Microsoft-Owned Yammer Hit With Small Round Of Layoffs

We’re hearing from multiple sources that there was a small round of layoffs today at enterprise collaboration company Yammer. The number of people let go is around 20 staffers, according to our sources. UPDATE: Yammer has confirmed the layoffs.

As you may know, Yammer was acquired by Microsoft in July 2012 for $1.2 billion in cash. The Yammer team was folded into its Microsoft Office division and continue to report to the company’s CEO and co-founder David Sacks. At the time of the acquisition, Yammer had around 300 employees but this number was expected to almost double by 2013.

Here is Yammer’s statement on the reductions:

We can confirm that Yammer eliminated a small number of sales and marketing positions. Each of our businesses continually assesses and re-allocates resources to align with their priorities. Yammer has continued to grow rapidly since becoming part of the Microsoft Office Division.

So it sounds like the layoffs weren’t due to financial performance but were more about eliminating redundancies and low performing individuals in the organization.

NanoSatisfi Raises $1.2M To Disrupt The Aerospace Industry With Small, Affordable Satellites

For years, Peter Platzer was pretty close to a stereotypical rocket scientist on Wall Street - he was trained as a high-energy physicist, but he spent most of his professional career in finance. But he told me he’s always had an interest in space exploration, and now he’s working on an aerospace startup called NanoSatisfi, which just raised $1.2 million in seed funding.

Platzer said he avoided the industry in the past because it was slow and government-dominated, with little innovation. It took an enormous amount of time and money to launch satellites, which meant that the technology on those satellites lagged behind what was available on the ground.

“We don’t have Moore’s Law in space,” Platzer said.

That’s changing with the advent of nanosatellites, which are smaller and cheaper than satellites or microsatellites. For example, NanoSatisfi plans to launch two ArduSats this year, each one a cube with 10 centimeter sides and weighing about 1 kilogram, and they’re equipped with cameras, a Geiger counter, a spectrometer, a magnetometer, and more. ArduSats are designed to be active for about two years, at which point they’re replaced by new ones incorporating the latest technology. For example, even though the second ArduSat is launching only a few months after the first, its camera will actually be more powerful, thanks to rapidly dropping prices.

Ultimately, the company wants to create “a constellation of nanosatellites that get updated on a regular basis,” Platzer said. The first satellites will be used for science experiments and education. Access to the satellite costs $250 a week, and supporters signed up and contributed to the project on Kickstarter. Last summer’s campaign shot past its $35,000 goal and ended up raising $106,330. And the company plans to host an ArduSat Academy this summer, where students learn more about the technology and can compete to run their experiments on the second satellite.

NanoSatisfi isn’t just focused on science projects - once it gets more satellites in place, NanoSatisfi can start selling some “very attractive data services” to a number of different industries, Platzer said.

After the Kickstarter campaign, Platzer funded the company with his own money. The new funds were raised from individual investors using the new AngelList/SecondMarket partnership. Since it’s, y’know, building satellites (or rather assembling them, often using components built by other companies) I asked if NanoSatisfi will need a much bigger round to really grow the company. Platzer said it shouldn’t require much more capital than other startups - his target for the eventual Series A is $10 million.

“It is literally similar in capital efficiency of PCs versus mainframes,” he said.

As for that first launch, it’s scheduled for July 15, and Platzer said the satellite is being taken up on one of the resupply missions for the International Space Station. Even though there’s always some uncertainty, he said those flights tend to be “the most secure and safe and well-guarded.”

The startup is being incubated in San Francisco’s hardware-focused Lemnos Labs - it’s Lemnos’ first aerospace startup, but Lemnos co-founder Jeremy Conrad sounds pretty excited about the industry, so it probably won’t be the last.

3DLT takes its 3D printing site down after listing pirated designs

3DLT, a 3D printing service similar to Shapeways, took its site down today after Wired reported that the site was hosting pirated designs. The company has yet to officially launch — even though the site was live and open for business for some time — but according to Wired, 3DLT listed jewelry designs that belong to Nervous System without the owner's knowledge or consent, under different names and with new descriptions.

"We have hurt the reputation of ourselves and others."

When Nervous System co-founder Jessica Rosencrantz purchased one of these designs for $40, she didn't even receive the necessary STL files to print them. Instead, 3DLT sent her a folder containing a website template for mCube, and nothing that could be 3D...

