Verizon posts lower quarterly profit, higher revenue

Verizon posts lower quarterly profit, higher revenue

Reuters

WASHINGTON - Verizon Communications Inc on Tuesday posted lower quarterly earnings, but revenue rose as it added customers to its wireless business.
Verizon reported a third-quarter profit of $3.79 billion, or 89 cents per share, compared with $5.6 billion, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $31.6 billion. Wall Street expected $31.58 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Marina Lopes; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Samsung Electronics scales back LED lighting business

Samsung Electronics scales back LED lighting business

Reuters 

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said on Monday that it will cease its light emitting diode (LED) lighting business outside of South Korea, scaling back what was identified as a key growth business four years ago.
LED, rechargeable cells for hybrid electric cars, solar cells, medical devices and biopharmaceuticals were five areas singled out by the Samsung Group in 2010 as new growth drivers for the conglomerate.

At the time, the group forecast the businesses would generate 50 trillion won ($47.5 billion) in annual revenues by 2020 for its affiliates including Samsung Electronics.

But Samsung Electronics has struggled to gain traction in the LED lighting market, failing to loosen the grip of established rivals such as Philips (PHG.AS) and Osram (OSRn.DE) in advanced markets while facing mounting margin pressures from Chinese competitors in emerging markets.
"We will remain active in the LED industry through our LED component business," Samsung Electronics said in an emailed statement, adding that it will focus on areas such as backlighting for displays of consumer products like televisions.

Samsung Group affiliates have seen limited returns so far from the five new growth areas.
While Samsung SDI Co Ltd (006400.KS) is supplying German premium automaker BMW (BMWG.DE) with electric vehicle battery cells, Samsung companies have struggled to generate significant revenues form other businesses such as solar cells.

Analysts and investors have said developing or identifying new growth drivers will be a key test for Jay Y. Lee, heir-apparent of Samsung Group, as his father, group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, remains hospitalized following a May heart attack.

A Samsung Electronics spokeswoman said the revenue contribution of LED lighting to the company had been small. She declined to give specific figures.
(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates and Ryan Woo)

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Italy hopes free public WiFi will help revive its economy

Italy hopes free public WiFi will help revive its economy

Jon Fingas

Engadget

What would you do to stimulate a sluggish economy? Push tourism? Cut taxes? Well, Italy is trying something a little different: free public WiFi. Over 100 legislators have proposed spending €5 million ($6.3 million) over three years to help install gratis hotspots in thousands of locations across the country, including airports, large shopping areas and even courtrooms. Theoretically, the move helps Italy make up for its poor broadband adoption (under 1 percent of residents have service at 30Mbps or faster) by making internet access virtually ubiquitous. It could also help visitors, many of whom would otherwise stay offline during their stays.
It's hard to say if this will work. Just because people can check Facebook in front of the Prada store doesn't mean they'll buy anything, after all. Also, there are all kinds of costs that will determine whether the public WiFi is worth using. The proposal would cover the the initial hardware, but it won't necessarily cover the running costs -- legions of access points won't matter if they're oversaturated or tend to break down. A finished bill isn't expected to go before parliament until mid-2015, however, so it's likely that this wireless networking plan will go through some revisions before it's set in stone.
[Image credit: Lorenzoclick, Flickr]
Source: Reuters

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FCC fines carriers $10 million for storing customer data in the open

FCC fines carriers $10 million for storing customer data in the open

Jon Fingas

Engadget 

The FCC usually frets over issues like fair network access and next-generation technology, but it's now concerned about your privacy, too. The agency has just issued its first fines over data security, slapping phone carriers TerraCom and YourTel with a total of $10 million in penalties for storing their customer info in the clear. FCC officials claim that both of the budget-oriented providers stored addresses, Social Security numbers and other vital data not just online, but in a format that just about anyone could read. Moreover, they didn't even notify all of their 305,000 combined customers after realizing what they'd done wrong -- potentially, thieves could have abused this mistake before victims knew they were at risk.
These kinds of fines aren't likely to be commonplace, but they could go a long way toward helping the FCC clean up its Lifeline program for low-income Americans. Regulators say they want carriers to foster a sense of trust in their subscribers, and that's particularly important for customers who may not have the luxury of switching networks in protest. There's no certainty that the fines will persuade other networks to lock down your info, but they might set an important precedent.
[Image credit: Getty Images/Flickr RF]
Source: FCC

