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Hurricane Sandy disrupts Northeast U.S. telecom networks

Written By Bersemangat on Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy disrupted telecommunications services in Northeastern states on Tuesday, resulting in spotty coverage for cellphones, television, home telephones and Internet services.

While all the region's telecom service providers were having problems, Verizon Communications, which serves many of the states in the hurricane's path, may have suffered some of the worst damage from the storm to its wireline network.

About 25 percent of the region's wireless cell towers were out of action after the storm and some 911 emergency call centers were not working, according to Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

"Our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better," Genachowski told reporters on a conference call, noting that the storm had not ended.

Also power outages could disrupt more cell sites if they run out of back-up power before commercial electricity services are up and running again.

People lined up at pay-phones in at least one New York neighborhood, the Lower East Side, today as their phones had either lost coverage or they had run out of battery power because there was nowhere to charge their phones in the neighborhood which had lost commercial power.

New York-based Verizon said the storm caused flooding at three Verizon central offices that hold telecom equipment in Lower Manhattan as well as sites in Queens and Long Island.

Its downtown headquarters, which was put out of action 11 years ago by the September 11 attacks, had three feet of water in the lobby at one point. Because of flooding, all its telecom equipment at that office, which serves much of Wall Street and downtown consumers, was knocked out of service.

The company said it was working on pumping out the water in the hope that it could restart its back-up power generators in the facility as commercial power services were not yet restored the morning after the big storm hit.

"The bullseye of the impact is the metro area," said spokesman William Kula, adding that restoring service for the city's financial district was a top priority for Verizon.

Telecom disruptions affect electronic trading as well as corporate operators. The chief operating officer of the New York Stock Exchange, which is expected to open Wednesday, said "lots of telecom infrastructure is down" and that the NYSE was working with big firms to ensure they were doing testing of their systems.

Verizon did not give an estimate as to how many businesses and consumers were affected. Two of three Manhattan central offices were partially flooded and operating minimal services.

Customers served by the damaged central offices will experience "a loss of all services" including TV, Internet, and traditional telephone services, Kula said. Some customers may experience intermittent busy signals for non-emergency calls.

Verizon said its engineers were working on assessing the damage from the early hours. Outside of New York, the company warned that it was also having some trouble.

"Verizon is discovering that many poles and power lines/Verizon cables are down throughout the region due to heavy winds and falling trees," the company said in a statement.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA said they were dealing with wireless service problems in the hurricane region. Cable operators Cablevision Systems Corp, Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable also said they were having service problems.

"I think everybody's equipment's going to be damaged, including cellphone towers," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King said from his Verizon Wireless cellphone in Baltimore.

"Particularly for Verizon, they're clearly going to have the most damage on the wireline side because its pretty much all of their territory (where the storm hit)," King said.

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider said it was seeing outages at some cell sites because of the power outages across all the states in Sandy's path including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Maryland, North Virginia and New England.

"(Repair crews) have started on some critical areas but they haven't been able to get to everywhere they need to be," spokeswoman Crystal Davis said. She noted that 80 of the company's stores would reopen at noon. Sprint had closed about 180 stores ahead of the storm.

T-Mobile USA said that "customers may be experiencing service disruptions or an inability to access service in some areas, especially those that were hardest hit by the storm."

People complained of outages to their cable telephone, Internet and television services from providers including Comcast, Cablevision and Verizon in New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York.

Cablevision said it was experiencing widespread service interruptions primarily related to loss of power. The company said it is working to restore services.

Comcast, whose headquarters is in Philadelphia and serves East Coast states, said that for the majority of customers, "Comcast service should be restored as power comes back on to their homes."

Cellphone service was spotty for top wireless providers Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, according to some customers.

Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, said on Tuesday afternoon that customers may be experiencing service issues and that about 94 percent of its cell sites were up and running.

AT&T said it was experiencing some issues in areas heavily affected by the storm. By Tuesday morning, spokesman Mark Siegel said AT&T was in the initial stages of on-the-ground assessment and that it expected "crews will be working around the clock to restore service."

Several Time Warner Cable customers in Brooklyn said that their Internet, television and phone services stopped working Monday night but were back again by Tuesday morning.

Time Warner Cable said that while it has not seen any major damage to its infrastructure, its customers who do not have electricity do not have cable services.

Millions of people in the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to flooded homes, fallen trees and widespread power outages caused by Sandy, which swamped New York City's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district.

At least 30 people were reported killed in the United States by one of the biggest storms to ever hit the country. Sandy dropped just below hurricane status before making landfall on Monday night in New Jersey.

(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba, Liana Baker, Katya Wachtel in New York, Dian Bartz in Washington DC and many other Reuters reporters around the hurricane region; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci)


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Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer for $4.05 billion

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd and its "Star Wars" franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that includes the surprise promise of a new film in the series in 2015.

Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told analysts on Tuesday that the plan is to release a new movie in the series every two to three years thereafter. The last "Star Wars" picture was "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005, and Lucas has in the past denied any plans for more.

Lucas, a Hollywood icon known for exercising control over the most minute details of the fictional universe he created, will remain as a creative consultant on the new films.

"It's now time for me to pass 'Star Wars' on to a new generation of filmmakers," he said in a statement. Lucas will become the second-largest individual holder of Disney shares, with a 2.2 percent stake.

Disney will pay about half the purchase price in cash and issue about 40 million shares at closing.

"This is one of the greatest entertainment properties of all time," Iger said. Like Disney's purchases of Marvel Entertainment and Pixar studio, LucasFilm will "drive long-term value to our shareholders," he said.

Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said the deal would lower Disney's earnings per share by a low single-digits percentage in fiscal 2013 and 2014. He also said Disney would repurchase all of the issued shares on the open market within the next two years, on top of planned buybacks.

This agreement marks the third time in less than seven years that Disney has signed a massive deal to take over a beloved studio or character portfolio, part of its strategy to acquire brands that can be stretched across TV, movies, theme parks and the Internet.

In early 2006, Disney struck a deal to acquire "Toy Story" creator Pixar, and in the summer of 2009 it bought the comic book powerhouse Marvel.

"Disney already has a great portfolio and this adds one more," said Morningstar analyst Michael Corty. "They don't have any holes, but their past deals have been additive."

Iger said he and Lucas first discussed a possible sale about 18 months ago. Lucas was pondering his retirement, and Iger was looking to add another well-known brand to the Disney empire. The two signed the deal at Disney's Burbank, California, headquarters on Tuesday.

"Everywhere I went, 'Star Wars' was already there, and sometimes they got there ahead of us," said Iger in an interview. "I kept seeing that brand and decided maybe we should buy it."

He told analysts he believed there was "substantial pent-up demand" for new "Star Wars" movies. Each of the last three films in the series would have grossed $1.5 billion in today's dollars at the box office, CFO Rasulo estimated.

The film's iconic characters also will boost Disney's sales of toys and other consumer products, particularly overseas, executives said. Sales of "Star Wars" items such as Darth Vader and Yoda action figures total roughly $215 million a year, Rasulo said.

In 2005, the year the last "Star Wars" film was released, LucasFilm generated $550 million in operating income, Rasulo said.

Disney also will be able to extend the presence of the franchise at its theme parks around the globe, Iger said. The company's parks already feature rides based on "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," another Lucas property.

"Star Wars" characters also are likely to find a home on the Disney XD cable channel, which is aimed at young boys, Iger said.

Iger wouldn't commit to keeping the "Star Wars" operation separate from Disney, as he did with Pixar and Marvel.

And Lucas won't sit on the Disney board despite his 2.2 percent stake in the company, Iger said. The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who held a large stake in Disney after it bought his Pixar studio, had a seat on the Disney board.

From a fan's perspective, critics said there was sure to be at least some excitement at the prospect of episode seven in the saga of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

"Do I want to see more Star Wars movies? Not really, but they're not making these movies for me," the film writer "Mr. Beaks" wrote on the well-regarded industry site Ain't It Cool News. "There's a whole new generation of Star Wars fans, and they worship the prequels like folks my age worshipped the original trilogy."

Besides "Star Wars," the Lucasfilm deal also includes rights to the "Indiana Jones" franchise, though Disney did not elaborate on any plans for that series.

(Additional reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Himank Sharma in Bangalore; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Ciro Scotti)


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Google unveils first 10-inch Nexus tablet

Written By Bersemangat on Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc unveiled a larger version of its Nexus-branded tablet computer on Monday, and updated its mobile gadget and online content offerings as competition with Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp heats up ahead of the holiday sales season.

The device follows a spate of new product launches by the technology leaders in recent weeks, including Apple's iPad Mini last week and software-maker Microsoft's first-ever home-built tablet, the Surface.

Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine, has pushed deeper into the hardware business at a time when consumers are increasingly accessing the Web on mobile devices.

Google's new Nexus 10, made in partnership with consumer electronics company Samsung Electronics Co, is the first 10-inch tablet to come to market under Google's Nexus brand. The device, with prices starting at $299, will be available on November 13 in the United States and seven other countries, Google said in its official blog on Monday.

Google was scheduled to introduce the device at a media event in New York on Monday, but was forced to cancel because of Hurricane Sandy.

Google also said it was expanding its online movie and music retail businesses to several countries in Europe.

And the company introduced an improvement to its online-music storage service. The new "matching" feature scans songs in a consumer's music collection and automatically creates an online or "cloud-based" library of the same tracks which consumers can access from any device or computer.

Google said the music matching feature, which only works with tracks that are part of the Google Play store's music catalog, will be available in Europe on November 13 and in the United States soon after.

