May17

Iran to Google: Fix your map, or we’ll sue

by ADMIN on May 17th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: CNET

Google Map of Persian Gulf(Credit:
Google via ZDNet)

The Iranian government said it will sue Google after the Internet company removed the name of the Persian Gulf from its mapping service.

The body of water between Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar was left nameless after the search giant removed the tag from Google Maps.

It is not clear why Google decided to remove the name, widely referred to as the Persian Gulf, or if it was caused by a bug in the system. A Google spokesperson declined to comment.

It does not explain why Google Earth keeps the name tag in place.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast warned Google could face “serious damages” if it did not return the water’s name, reports the Associated Press.

Iran is culturally sensitive about the name of the Persian Gulf, which has stirred tensions between Iranians and Arabs for years. The name has been disputed since the 1960s. Some Arab states call the stretch of water the Arabian Gulf.

Both the U.K. and U.S. governments among others, including the United Nations, continue to call the water the Persian Gulf.

Tehran had previously threatened Google with legal action over removing the name. Errors in Google Maps have seen names of even highly-populated areas disappear before. In 2010, Google noted a “technical error” which left a Florida city off its map.

But Google is also proactive in changing the name of areas, places and cities for accuracy.

During the Libyan revolution, once rebel forces had reclaimed the capital city, Google was quick to accept the change of name from Green Square to “Martyrs’ Square” to disassociate the name from the Gaddafi regime.

A Google spokesperson was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet’s Between the Lines under the headline “Iran to sue Google in map naming dispute.”

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May17

How Facebook quickly took over the Web

by ADMIN on May 17th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: CNET

(Credit:
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

Facebook is on its way to 1 billion users with an IPO around the corner. Not bad for a company with its roots in a Harvard dorm room.

But how did it achieve its grip on the global market? New findings from Nielsen offer a peek into some key milestones for the social network.

Facebook’s user base currently numbers more than 900 million. But it’s also one of the most visited Web sites in the world, according to Nielsen.

The site received around 152 million unique visits from people in the U.S. in March, which means that more than two out of three online Americans checked out Facebook that month. In such countries as Brazil, Italy, and New Zealand, the rate is even higher.

Facebook first grabbed 10 million unique U.S. visitors in November 2006 and 10 million unique U.K. visitors in April 2008. The site captured 10 million unique visitors in France, Germany, and Spain in 2009, Nielsen said.

In August of last year, Facebook surpassed Orkut as the top social network in Brazil and has continued to grab more users in the country since then. MySpace was also once a hot social network. But in January 2009, Facebook officially surpassed MySpace at the top social network and has held that title since.

Facebook is currently ranked top among all social networking and blog sites in 11 of 12 major countries around the world. The following table from Nielsen shows Facebook’s reach in those 12 countries.

(Credit:
Nielsen)

Of course, not everyone is a fan of the giant social network.

Half of the 1,000 Americans recently polled by the AP and CNBC believe Facebook is a fad. General Motors revealed this week that it was yanking its advertising on the network because it didn’t think the ads were effective.

Concerns have also been raised about the company’s move to go public. Half of the people in the AP-CNBC poll think the initial offering price is too high. Many also question whether CEO Mark Zuckerberg has the skills to manage and expand a large publicly-traded company.

And the company has consistently gotten into deep water over privacy issues, angering users and advocacy groups.

Only 13 percent of the people polled by AP and CNBC trust Facebook “completely” or “a lot” to keep their personal information private. More than half (59 percent) said they have little or no faith in the company to protect their privacy.

Facebook has made tremendous strides since its birth in 2004. But the company will face more challenges ahead as it strives to grow both as a social network and a public corporation.

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May17

Why did Rakuten invest so much in Pinterest? Integration

by ADMIN on May 17th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: CNET

Pinterest surprised Silicon Valley with the announcement overnight of a $100 million funding round led by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

According to AllThingsDigital, more than $50 million of that sum came from Rakuten.

Why would Rakuten, which generated $4.7 billion in revenue last year, invest so much cash in Pinterest? According to TechCrunch, it may have a lot to do with Rakuten’s interest in building its e-commerce business.

