NEW FACEBOOK FAD: QUITTING IT

New Delhi, May 14 -- The tech world is buzzing with the new facebook fad. No, it does not involve hanging out on facebook or a new application which has caught everyone's fancy; instead many users are deleting their facebook account citing privacy concern.

Several high profile technology pundits and celebs are kicking the world's number one social networking site to the curb. Meanwhile, Facebook is making it difficult for users to delete their accounts.

Most users feel uncomfortable that their personal information is being sashayed on the internet and complain that adjusting their privacy setting is far too complex. Recently a glitch in the chat functionality gave access to people to view the user's conversations.

Interestingly, a back up plan may already be in place for ex-Facebookers- 'Diaspora'. A group of programmers have already raised $100,000 for their Diaspora project which they call "an open source personal web server that will put individuals in control of their data."

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FIVE HIDDEN DANGERS OF FACEBOOKING

An expert in online privacy has drawn attention to the five dangers of sharing information on social networking site Facebook.

Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online, claims marketing efforts by the company often results in a compromise on account holders' privacy, reports CBS News.

Goodchild noted five risks of using Facebook on 'The Early Show on Saturday Morning.' They are:

1.Your information is being shared with third parties

2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign

3. Facebook ads may contain malware

4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable

5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Earlier this week, 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that the site manipulates privacy settings to make users' personal information available for commercial use.

SHAKESPEARE'S "ROMEO AND JULIET" IN TWITTER TWIST

LONDON – One of Shakespeare's most famous plays gets a 21st century makeover in a new version of "Romeo and Juliet" which will unfold through Twitter messages and on the Youtube video website.

Entitled "Such Tweet Sorrow," the experiment is a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Mudlark, which produces entertainment on mobile telephones.

The production will take place over five weeks and allows for the characters to interact not only among themselves but also with members of the "audience."
Each character writes their own tweets, guided by an existing storyline and diary which outlines where they are at any moment in the adventure.

And so two families named after the original adversaries the Montagues and Capulets have loathed each other for years after a fatal car crash in an unnamed English market town in 2000.

Juliet, played by actress Charlotte Wakefield, is just turning 16 and wonders whether she should have a birthday party to celebrate. She posts a video on Youtube showing viewers a typical teenager's bedroom.
Her Twitter name is @julietcap16 while Romeo's entry into the messaging world comes later as "he is too busy on his Xbox."

"We have no real idea of what the next five weeks will bring, but we are holding onto our seatbelts," said Charles Hunter from Mudlark.

Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, added: "Our ambition is always to connect people with Shakespeare and bring actors and audiences closer together.

"Mobile phones don't need to be the antichrist for theater. This digital experiment ... allows our actors to use mobiles to tell their stories in real time and reach people wherever they are in a global theater."

OPERA BROWSER GETS ACCEPTED FOR APPLE iPHONE

HELSINKI – Apple Inc has accepted distribution of Opera Software's Internet browser for its iPhone after a long review, opening a new and potentially lucrative market so far closely guarded by Apple.

There are numerous versions of Apple's own browser on App Store, but Norway-based Opera is the first rival to get access to iPhone.

Opera applied on March 23 for its mobile browser to be distributed on iPhone, and it was available for downloading to consumers early Tuesday, three weeks later. Usually the review process takes up to one week, developers say.

Analysts have said the decision was difficult for Apple -- whose application store is the only way to distribute software for iPhone users -- as its Internet browsing function is key behind the success of the iPhone.
Opera's browser promises up to six times faster download speeds than Apple's own browser and to cut data traffic by up to 90 percent.

Massive data traffic from iPhone mobile phones has caused problems for many operators' networks.

APPLE iPHONE TO SOON GET LONG-SOUGHT MULTITASKING

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad devices will soon be able to run more than one program at a time, an ability that phones from Apple's rivals already offer and that iPhone owners have long sought.

The changes, coming this summer to iPhones and this fall to iPads, mean that users might be able to listen to music through the Pandora program and check a bank account online simultaneously. Currently, users must return to Apple's home screen, effectively quitting the open program, before starting a new task.

"We weren't the first to this party, but we're going to be the best," Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared Thursday, as bloggers, software developers and others in the audience greeted the news of such "multitasking" with applause.

The iPhone already permits some multitasking, but that's largely limited to Apple's own programs. Apple had not given users ways to seamlessly switch among all the software "apps" available from outside software companies, the way phones from rivals Palm Inc. and Google Inc. already do.

That will change with the updates known as iPhone OS 4. Apple generally makes such updates available for free, and often automatically, as a software download.

"It really changes the way you use the iPhone," Jobs said. "You're bouncing around the apps with tremendous fluidity."

Jobs said the company waited so long because it wanted to offer multitasking in a way that didn't drain the iPhone's battery or reduce the phone's performance.

In demonstrating the feature, Jobs double-tapped on the iPhone's main button while playing a game to reveal a row of icons for other programs that were quietly running in the background and accessible with a finger tap.

Multitasking could enhance the functionality of Internet phone services such as Skype. Currently, a call automatically ends if you exit the Skype app. With multitasking, that call could continue while you look up directions, or you could receive incoming Skype calls even if you're reading the news or a "Gossip Girl" blog instead.

Full multitasking had been high on many people's wish lists. Because Apple's new iPad runs the same software as the iPhone, changes would apply to that larger gadget as well. Some people have held off buying one because of its inability to run more than one program at once.