Band-Aid – concept printer for the patch

This conceptual device designed by a team of EVENdesign for use in the emergency room and hospitals. In essence it is an automatic cutter , to make plaster of different geometry for the desired body part. In addition, the printer can be painted in any color under the skin tone.
The project is being developed for each of the flap on the computer with a special graphics program, a user draws a shape and sets all sizes. Of course, in an emergency will not have time to draw, so you can download the complete document or template. But as a result time is still saved.
The device is connected to a computer, and on command from editor a flap patch any form quickly crawls out of the tray. And in first aid at the school, where a lot of downed knees, a device for printing curly patch will be an indispensable tool.

Polaroid pogo
Remove printer ink from paper
Technology future gadgets pencil printer
Portable printer

U.S. BlackBerry Fans May Not See Q10 Until Late Q2

BlackBerry diehards looking forward to purchasing the company’s new keyboard-equipped Q10 handset around its promised launch window of April may have to wait a month or two longer if they live in the U.S.

That’s the latest from BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, who tells the Associated Press that the Q10 isn’t likely to ship in the States until eight to 10 weeks after its touchscreen-only sibling, the Z10, arrives at market.

Currently, the Z10 is expected to make its U.S. debut sometime in mid-March. Eight to 10 weeks after that puts us in May or even June, which means the Q10 might not ship in the States until late-spring/early summer. I asked BlackBerry to confirm that release window, but a company spokesperson declined to do so.

“We expect the first global carriers to launch the BlackBerry Q10 in April,” BlackBerry spokeswoman Amy McDowell told AllThingsD. “We will announce new pricing and availability information as carriers roll out around the world. We are working closely with our carrier partners to accelerate their testing process, but cannot offer any specifics on U.S. availability.”

It’s clear, then, that the Q10’s stateside release date is something of a moving target.

Not that there’s much to be done about it. Wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon have extensive testing protocols for new devices that often take months to complete. When a new operating system must be vetted as well, that process becomes even more involved. BlackBerry might have been able to avoid the delay it’s suffering now if it had delivered the Z10 and Q10 to U.S. carriers earlier than it did. But it didn’t, and now there’s little to be done to expedite the testing process. An unfortunate situation for BlackBerry, given the string of delays that put BlackBerry 10’s delivery more than a year behind schedule.

“Am I a bit disappointed [by the delay],” said Heins. “Yeah, I would be lying saying no. But it is what it is, and we’re working with all our carrier partners to speed it up as much as we can.”

Time Inc. Layoffs Will Cost $60 Million

Time Inc.’s move to lay off about 6 percent of its workforce will cost the company at least $60 million in restructuring charges this year.

Time Inc. corporate parent, Time Warner, disclosed the number as part of its guidance for its 2013 financials.

Restructuring charges aren’t new for Time Inc., because the publisher has been downsizing itself for years. In 2012, the company racked up $27 million in restructuring charges, up from $18 million in 2011.

Time Inc.’s Q4 numbers help explain why CEO Laura Lang is cutting some 500 jobs: Revenue was down 7 percent, to $967 million, and ad revenue was down 4 percent. But the publisher is still the world’s biggest, and it still makes piles of money: Operating income was down 3 percent, to $200 million.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes may have more to say about the future of his publishing unit during his call later this am; I’ll listen in.

More Executives Worry About Cyberattacks, Study Says

More corporate executives are concerned about cyberattacks and data breaches than property damage and investment risk, according to a survey commissioned by insurer American International Group Inc.

The poll found 85 percent of the survey participants — a group that included risk managers and senior executives in the U.S. and Canada — were very or somewhat concerned with cyber risks. That compared with 80 percent who were concerned with property damage and 76 percent concerned about securities and investment risks.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Is It Time for Just-in-Time Data Centers?

The 1970s were a challenging time for automakers, especially in the U.S. The model that had worked so well for decades — building new, bigger models often focusing more on design than function and practicality — was being challenged as oil shocks and inflation took its toll on the American buyer.

