makeover is in Hollywood.

Google is trying to acquire film and television content for Google TV and YouTube's streaming service. So far, it's been slow going: themajor broadcast networks have all blocked their contentfrom appearing on Google TV, and YouTube has yet to get much material from the big Hollywood studios.

In music, Google spent much of 2010 laboring on a cloud music service,multiple sources have told CNET. Google must now secure licensing rights from the top four major music labels and numerous publishers. That can be a painful process, but one thing that the film studios and music labels understand and respect is star power and Schmidt is a marquee name in business.

It's also not hard to imagine Schmidt going on tour with Dave Girouard, president of Google Enterprise,wooing some of the Fortune 500's biggest companiesto move their enterprise IT software over to Google Apps. Schmidt has a pedigree in the enterprise technology world, serving as CTO at Sun Microsystems and CEO of Novell before taking the Google job, and candiscuss the needs and wants of enterprise IT managerswith the best of them. And he can all push: Schmidt's efforts to sell Java to the world were considered essential to the spread of that technology.

One thing that will be interesting, however, is whether or not Schmidt can avoid a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth when it comes to discussing hot-button topics related to Google.

He's been slammed many times in the past for suggesting people should watch what they do on the Internet, change their name to escape past deeds, and turn control of their lives over to computers. In many of those cases, Schmidt appeared to be joking, but in many he didn't. Any true schmoozer can't leave the listener confused as to how to interpret their words.

As of April 4th, however, Schmidt will be Google's public representative without having to worry about the nuts and bolts of Google's payroll or whether or not to approve a new social-networking project that involves implanting chips in the brains of volunteers. This is not a role that either co-founder, as brilliant as they are, is capable of taking on: Brin often appears on Google's behalf at product-oriented events, but a Page sighting is rare, and neither has much experience discussing Google's broader issues in public.

Thursday's announcement felt almost like a high-school graduation, with proud parent Schmidt sending Page out into the world on his own for the first time, confident in his ability to make his way. It would be premature to judge Page's chances hours after the announcement; while it's true he's done this before, Google was a very different place in 2001 than it is in 2011.

Has Schmidt done enough to prepare the brilliant but almost painfully shy Page for his spot leading one of the world's most important technology companies? One thing will surely help: Schmidt will be able to take much of the public pressure off Page as he circles the globe spreading the gospel of Google.

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Study: Young kids better with tech than 'life skills'

"Geek in Training"

(Credit:JasonTromm's photostream via flickr Creative Commons)

Asurveyof online mothers found that more small children can play a computer game than ride a bike. The Digital Diaries study from Internet security firm AVG said that 58 percent of children aged two to five know how to play a"basic computer game"compared with 52 percent who know how to ride a bike. Sixty-three percent can turn a computer on and off, and 69 percent can use a mouse. By contrast, only 20 percent can"swim unaided,"11 percent can tie their shoelaces without help, and 20 percent know how to make an emergency phone call.

The study polled of 2,200 online mothers of children between two and five years old in the U.S., Canada, the EU5 (U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain), Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, according to AVG.

Other interesting findings are that 25 percent know how to use a browser, 16 percent can navigate between Web sites, 15 percent know at least one Web address, and 19 percent know how to operate a smartphone or atablet. On the analog side of life, 39 percent know their home address, 27 percent can make their own breakfast, and 37 percent can write their first and last name.

The study also found that mothers older than 35 are"marginally better at teaching their children life skills,"which the survey defines as non-tech skills like making breakfast or riding a bike. The study also concluded that"there is no tech gender divide between young boys and girls. As many boys {58 percent} as girls {59 percent} can play a computer game or make a mobile phone call {28 percent boys, 29 percent girls}."

While I guess it's great that kids are so tech-savvy, the study points out that they may not be getting the"life skills"they need in other areas of their lives. In an interview, AVG's Tony Anscombe said"Because we (adults) are so connected, maybe what we don't understand is what we're actually doing is connecting our children the same way, and it's becoming normal for them and maybe we're ignoring some of those life skills as well."

Anscombe added,"as parents there is a digital responsibility to be had. We need to look at making sure that we give our children a balanced life and a mix of both life skills and technical skills."

What we don't know from this data is how children might have done with life skills in the pre-computer age. I did come across adocument(PDF) from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that suggests that ages four and five are when it's appropriate for kids to"ride small bicycles."

