Aerosoft Information Technology News
1) Job Automation: Is a Future Unemployment Crisis Looming?
Two notable economists have recently weighed in on the issue that I've been writing about extensively: job automation and its impact on the future economy.
Paul Krugman links to a 1996 article in which he imagined a future where "information technology would end up reducing, not increasing, the demand for highly educated workers, because a lot of what highly educated workers do could actually be replaced by sophisticated information processing -- indeed, replaced more easily than a lot of manual labor."
That's very much inline with what I think is likely to happen. In fact The Atlantic recently published an excerpt in which I talk about how a Radioligist's job might be easier to automate than a housekeeper's.
Brad DeLong seems less concerned:
I don't see a problem with the number of jobs: I don't see any reason that technological unemployment should be any more in our future than it has been in our past.
Really? Keep in mind that in the U.S. we need to create over a million jobs a year just to keep up with population growth. Within the next decade or so, I think it's likely that millions of jobs in both low skill areas and high skill occupations are going to increasingly susceptible to automation. If that happens, we'll need to replace all those jobs while still keeping up with growth in the workforce. (And of course that's on top of digging out of the massive unemployment hole we're currently in).
As Krugman notes, one economist that has done extensive work in this area is David Autor of MIT. Autor co-authored a paper that looked at how computers have substituted for labor going all the way back to the 1960s and found that, as we might expect, routine and repetitive jobs are highly susceptible to automation. Autor has found that, as a result, the job market is currently polarized: A great many of the middle-skill jobs that used to support a solid middle class lifestyle have been automated -- leaving us with high skill/high wage jobs that require lots of education and training and lots of low skill jobs with very low wages.
The problem I think we face in the future is that both the high-end jobs and the low-end jobs may erode quite rapidly as information technology advances. The key thing to understand here is that our definition of what constitutes a "routine and repetitive" job is changing over time. At one time a repetitive job may have implied standing on an assembly line. As specialized artificial intelligence applications (like IBM's Watson for example) get better, "routine and repetitive" may come to mean essentially anything that can be broken down into either intellectual or manual tasks that tend to get repeated. Keep in mind that it's not necessary to automate entire jobs: if 50% of a worker's tasks can be automated, then employment in that area can fall by half. When you begin to think in these terms, it becomes fairly difficult to make a list of jobs that (1) employ large numbers of people and (2) are completely safe from automation.
If high skill jobs that require college degrees start getting substantially automated, that will threaten an important aspect of the social contract: if there's anything left of the American Dream, it is the idea that if you work hard to educate yourself, you'll have a better shot at prosperity. If that promise comes up short, it may ultimately destroy the incentive for broad-based pursuit of education. There's significant evidence that this may already be happening: one study recent study suggests that as many as half of college graduates are ending up underemployed.
So if the high skill jobs begin to evaporate, those people will have to turn to lower-skill or trade jobs. We may see people who might otherwise have pursed advanced education competing for jobs as plumbers or mechanics. Perhaps they'll win that competition. But then what happens to the person who would have actually been a better fit for that job?
Since the middle-skill jobs are already gone, those who fail to find high skill positions will fall down the rungs and have to compete for lower skill positions. And yet a lot of these "jobs of last resort" in areas like fast food, retail and other service sectors are also going to be susceptible to automation (See this recent article in the LA Times: "Retail jobs are disappearing as shoppers adjust to self-service.")
What happens to the workers who lose the low skill jobs? Well, they won't have many options; by definition if they've been working jobs of this type for any length of time, they have no savings to fall back on. Safety nets for adults without young children are few. Many of these people will be headed for a tent city (video).
What about Consumption?
What neither Krugman nor DeLong seems to have thought much about is the impact that all this has on consumption. Rising unemployment and declining wages has to impact consumer spending and confidence -- perhaps dramatically. As I've pointed out previously, falling wages will put a deflationary squeeze on households. This is because major fixed costs such as housing (mortgage or rent), health insurance, debt, food and energy will not fall even as income does fall. This will leave average households with less and less to spend on discretionary items -- and that likely means weak demand for any business producing a non-essential product or service. And, hey, that's most of the economy. Those businesses, in turn will see increasing pressure to lay off workers or further automate.
Every product and service produced by the economy ultimately gets purchased (consumed) by someone. In economic terms, "demand" means a desire or need for something -- backed by the ability and willingness to pay for it. There are only two entities that create final demand for products and services: individual people and governments. (And we know that government can't be the demand solution in the long run). It all comes down to individual people buying stuff.
Of course, businesses also purchase things, but that is NOT final demand. Businesses buy inputs that are used to produce something else. If there is no demand for what the business is producing it will shut down and stop buying inputs. A business may sell to another business, but somewhere down the line, that chain has to end at a person (or a government) buying something just because they want it or need it.
This point here is that a worker is also a consumer (and may support other consumers). These people drive final demand. When a worker is replaced by a machine, that machine does not go out and consume. The machine may use resources and spare parts, but again, those are business inputs -- not final demand. If there is no one to buy what the machine is producing it will get shut down. So if we automate all the jobs, or most of the jobs, or if we drive wages so low that very few people have any discretionary income, then it is difficult to see how a modern mass-market economy can survive that. (This is the primary focus of my book, The Lights in the Tunnel).
Some people (like CEOs of global corporations, for example) might argue that it is somehow OK to undermine broad-based consumption in the United States, because the rising consumer class in China and other emerging economies will pick up the slack. Aside from the fact that, as an American, I don't find that very appealing, I'm very doubtful of that argument for a few reasons: (1) Chinese manufacturing will automate and may do so much more rapidly than was the case in the US because they simply have to import the technology, not invent it. That will make it hard for China to create enough new jobs as millions of workers continue to migrate from the countryside to cities. (2) China is still highly dependent on exports and the US is a vital market. A major decline in consumption here will cause unemployment in China, and that will make it very difficult for the Chinese to rebalance their economy toward more domestic consumption. This is something they have been talking about for years but can never seem to pull off. If the average Chinese person sees increasing unemployment and an uncertain future, it's just not going to happen, and the Chinese economy will remain dependent on exports and infrastructure investment.
In general, I think this is a problem that a great many people should be giving serious consideration. Information technology continues to accelerate: the impact will be here long before we are ready. The fact that the first line of Krugman's post is "And now for something completely different" should give you some idea of how much attention this issue is getting from professional economists.
Martin Ford is the author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future (available from Amazon or as a PDF download) and has a blog at econfuture.wordpress.com.
2) New Indian Rules May Make Online Censorship Easier
Draft rules proposed by the Indian government for intermediaries such as telecommunications companies, Internet service providers and blogging sites could in effect aid censorship, according to experts.
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Under the draft rules, intermediaries will have to notify users of their services not to use, display, upload, publish, share or store a variety of content, for which the definition is very vague, and liable to misuse.
Content that is prohibited under these guidelines ranges from information that may "harm minors in any way" to content that is "harmful, threatening, abusive."
Some of the terms are so vague that to stay on the right side of the law, intermediaries may in effect remove third-party content that is even mildly controversial, said Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaw consultant and advocate in India's Supreme Court.
While the definition of some of the terms like obscenity have been ruled on by India's Supreme Court, some of the other terms do not have a precise legal definition, said Pranesh Prakash, program manager at the Centre for Internet and Society, a research and advocacy group focused on consumer and citizen rights on the Internet.
"Would creating a Facebook profile for a minor, for example be considered as harming a minor ?" Duggal said.
The draft rules are secondary legislation framed by the government under the country's Information Technology (Amendment) Act of 2008. Under the IT Act, an intermediary is not liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him, if among other things, he has observed due diligence under the draft rules.
The new rules will give rise to subjective interpretations, thus giving a lot of discretion to non-judicial authorities in the country to decide whether the intermediary has observed due diligence or not, Duggal said.
According to the draft rules, an intermediary has to inform users that in case of non-compliance of its terms of use of the services and privacy policy, it has the right to immediately terminate the access rights of the users to its site. After finding out about infringing content, either on its own or through the authorities, the intermediary has to work with the user or owner of the information to remove access to the information.
Rather than recognizing the diversity of the businesses of intermediaries, the draft rules use a "one-size, fits all" set of rules across a variety of intermediaries including telecom service providers, online payment sites, e-mail service providers, and Web hosting companies, Duggal said.
An intermediary such as a site with user-generated content, like Wikipedia, would need different terms of use from an intermediary such as an e-mail provider, because the kind of liability they accrue are different, Prakash wrote in his blog.
The draft rules also add new provisions that appear designed to give the government easier access to content from intermediaries. Intermediaries will be required to provide information to authorized government agencies for investigative, protective, cybersecurity or intelligence activity, according to the rules.
Information will have to be provided for the purpose of verification of identity, or for prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of offenses, on a written request stating clearly the purpose of seeking such information, the rules add.
The IT Act already has specific procedures in this connection for very specific information requirements, but the draft rules have broadened this to a general requirement for intermediaries to provide information, Prakash said. The new rule could in fact be a way of circumventing the earlier laws, he added.
The draft rules assume significance in the context of recent moves by the Indian government to get Research In Motion to provide access to information on BlackBerry services in India. While providing lawful access to its consumer services like BlackBerry Messenger, RIM has declined to provide access to its corporate service, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, claiming that it does not have access to customers' encryption keys.
The Indian government has previously also said it would demand lawful access from Google's Gmail and Skype, but has not taken any action so far in this direction.
The draft rules will require compliance from a number of entities who until now had thought they were outside the ambit of compliance, Duggal said.
Google did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for its comments on the new rules. Microsoft said that the government should set the policy objectives and provide directional framework, and still allow flexibility to intermediaries to set the data protection measures as they deem fit for different situations and services.
"We believe that the intermediary should be obliged to take down non-compliant content on being notified of the same as well as terminate access rights for those who use these platforms for dissemination of non-compliant content," Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. Non-compliance include, but is not limited to, copyrights, it added.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com
3) For-profit tech colleges: Can employers trust them?
When Steven Peabody chose the University of Phoenix for his bachelor's in business and information systems management in 2001 and his MBA in technology management in 2008, he knew he was paying a lot extra to take classes on his own schedule and finish his degrees as quickly as possible.
Some $54,000 in debt later, he's pleased with the education but not so much with the loans, especially since losing his job as a project manager in December 2008. He now runs a small IT services company and teaching at a private college. "If I could go back in time," he might have decided to "sacrifice my time over my wallet" by attending a less expensive, but less convenient not-for-profit school.
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For-profit schools, such as Capella University, DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute, Kaplan University, University of Phoenix, and Walden University have come under increasing scrutiny for alleged deceptive practices that leave students in high debt for jobs that pay little. An August 2010 General Accountability Office study of 15 for-profit schools that receive 89 percent or more of their revenue from federal student loans found that 4 encouraged fraudulent practices and all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements (PDF) to the GAO's undercover applicants. And the Obama administration has proposed reducing student loan support to such schools due to concerns over students' inability to repay their loans because of the high costs of their degrees and the low wages many graduates get.