In the midst of globally difficult economic times, the Japanese saw an opening. Taiichi Ohno, working for Toyota after World War II, saw inefficiencies in the American assembly line system, especially in the inventory and quality control systems. He pioneered a new system of production for the company, called “just-in-time.” The objectives were to introduce consistency in the production process and eliminate waste of all kinds, including overproduction, excess inventory, time (waiting for parts) and ineffective or defective products being produced. American supermarkets, ironically, held the answer for Ohno; they only restocked shelves with enough product to replace inventory that was sold to customers. In the just-in-time system, this translated into keeping about 24 hours’ worth of inventory in the factory, with parts being ordered and shipped on an as-needed basis.

The success of Toyota’s transformation is now well-known; it became a global company that would eventually surpass sales of GM, the world’s largest auto maker, in 2008. The just-in-time system pioneered by Toyota would be widely copied, with U.S. automakers implementing the new system in the 1980s, to varying levels of success.

Lessons for the Data Center

You may be asking what all of this fascinating automotive history has to do with data centers today, in 2013. The fact is, the data center industry is undergoing a transformation of its own. While the U.S., thankfully, hasn’t seen oil shocks on the scale of those experienced in the 1970s, it’s clear that the era of cheap energy is over, especially with increasing demand for energy supply in high-growth markets like China and India.

Rising energy prices and volatility mean that data centers can’t afford to operate the way that U.S. auto manufacturers did in the 1950s and 1960s. Traditionally built to accommodate future growth, wastefully inefficient data centers were built in previous decades with overcapacity in mind, in an era when energy was much cheaper and more readily available. Today, data center owners and managers face the challenges of legacy builds, with these facilities suffering from the same kind of waste that plagued the auto industry before lean manufacturing changed it. As James Glanz outlined last year in the New York Times story “Power, Pollution and the Internet,” the worst offenders not only use huge amounts of energy to power parts of data centers that aren’t used, but also contribute to pollution.

Just as gains in the speed of transportation made just-in-time a reality for the automotive industry in the 1970s, the data center industry’s transformation may be driven today by recent technology advances and supplemented with an overall recognition in the industry that the old way of powering and cooling data centers will no longer be ignored by the public nor economically advantageous for companies. These recent advances include:

• The rise of readily available modular data center components, including Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs), cooling and power distribution systems. These components are the infrastructure that can efficiently and reliably power and cool expensive computing equipment. Prior to the availability of modular components, data centers were almost always custom-built, and because of this, they were almost always overprovisioned to accommodate future growth or spikes in demand.
• The rise of standardized components in the data center, especially related to data center infrastructure. Part of the success of just-in-time was a recognition that relying on trusted suppliers to manufacture parts, so that the automaker could focus on its core competency of manufacturing the automobile, would actually bring about more reliable and better-performing products. Data center infrastructure is much the same — custom-built systems come with custom problems that take man-hours and money to fix. Standardized components are time-tested to be effective, reliable and predictable, with flaws having been driven out in the manufacturing and testing/validation process.
• The availability of monitoring software that provides visibility into energy usage in the data center. The just-in-time system relies upon signals that would tell managers what the rate of demand for parts was, so that production could be scheduled accordingly. Similarly, advances in data center software and analytics today provide that kind of intelligence for data center managers by monitoring equipment usage and helping to plan for future needs through benchmarking, indicating in advance when capacity may need to be increased.

Standardization is the key to consistency in the data center, while modularity is the key to flexibility. Both characteristics are needed to respond effectively to changes in the IT environment that result from changing business needs. Modular components are pre-engineered and “plug and play,” so that they can evolve with a changing data center’s design over time. Because they are scalable, changeable, portable and swappable, they confer a speed of installation that is akin to the flexibility that most car owners get today when they need to replace or repair auto parts.

Benefits of a Just-in-Time Approach

When Toyota pioneered the just-in-time system, it also built an entire system that the company would adhere to outside of production that would contribute to its success. Part of the system was to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement where its people’s talents would be stimulated and performance would be maximized. To be sure, recent events such as the tsunami in 2011 affected global supply chains and devastated production and supply in Japan, which exposed vulnerabilities in the system. However, the success of the overall system over time, as evidenced by its proliferation into all types of manufacturing as well as other markets including business intelligence in recent years, serves as a testament to the substantial benefits that can be conferred through applying the overall principles of the system.

