VMWare shows mobile virtualization on Android
BARCELONA -- VMWare is showing off a mobile virtualization platform that will let people run a personal profile and a separate, secure profile for work applications on the same Android phone.
VMWare CTO Stephen Herrod demonstrated the software on an LG Optimus Black at Mobile World Congress. The company is now testing the software internally and with partners.
The idea is that enterprises can let their employees buy an Android phone but isolate the personal applications from the corporate apps in order to reduce potential security issues.
"The goal for this product is a bring-your-own-PC type of world," Herrod said. "So we want to move to a world where the company is not buying you a phone. Buy what you like and bring it to work and we'll give you a way to use it in an enterprise-safe way."
For now, a piece of the software required to use the virtualization platform must be installed on the phone by the manufacturer -- it can't be downloaded later -- and so VMWare is working with partners like LG to preload that software. Once a worker brings the phone to the office, an IT administrator can use the management console to send over an additional application. That app appears on the home screen of the phone and when the user touches it, it launches the isolated corporate version of the phone.
IT administrators can set a variety of policies and allow different workers access to different capabilities. For instance, IT administrators can shut off cut and paste so that a user can't copy something from their personal files and paste into a corporate file. Administrators can also opt to shut off the camera, GPS and Bluetooth.
They can also remotely wipe data only from the corporate side of the phone and include a corporate app store that includes approved applications that users can download.
The software includes a VPN so that people can use a protected connection to reach the corporate network from the work side of the phone.
Herrod envisions a variety of ways that the service can be deployed. An enterprise could allow users to receive voice over IP calls from the PBX on the phones. Those calls might have a different ring than those that are dialed to the user's personal phone number.
Or, an operator could offer phones that have dual SIM cards so that a user could have two totally separate lines. Even with a single SIM, VMWare can create a virtual SIM that separates the data traffic into two accounts. "We are getting a lot of interest from providers because of the potential for two different data plans or selling a data plan to a customer who didn't have one," he said.
VMWare is working on offering the service through operators so that it can support the variety of approaches that the operators might want, he said.

VMWare imagines that the mobile virtualization application on the phone will be free but that enterprises will pay per user for the management software.

The company hopes to start field trials in the middle of the year but couldn't predict when the commercial product might become available.

For now, VMWare is only working on an Android offering, since that is an operating system that many companies would like to let workers use but is too insecure for many. "The goal is to get the solution out and see the customer demand and go from there," Herrod said.
VMWare first started talking about its mobile virtualization platform in December but is now demonstrating it on the LG Optimus Black.

Amazon adds streaming TV, movies to Prime: Could just be the beginning

Amazon added unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows to its Prime subscription plan. While the move is billed as Amazon vs. Netflix the move really just highlights what’s possible with the Prime model.
Amazon on Tuesday added unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows to its Prime subscription plan. While the move is billed as Amazon vs. Netflix the move really just highlights what’s possible with the Prime model.

First, the basics. Amazon Prime runs you $79 a year and now you get unlimited streaming to go with free two day shipping. On the surface, Amazon is taking target practice at Netflix. Netflix’s streaming only service runs you $7.99 a month. All things being equal, Amazon just undercut Netflix’s pricing.
There’s little doubt that Amazon is looking to hit Netflix. However, there is a bigger picture. Remember the Prime program is designed to get you to shop more and allow Amazon to grow its wallet share.
When shipping is removed as a barrier, shoppers spend more dough. Amazon rivals clearly see the threat from Prime. As a result, a bevy of competitors such as Toys R Us, Drugstore.com and others have joined Shoprunner, which offers free shipping and deals via participating stores. Shoprunner is a unit of GSI Commerce, which competes with Amazon on the fulfillment side of the e-commerce equation.
GSI handles the fulfillment for companies like Toys R Us and Dicks Sporting Goods. Incidentally, Shoprunner’s annual fee is $79 too.
In its initial incarnation, Prime was easy to replicate by GSI Commerce’s Shoprunner. Now Amazon has thrown in video the equation has changed again. Simply put, Amazon is playing a little offense and defense with its Prime program.
Streaming movies are likely to be just a start. Amazon could provide free Kindles to all Prime subscribers. Perhaps Amazon offers Web backup services via Amazon Web Services. You get the idea. Amazon could offer a lot of goodies to Prime subscribers—and probably will.