Google also updated its smaller, Nexus 7 tablet released earlier this year. It increased the storage on the $199 version of the device to 16GB from 8GB, and introduced a new $299 version of the Nexus 7 with a cellular data service option. Google also unveiled a new Nexus 4 smartphone, made in partnership with LG Electronics, that features a quad-core processor and a 4.7-inch display.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)


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Apple software, retail chiefs out in overhaul

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Monday replaced the heads of its software and retail units in the company's biggest executive shake-up in a decade following embarrassing problems with its new mapping program and unpopular store-related decisions.

Software chief Scott Forstall, who oversaw the launch of the flawed mapping software and much criticized Siri voice-enabled assistant, will leave Apple next year.

Forstall, seen as a polarizing figure inside Apple, had been billed as one of the future candidates to take the top job at Apple. He was the executive behind the panned Apple Maps app that the company announced with much fanfare in summer.

Apple said in a statement that retail chief John Browett "is leaving," without elaborating; that a search for his replacement is underway; and the retail team would report directly to Cook. Browett had riled up the retail store staff when he reduced the number of employees in his unit.

The departures come a little more than a year into Cook's tenure as chief executive. Cook replaced the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, considered one of the best executives of all times by many analysts and investors.

"These changes show that Tim Cook is stamping his authority on the business," Ben Wood, analyst with CCS Insight, said. "Perhaps disappointed with the Maps issues, Forstall became the scapegoat."

Apple upended the tech industry with the release of its iPhone smartphone in 2007. But the company is facing increasing competition from search giant Google, whose Android has become the world's most popular mobile software, as well as from Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft and Samsung.

"Competition is moving much faster to be more Apple-like," said Tim Bajarin, president of technology research and consulting firm Creative Strategies. "They're finding they need to streamline the management team in order to get things going faster."

Apple's launch of its own mapping service in September, when it began selling the iPhone 5 and rolled out its updated iOS 6 software, led to widespread user complaints, particularly since it replaced the popular Google Inc Maps.

Apple's Siri personal assistant software also came under a lot of criticism, including for not providing information on business location, when it was launched last year.

Both the services were introduced with much fanfare by Forstall, who had supervised their development as senior vice president of iOS software.

The executive changes hand over substantially more responsibility to Eddy Cue, the head of Internet Software and Services who helped create the iTunes music store and App Store. The 23-year Apple veteran already is in charge of Cloud services and will take on Apple Maps and Siri. Craig Federighi will oversee Apple's mobile iOS software as well as its OS X Mac software, Apple said.

Putting the mobile and personal computer software teams under the same manager could improve operations within the company, particularly as the capabilities and features of smartphones and PCs increasingly converge, said analysts.

"If you have two different heads, you have two different fiefdoms," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.

Another executive who will get extra responsibility under the shake-up is Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of industrial design, who has played a key role in Apple's success by imbuing its gadgets with a distinct look and feel.

That magic touch could help reinvigorate the look of Apple's software, which has been criticized by some technology observers, Gillis said.

RETAIL SWITCH

Shares of Apple, the world's largest publicly traded company by market value, have declined 14 percent in the past month since reaching a 52-week high of $705.07 in September.

Browett, former CEO of British electronics retailer Dixons, took over as senior vice president of Apple's retail stores earlier this year, replacing Ron Johnson, who went on to become the CEO of JCPenney.

"I think ultimately they probably discovered that his experience with Dixons didn't translate that well to the Apple stores and he just probably wasn't the right fit," Bajarin of Creative Strategies said.

Apple, which described Monday's moves as a way to increase "collaboration" across its hardware, software and services business, said Forstall will serve as an advisor to Cook until his departure.

Last week Apple delivered a second straight quarter of disappointing financial results, and iPad sales fell short of Wall Street's targets, marring its record of consistently blowing past investors' expectations.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)


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Taxpayer data exposed in cyber attack on South Carolina agency

Written By Bersemangat on Senin, 29 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - As many as 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers used by state taxpayers could have been exposed to a hacker in recent cyber attacks on the state Department of Revenue's computers, officials said on Friday.

The vast majority of the credit card numbers used by South Carolina taxpayers were encrypted, but about 16,000 were not, meaning the data was fully exposed, state police said.

None of the Social Security numbers were encrypted, said State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry.

Berry said the hacker used a foreign Internet Protocol (IP) address to gain access to the data.

"This is not a good day for South Carolina," Governor Nikki Haley said at a news conference in the state capital of Columbia. "I want this person slammed against the wall," she said of the hacker.

"I want to get this person and make sure he can never do this to anybody or any state again," Haley said "I want that man just brutalized."

Officials said no public funds were accessed or put at risk. An investigation into the security breach is ongoing.

Investigators this month discovered two attempts to probe the Department of Revenue's system in early September, and later learned of an attempt made in late August, state officials said.

Two other intrusions occurred in mid-September, and the department determined the hacker had obtained data for the first time, according to a statement from the state.

Officials said the vulnerability in the system was closed on October 20 and the system is now believed to be secure.

Anyone who filed a South Carolina tax return since 1998 is being urged to find out whether their information was affected. The state will provide those affected with one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

Earlier this year, police arrested a South Carolina state health agency employee they said had made off with almost 230,000 Medicaid recipients' personal information.

Also, the University of South Carolina said in August that a hacker had breached the personal information of as many as 34,000 people connected to its College of Education.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Todd Eastham)


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SAP eyes "long" period of high sales growth: report

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's SAP may be able to sustain high sales from software and related services for a "very long time," co-chief executive Bill McDermott told a German newspaper.

"It's our ambition to grow with double-digit numbers for a very long time to come," Euro am Sonntag quoted McDermott as saying in an interview published on Sunday.

"I believe that's possible."

The newspaper also cited the co-CEO as saying SAP currently has no plans for further acquisitions following the purchases of cloud-computing company Ariba and Success Factors.

(Reporting By Andreas Cremer; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)


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Surface tablet buzz starts, but Windows 8 excitement muted

Written By Bersemangat on Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers woke up with mild Surface fever on Friday, lining up in moderate numbers to buy Microsoft's groundbreaking tablet computer designed to challenge Apple's iPad.

The global debut of the Windows 8 operating system was greeted with pockets of enthusiasm, but not the mania reserved for some previous Apple Inc launches.

Microsoft is positioning the slick new computing device, which runs a limited version of Windows and Office with a thin, click-on keyboard cover, as a perfect combination of PC and tablet that is good for work as well as entertainment.

"I like the flexibility of having the keyboard and the touch capability," said Mike Gipe, 50, who works in sales for bank Barclays, and was planning to buy a Surface tablet at Microsoft's pop-up store in Times Square in New York.

"It's the combination of having the consumer stuff and the work stuff," he said, looking forward to using Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations on the new device.

The Times Square store was the first to sell the Surface -- Microsoft's first ever own-brand computer -- and other Windows 8 devices late on Thursday and will be open through the holiday shopping season. On Friday morning it was crowded with a mix of tourists and local office workers, but the cash tills were not jammed.

"With the other tablets you're a consumer. With this you can have input," said Peter Townsend, on vacation in New York from Australia with his wife, who bought a Surface tablet because he liked the keyboard.

Mark Pauluch, 28, who works for a New York private equity firm, said he would like a Surface because he does not want to take a laptop on a plane, but was disappointed when the sales representative told him the wifi-only Surface would not work with Cisco VPN networking.

"I can't use this to replace my work laptop unless it supports VPN," he said.

MIDWEST, WEST COAST

Elsewhere in the United States, there was solid but not overwhelming interest for the Surface.

"It's a good tablet. I am not a huge i-anything fan, I like Windows," said Matt Shanahan, a software developer who drove four hours to the tiny Michigan Avenue pop-up store in Chicago from Grand Rapids, Michigan to buy a Surface. "My friend and I are software developers and this gives us an opportunity to develop new apps," he said.

In a pop-up store at the San Francisco Centre mall about 50 people lined up to buy the new Surface.

"On an iPad you have to use half the screen for a keyboard, or buy an accessory. I love that the Surface is so integrated, that you can type and use Word and all my other programs," said Malte von Sehested, a textbook creator who bought a Surface.

"With the Surface you get a steeper learning curve -- I had to get someone to show me how to side-swipe, swipe out to get the menus for instance," he said. "It may take a week, before it all becomes natural. That could be a problem for Microsoft. My old dad, he would get hit by that steeper learning curve."

ANALYSTS PATIENT

Wall Street and tech industry experts failed to show great enthusiasm for Windows 8, but were prepared to give Microsoft time to succeed.

"Microsoft did not come out with Windows 8 thinking it will be an overnight success," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "But there's hope that this could be the silver bullet of growth (for Microsoft) as well as giving the PC industry some optimism that there's better days ahead."

The next six to 12 months is a "crucial period" for Microsoft to get traction with consumers, added Ives.

Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester, said consumers may be best served waiting for tablets running the full Windows 8 Pro and Intel Corp chips, which are due out early next year.

"Windows 8 has a lot of great features, but RT has a long way to go," she said, citing a lack of apps and poor video performance on the Surface.

"It's not really a PC. RT is too restricted. Some people will be happier with the full Windows 8," she said.

Microsoft shares were up 33 cents at $28.21 on Nasdaq on Friday. Apple shares were down slightly after disappointing earnings on Thursday.

(Reporting By Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago, Sinead Carew and Nicola Leske in New York, Edwin Chan in San Francisco; Editing by Alden Bentley)


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Star Silicon Valley analyst felled by Facebook IPO fallout

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The firing of Citigroup stock analyst Mark Mahaney on Friday in the regulatory fallout from Facebook Inc's initial public offering was greeted with shock and dismay in Silicon Valley, where Mahaney was a well-known and well-liked figure.

"Pretty shocked," was the reaction of Jacob Funds Chief Executive Ryan Jacob, who described Mahaney as one of the most respected financial analysts covering the Internet industry.