In the data center, this requires a new approach to thinking about designing and building new systems, one which promises substantial gains in operational efficiencies. Some of these include:

• Outsourcing of non-core competencies. In the auto industry, this included logistical functions such as storage and distribution to third party providers. Modular data centers, effectively, have outsourced the headaches of production, configuration and installation to the manufacturer of the components. They are plug-and-play, making initial deployment and subsequent changes achievable without a great deal of custom work, and they are built in factories under strict quality control and engineered to deliver peak performance.
• Reduced response time to business demands, again due to availability of standardized and modular components. Growth can be planned for in the initial design of the data center, without being deployed and operationalized, which means data centers are “right sized” — operating only with the computing power and infrastructure to fit needs today rather than anticipated needs in the future.
• Improved customer satisfaction and better return on equity, due to the reliability of components as well as energy savings and reduced manual labor. Custom-built data centers can take years to achieve designed performance specifications with respect to measurements such as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE, a measure of data center efficiency). Prefabricated modules come with design specifications that are verified in the factory before they are shipped.
• Less downtime, as failures in modular components can be identified quickly and easily and replaced in little time, compared to disparate or custom engineered components.

Data centers today, in fact, are already taking advantage of modular data center builds. The Beneficial Financial Group, one of the oldest insurance companies in Utah, needed to add more power and rack space in its data center, with better monitoring and management capabilities and minimal downtime. If it bought a new system or a larger version of the existing system, it would have had to re-engineer the data center completely; instead, Beneficial chose a modular system that integrated power, cooling management and servers with a universal rack design. The installation was completed over a weekend, with no interruption to business, and forecasts estimate the company will gain an annual ROI of 74 percent with a payback period of ten months, due to maintenance and service savings and increased user productivity. In addition, because it can now add servers as the company grows, Beneficial has expanded its data center capability by 300 percent with room for future growth.

Toyota, which spearheaded the just-in-time model, was able to achieve unparalleled growth and eventual industry dominance in the years following its shift. It’s an example of how turning traditional thinking on its head was able to change the entire industry and spawn whole new industries and innovations. Data centers today face a fork in the road, but there is a unique opportunity to take advantage of gains in technology to respond and adapt, making sure they are built not only for the needs of today but for the unforeseen challenges that may come in the next few decades.

Kevin Brown is Vice President, Global Data Center Offer for Schneider Electric and is responsible for leading Schneider Electric’s portfolio strategy and leading innovation to respond to emerging data center industry trends. Kevin is an experienced industry professional in both the data center and HVAC industry with over 20 years of experience in various senior management roles including software and hardware development, sales and product management, and holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

iTunes Store surpasses 25 billion song downloads

The iTunes Store has hit yet another milestone. It has surpassed 25 billion song downloads, according to an official Apple announcement. The milestone track was “Monkey Drums (Goskel Vancin Remix)” by Chase Bush, downloaded by Phillip L pke in Germany. This lucky German is getting a 10,000-euro iTunes gift card.

HBO.com flagged as HBO copyright violator by MarkMonitor

MarkMonitor, the company that has been named as the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) vanguard and copyright abuse sniffer, doesn’t work very well. We already knew this, but in a funny turn of events it has flagged HBO.com as being in violation of the DMCA for violations of its own content.

Shooting Challenge: Dual Sparkler Exposures

We've done long exposures. And many of you have blown things up with fireworks. For this week's Shooting Challenge, we're combining the ideas in a technique that looks hard but anyone can pull off.

The Challenge

Take a dual-exposure photo with a sparkler implying motion.

The Technique

So here's how it works. Long exposures are great for light painting, but they leave your figure all blurry and undefined. Meanwhile, flash photography can isolate a subject in a dark room, but that's kind of ugly on its own.

As explained in the above video, you'll lock your camera on a tripod and take two shots: First, have a subject do something with a sparkler in their hand or attached to an object (safely, of course). It can be mundane, like putting away dishes, or really sporty, like swinging a baseball bat. Take a long (3-ish-second) exposure shot of that.

Then, put the sparkler away. Have your subject do the exact same thing, with your camera in the exact same spot, and take a photo of normal length. If you're in a dark environment, and you may want to be to exacerbate the sparkler effect, you'll probably need to use flash to capture your subject frozen in motion.

After that, combine the two images in post production. You'll probably just want to layer the sparks on top and erase everything else from the image, but I could imagine doing some interesting things with layering if you have the Photoshop talent.

