Blackberry shares plunge after $84m first-quarter loss

The figure was better than the $518m loss for the same period last year, but much worse than analysts' forecasts.
The company, based in Ontario, Canada, also said it would post an operating loss for the next quarter running to September.
Blackberry shares closed down 28% in New York.
Shipments of new smartphones increased, but Blackberry, which used to be called Research In Motion, did not release how many new handsets running the BB10 operating system were sold in the quarter.

Chief executive Thorstein Heins said the company was continuing to focus on the global roll-out of BB10 and was confident it would be a hit with customers.

"We are still in the early stages of this launch, but already, the Blackberry 10 platform and Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 are proving themselves to customers to be very secure, flexible and dynamic mobile computing solutions," he said in a statement.
He added that the group would be increasing investments to support the roll-out of new products and services over the next three quarters.
'Doesn't bode well' Revenue rose to $3.1bn in the quarter from $2.8bn a year earlier.
Analysts had been particularly keen to see the numbers for the new Z10 handset, as it was the first full quarter that the model had been on sale in the United States.
Blackberry launched two all-new smartphones this year, the touchscreen Z10 device, followed by the Q10, with a mini keyboard favoured by many Blackberry users.
Blackberry said that it had shipped 6.8 million phones overall in its first quarter versus 7.8 million in the same three-month period last year.
"It doesn't bode well for the initial Blackberry 10 launch, particularly the Z10. But even the outlook for a second-quarter loss doesn't bode well for the Q10 either," said Brian Colello, an analyst with Morningstar.
Blackberry has been battling stiff competition in the smartphone sector, and has struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Daniel Ernst from Hudson Square Research said the company fell between two camps.
"They're not the high-end provider any more, they're not Apple. They're not the low-end provider, they're not Nokia. So they are in the middle and they do relatively low volumes," he said.
"It's difficult to make great margins on that kind of volume, so I would say the outlook is quite negative."

Microsoft backtracks on Xbox One sharing policies

(CNN) -- Reacting to "feedback from the Xbox community," Microsoft is appearing to reverse course and change two key components to policies for its new Xbox One video game console.

All disc-based games can be played without ever connecting online, and the 24-hour connection requirement has been dropped, according to an update to a May post concerning questions about the new device, due to be released this fall.

Additionally, there will be no limitations to using and sharing games, Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business division, says in the post. People will be able to share, trade or resell their games in the same way they do for Xbox 360 games.

The changes indicate Microsoft is having second thoughts about some of its future plans with the Xbox One. The post read, "Update on June 19, 2013: As a result of feedback from the Xbox community, we have changed certain policies for Xbox One reflected in this blog. Some of this information is no longer accurate."

The company has been taking a public berating since it announced restrictions to used games and their requirement for an Internet connection. Consumers have been reacting with anger over the policies, but the tipping point may have been when Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's "Late Night," pointed out that only the PlayStation 4 could freely play used games, which created more confusion.

The flogging became worse when Sony took to the stage at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show and pointedly did not include such restrictions for the new PlayStation 4. A YouTube video produced by Sony made fun of the used-game restriction by showing how people could share games on the PlayStation 4 -- by just handing them to another person.

Fans air concerns about new PlayStation, Xbox

The new Xbox One used-games policy only affects disc-based games. Titles downloaded through Xbox Live cannot be shared or resold. Also, disc-based games must have the disc inside the console to play.

The changes being made also affect its proposed family sharing policy. Since Microsoft is allowing players to have the flexibility to use games offline, it will not be launching its family sharing plan, which would have allowed up to 10 family members to log in and play games from anywhere.

However, Marc Whitten, chief product officer for Xbox, told CNN the company still believes very deeply in its digital vision.

"So much of what we've built around our digital ecosystem still works," Whitten said. "It's what we building in how you can use your games. Our online vision and the Xbox One architecture really power the complete new experience in how the Cloud changes everything and we're massively invested in this."

He also said the flexibility the company added for physical-disc play will not change for the life of the Xbox One.

Whitten said there are no changes surrounding the addition of Kinect with the Xbox One. He said the company believes the motion sensor/controller is critical to building out the next generation experiences gamers are craving.

The Xbox One will cost about $100 more than Sony's PlayStation 4 ($499 versus $399), but officials at the Redmond, Washington-based company believe their console will be worth the value.

"While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content," Whitten wrote in the blog post. "We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds."

Original Apple I computer up for auction

An original Apple 1 computer is up for auction at Christie's until July 9.

Apple fans are serious. They will line up for hours to buy the newest version of the iPhone and they'll pay a lot for a 37-year-old computer.

One of the few remaining original Apple I computers was put up for bids Monday, and auction house Christie's expects it to attract a winning bid of between $300,000 and $500,000.

Half a million dollars is a lot for a circuit board built in 1976 without casing, keyboard or monitor. In fact, that kind of money could buy you 250 MacBook Pros.
But, the Apple I isn't just any circuit board. It was the first product designed by Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) co-founder Steve Wozniak who built it in his partner Steve Jobs' parents' garage.
Only about 200 Apple 1 computers were ever built by Wozniak and Jobs. At the time, the design attracted the attention of Paul Terrell who owned a Silicon Valley store chain call Byte Shop. He bought the first 50 Apple I computers for $500 each and resold them for $666.66.
In May, an Apple I computer sold for $671,000 at a German auction house, Auction Team Breker. Last year, one sold for $374,500 at a Sotheby's auction.
Bidders have until July 9 to make an online bid at Christie's for the latest Apple I to go on sale. Other iconic computers from the 20th century, including a 1983 Apple Lisa computer, and a prototype of the first Macintosh laptop, are also included in the auction.

Attack of Galaxy S4 gadget spam

When the Galaxy S4 launched in April, Samsung sold one version of its flagship smartphone. Two months later, there are five S4 devices on store shelves.

 

There's the self-explanatory Galaxy S4 Mini. Then there's the Galaxy S4 Zoom, which marries a smartphone with a full functioning point-and-shoot camera. Samsung released the waterproof and dustproof Galaxy S4 Active. And let's not forget the Galaxy S4 Mega, which strangely offers a massive 6.3-inch display -- only with fewer pixels than the original Galaxy S4. (None have yet been announced for U.S. markets, but the prospect doesn't seem far fetched, either.)

Despite all these spinoff phones sharing the same branding, the Galaxy S4 Active is the only "S4" that bears any resemblance -- inside or outside -- to the original Galaxy S4. The Mini and the Zoom have very different designs, processors, displays, and cameras, and they feature varying amounts of storage and RAM. They're hardly the same phone at all.
From a pure hardware perspective, there's no logical concept or idea that really links these phones together aside from being Samsung products.
But from a business perspective, it all makes sense.