"I'd put him at the top. If not at the top, then near the top," said Jacob. "He really knew what to look for."

In addition to firing Mahaney, Citigroup paid a $2 million fine to Massachusetts regulators to settle charges that the bank improperly disclosed research on Facebook ahead of its $16 billion IPO in May.

The settlement agreement said Mahaney failed to supervise a junior analyst who improperly shared Facebook research with the TechCrunch news website. (Settlement agreement: http://r.reuters.com/pyj63t)

The settlement agreement also outlined an incident in which Mahaney failed to get approval before responding to a journalist's questions about Google Inc -- and told a Citigroup compliance staffer that the conversation had not occurred -- even after being warned about unauthorized conversations with the media.

Mahaney declined to comment.

Mahaney got his start in the late 1990s, during the first dot-com boom where he worked at Morgan Stanley for Mary Meeker, one of the star analysts of the time. He went on to work at hedge fund Galleon Group before moving to Citigroup in 2005. Unlike most of his New York-based peers in the analyst world, Mahaney worked in San Francisco's financial district, close to the companies and personalities at the heart of the tech industry.

Earlier this month, Mahaney was named the top Internet analyst for the fifth straight year by Institutional Investor. The review cited fans of Mahaney who praised a "systematic" investment approach that allows him to avoid the "waffling" often evidenced by other analysts.

Mahaney's Buy rating on IAC/InteractiveCorp in April 2011, when the stock traded at $33.32, allowed investors to lock in a 51 percent gain before he downgraded the stock to a Hold at $50.31 a few months later, according to Institutional Investor.

But it wasn't only his stock picks that put him in good stead. He earned kudos for simply being a nice guy.

"He's a kind and thoughtful person and that's evident in the way he deals with people," said Jason Jones of Internet investment firm HighStep Capital. "He's very well liked on Wall Street because of that."

A CAUTIOUS VIEW ON FACEBOOK

Mahaney was only indirectly involved in the incident involving the Facebook research, according to the settlement agreement by Massachusetts regulators released on Friday. But the actions of the junior analyst who worked for him provide an unusual glimpse into the type of behind-the-scenes information trading that regulators are attempting to rein in.

While the Massachusetts regulators did not identify any of the individuals by name, Reuters has learned that the incident involved TechCrunch reporters Josh Constine and Kim-Mai Cutler as well as Citi junior analyst Eric Jacobs.

Jacobs, Constine and Cutler all did not respond to requests for comments.

In early May, shortly before Facebook's IPO, Jacobs sent an email to Cutler and Constine. Constine attended Stanford University at the same time as Jacobs.

Constine, who studied social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for his 2009 Master's degree in cybersociology at Stanford, had a close friendship with Jacobs, according to the settlement agreement.

"I am ramping up coverage on FB and thought you guys might like to see how the street is thinking about it (and our estimates)," Jacobs wrote in the email. The email included an "outline" that Jacobs said would eventually become the firm's 30-40 page initiation report on Facebook.

He also included a "Facebook One Pager" document, which contained confidential, non-public information that Citigroup obtained in order to help begin covering Facebook after the IPO.

Asked by Constine if the information could be published and attributed to an anonymous source, Jacobs responded that "my boss would eat me alive," the agreement said.

A spokeswoman for AOL Inc, which owns TechCrunch, declined to answer questions on the matter, saying only that "We are looking into the matter and have no comment at this time."

Ironically, Mahaney was one of a small group of analysts at the many banks underwriting Facebook's IPO who had cautious views of the richly valued offering. Mahaney initiated coverage of the company with a neutral rating.

Analysts at the top three underwriters on Facebook's IPO - Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan - started the stock with overweight or buy recommendations.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Facebook had pre-briefed analysts for its underwriters ahead of its IPO, advising them to reduce their profit and revenue forecasts.

Facebook, whose stock was priced at $38 a share in the IPO, closed Friday's regular session at $21.94 and has traded as low as $17.55.

"There were tens of billions of dollars in losses based on hyping the name, a lack of skeptical information and misunderstanding the company," said Max Wolff, chief economist and senior analyst at research firm GreenCrest Capital.

"It's highly unfortunate and darkly ironic that one of the signature regulatory actions from this IPO so far involves punishing analysts for disseminating cautious information about Facebook," he added.

(Editing by Jonathan Weber, Mary Milliken and Lisa Shumaker)


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Tech CEOs trade barbs, warm up for holiday tablet wars

Written By Bersemangat on Sabtu, 27 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The biggest names in consumer technology, stung by a string of disappointing quarterly results this month, are suiting up for what's shaping to be the fiercest holiday battle in years.

Investors and consumers have already largely written off flaccid quarterly numbers from tech behemoths like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon. What counts is the next 60 days, when the biggest names in technology do battle at a near-unprecedented scale and pace.

Just on Thursday, Amazon compared its Kindle Fire with Apple's new iPad mini, point by point, in its earnings release, an unusual forum to name rivals. Apple CEO Tim Cook compared Microsoft's Surface tablet to an over-engineered car that can fly and float. And Microsoft went for the iPad, saying its Surface boasted twice its storage.

All three tablets will vie for the shrinking consumer dollar these holidays. By tech standards, it's getting ugly.

"The tablet space is where the growth is. That's why they are all fighting over it. PC shipments are down and some tablet buyers may never buy another PC," said Michael Allenson, strategic consulting director in the Technology and Telecom Research Group at Maritz Research.

"Last holiday season, we saw a lot of buying of tablets in the $200 to $300 price range. This year, the iPad mini and Amazon's Kindle Fires are targeted as large gifts. They are trying to ride that wave and win as much as they can."

The impending clash is far from decided.

Odds-on favorite Apple has lost some of its aura of invincibility, with Google's Android and Samsung making inroads into its reign in smartphones, Microsoft's quickening marketing blitz, and Amazon's Kindle nipping at its heels as the No. 2 tablet in the United States market.

That competition has weighed on Apple's share price, which is at three-month lows after it reported a second straight quarter of disappointing results, sullying its reputation for blowing away Wall Street estimates.

Google is struggling to figure out the dollars and cents of the mobile market and Microsoft is facing witheringly unimpressed reviews for its new Windows 8 platform and Surface tablet.

Meanwhile, Amazon's outlook for the holiday season is being taken as a disappointment, and Best Buy warned late Wednesday that sales and margins are falling.

CLAWS COME OUT

Tech companies hope lackluster calendar third-quarter results mean consumers have held off from buying gadgets so they can save up for something new and shiny this Christmas -- from the lowest-end Fire at $159 to a Surface around $499 or the biggest, fastest, newest iPad at $829.

The technology industry is grappling with a fundamental shift from deskbound computers or heavy laptops to sleek mobile devices like tablets, which are upending the traditional PC model and prompting companies like Google and Microsoft to invest deeply in hardware manufacturing.

Their entry however is raising the competitive stakes. Companies like Apple usually spend most of their time talking about how great their own products are, but with the competition more intense than ever, Apple CEO Cook spared a not-so-kind thought for Microsoft on Thursday.

"I haven't personally played with the Surface yet, but what we're reading about it, is that it's a fairly compromised, confusing product," he said, later adding "I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do all of those things very well."

Cook may have been going for levity, but the Twitterati booed his joke, since after all most gadget-heads would be very content with a flying, floating car.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, for his part, was pretty impressed with the company's handiwork, notwithstanding reviews that used words like "disappointing" and "undercooked."

"We have a device that's uniquely good at being a tablet and a PC (with) no compromise on either one," Ballmer told Reuters Television ahead of the Windows 8 launch event in New York on Thursday. "Work. Play. Tablet. PC. Boom! One product."

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, in a talk this month, took a shot at Apple, which has faced a barrage of complaints about glitches in its mapping software since dumping Google's service from its iPhone.

"What Apple has learned is that maps are really hard. They really are hard," he said. "Apple should have kept with our maps."

Not to be outdone in the sniping, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos took a subtle swipe at Apple's high prices in the Internet retailer's quarterly results statement Thursday, saying "our approach is to work hard to charge less."

Right below those comments, Amazon listed head-to-head comparisons between its $299 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet, its $199 7-inch Kindle Fire HD device and Apple's iPad mini, which was unveiled on Tuesday.

Analysts were taken aback by how brazen Amazon was being in taking shots at peers.

"I have never seen them directly compare products in a results release like this, and in so much detail clearly calling out their competitors," said RJ Hottovy, an equity analyst at Morningstar. "This shows they are taking the tablet wars very seriously."

(Additional reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; editing by Edwin Chan and Raju Gopalakrishnan)


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Surface tablet buzz starts, but Windows 8 excitement muted

SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers woke up with mild Surface fever on Friday, lining up in moderate numbers to buy Microsoft's groundbreaking tablet computer designed to challenge Apple's iPad.

The global debut of the Windows 8 operating system was greeted with pockets of enthusiasm, but not the mania reserved for some previous Apple Inc launches.

Microsoft is positioning the slick new computing device, which runs a limited version of Windows and Office with a thin, click-on keyboard cover, as a perfect combination of PC and tablet that is good for work as well as entertainment.

"I like the flexibility of having the keyboard and the touch capability," said Mike Gipe, 50, who works in sales for bank Barclays, and was planning to buy a Surface tablet at Microsoft's pop-up store in Times Square in New York.

"It's the combination of having the consumer stuff and the work stuff," he said, looking forward to using Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations on the new device.

The Times Square store was the first to sell the Surface -- Microsoft's first ever own-brand computer -- and other Windows 8 devices late on Thursday and will be open through the holiday shopping season. On Friday morning it was crowded with a mix of tourists and local office workers, but the cash tills were not jammed.