To make the photos pop, keep in mind, the sparkler is almost like a speed line, or a means to trace out the motion or path of the figure. It doesn't need to line up 1:1 to work, but it should be related.

The Example

Our lead shot is from Dave Lehl, who also created the great little tutorial you see here. I can almost guarantee, his friends skateboard better than your friends. So don't let anyone get hurt trying all this X-games crap. Mundane can be cool in its own way. (via petapixel)

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, February 11th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Spark" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSpark.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSparkWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Hell Yes: Google Maps Has Ski Mountain Maps Now

The Google Maps mobile app just got trail maps for 38 ski mountains in the U.S. and Canada. This is your awesome excuse to call in sick to work and take a ski day (or week).

It's such a pain to pull out that big, awkward paper trail map that gets increasingly wrinkled and soggy every time you take a spill or get caught in a big gust of wind. Now just load up the maps on your iPhone or Android device, and you'll see green, blue, and black runs as solid lines, and ski lifts as red dotted lines. The full list of resorts is here on the Google Blog, and it probably includes a lot of your favorite slopes. I'm virtually at Copper Mountain shredding Bouncer. [Google Play, iTunes, Google Blog]

"Arrested Development" Comes to Dive Into Media: Make Room for Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz and Brian Grazer

So perhaps you’ve heard: Last week, Netflix made its first big foray into original content, when it debuted “House of Cards,” the Kevin Spacey/David Fincher political drama.

The video-streaming company will be doing four more of these in the next year or so, but its next very big splash will come in May.

That’s when it brings “Arrested Development,” the much-loved, much-mourned Fox comedy, back for a fourth season, using the same controversial release plan as “House of Cards.” That is — it’s going to release all 14 episodes at once, so you can watch as many as you want, as fast as you want.

And that’s why we’re very excited to bring some of the show’s key on- and offscreen players to our Dive Into Media conference next week: We’re going to have Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz and Brian Grazer joining us onstage alongside Netflix content czar Ted Sarandos.

These are the folks we were talking about, but couldn’t name, awhile back. (Hollywood!) And you should know all of them, but in case you need a refresher:

Will Arnett has a long list of TV and movie credits, but he may be best known for the three seasons he played GOB Bluth on “Arrested Development.” If you want to see him before May, you can check out his work on NBC’s “Up All Night.” Or the stuff his DumbDumb multimedia ad shop has produced.

Mitch Hurwitz created “Arrested Development,” and is back for the new season, which he’s writing, directing and producing. His TV career stretches all the way back to “The Golden Girls,” and his work on “Arrested Development” has netted him three Emmys.

Brian Grazer has been making TV shows and movies for 25 years. Running total for that output: 43 Oscars, 149 Emmys, $13.7 billion in movie revenue, and a lot of happy television viewers. His Imagine Entertainment got “Arrested Development” on the air back in 2003, and he’s back for this round as well.

Fun lineup, right? And informative: These are three guys with a whole lot of options — so why are they working on a Web video series? And do they think this is a one-off, or is it the shape of things to come?

Those are the kind of questions we’ll be asking all of our guests, from Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen to Facebook content boss Dan Rose to music mogul Jimmy Iovine, at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. You can see the full lineup here. If you want to join us yourself, we have a few tickets left.

Zynga Shows Investors It Has a Chance

Zynga’s fourth-quarter earnings are just rolling in, and they look good compared to the company’s already lowered expectations for the period.

Minutes after the release went out, Zynga’s stock was up nearly 5 percent to $2.88 a share. During regular trading today, Zynga’s shares were already higher based on an analyst’s upgrade.

Here’s what it reported:

The social games company said bookings for the year totaled $1.15 billion to beat the company’s forecast of $1.1 billion (bookings account for the sales from virtual goods that occur in the fourth quarter).

It also said adjusted EBITDA, which is earnings before some expenses, totaled $213.2 million for the year, which was way above its range of $152 million to $162 million. For the full year, though, it said non-GAAP earnings totaled seven cents a share, a nice beat over its forecast of two cents to three cents a share.

On a quarterly basis, Zynga beat analyst expectations, which were no doubt low for the period.

The company reported a net loss of six cents a share (or a profit of one cent a share on an adjusted basis) on revenue of $311.2 million. Analysts were expecting an adjusted loss of three cents a share on revenue of $212.1 million, according to FactSet.