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Microsoft's new home page goes 'Metro'

Microsoft's preview of its refreshed home page.

(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Microsoft is testing a new version of its home page that completely changes its line-up of products and services depending on whether you're there for"work"or"home."

While the idea of a custom-tailored site is nothing revolutionary in and of itself, Microsoft has managed to go about it in a rather creative way, making use of a Web-based variant of its"Metro"UI that has the page slide from side to side instead of reloading, or having users scroll downwards. The same look and feel as can be found inWindows Phone 7, and therecently-refreshed Surface computer, as well as in other Microsoft products like theZune,Xbox 360, and the Windows Media Center software.

In order to make the change between the two versions of the site, users can click on a tab on the upper right hand corner of the page. Clicking it again toggles it back.

As blogTechFlash notes, the updated version of the site also finally gets around to adding Microsoft's latest tagline,"Be What's Next,"whichleaked outback in June of last year, and made itsbig premierethis past weekend in video advertising during the Golden Globe awards.

Microsoft is currently testing the new look out as a limited preview, though you can opt-in to it byfollowing this link. Once in, users are also able to opt out to go back to the current version of the site.

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Report: U.S. investors can't share in Facebook offering

If you live in the U.S. you can put away that $2 million you fished out of the piggy bank to invest in Facebook.

Goldman Sachs, whichcreated a frenzy recentlywhen it acquired a$450 million positionin privately held Facebook and offered equity to clients willing to invest at least $2 million,told The Wall Street Journaltoday that the offering will be limited to"offshore"investors.

"The level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law,"the New York securities firm said in a statement provided to the Journal.

Executives at the firm were concerned the storm of interest created by the offering, of as much as $1.5 billion in shares of the social-networking juggernaut, might expose Goldman to regulatory vulnerability, the Journal speculated--though the firm said the move had not been required by the Securities and Exchange Commission or"any other party."

related
Reporters' Roundtable: Facebook's private fund-raising

Goldman"regrets the consequences of this decision, but we believe this is the most prudent path to take,"the firm told the Journal. Facebook had no comment.

Goldman started giving the news to clients in Asia on Sunday night and to clients in Europe and the U.S. today, the Journal reported. It said Chinese interest in shares has been especially high and that it's"highly likely"Goldman can manage the offering at its original size without the involvement of U.S. clients.

Potential investors must hand over funds by the end of this week, the Journal reported.

Facebook hasrepeatedly saidit will not go public until 2012 at the earliest. The recent $450 million in funding from Goldman, along with another $50 million from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, has reportedly given Facebook a valuation of $50 billion.

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You, robot: Kinect hacks make you into a machine

editor's notebookOK, this whole Kinect-hacking phenomenon is starting to make my head spin. (Funny that--the system is thus controlling my movements, rather than the other way round.)

First we started to seeMinority Report-style interfaces, by way of which one could browse the Web with nothing more than a gesture or two.

Now things are getting really trippy. Thanks to Web siteKinect Hacks, we can watch as humanoid robots are controlled by users of Microsoft's gestural-gaming system.

How long before this setup gets combined with some sort ofBattleBotscompetition for a true robotic smackdown? And on the fine arts front, I can see this combined with the mind ofJean Tinguelyand the work ofSurvival Research Laboratoriesto produce some truly profound mayhem.

But that's small potatoes--for with this setup, who needs Second Life or other virtual worlds? Any day now we'll no doubt be able to send physical avatars out into the real world to do our bidding. By next holiday season, we'll probably be leaving it to our personal botatars to battle the crowds at Macy's (provided we practice our goods-snatching gestures enough to make them effective).

But you, gentle readers, are the truly in-the-know geeks. I realize it may take us awhile to get where we're going with all this, but where, exactly, might that be? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Credit for above video: YouTube userikaziso.

Credit for above video: YouTube userhbenersuay.

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Motorola Xoom as a test for life beyond the iPad

Is theiPada one-hit wonder or will thetabletmarket take off broadly in 2011? That's the question Motorola's Xoom tablet will likely answer.

Motorola's Xoom may determine how real the broader tablet market is.

(Credit:Motorola)

And this broader market, of course, includes Hewlett-Packard's WebOS tablet and RIM's PlayBook, among others. ButMotorola's Xoomstands as the biggest potential consumer rival to the iPad 2 because Motorola is a first-tier supplier that has already competed mightily against Apple in the smartphone market (think Droid) and, more importantly, packs in plenty of eagerly awaited goodies, including:Google's Android Honeycomboperating system for tablets, apowerful dual-core processor, a high-resolution (1,280x800) display, dual cameras, and lest we forget, the Verizon 3G (and soon-to-come 4G) network.

