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YouTube's 18 Most Epic Sports Meltdowns

Written By Bersemangat on Jumat, 30 November 2012 | 17.56

1. Handball Player Drops His Shorts and, Uh, Does Other Things Too

This Italian handball player instantly entered the pantheon of all-time sports meltdowns recently when he, shall we say, overreacted to a sarcastic peck from an antagonistic opponent.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 10 Ambitious iPhone Apps, Accessories for Your Workout]

Freak-outs, meltdowns, tantrums, hissy fits -- call 'em what you want, but sports figures losing their cool in public is highly entertaining. From thrown chairs to ejected players, head-butts to grabbed nuts, other people's indignation never fails to draw a laugh.

[More from Mashable: Band Constructs Stop-Motion Music Video With Instagram]

Thanks to YouTube, we get to relive classic moments over and over again. That means we'll never be without John McEnroe calling a line judge a jerk, or Mike Gundy being a man who is 40, or Brian Wilson taking a bat to a Gatorade cooler in the San Francisco Giants' dugout. It's the small mercies that make being a sports fan in the digital age so worthwhile.

So, without further ado, here above, and presented in no particular order, are 18 of the funniest sports freak-outs we could find on YouTube. Check them out, then add your favorites in the comments below.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Steve Powell/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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How Facebook Tagged Me as a Copyright Violator

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[More from Mashable: Facebook Hacks Its Employees to Teach Lessons on Cyberattacks [EXCLUSIVE]]

I am a copyright violator, and Facebook knows it. At least, I was up until early this morning, when Facebook took action to enforce the copyright on the cover photo I had uploaded the day before.

As a fan of the UK show Doctor Who, I was excited to see BBC America release a couple of preview photos from the program's Christmas special, including a compelling picture of a couple of scary-looking snowmen -- very Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. As with other notable pop culture events, I wanted to share my excitement on Facebook.

[More from Mashable: Radio Stations Offering to Split Powerball Winnings With Facebook Fans]

The thing that provoked the strongest reaction was the photo itself, and it happened to be the perfect dimensions as my cover photo, I chose to use it there. What better way to share my enthusiasm for the show, and maybe convince a few Facebook users to check it out?

The photo stayed put for the rest of the day I uploaded it. But when I woke up the next morning, it was gone.

I looked in the album of my cover photos. It was still there. I began to upload another photo and saw this message:

Pick a unique photo from your life to feature at the top of your timeline. Note: This space is not meant for banner ads or other promotions. Please don't use content that is commercial, promotional, copyright-infringing or already in use on other people's covers.

That message is the boilerplate that you see whenever your cover pic is empty. I don't believe I saw this when Facebook first introduced Timeline. Indeed, Facebook's Help page on cover photos doesn't mention copyright at all.

It's unlikely the BBC would take issue with the fact that I wanted to express my excitement about one of their shows to all my friends and followers. After all, this was a press photo -- one that the channel distributes for the express purpose of getting in front of as many potential viewers as possible.

I also manage a Facebook Page, the one for Mashable Tech. When the Page has no cover photo, and you try to add one, you see a slightly different message:

Pick a unique photo to feature at the top of your Page timeline. Note: This space is not meant for promotions, coupons, or advertisements. Your cover photo should not be primarily text-based or infringe on anyone else's copyright. Learn More about choosing a cover photo.

The difference in wording is subtle, but important. For any brand Page, it's hard to imagine the a cover photo that isn't at least a little bit "commercial" or "promotional." But brands are given some leeway -- a good thing for Mashable's Tech page since we often upload photos of gadgets we recommend.

Individuals, apparently, aren't granted such latitude.

I'm not taking serious issue with what Facebook is trying to do here, just the way in which they did it. Though the notion of a copyright violation in this case is ridiculous, I appreciate the spirit of what the policy upholds. If everyone were allowed to upload album covers or movie posters, Facebook cover photos (which are public and visible by anyone, whether they're on Facebook or not) would become a massive, tacky catalog of pop culture, the digital equivalent of the Las Vegas Strip. Or worse, MySpace.

Still, I never got so much as a note from Facebook about what they did. The only clue as to what happened came after the fact. The company also took the unusual liberty of deleting the caption I wrote for the pic. Clearly, the process has room for improvement.

Has Facebook ever removed your cover photo? What did you upload, and how did you feel about the removal? Share your experiences in the comments.

1. Ornamental by Fcoverphotos

This design's great grungy tones give it a contemporary feel.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Insight: How a desperate HP suspended disbelief for Autonomy deal

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - For Leo Apotheker, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, a July 2011 meeting with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch at a chic seaside resort in France was pivotal to his effort to remake a storied technology giant.

In the nine months since taking the helm at HP, Apotheker had tried furiously to find a way to move the lumbering company away from its low-margin computer hardware business and into the lucrative corporate software and services arena. Apotheker was looking for a big, transformative acquisition, two people familiar with the situation said, and after overtures to several companies went nowhere, he set his sights on Autonomy.

After two months of negotiations on what was known at HP as "Project Tesla," Apotheker sat down with Lynch at a hotel in Deauville on the Normandy coast - and shook hands on what would become an $11.1 billion deal.

The Autonomy takeover was indeed a bombshell - but not in the way that Apotheker had hoped. When it was announced in August 2011, HP's stock plummeted amid withering criticism of the price tag. Within weeks, Apotheker was out of a job. Within months, Lynch and his new masters at HP were at war.

Inside a year, Lynch had been forced out and HP was investigating allegations of major accounting irregularities at Autonomy. That culminated in HP saying last week it was writing off more than three-quarters of the value of Autonomy, and telling U.S. and UK regulators about alleged accounting fraud.

The implosion of the Autonomy deal has raised questions about how HP and its army of lawyers, accountants and investment bankers could have overlooked warning signs and gone ahead with the acquisition.

Reuters spoke with close to a dozen people directly connected with the deal or the accounting investigation. The picture that emerges is of a company so desperate to plot a new course that it may have been far too accepting of Autonomy's published and audited accounts.

It has also cast a shadow over Lynch, widely regarded as a brilliant but difficult executive; he left HP in May and has flatly rejected the company's claims of accounting shenanigans or that HP had been deliberately deceived.

CEO'S ROCKY REIGN

Apotheker's appointment as CEO of HP in November 2010 was greeted even at the time with head-scratching - and criticism. A veteran of the German corporate software maker SAP, he had no obvious qualifications to run HP - a company with sales several times SAP's - especially given his lack of experience in the computer hardware business.

But the U.S. company was reeling from a series of boardroom imbroglios that culminated in the firing of then-CEO Mark Hurd in a sexual harassment scandal in August 2010.

Apotheker went on the acquisition trail almost immediately, even though previous HP takeovers like Compaq and Palm had not worked out well. He was given the mandate of moving HP in a new direction - software seemed logical given the decline in HP's traditional computer business - and felt the need for a transformative acquisition to do that, according to one of the sources.

He "knocked on a number of doors," according to another of the sources, looking as far and wide as the telecom software companies Comverse Technology and Amdocs, and corporate software maker Tibco Software.

It's not clear how far talks with those three progressed. According to one of the sources, HP backed off from Comverse because the company was not current with its published accounts and because of previously disclosed involvement in an options accounting scandal. HP could not agree on a price with Tibco, and Amdocs rebuffed it, saying the time wasn't right for a deal.

Spokespeople for Amdocs and Comverse declined to comment. Tibco did not respond to requests for comment.

Apotheker then set his sights on Autonomy. It was a pioneer in the up-and-coming field of "big data" - software that can separate the wheat from the chaff in huge mountains of corporate data - and could serve as a centerpiece for the new strategy.

This time, Apotheker was determined not to miss out.

He was "not being able to really have anybody dance with him at the right price," said the source with direct knowledge of the deal. "What happened is he talked to Autonomy and they got into a dialogue and he told the board that we have to do something," this person said. "It was out of frustration and desperation to a large degree."

HP began looking at Autonomy in earnest around May last year, bringing in investment bank Barclays as adviser. Boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners had already been hired to look at ways of restructuring HP's businesses.

In early July of 2011 the board met to do a two-day review of the rationale behind the acquisition. During that process, the board set guidelines for the deal, including the price, and agreed on a process to do due diligence, two people familiar with the process said. It voted to enter into negotiations at the end of the two days.

DEALMAKER

Throughout the process, Apotheker remained in direct contact and consulted with HP Chairman Ray Lane, the person said, adding that Lane - a former top executive at software giant Oracle - encouraged management to proceed with the deal.

By the end of July, Apotheker and Lynch - who were previously acquainted because HP was an Autonomy customer - narrowed down financial terms at the hotel in Deauville, though didn't finalize the price.

Also present was then HP chief strategy officer Shane Robison, who has been credited by HP with being the main architect of many of HP's larger deals, including another troubled acquisition - its purchase of technology services firm EDS. Robison was pushed out of HP shortly after Apotheker left last year.

At the meeting, Apotheker presented HP's view about putting the companies together - with Robison chipping in when needed, one source said. Robison, who has not spoken publicly about Autonomy's accounting issues, did not respond to requests for comment sent to representatives at Fusion-io and Altera Corp, companies where he is a board member.

For some weeks, both sides went back and forth on the price, with Robison playing a pivotal role in pitching the deal internally, and getting it finalized. Inside HP, it was seen as Apotheker's and Robison's deal, the sources said.