Should IT pros looking to increase their skills, or people seeking to enter the IT profession, consider such for-profit schools? And should employers trust their graduates' skills?
The lure of such schools is strong for many students seeking careers in IT, especially those who already have jobs or families or are deployed with the military. Unable to find classes at cash-strapped community colleges or to get to physical classes on a set schedule, they're lured by the convenience and ease of for-profit schools.
Former students and observers say such schools, where enrollment has risen sharply in recent years, can provide a good IT education if you choose the institution carefully. But you could pay twice as much or more per credit as you would at a public school. The extra money gets you easier registration, more help planning your program, instant class availability, and online courses tailored to your schedule.
How for-profit tech schools earned a bad reputationFor-profit schools carry a stigma in some eyes because of their reputation for hard sales pitches, aggressive marketing tactics, and saddling students with big loans for dubious degrees or certificates.
A November 2010 report from the Education Trust found that for-profits offering bachelor's degrees in 2008 graduated, on average, 22 percent of their first-time, full-time students, compared with 55 percent of such students at public institutions and 65 percent at private nonprofits. It also found that the median debt of bachelor's degree recipients at for-profits in 2007-2008 was $31,190, almost twice that of private nonprofits and more than 3.5 times that of public colleges.
September 2010 figures from the U.S. Department of Education show that 11.6 percent of students at for-profit colleges default on their student loans, compared to 4 percent for those at private schools and 6 percent at public schools. Industry spokespeople say that's due, in part, to the fact their students tend to be lower-income.
"There's some truth to that," says Ben Miller, a policy analyst at Education Sector, a nonprofit educational research center in Washington, D.C. However, he says, even if "they are offering a high-quality program, if it costs too much" the student won't be able to get a job that pays enough to let them repay the loan.
Figures from outside observers show for-profits charge the highest premium for certificate programs, and less of a premium for two-year associate degrees; they come closest to the cost of not-for-profits for four-year bachelor degree programs.
According to the College Board figures for the 2010-2011 school year, tuition and fees averaged $13,935 at for-profit schools, $2,713 at public two-year schools, and $7,605 for in-state students at public four-year schools. (Out-of-state tuition at four-year public schools averaged $19,595, with tuition at private not-for-profit schools averaging $27,293.)
An August 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that a certificate program in computer-aided drafting would cost $13,495 at a for-profit school, compared to $520 at one community college. It also found a certificate in Web page design could cost as much as $21,250 at a for-profit, compared to as little as $2,037 at one public school.
How to increase the odds for success with a for-profit school In response to such reports, for-profit schools have posted online tools to help students estimate their costs and taken other steps to assure ethical practices. Kaplan University, for example, puts students through a detailed introductory process before they incur any charges. The government has also proposed a "gainful employment" rule limiting students' access to federal loans if previous graduates of their programs fail to meet benchmarks for repaying their loans, or for limiting their loan debt to a certain percentage of their income.
To increase the chances of a worthwhile education, students (and their employers) should choose only schools that have the most prestigious levels of accreditation, meaning they are members of the nation's six top regional accrediting agencies rather than from national, industry-based, and lesser regional agencies. The top regional accreditation agencies are the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Accreditation from these agencies means the school has met the highest educational standards, and credits earned from it can be transferred to most other schools.
Of the major for-profit colleges, Capella, DeVry, Kaplan, University of Phoenix, and Walden are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ITT Tech is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a less prestigious national agency that mostly accredits smaller schools providing primarily job-related training.
Education Sector's Miller warns of expensive courses in "aspirational" fields such as computer animation, special effects, and graphic design for which there are few jobs. Chip White, co-founder of DegreeInfo.com, a website for those interested in online education, says that trade and technical schools, which cater to those looking for lesser-skilled jobs such as basic computer repair, "are some of the worst offenders" in overcharging students for the jobs they're being prepared for.
Other tips include checking the school's loan default rate, graduation rate, and the average level of debt graduates carry. Some observers also suggested comparing a for-profit's curriculum with that of not-for-profits in the same area, and making sure that the job you're being trained for is actually in demand.
Jesús Borrego, now a faculty member at Regis University, looked carefully at online universities and was "very disappointed" by some that promised a doctorate in suspiciously short time periods. One, for example, told him he could get his doctorate in two years, by giving him "lots of credit for life experience. We'll get you in and out -- that was their basic pitch. I could save a lot of money by getting Photoshop and printing a degree" instead, he says.
When for-profit colleges do deliver for their studentsSome for-profit colleges' students, even those with substantial debt, say they were happy to pay extra for guaranteed access to classes, flexible schedules, and more help planning an education and career.
Unlike the breaks between semesters at a not-for-profit, says IT services company owner Peabody, "You finished one course and next Monday, you were onto the next. You didn't have to analyze what courses you had already completed. They said, 'Here are your schedules all the way through to graduation.'"
"The program is mapped out so that you don't need to change classes around" or puzzle over which class to take next, says Adam Lopez, a senior IT business consultant for a West Coast health care provider; Lopez received an associate degree in computer and electronic engineering technology and a bachelor's in information systems security in March 2009 from ITT Tech. "They pretty much walk you through the entire program," he says, unlike at a community college where a student might "have no direction about what you want to do."
"Everyone is always complaining about how some of the classes at community colleges aren't available, so your program can take longer than two years," says Lopez. "At ITT Tech, all the classes are always there."
The cost of that convenience and availability is high: Lopez incurred a school debt of $80,00 to $90,000, which he and his parents are splitting. Now 24, Lopez figures he should repay his loan "within 10 years. I'll be 35, around that time -- still young." (At a 6 percent interest rate, a $90,000 loan costs $1,000 per month to repay in 10 years.)
"Overall, you are paying for convenience," says Reba Gaines, who owns her own IT consulting firm and has $70,000 in loans from her bachelor's in information technology and MBA in technology management programs at the University of Phoenix. While the loans are "going to take a while to repay" she says, "I think it's put me in a position with my career where I'm not as expendable" as she otherwise might be.
The convenience of the online courses was also critical for Gaines, as she was constantly traveling for business while studying. Although almost all schools offer online courses, former students say for-profits seem to do a better job of gearing them to the needs of mobile adult learners.
Regis professor Borrego says Walden University advisers also did a better job during his Management Information Systems doctoral program than advisers he's had at not-for-profits. He says Walden faculty provided constant feedback online, whereas at one state university his adviser failed to appear for their first session "and the second time, showed up 10 minutes late, for a 30-minute session."
Not all programs or classes deliver, of course. Peabody was "not impressed" with the University of Phoenix classes he took for his bachelor's degree in business and information systems management, saying they didn't provide enough hands-on programming experience. But he was happy enough to return for an MBA, which he found far more demanding and worthwhile.
Do for-profits set up students for IT jobs after they graduate? Employment and job placement rates for graduates of not-for-profit schools are hard to come by, says Education Sector's Miller, "because there's no standard definition or calculation" for how to define, for example, a job related to a student's education. None of the schools interviewed would disclose their graduation or job placement rates.
Even graduation rates among for-profit and not-for-profit schools are difficult to compare, says Miller. For-profits overall, for example, boast a graduation rate in the high 60 percent range, compared to the low 20s for community colleges. However, many for-profit schools count as graduates those receiving a certificate or two-year associate degrees, while many more community college students transfer to four-year schools for a bachelor's degree, and thus don't count as graduates.
Some for-profit graduates are happy not only with their education but their careers. Chris Torres, a PC client administrator for a satellite imagery provider, was referred to ITT Tech by a fellow Marine while in the service, received his associate degree in computer network systems in June 2008, and is currently studying there for his bachelor's in information security systems. ITT career counselors found him a job with a firm doing PC troubleshooting for the military, which eventually led to his current position.
Sue Talley, associate dean for undergraduate studies at Capella University, says most of the school's students are already employed and are taking graduate programs. She says its graduates are in high demand because of the school's credentials. For example, Capella has been designated by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency as a center of excellence in information assurance and security and is a registered education provider for the Project Management Institute.
Few employers would comment on how they view degrees from for-profit versus not-for-profit schools. However, Ben Patz, president of Presidio Networked Solutions South, says a degree from a for-profit school "doesn't make the eyebrows go up" at the $1.3 billion professional and managed services engineering firm. What's more important, he says, is that an applicant "have a very hands-on grasp of the technology that we're dealing with" and a passion for learning. "It's a brutal field to stay on top of things," he says, so "you need to be constantly training."
Regardless of where they get their degree, says Patz, it helps if a student also possesses a certificate in a specific vendor's technology. "If they've done that, that shows a real interest. Those people get rated way higher on our list," he says, regardless of which school they attended.
Many students also like the "real world" experience they get from the part-time, still-in-the-field instructors that often staff for-profit colleges. "It gives you more information on what's going on in the real world, compared to going to a community college or university where the teacher is just in the classroom all day," says PC client admin Torres. "As technology changes, I would rather be taught by a teacher who knows exactly what is going on right now, rather than teaching me what happened a month ago or even years ago."
So if your local community college can't find space for you or you're spending half your life in airplanes -- or in Afghanistan -- a for-profit school could be the ticket to an IT degree or enhanced IT skills. Just choose carefully, and know you're likely to pay a lot more for that easy access.
This story, "For-profit tech colleges: Can IT pros and employers trust them?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in IT careers at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
4)Definition 6 Named Agency of Record for Rubbermaid Commercial
ATLANTA, March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Definition 6, a unified marketing agency, today announced it has been named agency of record for Rubbermaid Commercial Products, a brand of Newell Rubbermaid.
As agency of record for Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP), Definition 6 will support traditional and digital marketing initiatives, utilizing its innovative unified marketing strategy framework.
"This is a significant win for Definition 6," said Michael Kogon, CEO of Definition 6. "We have dramatically transformed the agency over the past year to position us to attract more agency of record relationships from companies like Newell Rubbermaid and its Rubbermaid Commercial Products brand. This win reinforces the demand and interest we're seeing in the marketplace for unified marketing strategies and execution."
Definition 6 will help RCP with campaign planning and execution for new product launches, as well as strategy, planning and execution of digital marketing, promotions, public relations and advertising. "Definition 6 is an impressive agency with an extensive team capable of supporting both traditional and digital marketing programs," said Bob Heisner, Global Vice President of Marketing for Rubbermaid Commercial Products. "We ultimately selected Definition 6 for its ability to come up with the big ideas, but also to execute and plan. We look forward to working with Definition 6 and its team."
RCP evaluated more than 20 agencies during its search for an agency of record in 2010.