The Galaxy S brand sells. It is a trusted, established name among all consumers -- not just the nerds. And in the world of Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android operating system, brands are ultimately more important than the hardware itself. It's not unlike picking a car.
That's why Samsung is making a smart decision to cram as many products as it can under the wildly successful S4 umbrella.
Samsung is learning from its early mistakes: When the first generation of the Galaxy S was released to each major American carrier, it carried a different name and external design, despite the fact that each was built on the same internal components. That "variety" strategy was good for sales, but it was an incoherent vision for building Samsung's reputation.
And so it began unifying. By the time the Galaxy S II came around, there were still multiple versions, but they all carried the same name and same general specs. Last year it added the Galaxy S III mini to the lineup as an experiment. Apparently, it worked well enough to warrant even more spinoffs this year.
Samsung could have given each of its new phones a different name, spending millions of dollars on marketing. Or it could lean on what it knows to be successful.
Branding has always been important for Samsung, because it's a company that thrives on gadget spam. Every year, the company releases dozens of its generally excellent televisions, cameras and computers, but aside from four or five models that provide unique features, each one is only slightly different from the next.
It's a cynical approach, perhaps. But at the end of the day, the end goal is to make money. And if the products are strong, who really cares what they're called?
Then again, if Samsung misfires and waters down its brand with sub par products, it could matter a lot.

Twitter founder uses phone during takeoff

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweeted a number of Vine videos this past week documenting a drive through D.C., his walk through LaGuardia airport, and his plane taking off in San Francisco.

Wait, what was that last one?

Dorsey appears to have recorded the takeoff from his seat on the airplane -- which would be directly in conflict with what flight attendants always instruct passengers to do: power down anything with an on/off switch during takeoffs and landings.
Dorsey, who now is the CEO of mobile payments company Square, did not reply to requests for comment. But a possible rule change could mean that passengers no longer need to heed the warning anyway.
Currently the Federal Aviation Administration prohibits the use of most personal electronic devices on airplanes during takeoff and landings, or whenever the plane is flying lower than 10,000 feet. That goes for both commercial and private planes, although a catchall in the regulation says it's ultimately up to the operator of the airplane to decide what devices to prohibit.
The agency has long claimed that using those devices during takeoff poses a safety issue and that radio signals emitted from electronic devices could interfere with an aircraft's communications.
But FAA officials know that it's not only Dorsey who uses mobile devices when the plane is flying at low altitude. Sixty-nine percent of adult passengers reportedly use a portable device during flights and almost one-third of passengers say they have accidentally left their device on, according to a recent study by the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association.
The agency created a committee last year to test what kind of devices might be OK for passengers to use on board in those situations. A draft of the committee's report, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, recommends the FAA to relax its ban on using some types of personal electronic devices. This could apply to e-readers and MP3 players -- but not cell phones, which travelers still won't be able to use to make calls at any time during flights.



"The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft," said an FAA spokesman in a prepared statement. "That is why we tasked a government-industry group to examine the safety issues and the feasibility of changing the current restrictions."
The committee, which first met in January, was given six months to make its recommendations, but the FAA said it is willing to wait another two months for the safety assessment before moving forward.

Last week's news of a possible rule change is not too surprising. Julius Genachowski, who just recently stepped down as Federal Communications Commission chairman, publicly advocated for the FAA to relax its rules on electronic device use in the past while he was still at the FCC.
"It shows that people have an insatiable demand to be connected these days," said Michael Small, the CEO of in-flight Wi-Fi provider GoGo (GOGO). "In even those few minutes before takeoff they want to be on their device" he said.

Moving on from Google Reader

By Heather Kelly, CNN June 25, 2013 -- Updated 1348 GMT (2148 HKT) | Filed under: Web

(CNN) -- Next Monday, Google is officially shutting down its popular RSS feed reader, Google Reader.

The service's demise after nearly eight years has come as a shock to many who depend on it to collect news into one place from all the websites they love. Its end has created something of a gold rush among startups and other tech companies vying to take the tool's place.

Instead of just finding the closest thing to Reader, maybe it's time to change how you consume all that news. Looking at every single article for a source can be time-consuming, especially if you follow a huge number of sites, and a lot has changed since 2005.

But before trying anything, take a minute to download all your information from Google Reader now. Google Takeout bundles up your feeds, folders, followers and other data into a zip file that you can use later with other services. (Many of the tools we mention will import data automatically from Google if you sign up before Reader closes.)

Feedly adds Web version in new bid for Reader users

The replacements

Goodbye, Google Reader

Change isn't for everyone, and for people who rely on a comprehensive approach to seeing the day's news, finding the next best Reader imitator might be the best interim approach. There is already an overwhelming number of replacements that deliver straight RSS feeds. The best bets are Feedly, The Old Reader, NewsBlur, Aol Reader and NetVibes.

Some new tools were rushed on to beat the July 1 demise of Google Reader and are bound to undergo more changes and improvements -- some are still being created such as Betaworks' Digg Reader. However, the weak links could also end up abandoned in time, and you'll have to search for a home for your carefully organized RSS feeds again.

Think about what's most important to you. Are you primarily checking from a mobile device or from a regular Web browser, and do you need something that will sync across devices (some are only available as apps, others in browsers)? Is sharing stories important, or is reading the news a solitary activity? How important are images, cost, search features or the absence of ads?

Social suggestions

Twitter is a killer news source. Major news surfaces naturally on the social network; a chorus of links or commentary about important stories will likely make its way into anyone's feed, whether they're following news junkies or just friends.

The Discover tab shows popular links from your feed as well, but it's more effective to edit down whom you follow carefully or create custom lists for your various interests. You can follow your favorite news organizations or drill down by finding their Twitter accounts for specific sections or topics. If you like specific writers, follow them for their work as well as context on regular news or links to other writers they enjoy. Hashtags can be great for following news about a specific event or topic.

Facebook is a different creature when it comes to news. It is decent for finding recommended links, but the posts and banter are more personal, happy and less about the outside world. People sometimes avoid posting links or talking about major news stories that might lead to uncomfortable clashes with friends and family. (Clashes and the resulting conversations are among the best parts of Twitter and flesh out the big news stories.)

Fight of the aggregator

The RSS fire hose of news can be overwhelming for many people. A handful of clever tools do more than just show you feeds. They use your interests and some algorithms to figure out what types of articles and topics you will be most interested in and then serve up content that fits with your patterns. Articles are typically grouped by sections, such as sports or the stock market. The tools are big on sharing and use images heavily for a more magazine-like reading experience. Flipboard, Prismatic, Pulse and Zite (which is owned by CNN) are all popular options.

Come back for the longer reads

RSS readers are great because you can scan headlines and the first few sentences of articles and get the gist without having to read them, only going further if it's a topic about which you want to know more. The meatier content (feature stories, long and winding narratives, the New Yorker) deserves more than a glance, but deep reads are different from the quick scan. Save the things you want to dig into later, even offline, with tools such as Instapaper, Pocket or Readability. Apple's Safari browser also offers a Read Later button.

The direct route

Typing a news site's URL directly into a browser seems so passé. But when you just need a quick hit, going straight to a trusted local, national or international news organization might satisfy. Many organizations have their own stand-alone mobile apps on Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices. One advantage of these apps is that you can set up push notifications so you know as soon as something important happens.

There is also Google News, which looks at all the news sources and arranges the breaking stories by popularity, highlighting the in-depth, opinion and featured stories on the topic. A neat visual take on Google News is Newsmap.jp, which Marcos Weskamp created before moving to Flipboard to work as a designer.

No news is good news

The true minimalists can avoid the noise by checking one or two outlets once a day, trusting that the major stories will be featured prominently. News.me sucks in your Twitter and Facebook feeds and turns them into digestible daily e-mails that summarize the most talked about stories of the day.

