Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Google Maps Gets Bike Lanes/Directions Just In Time for Spring

Google addedbike lanes andbicycle directions to Google Maps today, allowing you to find routes that aren’t too hilly or congested. It’s pretty awesome!

Bike functionality is available for over 150 American cities at the moment, but it’s safe to assume that, like everything Google does, it will eventually expand to cover most of the planet.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Hewlett-Packard’s upcoming slate PC boasts one clear advantage over Apple’s iPad by supporting Adobe Flash, an HP executive suggests in a corporate blog posting. Apple is shunning Flash, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggested is buggy, for its upcoming device. The HP device will also be based off Windows 7. As the iPad heads for its April 3 release date, a number of competitors are planning to release their own offerings into the rapidly growing tablet PC market.

Hewlett-Packard’s upcoming tablet PC has an advantage over Apple’s iPad thanks to its ability to run Flash, an HP executive wrote in a March 8 posting on a corporate blog. As the launch date for the iPad rapidly approaches, it becomes increasingly clear that the iPad’s deliberate shunning of Flash support may be the hamstring at which its competitors aim their knives.

Whether the lack of Flash support hobbles Apple sales, and boosts the fortunes of its competitors, will likely be undeterminable for several months.

“With this slate product, you’ve getting a full Web browsing experience in the palm of your hand. No watered-down Internet, no sacrifices,” Phil McKinney?, HP’s vice president and chief technology officer for the Personal Systems Group, wrote in the March 8 posting on the company’s Voodoo Blog. “A big bonus for the slate product is that, being based off Windows 7, it offers full Adobe support.”

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

 CodePlex Foundation has announced the expansion of its Board of Directors.

The CodePlex? Foundation describes itself as “a not-for-profit foundation formed with the mission of enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open-source communities.” In essence, the group was spun out of Microsoft to progress on a mission of supporting open-source software that runs on Microsoft platforms. On March 9, the organization “announced the appointment of four members to its permanent Board of Directors.” The announcement continued:

“New appointees include Jim Jagielski, Chief Architect at SpringSource, a division of VMware, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Apache Software Foundation and an Advisory Board Member at Open Source Software Institute, and Tony Hey, Corporate Vice President of External Research for Microsoft Corporation.

Continuing on the Board as permanent Directors are interim Board members Sam Ramji, Vice President of Sonoa Systems, and Stephanie Davies Boesch, Director of Program Management of .NET Framework, Microsoft.”

Link: http://new.ecombizcenter.com

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Sony said Tuesday it will start selling 3-D televisions in June, joining a competitive industrywide push to convince consumers to embrace the technology for their living rooms.

The Japanese electronics giant, known for its PlayStation? 3 game consoles and Bravia flat-screen TVs, will offer its fully capable 3-D TV model in four sizes this summer.

The 40-inch and 46-inch versions will go on sale on June 10 in Japan, while the 52- and 60-inch TVs will be available starting July 16.

Although the company did not release a global launch date, Sony senior vice-president Yoshihisa Ishida said the new TVs will hit stores in the U.S. and other countries around the same time.

The 40-inch 3-D will cost the equivalent of about $3,300 Cdn, and the biggest 60-inch will retail at $6,650.

Included are two pairs of Sony’s 3-D glasses, as well as a camera sensor on each unit that will adjust sound and picture quality based on viewers’ positions. A remote control button enables the switch from a regular 2-D image to 3-D.

Sony hopes 10 per cent of the 25 million TVs it aims to sell next fiscal year will be 3-D units.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

IDC released its 2010 predictions for the PC market, and the analyst firm says virtual desktops, WiMax? and a return to desktops are in the forecast.

Last year’s economic lag directly caused PC prices to take a nosedive. However, IDC thinks the average selling price of PCs will stay put in 2010 thanks to stronger demand from businesses and consumers. The loser is the mininotebook, or netbook. The research firm says 2009 was the climax for netbook market growth and share, pointing to falling prices of portable PCs and lack of differentiation when stacked up against a fully loaded PC.

Portable PCs will remain on their exponential trajectory, accounting for more than 60 percent of all PC shipments. Yet, emerging markets looking for a more affordable solution will look to desktops, slowing the purchases of portable PCs slightly. IDC predicts that market share of all-in-one desktops will double. Consumer interest combined with economic recovery in the commercial sector will fuel shipment growth and help the all-in-one desktop capture nearly 10 percent of 2010’s worldwide desktop market.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Intel is looking into reports of about 300 fake Core i7-920 processors being received by Newegg in a batch of 2,000 chips the online retailer had received. Newegg officials suggest that the problem shipments were demo chips, while Intel officials imply the processors were fake.

Intel is investigating why more than 300 counterfeit Core i7-920 CPUs were shipped to reputable online technology retailer Newegg.

Newegg reportedly received the 300 fake processors in a batch of about 2,000 CPUs shipped to them from a partner, D&H Distributing.

Reports about at least one counterfeit chip began surfacing March 5, and some Web sites have posted photos of the counterfeit product and the package that the fake chip arrived in.

There were several misspellings on the packaging—including a sticker on the outside box that spelled “socket” as “sochet.” Inside the boxes, which were supposed to contain a standalone CPU, were fake processors and some other items.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Jeremy Bray received an e-mail message this morning with an unwelcome surprise: Amazon.com told him it had canceled its affiliate program, which provides small payments for referring customers, for everyone in the state of Colorado.

The reason? A state law, which Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter signed last week, slaps onerous new restrictions on large out-of-state sellers like Amazon, which said it has no choice but to end its marketing program in response.

Bray, a blogger who has lived in Pueblo, Colo., for more than 20 years, told CNET on Monday that he’s now trying to “bring as much attention to the issue as possible in hopes of getting Colorado to repeal” the new law.