About Definition 6
Definition 6 is a Unified Marketing Agency that creates brand experiences that unite brands and people in motion. Through imagination, innovation and insight, we execute ideas that deliver continued value across all brand interactions. Since 1997, Definition 6 has been helping clients redefine brand experiences by unifying the disciplines of marketing and technology. With offices in Atlanta and New York, Definition 6 supports a fast-growing client base that includes The Coca-Cola Company, HBO, La Quinta Inns & Suites, VeriFone, Cox Enterprises, Nickelodeon, Mitsubishi and Cinnabon. For more information on Definition 6's Unified Marketing Services, or to learn more about the agency's award-winning work, please visit http://www.definition6.com/.
Aerosoft Software News
1) Google Android Market kills Droid Dream malware in Trojans
The company says the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them. ... The phone’s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred. ... The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security.
...
The user doesn’t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update ... that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it. ... Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it’s not saying what it is doing. ... Google doesn’t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users ... whenever they intend to access sensitive information.
Ryan Paul adds:
The programs exploited a vulnerability in the platform that allows attackers to gain root access and ... deploy further malware. ... The company is also pushing out an update to the Android Market that can reverse the exploit.
...
The bug is fixed in Android 2.2.2. ... Google is [also] making a patch available, but it's going to be up to the carriers and handset makers to make sure that the patch gets deployed. In light of the mobile industry's poor track record ... it's possible that this flaw will continue to be exploitable on a considerable number of handsets. ... It's troubling that many users will have to rely on the mobile carriers in order to get critical security updates.
Google's Rich Cannings blogs thuswise:
Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher. ... [The] remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team
...
If your device has been affected, you will receive an email from android-market-support@google.com over the next 72 hours. ... You are not required to take any action ... the update will automatically undo the exploit.
Seth Weintraub notes that the situation's worse than we thought last week:
Since Droid Police initially found the 21 apps, a security firm has found 30 more apps by a few more developers. ... It is baffling to me that ... apps like these were able to make it to the market in the first place and hopefully measures are put in place so that ... [this] can't repeat in the future.
...
Google has contacted law enforcement. As far as I know, this is the first time. ... The kill switch process in itself is controversial because it can't be stopped by the user. ... I don't see users becoming upset over this issue, however.
Meanwhile, Charlie White has kill-switch background:
Google’s had this kill switch in place since 2008, and it used the remote application removal capability for the first time in June, 2010. ... The kill switch is not going to completely fix this problem ... [unless] an Android phone is running the latest software.
Dude, Joe Wilcox is all, totally, like, "whoa" and stuff:
Whoa. That's scary reassuring: Knowing Google can reach down to Android handsets to swat malicious code ... and simply that Google can reach down into devices at all. I mean whoa.
...
I've got mixed feelings about the remote removal capabilities, which gives me mixed feelings of security and sense of Big Brother watching.
But Cade Metz reminds us that it's not just Android:
Apple maintains its own "kill switch" for the iPhone. In 2008, an iPhone hacker told the world that Apple had added an app kill switch to the iPhone. ... "Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever," Jobs said, "but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull."
And Finally...
The Ten Most Sinister Cereal Box Mascots… EVER!
[Warning: a few swears and other unsavory content]
2) Google aims to beat traffic with Navigation update
INTERNET AND SOFTWARE GIANT Google announced today that its Maps Navigation will now automatically direct users around traffic, potentially saving everyone a significant amount of time on car journeys.
The feature is part of an update to Google Maps Navigation, replacing the old method of guiding a driver to a route that was technically the quickest, barring the onset of traffic. Now it will provide the most efficient route, taking traffic into consideration.
The inspiration for this was the fact that often radio traffic reports tell people where traffic is when they're already sitting in it, as opposed to before they get to that road in the first place. Google is hoping its Maps Navigation software will address that.
No changes need to be made by users in order to benefit from this addition, as Google has altered the underlying algorithms to take into account current and past traffic information. The only requirement is the availability of real-time traffic data.
This feature is currently available only in North America and Europe.
3) YouTube Buys Next New Networks; Launches YouTube Next
Google's video-sharing site YouTube has acquired web production start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms.
The move could help YouTube create more original content of its own amid increasing competition from rivals such as Hulu and Netflix.
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(Photo: Reuters)
YouTube has acquired start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms that could help YouTube create more original content of its own.
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Google was expected to pay in the tens of millions of dollars for the website, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Google will pay less than $50 million for the company, New York Times reported citing two people briefed on the terms of the deal. In December, New York Times first reported the news that YouTube was eyeing Next New Networks.
With Next New Networks, YouTube is expected to test new technology and help upcoming video talent.
"Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube," Tom Pickett, Director of Global Content Operations and YouTube Next wrote in a blog post.
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"At YouTube, we're focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners," Pickett added.
YouTube Partner Program is a revenue sharing arrangement allowing creators and producers of original content to earn money from their videos. Google helps content creators make money via displaying ads next to their videos, or by renting it through streaming.
Along with the acquisition, YouTube launched YouTube Next - a program that will focus on the training and development of partners and help them create more professional content.
"The YouTube Next team and programs will expand our partner meet-ups and community events, increase investment in partner education and training and launch new capabilities in audience development," Pickett said.
New York-based Next New Networks was launched in March 2007 by Fred Seibert, Herb Scannell, Emil Rensing, Timothy Shey and Jed Simmons. The web television firm's investors include Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Saban Capital Group and Fuse Capital.
Next New Networks is home to online television networks including Barely Political, Channel Frederator, Fast Lane Daily, and Indy Mogul. The company is also one of the top YouTube content providers with over 5.7 million subscribers, and over 2 billion page views.
In addition, YouTube's top two most-watched videos in 2010 came from Next New Networks. They were The Gregory Brothers' "Bed Intruder Song," and The Key of Awesome's Ke$ha parody, "Glitter Puke." Both shows got over 110 million views combined.
Meanwhile, Fred Seibert, CEO and Co-Founder of Next New Networks said he will be stepping down as CEO, but continue producing cartoons from his company, Frederator Studios. However, Next New's current chairman, Lance Podell, will be joining the YouTube Next team as global head for the group.
"Our popular cartoon network, Channel Frederator, will continue its partnership with YouTube, and I'm looking forward to a close and fruitful relationship with the company personally and professionally," Seibert wrote in a blog post.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/119997/20110308/google-youtube-next-new-networks-youtube-next-hulu-netflix-online-video-barely-political-channel-fre.htm#ixzz1G07b3oxc
4) WOMEN'S DAY GOOGLE 'DOODLE': Today's logo invites you to world's
Today, Google does more than spotlight the 100th year of International Women's Day with its home-page "doodle," in which brightly hued profiles mark the social, political and economic advances of women the world over. By clicking on the company's logo, you are also guided to today's global Join Women on the Bridge events.
Google invites viewers to "join tens of thousands of people coming together on bridges all over the world -- from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo -- to show your support" for women's causes and achievements.
According to the Northern California-based company, you can show up in person to one of more than 300 local bridge event in 50 countries -- or you can show support virtually using Street View.
Google and Women for Women International also invite online viewers to donate to any of dozens of causes, under such headings as "empowerment," "education," "health" and "education."
(For the District specifically, The Post highlights Women's Day events going on around Washington.)
Among the celebrities who say they will be attending bridge events are Geena Davis (whose self-named gender-and-media institute is one of the affiliated causes) and Annie Lennox, who is scheduled to help lead the London event.
Aersosoft Mobile News:
1)EVO 3D to Succeed Sprint's HTC EVO 4G at CTIA?
In addition to the rumored Nexus S 4G and EVO Flyer Tablet, Sprint could be launching an EVO 3D smartphone as a successor to its flagship HTC EVO 4G Android smartphone on the Now Network. The original HTC EVO 4G was launched at the Spring CTIA last year, making the wireless industry trade show later this month a natural fit for announcing an update to its flagship phone.
Not a lot of information is known at this time about the EVO 4G, but according to Engadget, the 3D moniker may indicate that the phone may support either a 3D display and/or 3D capabilities through 3D photo and video capture.
Also, as HTC has been the sole provider of Sprint’ EVO products–which currently includes the EVO 4G and the EVO Shift 4G–the EVO 3D smartphone could be a 4G smartphone also made by HTC.
At the time of its unveiling at CTIA a year ago, the HTC EVO 4G brought innovative features such as 4G WiMax support, a large 4.3-inch display, and mobile hotspot support. Since then, newer devices like the Motorola Droid, the Motorola Atrix 4G, and the HTC Thunderbolt have all eroded those competitive advantages offered by the EVO 4G on a hardware perspective, matching fast wireless mobile broadband connectivity, larger capacitive touchscreen displays, and mobile tethering support; the Thunderbolt, also made by HTC but for rival Verizon Wireless, also features the innovative kickstand that was popular on the EVO 4G. As such, Sprint may be turning to 3D, and in particular glasses-free 3D smartphone screens, to gain a competitive edge in the highly competitive mobile smartphone business.
If in fact Sprint does launch a 3D smartphone in the U.S., the carrier’s aggressive push for next-generation technologies may help to jump start the 3D mobile experience. As the carrier likes to claim ‘industry firsts,’ a 3D smartphone will definitely be the first U.S. 3D smartphone. Sharp has announced several 3D smartphones in the Galapagos line for Japan using the Android OS and Nintendo will be launching its portable handheld gaming console, the Nintendo 3DS, with a 3D display.
If HTC will not be the manufacturer of the EVO 3D, a potential partner could be LG, which had launched the Optimus 3D smartphone at Mobile World Congress, but has not announced any carrier partners or carrier support for the device. That smartphone will have a dual-core gigahertz chipset from Texas Instruments. For its part, Sharp has said at CES that the company intends to bring the Galapagos 3D smartphones to the U.S. market in 2011.
Both the Optimus 3D and the Galapagos smartphones offer a 3D-capable display without requiring the owners to wear special glasses to view 3D content. Additionally, users can also view the screen in 2D mode as well without having to turn on the 3D content.
If and when a 3D smartphone launches in the U.S., the phone will require apps, videos, and other content that will take advantage of the 3D-capable display. Until that happens, and support for 3D displays grow, the feature will likely remain a novelty.
2)Verizon HTC Thunderbolt Release Date Now Moved to March 17
The much awaited Verizon HTC Thunderbolt won’t be released on March 10, 2011, which is three days from now as shown in the leaked Best Buy mobile line up that we previously reported. Instead, the release date is now moved to March 17, 2011 to give way to the release of the recently announced iPad 2 from Apple.
This is clearly shown in a Verizon Wireless print ad featured by Droid Life entitled “the next BIG thing” where a ladder is used as an image to feature different gadgets in an increasing order – Home Phone Connect, Xoom, iPad 2, and Thunderbolt.