"With the other tablets you're a consumer. With this you can have input," said Peter Townsend, on vacation in New York from Australia with his wife, who bought a Surface tablet because he liked the keyboard.

Mark Pauluch, 28, who works for a New York private equity firm, said he would like a Surface because he does not want to take a laptop on a plane, but was disappointed when the sales representative told him the wifi-only Surface would not work with Cisco VPN networking.

"I can't use this to replace my work laptop unless it supports VPN," he said.

MIDWEST, WEST COAST

Elsewhere in the United States, there was solid but not overwhelming interest for the Surface.

"It's a good tablet. I am not a huge i-anything fan, I like Windows," said Matt Shanahan, a software developer who drove four hours to the tiny Michigan Avenue pop-up store in Chicago from Grand Rapids, Michigan to buy a Surface. "My friend and I are software developers and this gives us an opportunity to develop new apps," he said.

In a pop-up store at the San Francisco Centre mall about 50 people lined up to buy the new Surface.

"On an iPad you have to use half the screen for a keyboard, or buy an accessory. I love that the Surface is so integrated, that you can type and use Word and all my other programs," said Malte von Sehested, a textbook creator who bought a Surface.

"With the Surface you get a steeper learning curve -- I had to get someone to show me how to side-swipe, swipe out to get the menus for instance," he said. "It may take a week, before it all becomes natural. That could be a problem for Microsoft. My old dad, he would get hit by that steeper learning curve."

ANALYSTS PATIENT

Wall Street and tech industry experts failed to show great enthusiasm for Windows 8, but were prepared to give Microsoft time to succeed.

"Microsoft did not come out with Windows 8 thinking it will be an overnight success," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "But there's hope that this could be the silver bullet of growth (for Microsoft) as well as giving the PC industry some optimism that there's better days ahead."

The next six to 12 months is a "crucial period" for Microsoft to get traction with consumers, added Ives.

Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester, said consumers may be best served waiting for tablets running the full Windows 8 Pro and Intel Corp chips, which are due out early next year.

"Windows 8 has a lot of great features, but RT has a long way to go," she said, citing a lack of apps and poor video performance on the Surface.

"It's not really a PC. RT is too restricted. Some people will be happier with the full Windows 8," she said.

Microsoft shares were up 33 cents at $28.21 on Nasdaq on Friday. Apple shares were down slightly after disappointing earnings on Thursday.

(Reporting By Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago, Sinead Carew and Nicola Leske in New York, Edwin Chan in San Francisco; Editing by Alden Bentley)


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Apple iPad sales disappoint, Street eyes the holidays

Written By Bersemangat on Jumat, 26 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc delivered a second straight quarter of disappointing results and iPad sales fell well short of Wall Street's targets, marring its record of consistently blowing past investors' expectations.

Shares in the world's most valuable technology company briefly dipped to levels not seen since the start of August, after it delivered a 27 percent rise in revenue for its fourth quarter while earnings rose 24 percent.

The numbers, while in line with expectations, lacked the positive surprises that investors had grown used to and came after Apple undershot revenue targets in the previous quarter. Its shares bounced back, however, after CEO Tim Cook told analysts on a conference call that the latest iPhone 5 was heavily backlogged but the company had mostly worked out kinks in its iPhone supply chain.

Apple shipped 26.9 million iPhones in the last quarter, somewhat higher than the 25 million to 26 million that Wall Street analysts had predicted. But sales of the iPad came in at 14 million, well below lowered forecasts for the tablet as the economy remained weak and consumers awaited the iPad mini, which will hit store shelves next month.

Analysts say the real test for the company will come during the crucial holiday shopping season, when competition will reach fever-pitch with Apple, Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc and Microsoft Corp all fielding new gadgets.

"Going into earnings we were wondering if the slowing economy will catch up with Wall Street and it has," said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund.

"Apple is very well-positioned with the iPad and now the iPad mini. It has a great smartphone and we expect the iPhone 5 to sell very well. The outlook is conservative but that's not surprising. Err on the side of caution is a proven formula."

Just hours after Apple's results, its main smartphone rival Samsung Electronics Co reported a near doubling in quarterly earnings, and while it did not detail smartphone shipments, they are estimated to have surged to 58 million.

Apple heads into the current quarter after refreshing almost all of its product lines, including introducing an upgraded, fourth-generation full-sized iPad. The December quarter will show how well consumers respond to Apple's latest gamble - the iPad mini that will go on sale on November 2.

CAR THAT FLIES AND FLOATS

For the December quarter, Apple forecast revenue of $52 billion, below the average estimate of $55 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It is expecting margins to come in at 36 percent, far lower than analysts' expected 43 percent.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer mostly attributed the lower margin and conservative guidance to a combination of a stronger dollar, higher costs associated with new products, and the fact that Apple's next fiscal quarter has one less week than the same period a year ago.

Apple's stock was holding steady at $609.40 in extended trade after flirting with the $600 level. The shares had ended regular trade at $609.54.

Supply constraints holding up sales of the iPad and iPhone dominated discussions between analysts and Apple executives during the post-results conference call. Apple had struggled to deliver large quantities of the iPhone 5 since its launch in late September, with the waitlist for the device at one point stretching to three weeks in some regions.

"Our supply output is significantly higher than it was earlier in October," Cook said, referring to the iPhone 5. "And I'm confident that we'll be able to supply quite a few during the quarter."

Cook also opined on Microsoft's new Windows 8-based Surface tablet that will hit stores in the wee hours of Friday.

"I haven't personally played with the Surface yet, but what we're reading about it, is that it's a fairly compromised, confusing product," he said. "I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do all of those things very well."

Despite the lackluster fourth quarter, Apple put up big numbers for the year. It ended its fiscal 2012 with a 45 percent increase in revenue to $156.5 billion, while net income was up 61 percent at $41.7 billion.

For the final fiscal quarter, it posted net income of $8.2 billion or $8.67 a diluted share in the fiscal fourth quarter on revenue of $35.96 billion, versus $6.6 billion or $7.05 a share a year earlier. Analysts had expected on average that Apple would earn $8.75 per share.

Apple ended the quarter with $121.3 billion in cash and securities, of which $83 billion was offshore.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang and Edmund Klamann)


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Samsung says to book patent provisions after U.S. ruling

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will book patent-related provisions once a U.S. court makes a ruling on its over $1 billion litigation with Apple Inc, it said on Friday.

"The amount of provisioning will be fixed according to U.S. court ruling, and the costs will be set aside this quarter only if there's a ruling within the current quarter," Robert Yi, head of Samsung investor relations, told analysts.

A U.S. federal jury said in late August that Samsung had copied key features of Apple's iPhone, and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

Apple has since asked for additional damages of $707 million, and the California court is set to rule on the case in early December.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)


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Tech focus now on Microsoft Windows 8, Surface tablet

Written By Bersemangat on Kamis, 25 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Firm sales numbers for Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 and its new Surface tablet will not be available for three months, but it may be clear long before then if it has a hit on its hands.

"We can definitely gauge it by chatter," said Emily Chan, an analyst at Bernstein Research. "There is a slight learning curve, so I don't think we will see that big pop that iPad saw."

Microsoft is desperate for the new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 to grip customers' imaginations, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.

Perhaps more important is its new own-brand tablet called the Surface, available only through its own stores and website, which will challenge Apple's iPad head on.

"I'd want to know the sales - and return rate - of the Surface," said Sarah Rotman Epps at tech research firm Forrester. "But those numbers will be hard to get since Microsoft is the only retailer."

Early reviews of the Surface have been mixed, generally praising the slick hardware, but faulting battery life and the limited software and applications available.

Some worry that the first Surface model, which runs on a stripped-down version of Windows 8 called RT that is not compatible with old Windows programs, will cause some confusion and dissatisfaction among customers.

The three models for sale on Microsoft's U.S. website are already on back order, suggesting strong demand, but it is not known how many Surfaces Microsoft has manufactured.

"The fact it's back ordered is indicative that there's consumer interest," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. "How Microsoft introduces it, evangelizes it and explains it will determine long term success."

BALLMER NOISE

Microsoft has not said if it will reveal sales figures for Windows 8 or of the Surface before its next scheduled earnings on January 24. The company tends to trumpet good news and stay silent otherwise.

After the launch of Windows 7 three years ago, CEO Steve Ballmer waited only a month to announce strong sales. A year later, he waited only 10 days to report record-breaking sales of the Kinect, the motion-sensing add-on for the Xbox. But Microsoft has never shared the sales of Windows-powered phones, which have a lowly 3 percent of the market.

If Ballmer stays silent about Windows 8 sales, it might indicate a less than stellar performance.

"I would definitely take it a sign that it's not super, super strong, but I won't take it as something negative," said Chan at Bernstein, who is expecting 8.3 million Surface sales by the middle of next year.

That averages out at about 1 million a month, a third the rate of the iPad, which notched up its first million sales in 28 days and has now sold more than 100 million units, averaging about 3.2 million a month.

Gartner forecasts that Surface and other tablets running Windows RT will sell about 2.3 million units this year and 9.3 million next year, grabbing about 2 percent and 5 percent of the worldwide tablet market, respectively.

DOOR-BUSTERS

Retail activity will be closely watched. Microsoft will have more than 60 brick and mortar stores open for the release of Windows 8 on Friday, half of them 'pop-up' stores that will stay open for the holiday shopping season.

Third-party retailers are cautiously optimistic.

"We have seen pretty good response to our pre-orders for Windows 8," said Best Buy Co Inc spokesman Jeff Haydock. "Quite honestly, I don't know what to expect from Friday. I don't know if there will be lines or not. My sense is it will take some time for people to kind of come into the stores and check it out."

