“E-mail can be very dehumanizing,” Cheng said.

Although Facebook is notoriously restrictive when it comes to members scraping their data, Ickman said that he believes he was able to stay within Facebook’s terms of service by grabbing only approved data from one’s own contacts and not caching the information long-term. “It’s totally legal, at least at this point.”

Lili Cheng, the Microsoft veteran who heads the social-computing team at Microsoft Research, said that part of the power of Salsa is simply putting a human face on e-mail. She said her own use of the site has borne out the power of that, noting it is harder to argue with a colleague when she sees a picture of them with their cute kid or pet.

One project, known as Salsa, aims to use one’s corporate data to piece together their social network, or at least their network of co-workers. In its current form, the software is a plug-in to Outlook that shows social-networking information such as a photo and profile next to an incoming e-mail message. The program also pieces together a list of “friends” based on e-mail frequency and other data.

In another project from Cheng’s group, known as C2, Microsoft researchers have created a Windows application that pieces together contact data from a variety of social-networking sites. For the purposes of Tuesday’s demonstration, the researchers focused on Windows Live Spaces and Facebook. Researcher Steve Ickman said he chose those two because they represent among the most open (Spaces) and closed (Facebook) when it comes to data sharing.

The project is more of a technology demonstration than anything geared toward a specific product, Ickman said, adding that he hoped it would demonstrate to the product teams that they can be more ambitious. “We tend to cancel things because they are too hard,” he said.

Cheng said that in addition to deploying it inside Microsoft, she’d like to see how Salsa works within one or two other large companies to see if it is more broadly useful.

REDMOND, Wash.–Microsoft showed off two social-networking projects at TechFest on Tuesday that show that the company wants to do more in this area than just invest in Facebook.

The CBS Mobile Web site will display suggested articles in the form of “Your Headlines.” Because content suggestions are user-driven, they change throughout the day based on natural shifts in interest from morning news, to feature articles, to breaking stories and trends.

CBS hopes that by using the Aggregate Knowledge technology, which is already used on traditional Web sites like BusinessWeek.com and WashingtonPost.com, it will be able to deliver more targeted and relevant content to the people who visit the CBS Mobile Web site.

The companies plan to formally announce their partnership on Wednesday, and the new feature will appear on the CBS Mobile Web site starting this week.

“What we are really trying to do is make the discovery of content on the phone much easier and more relevant than it is today,” said Jeff Sellinger, executive vice president of CBS Mobile. “If we can make it easier to get to content that people want, they’ll have a much better experience and they’ll come back.”

Screenshot of the "Your Headlines" box.

CBS is using the technology initially to help direct relevant news stories to users. But in the future it could use it to also deliver targeted advertising to cell phone users.

Now, CBS Mobile says that it has just the feature on its mobile WAP site to help readers dig deeper into mobile Web sites and to find the stories they want to read much more easily. The media giant has partnered with a company called Aggregate Knowledge, which sifts through click-histories of every story on the site and looks at users in aggregate in order to find patterns in those clicks so that it can recommend the most relevant Web content based on what other people with similar tastes are reading and clicking on.

(Credit:
Aggregate Knowledge)

For example, if someone is reading a story about new high-definition TVs, a link might appear next to the article that says, “People who read this article bought this Sony TV.”

Mobile phones are highly personalized devices. And the general consensus among mobile experts is that people want highly relevant content when they search the Web from a mobile phone. They are typically looking for something specific, and they don’t have the time or patience to click through several menus to find what they want.

The example Aggregate Knowledge uses is suppose a user reads an article about “super delegates.” He might be led to a story about the upcoming democratic primaries because others who read about the super delegates went on to read about the primary.

It will be interesting to see how well the technology actually works in this capacity. Also, once you throw advertising into the mix, mobile operators will likely be looking for their cut of the revenue. So it could take awhile for CBS Mobile and others to hash out a deal to include targeted advertising. Even though mobile operators say they want to offer advertising, they have been slow to try it.

(Credit:
Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

If you can tell me what this is a picture of, and where it’s located, and be the first to do so (by e-mail to daniel–dot–terdiman–at–cnet–dot–com) you’ll win a prize.

So maybe that’s why, in the many trips I’ve taken over the past decade or so to states like Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and others, I’ve enjoyed seeing the crazy things that Mother Nature can do with her rocks, so to speak.