With the word ‘Thunderbolt’ next to iPad 2, it is perceived to be the gadget to be released by Verizon Wirleless after the iPad 2.
Chris Burns of Android Community confirmed this ad after having an interview with a Wisconsin representative detailing that the constant move of the HTC Thunderbolt release date is caused by Verizon Wireless’ problem with the switch between 3G and 4G LTE networks. When asked when is the exact release date of the HTC Thunderbolt, she answered: “We don’t know but we have the iPad2 coming out this week.”
In another HTC Thunderbolt update of Alex after conversation with a Verizon Wireless Insider at Sentrix Nation, he said that “Verizon and HTC have agreed in principle to a March 17th launch date with an announcement coming this week, likely on Tuesday the 8th.”
While there is still no official release date announced by Verizon Wireless, it seems that March 17 is indeed the much awaited release date for the HTC Thunderbolt. Could this be it? Let’s wait for the official announcement after the launch of iPad 2.
Meanwhile, Best Buy featured another ad for the HTC Thunderbolt side by side with two other HTC 4G phones (HTC Inspire 4G and HTC Evo 4G) as shown in the image below which puts the Thunderbolt at a retail price of $299.99 with a two year contract with Verizon Wireless.
3) HTC Flyer receives a million orders already
The tablet market is definitely a competitive one to say the least, what with the iPad 2 having been announced and ready to trounce the rest of the competition. Well, HTC is no slouch when it comes to mobile devices either, and the company is looking to take off with a tablet of their own aptly known as the Flyer. Chinese news outlet Commercial Times has touted the HTC Flyer to have a price tag of around $600 thereabouts, making it more affordable than the Samsung Galaxy Tab albeit being pricier than the entry level iPad 2 that is ready to set sales figures alight later this week. Of course, so far one million units have already been ordered, which is a good sign by any means in our book. As to whether it is able to impress in real life as it does on paper, that remains to be seen so keep your fingers crossed.
4) T-Mobile Announcing HTC Doubleshot at CTIA?
Sprint and T-Mobile have been surprisingly quiet this year in the smartphone arena. While Sprint has announced the dual-screened Kyocera Echo and released the HTC EVO Shift 4G, T-Mobile hasn’t added much to its stable of phones, unless you include the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.
It’s looking like it will be reverse course for both mobile carriers as CTIA is shaping up to be a pretty eventful occasion for both Sprint and T-Mobile customers here in San Francisco and elsewhere around the United States.
Sprint has been rumored to be announcing 3 devices including the HTC EVO 3D, the Nexus S 4G and the EVO View tablet while T-Mobile might possibly introduce some new Gingerbread devices to their lineup.
TMoNews is reporting that the carrier will carry a device called the HTC Doubleshot that will likely be a phone but could also be a tablet. The report doesn’t confirm that the device will launch at CTIA but it wouldn’t be shocking to see T-Mobile unveil a new smartphone (or two) considering their 2011 lull.
Like most rumored phones, the Doubleshot is probably a code name but what it refers to remains a mystery. Might it be a dual-core processor device that will compete with the Samsung Galaxy S II? Will it come with a free double shot of espresso?
CTIA is only a few weeks away, so consumers in SF on T-Mobile will find out soon enough.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: T-Mobile Announcing HTC Doubleshot at CTIA? - San Francisco Gadgets | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gadgets-in-san-francisco/t-mobile-announcing-htc-doubleshot-at-ctia#ixzz1G08sOn6o
Aersoft Laptop News
1)Google Android Market kills Droid Dream malware in Trojans
Here comes Google with its remote kill switch. The company's using its great power to remove Trojans from users' Android devices. If you downloaded a rogue Trojan from the Android Market last week, expect email from la GOOG explaining how it's murdered your malware. Also, the vulnerability that the Droid Dream rootkit exploits is patched.
By Richi Jennings. March 7, 2011.
Google has flipped the remote kill switch for the 60-odd Trojans that contained the Droid Dream malware rootkit. Its also closing the vulnerability that the rootkit exploited. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers ponder the perils of the kill switch.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention The Ten Most Sinister Cereal Box Mascots… EVER!..
(GOOG)
Dean Takahashi details Google's response to the incident:
The company says the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them. ... The phone’s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred. ... The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security.
...
The user doesn’t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update ... that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it. ... Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it’s not saying what it is doing. ... Google doesn’t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users ... whenever they intend to access sensitive information.
Ryan Paul adds:
The programs exploited a vulnerability in the platform that allows attackers to gain root access and ... deploy further malware. ... The company is also pushing out an update to the Android Market that can reverse the exploit.
...
The bug is fixed in Android 2.2.2. ... Google is [also] making a patch available, but it's going to be up to the carriers and handset makers to make sure that the patch gets deployed. In light of the mobile industry's poor track record ... it's possible that this flaw will continue to be exploitable on a considerable number of handsets. ... It's troubling that many users will have to rely on the mobile carriers in order to get critical security updates.
Google's Rich Cannings blogs thuswise:
Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher. ... [The] remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team
...
If your device has been affected, you will receive an email from android-market-support@google.com over the next 72 hours. ... You are not required to take any action ... the update will automatically undo the exploit.
Seth Weintraub notes that the situation's worse than we thought last week:
Since Droid Police initially found the 21 apps, a security firm has found 30 more apps by a few more developers. ... It is baffling to me that ... apps like these were able to make it to the market in the first place and hopefully measures are put in place so that ... [this] can't repeat in the future.
...
Google has contacted law enforcement. As far as I know, this is the first time. ... The kill switch process in itself is controversial because it can't be stopped by the user. ... I don't see users becoming upset over this issue, however.
Meanwhile, Charlie White has kill-switch background:
Google’s had this kill switch in place since 2008, and it used the remote application removal capability for the first time in June, 2010. ... The kill switch is not going to completely fix this problem ... [unless] an Android phone is running the latest software.
Dude, Joe Wilcox is all, totally, like, "whoa" and stuff:
Whoa. That's scary reassuring: Knowing Google can reach down to Android handsets to swat malicious code ... and simply that Google can reach down into devices at all. I mean whoa.
...
I've got mixed feelings about the remote removal capabilities, which gives me mixed feelings of security and sense of Big Brother watching.
But Cade Metz reminds us that it's not just Android:
Apple maintains its own "kill switch" for the iPhone. In 2008, an iPhone hacker told the world that Apple had added an app kill switch to the iPhone. ... "Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever," Jobs said, "but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull."
2)Google aims to beat traffic with Navigation update
INTERNET AND SOFTWARE GIANT Google announced today that its Maps Navigation will now automatically direct users around traffic, potentially saving everyone a significant amount of time on car journeys.
The feature is part of an update to Google Maps Navigation, replacing the old method of guiding a driver to a route that was technically the quickest, barring the onset of traffic. Now it will provide the most efficient route, taking traffic into consideration.
The inspiration for this was the fact that often radio traffic reports tell people where traffic is when they're already sitting in it, as opposed to before they get to that road in the first place. Google is hoping its Maps Navigation software will address that.
No changes need to be made by users in order to benefit from this addition, as Google has altered the underlying algorithms to take into account current and past traffic information. The only requirement is the availability of real-time traffic data.
This feature is currently available only in North America and Europe
Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2032028/google-aims-beat-traffic-navigation-update#ixzz1G09dnAXJ
The Inquirer - Computer hardware news and downloads. Visit the download store today.
3) YouTube Buys Next New Networks; Launches YouTube Next
Google's video-sharing site YouTube has acquired web production start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms.
The move could help YouTube create more original content of its own amid increasing competition from rivals such as Hulu and Netflix.
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Google was expected to pay in the tens of millions of dollars for the website, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Google will pay less than $50 million for the company, New York Times reported citing two people briefed on the terms of the deal. In December, New York Times first reported the news that YouTube was eyeing Next New Networks.
With Next New Networks, YouTube is expected to test new technology and help upcoming video talent.
"Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube," Tom Pickett, Director of Global Content Operations and YouTube Next wrote in a blog post.
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"At YouTube, we're focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners," Pickett added.
YouTube Partner Program is a revenue sharing arrangement allowing creators and producers of original content to earn money from their videos. Google helps content creators make money via displaying ads next to their videos, or by renting it through streaming.
Along with the acquisition, YouTube launched YouTube Next - a program that will focus on the training and development of partners and help them create more professional content.
"The YouTube Next team and programs will expand our partner meet-ups and community events, increase investment in partner education and training and launch new capabilities in audience development," Pickett said.
New York-based Next New Networks was launched in March 2007 by Fred Seibert, Herb Scannell, Emil Rensing, Timothy Shey and Jed Simmons. The web television firm's investors include Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Saban Capital Group and Fuse Capital.
Next New Networks is home to online television networks including Barely Political, Channel Frederator, Fast Lane Daily, and Indy Mogul. The company is also one of the top YouTube content providers with over 5.7 million subscribers, and over 2 billion page views.
In addition, YouTube's top two most-watched videos in 2010 came from Next New Networks. They were The Gregory Brothers' "Bed Intruder Song," and The Key of Awesome's Ke$ha parody, "Glitter Puke." Both shows got over 110 million views combined.
Meanwhile, Fred Seibert, CEO and Co-Founder of Next New Networks said he will be stepping down as CEO, but continue producing cartoons from his company, Frederator Studios. However, Next New's current chairman, Lance Podell, will be joining the YouTube Next team as global head for the group.
"Our popular cartoon network, Channel Frederator, will continue its partnership with YouTube, and I'm looking forward to a close and fruitful relationship with the company personally and professionally," Seibert wrote in a blog post.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/119997/20110308/google-youtube-next-new-networks-youtube-next-hulu-netflix-online-video-barely-political-channel-fre.htm#ixzz1G09jB5sn
4) WOMEN'S DAY GOOGLE 'DOODLE': Today's logo invites you to world's
Today, Google does more than spotlight the 100th year of International Women's Day with its home-page "doodle," in which brightly hued profiles mark the social, political and economic advances of women the world over. By clicking on the company's logo, you are also guided to today's global Join Women on the Bridge events.
Google invites viewers to "join tens of thousands of people coming together on bridges all over the world -- from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo -- to show your support" for women's causes and achievements.
According to the Northern California-based company, you can show up in person to one of more than 300 local bridge event in 50 countries -- or you can show support virtually using Street View.
Google and Women for Women International also invite online viewers to donate to any of dozens of causes, under such headings as "empowerment," "education," "health" and "education."
(For the District specifically, The Post highlights Women's Day events going on around Washington.)
Among the celebrities who say they will be attending bridge events are Geena Davis (whose self-named gender-and-media institute is one of the affiliated causes) and Annie Lennox, who is scheduled to help lead the London event.
1) Job Automation: Is a Future Unemployment Crisis Looming?