In the end, uber-dealmaker Frank Quattrone, whose Qatalyst Partners was representing Autonomy, proved instrumental in securing for its shareholders the lofty price tag, according to another source familiar with the negotiations.

While the price haggling was going on, a large due diligence team numbering in the hundreds, including internal HP staff from all relevant departments like finance, poured over Autonomy's books, examined contracts, and interviewed Autonomy's top executives, sources said. External experts involved in the process included accounting firm KPMG, law firms and bankers.

Due diligence was seen being straightforward as Autonomy had been filing its accounts publicly and they had been audited. One source said the month-long process was extensive and meticulous but nothing special.

SHORT SELLER

During this time, HP posed a litany of questions to Lynch and Autonomy Chief Financial Officer Sushovan Hussain about accounting rumors surrounding the company, one of the sources knowledgeable with the deal said. But Autonomy executives provided explanations for all of them, this person said.

HP would not elaborate on the specific issues it raised. But questions about Autonomy's books had surfaced as early as 2009, when renowned short seller Jim Chanos identified Autonomy's shares as a shorting opportunity based on concerns such as how reported margins of around 50 percent did not seem to translate proportionately into cash flow.

His other concern was how it could report double-digit growth in software license revenue while rivals battled shrinking sales, according to a source familiar with his views.

Asked on CNBC last week about whether the board had discussed with Apotheker the speculation about Autonomy's books, HP's current CEO Meg Whitman said: "Not when I was on the board. What I do know is that after we announced the acquisition there were a number of blogs that came to the fore about potential issues at Autonomy. The former management team ran that to ground and came up with the conclusion that there was nothing there."

HP officials now say they were deceived.

Apotheker said last week he was "stunned and disappointed" to learn of Autonomy's alleged accounting issues. He declined to be interviewed for this story through a spokesperson.

As the deal was being considered, HP CFO Cathie Lesjak did raise questions about HP's ability to pay such a high price and whether it could integrate Autonomy well, sources said.

Lane said the board approved the deal based on the recommendation of management. "That recommendation was based on misleading audited financial statements and misrepresentations made by Autonomy's executives," he said in an email. "In hindsight, we shouldn't have done the Autonomy deal at such a high price. We were lied to and as a result, we got it wrong."

By the time the deal was agreed, though, Apotheker was already running out of time. He had wanted to sell HP's personal computer business but was unable to complete a deal. He announced a strategic review of the division - to the horror of many employees and the consternation of some of its customers.

That misstep, along with series of missed financial targets, led to Apotheker's firing in September 2011 - before the Autonomy deal had even closed. Board member Whitman - who had voted in favor of buying Autonomy - then took over as CEO. The acquisition still went ahead - and quickly went south.

BRUTAL CULTURE CLASH

The clash between HP's polite, slow-moving bureaucracy and Autonomy's in-your-face sales culture could not have been starker. Lynch also chafed at his new, subordinate position, according to the sources. He routinely shut HP management out of key decisions and - true to his company's name - resisted full integration with HP. He complained constantly about red tape.

After he was forced out in May of this year, Lynch returned to HP in June to discuss severance. But he found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of questions about Autonomy's accounting, sources briefed on the investigation told Reuters.

HP General Counsel John Schultz quizzed Lynch specifically on a range of accounting items, including at least three sales deals from a couple of years before, one of the sources said. Lynch's reply to most questions was that Deloitte, its auditor, signed off on various items, or he could not remember specifics.

"If there were no problems, he could have explained it," one of the sources said. "He simply refused to have the conversation."

But Lynch was caught unaware: Hence he did not have information about those deals at hand, said a source familiar with his version of events. Lynch's spokeswoman said that the allegations HP made last week "were not put to him in June."

The legal struggle has only just begun. HP has handed documents over to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK Serious Fraud Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice is also involved, a source told Reuters last week.

HP also on Tuesday threatened legal action against parties involved, though stopped short of naming targets. HP has challenged Lynch to answer questions under penalty of perjury.

"He ran this company like a small private company, he was involved in all facets of the company, he was extremely hands on," said a source close to the matter who knew the former Autonomy CEO. "For Lynch not to know about this, if it is truly happening, would be far-fetched."

(Additional reporting by Anjuli Davies in London and Soyoung Kim in New York; Editing by Edwin Chan, Jonathan Weber, Steve Orlofsky and Martin Howell)


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Exclusive: Philippines fixer paid $30 million by Okada's Universal - sources

TOKYO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada's Universal Entertainment funneled at least $30 million to an ex-consultant for the Philippines gaming authority who is now at the center of a bribery investigation, according to sources and company records.

The sum is six times the amount initially confirmed by Reuters and could, if found to be bribery, result in Okada being stripped of his firm's casino license in the Philippines and also jeopardize his gaming license in Las Vegas.

A Hong Kong firm established by Okada's Universal sent the money to Manila-based consultant Rodolfo Soriano in a series of payments in the first half of 2010, according to a review of company records and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees and people familiar with the investigation.

Soriano, who has close ties to key members of the administration of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, received the payments as Universal was lobbying for tax and other government concessions to boost the profitability of a $2 billion casino it was developing on Manila Bay.

Soriano is now under investigation by the Philippine Department of Justice which has created an inquiry panel on the payments with a target to submit findings within the next month.

Universal, a Tokyo-based maker of gaming machines majority owned by an Okada family trust, had no comment through its lawyer, Yuki Arai. Soriano could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the investigation in the Philippines, the Universal payments are being probed by U.S. gaming regulators, with the Nevada Gaming Control Board likely to call the 70-year-old billionaire to give evidence at a closed-door investigative hearing, people familiar with the matter said.

Soriano's powerful connections included Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel, with whom he had travelled to Las Vegas in 2009.

Soriano was an early partner in Okada's Philippine project, and Universal documents describe him as the "personal secretary" to Efraim Genuino, former head of gambling regulator the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

Jose Miguel Arroyo, a lawyer by training, could not be reached for comment. His spokesman, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, said he was unaware of any business dealings between Jose Miguel Arroyo and Soriano. "We are denying reports linking Attorney Arroyo to that bribery case," Topacio said.

Genuino's lawyers did not respond to calls seeking comment. PAGCOR has said it has no knowledge of the Soriano payments but is cooperating with the Philippine bribery investigation.

The Universal payments to Soriano in 2010 were described at a company meeting as a "completion bonus" for his help in clearing remaining hurdles for the casino, including an exemption from corporate tax and foreign ownership restrictions, people involved in the project said.

Philippine authorities have already threatened to strip Okada's operating company of its casino license if investigators find evidence of bribery. Nevada regulators could also impose sanctions, including a suspension of Okada's Las Vegas license.

Either outcome would represent a major setback for Okada, who has vowed to bounce back from a costly legal fight with American casino magnate Steve Wynn to turn Universal into Asia's leading operator of high-end casino resorts.

In the United States, the FBI has also taken statements from those involved in the Soriano payments, according to people familiar with that inquiry. The bureau declined to comment on the state of its inquiry.

LUCRATIVE CONCESSIONS

The Nevada Gaming Control Board's investigation has been underway since at least August and is gathering momentum.

"We are continuing our work," board chairman A.G. Burnett said, declining to comment on the agency's next moves or the likely conclusion of its investigation. "We're about in the middle stage of our investigation."

Hearings could help the board's three-member investigative panel decide whether to bring a formal complaint against Okada or his company, the people familiar with the investigation said.

Investigators were particularly concerned about fund transfers to Soriano-controlled Subic Leisure and Management, registered in the British Virgin Islands, because that jurisdiction allows firms to conceal the identity of directors and investors.

"He's going to have some interesting explaining to do," one of those with knowledge of the investigation said of Okada.

Universal has maintained that at least some of the payments to Soriano were not approved. It has sued three of its own former executives in Tokyo District Court, claiming they made $15 million in payments to entities controlled by Soriano without authorization by Okada or the Universal board.

A review of company records and interviews with sources shows that a total of $40 million was sent by Universal to Soriano-controlled firms. The money was sent to Hong Kong firm Future Fortune, set up as an investment vehicle for the Philippines project. Of the total, $10 million was routed back immediately to Universal for internal accounting reasons, leaving Soriano with a net $30 million.

It is not clear how that money was invested or disbursed.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government gave Universal a corporate tax exemption in March 2010, leaving the casino liable only for a 23.5 percent gaming tax. That exemption was key to the projected profitability of the casino, which had been given a provisional license in 2008.

As a result of the tax concessions and low labor costs in the Philippines, Okada told investors and analysts last year that the Manila casino would be more profitable than gaming in Macau or Las Vegas, markets where Wynn has built his resorts.

The investigation of the payments to Soriano threatens to complicate Okada's efforts to recover from a costly falling-out with U.S. casino tycoon Wynn.

Okada was Wynn's largest investor until the American accused him this year of improperly paying $110,000 in entertainment and other expenses for gaming regulators from the Philippines and Korea, where Okada is also looking to build a casino.

As a result of the disclosures, Wynn forced Okada to redeem his 20 percent stake in Wynn Resorts for $1.9 billion, a 30 percent discount to the market value.

Okada has sued to reverse the redemption, saying Wynn forced him out for questioning Wynn Resorts' dealings in Macau.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has been separately investigating Wynn Resorts on allegations made by Okada that Wynn's company sought to influence Macau officials through a donation to the University of Macau, the people close to the matter said.