Best Buy may give some color on how PC sales are going when it reports earnings on November 20.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the No. 1 U.S. retailer, said U.S. pre-orders for Windows 8 PCs "have been better than expected."

Online retailers Amazon.com Inc, Newegg Inc and TigerDirect Inc have been silent on Windows 8 pre-orders.

The full impact of PC sales on retailers will not be evident until chains report same-store sales for November.

QUICK REACTION

One early indicator of Windows 8's success will be the contents of the online Windows Store. Microsoft has had a harder time drumming up interest among developers for Windows 8, given the risk that there will be fewer users than competing platforms.

Microsoft will not disclose numbers, but there are expected to be 5,000 or so third-party apps available to U.S. users, in comparison with the iPad's 275,000. Some big names such as Facebook Inc will be missing.

In social media, the tenor of comments on the Twitter hashtags #Windows8 and #Surface will give an indication of their reception after Ballmer unveils them both on Thursday.

Many users likely will be shocked by the new design, which dispenses with the Start button and features square tiles for apps.

"Public reaction to the new UI will depend how well Microsoft explains why 'different' is better and teaches how the new experience works," said Gartenberg. "That all starts on Thursday."

BY THE NUMBERS

The ultimate test for Windows 8 will be PC sales.

Industry trackers are expecting a bump for PC sales in the last two months of the year, but not enough to rescue the whole year, which is forecast to dip for the first time since 2001.

Some analysts had expected an uptick in production of laptops ahead of the Windows 8 launch, but PC makers facing an uncertain global economy have been wary about committing.

Chip maker Intel Corp, which is a good gauge of future PC demand due to its position early in the production process, expects the PC business to grow at only half the normal seasonal rate in the fourth quarter.

Chief Executive Paul Otellini recently told analysts he expects to have a better understanding of the success of Windows 8 in 90 days.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at retail research firm NPD Group, is expecting a 10 percent jump in PC sales for November and December over last year, but said comparisons will be difficult given a profusion of new devices and the volatility of year-ago data.

Fourth-quarter PC shipment numbers from research firms Gartner and IDC will not be published until early January, although analysts say PC makers might start to drop hints about demand before then.

"There will likely be many milestones, but very few will ultimately be decisive. The key point is will PC sales continue to shrink or will they experience a boost," said Al Hilwa at research firm IDC. "We can probably begin to properly judge that with some ambiguity in January."

(Additional reporting By Dhanya Skariachan in New York, Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Noel Randewich in San Francisco. Editing by Andre Grenon)


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Apple's Mac flies in under the radar

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amid the fanfare accompanying the noisy launch of the iPad mini this week, Apple Inc also took the wraps off new Mac computers.

The facelift may help revitalize an important lineup that -- while seeing growth tail off in the early part of 2012 -- yields 14 percent of revenue and still racks up sales growth numbers that are the envy of a flagging PC world.

On Tuesday, Apple took the lid off a slimmed-down iMac and a 13-inch laptop with a vastly improved screen, setting the stage for a potential revival in sales even as Hewlett-Packard and Dell Inc struggle just to stay level.

Earlier this year, Apple had also launched an updated MacBook Air - a product analysts say spawned over 20 touch-enabled designs from rivals called "Ultrabooks," which run Microsoft Corp's upcoming Windows 8 software.

Apple remains No. 3 in U.S. market share behind HP and Dell. But the Mac's premium pricing, at $1,000 and above, and its subsequent outsized margins mean a spike in revenue growth can give its bottom line a significant boost.

"The pricing and feature set of the refreshed iMac present an attractive combination, and I would not be surprised to see the new iMac stimulate desktop sales in the December quarter and beyond," Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes said.

The decades-old Macintosh line that helped set a stumbling computer company back on its feet -- today overshadowed in both revenue and media appeal by the popular iPhone and iPad -- saw growth drop to single-digit percentages in the first two quarters of 2012 for the first time since 2009.

Yet sales outgrew the PC market, overall, by more than seven times over the 12 months to June, according to CEO Tim Cook, and has outpaced PC growth over the last six years.

Apple reports fiscal fourth quarter results on Thursday. The company will likely have sold 5.1 million Macs in the October quarter, up just 5 percent, Piper Jaffray & Co analyst Gene Munster estimates.

HALO EFFECT

On Tuesday, Apple Marketing Chief Phil Schiller called the Mac "what began it all," and he claimed the Mac was America's No. 1 laptop and desktop among individual models. Research houses Gartner and IDC figures place Apple third in the United States with a market share of about 13 percent.

Regardless where it places, at prices starting at $1,000 for its MacBook Air and going all the way close to $4,000 and growth -- while well off the 30-percent range of 2010 -- still defying the market, the Mac has proven a consistent money-spinner for the company even during troubled times for the traditional PC.

Intel Corp, HP and other stalwarts of the PC industry are now fighting to sustain growth as tablet computers eat into their PC-related businesses.

While the Mac line has not completely side-stepped PC market trends, it has held up better partly because it is targeted at a higher-spending clientele that values its consistency, vis-a-vis the often fragmented PC, where multiple vendors supply different components that don't always work seamlessly.

But it also owes its success in large part to a so-called halo effect stemming from consumers' experiences with the iPhone and iPad, said Loren Loverde, analyst with research firm IDC.

"They are on the positive end of halo effect both in terms of traffic and brand image," Loverde said, adding that Apple also has yet to fully realize the international growth opportunities for Mac, and expects the new products to see good demand during the holiday quarter.

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh in 1984, and it became the first successful computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface -- a model that has stayed intact through the succeeding decades. The desktop Mac itself stuck to that interface but has radically shifted in design over the years, to today's slim, all-in-one form.

Analysts say the redesigned Macs may give Apple's December quarter an extra lift, but the quarter will hinge mostly on how many consumers bought iPads and iPhones, which combined accounts for 72 percent of the company's revenue.

Cook and other executives are likely to be questioned on the smartphone's supply issues and the ramp-up of the new "iPad mini," available in stores on November 2.

"The bigger question is likely the company's ability to ramp supply to meet the strong demand," Baird Equity Research analyst William Power said. Recent investor concerns regarding Apple have included "perceived slowing iPhone innovation, the lack of a strong developing market strategy for iPhone and current iPhone supply constraints."

Apple's stock has reflected some of those concerns. While the stock is up 52 percent this year, it is down 12 percent from its record high of $705 on September 21. Despite the pullback, Apple is trading at 11.6 times next year's estimated earnings, same as the S&P 500 and far lower than some rivals like Amazon.com Inc, which trades at 100 times estimated 2013 earnings.

Investors will focus initially on the headline shipment numbers during the fiscal third quarter on Thursday. It is estimated to have sold between 24 million and 26 million iPhones in the July-September period.

And Apple said on Tuesday that it sold its 100 millionth iPad two weeks ago, which means that the company sold under 16 million last quarter. This is below the 17 million to 18 million some analysts had forecast.

Longer term, Apple could also face margin pressure as smartphones pass the 50 penetration rate in major developed markets, said BGC analyst Colin Gillis.

"The next stage of smart phone growth could be more focused on mid-to-lower priced offerings," Gillis said. "Apple may find it difficult to maintain margin while growing massive scale, particularly as the overall market for smartphones slows."

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)


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Apple unwraps mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google

Written By Bersemangat on Rabu, 24 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Apple Inc will begin to sell an 8-inch version of the iPad on Friday to compete with Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and other smaller tablets, but it set a higher-than-expected price tag of $329 that Wall Street fears could curb demand.

The 7.9 inch "iPad mini" marks the iPhone-maker's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment. Apple hopes to beat back incursions onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in a larger tablet space - one that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and marketing chief Phil Schiller took the wraps off the new tablet, which essentially has most of the functions and features of the full-size iPad but in a smaller package.

Priced at $329 for a wi-fi only model, the iPad mini is a little costlier than some predicted, but some analysts see that as a bid to retain premium pricing levels. Others fear the gadget will lure buyers away from Apple's $499 flagship 10-inch iPad, while proving ineffective in combating the threat of Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7, both of which are sold at or near cost.

"Apple has always been a premium hardware manufacturer. It's basically a hardware company and they don't have Google advertising or Amazon's online store to fall back on," said Destination Wealth Management CEO Michael Yoshikami.

"But people are happy to pay a premium because it's quality hardware, and the ecosystem (of content and apps) cannot be underestimated."

JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna said, however, "It's coming in the range that most were grumbling about and that, quite frankly, we're a little bit concerned about."

"It's a little confusing at this juncture to try and figure out how it fits into the line-up. Is it going to cannibalize the more expensive iPad?" he said.

"It is worth noting that there are zero-margin products out there competing with them now ... and that is presenting some challenges to Apple."

Frank Gillett, an analyst with Forrester who attended the event, said he was impressed with the lightness of the iPad mini, which he got a chance to play with following the event.

"Apple went for the high end of what people have been thinking of," Gillett said, adding that Amazon and Google may have to adjust their product lineups to compete with the iPad mini.

The focus on growing competition was evident as Schiller - at the iPad mini's launch event, held in San Jose's California Theatre - compared the iPad mini with Google's popular 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet, citing feature by feature why the new Apple device was superior. It is unusual for Apple to single out a specific competitor in its product launches.

"Theirs is made of plastic," Schiller said, referring to the Android tablet. "The entire Android product is thicker and heavier."

Schiller later defended Apple's pricing of the iPad mini, telling reporters he expects consumers to recognize quality and be willing to pay for it.

FASTER AND SLIMMER

In a surprise move, Apple also announced a fourth-generation full-sized iPad just six months after unveiling a third generation device to much fanfare. The latest tablet, which again sells for $499, is faster and slimmer and comes just days before Microsoft is due to show off its own "Surface" tablet.