Zynga’s GAAP net loss of $209.4 million in 2012 was heavily influenced by a $53.8 million restructuring charge for changes it made internationally. However, revenue was up 12 percent year over year to $1.28 billion, fueled by a 7 percent increase in online game revenue and an 84 percent increase in advertising revenue.

Over the past three quarters, Zynga has been working hard on its turnaround, so this is just another baby step along the way.

The San Francisco games company slashed expenses, including a reduction in headcount, and named an all-new executive team as AllThingsD featured in a story yesterday. We’ll be hearing at 2 pm PT from the company’s management team, including CEO Mark Pincus, along with its new COO David Ko and CFO Mark Vranesh, who replaced Dave Wehner in November.

Somali woman is jailed for a year after claiming she was raped

Human rights groups attack 'terrible miscarriage of justice' as woman and journalist who interviewed her are sentenced

A Somali woman who said she was raped by state security forces, and a journalist who interviewed her, were each sentenced on Tuesday to a year in jail in a trial that human rights advocates called "a terrible miscarriage of justice".

The 27-year-old woman was accused of insulting a government body and making false claims. The court in the capital, Mogadishu, said it based its decision on medical evidence that she was not raped, but the judge deferred her sentence until she has weaned her child.

The freelance reporter Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, who interviewed the woman in early January but never filed a story, was also charged with insulting state institutions. The two defendants are expected to appeal.

"The court's decision to convict an alleged rape victim and the journalist who interviewed her is a terrible miscarriage of justice, and sends a chilling signal to victims of sexual assault in Somalia," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

"The case was built on groundless charges and serious due-process violations, and should have been thrown out. The government should swiftly move to exonerate and release the defendants."

The US state department has said the case is "a litmus test" for the future of Somalia. Human Rights Watch said last week that the case was politically motivated and designed to silence those who report on the pervasive problem of sexual violence by state security forces.

The international outcry surrounding the case is an embarrassment for the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whose election last year was described by the international community as the start of a new era for Somalia after decades of instability and conflict.

The trial started as the Mohamud toured Europe to garner international support to rebuild Somalia.

He was in Britain on Monday where he met the international development secretary, Justine Greening.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said he had discussed the case with Mohamud. He tweeted: "Raised current rape case of concern in Somalia with the President, including the importance of victims feeling able to speak out."

The judge in the case, Ahmed Aden Farah, said on Tuesday that the woman was sentenced for offending state institutions by claiming she was raped, the AFP news agency reported.

"She will spend one year in prison after finishing the breastfeeding of her baby," the agency quoted him as saying. The woman's husband and two others who were also detained over the case have been released.

The woman was arrested on 10 January, two days after she was interviewed by Abdinur Ibrahim and told him she had been raped by government forces last year. Police interrogated her over two days without legal counsel and released after saying she had retracted her story.

There have been some signs of official discomfort over the progress of the case. On Sunday, Somalia's prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, said authorities would do more to protect rape victims, and he promised to reform the armed forces and judiciary once the trial had concluded.

"We recognise the concerns of our international partners and we are only too aware of the enormous challenges our nation faces," he said in a statement.

The international community, especially Britain and the US, have enthusiastically backed Somalia's new government, which emerged last September after a UN-backed peace process to replace a corrupt and inefficient transitional authority. International donors have pledged millions of dollars to rebuild the country, including money destined for the security forces.

Somalia has been enjoying a period of relative stability since African Union forces pushed the Islamic militants of al-Shabaab out of most of their urban strongholds, including the capital. The rebels still control some rural areas and carry out sporadic bomb attacks in Mogadishu

North Korea video shows US city in flames after missile attack

YouTube video shows city ablaze in scenes reminiscent of 9/11, as South Korea claims nuclear test imminent in Pyongyang

It begins benignly enough, with an image of a sleeping young North Korean man, and a genteel piano version of the US feel-good pop anthem We Are the World providing the musical backdrop.

But the YouTube video recently posted by Uriminzokkiri, North Korea's official website, quickly takes a more sinister turn as the man's dream continues into the realms of Stalinist fantasy.

Within seconds he is aboard a space shuttle, launched into orbit by the same type of rocket the North successfully launched in December. The shuttle orbits Earth, at one point passing over a jubilant and reunified Korean peninsula, before the focus switches to an unidentified city draped in the Stars and Stripes.