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The windowless plane set for take off in a decade

The windowless plane set for take off in a decade

Shane Hickey

The Guardian

It is a glimpse into the future that will inspire wonder in some people but perhaps strike terror into the heart of the nervous flyer: a windowless plane that nonetheless allows passengers to see what’s going on outside, as well as checking their email and surfing the net.
In a vision of what the next generation of commercial aircraft could look like in little more than a decade, windows would be replaced by full-length screens allowing constant views of the world outside. Passengers would be able to switch on and off the view according to their preference, identify prominent sights by tapping the screen or even just surf the internet.

The early-stage concept for the windowless plane, based on technology used in mobile phones and televisions, hails from the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), a body in the north-east which works with companies to develop new products. It imagines how large,hi-definition, ultra thin and lightweight displays could form the inside of the fuselage, displaying images of the exterior from a series of cameras mounted on the plane’s exterior.

But the real ambition echoes a constant quest in the aviation industry: how to reduce weight and in turn reduce fuel consumption which, in turn, could cut fares for passengers. According to the CPI, for every 1% reduction in the weight of an aircraft, there is a saving in fuel of 0.75%.
The concept came about after imagining how printable electronics, in which the centre specialises, could be used.

“We had been speaking to people in aerospace and we understood that there was this need to take weight out of aircraft,” says the CPI’s Dr Jon Helliwell. By putting windows into a plane, the fuselage needs to be strengthened, he says, and by omitting them in favour of walls of screens on panels, the fuselage becomes lighter.
“Follow the logical thought through. Let’s take all the windows out – that’s what they do in cargo aircraft – what are the passengers going to do? If you think about it, it’s only really the people that are sitting next to windows that will suffer.”

These futuristic plans would involve screen panels reflect whatever view of the outside the passenger wants; a view that would move in accordance with the direction of their eyes.

The screens would be made using organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) – a combination of materials that give out their own light when activated by electricity. The problems with the technology involve price and their sensitivity to moisture, which means they are generally encased in inflexible glass at present, typically seen in mobile phones and televisions. The key development, says Helliwell, would be flexible OLEDs, which would allow the creation of screens suitable for an aeroplane. Electronics company LG recently posted a video of an 18-inch screen which bends and contorts while the images on screen are broadcast uninterrupted.

“What would be great would be to make devices based on OLEDs that are flexible. We can make transistors that are flexible but if we can make OLEDs that are flexible, that gives us a lot of potential in the market because we can print OLEDs onto packaging, we can create flexible displays,” he said.
The CPI is one of seven bodies under the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, an umbrella group which receives government funding to drive growth in manufacturing. Part of the way the CPI operates is to identify challenges in industry – such as the windowless plane – and develop ways to overcome them, says Helliwell.

Using £35m worth of advanced equipment in its Sedgefield facility, the CPI says it working on technologies to advance flexible OLEDs and tackle problems of cost and durability.
This in turn could lead to the development of the OLEDs, and the windowless plane, but could also be used in “smart packaging” for medicines or food that would contain information that can be displayed on a mobile phone.

One of the first steps in developing OLEDs is a mask which helps treat eye disease among diabetes sufferers. The device from PolyPhotonix, which was developed at the CPI, aims to stop the breakdown of blood vessels through diabetic retinopathy. Using the device, the eye is fooled into thinking that it is daytime, when there is not the same problem with blood vessel breakdown.