If you really want to check out, read the Harper's Weekly Review post, which is also available as a newsletter. Every Tuesday, it quickly and amusingly runs down the major stories that happened in the past seven days, with links in case you are intrigued and want to find out more.

Mix and match

There is no one-fits-all solution for how to consume news, and many people hack together their own custom systems from various sources. For example, some go directly to their bookmarked must-read sites in the morning, keep up on current news with Twitter during the day and soak in longer articles on commutes with tools such as Instapaper. Some multitaskers keep TV or radio news humming in the background while they go about their daily activities.

Google Reader was a great tool that will be missed, but its death is an opportunity to try new things and play with different apps, sites and tools for reading news online.

BlackBerry launches iPhone and Android security platform

Secure Work Space lets users toggle between personal and corporate modes on their devices.

After losing the smartphone market to Apple and Google a few years ago, BlackBerry is looking to keep some skin in the game.

Now a distant fourth (behind even Microsoft) and fading fast on the hardware side, BlackBerry is hoping its acclaimed security software might be its ticket to success -- even if it means supporting rivals' devices.

BlackBerry on Tuesday introduced a new service called "Secure Work Space," which allows enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.
Secure Work Space is aimed at giving companies control over the data that flows over their networks, even on a user's personal phone. Corporate email, calendars, contacts and intranets are cordoned off, and IT departments can add or remove other apps from that corporate section without affecting any personal information.
That separation ensures, for example, that users can't copy a message from the corporate profile and paste it into the personal one. Just as crucially, malware infecting the personal side of the phone won't make its way into corporate data.


The setup is similar to BlackBerry Balance, which comes standard on BlackBerry 10 devices.
 


BlackBerry will provide an update on sales of the Z10 and other BlackBerry 10 smartphones on Friday. Though some analysts are optimistic, no one expects the new line of devices will launch BlackBerry back to the smartphone forefront anytime soon -- or, truthfully, ever.
But if Secure Work Space takes off, it could help BlackBerry (BBRY) regain some of the corporate market that it lost so publicly and painfully.
"Conceptually, it does make sense -- BlackBerry did well securing email, and now they're securing a workspace," said Cowen & Co. analyst Matthew Hoffman.
But as BlackBerry has declined, competitors like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) have worked hard to improve their own security capabilities. Samsung launched its own "Knox" system for the new Galaxy S4, which works much like Secure Work Space.
Still, there's room in the market for a trusted multi-platform solution -- an Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) of mobile devices.
Hoffman isn't convinced that BlackBerry will be the only company in the field, but BlackBerry still has the chance to become that trusted solution. Despite all of its troubles on the hardware side, BlackBerry's reputation as a company dedicated to security endures, as CEO Thorsten Heins has made sure to play up the company's history in the space.
A full switch to software would be "messy," though, Hoffman said. "[BlackBerry would] be taking 95% of its revenue, hardware, and saying, that doesn't matter -- now we're going to focus on this 5%. It would be a pretty big corporate transition to become software-only."
BlackBerry dipped a toe into this field back in 2011, when the company launched an experimental product that allows corporate IT staffers to manage multiple mobile devices -- including iOS and Android -- through the same interface. At the time, the company insisted that it wasn't shifting its strategy away from hardware.
Two years later, however, BlackBerry is still struggling on the device side and sorely needs a bright spot. If security software can be successful for BlackBerry, a bit of a strategic shift could be a smart move.

Windows 8.1's little changes are a huge improvement

Windows 8.1 is available in 'preview' version for developers on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (CNNMoney)

Microsoft on Wednesday released its first preview of Windows 8.1, a vastly improved update of its forward-thinking but flawed PC operating system.

On paper, the list of changes that Microsoft made to Windows 8.1 don't seem all that major. No, the app tiles aren't gone. Yes, the Start button is back, but not exactly as you remember it.

But it isn't until you actually start using the latest version of Windows that you can appreciate the big benefits of little tweaks.
Start button: The return of the Start button to its rightful spot on the desktop taskbar is a perfect example.
The Start button's main function in Windows 8.1 is actually to call up the Start screen (the series of app tiles that Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) calls "Modern UI," which was introduced in Windows 8) -- not the labyrinth of nested menus that it used to hide. But when you're in desktop mode and you click the Start button, it won't take you completely out of the desktop. Instead, a semi-transparent version of the Modern UI will float on top of the desktop, allowing you to choose an app.
That feature also allows you to control how you organize the Start screen. You can quickly lump together all the icons for your desktop apps in the Modern UI and label them as such.


 
Snap view: The biggest change in Windows 8.1 is the expansion of the "snap view" feature that enables multiple apps on the screen at the same time.
Windows 8.1 will let you run up to eight apps side by side -- up from just two in Windows 8. (That's provided you have two 2560x1600 resolution monitors. On a smaller device like the Surface, you can still only have two.)
Unlike Windows 8, which ran the second app in snap view as a more limited widget in a small strip of the screen, Windows 8.1 lets users decide how much space each app takes up on the screen -- half? a third? a quarter? Your call!
To make Windows 8.1 users feel less locked into a single app, snap view will automatically launch in certain situations. For example, if you're reading an email and you click on a link, you will no longer exit the email app and go into the browser. Instead, the screen will automatically split itself into two (if it isn't already), and Internet Explorer will pop up right next to your email app. You can even rearrange panes and drag and drop files between them as easily as you would two windows in desktop mode.




App improvements: Microsoft has put in a lot of work into more tightly integrating its own services throughout Windows 8.1.
For example, if you search for a musician using the Bing search app, links and play buttons to that artist's songs and albums will be integrated into the results.
When you receive a Skype call and your computer is locked, you will be able to answer the call without having to first unlock your computer.
And most importantly, the SkyDrive cloud storage service will be more tightly woven into Windows 8.1. SkyDrive won't just make your cloud files look and feel native inside Windows, but it will also sync all your Windows and app settings on the fly, so that you don't have to reconfigure every Windows 8.1 device you use.


Even littler things: It's not just tweaks to big conceptual ideas that make Windows 8.1 promising. Microsoft paid attention to little technical details as well.
When you have more than one monitor, for instance, Windows 8.1 will make sure you can independently adjust scaling for each one so that text, icons and other visual elements are optimally sized and proportioned on each display. (This was a major problem when using the Surface Pro with an external monitor.)
Another tiny fix that goes a long way is how the Start Screen organization process has been cleaned up. Being able to name groups of tiles gives the screen an added sense of order. Instead of pinning every newly installed app to the Start Screen, Windows 8.1 now just adds new apps to a larger list of apps one menu level below. That helps cut down on the chaos of the Start Screen, making it just about the apps that matter to the user.
And having the ability to move entire groups of tiles at once -- as opposed to one by one -- eliminates a tedious process of personalizing the Start Screen.
Wednesday's release is just a preview for software developers. The final version of Windows 8.1 won't be released to the public until the holiday season, and we'll probably see some other little things changed and a few extra tricks added.
No going back to the drawing board: Before Microsoft first pulled the cover off of Windows 8.1 last month, there were claims that negative feedback and poor sales of Windows 8 had forced the company to rethink its strategy and largely abandon its futuristic overhaul of Windows. That couldn't be further from the truth.
With Windows 8.1, Microsoft is slowly pushing us deeper into its Modern UI. Many of the new tweaks to Windows exist to make the Modern UI more enticing as the primary mode of computing.
Microsoft's execution of its PC/tablet hybrid operating system concept still isn't flawless, but its patience in adhering to its vision is commendable. By addressing some of Windows 8's more problematic aspects with subtle, iterative improvements, Microsoft is slowly transitioning its user base to this radical new mode of computing.
That not only makes Windows 8.1 a promising upgrade, but it may go a long way towards validating Microsoft's somewhat risky strategy

PayPal to launch inter-planetary payment system

PayPal is getting serious about space payments.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

PayPal said Thursday it will launch inter-planetary payments -- yes, a system for buying things in space.