What appear to be missiles rain down on the city, setting fire to high-rise buildings in scenes reminiscent of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.

"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing," the Korean-language caption says. "It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze."

The ease with which the North's dozing pilot circumnavigates the planet owes more to North Korea's ability in visual special effects than the reality of its space programme.

But the video, which has received a relatively modest 38,000 views since it was uploaded at the weekend, is a timely reminder of the growing threat posed by the regime's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

South Korea's ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday a North Korean nuclear test was imminent, in protest at the condemnation and tougher security council sanctions that followed its rocket launch on 12 December.

Kim Sook said the test, which would be the North's third, after similar controlled nuclear detonations in 2006 and 2009, looked increasingly likely given the "very busy activities" taking place at the test site.

The UN has warned North Korea a nuclear test would invite "significant action" in response.

Kim said the security council, of which North Korea's only ally and major donor, China, is a permanent member, had given unanimous backing to further sanctions.

"They are very firm and resolute and I would expect very firm and strong measures to be taken in terms of format as well as in substance once they go ahead with such provocation" as a nuclear test, Kim said.

The latest sanctions resolution repeated international demands that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons programme and refrain from further rocket launches.

But those threats appear furthest from the thoughts of the fictional shuttle pilot, who reappears at the and of the sequence, still fast asleep, his Japanese-made Canon camera by his side.

His dream will "surely come true", reads the caption. "Despite attempts by imperialists to isolate and crush us ... never will anyone be able to stop the people marching towards a final victory."

Samsung Galaxy Fame Android Jelly Bean Smartphone Announced

As well as announcing the new Galaxy Young, Samsung also announced another Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Fame, which comes with a 3.5 inch HVGA TFT display.

The Samsung Galaxy Fame is powered by a 1GHz processor and comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of built in storage, there is also a microSD card slot for additional storage which can take up to 64GB cards.

Facebook Location Tracking App Under Development

According to a report on Bloomberg this week, Facebook is currently in the process of developing a new Facebook location tracking application, to help sell advertising.

The information was leaked by 2 sources close to the action, who explained that Facebook are looking to increase the features on their mobile application, and the new tracking app is scheduled for launch in mid March 2013.

FreedomPop Gives Free Data Usage to iPad Owners with ‘LTE Clip’

When Apple first announced the iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular, I thought, "Who would want to pay a separate contract for their phone and tablet?" Apparently, a lot of people. However, not everyone wants, or can afford, to carry two data plans and still choose Apple's iPad with Wi-Fi only in hopes that their local coffee shops and hotels will offer free Internet connections. FreedomPop wants to free Wi-Fi only tablet users from the restrictions of Starbucks and Days Inn by offering cellular data capabilities through their upcoming "LTE Clip."

According to Forbes, FreedomPop attaches to Wi-Fi only tablets, giving them cellular data capabilities. Sprint Nextel's network will be supplying the LTE data. The LTE Clip is expected to be released in the second half of this year.

The device clips to your tablet and offers 500 free MB of 4G service per month on its network. If you want more data, you can pre-pay or pay as you go. The LTE Clip weights less than 3 ounces and has a six hour battery charge. It is compatible with most tablets, including the iPad and iPad mini. The LTE Clip can connect up to eight devices at once.

FreedomPop seeks to open Wi-Fi to the U.S. by creating free and low-cost Internet access. In addition to their basic services, the company offers special plans to subscribers through a sharing program. Subscribers earn credit toward more free Internet access by making their own access free to others by virtually sharing to anyone on FreedomPop's network.

The company will also be rolling out "open Wi-Fi" local-sharing Internet service, which will enable FreedomPop devices to share broadband access to others nearby using two SSIDs. Once activated, anyone nearby can log onto that broadband device through one of the SSIDs.

There is no information at this time as to the cost of the LTE Clip. However, the company previously released a case for the iPad touch for $99 that turned the music player into a WiMax Internet device.

Is Apple Planning An Overhaul of iLife/iWork Apps?

Pulling at the threads of recent revelations that Apple is hiring iLife and iWorks staff, combined with the company's recent acquisition of patents, MacRumors recently reported that Apple is likely on its way to revamping its productivity applications. Although an overhaul is a ways off, we are sure to get something spectacular in the next few years.