However, this probe was likely to be resolved without an investigative hearing, they said, signaling that Wynn Resorts was less likely to be subject to a major disciplinary action.

(Additional reporting by Taro Fuse, Kevin Krolicki and Takeaki Ueno in Tokyo, Manuel Mogato in Manila, Sue Zeidler in Los Angeles and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


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Samsung says to fix outsourcing issues, but keep most production inhouse

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to keep the bulk of its manufacturing inhouse but reiterated a pledge to improve working conditions at its suppliers after admitting excessive overtime and fines for employees in China, a senior executive said on Friday.

New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW) said employees at one of Samsung's suppliers sometimes worked up to 16 hours a day, with only one day's rest a month.

That prompted an investigation in September by Samsung of its suppliers in China.

"There was common use of a system of penalties (at our suppliers in China) for being late or producing faulty products, which is improper practice under global standards but somewhat general practice under local regulations," said Mok Jangkyun, who led the team of over 100 auditors to inspect Samsung's 105 suppliers in China.

"We're working with them to change these practices and introduce a better work environment," Mok, vice president of human resources, told Reuters in an interview.

"There were indeed some cases of excessive overtime work. When workers have to work weekends, for example, due to a temporary spike in orders, overtime work reached 32 hours a week or 100 hours a month," he said.

"We've recommended they hire more workers, introduce automation and improve production processes to fix this. We are also working on guidelines to gradually reduce overtime work hours."

Samsung produces more than 40 percent of its goods in China including its popular Galaxy S smartphones, home appliances and chips. But most of that is in its own plants, with outsourcing accounting for less than 10 percent of total production.

A number of foreign companies have been accused in recent years of improper work practices in China, seen as a cheap source of labor.

Many multinational brands have contracts with firms using Chinese labor, including Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com Inc, Google's Motorola Mobility, Nokia Oyj, and Sony Corp.

Samsung defended its in-house manufacturing strategy even though it tends to be more expensive than outsourcing, calling it a main strength of the company.

"Multinationals are increasingly opting for outsourcing for various reasons. But at Samsung, out of over 200,000 staff worldwide, more than half are manufacturing jobs, which indicates we are very much a manufacturing-driven company and it is where our core strength is," Mok said.

"Samsung manufactures more than 90 percent of our products internally and only relies on contractors for peripheral products such as components, feature phones and handset cases."

He said it allows the company to adapt quickly to changing market conditions.

As an example, Mok cited Samsung's smartphone plants in South Korea, China and Vietnam as giving it the flexibility to adjust output of its Galaxy S, depending on demand or production problems at one factory. By contrast, main rival Apple depends heavily on contractors.

Apple warned last month that its industry-leading margins would shrink this quarter as new products have become more expensive to build and as it is having trouble meeting robust demand for the iPhone 5.

Chairman Terry Gou of Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's main contract manufacturer, said earlier this month the company was falling short of meeting demand for the phone.

"Manufacturing is the backbone of Samsung's growth and we put very much emphasis on improving manufacturing competitiveness, as this is how we've become the leader in chips and displays," Mok said.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)


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A Hilarious Guide to Texting for the Elderly

Written By Bersemangat on Kamis, 29 November 2012 | 17.56

Texting can be difficult to master, especially for people who grew up communicating through snail mail and tin can phones. Yes, we're talking about elderly people. Sure, Grandma and Grandpa are trying to be all hip with their smartphones, but do they really understand the subtleties of texting?

[More from Mashable: Gadget Connects to Lights to Help Hearing Impaired]

Probably -- they're pretty smart, you know -- but that didn't stop Conan O'Brien from offering a handy set of tips to help older folks adopt more quickly to this newfangled thing called texting. Enjoying the technology experience allows the older people in your life to send you on a guilt trip without ever looking you in the eye.

Watch the video above and let us know in the comments what are some other tech lessons you'd like to teach Great Aunt Sally.

[More from Mashable: 12 Ways to Nerd Up Your Christmas Tree]

1. Flip Phone

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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10 Free Facebook Cover Photos Full of Holiday Cheer

Mitt Romney can take some solace in his devastating loss on Nov. 6: at least he won the voters who really count. That's the thesis anyway of top adviser Stuart Stevens, who penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Wednesday arguing that by winning wealthier and whiter voters, Romney secured the moral victory over Obama. "On Nov. 6, Mitt Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income," Stevens wrote. "That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters. ...


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Samsung takes aim at Japanese rivals with Android camera

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites.

The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile network or Wi-Fi to share photographs and video without having to hook up the camera to a computer.

While it's not the first to the market, Samsung's financial and marketing clout suggest it could be the biggest threat to Japanese domination of a digital camera industry which research firm Lucintel sees growing to $46 billion by 2017 and where big brands include Canon Inc, Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, Nikon Corp and Olympus Corp.

"Samsung has a tough row to hoe against the likes of Canon and Nikon in the camera brand equity landscape," said Liz Cutting, senior imaging analyst at research firm NPD Group. "Yet as a brand known more in the connected electronic device arena, Samsung has a unique opportunity to transfer strength from adjacent categories into the dedicated camera world."

The Korean group, battling for mobile gadget supremacy against Apple Inc, is already a global market leader in televisions, smartphones and memory chips.

Samsung last year brought its camera and digital imaging business - one of its smallest - under the supervision of JK Shin, who heads a mobile business that generated 70 percent of Samsung's $7.4 billion third-quarter profit.

"Our camera business is quickly evolving ... and I think it will be able to set a new landmark for Samsung," Shin said on Thursday at a launch event in Seoul. "The product will open a new chapter in communications - visual communications," he said, noting good reviews for the Samsung Galaxy camera which went on sale in Europe and the United States earlier this month.

AIMING AT 'PRO-SUMERS'

The Galaxy camera, which sells in the United States for $499.99 through AT&T with various monthly data plans, features a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen and a 21x optical zoom lens. Users can send photos instantly to other mobile devices via a 4G network, access the Internet, email and social network sites, edit photos and play games.

The easy-to-use camera, and the quality of the pictures, is aimed at mid-market 'pro-sumers' - not quite professional photographers but those who don't mind paying a premium for user options not yet available on a smartphone - such as an optical, rather than digital, zoom, better flash, and image stabilization.

The appeal of high picture quality cameras with wireless connection has grown as social media services such as Facebook Inc drive a boom in rapid shoot-and-share photos.

"At a price point higher than some entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras, the Galaxy camera should appeal to a consumer willing to pay an initial and ongoing premium for 24/7 creative interactivity," said Cutting.

Traditional digital camera makers are responding.

Canon, considered a leader in profitability in corporate Japan with its aggressive cost cutting, saw its compact camera sales eroded in the most recent quarter by smartphones, and has just introduced its first mirrorless camera to tap into a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon entered last year.

Nikon has also recently introduced an Android-embedded Wi-Fi only camera.

($1 = 1086.4000 Korean won)

(This story fixes typing error in paragraph 9)

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in NEW YORK; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)


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Siemens paying for Invensys Rail out of liquidity

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Siemens AG is paying for its 1.74 billion pound ($2.8 billion) acquisition of Invensys' rail business out of existing liquidity, the Infrastructure & Cities division's finance chief said.

"Siemens will not take on any external debt as part of this deal," Hannes Apitzsch told journalists and analysts during a conference call on Thursday.

The deal, announced late on Wednesday, vaults Siemens well ahead of rivals in rail signaling, with a 17 percent market share, almost double the closest rivals Alstom and Ansaldo STS.

Siemens had almost 11 billion euros ($14.2 billion) of cash at the end of September.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan)


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Nokia Siemens to close Bruchsal plant in Germany

HELSINKI/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Mobile network equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) will cut 650 jobs as it shuts down its plant in Bruchsal, Germany, a spokeswoman for the company said on Thursday.

The 50-50 joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG is carrying out a cost-cutting plan, which includes laying off a quarter of its staff and selling product lines to focus on mobile broadband.

The restructuring should result in 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in cost savings by the end of next year.

Workers at the site in Bruchsal, about 125 kilometers south of Frankfurt, were informed of the plan on Tuesday, another spokeswoman for NSN said.

Depending on how talks with labor representatives go, the company envisions that workers could start leaving in three to six months, she said.

(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen and Maria Sheahan; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)


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A Hilarious Guide to Texting for the Elderly

Texting can be difficult to master, especially for people who grew up communicating through snail mail and tin can phones. Yes, we're talking about elderly people. Sure, Grandma and Grandpa are trying to be all hip with their smartphones, but do they really understand the subtleties of texting?

[More from Mashable: Gadget Connects to Lights to Help Hearing Impaired]

Probably -- they're pretty smart, you know -- but that didn't stop Conan O'Brien from offering a handy set of tips to help older folks adopt more quickly to this newfangled thing called texting. Enjoying the technology experience allows the older people in your life to send you on a guilt trip without ever looking you in the eye.

Watch the video above and let us know in the comments what are some other tech lessons you'd like to teach Great Aunt Sally.

[More from Mashable: 12 Ways to Nerd Up Your Christmas Tree]

1. Flip Phone

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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10 Free Facebook Cover Photos Full of Holiday Cheer

Mitt Romney can take some solace in his devastating loss on Nov. 6: at least he won the voters who really count. That's the thesis anyway of top adviser Stuart Stevens, who penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Wednesday arguing that by winning wealthier and whiter voters, Romney secured the moral victory over Obama. "On Nov. 6, Mitt Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income," Stevens wrote. "That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters. ...