Two notable economists have recently weighed in on the issue that I've been writing about extensively: job automation and its impact on the future economy.
Paul Krugman links to a 1996 article in which he imagined a future where "information technology would end up reducing, not increasing, the demand for highly educated workers, because a lot of what highly educated workers do could actually be replaced by sophisticated information processing -- indeed, replaced more easily than a lot of manual labor."
That's very much inline with what I think is likely to happen. In fact The Atlantic recently published an excerpt in which I talk about how a Radioligist's job might be easier to automate than a housekeeper's.
Brad DeLong seems less concerned:
I don't see a problem with the number of jobs: I don't see any reason that technological unemployment should be any more in our future than it has been in our past.
Really? Keep in mind that in the U.S. we need to create over a million jobs a year just to keep up with population growth. Within the next decade or so, I think it's likely that millions of jobs in both low skill areas and high skill occupations are going to increasingly susceptible to automation. If that happens, we'll need to replace all those jobs while still keeping up with growth in the workforce. (And of course that's on top of digging out of the massive unemployment hole we're currently in).
As Krugman notes, one economist that has done extensive work in this area is David Autor of MIT. Autor co-authored a paper that looked at how computers have substituted for labor going all the way back to the 1960s and found that, as we might expect, routine and repetitive jobs are highly susceptible to automation. Autor has found that, as a result, the job market is currently polarized: A great many of the middle-skill jobs that used to support a solid middle class lifestyle have been automated -- leaving us with high skill/high wage jobs that require lots of education and training and lots of low skill jobs with very low wages.
The problem I think we face in the future is that both the high-end jobs and the low-end jobs may erode quite rapidly as information technology advances. The key thing to understand here is that our definition of what constitutes a "routine and repetitive" job is changing over time. At one time a repetitive job may have implied standing on an assembly line. As specialized artificial intelligence applications (like IBM's Watson for example) get better, "routine and repetitive" may come to mean essentially anything that can be broken down into either intellectual or manual tasks that tend to get repeated. Keep in mind that it's not necessary to automate entire jobs: if 50% of a worker's tasks can be automated, then employment in that area can fall by half. When you begin to think in these terms, it becomes fairly difficult to make a list of jobs that (1) employ large numbers of people and (2) are completely safe from automation.
If high skill jobs that require college degrees start getting substantially automated, that will threaten an important aspect of the social contract: if there's anything left of the American Dream, it is the idea that if you work hard to educate yourself, you'll have a better shot at prosperity. If that promise comes up short, it may ultimately destroy the incentive for broad-based pursuit of education. There's significant evidence that this may already be happening: one study recent study suggests that as many as half of college graduates are ending up underemployed.
So if the high skill jobs begin to evaporate, those people will have to turn to lower-skill or trade jobs. We may see people who might otherwise have pursed advanced education competing for jobs as plumbers or mechanics. Perhaps they'll win that competition. But then what happens to the person who would have actually been a better fit for that job?
Since the middle-skill jobs are already gone, those who fail to find high skill positions will fall down the rungs and have to compete for lower skill positions. And yet a lot of these "jobs of last resort" in areas like fast food, retail and other service sectors are also going to be susceptible to automation (See this recent article in the LA Times: "Retail jobs are disappearing as shoppers adjust to self-service.")
What happens to the workers who lose the low skill jobs? Well, they won't have many options; by definition if they've been working jobs of this type for any length of time, they have no savings to fall back on. Safety nets for adults without young children are few. Many of these people will be headed for a tent city (video).
What about Consumption?
What neither Krugman nor DeLong seems to have thought much about is the impact that all this has on consumption. Rising unemployment and declining wages has to impact consumer spending and confidence -- perhaps dramatically. As I've pointed out previously, falling wages will put a deflationary squeeze on households. This is because major fixed costs such as housing (mortgage or rent), health insurance, debt, food and energy will not fall even as income does fall. This will leave average households with less and less to spend on discretionary items -- and that likely means weak demand for any business producing a non-essential product or service. And, hey, that's most of the economy. Those businesses, in turn will see increasing pressure to lay off workers or further automate.
Every product and service produced by the economy ultimately gets purchased (consumed) by someone. In economic terms, "demand" means a desire or need for something -- backed by the ability and willingness to pay for it. There are only two entities that create final demand for products and services: individual people and governments. (And we know that government can't be the demand solution in the long run). It all comes down to individual people buying stuff.
Of course, businesses also purchase things, but that is NOT final demand. Businesses buy inputs that are used to produce something else. If there is no demand for what the business is producing it will shut down and stop buying inputs. A business may sell to another business, but somewhere down the line, that chain has to end at a person (or a government) buying something just because they want it or need it.
This point here is that a worker is also a consumer (and may support other consumers). These people drive final demand. When a worker is replaced by a machine, that machine does not go out and consume. The machine may use resources and spare parts, but again, those are business inputs -- not final demand. If there is no one to buy what the machine is producing it will get shut down. So if we automate all the jobs, or most of the jobs, or if we drive wages so low that very few people have any discretionary income, then it is difficult to see how a modern mass-market economy can survive that. (This is the primary focus of my book, The Lights in the Tunnel).
Some people (like CEOs of global corporations, for example) might argue that it is somehow OK to undermine broad-based consumption in the United States, because the rising consumer class in China and other emerging economies will pick up the slack. Aside from the fact that, as an American, I don't find that very appealing, I'm very doubtful of that argument for a few reasons: (1) Chinese manufacturing will automate and may do so much more rapidly than was the case in the US because they simply have to import the technology, not invent it. That will make it hard for China to create enough new jobs as millions of workers continue to migrate from the countryside to cities. (2) China is still highly dependent on exports and the US is a vital market. A major decline in consumption here will cause unemployment in China, and that will make it very difficult for the Chinese to rebalance their economy toward more domestic consumption. This is something they have been talking about for years but can never seem to pull off. If the average Chinese person sees increasing unemployment and an uncertain future, it's just not going to happen, and the Chinese economy will remain dependent on exports and infrastructure investment.
In general, I think this is a problem that a great many people should be giving serious consideration. Information technology continues to accelerate: the impact will be here long before we are ready. The fact that the first line of Krugman's post is "And now for something completely different" should give you some idea of how much attention this issue is getting from professional economists.
Martin Ford is the author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future (available from Amazon or as a PDF download) and has a blog at econfuture.wordpress.com.
2) New Indian Rules May Make Online Censorship Easier
Draft rules proposed by the Indian government for intermediaries such as telecommunications companies, Internet service providers and blogging sites could in effect aid censorship, according to experts.
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Under the draft rules, intermediaries will have to notify users of their services not to use, display, upload, publish, share or store a variety of content, for which the definition is very vague, and liable to misuse.
Content that is prohibited under these guidelines ranges from information that may "harm minors in any way" to content that is "harmful, threatening, abusive."
Some of the terms are so vague that to stay on the right side of the law, intermediaries may in effect remove third-party content that is even mildly controversial, said Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaw consultant and advocate in India's Supreme Court.
While the definition of some of the terms like obscenity have been ruled on by India's Supreme Court, some of the other terms do not have a precise legal definition, said Pranesh Prakash, program manager at the Centre for Internet and Society, a research and advocacy group focused on consumer and citizen rights on the Internet.
"Would creating a Facebook profile for a minor, for example be considered as harming a minor ?" Duggal said.
The draft rules are secondary legislation framed by the government under the country's Information Technology (Amendment) Act of 2008. Under the IT Act, an intermediary is not liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him, if among other things, he has observed due diligence under the draft rules.
The new rules will give rise to subjective interpretations, thus giving a lot of discretion to non-judicial authorities in the country to decide whether the intermediary has observed due diligence or not, Duggal said.
According to the draft rules, an intermediary has to inform users that in case of non-compliance of its terms of use of the services and privacy policy, it has the right to immediately terminate the access rights of the users to its site. After finding out about infringing content, either on its own or through the authorities, the intermediary has to work with the user or owner of the information to remove access to the information.
Rather than recognizing the diversity of the businesses of intermediaries, the draft rules use a "one-size, fits all" set of rules across a variety of intermediaries including telecom service providers, online payment sites, e-mail service providers, and Web hosting companies, Duggal said.
An intermediary such as a site with user-generated content, like Wikipedia, would need different terms of use from an intermediary such as an e-mail provider, because the kind of liability they accrue are different, Prakash wrote in his blog.
The draft rules also add new provisions that appear designed to give the government easier access to content from intermediaries. Intermediaries will be required to provide information to authorized government agencies for investigative, protective, cybersecurity or intelligence activity, according to the rules.
Information will have to be provided for the purpose of verification of identity, or for prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of offenses, on a written request stating clearly the purpose of seeking such information, the rules add.
The IT Act already has specific procedures in this connection for very specific information requirements, but the draft rules have broadened this to a general requirement for intermediaries to provide information, Prakash said. The new rule could in fact be a way of circumventing the earlier laws, he added.
The draft rules assume significance in the context of recent moves by the Indian government to get Research In Motion to provide access to information on BlackBerry services in India. While providing lawful access to its consumer services like BlackBerry Messenger, RIM has declined to provide access to its corporate service, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, claiming that it does not have access to customers' encryption keys.
The Indian government has previously also said it would demand lawful access from Google's Gmail and Skype, but has not taken any action so far in this direction.
The draft rules will require compliance from a number of entities who until now had thought they were outside the ambit of compliance, Duggal said.
Google did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for its comments on the new rules. Microsoft said that the government should set the policy objectives and provide directional framework, and still allow flexibility to intermediaries to set the data protection measures as they deem fit for different situations and services.
"We believe that the intermediary should be obliged to take down non-compliant content on being notified of the same as well as terminate access rights for those who use these platforms for dissemination of non-compliant content," Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. Non-compliance include, but is not limited to, copyrights, it added.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com
3) For-profit tech colleges: Can employers trust them?
When Steven Peabody chose the University of Phoenix for his bachelor's in business and information systems management in 2001 and his MBA in technology management in 2008, he knew he was paying a lot extra to take classes on his own schedule and finish his degrees as quickly as possible.
Some $54,000 in debt later, he's pleased with the education but not so much with the loans, especially since losing his job as a project manager in December 2008. He now runs a small IT services company and teaching at a private college. "If I could go back in time," he might have decided to "sacrifice my time over my wallet" by attending a less expensive, but less convenient not-for-profit school.
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For-profit schools, such as Capella University, DeVry University, ITT Technical Institute, Kaplan University, University of Phoenix, and Walden University have come under increasing scrutiny for alleged deceptive practices that leave students in high debt for jobs that pay little. An August 2010 General Accountability Office study of 15 for-profit schools that receive 89 percent or more of their revenue from federal student loans found that 4 encouraged fraudulent practices and all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements (PDF) to the GAO's undercover applicants. And the Obama administration has proposed reducing student loan support to such schools due to concerns over students' inability to repay their loans because of the high costs of their degrees and the low wages many graduates get.