That said, tucked into a research note I received on Friday from Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman&Renshaw, was this morsel:"The magnitude of tablet opportunity beyond Apple is unclear."And he also writes that"we believe that iPad volumes in the current quarter will dry up ahead of the iPad 2 launch."

So, will we see long lines at Verizon stores the day of launch, like the iPad? Or has the tablet novelty worn off enough that it's not a line-forming impulse-buy anymore? And/or is it principally a phenomenon linked to the cachet of Apple products?

Based on my own experience, I believe that the media tablet is more than a one-hit wonder. The sheer utility of my iPad has cut my laptop use almost in half, asI've written before. (And the iPad trumps myiPhonetoo, in a number of respects, like mapping.)

So, what kind of numbers do we need to see? Considering that the market is still nascent, that's a tough call. Kumar said that Apple shipped between 6 and 7 million iPads in the most recent quarter,"with the lower end (Wi-Fi) dominating the mix."With Apple as the high-water mark, we can't expect those kinds of numbers from Motorola initially.

Asia-basedrumors claim Motorola is aiming to ship as many as 800,000out of the gate andRIM a bit more. Those would be healthy numbers.

And Motorola appears to be doing all it can do to make interesting accessories, too--like this speaker dockandBluetooth keyboard, among other add-ons.

Who knows, the tablet, in one form or another, could eventually make the laptop obsolete. That would result in huge, market-upending numbers. But I'll leave that highly-speculative analysis for next year.

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Report: Future iPad, iPhone to have Qualcomm chips

Apple is reportedly switching up the wireless chipset used in future versions of both the iPad and iPhone.

(Credit:iFixit)

Is Apple moving to a new wireless chipset supplier for the nextiPadandiPhone?

An unnamed but"reliable"sourceis quoted by Engadget todaysaying that Apple is going to ditch the current Infineon chipsets used in both devices and move to Qualcomm instead. The report seems entirely plausible.

Verizon already let it slipthat it's going to have an iPad that runs on its network. It's very likely that will be for its CDMA network, and not LTE. The current iPad model only works on GSM networks. Apple probably doesn't want to have to make two different iPads the way it's currently making two different models of iPhone (one with GSM chips for AT&T et al., and one with CDMA for Verizon and perhaps other future carrier partners), so switching to a chipset that allows the device to connect to both networks would be smart. Qualcomm has that, or is going to, very soon.

It's long been rumored Apple would eventually start shipping a dual-mode iPhone--a report that the iPhone 5 would work on GSM and CDMA networkshit back in October--so going that way with both of its flagship mobile products makes a lot of sense.

Engadget also notes that while the next iPad won't have a USB port, it will have an SD card slot, and has some images of what it would look like.

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Intel CEO: How we will compete with ARM

Intel CEO Paul Otellini today spelled out how his company will compete with the burgeoning ARM chip ecosystem, which has taken the lead intabletdesigns, during the chipmaker's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

In the call, Otellini was quick to address tablets, a market currently centered onApple's iPad, which runs Apple's flavor of an ARM processor. Motorola, RIM, and Samsung have also based their tablet products on power-efficient ARM processors. He discussed a few ways Intel can ultimately prevail in the tablet and smartphone markets.

Operating system three-fer:
"In 2011, you will also see Atom in a wide array of tablets running three different operating systems: Windows, Android, and MeeGo,"he said. When asked by an analyst how the Android development partners can differentiate with Atom versus the ARM-based tablets, Otellini said,"By designing an Atom-based tablet, they have the opportunity to run multiple OSes on it, which I think is a unique value proposition with Intel."

Manufacturing:
Intel's biggest advantage going forward is its manufacturing prowess, according to Otellini."As we have done for decades in the traditional computing markets, we will apply the world's most advanced silicon transistor technology to these new segments to deliver the lowest power, highest performance, lowest-cost products on the planet,"he said.

Intel CEO Otellini states his case for competing with tablet- and smartphone-centric ARM chips.