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Samsung takes aim at Japanese rivals with Android camera

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites.

The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile network or Wi-Fi to share photographs and video without having to hook up the camera to a computer.

While it's not the first to the market, Samsung's financial and marketing clout suggest it could be the biggest threat to Japanese domination of a digital camera industry which research firm Lucintel sees growing to $46 billion by 2017 and where big brands include Canon Inc, Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, Nikon Corp and Olympus Corp.

"Samsung has a tough row to hoe against the likes of Canon and Nikon in the camera brand equity landscape," said Liz Cutting, senior imaging analyst at research firm NPD Group. "Yet as a brand known more in the connected electronic device arena, Samsung has a unique opportunity to transfer strength from adjacent categories into the dedicated camera world."

The Korean group, battling for mobile gadget supremacy against Apple Inc, is already a global market leader in televisions, smartphones and memory chips.

Samsung last year brought its camera and digital imaging business - one of its smallest - under the supervision of JK Shin, who heads a mobile business that generated 70 percent of Samsung's $7.4 billion third-quarter profit.

"Our camera business is quickly evolving ... and I think it will be able to set a new landmark for Samsung," Shin said on Thursday at a launch event in Seoul. "The product will open a new chapter in communications - visual communications," he said, noting good reviews for the Samsung Galaxy camera which went on sale in Europe and the United States earlier this month.

AIMING AT 'PRO-SUMERS'

The Galaxy camera, which sells in the United States for $499.99 through AT&T with various monthly data plans, features a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen and a 21x optical zoom lens. Users can send photos instantly to other mobile devices via a 4G network, access the Internet, email and social network sites, edit photos and play games.

The easy-to-use camera, and the quality of the pictures, is aimed at mid-market 'pro-sumers' - not quite professional photographers but those who don't mind paying a premium for user options not yet available on a smartphone - such as an optical, rather than digital, zoom, better flash, and image stabilization.

The appeal of high picture quality cameras with wireless connection has grown as social media services such as Facebook Inc drive a boom in rapid shoot-and-share photos.

"At a price point higher than some entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras, the Galaxy camera should appeal to a consumer willing to pay an initial and ongoing premium for 24/7 creative interactivity," said Cutting.

Traditional digital camera makers are responding.

Canon, considered a leader in profitability in corporate Japan with its aggressive cost cutting, saw its compact camera sales eroded in the most recent quarter by smartphones, and has just introduced its first mirrorless camera to tap into a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon entered last year.

Nikon has also recently introduced an Android-embedded Wi-Fi only camera.

($1 = 1086.4000 Korean won)

(This story fixes typing error in paragraph 9)

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in NEW YORK; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)


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Siemens paying for Invensys Rail out of liquidity

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Siemens AG is paying for its 1.74 billion pound ($2.8 billion) acquisition of Invensys' rail business out of existing liquidity, the Infrastructure & Cities division's finance chief said.

"Siemens will not take on any external debt as part of this deal," Hannes Apitzsch told journalists and analysts during a conference call on Thursday.

The deal, announced late on Wednesday, vaults Siemens well ahead of rivals in rail signaling, with a 17 percent market share, almost double the closest rivals Alstom and Ansaldo STS.

Siemens had almost 11 billion euros ($14.2 billion) of cash at the end of September.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan)


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Nokia Siemens to close Bruchsal plant in Germany

HELSINKI/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Mobile network equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) will cut 650 jobs as it shuts down its plant in Bruchsal, Germany, a spokeswoman for the company said on Thursday.

The 50-50 joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG is carrying out a cost-cutting plan, which includes laying off a quarter of its staff and selling product lines to focus on mobile broadband.

The restructuring should result in 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in cost savings by the end of next year.

Workers at the site in Bruchsal, about 125 kilometers south of Frankfurt, were informed of the plan on Tuesday, another spokeswoman for NSN said.

Depending on how talks with labor representatives go, the company envisions that workers could start leaving in three to six months, she said.

(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen and Maria Sheahan; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)


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AMC Greenlights Drama About 1980s PC Boom

Written By Bersemangat on Rabu, 28 November 2012 | 17.56

AMC ordered two scripted drama pilots Tuesday, one of which will embellish the 1980s personal computing boom. Halt & Catch Fire will tell the tech story "through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time."

[More from Mashable: Watch Live as Tim McGraw Makes a Music Video]

Breaking Bad executive producers Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein will serve similar roles for the show's production, which begins in 2013. Chris Cantwell and Chris Rodgers created Halt & Catch Fire.

The show is set in Texas' Silicon Prairie and its characters "will be challenged by greed and ego."

[More from Mashable: Rocker Andrew WK 'Blown Away' After State Department Cancels His Trip]

AMC also ordered production for Turn, which will focus on a New York farmer's attempt to rally friends and transform them into spies in 1778 during the Revolutionary War.

1. The Dial-Up Sound

Go on, get your fix:

Yeah, that's the stuff.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Powerball Photo Fever! 5,000 Players Instagram Their Tickets

If you needed a reason not to buy a ticket for Wednesday's $500 million-plus Powerball lottery, here are a few. In fact, here are 5,000 -- roughly, the number of people who have taken pictures of their tickets on the popular photo-sharing service Instagram with the hashtag #powerball.

[More from Mashable: Mapping Thanksgiving Dishes With Twitter [VIDEO]]

Taken together, the multiple ticket pics should give you a sense of how unlikely it is that you'll win. Bear in mind that if you look at all of them, you'll still have an over-inflated sense of your odds of matching six winning numbers -- which are 1 in 175 million. Imagine if half the U.S. population Instagrammed one ticket each. You're getting close.

Still, the explosion of Powerball photos is an interesting phenomenon in itself. Not only does this Powerball boast a record-breaking jackpot, it is also the most widespread lottery ever recorded on social media. Some 600 tweets per hour with the hashtag #powerball were being seen by 6 p.m. EST Tuesday.

[More from Mashable: You Know the Old Social Media Saying [COMIC]]

Naturally, most of those tweets concentrated on what users would do with the money if they won. If you want to see an interesting cross-section of humanity's hopes and dreams, they're well worth reading.

So those thousands who Instagrammed a ticket may not win, but they can at least take comfort in being part of a bona fide social media phenomenon. And here's another benefit: unlike Instagramming your ballot, taking pictures of your lotto ticket is legal in all 50 states.

@Young_Pharaoh1

Click here to view this gallery.

Image: Instagram user @justinshanley

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Microsoft sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in month: exec

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since the launch, according to one of the new co-heads of the Windows unit, setting a faster pace than Windows 7 three years ago.

The sales number represents a solid but unspectacular start for the touch-friendly operating system designed to combat Apple Inc's and Google Inc's domination of mobile computing, which has shunted aside PCs in favor of iPads and smartphones.

Tami Reller, finance and marketing head of the Windows business, did not give a precise comparison, but sales of 40 million licenses for Windows 8, launched on October 26, appear to be ahead of Windows 7, which sold just over 60 million units in the first 10 weeks on sale at the end of 2009.

Reller did not break down the Windows 8 license sales between relatively cheap upgrades and purchases of new machines running the new software, but suggested much of the growth was coming from upgrades.

"Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7," said Reller, speaking at an investor conference held by Credit Suisse. Upgrading to Windows 8 costs $40, compared to $70 for the full software package or hundreds of dollars for a new PC.

The latest figure does not mean that 40 million users have adopted Windows 8. Many of the sales are to PC manufacturers, who in turn sell a large number of machines to companies, very few of which are using Windows 8 yet.

According to tech research firm StatCounter, about 1 percent of the world's 1.5 billion or so personal computers - making a total of around 15 million - are actually running Windows 8.

Reller did not disclose sales of Microsoft's new Surface tablet, its first-ever own-brand PC, designed to challenge the iPad head on.

The first Surface, based on a chip designed by ARM Holdings Plc, does not run old versions of Microsoft programs. A slightly bigger version based on an Intel Corp chip that will run the full Windows 8 Pro operating system and be fully compatible with the Office suite of applications will be available in January, Reller said.

The investor conference was the first public appearance for Reller since she was named as one of two executives to run the Windows unit after president Steven Sinofsky unexpectedly left two weeks ago. Julie Larson-Green heads the engineering side of Windows.

Reller said the Windows unit had survived Sinofsky's surprise departure.

"The team holistically is in great, great shape. And the product is in great shape," she said, responding to a question from a Credit Suisse analyst. "I think transitions are always somewhat of a challenge, but I think that timing-wise it is a reasonable time, and the team is busy."

Earlier in the day, Microsoft said it had sold more than 750,000 Xbox game consoles in the United States last week, including the day after Thanksgiving, one of the country's biggest shopping days.

That is down from 960,000 sales in the same week a year ago, in line with reduced computer game spending across the board this year, as gamers hold off on purchases in the tight economy and move toward free online games.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Gary Hill, Andre Grenon and Bernard Orr)


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Nokia wins tribunal ruling on wireless patents

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia has won its dispute with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) over use of its patents related to wireless local access network (WLAN) technology, the Finnish company said on Wednesday.

Announcing that an arbitrator had ruled in its favor, Nokia said: "It found that RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products without first agreeing royalties."

Nokia, which is trying to boost its royalty income as its phone business tumbles, said that it had filed cases in the United States, Britain and Canada to enforce the arbitrator's ruling.