Other updates include the ability to have messages from multiple e-mail accounts land in a single inbox and a way to connect an iPhone with a regular keyboard using Bluetooth wireless technology.

But Apple still won't support Flash technology, even though many Web sites require it for displaying video. Flash was alongside multitasking at the top of many wish lists.

Although Apple is making the updates available to all iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad models, some features will only work with newer versions. The multitasking function, for example, won't work with the original iPhone or the iPhone 3G — only the 3GS versions that came out last summer. For the iPod Touch, you'd need the models that came out late last year.

Jobs also announced an advertising platform called iAd in which Apple will sell and host ads to run on apps made by outside developers; those developers will get 60 percent of the ad revenue. Jobs said users shouldn't find the ads annoying because Apple will make it easy for people to navigate back to what they were doing before clicking.

He admitted that Apple is still "babes in woods" when it comes to advertising, though the company is learning fast through Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company that Apple bought in January for an undisclosed amount. Jobs said the company had wanted to buy mobile advertising service AdMob, but lost out to Google. That deal is undergoing regulatory review.

Jobs also said the company has sold 450,000 iPads since its launch Saturday. The company earlier said it delivered more than 300,000 iPads on the first day, though that included pre-orders and units shipped to retail stores such as Best Buy but not necessarily purchased right away.

NEW NETFLIX DEALS MEAN MORE STREAMING MOVIES BUT LONGER WAIT FOR 'AVATAR', OTHER DVDs

Can't wait to rent "Avatar" on DVD or Blu-ray? Well, if you're a Blockbuster subscriber, the day you've been waiting for arrives in just a couple of weeks. If you're a Netflix user, though, don't expect to find "Avatar" in your mailbox until mid-May.

Mirroring a deal that Netflix signed with Warner Bros. earlier this year, the freshly inked agreements between Netflix and two other big Hollywood studios — Twentieth Century Fox and Universal — call for a 28-day delay between the time that new DVD and Blu-ray releases from the studios go on sale and when they become available for rent in your Netflix queue, PC World reports.

In the case of Fox, that means "Avatar," which has a retail release date of April 22, won't be available for rent through Netflix until May 20, according to PC World. Meanwhile, "It's Complicated" from Universal won't bow on Netflix until May 25, nearly a month after the movie's April 27 retail debut.

The 28-day delay gives the studios a little more time — or at least, they hope so — to rack up sales on their latest DVDs and Blu-rays and get more on-demand exposure (both via cable and iTunes) before Netflix renters get their hands on the discs. In return, Netflix will get more instant streaming titles from the two studios. From Fox, expect "Aliens," "The Thin Red Line," and Patton," plus full seasons of "Lie to Me," "24," "King of the Hill," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; Universal, meanwhile will offer up such titles as "Gosford Park," "Billy Elliot," "The Pianist," and "Do the Right Thing," according to TechCrunch.

Meanwhile, Blockbuster will get a leg up on Netflix thanks to its new deal with Fox, which (as the L.A. Times reports) allows the retail chain to rent Fox's DVDs and Blu-rays — both in stores and by mail — on the same day they go on sale. (Blockbuster signed a similar deal with Warner last month. That effectively gives Blockbuster an advantage in terms of offering, say, "Avatar" for rent nearly a full month before Netflix does. (Oh, and in case you're wondering, no: The "Avatar" Blu-ray that's coming out this month won't be in 3-D.)

On the other hand, as the L.A. Times points out, financially strapped Blockbuster had to pay a heavy price for the privilege: Both Fox and Sony Pictures (with which Blockbuster also cut a deal) now have a first lien on Blockbuster's Canadian stores. Ouch.

I'd also expect the other shoe to drop soon with Redbox, which (like Netflix) recently signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. that calls for — you guessed it — a 28-day window before it can start renting the studio's latest DVDs.

Redbox had initially opposed the idea of a DVD retail window and filed suit against Warner, Fox and Universal, all of whom had instructed their distributors to hold back their DVDs from the buck-a-night kiosk company until a month or so (depending on the studio) after their discs had arrived in stores. Redbox dropped its suit against Warner once it signed the new distribution deal, and I'm guessing we'll see the same thing happen with Fox and Universal in the near future.

HP LAUNCHES STORAGE WORKS LTO-5 ULTRIUM TAPE SOLUTIONS

Bangalore: HP is expanding its Linear Tape Open (LTO) technology portfolio with the upgraded HP StorageWorks LTO-5 Ultrium tape drives, which deliver improved data transfer speeds and management capabilities. Available with the HP StorageWorks MSL tape libraries, these new archive solutions enable businesses to better manage information through enhanced data protection, disaster recovery as well as long-term data retention operations.

HP StorageWorks LTO-5 tape solutions improve backup performance and reduce data loss with built-in encryption. This prevents unlawful access in the event of theft or malicious use by encoding data to ensure it is unreadable to unauthorized users. With nearly double the capacity of LTO-4 tape drives and encryption support, HP LTO-5 drives can store more data at a lower cost while meeting data security requirements.

HP LTO-5 tape solutions offer easy-to-use management tools that automate maintenance tasks, providing clients with improved operational efficiency through the new HP TapeAssure software that proactively monitors the status, performance, utilization and health of drives as well as backup media. Simplified data backup and recovery with HP StorageWorks MSL tape libraries that automatically backup and consolidate drives through an easy-to-manage network.

Lowered operational costs as the tape drives' increased capacity reduces the amount of media, time and human intervention required for daily tape backup. HP StorageWorks Enterprise LTO-5 tape library will be available mid 2010.