Apple also unveiled thinner MacBook Pro laptops, including a 13-inch Retina display.

SIGHTS ON AMAZON

The iPad was launched in 2010 by late Apple visionary Steve Jobs and since then it has taken a big chunk out of PC sales, upending the industry and reinventing mobile computing with its apps-based model, often called an ecosystem.

A smaller tablet is the first device to be added to Apple's compact portfolio under Cook, who took over from Jobs just before his death a year ago.

"It's very cool," Cook said of the iPad mini. "We told you earlier this year you would see some incredible innovation from Apple across the year. We think we kept our promise."

In a rarity for a company that tightly controls events, Apple live-streamed its invitation-only presentation to Apple devices such as the iPad and Macintosh computers.

The Kindle and Nexus 7 have grabbed a chunk of the lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists. Those companies' tablets - the most successful other than Apple's - have forced Apple into a space it has avoided and at times derided, analysts say.

Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire released last year for $199 was one of the hottest-selling holiday gadgets. It pressured Amazon's margins but potentially garnered millions of new high-spending customers for the online retailer.

Amazon sold more than a million Kindles a week during December, paving the way for Google to try out a similarly sized small tablet.

Amazon has now launched its second-generation Kindle Fire HD, which it says is the "best-selling product across all of Amazon worldwide," based on undisclosed U.S. sales figures and international preorders.

Google's Nexus 7 tablet, built by Asian manufacturer Asustek, won top marks from reviewers and quickly ran out of stock after its July launch.

All three companies will be vying to get their devices on shopping lists during the U.S. holiday season, which traditionally starts next month.

Surveys conducted ahead of Tuesday's news suggested some consumers had hoped for a more affordable Apple mini tablet.

The "starting sweet spot" for the tablet would be in the $249-$299 range, according to a survey of more than a thousand consumers by Baird Equity Research.

PRICE IS KEY

Jobs famously derided the 7-inch screen, saying such a device should come with sandpaper so users can file down their fingers. But an internal email revealed during a patent trial showed he turned more favorable to the idea by early 2011.

Apple has sold 100 million iPads so far, with the device accounting for 26 percent of Apple's fiscal third-quarter revenue.

But analysts are concerned now about erosion of Apple's industry leading margins as it takes on the Kindle Fire. It earned gross margins of 23 percent to 32 percent on U.S. iPad sales between October 2010 and the end of March 2012, according to a July court filing by Apple.

Amazon's first Kindle Fire just about breaks even after manufacturing costs, according to IHS iSuppli estimates, and Google has said its Nexus 7 is being sold at cost.

"The pricing may limit sales. From a profitability perspective though, I think at $330 Apple is still getting adequate gross margins on the sales," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello. "But at that price point it may limit adoption and unit volumes."

Apple's shares ended regular trading down 3.2 percent at $613.36, after gaining 4 percent on Monday in the run-up to the event.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Barr and Alexei Oreskovic, Editing by Edwin Chan, Richard Pullin, Andrew Hay and Steve Orlofsky)


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Facebook's mobile surprise allays growth fears

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc grew mobile advertising revenue several times in the third quarter, a faster-than-expected pace that helped drive shares in the world's No. 1 social network nearly 13 percent higher.

Facebook said on Tuesday that it now gets 14 percent of its advertising revenue from mobile ads, helping to reassure investors that the social network is beginning to figure out how to earn money off smartphone and tablet users.

Mobile ad revenues totaled roughly $150 million, up from an estimated $40 million to $50 million in the second quarter and almost nothing in the first.

"This certainly dispels the most bearish view, that Facebook couldn't monetize people on phones or tablets," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert Baird & Co.

"In about a six-month period they've actually started to generate decent revenues form their mobile applications," Sebastian added, though he said Facebook still needs to show that its mobile ads can command the same rates as its traditional ads and that they can deliver results for marketers.

Mobile advertising has been among the key investor concerns hanging over Facebook, helping slash more than $40 billion off its market value since its May IPO. As its users increasingly access the social network with their smartphones, Facebook has struggled to transition its business to mobile devices.

The mobile ads helped reignite Facebook's overall advertising business during the third quarter, following several consecutive quarters of slowing revenue growth that raised questions about Facebook's long-term prospects.

Advertising revenue increased 36 percent to $1.09 billion, up from 28 percent growth in the second quarter. But revenue from its payments and other businesses increased just 13 percent to $176 million.

Mark Zuckerberg, the 28-year-old chief executive who created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, said mobile was the "most misunderstood aspect" of the company and took issue with the "myth" that Facebook could not earn money on mobile.

"Over the long run we're going to see more monetization per time spent on mobile than on desktop," Zuckerberg said on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

The company's shares leapt nearly 13 percent to $21.97 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Facebook said it had crossed the 1 billion threshold for monthly active users by September 30, of which 604 million were mobile users, a gain of 61 percent from a year earlier.

The shift to mobile has challenged many of the Web industry's top companies. Google Inc is the No.1 provider of smartphone software with its Android operating system. But the company missed Wall Street's revenue targets in the third quarter, with some analysts blaming the shortfall on its increasing reliance on lower-priced mobile ads.

Social game maker Zynga Inc, which announced layoffs of 5 percent of its staff on Tuesday, has suffered as it struggles to translate its hit games to mobile devices and as the use of its games on Facebook's service declines.

NOT PLEASED WITH GAMING

Zynga's woes were visible in Facebook's results, with Facebook's payments revenue from the maker of Farmville down 20 percent year on year.

Zuckerberg said he was not pleased with revenue from gaming, but said that beyond Zynga - which accounts for 7 percent of Facebook's total revenue - the situation was brighter.

"The interesting thing is that the rest of the games ecosystem has actually been growing. Our monthly payments revenue from the rest of the ecosystem increased 40 percent over the past year, since payments has been adopted," he said.

Zuckerberg also said Instagram, the photo-sharing app that Facebook acquired for roughly $750 million this year, now has 100 million users, up from 27 million when Facebook bought the company.

Facebook posted a net loss of $59 million or 2 cents a share in the three months ended September 30 after booking a big provision for income taxes. Excluding share-based compensation and income tax adjustments, it earned 12 cents a share, a penny higher than the average analyst expectation.

Facebook Finance Chief David Ebersman said the company would continue to invest aggressively during the fourth quarter, though the company did not provide a specific financial outlook, in keeping with its previous practice.

Ebersman said that the total number of ads that Facebook delivered in the third quarter increased 27 percent year-on-year and that the average price per ad increased 7 percent.

Facebook's third-quarter mobile revenue marked a big jump from the second quarter, when Facebook said that it was generating more than $1 million a day from a new class of ads that appear in users' newsfeeds. Facebook said that roughly half of that revenue was from mobile ads, suggesting that mobile advertising revenue totaled $45 million in the second quarter.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said that Facebook's mobile ad revenue was impressive, but said that Facebook needs to proceed carefully so as not to damage the user experience by overloading its service with too many ads.

And he said that Facebook's desktop PC advertising business appeared to have shrunk by about $40 million from the second quarter. Rohan said he would rather see the desktop ad business remain stable as the mobile ad business grows.

Facebook's third-quarter revenue of $1.26 billion was a hair above the average analyst expectation of $1.23 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Mark Bendeich)


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Apple set to unwrap mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google

Written By Bersemangat on Selasa, 23 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc is expected to make its biggest product move on Tuesday since debuting the iPad two years ago, launching a smaller, cheaper tablet into a market staked out by Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc.

Apple hopes to beat back their charge onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in the larger 10-inch tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate.

Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus 7 have grabbed a chunk of the lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists, helping force Apple into a space it has avoided and at times derided, analysts say.

A smaller tablet would mark the first device to be added to Apple's compact portfolio under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs just before his death.

"Apple sensed early that they had a real winner with the iPad and that has proven to be correct," said Lars Albright, co-founder of mobile advertising startup SessionM and a former Apple ad executive.

"They have a large market share, and to protect that market share they have got to be innovative," he said.

Apple's invitation-only event, where it is expected to unveil the tablet, gets underway at 10 am PT (1700 GMT) in San Jose.

Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple was planning a less expensive version of the iPad to take on cheaper competing devices, a move they say might hurt its margins, but prevent its rivals from dominating an increasingly important segment.

The chief rival is Amazon, which proved a 7-inch tablet at around $200 has consumer appeal. The Kindle Fire, released last year for $199, was one of the hottest-selling holiday gadgets. It pressured Amazon's margins but gave it potentially millions of new high-spending customers.

Amazon sold more than a million Kindles a week during December, paving the way for others like Google with its Nexus 7 to try and beat Apple in a market the company created.

The Internet retailer has now put its second-generation Kindle Fire HD in the market, which it says is the "best-selling product across all of Amazon worldwide", based on undisclosed U.S. sales figures and international preorders.

Google's Nexus 7 tablet, built by Asian manufacturer Asustek, quickly ran out of stock after its July launch.

All three companies will be vying to get their devices on shopping lists during the U.S. holiday season, which traditionally starts next month.

"It's going to be the go-to holiday gift," said Michael Yoshikami, founder of Destination Wealth Management, which owns Apple shares.

PRICE IS KEY

Apple now has just one 9.7-inch iPad, starting at $499. The previous version, or iPad 2, is available for $399.

Jobs famously derided the 7-inch screen, saying such a device should come with sandpaper so users can file down their fingers. But an internal email revealed during a patent trial showed he turned more favorable to the idea by early 2011.

Apple has sold over 84 million iPads so far, with the device accounting for 26 percent of Apple's fiscal third quarter revenue. Most Wall Street analysts expect Apple's new tablet to fall between 7 inches and 8 inches in size, saying its price will be crucial to its success.