"This could have a significant financial impact, as all BlackBerry devices support WLAN, although the volumes are currently very low in these countries," IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.

RIM was not immediately available to comment.

Nokia said it signed a cross-license agreement with RIM covering standards-essential cellular patents in 2003; a deal that was amended in 2008. RIM sought arbitration in 2011, arguing that the license should be extended to cover WLAN patents.

Nokia, along with Ericsson and Qualcomm, is among the leading patent holders in the wireless industry. Patent royalties generate annual revenue of about 500 million euros ($646 million) for Nokia.

Based on a Nortel patent sale and Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, some investors and analysts say that Nokia's patent portfolio alone merits its current share price of 2.50 euros.

However, the patent market has cooled since those deals were made and industry experts say that fair value of patents in large portfolios is $100,000 to $200,000, pricing Nokia's portfolio at up to 0.50 euros per share. ($1 = 0.7733 euros)

(Editing by David Goodman)


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Norwegian app aims to make math cool

OSLO (Reuters) - The startup behind the algebra app that overtook Angry Birds as No. 1 in the Norwegian app store earlier this year aims to replicate that success globally next year with four more mathematics games.

The goal of WeWantToKnow AS - to teach 12 years of math curriculum in some 30 hours of game play - is ambitious, but its founders are certain that the success of the first version of DragonBox, the algebra game which has been downloaded more than 50,000 times, proves the target is within reach.

The company will roll out a new version of DragonBox later this year and in 2013 it will introduce games for functions, probability, geometry and numbers, the other key fields of mathematics.

Teacher Jean-Baptiste Huynh created the first game after becoming frustrated with how math is being taught, teaming up with Rolf Assev, a key executive at No 5 browser firm Opera Software more than a decade ago.

Assev brought in other former executives from 1995-founded Norwegian tech star Opera, the oldest browser firm globally and the only publicly listed one focused on browsers.

The aim of WeWantToKnow is to redefine mathematical language for games and adapt the learning process into game play.

"It is the educational part that is really hard, and we have cracked the code. This type of game is going to be a "must have" in all future learning," Huynh told Reuters.

Currently, some 100 schools in the United States are testing the game in a joint project with the University of Washington.

There are no direct rivals on the market, and the firm said it already turned down a number of buyout offers from major gaming firms. It also has no plans to go public.

"We will do this on our own, and we have enormous ambitions. Why should we go public? Just ask Mark Zuckerberg if he thinks that the past year has been fun. I think he wishes he could still do whatever he wanted with his own company," said marketing director Assev.

Huynh and his partner Patrick Marchal own 70 percent of the company, with the rest owned by former Opera executives, including long time CEO and co-founder Jon Von Tetzchner.

(Writing By Tarmo Virki; editing by Gunna Dickson)


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Take a Look Inside the Nokia Lumia 920 Camera

Written By Bersemangat on Selasa, 27 November 2012 | 17.56

PureView

The 8.7-megapixel camera in the Lumia 920 carries Nokia's PureView label, a name the company first introduced in the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView handset earlier this year.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Living With Lumia: The Problem With Windows Phone Apps]

There's no denying that the Nokia Lumia 920 has one of the best smartphone cameras out there. Along with our Lumia 920 review unit, Nokia sent us the phone's camera sensor so we could see exactly what's going on inside the phone.

The 8.7-megapixel camera carries Nokia's PureView label, a name the company first introduced in the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView handset earlier this year.

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PureView cameras use BSI (backside illuminated) sensors rather than the FSI (front-side illumiated) sensors that are used in older smartphones. The difference between the two lies primarily in the path that light takes to reach the photosensitive area of the sensor. With BSI, light isn't restricted in the same way as an FSI sensor, allowing more light to get through and photos to look noticeably better in low-light situations.

While most smartphones today use a BSI sensor for improved low-light performance, the Lumia 920 also has a fixed f/2.0 camera aperture in its PureView cameras. The unusually large aperture lets in more light than camparable cameras -- very useful when such light is scarce.

The camera also includes optical image stabilization, which compensates for unintended movement and eliminates camera shake in videos and photos. Rather than shift a single lens to compensate for movement, Nokia's PureView cameras shift the entire optical assembly in the camera to help eliminate shake, giving it an advantage over other smartphone cameras out there -- even ones with "normal" image stabilization.

Optical Image Stabilization helps improve pictures in low-light situations, as well as times when you're trying to shoot photos one-handed and need a little help to keep the shot steady.

With Windows Phone 8 Nokia is taking its PureView technology a step further. Working along with Microsoft, Windows Phone 8 introduces a new algorithm for reducing visual noise and improving the camera's low-light performance while maintaining a natural look in photos, theoretically further improving pictures taken in challenging situations.

Take a look at some low-light pictures we took with the Lumia 920 below, and let us know what you think of the smartphone's camera in the comments.

Great in Low Light

All of the photos in this gallery were taken using the automatic settings in the Lumia 920 at night.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Univision Weather Cat Is the Cutest News Blooper Ever [VIDEO]

As far as news bloopers go, it doesn't get much cuter than this: a neighborhood kitty wandering on-camera during Univision 23 meteorologist Eduardo Rodriguez's forecast segment recently. The Univision weather cat's tail first floats along the bottom of the screen in the video above, then the surprise visitor takes a poke around the bottom righthand corner of the shot.

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Rodriguez deserves Pulitzer consideration for keeping it together during the fuzzy interlude. According to the Univision News Tumblr page, several cats live outside the station's Miami studios, sometimes sneaking inside for a bit of TV face -- or tail -- time.

1. Kitten vs. Two Scary Things

Someone needs to tell this kitten apples aren't harbingers of doom. Then again, why spoil the fun?

[More from Mashable: 10 Adorable Animals Feeding Other Animals [VIDEOS]]

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Samsung under renewed fire over China labor breaches

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung came under renewed criticism from a rights group on Tuesday for illegal work practices at its Chinese suppliers, a day after the South Korean electronics giant admitted excessive overtime and fines for employees in China.

A number of foreign companies have been accused in recent years of improper labor practices in China, seen as a cheap source of labor for their production lines.

New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW) said employees at one of Samsung's suppliers sometimes worked up to 16 hours a day, with only one day's rest a month.

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest maker of cell phones and televisions, said on Monday a review of 105 of its Chinese suppliers - involving more than 65,000 employees - found illegal work practices, but said the companies involved would be given two more years to change their ways.

The audit followed allegations by CLW in August that seven children younger than 16 were working in one of Samsung's suppliers in China.

Samsung said the audit had found no evidence of child labor.

It did, however, concede several instances of inadequate practices, such as overtime hours in excess of legal regulations and the imposition of a system of fines for tardiness or absence.

"We have identified the need for initiatives to reduce employee overtime as a top priority, and we are researching and developing measures that will eliminate hours beyond legal limits by the end of 2014," the company said in a statement.

AUDIT RELIABILITY QUESTIONED

China Labor Watch said on Tuesday a follow-up investigation found that workers usually work from three to six times the legal overtime limit.

"The worst situation is in a Samsung supplier factory called Chitwing Mould Industry (Dongguan) Co., Ltd, where workers' overtime hours surpass 220 hours per month. Workers here can work up to 15 or 16 hours per day with perhaps one day of rest per month," CLW said in a statement.

"Samsung uses an audit system to monitor factories, but audits are renowned for their lack of reliability. Instead of audits, Samsung should establish direct channels of communication with its workers, such as worker committees or a worker hotline."

Samsung said on Tuesday hotlines were being set up for workers at supplier firms to report anonymously any inhumane treatment or violations of labor laws.

Samsung is reviewing 144 more suppliers in China and said the review would be completed by the end of this year.

The firm also said that from 2013 audits of its 249 suppliers in China would be conducted by an independent third party.

The move reflects a growing attention on work practices in China by foreign multinationals including Apple.

Apple Inc and its main contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, whose subsidiary Hon Hai Precision Industry assembles Apple devices in China, earlier this year agreed to tackle violations of conditions among the 1.2 million workers assembling iPhones and iPads. That landmark decision could change the way Western companies do business in China.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)


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Samsung to ship 19 million Windows 8 computers this year: executive

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will ship 19 million laptop computers and tablets operating on Microsoft Corp's new Windows 8 operating system this year, said Jin Park, vice president of the IT solutions business at Samsung.

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, launched its new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 earlier this year to grip customers' imagination, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Sunil Nair)


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Ericsson sues Samsung for patent infringement

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ericsson, the world's biggest telecom network equipment maker, said on Tuesday it had filed a suit in the United States against Samsung Electronics Co for patent infringement.

Sweden's Ericsson said in a statement it had sued after Samsung had not renewed a license to use unspecified technology on the same terms - called the Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms - that competitors have previously accepted.

"The dispute concerns both Ericsson's patented technology that is essential to several telecommunications and networking standards used by Samsung's products as well as other of Ericsson's patented inventions that are frequently implemented in wireless and consumer electronics products," it said.

A Samsung spokeswoman said the South Korean company, the world's largest cell phone and television maker, was looking into the report and had no immediate comment.

An Ericsson spokesman declined to comment on the size of the lawsuit.

Ericsson's intellectual property right net revenues amounted to 6.2 billion Swedish crowns ($938 million) in 2011.