Apple succession planning key topic amid Jobs health worries

Apple’s shareholder meeting is likely to celebrate stellar returns, hit products like the iPad and even Steve Jobs’ birthday Feb. 24. However, the company is likely to be pushed on succession planning as worries about the CEO’s health resurface.
Apple’s shareholder meeting is likely to celebrate stellar returns, hit products like the iPad and even Steve Jobs’ birthday Feb. 24. However, the company is likely to be pushed on succession planning as worries about the CEO’s health resurface.
The company’s annual shareholder powwow is set for 10 a.m. PST on Wednesday. The biggest item on the agenda is succession planning. Jobs last month took a medical leave, but remains CEO. Tim Cook, chief operating officer, takes over the day-to-day operations at Apple.
In the meantime, Jobs is focusing on his health and Apple’s strategic decisions such as the latest subscription plan at the App Store, which has created a good bit of hubbub.
A pension fund, however, wants more detail on Apple’s succession plan. Apple says coughing up those details takes away its competitive edge.
What’s unclear is whether this succession plan proposal takes on greater urgency amid tabloid reports that Jobs’ health is deteriorating. The National Enquirer reported that Jobs health is in decline and the CEO has a few weeks to live. Of course, this report is a bit of a stretch given it was based on a doctor who never saw Jobs and was making a prediction based on a photo of the CEO’s butt.
Now Radar Online has video of Jobs leaving a restaurant and he’s struggling to get into a car. The coverage leaves me squeamish. After all, it’s not like we see Jobs walk around all day. He could have been walking like that for months, maybe years. Besides, shouldn’t Jobs just be left to care for his health? In any case, Jobs was at a dinner with President Obama last week.
The rub here is that Jobs is a public figure and shareholders want information. It’s a fine line to walk. In any case, these tabloid reports seem perfectly timed to put succession planning on the front burner at Apple.
A few observations ahead of Apple’s meeting:
• On the product front, Apple isn’t going to miss a beat. The iPad 2 appears to be ready for lift-off, a MacBook Pro refresh is likely to land tomorrow and the iPhone 4 is humming along at the two largest carriers in the U.S.
• The management bench at Apple is deep. Apple has done a good job over the last two years highlighting executives other than Jobs. If you believe Apple is Jobs you’re a fool. No man could propel Apple this far by himself.
• It’s unknown whether Jobs’ DNA is in Apple. Unfortunately, we won’t know whether Jobs soul lives on through Apple until he’s gone. But other executives have done it. Sam Walton still powers Wal-Mart and founders methods can carry on at companies. Is there any question that Walt Disney’s DNA is sprinkled throughout Disney? It could be a similar situation with Jobs. Here’s to hoping we don’t find out anytime soon.

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Android: The Open Mobile Choice

If you want real programming freedom on mobile you need to write for Android. Both Apple and Microsoft have made it clear they want to have as little as possible to do with free and open-source software.

Recently there has been a bit of a hubbub over Microsoft forbidding the use of software using the GPLv3 open-source license and all similar licenses on Windows Phone 7 (WP7). Then, the boys from Redmond realized that by the strict letter of their new rules they had just forbidden the use of some of their own open-source applications on WP7. As Homer Simpson would say, “D’oh!”
Microsoft may be slow, but they get there eventually. Shortly after their error was pointed out, they explained that some other open-source licenses, including their own of course, were actually OK on WP7. And, oh by the way, they might consider opening WP7 up to software under other licenses. That’s big of them. Apple, of course, has long forbidden the use of GPLv2-licensed software.
I was recently asked why Apple and Microsoft was doing this. The answer is quite simple. Apple, and to a lesser degree, Microsoft are all about control. You see when you buy an iPhone, iPad, or a smartphone with WP7, you’re not really buying a device, you’re renting the use of a device.
Fred von Lohmann, then a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), explained in 2010 about how Apple went about locking out FOSS, and in general outline, Microsoft does things the same way: “The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple—a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market. Software developers who want Apple’s approval must first agree to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. “
It’s not that way on PCs and servers. If you want to develop for a PC, you can do it anyway you like. Neither the operating system or computer vendor can stop you. On mobile devices, if Apple and Microsoft have their way, you’re locked into a closed eco-system.
People frequently think this is just a developer issue. It’s not. If I want to buy a Windows 7 PC and blow away Windows 7 and put Ubuntu on it I can. In fact, I usually do. If I want to use LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office on Windows no one can tell me I can’t. On a iOS or WP7 device the vendors get to pick and choose what applications I’m allowed to run.
For example, I like the VLC Media Player. VLC used to be available on Apple’s iOS, but now it’s not. The problem? It’s GPLv2 license.
With Android, on the other hand, as a developer you’re pretty much good to go. Use whatever license you like, knock yourself off. The same is true for Android users. You’ll get the broadest choice of software available under any license using an Android device.
In the future, MeeGo, like Android a Linux-based mobile may offer developers and users alike a similar array of choice. Today, though MeeGo, is still a work in progress, and although Intel has stepped up to foster MeeGo, after Nokia abandoned it to partner up with Microsoft, we probably won’t see commercial MeeGo devices until late this year, if then.
For now, though if you want an open-source friendly smartphone or tablet, as either a user or a programmer, Android is your first choice. An iPhone or WP7? If you’re like me and you don’t like dealing with control freaks, just say no.

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Windows 8 roadmap: A picture is worth a thousand build numbers

Given the very few (and occasionally confusing) leaks around Windows 8, an update as to how things are progressing is always welcome. Here’s a slide from a source of mine that is allegedly a snippet from the Microsoft internal Win 8 Milestone build timeline.