Should IT pros looking to increase their skills, or people seeking to enter the IT profession, consider such for-profit schools? And should employers trust their graduates' skills?
The lure of such schools is strong for many students seeking careers in IT, especially those who already have jobs or families or are deployed with the military. Unable to find classes at cash-strapped community colleges or to get to physical classes on a set schedule, they're lured by the convenience and ease of for-profit schools.
Former students and observers say such schools, where enrollment has risen sharply in recent years, can provide a good IT education if you choose the institution carefully. But you could pay twice as much or more per credit as you would at a public school. The extra money gets you easier registration, more help planning your program, instant class availability, and online courses tailored to your schedule.
How for-profit tech schools earned a bad reputationFor-profit schools carry a stigma in some eyes because of their reputation for hard sales pitches, aggressive marketing tactics, and saddling students with big loans for dubious degrees or certificates.
A November 2010 report from the Education Trust found that for-profits offering bachelor's degrees in 2008 graduated, on average, 22 percent of their first-time, full-time students, compared with 55 percent of such students at public institutions and 65 percent at private nonprofits. It also found that the median debt of bachelor's degree recipients at for-profits in 2007-2008 was $31,190, almost twice that of private nonprofits and more than 3.5 times that of public colleges.
September 2010 figures from the U.S. Department of Education show that 11.6 percent of students at for-profit colleges default on their student loans, compared to 4 percent for those at private schools and 6 percent at public schools. Industry spokespeople say that's due, in part, to the fact their students tend to be lower-income.
"There's some truth to that," says Ben Miller, a policy analyst at Education Sector, a nonprofit educational research center in Washington, D.C. However, he says, even if "they are offering a high-quality program, if it costs too much" the student won't be able to get a job that pays enough to let them repay the loan.
Figures from outside observers show for-profits charge the highest premium for certificate programs, and less of a premium for two-year associate degrees; they come closest to the cost of not-for-profits for four-year bachelor degree programs.
According to the College Board figures for the 2010-2011 school year, tuition and fees averaged $13,935 at for-profit schools, $2,713 at public two-year schools, and $7,605 for in-state students at public four-year schools. (Out-of-state tuition at four-year public schools averaged $19,595, with tuition at private not-for-profit schools averaging $27,293.)
An August 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that a certificate program in computer-aided drafting would cost $13,495 at a for-profit school, compared to $520 at one community college. It also found a certificate in Web page design could cost as much as $21,250 at a for-profit, compared to as little as $2,037 at one public school.
How to increase the odds for success with a for-profit school In response to such reports, for-profit schools have posted online tools to help students estimate their costs and taken other steps to assure ethical practices. Kaplan University, for example, puts students through a detailed introductory process before they incur any charges. The government has also proposed a "gainful employment" rule limiting students' access to federal loans if previous graduates of their programs fail to meet benchmarks for repaying their loans, or for limiting their loan debt to a certain percentage of their income.
To increase the chances of a worthwhile education, students (and their employers) should choose only schools that have the most prestigious levels of accreditation, meaning they are members of the nation's six top regional accrediting agencies rather than from national, industry-based, and lesser regional agencies. The top regional accreditation agencies are the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Accreditation from these agencies means the school has met the highest educational standards, and credits earned from it can be transferred to most other schools.
Of the major for-profit colleges, Capella, DeVry, Kaplan, University of Phoenix, and Walden are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ITT Tech is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a less prestigious national agency that mostly accredits smaller schools providing primarily job-related training.
Education Sector's Miller warns of expensive courses in "aspirational" fields such as computer animation, special effects, and graphic design for which there are few jobs. Chip White, co-founder of DegreeInfo.com, a website for those interested in online education, says that trade and technical schools, which cater to those looking for lesser-skilled jobs such as basic computer repair, "are some of the worst offenders" in overcharging students for the jobs they're being prepared for.
Other tips include checking the school's loan default rate, graduation rate, and the average level of debt graduates carry. Some observers also suggested comparing a for-profit's curriculum with that of not-for-profits in the same area, and making sure that the job you're being trained for is actually in demand.
Jesús Borrego, now a faculty member at Regis University, looked carefully at online universities and was "very disappointed" by some that promised a doctorate in suspiciously short time periods. One, for example, told him he could get his doctorate in two years, by giving him "lots of credit for life experience. We'll get you in and out -- that was their basic pitch. I could save a lot of money by getting Photoshop and printing a degree" instead, he says.
When for-profit colleges do deliver for their studentsSome for-profit colleges' students, even those with substantial debt, say they were happy to pay extra for guaranteed access to classes, flexible schedules, and more help planning an education and career.
Unlike the breaks between semesters at a not-for-profit, says IT services company owner Peabody, "You finished one course and next Monday, you were onto the next. You didn't have to analyze what courses you had already completed. They said, 'Here are your schedules all the way through to graduation.'"
"The program is mapped out so that you don't need to change classes around" or puzzle over which class to take next, says Adam Lopez, a senior IT business consultant for a West Coast health care provider; Lopez received an associate degree in computer and electronic engineering technology and a bachelor's in information systems security in March 2009 from ITT Tech. "They pretty much walk you through the entire program," he says, unlike at a community college where a student might "have no direction about what you want to do."
"Everyone is always complaining about how some of the classes at community colleges aren't available, so your program can take longer than two years," says Lopez. "At ITT Tech, all the classes are always there."
The cost of that convenience and availability is high: Lopez incurred a school debt of $80,00 to $90,000, which he and his parents are splitting. Now 24, Lopez figures he should repay his loan "within 10 years. I'll be 35, around that time -- still young." (At a 6 percent interest rate, a $90,000 loan costs $1,000 per month to repay in 10 years.)
"Overall, you are paying for convenience," says Reba Gaines, who owns her own IT consulting firm and has $70,000 in loans from her bachelor's in information technology and MBA in technology management programs at the University of Phoenix. While the loans are "going to take a while to repay" she says, "I think it's put me in a position with my career where I'm not as expendable" as she otherwise might be.
The convenience of the online courses was also critical for Gaines, as she was constantly traveling for business while studying. Although almost all schools offer online courses, former students say for-profits seem to do a better job of gearing them to the needs of mobile adult learners.
Regis professor Borrego says Walden University advisers also did a better job during his Management Information Systems doctoral program than advisers he's had at not-for-profits. He says Walden faculty provided constant feedback online, whereas at one state university his adviser failed to appear for their first session "and the second time, showed up 10 minutes late, for a 30-minute session."
Not all programs or classes deliver, of course. Peabody was "not impressed" with the University of Phoenix classes he took for his bachelor's degree in business and information systems management, saying they didn't provide enough hands-on programming experience. But he was happy enough to return for an MBA, which he found far more demanding and worthwhile.
Do for-profits set up students for IT jobs after they graduate? Employment and job placement rates for graduates of not-for-profit schools are hard to come by, says Education Sector's Miller, "because there's no standard definition or calculation" for how to define, for example, a job related to a student's education. None of the schools interviewed would disclose their graduation or job placement rates.
Even graduation rates among for-profit and not-for-profit schools are difficult to compare, says Miller. For-profits overall, for example, boast a graduation rate in the high 60 percent range, compared to the low 20s for community colleges. However, many for-profit schools count as graduates those receiving a certificate or two-year associate degrees, while many more community college students transfer to four-year schools for a bachelor's degree, and thus don't count as graduates.
Some for-profit graduates are happy not only with their education but their careers. Chris Torres, a PC client administrator for a satellite imagery provider, was referred to ITT Tech by a fellow Marine while in the service, received his associate degree in computer network systems in June 2008, and is currently studying there for his bachelor's in information security systems. ITT career counselors found him a job with a firm doing PC troubleshooting for the military, which eventually led to his current position.
Sue Talley, associate dean for undergraduate studies at Capella University, says most of the school's students are already employed and are taking graduate programs. She says its graduates are in high demand because of the school's credentials. For example, Capella has been designated by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency as a center of excellence in information assurance and security and is a registered education provider for the Project Management Institute.
Few employers would comment on how they view degrees from for-profit versus not-for-profit schools. However, Ben Patz, president of Presidio Networked Solutions South, says a degree from a for-profit school "doesn't make the eyebrows go up" at the $1.3 billion professional and managed services engineering firm. What's more important, he says, is that an applicant "have a very hands-on grasp of the technology that we're dealing with" and a passion for learning. "It's a brutal field to stay on top of things," he says, so "you need to be constantly training."
Regardless of where they get their degree, says Patz, it helps if a student also possesses a certificate in a specific vendor's technology. "If they've done that, that shows a real interest. Those people get rated way higher on our list," he says, regardless of which school they attended.
Many students also like the "real world" experience they get from the part-time, still-in-the-field instructors that often staff for-profit colleges. "It gives you more information on what's going on in the real world, compared to going to a community college or university where the teacher is just in the classroom all day," says PC client admin Torres. "As technology changes, I would rather be taught by a teacher who knows exactly what is going on right now, rather than teaching me what happened a month ago or even years ago."
So if your local community college can't find space for you or you're spending half your life in airplanes -- or in Afghanistan -- a for-profit school could be the ticket to an IT degree or enhanced IT skills. Just choose carefully, and know you're likely to pay a lot more for that easy access.
This story, "For-profit tech colleges: Can IT pros and employers trust them?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in IT careers at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
4)Definition 6 Named Agency of Record for Rubbermaid Commercial
ATLANTA, March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Definition 6, a unified marketing agency, today announced it has been named agency of record for Rubbermaid Commercial Products, a brand of Newell Rubbermaid.
As agency of record for Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP), Definition 6 will support traditional and digital marketing initiatives, utilizing its innovative unified marketing strategy framework.
"This is a significant win for Definition 6," said Michael Kogon, CEO of Definition 6. "We have dramatically transformed the agency over the past year to position us to attract more agency of record relationships from companies like Newell Rubbermaid and its Rubbermaid Commercial Products brand. This win reinforces the demand and interest we're seeing in the marketplace for unified marketing strategies and execution."
Definition 6 will help RCP with campaign planning and execution for new product launches, as well as strategy, planning and execution of digital marketing, promotions, public relations and advertising. "Definition 6 is an impressive agency with an extensive team capable of supporting both traditional and digital marketing programs," said Bob Heisner, Global Vice President of Marketing for Rubbermaid Commercial Products. "We ultimately selected Definition 6 for its ability to come up with the big ideas, but also to execute and plan. We look forward to working with Definition 6 and its team."
RCP evaluated more than 20 agencies during its search for an agency of record in 2010.