The complaint is filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

($1 = 6.6116 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom)


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Top 10 Pinterest Pins This Week

Written By Bersemangat on Senin, 26 November 2012 | 17.56

Magnetic Floating Sofa Cloud

"Magnetic floating sofa cloud concept. Everyone should have one!" Pinned From: Ricktastic Mulvay, Walk your dog daily Source: DK & Wei

Click here to view this gallery.

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There is more to Pinterest than just weddings and recipes. Check out our 10 favorite pins from this week.

While compiling our top 10 Pinterest pins, we came across handy products, useful tips and eye-catching design concepts. In addition to keeping a close eye on our Pinterest feed, we use the Pinterest analytics tool Repinly to look through popular pins and choose 10 standouts to share in our roundup.

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This week, we couldn't help but be captivated by a design concept for a floating cloud sofa (sadly, it isn't a reality at this time) and a concept for a flat extension cord. Additionally, we found a few real life products that could make your life a little more convenient -- such as a playful key holder and a handy dustpan.

What were your favorite Pinterest pins this week?

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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11 Biggest Social Media Disasters of 2012

1. McDonald's Promoted Trend Goes Wrong

Back in January, McDonald's tried to promote its brand and engage with customers through two promoted trends: #meetthefarmers and #mcdstories. Unfortunately for McDonald's, many Twitter users decided to post their horror stories at the fast food chain using the second of those hashtags. In essence, McDonald's paid to promote a trend that showered the company in bad publicity. McDonald's later admitted that "#mcdstories did not go as planned."

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Red Flags for Job Searching on Craigslist]

The calendar year wouldn't be complete without a few social media fails.

In 2012, plenty of big brands and organizations suffered serious backlashes on social networks like Twitter and Facebook for offensive tweets, questionable ad campaigns or controversial company statements. Some, like McDonald's, attempted good-natured social media campaigns that simply took unexpected turns. Others, like StubHub's and KitchenAid's Twitter accounts mistakenly send out shocking tweets.

[More from Mashable: Black Friday Online Sales Top $1 Billion for First Time]

If there's one lesson to take away from this year's fails, it's that brands need to be particularly careful when it comes to tying a promotion or post to a big, public event. Several of the businesses on our list were heavily criticized for posts relating to the presidential election and Hurricane Sandy, for example.

We've dug up 11 of the most memorable social media mistakes from this year.  If we missed any that you remember, let us know in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Apple seeks to add more products to Samsung patent lawsuit

(Reuters) - Apple Inc has asked a federal court to add six more products to its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co, including the Samsung Galaxy Note II, in the latest in move in an ongoing legal war between the two companies.

The case is one of two patent infringement lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court in San Jose by Apple against Samsung. An earlier lawsuit by Apple that related to different patents resulted in a $1.05 billion jury verdict against Samsung on August 24.

Apple is also seeking to add the Samsung Galaxy S III, running the new Android "Jelly Bean" operating system, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wifi, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, the Samsung Rugby Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, to its lawsuit, according to a court filing on Friday.

"Apple has acted quickly and diligently to determine that these newly-released products do infringe many of the same claims already asserted by Apple," the company said in the filing.

Samsung representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Apple filed the second lawsuit in February, alleging that various Samsung smartphone and tablet products including the Galaxy Nexus infringed eight of its patents.

Samsung denied infringement and filed a cross-complaint alleging that Apple's iPhone and iPad infringed eight of its patents.

A U.S. judge on November 15 allowed Samsung to pursue claims the iPhone5 also infringes its patents.

The case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al, No. 12-cv-00630.

(Reporting By John McCrank; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)


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Renesas shareholders set to approve $2.4 billion bailout, shares soar

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shareholders of Japan's embattled Renesas Electronics Corp are close to approving a government-led bailout, sources familiar with the talks said, sending the firm's shares 17 percent higher on relief that the $2.4 billion rescue was being finalized.

The deal is set to keep the world's biggest maker of microcontroller chips afloat for the next few years, but analysts say that despite job cuts and planned plant closures, Renesas still faces many challenges including the restructuring of its loss-making system chip division.

The state-backed Innovation Network Corp will spend 180 billion yen ($2.2 billion) to take a two-thirds stake in Renesas, which has been hit by fierce overseas competition, production cuts by clients and fragile finances that have prevented it from upgrading infrastructure.

As part of the bailout, eight manufacturers including key clients such as Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co Ltd will provide another combined 20 billion yen.

Shareholder approval of the deal, while expected, had been delayed for several weeks and an announcement is now likely in early December, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public.

A Renesas spokesman said nothing had been decided.

Investors jumped to cover short positions in the stock, said Makoto Kikuchi, chief executive officer of Myojo Asset Management, noting that unlike some other troubled Japanese electronics firm such as Sharp Corp, the company's expertise in chips for cars meant it was worth investing in.

The bailout was put together to counter an earlier bid by U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co LP amid worries that the firm's technology would fall into foreign hands.

"As soon as stock investors see signs that the company is working hard to return to profit, they will be prepared to invest long-term," Kikuchi said.

Shares in Renesas closed 16.6 percent higher at a two-month high but are still down 42 percent since the beginning of April, the start of Japan's fiscal year.

Recent history has been brutal for Japan's chipmakers and Renesas, formed from the struggling chip divisions of its major shareholding companies Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and NEC Corp, will be keen not to repeat the mistakes of now-bankrupt fellow chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc.

Elpida, formed from the merger of several big companies' DRAM chip making operations, succumbed to slumping prices and relentless competition from South Korean rivals and is being acquired by Micron Technology Inc of the United States.

Japan's tech sector has also seen the creation of Japan Display Inc, a firm formed from the divisions of three TV makers which make small liquid crystal displays and which the Innovation Network Corp has also invested in.

The bailout comes on top of 161 billion yen in syndicated loans from four Japanese banks in September, and before that a separate 97 billion yen Renesas previously received from the banks and its major shareholders.

In return, the company has slashed more than 7,000 jobs this year and pledged to sell or close eight out of its 18 domestic plants within three years.

Renesas, which competes with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and U.S.-based Freescale Semiconductor Inc, has predicted a net loss of 150 billion yen for the year to March.

The Nikkei newspaper also said on Monday that Renesas will receive an additional 1 billion yen each in support from Hitachi and NEC. Sources said the two firms will not take in Renesas employees, while Mitsubishi Electric is considering taking in some workers from the chipmaker. ($1 = 82.3700 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)


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Nokia unveils 2 new cellphone models, priced at $62

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Struggling Finnish cellphone maker Nokia unveiled on Monday two new cellphone models, the Asha 205 and the Asha 206, pricing both models at around $62, excluding subsidies and taxes.

Both models will go on sale this quarter.

Nokia unveiled a new Slam feature which allows consumers to share multimedia content like photos and videos with nearby friends almost instantly through Bluetooth connection.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki)


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Nokia imaging chief to quit

Written By Bersemangat on Minggu, 25 November 2012 | 17.56

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia's long-time imaging chief Damian Dinning has decided to leave the loss-making cellphone maker at the end of this month, the company said in a statement.

The strong imaging capabilities of the new Lumia smartphone models are a key sales argument for the former market leader, which has been burning through cash while losing share in both high-end smartphones and cheaper handsets.

Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop has replaced most of the top management since he joined in late 2010 and Dinnig is the latest of several executives to leave.

Dinning did not want to move to Finland as part of the phonemakers' effort to concentrate operations and will join Jaguar Land Rover to head innovations in the field of connected cars, he said on Nokia's imaging fan site PureViewclub.com.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, editing by William Hardy)


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7 Apps You Don't Want to Miss

Here for iOS

Nokia released Here Maps for iOS this week. The application provides local transit, driving and walking directions. Places you enjoy visiting (or want to visit) in a city can be organized into Collections for easy access, and locations and directions to them can be shared with friends via SMS, email and social networks.

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[More from Mashable: 5 Shopping Apps To Help You Save Cash on Black Friday and Beyond]

It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released every week. But you're in luck -- we take care of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps.

This week, a mapping application brought public transit maps to the iPhone, and a popular location-sharing app finally made its way to Android.

[More from Mashable: Facebook Tests Photo Sync For iOS [VIDEO]]

We found an app that will help you make new friends while you're traveling for business, and an iOS app to help you decide what to cook for dinner when you're back home.

Check out the gallery, above, for a look at this week's app highlights.

If you're still looking for more, check out our previous Apps You Don't Want To Miss. Think we left a great new app off the list? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo courtesy iStockphoto, scanrail.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Prankster Replicates Facebook Users' Profile Photos, Then Friends Targets [PICS]

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Image courtesy of Imgur, casinoroycasinoroy

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Everyone has a knack for something. Reddit user CasinoRoy's talent is creeping out strangers on Facebook, and perfectly replicating their profile photos.

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The prankster searches for Facebook users with his name, and then recreates their profile photos by imitating their wardrobe and facial expression. When it's all done, he sends the subject a friend request.

In total, CasinoRoy found eight people on Facebook with his name. He recently shared his hilarious project to Reddit, which garnered 20,000 views in four hours. The joker revealed on Reddit that only one person accepted his friend request. The relationship was short-lived. "He seemed genuinely creeped out and de-friended me shortly after," he wrote.

What would you do if you found a perfect replica of your Facebook profile picture? Tell us in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Imgur, casinoroycasinoroy

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Professor finds profiling in ads for personal data website

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Dr. Latisha Smith, an expert in decompression sicknesses afflicting deep sea divers, has cleared criminal background checks throughout her medical career. Yet someone searching the Web for the Washington State physician might well come across an Internet ad suggesting she may have an arrest record.