 

 

It sounds like a PR stunt, but PayPal is dead serious about getting into the burgeoning field of space tourism. With companies like Virgin Galactic and Space X bringing the go-to-Mars dream much closer to reality, PayPal said its goal is simply to start thinking about the complicated issues concerning space commerce.

"We don't have all the answers right now, but it's clear we won't be using cash when we're in space," PayPal president David Marcus told CNNMoney. "We feel it's time now -- not next year, not when [space tourism] starts to happen -- to start figuring out what this looks like."
The PayPal Galactic initiative will launch later on Thursday at a splashy press conference featuring astronaut Buzz Aldrin.


EBay-owned (EBAY, Fortune 500) PayPal is partnering with two leading groups, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the Space Tourism Society, to answer "the big questions around the commercialization of space."
Space commerce could force a major evolution of all of the entities that touch payments: banking systems, risk and fraud management, regulatory concerns and more. What will be the default currency in a cash-free space system? Who will provide customer support?
Related story: Crowdfunded telescope puts your photo in space
Those questions need to be solved if space tourism is to become a viable business, Marcus said.
"It's easy to perceive this as kind of gee-whiz, even silly, if you just read the headline," he said. "But these are real, difficult, important problems that need to be sorted out."
Those solutions need to come quickly, as casual space travel is much closer than the average consumer might think, said SETI Institute chairwoman Jill Tarter.
"When you talk to the space community -- the people who are actually making this happen -- it doesn't feel pie-in-the-sky to them at all," Tarter said. "Within a few years we are going to have more people off the surface of this planet more often, and we'll have to determine value in that new environment."
To help speed that move to space, PayPal is also launching a crowdfunding campaign on the site FundRazr to raise money for the SETI Institute and its research.

Microsoft previews new Windows, music player, more

(CNN) -- The newest version of Windows is getting some changes. Among them? A little dose of old Windows.

Microsoft is making adjustments to its Windows 8 operating system, beginning with the resurrection of the Start button.

The changes, announced today at the Microsoft Build developer conference in San Francisco, address some of the complaints leveled at the hybrid tablet and PC operating system that surfaced when it was released late last year.

The company also unveiled improvements to its Bing search engine, built-in support for 3-D printers, an updated Xbox Music app, and new tools for developers making WIndows 8 applications.

"The PC, the Windows device of today, doesn't look a lot like the PC of 10 years ago or of 15 years ago," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a keynote address kicking off the conference.

 

Ballmer outlined some of the new changes to Windows 8.1, which he described as a "refined blend."

When the radically different, touchscreen-optimized system came out eight months ago, many Windows users were upset about radical departure from the typical Windows interface, especially the lack of a Start button. The button is back, and now it leads to a list of all your applications.

The company announced a few new applications for Windows 8, including an official Facebook app, Flipboard and NFL Fantasy football. Though there was a brief preview of a new version of PowerPoint for WIndows 8, the next version of the Microsoft Office suite won't be released until 2014.

The speedy Windows 8 update is part of Microsoft's new approach to releasing fixes and adding features to products.

The software and hardware company is now focused on a "rapid release" cycle, which will let it roll out changes to software in a matter of months instead of years. It has already released a number of changes to Windows 8, but this version is the biggest overhaul so far.

A free preview version of the Windows 8.1 update for developers is available to anyone interested in installing it. The version for regular consumers will come out later this year.

Other changes include the ability to boot directly into the desktop, more flexibility with the tiles on the Start screen, support for high-resolution displays, and greater Bing integration.

"Search is not just a list of links, it's things you can do," said Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows, who demonstrated some new Bing features.

Developers can now tap into Bing, which has opened up access to its 3-D maps, entities and knowledge database, and natural user interfaces.

The big Xbox Music update is a radio feature that builds a station for listeners based on a song, much like Pandora.

As part of a feature coming later this year, people will be able to automatically create Xbox Music playlists based on Web pages, like a Pitchfork list of top songs of the year.

Microsoft also highlighted a few of the of the 3,000 Windows 8 certified tablets, PCs and hybrids, including an 18-inch Dell tablet. It highlighted more touchscreen devices, "workhorse" 2-in-1 tablets and smaller tablets.

"We're going to see a proliferation of Windows 8 small tablet devices over the next few months," said Ballmer.

Microsoft's own entry in to the hardware world wasn't forgotten. After some scripted banter about how much they loved their own Surface tablets, presenters announced that developers attending the conference would all receive free Surface Pros. Attendees will also get Acer Iconia W3 tablets.

Your child's data is stored in the cloud

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Your child's school knows just about everything about your kid. Now, many school districts are storing all that information in the cloud.

   Non-profit inBloom offers an Internet database service that allows schools to store, track and analyze data on schoolchildren. If you think about it, that information is more than just test scores. It's whether kids receive free lunch -- a telling indicator of the family's finances. It's the time a student got into a fight in the schoolyard. And it could be a child's prescription medication.

The upshot of storing all that data in one location is that it can be used to tailor specific curricula to each child. If Johnny's data suggests that he's a tactile learner and he's failing math, inBloom's analytic engine might suggest a particular teaching approach.
Teachers say that kind of insight can be helpful.
Jim Peterson, a teacher in Bloomington, Ill., says inBloom has helped break down the silos in his school system's data collection. His school district supports 50 separate data systems.
"This is all about building personalized learning environments for kids," he says.


  

   Peterson also thinks having this kind of data will spur new innovation in education, encouraging entrepreneurs to build applications that can help teachers make use of their students' data.
But as more school districts team up with inBloom, including New York, parents are becoming increasingly vocal critics of the data collection.
"This information ... I have no idea what it is, I have no idea who's using it, I have no idea for what purpose," said New York's Karen Sprowal, mother of nine-year old Matthew.
Matthew has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Ms. Sprowal is concerned about who will have access to her son's medical records and whether any stored data about his behavioral issues will follow him for years to come.
InBloom CEO Iwan Streichenberger is quick to point out the company isn't collecting data the school districts don't already have; it's just providing a one-stop shop to make the data accessible -- and usable -- to teachers.
"Schools and districts collect a lot of data but it's all over the place," Streichenberger says. "Its different systems are disconnected, so as a result, this data is not usable."
Streichenberger says inBloom is providing the "plumbing" to fix school districts' currently disjointed systems. School districts control the data, though they may share that information with third-parties if they choose. (See correction below).




   That promise has offered little comfort to many parents in school districts that use inBloom. Some parents in those districts feel that there's not enough transparency around the data platform, what data will be stored, and who will have access to it. InBloom says it's up to the states to determine what data is stored and whether parents have access.
Sprowal says parents were not adequately notified before her son's school district started loading data on to the platform.