Update (Monday 10:09 a.m.): The answer is that this is the so-called “Mexican Hat,” just outside Mexican Hat, Utah.

During Road Trip 2009, I’ve driven by some amazing rock formations, but this one was definitely one of my favorites. Do you know what, and where it is? If you’re the first to tell me, you’ll win a prize.

If you can, please be sure to include the subject line, “Picture of the day, 7/24″ in your e-mail.

SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS, Wyo.–Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, the incredible rock formations so familiar to people from throughout the Southwest and some northern states were not part of my childhood.

During Road Trip 2009, which has taken me thousands of miles through Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, I’ve certainly seen my share: buttes, mesas, lava fields, and plenty of other outstanding geologic formations. And that’s led me to today’s Road Trip picture of the day challenge.

For the next few days, Geek Gestalt will be on Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I’ll be writing about and photographing the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation, and more in Wyoming and Colorado. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.

Automattic (the creators of WordPress) has created a microblogging service, but it’s not for everyone–and that’s the point.

In an introductory blog post, WordPress creator and former CNET’er Matt Mullenweg noted that “many” Automattic employees were already using Twitter, but wanted something with a little more versatility and with more privacy controls, which led to the creation of Prologue. The one thing that’s still missing is a first party mobile front end. Despite the strong efforts from many third party developers to create their own, there still isn’t a simple way to get it done unless you’ve got your own hosted blog with the right plug-ins, something competitor Movable Type has been a little more proactive about.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

Besides its privacy and tag controls, the real power of Prologue is that any WordPress user can adopt it on top of their current blog. It’s also got a leg up on the competition by letting other users comment on a Prologue post like they would a normal blog post, complete with conversation threading and a permalink in case you feel like sharing that conversation or single comment with someone else. Sounds an awful lot like a forum to me, but considering Automattic is aiming this at “small groups” it’s nice to directly reply to someone without an @username that they have to fish out later on.

Skip WordPress' powerful blogging front-end and check out Prologue, a simplified microblogging front-end that lets you write small posts by yourself or with a group of others.

Though Tuesday marks the global announcement of the new Vostro laptops, they won’t be available in North America until May 1 (and the Vostro 1710 isn’t expected until mid-May). We have a Vostro 1310 review unit in our offices, and so far, we’re pleased with its upscale looks and sturdy construction. We’re still putting it through the paces, though, so keep an eye out for a full review of the Vostro 1310 within the next few days.

Vostro owners also have access to a dedicated support line (with “small business trained” technicians), plus one year of free access to 10GB of online backup space and to the company’s Automated PC Tune-up, which regularly performs basic system maintenance. More details can be found on Dell’s site.

The low starting prices are part of the plan to appeal to companies with one to 25 employees who need business-level systems, but don’t have a full-time information technology staff. Hardwarewise, the laptops aren’t very different from Dell’s existing lineup; the key differentiator lies in security and support options. The Vostro line offers such niceties as a Trusted Platform Module, Webcam, and fingerprint reader, as well as a generous 30-day return policy that lets you take the laptop for a test drive without paying any restocking fees.

Dell announced Tuesday that it would introduce three new laptops in its Vostro line for small businesses. The 13.3-inch Vostro 1310, with a starting price of $749, brings a new form factor to the lineup. Meanwhile the 15.4-inch Vostro 1510 (starting at $599) and 17-inch Vostro 1710 (pricing not yet available) are refreshes of existing models.

MySpace has more at stake with its Korean launch, too: The site hopes that by broadening its base in Korea, it can take advantage of the country’s tech talent as it attempts to catch up where rival social networks like Facebook have jumped ahead in innovation. More specifically, MySpace aims to win over Korean programmers to contribute to its OpenSocial-compatible developer platform, which launched last month.

MySpace Korea's homepage: a little bit more Web 2.0 than what we get here in the U.S.

The site’s official launch party, on Tuesday night, will be held at a design museum near Seoul’s Hongik university; later in the week, MySpace will be holding a conference for developers at which Travis Katz, general manager of MySpace’s international effort, will be speaking. Co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe has also traveled to Seoul to spread the word about the site launch.

Unlike its Korean counterpart, the beta site for MySpace India appears to be primarily English-language.

But in Korea, MySpace faces an extra snag: The small Asian nation is famously tech-adept, with broadband penetration and mobile technology seemingly light-years ahead of the U.S. (and here, MySpace doesn’t exactly have a reputation as a technology leader, though it remains the most popular social-networking site). Other social-networking sites, like the virtual world Cyworld, already have a lock on the youth market. So what is MySpace doing? It’s deliberately courting Korea’s high-tech and digital-creative crowds.