"Latisha Smith, arrested?" reads one such advertisement.

Another says: "Latisha Smith Truth... Check Latisha Smith's Arrests."

Instantcheckmate.com, which labels itself the "Internet's leading authority on background checks," placed both ads. A statistical analysis of the company's advertising has found it has disproportionately used ad copy including the word "arrested" for black-identifying names, even when a person has no arrest record.

Latanya Sweeney is a Harvard University professor of government with a doctorate in computer science. After learning that her own name had popped up in an "arrested?" ad when a colleague was searching for one of her academic publications, she ran more than 120,000 searches for names primarily given to either black or white children, testing ads delivered for 2,400 real names 50 times each. (The author of this story is a Harvard University fellow collaborating with Professor Sweeney on a book about the business of personal data.)

Ebony Jefferson, for example, often turns up an instantcheckmate.com ad reading: "Ebony Jefferson, arrested?" but an ad triggered by a search for Emily Jefferson would read: "We found Emily Jefferson." Searches for randomly chosen black-identifying names such as Deshawn Williams, Latisha Smith or Latanya Smith often produced the "arrested?" headline or ad text with the word "arrest," whereas other less ethnic-sounding first names matched with the same surnames typically did not.

"As an African-American, I'm used to profiling like that," said Dr. Smith. "I think it's horrendous that they get away with it."

Instantcheckmate.com declined to comment. The company's founder and managing partner, Kristian Kibak, did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls over a period of several months, and other employees referred calls to management. Company officials also declined to comment when visited twice at their call center in Las Vegas. Former employees said they had signed nondisclosure agreements that barred them from speaking openly about Instant Checkmate.

Instantcheckmate.com is one of many data brokers that use and sell data for a variety of purposes. The field is attracting growing attention, both from government and consumers concerned about possible abuse. Rapid advances in technology have opened up all sorts of opportunities for commercialization of data.

Anyone can set up shop and sell arrest records as long as they stay clear of U.S. legal limitations such as using the information to determine creditworthiness, insurance or job suitability.

Companies that compete with instantcheckmate.com include intelius.com and mylife.com. An examination of Internet advertising starting last March as well as Sweeney's study did not find any rival companies advertising background searches on individual names along racial lines.

WHO CAN BE TRUSTED?

In its own marketing, Instantcheckmate.com sums up its mission like this: "Parents will no longer need to wonder about whether their neighbors, friends, home day care providers, a former spouse's new love interest or preschool providers can be trusted to care for their children responsibly."

According to preliminary findings of Professor Sweeney's research, searches of names assigned primarily to black babies, such as Tyrone, Darnell, Ebony and Latisha, generated "arrest" in the instantcheckmate.com ad copy between 75 percent and 96 percent of the time. Names assigned at birth primarily to whites, such as Geoffrey, Brett, Kristen and Anne, led to more neutral copy, with the word "arrest" appearing between zero and 9 percent of the time.

A few names fell outside of these patterns: Brad, a name predominantly given to white babies, produced an ad with the word "arrest" 62 percent to 65 percent of the time. Sweeney found that ads appear regardless of whether the name has an arrest record attached to it.

Blacks make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 28 percent of the arrests listed on the FBI's most recent annual crime statistics.

Internet advertising based on millions of name pairs has only existed in recent years, so targeting ads along racial lines raises new legal questions. Experts say the Federal Trade Commission, which this year assessed an $800,000 penalty against personal data site Spokeo.com for different reasons (related to the use of data for job-vetting purposes), would be the institution best placed to review Instant Checkmate's practices.

The FTC enforces regulations against unfair or deceptive business practices. A deceptive claim that would be more likely to get people to purchase a product than they would otherwise would be a typical reason the FTC might act against a company, said one FTC official who did not want to be identified. For example, authorities could take action against a firm that makes misleading claims suggesting a product such as records exist when they do not.

"It's disturbing," Julie Brill, an FTC commissioner, said of Instant Checkmate's advertising. "I don't know if it's illegal ... It's something that we'd need to study to see if any enforcement action is needed."

Instant Checkmate's Kibak, who is in his late 20s, works out of a San Diego office near the Pacific Ocean. The son of a California biology professor, he did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment about his business.

"We would consider the answers to most of your questions trade secrets and therefore would not be comfortable disclosing that information," Joey Rocco, Kibak's partner according to the firm's Nevada state registration, said in an email.

Instant Checkmate LLC maintains its official corporate headquarters at an address in an industrial zone across the highway from the Las Vegas strip. At the back of a long parking lot, the company shares a warehouse building with an auto repair shop. At one end, a large roll-up garage-style door opens to the company's call center. Workers face a gray cinder-block wall, their backs to the entrance. Staff declined to answer questions.

DATA FIRMS PROLIFERATE

Professor Sweeney's analysis found that some instantcheckmate.com ads hint at arrest records when the firm's database has no record of any arrest for that name, as is the case with her own name. In other cases, such as that of Latisha Smith, the company does have arrest records for some people by that name, although not for the doctor of hypobaric medicine in Washington State.

Laura Beatty, an Internet Marketing Inc expert in helping companies achieve prominent placement in Web searches, said instantcheckmate.com appeared to choose its ads based on combinations of thousands of different first and last names and then segment them based on the first names.

"There does look like there is some definite profiling going on here," she said. "In the searches that I looked at, it seemed like the more Midwestern- and WASP-sounding the name was, the less likely it was to have either any advertisement at all or to have something that was more geared around the arrest or criminal background."

Internet firms selling criminal records and personal data to the public have proliferated in recent years, as low-cost computing enables even modest operations to maintain large databases on millions of Americans. Such sites sell access to users for a one-time fee - $29.95 in the case of instantcheckmate.com - or via monthly subscription plans.

Instant Checkmate, first registered in Nevada in 2010, said in a recent press release posted online that the firm had attracted more than 570,000 customers since its start and counted more than 200,000 subscribers.

According to alexa.com, an Amazon.Com Inc site analyzing website traffic, instantcheckmate.com has ranged roughly between the 500th and 600th most visited U.S. site in recent weeks, making it an increasingly major player in this area.

The company is able to target its ads on an individual name basis through a program called Google AdWords. Instantcheckmate.com and others companies like it use Google AdWords to bid to place small text advertisements alongside search results on major websites triggered by the names in their data base. Such ads typically cost a company far less than a dollar, sometimes just a few pennies, each time they're clicked.

Google says it does not control what names appear in AdWords. "Advertisers select all of their keywords, and ads are triggered when someone searches for that name. We don't have any role in the advertiser's selection of unique proper names," said a Google spokesman.

Some in Congress have raised concerns about developments in the use of personal data. In October, Senator John Rockefeller IV, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, opened a probe into leading data brokers. "Collecting, storing and selling information about Americans raises all types of questions that require careful scrutiny," he said.

(Adam Tanner is a Reuters correspondent currently on a 2012-13 fellowship at Harvard University's Department of Government.)

(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Prudence Crowther)


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Saudi telco regulator suspends Mobily prepaid sim sales

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's No.2 telecom operator Etihad Etisalat Co (Mobily) has been suspended from selling pre-paid sim cards by the industry regulator, the firm said in a statement to the kingdom's bourse on Sunday.

Mobily's sales of pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go, sim cards will remain halted until the company "fully meets the prepaid service provisioning requirements," the telco said in the statement.

These requirements include a September order from regulator, Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC). This states all pre-paid sim users must enter a personal identification number when recharging their accounts and that this number must be the same as the one registered with their mobile operator when the sim card was bought, according to a statement on the CITC website.

This measure is designed to ensure customer account details are kept up to date, the CITC said.

Mobily said the financial impact of the CITC's decision would be "insignificant", claiming data, corporate and postpaid revenues would meet its main growth drivers.

The firm, which competes with Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Zain Saudi, reported a 23 percent rise in third-quarter profit in October, beating forecasts.

Prepaid mobile subscriptions are typically more popular among middle and lower income groups, with telecom operators pushing customers to shift to monthly contracts that include a data allowance.

Customers on monthly, or postpaid, contracts are also less likely to switch provider, but the bulk of customers remain on pre-paid accounts.

Mobily shares were trading down 1.4 percent at 0820 GMT on the Saudi bourse.

(Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Dinesh Nair)


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Sony at greater risk than Panasonic in electronics downturn: Fitch

Written By Bersemangat on Sabtu, 24 November 2012 | 17.56

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp has a better chance than rival Sony Corp of surviving Japan's consumer electronics slump because of its unglamorous but stable appliance business of washing machines and fridges, credit rating agency Fitch said Friday.

Fitch cut Panasonic's rating by two notches to BB and Sony three notches to BB minus on Thursday, the first time one of the three major ratings agencies have put the creditworthiness of either company into junk-bond territory.

Rival agencies Moody's and S&P rate both of Japan's consumer electronic giants at the same level, just above junk status. Moody's last cut its rating on Panasonic on Tuesday.

Panasonic "has the advantage of a relatively stable consumer appliance business that is still generating positive margins", Matt Jamieson, Fitch's head of Asia-Pacific, said in a conference call on Friday to explain its ratings downgrades.

But at Sony, he added, "most of their electronic business are loss making, they appear to be overstretched."