The concept for the plane, says Helliwell, would allow passengers to see outside while at the same time making a lighter fuselage, an idea which followed discussions with the aerospace industry. The idea of having the displays lining the inside of the plane could become reality in 10 years, after other “building blocks” in the development of OLED are completed, he says. “We are talking about it now because it matches the kind of development timelines that they have in the aerospace industry.
“So you could have a display next to a seat if you wanted it; you could have a blank area next to a seat if you wanted it; you would have complete flexibility as to where you put [the panel screens]. You could put screens on the back of the seats in the middle and link them to the same cameras.”

What are OLEDs

OLEDs are a combination of advanced materials that give out their own light when activated by electricity and are typically used to make screens and lighting. Unlike LCD and plasma displays, they do not need a backlight, meaning that they use less energy and can be much thinner than other displays, while also displaying a higher contrast. Among ambitions for OLEDs involve printing them on sheets or wallpapering them on rooms, effectively turning the walls into lights.

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Don’t Open Random PowerPoint Presentations From Strangers Right Now (Or Ever, Really)

Don’t Open Random PowerPoint Presentations From Strangers Right Now (Or Ever, Really)

Greg Kumparak

TechCrunch

Heads up! In what feels like a throwback to the late 90s/early 2000’s, Microsoft has discovered one helluva bug in Microsoft Office. Executed properly, the bug could be exploited to take over your entire system running just about any version of Windows.
You can find Microsoft’s full disclosure on the bug here, but here’s the bulk of what you should know:

1. This bug is being exploited in the wild, though Microsoft only knows of “limited, targeted attacks” so far
2. It affects Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows RT. XP isn’t mentioned as Microsoft no longer supports it — but yeah, it’s probably affected too.
3. If executed properly, the exploit gives the attacker the same permissions on your system as whatever type of user you’re currently logged in as. If you’re an admin, that means full admin rights — code execution, app installs, etc.
4. If you have Window’s User Account Control feature enabled, it’ll throw up a prompt asking if the file is okay to execute. If you aren’t 100% sure that the file is legit, avoid doing so.
5. The bug is part of PowerPoint’s OLE system, which lets you embed things like spreadsheets into a presentation. It’s supposed to be fairly well sandboxed; alas, it looks like someone found a gap.
6. Microsoft says that hacked presentations e-mailed to users and hacked presentations sitting on the web are potentially dangerous. The short version: avoid all but the most-trusted PowerPoint presentations right now.

So just how gnarly is this bug? Says Microsoft (emphasis ours):
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
But should you panic?
Nah. Do a few things things, and you should be safe:
1) Play it smart about what presentations you open
2) If you’re on a build of Windows that has User Account Control as an option, enable it (it should be on by default, in most cases.) This won’t fix the bug outright, but it’ll throw up a big permissions prompt that’ll remind you not to open mystery files.
3) Check out this advisory page from Microsoft, which offers up a temporary patch until Microsoft finalizes a security update.

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‘1989’, Taylor Swift’s New Album: Fast Facts You Need to Know

‘1989’, Taylor Swift’s New Album: Fast Facts You Need to Know

Taylor Swift’s long-awaited album “1989” has been released and fans have been counting down the hours all day on Twitter. Some fans may have already heard some of the songs as they were leaked online temporarily the other day. The first track to hit the internet was “Blank Space,” but it was yanked by Big Machine Records. Swift is just one of many big artists who has to deal with leaked music, but it shouldn’t affect her album sales as Swifties are extremely loyal.

1. Polaroids Have Been the Theme of the Album

In celebration of the album and the Polaroid photo theme, fans are posting their own Polaroid pics all over Twitter. The #TS1989 physical cd comes with 13 Polaroids and there are 5 different sets for fans, which makes 65 different Polaroids total. The standard album is 13 songs long and the deluxe edition has three extra songs and three voice memos, making 19 tracks. This edition is available solely at Target stores.