Given the very few (and occasionally confusing) leaks around Windows 8, an update as to how things are progressing is always welcome.
In early 2011, a source of mine passed on to me what he claimed was a snapshot of the internal Windows 8 roadmap. On that roadmap snippet are a lot of alleged internal dates for Windows 8 Milestone 2, the second of what are expected to be three major internal builds of Windows 8. I showed off this roadmap during a ZDNet Webcast I did recently on Windows 8 and slates (which is available for listening as a free, on-demand file).
Here is the Windows 8 roadmap slide I showed off, for those who missed it:

What’s interesting to me is how closely this roadmap snippet seems to be mirroring the timelines and build information from a few sites and sources claiming access to leaked Win 8 builds. On February 21, there were reports that Microsoft was just about done with Win 8 Milestone 2. On the roadmap above, final M2 build candidate is slated to arrive on February 23. And according to the roadmap above, the coding for Milestone 3 (M3) is due to start a week from today, on February 28.
Milestone 2, according to the roadmap, took the Windows client team five months. If M3 takes another five months — which it might if it has to go through all the same coding/integration/fixing/lockdown steps as M2 did — that would put its completion date around the end of July. Factor in a month or so for any kind of private Community Technology Preview (CTP) testing, and a beta around the time of this year’s Professional Developers Conference — which I’m still hearing is slated for September 2011 — looks downright doable.
The Windows client team, as you might expect, isn’t commenting on any timetables, build numbers, roadmaps or anything else pertaining to Windows 8 or Windows Next. (I tried using the Microsoft-favored “Win Next” just to see if I could muster a comment. No go.)
Microsoft execs also are not commenting on an alleged Dell roadmap leak from last week, which made it appear as if Dell will have a Windows 8 tablet ready in time for January 2012. While I wondered aloud last week (as did at least one Wall Street analyst) whether that meant Microsoft might be further along with Win 8 for systems-on-a-chip (SoC) processors than many of us previously believed, I’ve heard since that probably isn’t the case. That would mean the Dell “Peju” Win 8 tablet could be nothing but a demo machine for select developers … and maybe a debut at a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) keynote (?)…
In any case, if Microsoft does follow history and deliver a Win 8 Beta 1, Beta 2 and Release Candidate before RTMing, Windows 8 is looking like a mid-2012 RTM. The Windows 8 train seems to be running on time — just like the Win 7 one did.

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Is the BlackBerry PlayBook competitive enough?

The upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook certainly knocks some features off the current iPad, but will it be enough to survive in the tablet market once the iPad 2 rolls off the production line?
In between studying, drinking, and occasionally sleeping, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.
Despite his young age, he may appear inexperienced and misguided, but don't be fooled. At the grand age of 22, he has already totalled up many years of work, education, knowledge and general (mis)adventure.

The price tag for the benchmark of all tablets was clearly set by the entry level Apple iPad at $499.
But this set a problem for competitors and their own devices: either to have a smaller feature set and lower the price to level out as compensation for a seemingly lower powered device, or to apply a cheaper operating system like Android and maintain a similar build quality of the iPad, but with less of a marketing buzz.
Either way, the iPad is a tough cookie to crack, and so far every other competitor has pretty much bombed.
Price
The PlayBook, however, holds the same price tag of $499 as the iPad - maybe more, maybe less, as it is still early days yet. But already this bodes well for any iPad competition by appearing to be of the same value and worth as the iPad.
Features
The feature list at this point is relatively exhaustive and speculative, but already we have seen some one-upmanship on the iPad. Delivering some versions of the PlayBook with 4G LTE, it would be one of the first tablets on the market which takes advantage of the technology unlike the iPad 2 which has yet to emerge.
Plus the reported ability to run Android applications on the PlayBook will be met with surprise rather than relief. Just as the Nokia and Microsoft mobile application stores will merge, the PlayBook will get a greater spread of applications for a greater number of users, though it’s not clear if the stores will merge or simply be ‘available’ on the BlackBerry platform.

However, unable to access corporate email without a tethered BlackBerry device will be a blow to enterprise users. On the other hand, it shouldn’t have much effect on non-corporate users, who should still be able to access their Hotmail, Gmail and other web-based emails on the device.
It even gets Flash. Even the iPad doesn’t have Flash.
Branding
With such a familiar BlackBerry brand behind it and a split younger generational following, it is entirely possible that Research in Motion’s new tablet could serve as the first serious competitor to the iPad.
But is it enough?
But even with all this, I suspect that many will simply wait it out to see whether it becomes a popular device or not. Apple set the benchmark high, and whether Research in Motion can reach the bar, let alone raise it, there are too many variables at play at the moment.
However, Research in Motion have taken their time to consider what the iPad doesn’t currently have, and capitalised upon it. The forward and rear facing camera, high definition video, Flash, the 4G and LTE technology for next-generation mobile broadband speeds, and the usual pizazz that would come with the BlackBerry like BlackBerry Messenger.
But if the iPad 2 gets there first, then the PlayBook could fall flat on its face. If the PlayBook is released before the iPad 2, then at least it has a fighting chance of making itself known before it inevitably gets pulled by the consumer market.
Do you think the PlayBook is a viable competitor to the iPad and tablet market?