The "starting sweet spot" for the tablet would be in the $249-$299 range, according to a survey of over a thousand consumers by Baird Equity Research.

"When asked what the most they would pay for a smaller iPad was, our respondents on average said that they would pay $242 for a 7-inch iPad and $268 for an 8-inch iPad," William Power, Baird Equity Research analyst, said.

Any erosion in Apple's industry leading margins also hinges on the price tag. It earned gross margins of 23 percent to 32 percent on U.S. iPad sales between October 2010 and the end of March 2012, according to a July court filing by Apple.

Rivals haven't fared as well. Amazon's first Kindle Fire just about breaks even, according to IHS iSuppli estimates, and Google has said its Nexus 7 is being sold at cost.

Topeka Capital's Brian White argued a smaller tablet could overtake sales of the iPad in a few years. He is forecasting sales of 5 million to 7 million in the December quarter.

Apple shares rose 4 percent on Monday, buoying the benchmark S&P 500 index. While the stock is up 56 percent this year, it is currently down 10 percent from its record high of $705 on September 21, struck by concerns about iPhone-supply disruption at contract manufacturer, Foxconn Technology. Sharp criticism about errors in its Maps service also hurt.

"Apple's stock is up a ton and it is only logical that it will take a breather after a while," Yoshikami said. "I don't think there is any fundamental issue beyond that."

(Additional reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Pullin)


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Yahoo's new CEO Mayer takes on the mobile challenge

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Chief Executive Marrisa Mayer promised to modernize Yahoo's websites and make them more smartphone-friendly in her debut appearance at the helm of the struggling company, faulting it for underinvesting in the "mobile wave".

Mayer, once a rising star at Google Inc who took charge at Yahoo in July, told analysts on a conference call that she wanted to focus Yahoo's efforts around the "daily habits" of users such as email, the home page, Internet search and mobile devices.

"We're committed to going back to our roots as a consumer internet company focused on user experience," the 37-year-old Mayer said on Monday, adding that "we intend to win".

Rather than get into completely different businesses, Mayer said Yahoo would look to improve its performance and finding opportunities in its existing businesses, such as search which she said has "clear upside" potential.

But her top priority was to fashion a coherent strategy to manage the industry's transition to mobile devices, a fundamental shift that some of the most innovative Silicon Valley companies - from Facebook Inc to Google Inc - are struggling with.

"The mobile wave is a huge wave for us to ride," Mayer said on the conference call, adding that that the company had failed to capitalize on the shift to smartphones, underinvesting and "splintering" Yahoo's brands in its previous mobile efforts.

Mayer's comments, which she delivered along with third-quarter earnings results that beat analyst expectations, sent Yahoo shares up 4.6 percent to $16.49 in after hours trading on Monday.

"For people who weren't sure how she was going to come across on her first call, she definitely proved herself tonight," said RBC analyst Andre Sequin. "It seems like she really recognizes what the company is, where the strengths are and what the opportunities are."

Some analysts also pointed to comments about using share buybacks to distribute the gains from the sale of Yahoo shares in China's Alibaba Group, and a preference for smaller-sized acquisitions rather than blockbuster deals, as buoying investor sentiment.

Mayer, Yahoo's third CEO in about a year, arrived after a tumultuous period in the company in which former CEO Scott Thompson resigned after less than 6 months on the job over a controversy about his academic credentials. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang had also stepped down as CEO, and an internal reorganization eliminated thousands of jobs.

Internet pioneer Yahoo, which makes most of its money from online advertising, has fallen behind more innovative rivals n recent years and missed out on the online social networking boom launched by Facebook.

Roughly 700 million users still visit a Yahoo website every month - putting it in the top ranks globally. But the amount of activity people engage in on many sites is steadily declining and its smartphone offerings are deemed lackluster.

"She handled the call very well," said Gabelli & Co analyst Brett Harriss.

"You have the tone of a professional CEO who just wants to block and tackle better and move the company forward," he said, noting that he detected echoes of Google's business approach in Mayer's comments.

SHIFTING COURSE

Mayer is expected to focus on revamping Yahoo's technology and products, shifting course from the media-centric approach embraced by her immediate predecessor, Ross Levinsohn.

Still, Mayer noted that she did not plan to exit media entirely, noting that content was part of the company's appeal and that Yahoo would continue to invest in some original programming such as videos and coverage of events such as the Olympic games and the U.S. presidential elections.

Since taking the helm, Mayer has moved quickly to build a team to assist her, shelling out rich pay packages for a new chief operating officer and chief financial officer, among others.

Mayer and Finance Chief Ken Goldman said the company was open to acquisitions to help bolster its technology and its engineering ranks. But Mayer noted that Yahoo would primarily focus on "smaller-scale" deals, noting that the vast majority of tech industry acquisitions are for less than $100 million.

Mayer also talked about working more closely with software provider and Web search partner Microsoft Corp, while employing technology to shore up Yahoo's display ads business through such features as automated buying.

A 10-year search partnership deal that Yahoo struck with Microsoft in 2009 has so far been a disappointment, with Yahoo's search advertising rates below expectations and Yahoo's market share eroding.

Search revenue in the third quarter, excluding fees paid to partner websites, rose 11 percent year-on-year to $414 million, while display advertising revenue was flat at $452 million.

Excluding a $2.8 billion gain related to the sale of Alibaba Group shares, Yahoo said it earned $177 million in income from operations and reported adjusted net earnings of 35 cents per share in the third quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for adjusted EPS of 25 cents.

Mayer said that the company was likely to begin withdrawing from international businesses that failed to grow, but said a recent decision to pull out of South Korea, a market full of local rivals, was an "unusual exception."

Yahoo ended the quarter with 12,000 employees, down more than 12 percent from 13,700 a year earlier.

Net revenue, which excludes fees paid to partner websites, was $1.09 billion compared with $1.07 billion in the year ago period.

"The fact that the quarterly results didn't show any massive deterioration was a decent sign, and gives her probably more time," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter, adding that Mayer's vision was not radically different for the company.

"It's about can Marissa and team execute and that's what it's been about for the past few management teams," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Andre Grenon and Richard Pullin)


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Presidential campaigns hit Colorado hard this week

Written By Bersemangat on Senin, 22 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

COLORADO SPRINGS — On the eve of the start of early voting at polling places in Colorado, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told a crowd of close to 1,000 Sunday that the election could hinge on the state.

"Please remember, Colorado, you can decide," a hoarse-voiced Ryan said, giving a nod to the state's status as one of the few toss-ups in the election. "You have within the palm of your voting hand the ability to shape the future for this country and your kids."

Ryan's remarks, inside an airplane hangar at the Colorado Springs airport, fired the metaphorical starting gun on a four-day presidential-campaign scramble across the state. Between Sunday and Wednesday, members of the GOP or Democratic tickets will hold six campaign events in all four of the state's quadrants.

On Monday, Ryan is scheduled to hit a trifecta of rallies in Pueblo West, Durango and Grand Junction before heading back to the Front Range. On Tuesday, he and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will hold a moonlit rally at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, in what could be a capstone to their campaign in Colorado. There are whispers in the campaign about high-profile musical acts appearing alongside the Republican candidates. The campaign expects the event to fill the more than 9,000-seat amphitheater.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama will have a dramatic photo op of his own, holding a rally in Denver's City Park with the downtown skyline as a backdrop.

The reason for the burst of interest is early voting in Colorado, which is now in full swing. Mail-in ballots started going out to voters last Monday — roughly 70 percent of Colorado's active voters are permanent mail-in voters. Meanwhile, early voting at polling places begins on Monday. All told, the majority of Colorado voters are expected to cast a ballot before Election Day even arrives.

That means, after months of persuading and motivating and rallying, both campaigns are now hoping to begin banking their votes.

Following separate Monday press events promoting early voting, Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet will cast their ballots at early voting locations. In a campaign stop in Greeley last week, Vice President Joe Biden also urged voters to cast a ballot early.

Though the Republicans did not make such an implicit push at Sunday's Ryan rally, the urgency of the campaign hung over the crowd.

"We have 15 days," University of Colorado Regent Kyle Hybl told the crowd at the Colorado Springs rally Sunday evening. "In this 15 days is the destiny of our country and what sort of institution we leave to our children and our grandchildren."

Ryan's speech hit on familiar themes to Colorado voters now accustomed to campaign appearances and ads. He said, if elected, he and Romney would reduce the deficit and balance the federal budget. He spoke about strengthening the armed forces, a popular promise in military-rich Colorado Springs. And he talked about boosting domestic energy production.

"This is about more than just jobs," he said. "This is about the kind of country we're going to leave our kids."

And, he made clear where he and Romney believe voters should lay their frustrations with Washington.

"If he can't change Washington," Ryan said of Obama, as the crowd cheered in approval, "then I say we change presidents."

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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Searchers find body of missing Leadville fisherman in Turquoise Lake

Searchers have found the body of a man who disappeared while fishing at Turquoise Lake on Saturday, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Anthony Pacheco, 55, of Leadville, left his home at about 8 a.m. with his dog to go fishing on the lake, said Lisa Burke, a Sheriff's spokeswoman. "I understand it was very windy," on the lake.

His family reported him missing at 10:57 p.m. when he didn't return home Saturday. Lake County Search and Rescue personnel were then contacted and were on scene at 1:09 a.m.

Searchers earlier found a capsized flat-bottom boat on the lake.

The dog has been found alive and searchers also found two oars on an island in the lake near Leadville. They haven't confirmed that the oars belong to Pacheco.

Search and rescue units from Lake County and the Summit County Sheriff's office have been involved in the search.