 2. It’s Named “1989” After Swift’s Birth Year

In an interview with radio station KISS FM, Swift revealed that she chose the name of the album after her birth year and the album is inspired by music from that year. Swift explained:

I have a few artists in the late eighties who I think made the most incredible, bold, risky decisions as far as pop music goes. They were really ahead of their time, like Annie Lennox and what Madonna was doing in the late eighties. “Like a Prayer” is legitimately one of the greatest pop songs of all time.

3. Swift Has Tons of Giveaways to Celebrate the Album

If you’re looking to win some amazing Swift prizes, check out some of these tweets to see what you can get.

4. She’s Appearing on The Voice and Good Morning America to Promote the Album

Swift has been going crazy promoting this album. After the first single “Shake It Off” was such a successful, she carried on a countdown for the big album release, debuting the song “Out of the Woods” and then the song ‘Welcome to New York.” In addition to some of her early track releases, Swift is making some big appearances to celebrate “1989.” Swift will be appearing onGood Morning America tomorrow to chat, as well as this Thursday, October 30, 2014 for an awesome concert series performance. She will also be seen on The Voice this week as an adviser.

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Taylor Swift '1989' Secret Messages - Find Them Out Here!

Taylor Swift '1989' Secret Messages - Find Them Out Here!

Taylor Swift‘s new album 1989 is officially out so that means everyone is wondering what secret messages Taylorshared in her album booklet.

Luckily RIP ME, a fan of the 24-year-old singer, posted all of the secret messages to her Twitter account right after the album dropped and all of the messages go together like a story.

1. “Welcome to New York”: We begin our story in New York.

2. “Blank Space”: There once was a girl known by everyone and no one.

3. “Style”: Her heart belonged to someone who couldn’t stay.

4. “Out of the Woods”: They loved each other recklessly.

5. “All You Had to do Was Stay”: They paid the price.

6. “Shake it Off”: She danced to forget him.

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Skip waiting in long food lines with new apps

Skip waiting in long food lines with new apps

By Natasha Baker

Reuters 

NEW YORK - Tired of waiting in line for a cup of coffee? In a rush to grab lunch? New apps are helping consumers skip the lines by pre-ordering coffee, drinks and meals.
Restaurant chains, start-up companies and payment firms are hoping the apps help them capture a bigger portion of the U.S. restaurant industry.

"Retailers are working on making the equivalent of a fast lane on a highway for transactions," said Nick Holland, of Javelin Strategy and Research in California, which focuses on financial services and payment industries.

The pre-ordering apps have been compared to Uber, the fast-growing rides-on-demand service that is changing the taxi industry.

Preo, for iPhone and Android, works with some bars in New York City to allow customers to pre-order and pay for drinks on their smartphones.

"We're taking the clunky point-of-sale systems and revamping them so that customers have a simple way of ordering for themselves," said Richard Liang, the CEO of New York City-based Preo.

Customers place their orders and when the drink is ready, the app sends a notification and the customer's credit card, which is stored in the app, is then charged.

Another app called Square Order, also available for iPhone and Android, allows people in New York and San Francisco to pre-order restaurant meals for pickup. It predicts when the customer will pick up the meal based on their location so it is ready and warm when they get there.

Hangry, an app for customers in Toronto, works in a similar way, as does Bar Pass, which allows users in London to pre-order drinks and food at local cafes, pubs and arenas. Both are available for iPhone and Android.

Some large restaurant and food chains have released their own apps, but these are only available in certain regions.

Unlike Uber, Liang said expanding food and drink pre-ordering apps nationally is more difficult, which is why many of these apps only work in large cities.

"In order to onboard a driver, you basically just have to get them to download an app. But for us to onboard a venue, you need to train the whole staff on how to use the system," he explained.