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Xoom Android tablet set for sale Thursday at Verizon

Apple iPad competitor, set to add Flash 10.2 support this spring, will cost $600 with contract; $800 without one

Verizon Wireless will start selling Motorola's Xoom tablet on Feb. 24 for $599.99 with a two-year service agreement, the carrier confirmed today.

Without a contract, the 10.1-in. Xoom, the first tablet to run the new "Honeycomb" version of Android, will cost $799.99.
Motorola Xoom
Motorola's Android 3.0-based Xoom tablet. (For a closer look at Google's tablet-focused mobile OS, see our visual tour: Android 3.0 has landed.)

Rumors that the Xoom would sell for $800 without a contract had started circulating in recent days, and some bloggers complained that the price tag was so high that it would discourage people comparing the Xoom to the 9.7-in. iPad and other devices currently selling in the $500-$730 range. An iPad with 32GB of storage and 3G service costs $729; an equivalent Xoom costs $799.99.

Verizon said that wireless 3G service for the Xoom starts at $20 a month for 1GB of data. Further details on 3G pricing were not immediately available.
Tablet war

* QuickPoll: Will Motorola's Xoom steal iPad 2's thunder?
* Xoom Android tablet set for sale Thursday at Verizon
* Visual tour: The Android tablets of MWC
* Has HP done enough to rival the iPad?
* Visual tour: HP makes webOS trifecta with TouchPad, Pre3, Veer
* HP launches first run at the tablet market
* iPad lead shrinks as tablet sales grow
* In crowded tablet market, brand identity will matter
* Visual tour: Top tablets from CES
* Microsoft's slow, steady tablet strategy a big gamble

More in Netbooks/Tablets

Upgrades to 4G LTE service will be possible in the second quarter at no extra charge, Verizon added in a statement.

The Xoom also comes Wi-Fi-ready.

The Xoom was introduced at the Consumer Electronic Show in early January and was demonstrated at Mobile World Congress last week in Barcelona.

The first Xoom tablets to ship will not include support for Adobe Flash, but Adobe noted in a blog post yesterday that an over-the-air update to Flash Player 10.2 will be ready "within a few weeks of ... devices becoming available."

Flash support is considered by many to be an advantage that Android devices will hold over Apple products, like the iPad, that don't include Flash.

The Xoom will ship with a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, with each core running at 1 GHz, for a total of 2 GHz of power.

The device includes two digital cameras, a front-facing 2.0-megapixel model that serves as a webcam for video chat, and a 5.0-megapixel camera on the rear for shooting still photos and 720p video. The Xoom has 1280-by-800 resolution, compared to the iPad's 1024-by-768. It is slightly thinner than the iPad, and both devices weigh 730 grams.

The Xoom will support Google services, and Verizon has noted on its Web site that Google Maps on the Xoom will quickly load 3D vector maps that can be tilted, rotated and enlarged.

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Microsoft starts pushing Windows 7 SP1 to all

Hits Windows Update; other options, including install DVD, also available

As promised, Microsoft today started offering Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on Windows Update.

Earlier this month, Microsoft set Feb. 22 as the Windows Update launch date for SP1.

"Starting today, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will be available to everyone via the Microsoft Download Center and [will] start rolling out via Windows Update," said Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc in a Tuesday post to the Windows blog.

When delivered via Windows Update, Windows 7 SP1 weighs in at approximately 750MB for the 32-bit version, just over 1GB for the 64-bit edition.

A much larger version is available on Microsoft's download site for users needing to upgrade multiple machines.

Customers in the U.S. and Canada can also order a Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD from Microsoft; the DVD is free, but shipping costs $5.99.

Microsoft announced Windows 7 SP1 almost a year ago, delivered a public beta of it in July 2010 and then followed that with a "release candidate" build last October.

Microsoft has said several times -- and repeated today -- that Windows 7 SP1 does not include new features but instead is a collection of security patches and nonsecurity fixes that have already been issued via Windows Update.

The only additions to SP1 include an updated Remote Desktop client designed to work with RemoteFX, a new technology that debuted with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, which has also shipped. RemoteFX is designed to improve the graphics performance of Windows 7 virtual machines hosted on Server 2008 R2 SP1 systems. Windows 7 SP1 also supports "Dynamic Memory," a feature in Server 2008 R2 SP1 that lets IT staffers adjust guest virtual machines' memory on the fly.

Windows 7 SP1 can be uninstalled by selecting the "Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB 976932)" item using the operating system's control panel and uninstall tool.

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Your Smartphone: The Next Big Security Headache

2011 is the year that mobile security is going mainstream. Here at 2011 RSA Conference in San Francisco many of the security software companies have either released--or are planning to release a mobile security app of some sort.