Rakuten offers user IDs similar to those from Amazon and Apple. Once people log in to a Rakuten or Rakuten-associated Web site, they can make purchases with the payment information associated with their Rakuten IDs.

“We want to enable our users to pin their own images with our ID,” Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani told TechCrunch. “Users can click and buy with it, and in the future we can create more new services.”

Mikitani went on to say that he can envision a feature that would let people log in with Rakuten IDs, pin images, and then use those pins to buy products through his company’s site.

For its part, Pinterest has not confirmed that it will integrate Rakuten’s offering in any way, and it’s possible that any such implementation would only make its way to Pinterest’s Japanese site. But if nothing else, Rakuten might be trying to deliver to Pinterest a new business model — and one that it could capitalize on.

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May17

Low Latency No. 23: Brace yourself

by ADMIN on May 17th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: CNET



(Credit:
Blake Stevenson)

The inspiration for this week’s comic comes from an Internet meme classic, and the fact that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is the most pirated show of 2012.

So while we make fun of the situation, there’s something serious to be said about why this is happening. “Game of Thrones” is fantastic, but if you don’t have cable, you’re not watching it — legally. We’ve been talking about it for months on The 404 and we seem to agree that HBO needs to offer some way for nonsubscribers to pay to watch certain shows a la carte. Having the most pirated show isn’t a title anyone wants, so why not cash in and make paying for “Game of Thrones” easier than illegally downloading it?

(Credit:
quickmeme.com)

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET’s Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Thursday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here’s every Low Latency comic so far.

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May17

Has Apple taken control of iPhone5.com?

by ADMIN on May 17th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: CNET

iPhone 4S

Apple may have gotten its hands on the domain name iPhone5.com. (Pictured is the iPhone 4S.)

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

The World Intellectual Property Organization has concluded its look into Apple’s complaint over the iPhone5.com domain, which seems to suggest a victory for the
iPhone maker.

Earlier this month, iPhone5.com was a forum site, created in February 2008. Its copyright statement clearly indicated that it was “not endorsed, sponsored, nor otherwise affiliated with Apple” and that it was created “for the sole purpose of entertainment and knowledge.”

And that seems to have gotten under Apple’s skin, hence the complaint to the WIPO.

The minimalist WIPO filing page now declares the case “Terminated.” While that alone doesn’t indicate exactly how the case was resolved, or in whose favor, Apple has proven victorious in other such complaints. The iPhone5.com site, meanwhile, no longer shows the forum activity or ads that once were there — in fact, it doesn’t show anything at all, except a lot of white space.

We’ve requested comment from Apple and will update this story when we get a response.

The WhoIs record doesn’t offer anything conclusive. It now lists the owner of the domain as the blandly named, Wilmington, Del.-based Corporation Service Company, with the record having been modified on Monday.

Like many companies, Apple has done battle before to take possession of domain names in a quest to protect the good name of its products. In November, for instance, having filed a complaint with the WIPO, Apple was able to take control of seven “iPhone” domain names, including the straightforward iphone4s.com and the more prurient iphonesex4s.com.

To date, Apple’s smartphone line has counted up only to the
iPhone 4S, but the company is widely believed to be getting ready to bring an
iPhone 5 into the world. Of course, ahead of the iPhone 4S launch last fall, a good many people expected that device would be the 5 model. By way of comparison, Apple’s latest tablet was generally expected to be the iPad 3, but ended up being called just the new iPad.

Apple is widely expected to deliver the iPhone 5 sometime this year.

While there are no specifications to be gleaned from the WIPO filing, the mere fact of the complaint does at least suggest that Apple is considering the iPhone 5 name for the next iteration of its market-defining device. Or perhaps it just wishes to take that domain out of play, regardless of what it calls the device.

For speculation about what the iPhone 5 (or whatever it ends up being called) might feature, check out CNET’s regularly updated “iPhone 5 rumor roundup.” Among the latest reports are claims that the next iPhone will have a 4-inch screen and a thinner, taller body.

(Via The Next Web)

Apple iPhone 4S (photos)

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