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Splot Review: Splot-On Platforming

Splot Review: Splot-On Platforming

Gamezebo

by Jillian Werner 

Splot is the first mobile-focused release from developer Frozenbyte, best known for their action-puzzle series, Trine. Although more condensed in scale than its character-swapping epic older brother, Splot brings plenty of clever ideas to the touch screen, presented through bite-sized bursts of platforming challenges that utterly ooze charm.
Splot begins after your eponymous alien creature crashes into the spaceship of the “Blob Kings,” marooning both sets of aliens on a planet populated by Birdlings. The Blob Kings decide to make the most of a bad situation and eat the succulent baby Birdlings. The Splots, feeling largely responsible for the imminent demise and protection of the young duck-likes, begin rounding them up before the Blob Kings can devour them.

Each stage is built on this premise, pitting the player-controlled Splot against a rampaging Blob King as you each try to reach the Birdlings first. The small bubble-bound birds are scattered about levels the way coins would be in most platformers, with a large batch of birds at the end of the stage acting as the goal and primary victory condition.
The Blob King has no effect on Splot and performs almost like a race ghost during each run, passing by without harming or interrupting your one-eyed alien’s trajectory. Meanwhile, Splot can use a variety of power-ups to interfere with the King, such as temporarily freezing him or using a vacuum to steal birds back that the King snatched first

This head-to-head competition creates a fast-paced rush to the finish (and all of the birds along the way) without the added annoyance of having to protect your Splot from impending doom. Even if the Blob King passes you by and snags some birds first, you can still win the level by beating him to the finish line. The format is reminiscent of the Gourmet Race from Kirby Super Star, although your control of Splot is vastly different.
That control is critical to making Splot an enjoyable mobile experience. In lieu of any virtual controls, Splot utilizes single-tap movement and an entirely jump-based action economy. Tapping on the left side of the screen will make Splot jump left, and tapping on the right makes him jump right. Holding your finger in place after a jump will extend his range or increase falling speed if he sticks to a wall. Levels are built almost entirely around constant jumps and slides, making Splot just as much a wall-jumping platformer as a standard runner.

Most levels are organized so you merely have to jump the correct direction and distance to collect birds and progress. Timing your wall jumps tightly is important, but lower difficulties offer a large window of forgiveness before the Blob King catches up. The exception to this rule is in open areas where Splot is free-gliding, such as underwater or mid-air after hitting a trampoline.
In these instances, you have to guide Splot by dragging your finger along the middle of the screen, but his movement is floaty and often unpredictable. It’s at strong odds with the precise controls of the jump sequences throughout the rest of the level and interrupts game flow every time you have to switch to the drag control scheme. Unfortunately, mastering the awkward glide controls is critical to not only three-starring many levels, but simply completing others, such as the space station where Splot is trapped between deadly lasers within zero gravity.

Thankfully, even with such patience-trying moments, Splot is fairly forgiving. Its three difficulty levels—Bronze, Silver, and Gold—offer a nice scale in challenge. While stages’ layouts remain the same across all three, other changes affect the difficulty: the Blob King moves faster, Birdlings are positioned in slightly different (and harder-to-reach) locations, and Splot-slaying hazards such as spikes are more prevalent.
All stages are extremely short, with longer levels taking no more than a minute to complete, which means even complete failure won’t set you back much. The power-ups available to Splot have a modest cool-down period of a few stages, but this can be removed by leveling up and upgrading his abilities—for instance, our freeze ability previously had a three-stage cooldown, but at max upgrade it can be used every time we play.

This simple upgrade scheme is one of many bonus treats built into Splot. Experience and levels are earned in relation to the number of stars you receive on a stage, with higher difficulties offering multiplied points. This means that going back and trying to perfect a stage for three stars provides additional rewards in the form of power-up enhancements. Every stage—and each difficulty of that stage—also contains a Splot skin that you can unlock and use in-game. Each star you receive on a stage, every time you play it, has the chance of containing a puzzle piece. Finding four puzzle pieces total on a stage will award you its Splot character. This is a fun collect-a-thon and way to personalize your Splot experience: we had a blast running levels with business suit-Splot, spaceman-Splot, and mime-Splot.
On top of all of these additions, there are also a ridiculous number of achievements to earn—which also award experience points and special Splots. The entire game is jam-packed with prizes beyond the basic gameplay, which is already a treat itself.