About Definition 6
Definition 6 is a Unified Marketing Agency that creates brand experiences that unite brands and people in motion. Through imagination, innovation and insight, we execute ideas that deliver continued value across all brand interactions. Since 1997, Definition 6 has been helping clients redefine brand experiences by unifying the disciplines of marketing and technology. With offices in Atlanta and New York, Definition 6 supports a fast-growing client base that includes The Coca-Cola Company, HBO, La Quinta Inns & Suites, VeriFone, Cox Enterprises, Nickelodeon, Mitsubishi and Cinnabon. For more information on Definition 6's Unified Marketing Services, or to learn more about the agency's award-winning work, please visit http://www.definition6.com/.
Aerosoft Software News
1) Google Android Market kills Droid Dream malware in Trojans
The company says the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them. ... The phone’s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred. ... The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security.
...
The user doesn’t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update ... that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it. ... Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it’s not saying what it is doing. ... Google doesn’t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users ... whenever they intend to access sensitive information.
Ryan Paul adds:
The programs exploited a vulnerability in the platform that allows attackers to gain root access and ... deploy further malware. ... The company is also pushing out an update to the Android Market that can reverse the exploit.
...
The bug is fixed in Android 2.2.2. ... Google is [also] making a patch available, but it's going to be up to the carriers and handset makers to make sure that the patch gets deployed. In light of the mobile industry's poor track record ... it's possible that this flaw will continue to be exploitable on a considerable number of handsets. ... It's troubling that many users will have to rely on the mobile carriers in order to get critical security updates.
Google's Rich Cannings blogs thuswise:
Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher. ... [The] remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team
...
If your device has been affected, you will receive an email from android-market-support@google.com over the next 72 hours. ... You are not required to take any action ... the update will automatically undo the exploit.
Seth Weintraub notes that the situation's worse than we thought last week:
Since Droid Police initially found the 21 apps, a security firm has found 30 more apps by a few more developers. ... It is baffling to me that ... apps like these were able to make it to the market in the first place and hopefully measures are put in place so that ... [this] can't repeat in the future.
...
Google has contacted law enforcement. As far as I know, this is the first time. ... The kill switch process in itself is controversial because it can't be stopped by the user. ... I don't see users becoming upset over this issue, however.
Meanwhile, Charlie White has kill-switch background:
Google’s had this kill switch in place since 2008, and it used the remote application removal capability for the first time in June, 2010. ... The kill switch is not going to completely fix this problem ... [unless] an Android phone is running the latest software.
Dude, Joe Wilcox is all, totally, like, "whoa" and stuff:
Whoa. That's scary reassuring: Knowing Google can reach down to Android handsets to swat malicious code ... and simply that Google can reach down into devices at all. I mean whoa.
...
I've got mixed feelings about the remote removal capabilities, which gives me mixed feelings of security and sense of Big Brother watching.
But Cade Metz reminds us that it's not just Android:
Apple maintains its own "kill switch" for the iPhone. In 2008, an iPhone hacker told the world that Apple had added an app kill switch to the iPhone. ... "Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever," Jobs said, "but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull."
And Finally...
The Ten Most Sinister Cereal Box Mascots… EVER!
[Warning: a few swears and other unsavory content]
2) Google aims to beat traffic with Navigation update
INTERNET AND SOFTWARE GIANT Google announced today that its Maps Navigation will now automatically direct users around traffic, potentially saving everyone a significant amount of time on car journeys.
The feature is part of an update to Google Maps Navigation, replacing the old method of guiding a driver to a route that was technically the quickest, barring the onset of traffic. Now it will provide the most efficient route, taking traffic into consideration.
The inspiration for this was the fact that often radio traffic reports tell people where traffic is when they're already sitting in it, as opposed to before they get to that road in the first place. Google is hoping its Maps Navigation software will address that.
No changes need to be made by users in order to benefit from this addition, as Google has altered the underlying algorithms to take into account current and past traffic information. The only requirement is the availability of real-time traffic data.
This feature is currently available only in North America and Europe.
3) YouTube Buys Next New Networks; Launches YouTube Next
Google's video-sharing site YouTube has acquired web production start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms.
The move could help YouTube create more original content of its own amid increasing competition from rivals such as Hulu and Netflix.
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(Photo: Reuters)
YouTube has acquired start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms that could help YouTube create more original content of its own.
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Google was expected to pay in the tens of millions of dollars for the website, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Google will pay less than $50 million for the company, New York Times reported citing two people briefed on the terms of the deal. In December, New York Times first reported the news that YouTube was eyeing Next New Networks.
With Next New Networks, YouTube is expected to test new technology and help upcoming video talent.
"Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube," Tom Pickett, Director of Global Content Operations and YouTube Next wrote in a blog post.
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"At YouTube, we're focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners," Pickett added.
YouTube Partner Program is a revenue sharing arrangement allowing creators and producers of original content to earn money from their videos. Google helps content creators make money via displaying ads next to their videos, or by renting it through streaming.
Along with the acquisition, YouTube launched YouTube Next - a program that will focus on the training and development of partners and help them create more professional content.
"The YouTube Next team and programs will expand our partner meet-ups and community events, increase investment in partner education and training and launch new capabilities in audience development," Pickett said.
New York-based Next New Networks was launched in March 2007 by Fred Seibert, Herb Scannell, Emil Rensing, Timothy Shey and Jed Simmons. The web television firm's investors include Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Saban Capital Group and Fuse Capital.
Next New Networks is home to online television networks including Barely Political, Channel Frederator, Fast Lane Daily, and Indy Mogul. The company is also one of the top YouTube content providers with over 5.7 million subscribers, and over 2 billion page views.
In addition, YouTube's top two most-watched videos in 2010 came from Next New Networks. They were The Gregory Brothers' "Bed Intruder Song," and The Key of Awesome's Ke$ha parody, "Glitter Puke." Both shows got over 110 million views combined.
Meanwhile, Fred Seibert, CEO and Co-Founder of Next New Networks said he will be stepping down as CEO, but continue producing cartoons from his company, Frederator Studios. However, Next New's current chairman, Lance Podell, will be joining the YouTube Next team as global head for the group.
"Our popular cartoon network, Channel Frederator, will continue its partnership with YouTube, and I'm looking forward to a close and fruitful relationship with the company personally and professionally," Seibert wrote in a blog post.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/119997/20110308/google-youtube-next-new-networks-youtube-next-hulu-netflix-online-video-barely-political-channel-fre.htm#ixzz1G07b3oxc
4) WOMEN'S DAY GOOGLE 'DOODLE': Today's logo invites you to world's
Today, Google does more than spotlight the 100th year of International Women's Day with its home-page "doodle," in which brightly hued profiles mark the social, political and economic advances of women the world over. By clicking on the company's logo, you are also guided to today's global Join Women on the Bridge events.
Google invites viewers to "join tens of thousands of people coming together on bridges all over the world -- from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo -- to show your support" for women's causes and achievements.
According to the Northern California-based company, you can show up in person to one of more than 300 local bridge event in 50 countries -- or you can show support virtually using Street View.
Google and Women for Women International also invite online viewers to donate to any of dozens of causes, under such headings as "empowerment," "education," "health" and "education."
(For the District specifically, The Post highlights Women's Day events going on around Washington.)
Among the celebrities who say they will be attending bridge events are Geena Davis (whose self-named gender-and-media institute is one of the affiliated causes) and Annie Lennox, who is scheduled to help lead the London event.
Aersosoft Mobile News:
1)EVO 3D to Succeed Sprint's HTC EVO 4G at CTIA?
In addition to the rumored Nexus S 4G and EVO Flyer Tablet, Sprint could be launching an EVO 3D smartphone as a successor to its flagship HTC EVO 4G Android smartphone on the Now Network. The original HTC EVO 4G was launched at the Spring CTIA last year, making the wireless industry trade show later this month a natural fit for announcing an update to its flagship phone.
Not a lot of information is known at this time about the EVO 4G, but according to Engadget, the 3D moniker may indicate that the phone may support either a 3D display and/or 3D capabilities through 3D photo and video capture.
Also, as HTC has been the sole provider of Sprint’ EVO products–which currently includes the EVO 4G and the EVO Shift 4G–the EVO 3D smartphone could be a 4G smartphone also made by HTC.
At the time of its unveiling at CTIA a year ago, the HTC EVO 4G brought innovative features such as 4G WiMax support, a large 4.3-inch display, and mobile hotspot support. Since then, newer devices like the Motorola Droid, the Motorola Atrix 4G, and the HTC Thunderbolt have all eroded those competitive advantages offered by the EVO 4G on a hardware perspective, matching fast wireless mobile broadband connectivity, larger capacitive touchscreen displays, and mobile tethering support; the Thunderbolt, also made by HTC but for rival Verizon Wireless, also features the innovative kickstand that was popular on the EVO 4G. As such, Sprint may be turning to 3D, and in particular glasses-free 3D smartphone screens, to gain a competitive edge in the highly competitive mobile smartphone business.
If in fact Sprint does launch a 3D smartphone in the U.S., the carrier’s aggressive push for next-generation technologies may help to jump start the 3D mobile experience. As the carrier likes to claim ‘industry firsts,’ a 3D smartphone will definitely be the first U.S. 3D smartphone. Sharp has announced several 3D smartphones in the Galapagos line for Japan using the Android OS and Nintendo will be launching its portable handheld gaming console, the Nintendo 3DS, with a 3D display.
If HTC will not be the manufacturer of the EVO 3D, a potential partner could be LG, which had launched the Optimus 3D smartphone at Mobile World Congress, but has not announced any carrier partners or carrier support for the device. That smartphone will have a dual-core gigahertz chipset from Texas Instruments. For its part, Sharp has said at CES that the company intends to bring the Galapagos 3D smartphones to the U.S. market in 2011.
Both the Optimus 3D and the Galapagos smartphones offer a 3D-capable display without requiring the owners to wear special glasses to view 3D content. Additionally, users can also view the screen in 2D mode as well without having to turn on the 3D content.
If and when a 3D smartphone launches in the U.S., the phone will require apps, videos, and other content that will take advantage of the 3D-capable display. Until that happens, and support for 3D displays grow, the feature will likely remain a novelty.
2)Verizon HTC Thunderbolt Release Date Now Moved to March 17
The much awaited Verizon HTC Thunderbolt won’t be released on March 10, 2011, which is three days from now as shown in the leaked Best Buy mobile line up that we previously reported. Instead, the release date is now moved to March 17, 2011 to give way to the release of the recently announced iPad 2 from Apple.
This is clearly shown in a Verizon Wireless print ad featured by Droid Life entitled “the next BIG thing” where a ladder is used as an image to feature different gadgets in an increasing order – Home Phone Connect, Xoom, iPad 2, and Thunderbolt.