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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Shooting in Colorado Springs leads to highway chase, crash on I-25

Written By Bersemangat on Minggu, 21 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

A search is ongoing in Douglas County for a driver who crashed a car fleeing from a state trooper and investigators suspect the driver was involved in a Colorado Springs shooting earlier on Saturday.

The incident started at about 7 p.m. when officers in Colorado Springs were called to the Pins and Needles Tattoo parlor, 3737 Drennan Road, on a report of shooting with a man down, according to Colorado Springs Police Department crime blotter.

Officer didn't find a victim, but they did find shell casings and the front bumper of a car that had been reported stolen in Denver.

Witnesses told police that a "rap battle" was taking place at the tattoo shop and a rapper angered people who were at the show.

Tensions flared and shots were fired, the police blotter said. Both the victim and shooter fled the scene.

A trooper spotted the car with the missing bumper on Interstate 25 northbound in the Monument area, said Sgt. Michael Baker, a Colorado State Patrol spokesman.

There were several people in the car, a green Honda, and the trooper began following it. In Douglas County, the trooper activated lights and siren in an attempt to stop the Honda, but the driver tried to speed away.

A short time later the Honda crashed near Tomah Road.

The driver fled on foot, Baker said, leaving four other people behind in the car.

The highway was shut down by the crash for a short time and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office made emergency calls to nearby residents warning them of the driver who fled.

Officers from several departments were searching for the suspect Saturday night.

The four people in the car, a 28-year-old woman from New Mexico, two 20-year-old men and a 17-year-old boy, were not injured in the crash. They're were held and questioned by investigators about the Colorado Springs shooting and the incident on the highway.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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Thousand of zombies, mutants overtake downtown Denver

At noon Saturday, the first ravaged corpses began to roll into Skyline Park along Arapahoe Street.

By 2 p.m., thousands of scarred and bloodied "walking dead" had made downtown Denver their stronghold, marking the seventh annual Zombie Crawl along the 16th Street Mall.

To the left, an elderly gentleman's eye hung from its socket. To the right, an ax-wielding 5-year-old sought fresh blood. Zombified Big Bird and even a ferret-toting mutant marched through back alleys and business districts as the afternoon plague grew.

Though some of the most vile costumes could repulse the strongest of stomachs, everyone who trolled around the area agreed on one thing — the festive atmosphere that brought more than 10,000 undead

together was something special.

"I love to see everyone's creativity," said Danny Newman, founder of the Denver Zombie Crawl. "The costumes that come out here blow my mind every year."

The tradition began in 2006 as a way to celebrate Newman's birthday after he attended a similar event in San Francisco. It has since become one of the nation's premier gathering spots for zombie enthusiasts.

Newman said past years have set world records for the most people dressed as mutants in one place. Though no record keepers were around this year, he expected numbers to approach the 15,000 mark by the end of the day.

"I really always looked at this as a cool Denver tradition," Newman said, blood dripping from his neck as bones protruded. "You can be a dead anything. Whatever your normal Halloween costume was going to be, just throw some blood on it."

Amid the growing chaos, everyone donned disturbing garb and happily posed for photographs celebrating the subculture. Area artists were available to help bloody-up participants. Many didn't need any help, since they had planned for days — even weeks — to make their costumes perfect.

In addition to the crawl that overtook the mall, an adventure

race — the Organ Trail — sent lamebrains rushing in search of clues and completing challenges. The block party also featured a canned food drive for the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Bonfils Blood Drive.

"I think it's cool that no matter who you are or what you're doing, everyone's here to have fun," said Jessica Paulsen. She and her boyfriend, Chris Wunder, took on the role of undead newlyweds.

While Wunder's ravaged and freshly charred suit came from a thrift store earlier in the day, Paulsen's lavish and flowing dress was a remnant from a canceled wedding and a past relationship. After towing the dress behind a Jeep on an off-roading excursion, she added a few dashes of blood. By the time all was said and done, the couple defined what could only be described as a truly apocalyptic wedding.

"You get really into it," she said of the cultlike genre that has gripped the country in recent years with dark TV shows and disturbing films.

For some enthusiasts, it was a family affair of the strangest sort, involving kids as young as 2 years old and even some zombified babies in strollers.

For others such as David Anved, it was a chance to pay tribute to an upcoming end-of-the-world video-game release. From behind blood-dripping claws that extended three feet in front of him, he said it was such an amazing chance to pool together zombie-lovers and curious onlookers.

"Everybody gets together and finds something they love and can express themselves having fun with," he said between snapping photos with curious — even concerned — onlookers. "I'm having a lot of fun."

Jason Pohl: 303-954-1729, jpohl@denverpost.com or twitter.com/pohl_jason

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman duplicated others' words in Post, DBJ op-eds

Written By Bersemangat on Sabtu, 20 Oktober 2012 | 10.42

A pair of columns published by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora within the past year contain passages of previously published work by other House members but did not attribute the source of the information or writing.

The op-ed columns on different subjects were published beneath Coffman's byline in The Denver Post and the Denver Business Journal.

The Post op-ed contains unattributed material from a budget proposal crafted by Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, while the Business Journal op-ed contains material earlier published by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.

Ethics experts contacted by The Post said the duplicative writings fall short of their definition of plagiarism. But they said Coffman's use of material by other writers failed to reach accepted standards for attribution.

Coffman is engaged in one of the most contentious congressional races in Colorado. The Post made its discovery of the duplicative writing when a Democratic operative associated with the campaign of Coffman's rival, state Rep. Joe Miklosi, provided documents and alleged plagiarism to a reporter and the news organization's editorial page.

Those documents were delivered to The Post on Monday — the day ballots were mailed to voters and a week before early voting begins.

After reviewing the documents, editorial-page editor Curtis Hubbard changed practices for future contributors meant to ensure that submissions are original work.

"There has always been an unspoken understanding that items submitted to the opinion pages are the original work of the author and that proper credit is given to other sources when it is due," Hubbard said. "We have now spelled out that policy in writing and posted it to our website so there will be no question as to our guidelines moving forward."

Coffman on Friday called the plagiarism allegations "absurd."

"My staff are in constant collaboration with various committees, and a major role of committee staff is to help members create content," Coffman said.

The Post's editorial board operates separately from the newsroom, which conducted a review of the op-eds in question, along with recent op-eds published by Colorado's current congressional delegation.

Staff for Coffman's campaign said that in the unpaid Post op-ed April 15, House Budget Committee analyst Matt Hoffmann inserted an explanation that laid out the Republican majority's plan to reform Medicare as part of its fiscal 2013 budget proposal.

Coffman's campaign provided documents showing how the op-ed column was altered — at Coffman's request — by Hoffmann, who inserted verbatim language from Ryan's "Paths to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal," published almost a month earlier.

Coffman said he didn't know that the material came directly from the budget plan. Requests to Hoffmann seeking comment have not been returned.

Coffman's campaign provided documents that detailed the collaboration that led to publication of the Business Journal op-ed Aug. 24.

In that instance, a Republican staffer for the House Committee on Small Business wrote an op-ed about the impact should the so-called "fiscal cliff" of tax increases next year transpire.

The staffer e-mailed Coffman's staff, saying, "We've written for you to use as you wish."

The Small Business Committee staffer also gave similar — but not exactly the same — material to other Republicans, including Graves, the committee's chairman.

Coffman's campaign said that collaboration with partisan staffers was common practice in Washington. And the campaign provided two instances in which significant portions of text were repeated in two pairs of op-eds published by Republican congressmen since 2009.

Coffman's campaign also provided a copy of a Post op-ed by Denver U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat, that contained similar material to another source in a piece published earlier on the Rocky Mountain PBS website. DeGette's duplicative wording amounted to three copied phrases — not full sentences or paragraphs.

Independently, The Post found one instance in which sentences in a Post op-ed written by DeGette later appeared in a press release by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute observed the Coffman documents and said these kinds of events can occur when a politician or public official makes use of a ghostwriter.

"Responsible practice requires transparency: making it clear who wrote what," Clark said in an e-mail.

Teresa Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity, said given the purpose and context of an op-ed, the original authors could easily have been noted.

"In my opinion putting forth text written by someone else as his own in an op-ed runs contrary to the legitimate expectations for an op-ed, i.e. that the content was produced by the person to whom it is attributed," Fishman said via e-mail.

Staff researcher Vickie Makings contributed to this report.

Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655, klee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kurtisalee

Shared writing

A Denver Post op-ed by Rep. Mike Coffman uses the following language from Rep. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" budget plan.

Identical content shown in italics.

From Rep. Coffman's April 15 Denver Post op-ed:

"The second-least expensive approved plan or the traditional fee-for-service Medicare, whichever is least expensive, would establish the benchmark that determines the premium-support amount.

" If a senior chose a costlier plan than the benchmark plan, he would be responsible for paying the difference between the premium subsidy and the monthly premium. Conversely, if that senior chose a plan that cost less than the benchmark, he would be given a rebate for the difference. Payments to plans would be risk-adjusted and geographically rated. Private health plans would be required to cover at least the actuarial equivalent of the benefit package provided by traditional fee-for-service Medicare."

From "The Path to Prosperity:"

"The second-least expensive approved plan or fee-for-service Medicare, whichever is least expensive, would establish the benchmark that determines the premium-support amount for the plan chosen by the senior.

If a senior chose a costlier plan than the benchmark plan, he or she would be responsible for paying the difference

Between the premium subsidy and the monthly premium. Conversely, if that senior chose a plan that cost less than

The benchmark, he or she would be given a rebate for the difference. Payments to plans would be risk-adjusted and

Geographically rated. Private health plans would be required to cover at least the actuarial equivalent of the benefit

package provided by fee-for-service Medicare."

Note: In preceding paragraphs of Coffman's op-ed, he references GOP House-passed fiscal year 2013 budget proposal.

Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
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