According to MacRumors, various blog sites have been noting new job postings from Apple Corporate regarding listings for the iLife and iWork team, including Quality Assurance Engineers, a Senior User Interface Designer and Senior Software Engineers specifically for the user interface of the productivity suites.

Additionally, Apple recently acquired 18 patents from Maya-Systems for design of a file sorting system that can reorganize according to time, category, or common theme and sync with cloud servers.

It makes sense that Apple would set to work on updating its six productivity applications. The iLife suite, iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie ($4.99 each) haven't been updated since October of 2010. The iWork suite, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers ($9.99 each), could be a replacement for Microsoft Office if the remodeled versions were good enough. Microsoft has yet to launch Office on the iPad. If the Word creator doesn't get on the ball, Apple could easily fill the void with a better productivity suite that would make Office look outdated.

When Apple executive Scott Forstall left the company, many analysts were predicting the end of the company's skeumorphic design. However, there have not been any major changes to suggest that software designers are clamoring to get away from the faux realism that Forstall loved so dearly.

Now that Apple is on the lookout for new designers and engineers for iLife and iWorks, it is possible that one of the major changes in the productivity suites will be to rid the apps' design of pesky natural wood grain imagery and realistic looking textures in exchange for a simpler, modern appearance.

Apple pulls Qihoo’s 20+ apps from App Store over systematic iOS ecosystem abuses, including encouraging jailbreaking

“At the start of last week, all the 20+ iOS apps made by Chinese software company and search engine Qihoo (QIHU) vanished from Apple's App Store - and they still haven't been restored,” Steven Millward reports for Tech In Asia. “According to multiple sources in one Chinese media report, Qihoo is in big trouble with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) for systematic abuses of its iOS ecosystem.”

“This is not just about manipulating App Store rankings - which Qihoo was allegedly caught doing last year - but also, it is claimed, for encouraging the jailbreaking of iPhones by the way that Qihoo often makes its apps available as single file downloads that can be loaded by users with jailbroken Apple devices,” Millward reports. “Aside from the suggestion that Qihoo's apps damaged Apple's ecosystem, it is thought that Qihoo's iOS software also made use of banned APIs, and were engaged in repeated attempts to rig App Store rankings.”

Millward reports, “In addition, the QQ Tech source suggests that the removal of Qihoo's iOS apps was done manually by Apple - not caused by a mere automatically triggered takedown - and therefore amounts to a special investigation into the apps by the Cupertino company. Whereas an automatic takedown can be resolved within a few days, as happened to Qihoo last February, a manual removal by Apple can take longer to sort out, and there's apparently no timescale for this process. The article claims that Qihoo's CFO has even dashed to the US to help speed up the restoration of the apps to the App Store.”

Read more in the full article here.

New malware attacks Android phones, Windows PCs to eavesdrop, steal data; iPhone, Mac users unaffected

“A recently discovered new form of Android malware called DroidCleaner can not only infect your smartphone, but also targets your PC to spy on you,” Cadie Thompson reports for CNBC.

“Researchers at the security firm Kaspersky Labs have uncovered new malware which poses as a ‘cleaner’ app — or an app used to free memory on Google’s OS — in the Google Play app store,” Thompson reports. “Once an Android user downloads the app, the malware infects the user’s smartphone and can also be uploaded to the user’s PC if they plug the device into their Windows computer in the USB drive mode. The malware that runs on an infected user’s PC can take control of the microphone on the machine and use it to eavesdrop. As soon as the microphone detects sound, it can begin to record the audio and then send it back to cyber criminals.”

Thompson reports, “As for the malware installed on a user’s smartphone, Kaspersky researcher Victor Chebyshev said in a blog post that it was the first time his firm has seen “such an extensive feature set in one mobile application.”

Some of the functions the malware can perform on an infected device include:
Sending SMS messages
Enabling Wi-Fi
Gathering information about the device
Opening arbitrary links in a browser
Uploading the SD card’s entire contents
Uploading all SMS messages
Deleting all SMS messages
Uploading all the contacts/photos/coordinates from the device master

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If the explosion doesn’t kill you, the infection will.

“Open” in all the wrong ways.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Take To Task" for the heads up.]

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