(Credit:Intel)

Embedded:Atom's success in embedded devices (such as medical and in-car devices) will spill over into tablets and smartphones."Atom is much more than notebooks. We exit 2010 with excellent momentum in our embedded business with over 4,900 total design engagements and over 1,700 design wins for embedded Atom devices,"Otellini said."I mention this momentum to highlight that the main drivers of our success with Atom in the embedded business are very applicable to the smartphone, tablet, and consumer electronics segments. Software compatibility, performance, power, and architectural consistency really matter to our customers. Many of the wins in this space are architectural conversions against ARM and MIPS {processors},"he said.

Intel will also indirectly benefit from the surge in device like tablets and smartphones because its processors power most of the world's servers, which, in turn, are the engines for cloud computing, he said.

"In 2010, total traffic crossing the Internet was 245exabytes. This is greater than all of the previous years combined. Over the next five years, over a billion more people will join the global online community with 15 billion new connected devices, including PCs, smartphones, tablets, embedded devices, and smart TVs. We estimate this will increase the data footprint across the internet to over 1,000 exabytes,"he said.

Otellini continued."This dynamic will require high-performing servers from Intel for years to come. And it's not just servers. Intel continues to grow its presence in the data center with processors for storage systems and networking infrastructure. With plans to refresh the entire Xeon server product line in the first half of 2011, Intel is very will positioned to benefit from the growth of the data center and the build out of cloud computing."

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News Corp. mulls sale, spinoff of MySpace

News Corp. revealed today that it's exploring the possibility of selling or spinning off MySpace, just a day after the troubled social-networking site announced heavy layoffs.

During an announcement that confirmedmany rumors, MySpace CEO Mike Jones briefed employees today on company options during a companywide meeting, spokeswoman Rosabel Tao told Bloomberg.

"News Corp. is assessing a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger, and a spinout {spinoff},"Tao said."The process has just started."

On Monday, Jones announced a"significant organizational restructuringthat will result in a 47 percent staff reduction across all divisions globally and impact about 500 employees."

News Corp.bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 millionas part of its purchase of Intermix. But the former social-networking sensation has fallen on hard times lately,losing more and more ground to Facebookuntil it finallyunderwent a massive redesignthat left it focusing on pop culture media-sharing for young users rather than attempting to be a universally appealing social network.

However, in the face of News Corp.'s public frustration with MySpace, those efforts were not expected to result in a major turnaround capable of saving the site. News Corp. revealed in November that quarterly revenue at MySpace was down $70 million compared with the same period the year before. During the earnings call at the time, Chief Operating Officer Chase Careycalled out MySpace's poor performanceand said"current losses are not acceptable or sustainable."

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IBM to digitize records for Russian hospitals

IBM announced today that nine hospitals across Russia have switched from paper-based medical systems to electronic medical records usingIBM Lotus Notes.

Designed to provide fast electronic medical record (EMR) exchange and unified access to many types of health care data, while at the same time meeting stricter medical information requirements and more secure access to patient information in Russia, the automation system was developed by IBM and Complex Medical Information Systems.

"It provides a single electronic tool for control, accounting and planning which leads to improved operation and higher quality of service,"says Roman Novitsky, CEO of Complex Medical Information Systems,in a news release."The solution consolidates all medical, administrative and financial processes, thus creating a unified information space at the hospital."

The system was first used by Municipal S.Z. Fisher Hospital No. 1 inVolzhskyin the Volgograd region of Russia and is now being implemented at several other hospitals throughout the country, including in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Kirov, and Vladimir.

In addition to digitizing patient records, the system also helps automate hospital work flow, including staff scheduling, medical exam and house call scheduling, and automating temporary disability registrations.

IBM's announcement comes on the same day thatan IDC Health Insights study predictsthere will be double-digit growth in spending on ambulatory and inpatient electronic medical record and electronic health record software between 2009 and 2015.

An IBM spokesperson tells me that nine hospitals are currently using the system, which--using theIBM Health Integration Framework--is the first health care solution in the country to comply with all standards (HL7,HIPAA, andIHE) and"will serve as a roadmap for other hospitals throughout Russia."

IBM's announcement comes on the same day that anIDC Health Insights study predictsthere will be double-digit growth in spending on ambulatory and inpatient electronic medical record and electronic health record software between 2009 and 2015.

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Verizon iPhone a blessing for AT&T customers?

More than a year ago, when talk of perceived problems with AT&T's wireless networkhit a fever pitch online, I was among those who asserted that the performance problems some were having weredue to the iPhone, as AT&T had become the first network to have to deal with millions of people using smartphones all the time.