Japan's TV industry has been bested by cheaper, more innovative models from Samsung Electronics and other foreign rivals, while tablets and smartphones built by Apple Inc have become the dominant consumer electronics devices.

Investors are focusing on the fate of Sony and Panasonic after another struggling Japanese consumer electronics firm, Sharp Corp, maker of the Aquos TV, secured a $4.6 billion bail-out by banks including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Sony and Panasonic have chosen divergent survival paths.

Panasonic, maker of the Viera TV, is looking to expand its businesses in appliances, solar panels, lithium batteries and automotive components. Appliances amount to around only 6 percent of the company's sales, but they generate margins of more than 6 percent and make up a big chunk of operating profit.

Sony, creator of the Walkman, is doubling down on consumer gadgets in a bid to regain ground from Samsung and Apple in mobile devices while bolstering digital cameras and gaming.

The latest downgrades will curtail the ability of both Japanese companies to raise money in credit markets to help fund restructurings of their business portfolios.

For now, however, that impact is limited, given the support Panasonic and Sony are receiving from their banks.

In October, Panasonic, which expects to lose $10 billion in the year to March 31, secured $7.6 billion of loan commitments from banks including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ, a financing backstop it says will help it avoid having to seek capital in credit markets.

Sony, which has forecast a full-year profit of $1.63 billion helped by the sale of a chemicals business to a Japanese state bank, announced plans to raise $1.9 billion through a convertible bond before the latest rating downgrade.

Thomson Reuters' Starmine structural model, which evaluates market views of credit risk, debt levels and changes in asset values gives Panasonic and Sony an implied rating of BB minus. Sharp's implied rating is three notches lower at B minus.

Standard & Poor's rates Panasonic and Sony at BBB, the second lowest of the investment grade, while Moody's Investors Service has them on Baa3, the lowest of its high-grade category. Moody's has a negative outlook for both firms while S&P sees a stable outlook for Panasonic and a negative one for Sony.

Stock markets in Japan were closed on Friday for a national holiday.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


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Autonomy founder says HP allegations don't add up

LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, mathematics whiz and former boss of Autonomy, said he can't see how accusations leveled by Hewlett-Packard Co of dodgy accounting add up to a $5 billion writedown on the software business he sold them last year.

HP said on Tuesday it would write $8.8 billion off its $11.1 billion purchase of the British company, $5 billion of it due to "serious accounting improprieties" and "a wilful effort by Autonomy to mislead shareholders" revealed by a whistleblower and a forensic audit by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It has alerted regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mike Lynch says he has yet to hire a lawyer and has not spoken to either HP or any investigators, but he has sat down with past accounts of the firm he founded in an attempt to answer the accusations laid out in HP's public statements.

HP's general counsel John Schultz claimed Autonomy created more than $200 million in revenue over a two-year period from 2009, which would amount to 12.5 percent of Autonomy's $1.6 billion in revenues in their annual accounts for 2009 and 2010.

While denying the allegations as "utterly wrong", Lynch said there were three areas where accounting rules gave scope for differences of interpretation.

Accounting rule setters have been working on plans for a decade for common global accounting rules so regulators and investors can compare company accounts, but until that task is complete, there are competing standards that can produce different results for companies doing broadly the same thing.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has devised International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), used in more than 100 countries, and the basis for Autonomy's accounts prior to HP's acquisition.

But many U.S. companies such as HP use U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which can differ from IFRS, notably in respect of software revenue recognition.

One of the accusations HP levels against Autonomy's former management is that the company was booking licensing revenue upfront before deals closed, thereby inflating revenue.

"Revenue recognition for software vendors can be complicated, to say the least," accountants Grant Thornton wrote in a note.

This is because software companies often bundle products and services such as licenses, installation, training and maintenance support into a single contract.

Under accounting rules, a company can establish a model for pricing different parts of the contract so that some revenue can be taken up front and the rest over the period of the contract.

Under IFRS this is governed by rule IAS 18. Under U.S. GAAP there are more stringent conditions to satisfy, requiring what is called VSOE, or vendor-specific objective evidence.

"It shouldn't be a surprise this issue is coming up. It shows how loosey-goosey IFRS is," said Lynn E. Turner, former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who was running the SEC department that issued Staff Accounting Bulletin 101, which set a lot of the specific rules around revenue recognition.

Lynch believes that HP might not have yet established its own VSOE model and therefore might not be recognizing revenues upfront, which might result in a restatement of Autonomy revenues.

"All of these deals went through (Autonomy's auditors) Deloitte themselves," said Lynch. "Deloitte apply the test independently of us, and it is a standard test, and it is explicitly stated in the annual report and accounts."

Autonomy would submit every single invoice to Deloitte each quarter as part of the auditing process, added Lynch.

Deloitte said it conducted its audit work "in full compliance with regulation and professional standards", and "categorically denied" any knowledge of improprieties or misrepresentations in Autonomy's financial statements.

HARDWARE

Another allegation HP has stated in public is that Autonomy mischaracterized revenue from low-margin hardware sales as software sales.

Autonomy always represented itself as a software firm but 10 percent to 15 percent of its revenue came from money-losing sales of low-end hardware, HP said.

Lynch said it was not a secret that Autonomy sells hardware. In company reports for 2009-2010, hardware sales accounted for around 8 percent of revenue. Occasionally, if a customer wanted a desktop, Autonomy would provide a package that might include desktops, for example, along with the software.

In terms of money-losing sales, Lynch acknowledged that in a small number of cases, deals were struck at a slight loss, in exchange for the client agreeing to market Autonomy products.

In those cases, the transaction would be charged as a marketing expense, not a direct cost of sales, but overall accounted for less than 2 percent of total revenues, Lynch said.

Though this "moves the gross margin a percent or two", it doesn't affect profit, he added.

RESELLERS

Another allegation made by HP is that Autonomy booked some licensing deals with partners as revenue, even though no customer bought products.

Autonomy generates most of its sales revenues through deals with over 400 clients including IBM and Wipro who resell the software to end-users.

Under IFRS, revenue can be recognized if sales are delivered in the current period, there is no right of return policy, collection is probable and the fee is fixed and determinable.

Lynch said only deals that fulfilled these criteria were booked as revenue.

Under U.S. GAAP, if Autonomy's sale was contingent on the reseller's sale, the latter must be completed before Autonomy can claim it as revenue.

Even so, Lynch said over 90 percent of resellers completed sales. In some cases, he said, it was perfectly reasonable to sell to a reseller with no end user as they might use the software themselves.

While these accounting differences could have an impact, Lynch believes it is hard to reach the dizzying figures that HP has come up with.

"There is nothing there that you can warrant such a big effect in terms of writedown," he insisted.

(Reporting By Anjuli Davies, additional reporting by Nanette Byrnes; Editing by Will Waterman)


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Amazon Cyber Monday Deals Begin Sunday

1. Angry Birds King Pig Castle (Amazon Exclusive)

Play Angry Birds in real life with this board game. $29.99, down from $49.99

Click here to view this gallery.

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Beging at midnight on Sunday, Amazon will open up their Cyber Monday online store. The site is live now, but deals won't be offered until after midnight.

[More from Mashable: Your Tablet-Happy Friends Will Worship This Magnetic iPad Keyboard]

Deals across the Internet are rampant, but below is a list of some of the better offers from Amazon. Click through the gallery above for the five you should keep your eyes on, and let us know in the comments if we missed anything awesome.

  • 60% off a Panasonic VIERA 55-Inch TV
  • Samsung 40-Inch 3D Slim LED HDTV, $747.99
  • 50% off Nikon COOLPIX S9200 Digital Camera
  • 40% off Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX7 Digital Camera
  • JBL High-Performance Complete 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System, $349.99
  • 10% off Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and select Bose headphones
  • Up to 70% off select top brand headphones, including V-MODA, MEElectronics, Sony and more
  • Dell Inspiron 15.6-Inch Laptop, $399.99
  • HGST Touro Desk 4 TB External Hard Drive, $169.99
  • 80% off thousands of Kindle books
  • Brave (Three-Disc Collector's Edition), $8.96
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (+UltraViolet Digital Copy), $1.96
  • Up to 40% off select Crayola items
  • $50 off select Power Wheels
  • Angry Birds King Pig Castle (Amazon Exclusive), $29.99
  • $25 off purchase of $60 or more on select Fisher-Price toys
  • Polly Pocket Wall Party Ultimate Playset, $49.99
  • Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner, $299
  • Skybar Wine Set, $63.99
  • Sunbeam MixMaster Stand Mixer, $49.97
  • Ginsu Chikara Series 5-Piece Bamboo Block Set, $39.99
  • Manduka Go-Getter Prolite Yoga Kit, $59.99
  • Timex Women's Ironman Race Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, $89.95
  • Invicta Women's Angel Mother-Of-Pearl Dial Crystal Accented Watch, $49.99
  • Stuhrling Men's Classic Delphi Chamberlain Mechanical Skeleton Silver Dial Watch Set, $74.99
  • Diamond stud earrings starting at $39.99
  • Up to 60% off sweaters and fleece for men, women, kids and baby
  • $20 off purchase of $100 and $50 off purchase of $200 on select shoes, boots and handbags
  • Mothers Hardcore Enthusiast Car Care Kit, $55.99
  • $20 off purchase of $100 or more on select Porter-Cable tools
  • M-Audio Venom 49 Synthesizer, $189.99

[wp_scm_holiday_shopping]

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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