With the word ‘Thunderbolt’ next to iPad 2, it is perceived to be the gadget to be released by Verizon Wirleless after the iPad 2.
Chris Burns of Android Community confirmed this ad after having an interview with a Wisconsin representative detailing that the constant move of the HTC Thunderbolt release date is caused by Verizon Wireless’ problem with the switch between 3G and 4G LTE networks. When asked when is the exact release date of the HTC Thunderbolt, she answered: “We don’t know but we have the iPad2 coming out this week.”
In another HTC Thunderbolt update of Alex after conversation with a Verizon Wireless Insider at Sentrix Nation, he said that “Verizon and HTC have agreed in principle to a March 17th launch date with an announcement coming this week, likely on Tuesday the 8th.”
While there is still no official release date announced by Verizon Wireless, it seems that March 17 is indeed the much awaited release date for the HTC Thunderbolt. Could this be it? Let’s wait for the official announcement after the launch of iPad 2.
Meanwhile, Best Buy featured another ad for the HTC Thunderbolt side by side with two other HTC 4G phones (HTC Inspire 4G and HTC Evo 4G) as shown in the image below which puts the Thunderbolt at a retail price of $299.99 with a two year contract with Verizon Wireless.
3) HTC Flyer receives a million orders already
The tablet market is definitely a competitive one to say the least, what with the iPad 2 having been announced and ready to trounce the rest of the competition. Well, HTC is no slouch when it comes to mobile devices either, and the company is looking to take off with a tablet of their own aptly known as the Flyer. Chinese news outlet Commercial Times has touted the HTC Flyer to have a price tag of around $600 thereabouts, making it more affordable than the Samsung Galaxy Tab albeit being pricier than the entry level iPad 2 that is ready to set sales figures alight later this week. Of course, so far one million units have already been ordered, which is a good sign by any means in our book. As to whether it is able to impress in real life as it does on paper, that remains to be seen so keep your fingers crossed.
4) T-Mobile Announcing HTC Doubleshot at CTIA?
Sprint and T-Mobile have been surprisingly quiet this year in the smartphone arena. While Sprint has announced the dual-screened Kyocera Echo and released the HTC EVO Shift 4G, T-Mobile hasn’t added much to its stable of phones, unless you include the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.
It’s looking like it will be reverse course for both mobile carriers as CTIA is shaping up to be a pretty eventful occasion for both Sprint and T-Mobile customers here in San Francisco and elsewhere around the United States.
Sprint has been rumored to be announcing 3 devices including the HTC EVO 3D, the Nexus S 4G and the EVO View tablet while T-Mobile might possibly introduce some new Gingerbread devices to their lineup.
TMoNews is reporting that the carrier will carry a device called the HTC Doubleshot that will likely be a phone but could also be a tablet. The report doesn’t confirm that the device will launch at CTIA but it wouldn’t be shocking to see T-Mobile unveil a new smartphone (or two) considering their 2011 lull.
Like most rumored phones, the Doubleshot is probably a code name but what it refers to remains a mystery. Might it be a dual-core processor device that will compete with the Samsung Galaxy S II? Will it come with a free double shot of espresso?
CTIA is only a few weeks away, so consumers in SF on T-Mobile will find out soon enough.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: T-Mobile Announcing HTC Doubleshot at CTIA? - San Francisco Gadgets | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gadgets-in-san-francisco/t-mobile-announcing-htc-doubleshot-at-ctia#ixzz1G08sOn6o
Aersoft Laptop News
1)Google Android Market kills Droid Dream malware in Trojans
Here comes Google with its remote kill switch. The company's using its great power to remove Trojans from users' Android devices. If you downloaded a rogue Trojan from the Android Market last week, expect email from la GOOG explaining how it's murdered your malware. Also, the vulnerability that the Droid Dream rootkit exploits is patched.
By Richi Jennings. March 7, 2011.
Google has flipped the remote kill switch for the 60-odd Trojans that contained the Droid Dream malware rootkit. Its also closing the vulnerability that the rootkit exploited. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers ponder the perils of the kill switch.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention The Ten Most Sinister Cereal Box Mascots… EVER!..
(GOOG)
Dean Takahashi details Google's response to the incident:
The company says the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them. ... The phone’s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred. ... The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security.
...
The user doesn’t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update ... that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it. ... Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it’s not saying what it is doing. ... Google doesn’t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users ... whenever they intend to access sensitive information.
Ryan Paul adds:
The programs exploited a vulnerability in the platform that allows attackers to gain root access and ... deploy further malware. ... The company is also pushing out an update to the Android Market that can reverse the exploit.
...
The bug is fixed in Android 2.2.2. ... Google is [also] making a patch available, but it's going to be up to the carriers and handset makers to make sure that the patch gets deployed. In light of the mobile industry's poor track record ... it's possible that this flaw will continue to be exploitable on a considerable number of handsets. ... It's troubling that many users will have to rely on the mobile carriers in order to get critical security updates.
Google's Rich Cannings blogs thuswise:
Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher. ... [The] remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team
...
If your device has been affected, you will receive an email from android-market-support@google.com over the next 72 hours. ... You are not required to take any action ... the update will automatically undo the exploit.
Seth Weintraub notes that the situation's worse than we thought last week:
Since Droid Police initially found the 21 apps, a security firm has found 30 more apps by a few more developers. ... It is baffling to me that ... apps like these were able to make it to the market in the first place and hopefully measures are put in place so that ... [this] can't repeat in the future.
...
Google has contacted law enforcement. As far as I know, this is the first time. ... The kill switch process in itself is controversial because it can't be stopped by the user. ... I don't see users becoming upset over this issue, however.
Meanwhile, Charlie White has kill-switch background:
Google’s had this kill switch in place since 2008, and it used the remote application removal capability for the first time in June, 2010. ... The kill switch is not going to completely fix this problem ... [unless] an Android phone is running the latest software.
Dude, Joe Wilcox is all, totally, like, "whoa" and stuff:
Whoa. That's scary reassuring: Knowing Google can reach down to Android handsets to swat malicious code ... and simply that Google can reach down into devices at all. I mean whoa.
...
I've got mixed feelings about the remote removal capabilities, which gives me mixed feelings of security and sense of Big Brother watching.
But Cade Metz reminds us that it's not just Android:
Apple maintains its own "kill switch" for the iPhone. In 2008, an iPhone hacker told the world that Apple had added an app kill switch to the iPhone. ... "Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever," Jobs said, "but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull."
2)Google aims to beat traffic with Navigation update
INTERNET AND SOFTWARE GIANT Google announced today that its Maps Navigation will now automatically direct users around traffic, potentially saving everyone a significant amount of time on car journeys.
The feature is part of an update to Google Maps Navigation, replacing the old method of guiding a driver to a route that was technically the quickest, barring the onset of traffic. Now it will provide the most efficient route, taking traffic into consideration.
The inspiration for this was the fact that often radio traffic reports tell people where traffic is when they're already sitting in it, as opposed to before they get to that road in the first place. Google is hoping its Maps Navigation software will address that.
No changes need to be made by users in order to benefit from this addition, as Google has altered the underlying algorithms to take into account current and past traffic information. The only requirement is the availability of real-time traffic data.
This feature is currently available only in North America and Europe
Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2032028/google-aims-beat-traffic-navigation-update#ixzz1G09dnAXJ
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3) YouTube Buys Next New Networks; Launches YouTube Next
Google's video-sharing site YouTube has acquired web production start up Next New Networks for undisclosed terms.
The move could help YouTube create more original content of its own amid increasing competition from rivals such as Hulu and Netflix.
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Google was expected to pay in the tens of millions of dollars for the website, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Google will pay less than $50 million for the company, New York Times reported citing two people briefed on the terms of the deal. In December, New York Times first reported the news that YouTube was eyeing Next New Networks.
With Next New Networks, YouTube is expected to test new technology and help upcoming video talent.
"Within YouTube, Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation with the team working in a hands on way with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube," Tom Pickett, Director of Global Content Operations and YouTube Next wrote in a blog post.
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"At YouTube, we're focused on building a great technology platform for creators, and so we leave the actual creation of great videos to the people who do it best: our partners," Pickett added.
YouTube Partner Program is a revenue sharing arrangement allowing creators and producers of original content to earn money from their videos. Google helps content creators make money via displaying ads next to their videos, or by renting it through streaming.
Along with the acquisition, YouTube launched YouTube Next - a program that will focus on the training and development of partners and help them create more professional content.
"The YouTube Next team and programs will expand our partner meet-ups and community events, increase investment in partner education and training and launch new capabilities in audience development," Pickett said.
New York-based Next New Networks was launched in March 2007 by Fred Seibert, Herb Scannell, Emil Rensing, Timothy Shey and Jed Simmons. The web television firm's investors include Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Saban Capital Group and Fuse Capital.
Next New Networks is home to online television networks including Barely Political, Channel Frederator, Fast Lane Daily, and Indy Mogul. The company is also one of the top YouTube content providers with over 5.7 million subscribers, and over 2 billion page views.
In addition, YouTube's top two most-watched videos in 2010 came from Next New Networks. They were The Gregory Brothers' "Bed Intruder Song," and The Key of Awesome's Ke$ha parody, "Glitter Puke." Both shows got over 110 million views combined.
Meanwhile, Fred Seibert, CEO and Co-Founder of Next New Networks said he will be stepping down as CEO, but continue producing cartoons from his company, Frederator Studios. However, Next New's current chairman, Lance Podell, will be joining the YouTube Next team as global head for the group.
"Our popular cartoon network, Channel Frederator, will continue its partnership with YouTube, and I'm looking forward to a close and fruitful relationship with the company personally and professionally," Seibert wrote in a blog post.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/119997/20110308/google-youtube-next-new-networks-youtube-next-hulu-netflix-online-video-barely-political-channel-fre.htm#ixzz1G09jB5sn
4) WOMEN'S DAY GOOGLE 'DOODLE': Today's logo invites you to world's
Today, Google does more than spotlight the 100th year of International Women's Day with its home-page "doodle," in which brightly hued profiles mark the social, political and economic advances of women the world over. By clicking on the company's logo, you are also guided to today's global Join Women on the Bridge events.
Google invites viewers to "join tens of thousands of people coming together on bridges all over the world -- from the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo -- to show your support" for women's causes and achievements.
According to the Northern California-based company, you can show up in person to one of more than 300 local bridge event in 50 countries -- or you can show support virtually using Street View.
Google and Women for Women International also invite online viewers to donate to any of dozens of causes, under such headings as "empowerment," "education," "health" and "education."
(For the District specifically, The Post highlights Women's Day events going on around Washington.)
Among the celebrities who say they will be attending bridge events are Geena Davis (whose self-named gender-and-media institute is one of the affiliated causes) and Annie Lennox, who is scheduled to help lead the London event.
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