"I think if there was full disclosure, transparency, if they included us in the process, as they were developing it ... it would have been fine," she said. "It would have ... put some constraints on it."
A recent town hall meeting on student privacy in New York got heated.
"We will do whatever it takes to stop inBloom, [New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, or anyone else when it comes to our children," one parent said to applause.
Pending legislation in New York would allow parents to opt out of this type of data collection.
InBloom represents just one of many tech companies capitalizing on data collection in the classroom.
A company called DreamBox Learning offers a computer program for teaching math. The technology assesses whether students answer correctly, and, more importantly, how they arrived at the answer. The data includes whether a child hesitates, and what strategy they used to arrive at that answer.
Sprowal acknowledges that personalized learning could be beneficial to Matthew. Still, given the option, she says she would opt out for now.


Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that schools cannot share data stored on inBloom's servers with third parties. InBloom cannot share data, but schools can.

Report: Google's making a video game console

  (CNN) -- Google is reportedly working on a video game console that would be powered by its Android operating system, potentially putting another huge tech player in an arena dominated by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

  Oh, and The Wall Street Journal reports Google is working on a smartwatch, too. Like almost everybody else in the industry.

Both a console and a watch would be moves to undercut rival Apple, which is widely expected to roll out its own smartwatch and is reportedly planning to add gaming as part of the next iteration of its Apple TV product.

 Citing unnamed sources who have been "briefed on the matter," the Journal also said Google is planning to release a revamped Nexus Q, a media-streaming device that was announced but never released for sale to the public.

 An Android gaming console would come on the heels of the release of OUYA, a $99, open-platform console that runs on a version of the Google operating system. After raising $8 million on Kickstarter, OUYA went on sale to the public on Wednesday. Demand for the new console appears to be strong; it was sold out on Amazon earlier this week.

If the console report is true, it remains to be seen whether Google would go for the OUYA model of a more affordable, accessible system or try to compete with the so-called Big Three -- Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Wii U.

All three carry heftier pricetags but are more powerful and more well-established in the gaming world, with new games developed specifically for the devices.

An Android-powered smartwatch would enter Google in what's becoming a crowded, if largely still theoretical, field. Credible leaks have most analysts convinced that Apple has a smartwatch in the works. In recent months, Samsung and LG have confirmed they're working on connected watches, as well.

And a handful of those watches, a leading item in the emerging field of "wearable tech," are already on the market. Consider Pebble, another Kickstarter success story.

A Google watch could partner with arguably the most exciting wearable tech product to date: Google's Glass connected headset.

Google did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

BlackBerry 10 is not a hit; stock nosedives 28%

BlackBerry has run out of excuses. Its new phones are simply not a hit.

    The Canadian smartphone maker posted a surprise loss after shipping just 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 devices in its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 1. Wall Street analysts had widely expected a profit and about a million more smartphone shipments.

As a result, BlackBerry (BBRY) shares tanked 28% on Friday.
The long-delayed BlackBerry 10 operating system finally launched in January with the all-touchscreen Z10. The sleek phone and modern OS were supposed to be the cornerstones of a BlackBerry turnaround after the once-leading smartphone platform fell into fourth place behind Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android and even lowly Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500).


    That hasn't happened. BlackBerry 10 devices made up just 40% of the company's smartphone shipments in the period --the first full quarter that the new phones were on sale.
BlackBerry lost $84 million, or 13 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a profit of 6 cents. First-quarter sales totaled just $3.1 billion, short of Wall Street's expectation of $3.4 billion.


Continued talk of transition: Despite the troublesome report, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins struck an optimistic tone on a conference call with analysts on Friday. Heins spoke of "investing in growth, a "foundation of innovation" and being "still in our launch cycle."
Heins also defended BlackBerry's heavy spending on the BlackBerry 10 launch.
"We want total penetration of the market ... to do that you need to invest in marketing, you need to invest in promotions," Heins said. "And we're not done yet. There's more exciting devices coming, and we will spend to market those as well."
With the company's focus shifted to its core devices, BlackBerry said Friday it is essentially giving up on one long-struggling piece of hardware: the PlayBook tablet. Heins revealed the PlayBook will not receive an update to BlackBerry 10. A spokesman for the company said BlackBerry "will still support the current configuration."


Outlook: Given the "highly competitive" smartphone market, BlackBerry said it expects to post another loss for the current quarter.
The company's shares have largely soared since last November, when the company announced the platform was finally, truly coming in January. But that runup is partly because many investors are still betting against BlackBerry.
As of June 14, nearly 35% of shares were held by short-sellers who think that BlackBerry's stock will fall. That's an extremely large percentage, and it has contributed to BlackBerry's wild swings as "shorts" are sometimes forced to buy up shares in order to cover their positions.

What's next for BlackBerry: BlackBerry recently announced a software management program for automakers and a "Secure Work Space" system that lets enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.
Though Heins didn't rule out any "long-term strategic" changes for the company, he said he won't make BlackBerry a software-only company anytime soon. That's because Blackberry customers look at the company as "an end-to-end solution, including the device," Heins said.
Meanwhile, a second BlackBerry 10 device -- the Q10, which features a BlackBerry-classic QWERTY keyboard -- launched in only a few markets last quarter.
BlackBerry is also making a play for emerging markets where smartphone use hasn't yet reached the saturation point. In May the company announced the Q5, a brightly colored phone that features both a tactile keyboard and a 3.1-inch touchscreen. Pricing for the Q5 wasn't announced, but it's expected to be a low-cost phone that will go on sale in July in a few emerging market

Suspend aircraft purchases for Afghan unit, U.S. watchdog says

   (CNN) -- The Pentagon should suspend the acquisition of four dozen aircraft for a special Afghan military team because the unit lacks the "capacity to operate and maintain them," a government watchdog audit said Friday.

The agency got thumbs down from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction for moving forward with a $771.8 million purchase of 48 aircraft for a newly formed entity called the Afghan Special Mission Wing, or SMW.

The audit singled out for criticism a contract to a Russian government agency for acquisition of 30 Mi-17 helicopters, spare parts, test equipment and engineering support "despite our recommendations."

"We maintain that moving forward with the acquisition of these aircraft is imprudent," said Inspector General John F. Sopko in a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The wing was established in July 2012 to carry out counternarcotics and counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan, but the audit pointed out a range of deficiencies in the program's development that need to be corrected.

In essence, the program still needs to evolve before aircraft purchases are made, the audit said. For example, it said, there are not enough qualified personnel to operate and maintain the crafts, and it's difficult to find literate recruits who don't have links to insurgents or criminals.

And the audit cites examples of "inadequate" Pentagon oversight.

The acquisition and delivery of the aircraft should be tied to development milestones, Sopko said. Major aircraft acquisitions should be suspended until the Afghan government "takes necessary steps to build SMW capacity," and Pentagon oversight of "critical functions" in the program should be enhanced, he said.

"We believe that the purchase and delivery of the aircraft should be contingent on the SMW's achievement of personnel and maintenance and logistics support milestones and indications that the SMW has the capacity to execute its mission and operate and maintain its fleet," the audit said.

"Without an effective support structure, U.S.-funded SMW aircraft could be left sitting on runways in Afghanistan, rather than supporting critical missions, resulting in waste of U.S. funds."