And while smartphones aren't a major malware target yet, there are reasons to be concerned about the future of mobile security.
One of Android strengths is its openness. Just about anyone can write an app and distribute it without having to go through a sometimes lengthy review process. But as is the case on the PC, this sort of openness makes it possible for malware writers to infiltrate the smartphone. Security companies seem to think Android is the next big malware target, thanks to this openness, and the fact that it runs on so many devices.
Some of the vendors I spoke to also seemed concerned that the paranoia that users often carry when it comes to downloading and installing software on a PC might not carry over to when they use smartphones, even though the threats are there.
Mobile malware is already a problem in parts of the world. This past week, mobile security software company Lookout Mobile found a Trojan circulating via re-packaged versions of Android apps and being distributed on alternative app markets in China.
Raimund Genes, the Chief Technology Officer for Trend Micro, notes that mobile malware authors are creating their own app stores to distribute malware in China. He predicts that we in the United States see more proofs-of-concept mobile malware this year, and that it'll become a serious problem in 2012.
Smartphones carry additional information that you may not keep on your PC, like your contacts' phone numbers, photos you've taken with your smartphone, and so on. And, unlike a PC, a smartphone can be easily lost: You likely will remember to take your laptop with you if you get up and leave the Starbucks you're browsing the Web at, but it's much easier to leave behind a smartphone.
In fact, Patrick Kennedy, the Senior Director of Product Marketing with Webroot, sees this as the bigger threat toward smartphones right now. And not surprisingly, many of the smartphone security apps we've seen so far put a big emphasis on securing your personal data if your smartphone gets lost or stolen.
Smartphone malware is in its infancy, and it's hard to say what will happen next, but all indications point toward some serious problems in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, keep your guard up, stay vigilant, and think before you install that next app.

The search for Earth's missing carbon

Deep beneath the surface of the Earth, a vast and unseen community of strange, microscopic lifeforms quietly subsists on the heat rising from our planet's interior.
In its total mass, this life might rival all that walks, crawls, stands, swims and soars above it, but scientists don't know for sure. Life has already been found in the deepest layer of Earth's crust, nearly one mile down, but scientists expect to find life thriving even deeper. Studying mysteries like this one is a task for the Deep Carbon Observatory, a new project that will search out not just life but everything carbon-related that lies beneath our feet.
“Twenty years ago, the idea that there was a deep underground biosphere would have been laughed at,” said Robert Hazen, a research scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and leader of the Deep Carbon Observatory. “But we now know there is, because anywhere you drill you find life.” He spoke about the project on February 20 during the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C.
Now in the first year of its planned decade-long existence, the Deep Carbon Observatory aims to reshape our fundamental understanding of carbon's role in the biology, chemistry, and physics of Earth's interior. Unlike typical astronomical observatories, which consist of a single instrument at a fixed location, the Deep Carbon Observatory will be a distributed operation, requiring a wide variety of instruments installed at locations around the world.
“We really don't know to a factor of 20-30 how much carbon there is in our planet,” Hazen said.
Carbon is among the most important chemical elements to humans. It forms the basis of life as we know it, is the central ingredient in many energy sources and plays a key part in our climate. In a planetary-scale machine called the carbon cycle, the element circulates among the oceans and atmosphere, into and out of the Earth's crust, and through living creatures that take it up, chemically process it, and redeposit it back into the planet. But even this immense cycle is thought to contain only a small part of total amount of carbon in our planet, with the rest locked deep beneath the surface.

“When you step back and ask fundamental questions about carbon in the Earth,” said Russell Hemley, also of the Geophysical Laboratory and co-leader of the program, “you realize there is a great deal that we do not know about this important element.”
Scientists believe that the subterranean microbes, some of them isolated from Earth's surface since before the dawn of humanity, crucially influence the engines that drive our planet's interior. The microbes process carbon relatively quickly, making them an important step in the carbon cycle. But the team behind the Deep Carbon Observatory says the project could also answer questions about many other issues.
The observatory is being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which has previously supported similarly large and ambitious science projects. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, for example, has investigated the mysterious, universe-filling dark matter and dark energy, which are thought to be responsible for invisible effects of gravity and the cause of the increasing rate of expansion of the universe, respectively. The Census of Marine Life recently completed a survey of the abundance, diversity, and distribution of ocean life. Together, these programs cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Still in its infancy, the Deep Carbon Observatory has yet to make any big discoveries. Efforts so far have mostly focused on galvanizing interest and participation by governments, industry, and geoscientists across the globe.
Some of the instruments envisioned for the observatory don't even exist yet. One device the scientific team hopes to develop is a small detector that can be placed on an active volcano to measure the amount of carbon it releases. Other instruments will extract data from existing resources, like the world's deepest drillshafts and mines.
“We want to see if we can get microbiologists on site at every deep drilling site in the world so we can collect samples before they can be contaminated,” Hazen said. “We're learning fascinating things about a biosphere that lives in very different conditions than we're familiar with.”
The goal of the project is to answer basic science questions, but industry already has its eyes on the research. In the past year, two of the world's largest natural gas reserves have been discovered off the coasts of Israel and Brazil. Hazen says his team has plans to study these methane reservoirs to see if the gas has its origins in biological processes underground, or high-pressure chemical reactions occurring at great depths. Last summer, scientists from the Shell Oil Company, which is a participant in the project, hosted a Deep Carbon Observatory workshop aimed at identify research directions.
“Science is not cataloging all the things we know, it's exploring the things we don't,” said Hazen. He suggested that discoveries by the Deep Carbon Observatory could lead to Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics ten years from now. “We want to find the carbon equivalent of dark energy,” Hazen said.
Provided by Inside Science News Service (news : web)