Colorado is not alone. Fifteen other states have considered or are considering enacting laws targeting Amazon and other e-commerce companies that typically do not charge sales tax for shipments sent outside their home state, according to a report released Monday. Four states including Colorado have already enacted them.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Microsoft will release the full version of Office 2010 to businesses May 12, around a month before consumers are given the newest version of the company’s productivity suite. A Microsoft executive also indicated in a blog posting that Office 2010, SharePoint? 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 were all on track to be released to manufacturing in April. Office 2010 incorporates cloud-based access to stripped-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint? and OneNote?, in a bid to challenge other online services such as Google Apps.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Four in five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right – with those feelings particularly strong in South Korea and China – and half believe it should never be regulated, according to a global survey.

Technology  |  Media

A poll of 27,000 adults in 26 countries for the BBC World Service showed 78 percent of Internet users believed the Web gave them greater freedom, while nine in 10 said it was a good place to learn.

Respondents in the United States were above the average in believing the Internet was a source for greater freedom and they were also more confident than most in expressing their opinions online.

However, others felt concern about spending time online, with 65 percent of respondents in Japan saying they did not feel they could express their opinions safely online, a sentiment that was also felt in South Korea, France, Germany and China.

The issue of Internet freedoms hit the headlines earlier this year after the world’s largest search engine Google Inc threatened to quit China, the world’s biggest Internet market, over strict censorship rules.

Of the 27,000 surveyed, more than half agreed that the “Internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere.”

That belief was particularly strong in South Korea, Nigeria and Mexico while residents in Pakistan, Turkey and China were the least likely to agree, with only 12 percent, 13 percent and 16 percent respectively strongly agreeing.

Google launched its China search site in 2006, and complies with local laws requiring censorship of certain content such as pornography and sensitive subjects such as the banned Fulun Gong spiritual movement and Tibetan independence.

Other international groups such as Microsoft and local players including China’s search leader Baidu must also comply with those laws.

“Despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the Internet as their fundamental right,” said Doug Miller, the chairman of GlobeScan? which conducted the survey. “They think the Web is a force for good, and most don’t want governments to regulate it.”

Over 70 percent of respondents in Japan, Mexico and Russia said they could not live without the Internet.

Almost 50 percent of those who used the Internet said they most valued the ability to find information. Over 30 percent valued the ability to interact and communicate with others while 12 percent saw it as a source for entertainment.

Of the areas of concern, the poll found that fraud was the greatest worry, ahead of violent and explicit content and threats to privacy.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Some 25.1 million people accessing Facebook via a mobile Web browser, a growth of 112 percent from January 2009, according to new research from comScore. Twitter use via a mobile browser grew 347 percent to 4.7 million users. MySpace? lured 11.4 million users. In total, some 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010. Apple’s iPhone 3GS and Google Android devices such as the Motorola Droid and Nexus One make it easier for users to access applications they would normally only be comfortable using from their PCs and Macs.

Some 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, according to new research from comScore.

That number is an 8.3 point jump from the 22.5 percent figure the researcher tallied one year ago, and is much greater than the 6.8 percent of feature phone users who accessed social networking sites on their mobile phones.

The specific breakdowns, which do not include access of social networks by the 6 million mobile phone owners who do so solely through mobile applications, are even more encouraging for the top social network sites.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

A dream of a European-style common market for North America, with borderless trade and harmonized standards will, for the foreseeable future, just have to dream on. An indication of just how poor the state of free trade is came in early February. After months of negotiations, Ottawa and Washington belatedly came to terms on the so-called Buy American issue. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he had won an exemption that will enable businesses to bid on contracts stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “We really have established the notion that Canada is fundamentally different,” Harper said, “and the relationship between Canada and the United States is fundamentally different.” Yet, with most of the US$787 billion in stimulus funds already spent, our late-stage inclusion seemed to show how low a priority the Americans are putting on trade with Canada.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

The seven turbines have sparked the most complaints about wind farms in the country. Residents complain of a noise like someone is “mixing cement in the sky” or a “clog is stuck in the tumble dryer” and they are not the only ones.

New figures reveal that at least one in six wind farms have had complaints about noise causing a lack of sleep or just been “dreadfully irritating".

This weekend campaigners meet in Darlington for WindConf? 2010 to hear from victims and experts about the impacts of wind farms on areas of outstanding beauty.

Gillian Haythornthwaite, who lives near the wind farm in Askam with her partner Barry Moon, said it has been a “devastating” experience.

“It is a dreadfully irritating whoosh, whoosh noise,” she said. “It is unbearable to be outside in the garden when there is the noise.”

The local council in Barrow in Furness said there have been more than 100 official complaints since the turbines were erected in 1999, although campaigners claim it is more than 270 from around a dozen people.

E. On, the energy company that runs the wind farm, said it has introduced a “noise reduction monitoring reduction system” that turns off the turbines when they turn in a certain direction in order to resolve the problem.

But David Brierley, a retired policeman who also lives nearby, said there is still a problem. He described the noise as like a train that never arrives or a helicopter landing outside.

“It is a horrendous situation,” he added.

Campaigners are gathering evidence on the noise problems caused by wind farms to pressure the Government to take action.

Link: http://news.ecombizcenter.com

Microsoft executives have indicated repeatedly throughout 2010 that the company intends to stay in China and compete aggressively for the search and cloud-computing markets, despite some controversy between the Chinese government and Google earlier in the year that saw the search-engine giant briefly threatening to pull its operations from the country. Both Microsoft and Google lag behind homegrown Chinese search engine Baidu in that market, considered one of the world’s fastest-growing. Both Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Google CEO Eric Schmidt have reaffirmed their commitment to human rights within the context of doing business in China.