5 things Obama wants young South Africans to know

Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) -- President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting Saturday with a group of young people in the Soweto section of Johannesburg, with video links to similar groups in other cities in Africa.

Here are five things that he said in response to questions from the participants in a format he called "a little humbling" but energizing. CNN Johannesburg correspondent Nkepile Mabuse moderated the town hall.

Praise for Mandela

Obama paid homage to former South African President Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old founding father of the country's modern democracy who is in critical condition in a Pretoria hospital. "Obviously, he is on our minds today, and we join the people of the world in sending our prayers to Madiba and his family, because he still inspires us all," Obama said, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

Obama noted that Mandela held on to his optimism during his 27 years in prison under South Africa's apartheid regime, and he urged his audience to learn from that. "There will be time to test your faith, but no matter how old you grow, I say ... don't lose those qualities of youth: your imagination, your optimism, your idealism, 'cause the future of this continent is in your hands, and if you keep your head pointed toward the sun, and you keep your feet moving forward, I promise you will have no better friend and partner than the United States of America."

    

Mandela showed that "through a commitment to the constitution and rule of law and equal treatment for all people that a country can prosper despite a tragic history."

Obama meets with Mandela's family in South Africa

A bright view of Africa's future

Africa's role in the world economy as a provider of raw materials to other parts of the world dates back to colonial days and must be changed, Obama said. Though foreign aid remains critical in some parts of the continent, "It is very clear that people want to break out of a dependency trap. The idea is not that Africa should be the ward of some other country. What we need is an Africa that's building, manufacturing, creating value, inventing and then sending those products around the world and receiving products in return. ... If we do that, there's no reason why Africa cannot succeed."

Progress against terrorism

Though "some progress" has been made in dealing with extremist groups, "the problem has metastasized" to include more regional terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, Obama said. "Though they may not have the same transnational capacity that some of the earlier organizations did, they're doing great harm in Africa and in the Middle East and in South Asia."

The terrorist threat affects more than Western countries, he said. "The number of people killed by terrorist attacks in Africa or South Asia far outstrips deaths by Westerners," he said. "This is not just a problem for us; this is a problem for everybody."

Terrorism is more likely to emerge in countries that are not delivering for their people, "and where there are areas of conflict and underlying frustrations" that have not been adequately dealt with, he said.

He cited responsive governance and strong democratic institutions as bulwarks against terrorism taking root. "They're the most important defense against terrorism."

American ambitions

Obama rejected "this notion that we want to somehow expand our military reach," citing the end of the war in Iraq and plans to end the war in Afghanistan as evidence. "This idea somehow that we want to get more involved militarily around the world is simply not true," he said. "First of all, it costs a lot of money, and the United States -- just like every country around the world -- has to think about its budget. And where we intervene, oftentimes it's not very effective because, unless you've got a local population that is standing up against terrorism, we end up being viewed as interlopers and intruders."

He said he wants the African Union and other regional organizations to beef up their capacity to send peacekeepers "to nip terror cells that may be forming -- before they start and gain strength."

The United States, he added, can provide advice, training and, in some cases, equipment.

Global warming looms

The world's biggest environmental challenge is climate change, Obama said, adding that carbon emissions are warming the planet and threaten to cause the problem to spin out of control. "We are going to all have to work together to find ways in which, collectively, we reduce carbon," but wealthy countries must do more than companies that are still developing, he said. "Obviously, they shouldn't be resigned to poverty simply because the West and Europe and America got there first. That wouldn't be fair, but everybody's going to have to do something."

If, however, everyone buys cars, installs air conditioners and moves into big houses, "the planet will boil over unless we find new ways of producing energy," he said.

Obama meets with Mandela's family in South Africa

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama met Saturday with family members of ailing South African statesman Nelson Mandela and spoke by telephone with Mandela's wife as she maintains a vigil by his bedside.

However, he and first lady Michelle Obama will not visit the anti-apartheid icon at the hospital "out of deference to Nelson Mandela's peace and comfort, and the family's wishes," the White House said.

"I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones, and also expressed my heartfelt support for the entire family as they work through this difficult time," Obama said after meeting with Mandela family members in Johannesburg. Madiba is Mandela's clan name.

Those present for the meeting at the Nelson Mandela Foundation included Mandela's two daughters, Makaziwe and Zindzi, and eight of his grandchildren.

"I have drawn strength from the support received from President Barack Obama, Michelle, Malia and Sasha," said Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, of her phone conversation with the U.S. president.

  

Machel said she had already conveyed the Obama family's "messages of strength and inspiration" to her husband.

5 things Obama wants young South Africans to know

Obama is undertaking his first full day of activities Saturday in South Africa, a nation where hearts are heavy over the poor health of the revered statesman.

He held a town hall-style meeting with young people in Soweto, a Johannesburg neighborhood at the heart of the anti-apartheid struggle, where he spoke of the vital role Africa's youth would play in the continent's future.

Obama earlier held bilateral talks with South African President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria, with trade high on the agenda.

In a news conference after the talks, both paid tribute to Mandela's contributions as an anti-apartheid campaigner and former president.

"I know that he is your personal hero as well," Zuma said. "The two of you are also bound by history as the first black presidents of your respective countries. Thus, you both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed."

Trade, other ties

Obama said the thoughts of Americans and people worldwide are with Mandela, his family and South Africans.

"The struggle here against apartheid, for freedom; Madiba's moral courage; this country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me. It has been an inspiration to the world," he said.

"The outpouring ... of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit: the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country," Obama added.

"That's what Nelson Mandela represents. That's what South Africa, at its best, can represent to the world, and that's what brings me back here."

The two presidents also addressed the importance of growing trade and business relationships between their nations, and between the United States and the continent.

"I'm here because I think the United States needs to engage with a continent full of promise and possibility," Obama said. "It's good for the United States. I welcome the attention that Africa is receiving from China, Brazil, India and Turkey ... I'm not threatened by it."

Obama's trip aims to bolster U.S. investment opportunities, address development issues such as food security and health, and promote democracy. It comes as China aggressively engages the continent, pouring billions of dollars into it and replacing the United States as Africa's largest trading partner.

Africa's greater integration into the global economy will benefit everyone, Obama said, with the potential creation of new jobs and opportunities.

But he said his advice to Africa is to make sure those who come to invest in the continent and its natural resources also bring benefit to Africans, in terms of jobs and "value added," not just themselves and a few top leaders.

HIV/AIDS gains

Obama also praised South Africa for its leadership in tackling HIV/AIDS, saying that within a few years it will be the first country in Africa fully to maintain its own HIV care and treatment program. This move will allow the United States to focus its assistance on other countries, he said.

Zuma brought up South Africa's bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Obama acknowledged a need to update the Security Council but said doing so was complicated. He also pointed out that many nations want a seat at the table but not all live up to their responsibilities to act or make difficult decisions.

Obama's visit to Africa's biggest economy is part of a three-nation trip that started in Senegal and will end in Tanzania next week.

Asked about his father's native Kenya, where some are disappointed at Obama's decision not to visit, the U.S. president said the timing was not right but that the United States would continue to work with "one of our oldest partners in Africa."

Obama said he had decided to visit other African nations in part because he had been to Kenya "multiple times."