Putting your brain in the drivers seat (w/ Video)

Picture driving your car without ever touching the wheel, driving a vehicle that is so user responsive to you that it is literally jacked into your thoughts. It sounds like the technology of the future, something out of a sci-fi movie doesn't it? Well, as it turns out, the future is now.
A team of German researchers, led by Raul Rojas, an AI professor at the Freie University Berlin, have created a car that can be driven entirely by human thoughts. The car, which has been given the name BrainDriver, was shown off to the world in a video that highlighted the thought-powered driving system on a trip to the airport.
The BrainDriver records brain activity with the help of an Emotiv neuroheadset, a non-invasive brain interface based on electroencephalography sensors, that was made by the San Francisco-based company Emotiv. The neuroheadset was originally designed for gaming. Like most new devices the human has to be trained in order to use the interface properly. After some practice runs, moving a virtual object, the user can be up and driving a modified Volkswagen Passat Variant 3c. The driver's thoughts are able to control the engine, brakes, and steering of the car. Currently, there is a small delay between the drivers thoughts and the cars response.
No word yet on how detailed controls will be for other necessary functions, for example opening the gas cap to fill up. The researchers selected the headset after rejecting several other options, including the iPad and eye-tracking devices.
The car is currently only in the prototype phase and no decision has been made as to whether or not this car will ever be made available to the public when it becomes roadworthy.
More information: http://autonomos-labs.com/

Plankton key to origin of Earth's first breathable atmosphere

Researchers studying the origin of Earth's first breathable atmosphere have zeroed in on the major role played by some very unassuming creatures: plankton.
In a paper to appear in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Ohio State University researcher Matthew Saltzman and his colleagues show how plankton provided a critical link between the atmosphere and chemical isotopes stored in rocks 500 million years ago.
This work builds on the team's earlier discovery that upheavals in the earth's crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world's oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.
The new study has revealed details as to how oxygen came to vanish from Earth's ancient atmosphere during the Cambrian Period, only to return at higher levels than ever before.
It also hints at how, after mass extinctions, the returning oxygen allowed enormous amounts of new life to flourish.
Saltzman and his team were able to quantify how much oxygen was released into the atmosphere at the time, and directly link the amount of sulfur in the ancient oceans with atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The result is a clearer picture of life on Earth in a time of extreme turmoil.
"We know that oxygen levels in the ocean dropped dramatically [a condition called anoxia] during the Cambrian, and that coincides with the time of a global extinction," said Saltzman, associate professor of earth sciences at Ohio State.
In a paper in the journal Nature just last month, the same researchers presented the first geochemical evidence that the anoxia spread even to the world's shallow waters.

"We still don't know why the anoxia spread all over the world. We may never know," Saltzman said. "But there have been many other extinction events in Earth's history, and with the exception of those caused by meteor impacts, others likely share elements of this one – changes in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and oceans."
"By getting a handle on what was happening back then, we may improve our understanding of what's happening to the atmosphere now."
Something enabled oxygen to re-enter the oceans and the atmosphere 500 million years ago, and the study suggests that the tiny plant and animal life forms known as plankton were key.
Plankton may be at the bottom of our food chain today, but back then, they ruled the planet. There was no life on land at all. And aside from an abundance of trilobites, life in the oceans was not very diverse.
Not diverse, that is, until a geologic event that scientists call the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) occurred. In previous work, Saltzman and his collaborators showed that the SPICE event was caused by the burial of huge quantities of organic matter in ocean sediments, which pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and released oxygen.
The more oxygen plankton encounter in their cells, the more selective they become for the light isotope of carbon in carbon dioxide, and absorb it into their bodies.
By studying isotopes in fossilized plankton contained in rocks found in the central United States, the Australian outback, and China, the researchers determined that the SPICE event happened around the same time as an explosion of plankton diversity known as the "plankton revolution."
"The amount of oxygen rebounded, and so did the diversity of life," Saltzman explained.
Other researchers have tried to gauge how much oxygen was in the air during the Cambrian, but their estimates have varied widely, from a few percent to as much as 15-20 percent.
If the higher estimates were correct, then the SPICE event would have boosted oxygen content to greater than 30 percent – or almost 50 percent richer than today's standard of 21 percent.
This study has provided a new perspective on the matter.
"We were able to bring together independent lines of evidence that showed that if the total oxygen content was around 5-10 percent before the SPICE, then it rose to just above modern levels for the first time after the SPICE," Saltzman said.
The study has some relevance to modern geoengineering. Scientists have begun to investigate what we can do to forestall climate change, and altering the chemistry of the oceans could help remove carbon dioxide and restore balance to the atmosphere. The ancient and humble plankton would be a necessary part of that equation, he added.
"When it comes to ancient life, they don't sound as exciting as dinosaurs, but the plankton are critical to this story."
Provided by The Ohio State University (news : web)