The biggest downside to Splot (besides its floaty controls during free-fall) is that even with over 150 types of Splots to play with, the experience is fairly repetitive. New obstacles—like poppable enemies and teleportation devices—are introduced regularly to provide some variation, but you’re still just jumping from floor to wall to wall to teleporter, and so on throughout the linear levels. The Gold difficulty shakes things up the most by requiring you to time every jump, slide, and fall perfectly to have even a chance at besting the Golden Blob King, but it’s still just a meticulously grueling version of what you’ve generally been doing for 100 other levels.
The result is simply that Splot is best experienced in short bursts of a few stages at a time, ideal for on-the-go mobile gaming but less fit for binge-playing. Those bursts are enticing, though, filled with fast-paced action, adorable characters, and oodles of rewards that scream “Thank you for playing. We love you,” in colorful alien gibberish

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Hawaii volcano lava prompts evacuation concerns

Hawaii volcano lava prompts evacuation concerns

AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press

HONOLULU — Flowing lava from an erupting volcano could soon force dozens of residents of an area in Hawaii to flee their homes.
Authorities on Saturday told them to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as the molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes.

The flow was about 35 yards wide and moving northeast at about 10 yards per hour.
Lava of some 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit crossed a road on the edge of Pahoa, the largest town in the mostly rural region of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii, at 3:50 a.m.

It was about six-tenths of a mile from Pahoa Village Road, the town's main street.
It's not clear when it might reach the village road as the flow has been advancing erratically, said Matt Patrick, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. Most lava from this eruption has flowed south, enveloping the Kalapana and Royal Garden residential subdivisions as it poured out to sea.
For the past two years, however, the lava has been flowing to the northeast, bringing it to Pahoa's doorsteps.

Officials were going door-to door to about 50 homes to keep residents informed of the lava's movement, said Darryl Oliveira, the director of civil defense for Hawaii County.
"This is all something we've been preparing for and hoping wouldn't have to happen," Oliveira said.
The county will issue a mandatory evacuation order if the flow begins advancing at such a rate that it would be difficult for people to move out of the way with little notice, Oliveira said.

Burning asphalt was generating some smoke, but Oliveira said the wind dispersed the fumes over unpopulated areas and it didn't pose a health risk at the moment.

Oliveira said the current situation differs from the flows of past decades because the lava is now approaching the center of a community. Pahoa is not only more densely populated, he said, but it also has commercial and industrial sites as well as residential homes.
The current flow that has been threatening Pahoa began in June. It's been moving fitfully toward the town for weeks, speeding up and then slowing down.

Sporadic suspensions in the lava's movement gave emergency crews time to work on building alternate routes to town in the event the flow covers the main road and highway.
Crews near the leading edge have been wrapping power poles with concrete rings as a layer of protection from the lava's heat.

The lava's pace picked up in recent days when it reached a gully, allowing it to move more efficiently like rain in a gutter.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday asked for a presidential disaster declaration to enable federal help for local emergency crews.

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Samsung's new induction stovetop projects 'virtual flames' onto pots and pans

Samsung's new induction stovetop projects 'virtual flames' onto pots and pans

Dante D'Orazio

The Verge 

Since the dawn of man, we've associated flames with heat. But since induction stovetops don't emit any flames, it seems like they're just waiting to roast your hand. That's why Samsung's latest induction range has "Virtual Flame Technology." A set of blue LEDs around the edge of each burner projects "flames" onto the side of your pots and pans. In addition to letting you know that the burner's on, the "flames" actually increase in size to give you an idea of the relative heat. And, of course, since it's an induction range, the burners only get hot if you actually have a metal pan on them. You will have to pay for the privilege, however: the range is part of Samsung's pricey Chef's Collection, and starts at $3,699.

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