He said it didn't seem the "optimal time" to go because Kenya had just had a presidential election, which he was pleased to see happen peacefully.

The new administration also has to manage issues around the International Criminal Court, he said.

The ICC has indicted Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, accusing him of funding a local militia that conducted reprisal attacks in the last election in 2007. His deputy, William Ruto, also faces charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC. Both deny wrongdoing.

"If in 3½ years, if I'm not there, you can fault me on my promise," Obama added to his questioners, who were connected to the Soweto meeting via a remote hookup from Nairobi, Kenya.

Mandela critical but stable

Zuma said Mandela remained in critical condition following his hospitalization three weeks ago, but he is stable.

The South African president voiced hope the 94-year-old's condition would improve and that he'd be able to leave the hospital, where he has been since June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Former South African President F. W. de Klerk and his wife, Elita, have suspended their visit in Europe due to Nelson Mandela's medical condition, the F. W. de Klerk Foundation said Saturday.

The de Klerks will arrive back in Cape Town on Sunday, and "their thoughts are with the Mandela family during this difficult time and they join in their prayers for an improvement in Mr. Mandela's health," the foundation said.

A meeting between the U.S. president and Mandela would have had historic significance.

Like Obama, Mandela broke through racial barriers to become the first black president of South Africa. The two have met before when Obama was a U.S. senator.

As Mandela's condition has deteriorated, South Africans have gathered outside the hospital, praying, lighting candles and leaving notes for the man they refer to as "tata," the Xhosa word for father.

Mandela became an international figure while enduring 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid, South Africa's system of racial segregation. He was elected the nation's first black president in 1994, four years after he was freed.

Mandela remains popular worldwide as an icon of peaceful reconciliation.

"If and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages," Obama said.

In addition to a series of events planned for the weekend, Obama will also visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent a majority of his decades in prison.

Newly found Planet may support life

 (CNN) -- Our everyday concerns -- what's for dinner, what to update on Facebook -- seem small when we consider that there's a whole universe out there where other life may exist.

Astronomers now are upping that likelihood, announcing that they've identified a star system with up to seven planets -- three of which could potentially host life -- 22 light-years away.

The likelihood that conditions could support life on at least one of those planets, given that there are three terrestrial-mass planets in the habitable zone of one system, is "tremendous," according to at least one scientist. The "habitable zone" is the area near a star in which a planet can theoretically hold liquid water. In our own solar system, Venus is close to the inner edge of potential habitability, while Mars is closer to the outer edge.

  The discovery is the largest number of "habitable zone" planets ever found within a single system, said Guillem Anglada-Escude of the University of Gottingen, Germany, who led the team of astronomers.

The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The findings are only the latest in a recent string of identifications of planets that may host life.

"As soon as our telescopes and data analysis tools have become sophisticated enough to find them, habitable planets are popping up everywhere," said Sara Seager, professor of planetary science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the study. "It's simply exhilarating to know that potentially habitable planets are ubiquitous."

What are these planets like?

The three planets orbit a star called Gliese 667C, part of the triple-star system Gliese 667. They are between four and eight times the mass of the Earth, making them "super-Earths."

If you were standing on any of the potentially habitable planets in this system, that sun would appear as a bright red star. The other two stars in the system "would look like a very bright pair of stars providing as much illumination as the full moon on Earth," Anglada-Escude said.

The planets are likely either rocky or water worlds, meaning they're entirely covered in water. These particular planets also appear to be "tidally locked," meaning the same side of a planet is always facing a star. That means one side of the planet always gets light and the other hemisphere is always in darkness.

"With three terrestrial-mass planets in the habitable zone, the likelihood of one of them actually being habitable is tremendous," Seager said.

The system also likely consists of two hot planets further in and two cooler planets orbiting further out, although scientists are less certain that the seventh planet exists.

Scientists determined these characteristics of the star system using new observations gathered from the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Magellan Telescope, with existing data from the European Southern Observatory's HARPS instrument in Chile.

Before, scientists had determined that the star Gliese 667C had three planets with one that could be a candidate for life.

The Gliese 667C star is about one-third the mass of our sun with about 2% of its luminosity, meaning it is much fainter. But all three of the potentially habitable planets, and their neighbors in their solar system, lie within the equivalent of the orbit of Mercury, meaning they are much closer to the host star than planets in our solar system.

If they orbited our sun, the Gliese 667C planets' surfaces evaporate and burn. But they may be habitable because their sun is so much smaller and dimmer.

"It's an extreme scaled down version of the solar system," Anglada-Escude said.

Another Earth called a certainty

Scientists said the findings suggest that stars with low mass such as Gliese 667C are the best targets for looking for planets that could host life. About 80% of the stars in the Milky Way are in this category of low mass. It's possible that there are many more of these systems that are packed with potentially habitable planets.

How they compare to other habitable planets

The Gliese 667C trio represents candidates for life that are about as good as three announced in April by scientists working with NASA's Kepler satellite. Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f both orbit the same star, Kepler-62, which is slightly cooler and smaller than our sun. The Kepler-62 star, however, is 1,200 light-years away.

These two planets are closer to the size of Earth than the third habitable candidate, Kepler 69c. It's less clearly in the habitable zone than the other two, and its sun is 2,700 light-years away from us.

That makes Gliese 667C seem like a stone's throw away by comparison, at 22 light years -- but that's still about 129 trillion miles. In the night sky, the system can be found in the Scorpius constellation.

The Kepler satellite has been keeping an eye on more than 150,000 stars much further away, but on May 15, NASA announced that a reaction wheel -- a part that helps aim the spacecraft -- stopped working. The most recent update, from June 7, says the spacecraft is in Point Rest State, after a second wheel was unable to preserve fuel for an eventual recovery effort. Immediate safety is not as issue, and a team is going to manage the wheel recovery efforts.

The Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, allows scientists to measure changes in brightness of individual stars over time; these dimming events signal that a planet is nearby. Scientists undertake sophisticated calculations to verify that such signals are planets and not passing rocks.

"Scientists undertake sophisticated calculations to verify that such signals are planets and not astrophysical phenomena mimicking the signature of a planet," Anglada-Escude said.

By contrast, scientists who worked on the Gliese 667C system used the radial velocity method. With this, scientists look for wobbles in the motion of a star, which happens in response to the gravity of nearby planets.

How about all of those other planets that have been found previously to be in the habitable zone?

You may recall planet Kepler-22b, which was announced in December 2011 and also was hailed as a potential candidate for hosting life. That planet had a radius 2.4 times that of Earth and is 600 light-years away.

There is also a planet called Gliese-581g, discovered in September 2010, which is thought to be even more like Earth than Kepler-22b in terms of its suitability for plants and animals. It's only 20 light years from Earth, though there has been some controversy about its existence. In its solar system there is another planet, Gliese-581d, that is also of interest in the search for life, according to the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. The group's catalog lists a few other candidates.

But do they really have life?

Because they are so far away, the composition of the atmospheres of all of these planets outside our solar system remains unknown. Whether life truly roams or swims out there is still to be seen.

"Whether the planets are actually habitable would be pure speculation," Seager said. "There's currently no way to observe surface liquid water (our habitability requirement) or even infer the presence of surface liquid water."

Still, Anglada-Escude says the existence of star systems packed with potentially habitable planets, and the diversity of planets that Kepler has found, suggest there are more exciting discoveries yet to come.