Mobile Heavyweights Seek to Finalize 1Gbps Mobile Standard

The world's top handset makers are meeting this week to finalize a version of an advanced mobile communication standard that would raise data transfer speeds to 1Gbps, an event organizer said on Monday.
About 800 people, from companies such as HTC, Nokia and Samsung Electronics, will agree on final terms for the Long-Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) standard at a meeting of the 3GPP standards body in Taipei this week.
With speeds up to 1Gbps, the technology will be ideal for people who download audio-visual files onto their handhelds, said Feng Wen-sheng, wireless communications director with a lab under the event sponsor, Taiwan's government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute.
LTE-Advanced will also give machines another way to communicate with one another, for example allowing them to connect sensors detecting changes in air temperature that could signal a fire or a burglary and then passing messages to emergency personnel such as search and rescue teams, Feng said.
This type of data transfer is expected to help especially with earthquake relief.
"Mobile voice technology is pretty advanced already, so this time it's all about data transfers," Feng said. "We've been trying to get LTE-Advanced out there for some time, and in Taipei we expect to confirm a final version."
The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, has adopted LTE-Advanced and WiMax-derived WirelessMAN-Advanced standards for its IMT-Advanced program to define future mobile networks. It says both are substantial improvements over current wireless systems.
After Friday, the LTE Advanced standard will be ready for manufacturers to design smartphones and network equipment, Feng said, as participants at this week's conference discuss patents and cross-license deals relating to the technology.

Greenest cars: Natural gas Honda Civic GX, Nissan Leaf electric and, just barely, Chevrolet Volt

For a list of the greenest 2011 model-year vehicles, there are sure a lot of traditional gasoline engines among the top 12 cars ranked by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The council's 14th annual ratings of the most eco-friendly cars on the market include internal combustion models such as the Smart Fortwo, the Ford Fiesta and the Hyundai Elantra.
The natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX topped the list for an eighth straight year, with a score of 54, followed by the new all-electric Nissan Leaf. Other vehicles considered to be the greenest of the crop included the hybrid Toyota Prius and the hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt, which squeaked into the last spot.
The electric version of the Smart Fortwo would have pulled in a score of 60, but with only 250 units of the 2011 model available in the U.S. (and then only on a trial basis), the car didn't meet sales requirements for the list.
"Vehicles running on electricity emit nothing from the tailpipe, but their 'upstream' emissions can be substantial, depending on where they're charged," said Therese Langer, the organization's director. "As U.S. power generation becomes cleaner, these vehicles' scores will rise."
The battery manufacturing and disposal processes - which can be emissions-laden and toxic - also were factored into the calculations and knocked electricity-dependent vehicles down a few rungs.
Diesel vehicles missed out entirely. Other talked-about cars, such as the electric Tesla Roadster, didn't make the cut.
The list of gas guzzlers - known as the "meanest" - included heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles instead of the rash of European sports cars that has dominated in the past. Still, the Bugatti Veyron, one of the most expensive cars in the world, led with a score of 19.
More information: See the full list at http://www.greener … greenest.htm

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China blocks microblogs for 'Jasmine Revolution'

China has suspended searches for content on the country's popular microblog, an apparent move to stifle mention of a "Jasmine Revolution" that was to be staged in Chinese cities on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, searches in Chinese for the word "Jasmine" had been blocked on a Twitter-like service operated by Sina. But by the evening, Sina had appeared to suspend searches for all content on the microblog, only allowing users to query for screen names, events and other criteria. Another microblog operated by Tencent also blocked searches relating to the word "Jasmine" or "Jasmine Revolution".
Mention of a "Jasmine Revolution" appear to have begun on the Web, telling Chinese users to demonstrate in 13 cities across the country, including the capital Beijing. The call for the demonstrations seem to be inspired by the anti-government protests in Egypt and Tunisia, but it's unclear who or what group started it. A Chinese site at Boxun.com was reportedly the first to post the call to protest.
China's Internet blocking extended to other social networking websites in the country. Renren.com, a popular Facebook-like service, would not allow users to post using the words for "Jasmine Revolution." Such attempts returned a message, "Please do not release politically sensitive content, salacious content, business advertisements or any other inappropriate content."
Along with the Internet censorship, China has responded to the call for protests by reportedly detaining activists and increasing the number of police. As of Sunday evening, it appeared that no real protests had materialized.
The censorship on China's microblogs has become increasingly more restrictive in the past weeks since the anti-government protests erupted in Egypt last month. The Sina microblog and others had blocked searches for the word "Egypt".
Earlier this week, searches in Chinese for "Hillary" and "Hillary Clinton" were blocked on the Sina microblog. The move seemed to be in response to a speech U.S. Secretary of State Clinton gave calling for governments like China to end Internet censorship.
China has the world's largest Internet population at 457 million users. The country has 63 million microblog users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

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It's a Hoax: Anonymous Did Not Threaten Westboro Baptist Church