As an AT&T iPhone user, I say, welcome!

(Credit:Geeky Gadgets)

Sure, smartphones had been around, but not in the numbers they hit when theiPhone 3Gcame out, and people didn't devour data as much as they did once the App Store opened. I blamed the problems mostly on iPhone users, like myself. (And Iwasn't the only one.)

That said, if Verizon, as expected,announces an iPhone for its network tomorrow, and, as expected, some AT&T users jump ship for thenew carrier, it might actually be a good thing for AT&T--and its remaining users.

Analysts from the Yankee Groupestimate that 2.5 million iPhone userson AT&T might migrate to Verizon in the first year due to AT&T's overtaxed network, and that represents about 3 percent of AT&T's 93 million customers (thoughestimates range from 1 million to 6 million). But those are iPhone users, which use the lion's share of AT&T's wireless data. (Some estimates put itat as much as 65 percent.)

A migration on that scale means AT&T might take a small revenue hit, but it also means that much of the data that those 2.5 million iPhone users eat will be freed up for the other several million iPhone users.

Some analysts suggest thatVerizon will sell 13.2 million iPhones in 2011, including subscriber turnover from AT&T, which is expected to sell 8.8 million itself, even with competition from Verizon.

This is all academic, though, as the expected Verizon iPhone is not yet available. There's no telling how many users will switch, though it's almost certain that some will.

One more variable to consider: AT&T's 3G is based on GSM's HSPA, which tends to be faster than Verizon's CDMA-based 1xEV-DO rA. It's possible AT&T iPhone users who switch to Verizon will actually get slower 3G speeds than they had before, which might cause some backlash that could keep some users from switching.

AT&T Executive Vice President Larry Solomonnoted the possible difference in speeds, saying,"The iPhone is built for speed, but that's not what you get with a CDMA phone. I'm not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane."

This was, of course, a way to try to talk up his own network while throwing a slight diss to the competition. But Solomon can't keep that small percentage who are frustrated with AT&T's coverage issues from leaving for what they think might be greener pastures, and that might be OK. Freeing up 3G bandwidth on its network while losing little in revenue is a good thing for AT&T--and its users.

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Alt media player VLC cut from Apple App Store

Popular media player VLC has been pulled from Apple's App Store at the request of one of the program's original developers--in a move that's caused some hard feelings in the world of open-source software.

The situation involves a conflict between the General Public License, which governs VLC and many other open-source programs, and App Store policies.

"On January 7th, Apple removed VLC media player from its application store for iDevices,"Remi Denis-Courmont, one of the developers of the desktop version of VLC, wrote in a blog post picked up by the Web site of thenonprofit group behind the original software."Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the App Store terms of use is resolved--the hard way. This end should not have come as a surprise to anyone, given the precedents."

Denis-Courmont himself was the one whosent Apple a notification of copyright infringementinvolving distribution of VLC for Apple's iOS operating system, i.e., for theiPhone,iPad, andiPod Touch. The GPL lets people freely copy, distribute, and modify GPL programs provided the resulting programs are also covered by the GPL and this same provision. But digital rights management applied to programs in the App Store prevents sharing.

Denis-Courmont and others see that clash as a threat to the heart of the GPL, but Romain Goyet, co-founder of the company that created the iOS version of VLC, disagrees.

"The way I see it, we're not violating anyone's freedom,"Romain Goyettold Ars Technica."We worked for free, opened all our source code, and the app is available for free for anyone to download. People are enjoying a nice free and open-source video player on the App Store, and some people are trying to ruin it in the name of 'freedom.'"

VLC for the Mac, which, unlike Apple's QuickTime,plays almost all common media files, was thesecond most popular Mac-software download during 2010 on CNET's Download.com. AndVLC for the iPadandfor the iPhonecaptured the notice of CNET's Rick Broida because they let users play virtually all video formats, with no conversion required, leading Broida to label VLC a"must-have"app.

For more on the VLC app getting yanked, check out"No GPL Apps for Apple's App Store"at CNET sister site ZDNet. And if you happen to be a developer of App Store apps, you might want to take a look at ZDNet's"How to avoid modern day public GPL floggings, part deux."