How to make your feature phone a smartphone

JERUSALEM: An Israeli technology company has developed a method where old or outdated phones can run apps available only on smartphones.

The system developed by the VascoDe company allows users to obtain apps with the firm's cloud-based system that requires no downloads and uses the text-based Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), similar to the Short Message Service ( SMS), Xinhua reported.

Customers will be able to use many apps available until now for smartphone users only.

However, the only difference is that they will see the apps in black and white.

The USSD system does not allow access to the internet, but rather it uses the API (Application Programming Interfaces) from pages like Facebook, Gmail, and the like, according to technology and health website Israel21c.

VascoDe CEO Doron Mottes said 83 percent of cellphones in the world are simple and do not connect to the internet, which means that almost four billion people in the world cannot check their email on the go.

He said the difference between being able to check emails and respond to them, can make a whole difference in a world so hung up on the internet, because it can give you the possibility to respond to job offers, for example.

VascoDe's main markets are developing countries like Brazil, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where most of the population cannot afford internet connection or a computer, and has to rely on expensive internet shops to log on their accounts.

Soon, smartphones to warn you of impending heart attack

WELLINGTON: A new smartphone being developed is set to revolutionize the way we manage healthcare by warning people of impending heart attack.

Nano-thin silicon heart-and blood-monitoring "tattoos" on people's arms, which will send a signal to a smartphone if the data indicates a health problem are the basis of the new technology, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Zak Holdsworth, a Silicon Valley digital entrepreneur, and Kiwi is helping bring such technology to market.

He reckons that heart patients will be sporting the "tattoos" on their arms within five years, and in 10 years of time people could be sporting the technology inside their hearts.

MC10 is the Boston-based technology company behind the tattoos and is now investigating the potential of microchips that are being inserted via catheter on to the heart's inner lining from where a signal will be sent to the patient's phone.

Google patents photo-capturing walking stick

WASHINGTON: Google has got its new invention, a walking stick that takes pictures whenever it hits the ground, patented.

According to the patent text, the stick has a sensor that provides location info about the elongated member's position, Discovery News reported.

According to Geekwire, a patent application sketch shows the camera mounted on top of the stick; there are also multiple location sensors, a battery and a processing system in the middle and at the bottom there is a switch.

The patent has also been extended to stick-like objects such as a cane, a crutch, a monopod, a trekking pole, a rod or a staff.

Buyers's guide: Suggest a smartphone with good camera for sub-Rs 15,000

Please suggest a smartphone with a good processor and camera for under Rs 15,000.

—Mudit Sharma, Chetan, S K Jain, Ankur Rao, Mridul Sharma, Keshav Soni, Agnelo Fernandes, Rohit Chaudhary

There are a number of decent smartphones available from local OEMs for under Rs 15,000. The two that we recommend are the Zen Ultrafone 701HD and the Micromax Canvas HD aka A116.

Both handsets have similar hardware: a 720P HD screen, quad-core processor, PowerVR SGX 544 graphics chip, 1GB RAM, and an 8MP camera. The Ultrafone has a better build quality, better camera and runs stock Android. It sells for around Rs 12,000, which is cheaper by around Rs 1,500, when compared to the Canvas HD.

The Canvas HD, on the other hand is more readily available. The only issue we foresee with these two devices is their after sales service. While local brands sell products that offer better value for money, they have yet to show some urgency in dealing with consumer complaints. Now, if you are looking for a phone from an international brand, you might want to consider the Lenovo P770 that sells around for Rs 15,000. It has a good screen, solid build quality, and capable hardware.

The best bit about P770 is its whopper of a battery that easily lasts up to two days on a single charge. On the flip side, the P770's camera is only suitable for photos that you're going to share through apps like Instagram.

Digital burn-out? Tips for technology detox

PARIS: Tired of checking your smartphone every few minutes for new emails, likes or retweets? Do you spend more time looking at your device than chatting to your date? Are you close to a digital burn-out?


Fear not, an increasing number of options are available for those seeking to detox from technology, from wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi to internet-free holidays and software that forces you off addictive sites.

"People connect all the time, everywhere, in every position -- lying down on their bed, at the restaurant, in the waiting room," says Remy Oudghiri, a director at French polling firm Ipsos and author of a book on the subject.

More and more people own devices that allow this. In the United States, over half of adults now have a smartphone, while more than a third own a tablet computer.

"This sudden surge in connection possibilities, after the initial period of enthusiasm, prompts every user to reflect on how to continue to enjoy life while taking advantage of their connection. How to avoid becoming dependent," Oudghiri said.

French researchers have come up with one solution, creating a special type of wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi, which materials company Ahlstrom is busy developing further with the aim of putting it on the market next year.

Spokesman Robin Guillaud says there has already been significant interest in the invention. Schools in particular have made enquiries, keen to prevent students from spending too much time hooked to their smartphones.

According to an Ipsos survey, nearly a third of French people now feel the need to disconnect, with similar trends recorded in other countries.

Separate research from the same firm found that in 2006, 54 per cent of the French population felt people spent less time together due to the advent of new technologies, a figure that leapt to 71 per cent last year.

Companies have latched onto this lassitude, particularly in the tourism industry where some hotels and resorts offer digital detox packages.

The upmarket Westin hotel in Dublin, for instance, gives guests the option to surrender their smartphones and tablets on check-in and provides them with a detox pack that includes a tree planting kit and a board game.

But it comes at a price -- 175 euros ($230) per person per night.

Other firms are offering more in-depth packages to really get away from it all. The US-based Digital Detox organises tech-free retreats to remote places in the United States or escape destinations such as Cambodia.

"Some of it is marketing", said Thierry Crouzet, a blogger who went cold turkey and disconnected for six months.

"There are loads of places that are tranquil. No need to book a tour operator that takes you to the North Pole."

The 49-year-old wrote a book about his experience called "I unplugged", after suffering from a digital burn-out that saw him so craving technology that he would sometimes check his email, blogs and Twitter at night.

"I see a lot of blogger friends who are easing off. Nearly everyone gradually takes breaks. We're realising that at the end of the day, it (technology) doesn't nourish us," he said.

But Crouzet admits that as a blogger who was going to write a book about his experience, it was easier for him to disconnect than it is for thousands of people who rely on email for work.

As a result, some companies are implementing measures to try and relieve employees from being contactable 24/7.

German car maker Volkswagen, for instance, in 2011 decided to stop sending emails to thousands of employees' BlackBerrys between 6.15 pm and 7:00 am.

And for those who just cannot resist Facebook, Twitter or Google+, the website anti-social.cc offers software that disables a list of distracting sites provided by the customer for a specified time period.

When all else fails, internet rehabs are starting to spring up, such as reSTART, which bills itself as the first retreat centre programme in the United States.

According to its website, most of those they treat are between 18 and 28, and have checked in because they have had difficulty finishing college due to their internet use, or establishing and maintaining off-line relationships.

The programme aims to teach participants about healthy eating, getting good sleep and how to address difficult emotions head-on rather than escape online.

The jury is out, however, as to whether those hooked on technology suffer from an actual addiction.

"I wouldn't use the word addiction, I'd use the word dependence," said Oudghiri.

"And it's not the same dependence as drug dependence as you can free yourself of it more easily."