Based on its recent successes taking on the considerable forces aligned against Wikileaks, and its ability to take down HBGary--an information security firm--in a matter of hours, you do not want to be on the radar of the hacking collective known as "Anonymous". Perhaps that is why an apparent ultimatum from Anonymous to the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is making headlines. Problem is--it's a hoax.
Let's rewind a bit. First, a little history on Westboro Baptist Church. WBC is run by one Fred Phelps and has made a name spewing vile, bigoted trash in the name of God. It owns the domain godhatesfags.com, and regularly organizes protests picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers as evidence that some higher power is taking revenge on our nation in response to rampant homosexuality. WBC also praised the Tucson shooter and planned to picket the funeral of 9-year old Christina Taylor Green, but Arizona passed a law blocking the protest.
On February 16, an open letter to WBC claiming to be from Anonymous declared that enough is enough. The letter states that--although Anonymous is a staunch defender of the freedom of speech--WBC has crossed the line too often, and gives the church an ultimatum to cease and desist its activities and take down its websites. It ends with an ominous warning, "Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda and detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover."
WBC accepted the challenge and told its faceless attackers to "bring it". On February 20, however, an open letter posted on AnonNews claimed the threat was not sent by Anonymous in the first place. It asserts that the threat is a hoax, and even goes so far as to suggest WBC is behind the hoax just to make headlines. If so, it worked.
The Anonymous press release goes on to chastise the media for taking the hoax bait so quickly, and directs hackers in the Anonymous collective to abandon any attacks against WBC and steer away from what it claims is a trap.
The curious part now is--who perpetrated the hoax? Was it the WBC just playing on the notoriety of Anonymous for some headline whoring? Was it a faction within Anonymous that really backs the initial threat and would like to take down WBC? Was it anti-Anonymous forces hoping to dare the hacking collective to take on a knife fight so it could lure its members into some sort of honeypot designed to trap them and track them down?
Based on Anonymous' track record, WBC dodged a bullet. Had Anonymous chosen to "bring it", I don't believe WBC would like the outcome. The rest of us might, though.

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Advanced Zeus Trojan Hits Polish ING Customers

A version of the Zeus malware that intercepts one-time passcodes sent by SMS (Short Message Service) is targeting customers of the financial institution ING in Poland.
The security vendor F-Secure blogged on Monday about the issue, which was analyzed on the website of security consultant Piotr Konieczny.
F-Secure wrote that it appears to be the same style of attack found by the Spanish security company S21sec last September, which marked a disconcerting evolution in Zeus, one of the most advanced banking Trojans designed to steal passwords.
Zeus has changed its tactics, since some banks are now using one-time passcodes sent by SMS to authorize transactions performed on a desktop machine. First, attackers infect a person's desktop or laptop. Then, when that person logs into a financial institution such as ING, it injects HTML fields into the legitimate Web page.
Those fields ask for a person's mobile phone number and the model of their phone. When that information is entered, the attacker sends an SMS leading to a website that will install a mobile application that intercepts SMSes and forwards messages to another number controlled by the attackers. The Zeus mobile component will work on some Symbian and Blackberry devices.
Once that setup is complete, the attacker can simply do a transfer whenever it is convenient, such as when an account has just received a deposit. An attacker can log onto the account, receive the SMS code and begin transferring money.
ING officials when contacted in the Netherlands on Monday afternoon did not have an immediate comment.
The SMS ability of Zeus has prompted vendors such as Cloudmark to warn about how SMS spam -- or SMS messages designed to enable other malware -- are a growing threat. Cloudmark sells a system to operators that analyzes SMS messages and can filter ones that have spam or other offensive content.

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A wealth of molecules in an extreme galaxy

A Hubble image of the galaxy Arp 220, the brightest object in our local universe. A team using the Submillimeter Array studied the gas component of this galaxy, and concluded that bursts of star formation power its dramatic energetics. Credit: NASA and Hubble
Arp 220 is the closest galaxy to the Milly Way with an extreme luminosity, defined as being more than about 300 times that of our own galaxy. Some dramatic galaxies have values of luminosity ten times brighter still. Astronomers are still piecing together the reasons for these huge energy outputs, while sorting out why our own galaxy is so modest.
The two primary suspects for the energetics are bursts of star formation that produce many hot young stars, and processes associated with accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole at a galaxy's nucleus. Arp 220 is the closest example, and one of the best places to probe these scenarios.
A team of astronomers including SAO astronomer Jun-Hui Zhao have used the Submillimeter Array (SMA) to obtain the first unbiased galaxy survey of molecular and atomic lines using a telescope array. They covered a complete, large wavelength interval in the millimeter regime that is accessible through Earth's atmosphere. The team reports finding seventy-three spectral features from fifteen molecular species in this survey band. A remarkable 28% of the total flux from this galaxy in this band is emitted by these molecules. The SMA also obtains images of the galaxy at each of the many wavelengths.
The results are consistent with Arp 220's luminosity being driven primarily by star-formation. The chemistry of the galaxy derived from the observations also leads to this conclusion, with species normally enhanced by star formation clearly detected. Moreover, it appears one such burst of activity is currently underway. The team estimates, for this extreme galaxy, that several million regions of activity are localized within a relatively small volume (a few thousand light-years) around the nucleus. The new results are an important improvement in our understanding of what powers extreme galaxies, and how they differ from the Milky Way.
Provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

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