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DOJ sends order to Twitter for Wikileaks-related account info

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking a court order directing Twitter to turn over information about the accounts of activists with ties to Wikileaks, including an Icelandic politician, a legendary Dutch hacker, and a U.S. computer programmer.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, one of 63 members of Iceland's national parliament, said this afternoon that Twitter notified her of the order's existence and told her she has 10 days to oppose the request for information about her account since November 1, 2009.

"I think I am being given a message, almost like someone breathing in a phone,"Jónsdóttir said in a Twitter message.

The order (PDF) also covers"subscriber account information"forBradley Manning, the U.S. Army private charged with leaking classified information; Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum; Dutch hacker and XS4ALL Internet provider co-founder Rop Gonggrijp; and Wikileaks editor Julian Assange.

Appelbaum, whogave a keynote speechat a hacker conference last summer on behalf of the document-leaking organization and is currently in Iceland, said he plans to fight the request in a U.S. court. Appelbaum, a U.S. citizen who's a developer for the Tor Project, has been brieflydetainedat the border and people in his address book have beenhassledat airports.

The U.S. governmentbegan an criminal investigationof Wikileaks and Assange last July after the Web site began releasing what would become a deluge of confidential military andState Department files. In November, Attorney General Eric Holdersaidthat the probe is"ongoing,"and a few weeks later an attorney for Assangesaidhe had been told that a grand jury had been empaneled in Alexandria, Va.

The order sent to Twitter initially was signed under seal by U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan in Alexandria, Va. on December 14, and gave the social networking site three days to comply. But on Wednesday, she decided (PDF) that it should be unsealed and said that Twitter is now authorized to"disclose that order to its subscribers and customers,"presumably so they could choose to oppose it. (Salon.com posted a copy of the documents on Friday.)

Buchanan's order isn't a traditional subpoena. Rather, it's what's known as a 2703(d) order, whichallowspolice to obtain certain records from a Web site or Internet provider if they are"relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation."

The 2703(d) order is broad. It requests any"contact information"associated with the accounts from November 1, 2009 to the present,"connection records, or records of session times and durations,"and"records of user activity for any connections made to or from the account,"including Internet addresses used.

It requests"all records"and"correspondence"relating to those accounts, which appears to be broad enough to sweep in the content of messages such as direct messages sent through Twitter or tweets from a non-public account. That could allow the account holders to claim that the 2703(d) order is unconstitutional. (One federal appeals court recently ruled that under the Fourth Amendment, a 2703(d) order is insufficient for the contents of communications andsearch warrant is needed, although that decision is not binding in Virginia or San Francisco.)

A Twitter representative declined to comment on any specific legal requests, but told CNET:"To help users protect their rights, it's our policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so."

Buchanan's original order from last month directed Twitter not to disclose"the existence of the investigation"to anyone, but that gag order was lifted this week. Twitter'slaw enforcement guidelinessay"our policy is to notify users of requests for their information prior to disclosure."

It's unclear how long Twitter stores full IP addresses in its logs; Google, for instance, performs apartial anonymizationafter six months.

Jónsdóttir was a close ally of Assange and supported efforts to turn the small north Atlantic nation into a virtual data haven. A New Yorker profile last year, for instance, depicted Jónsdóttir as almost an accidental politician whose self-described political views are mostly anarchist and who volunteered with Wikileaks.

At one point, the profile recounted, Assange was unshaven and his hair was a mess:"He was typing up a press release. Jonsdottir came by to help, and he asked her, 'Can't you cut my hair while I'm doing this?' Jonsdottir walked over to the sink and made tea. Assange kept on typing, and after a few minutes she reluctantly began to trim his hair."

Jónsdóttir even invited Assange to a reception -- this was before last year's series of high-profile releases -- held at the U.S. ambassador's residence in the capital of Reykjavik."He certainly had fun at the party,"Jónsdóttirtoldthe U.K. Telegraph."He went as my guest. I said it would be a bit of a prank to take him and see if they knew who he was. I don't think they had any idea."

But after Assange became embroiled in allegations of sexual assault, which have led to the Swedish government attempting toextradite him from the U.K., Jónsdóttir said the organization should find a spokesman who's not such a controversial figure.

"Wikileaks should have spokespeople that are conservative and not strong persons, rather dull, so to speak, so that the message will be delivered without the messenger getting all the attention,"Jónsdóttirsaidat the time. Although she said she did not believe the allegations, shesuggestedthat Assange step aside, which he did not do.

Updated at 9:45 p.m. PT with details from the court documents

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