PARTY! If you're in Seoul, that is…

News Corp.’s MySpace.com has launched the latest of its international editions, MySpace Korea. Like many of its other regionally focused portals, MySpace Korea includes popular music and video content and social-networking profiles. No surprise there.

MySpace Korea, as a result, has a sleeker design than most of its global brethren, as well as a few features created locally: a “Minilog” platform, which sounds a bit like Twitter-esque microblogging, and design “skins” created by Korean artists.

You can check out the dozens of detailed photos, and a piece by piece count of the 88 screws that hold it together, over at iFixit’s MacBook Air autopsy.

Leave it to the guys at iFixit to get a new MacBook Air and, instead of showing off at the local coffee shop (like us), they take the thing apart. The company specializes in
Mac and
iPod parts and repairs, but it is perhaps best known for taking every new Apple product and dissecting it. They then post step-by-step photos and a detailed analysis of the parts inside.

(Credit:
iFixit.com)

Don't try taking this to the Genius Bar.

Download today’s podcast
EPISODE 13

TODAY’S LINKS: Opera Stories Don talked about.

Correction 10:20 a.m. PST: This blog misstated the day that BP CEO Tony Hayward spoke at the conference. It is Tuesday.

(Credit:
BP)

A global system, where carbon allowances are traded around the world, would be optimal. But individual countries or regions should implement their own systems and then seek to coordinate with other carbon-trading markets, a process that would mimic how financial markets evolved.

Hayward spoke at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) 2008 where he called for more aggressive government policies to address both climate change and energy security, which he said were interlinked.

Specifically, he said that nations need adopt a market-based mechanism, called a “cap and trade” system, to limit greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. He also said that government “transitional” incentives are required to speed up development of clean technologies.

BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward

“Nobody can doubt the financial markets are now global but they grew up in individual countries,” he said, noting that California has already begun the process of integrating with Europe’s carbon market.

BP’s primary business is oil and gas exploration but the company has been on the forefront of developing an alternative-energy business, even changing its name from British Petroleum to BP and adopting the tagline “Beyond Petroleum.” It has spent $30 billion on exploration since 2001 and intends to invest another $30 billion in the next six years.

It now has a wind and solar business and is partnering with universities to develop “next-generation biofuels” that do not use food crops and are better fuels than ethanol, Hayward said.

WASHINGTON–Amid rumors that BP will sell its alternative-energy business, company Chief Executive Tony Hayward on Tuesday said that the current scale of the clean-tech industry will not be enough to address the world’s energy challenges.

Altogether BP spends $1 billion a year in alternative energy; the company is rumored to be looking at a sale of that business. Hayward spoke last week at an investor conference, where company watchers interpreted his comments as a signal that it may choose to focus on its core oil and gas business.

“Even though clean tech is growing fast, we all need to be honest,” he said during a ministerial plenary session. “The scale that the industry is working at today is not going to have much impact.”

He said carbon regulations should put a price on pollution. Hayward favors a cap and trade system, where polluters can trade carbon emission allowances, over a carbon tax because it is market-based and provides more “environmental certainty.”

IBM’s revenue outside the U.S., where the company generates 75 percent of its business, rose 10 percent, he said.

The fact that new contracts declined slightly during a quarter that tends to be down is actually “an achievement” given the economic conditions and the Olympics taking place during the period, Djurdjevic said.

For the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, IBM posted earnings of $2.8 billion, or $2.05 per share, on revenue of $25.3 billion, which was up 5 percent from a year ago. The numbers were in line with the preannounced results released by the company last week. The company has nearly $10 billion in cash.

“That alone is an indicator for how overstated and exaggerated the pessimism on Wall Street is,” Djurdjevic said.

“All these companies are global companies and most of them are driving growth from overseas markets, and not everybody is as sick as Wall Street,” said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research.

The news pushed IBM’s share price up 2.4 percent in after-hours trade to $93.71, while AMD’s price jumped 10.4 percent to $4.55 and Google’s rose 10.2 percent to $389.15.

In particular, IBM’s mainframe revenues growing 25 percent is a very positive sign given the fact that banks and financial companies are major customers, he said.

Updated 4 p.m. PDT with more details and CFO and analyst comments.

IBM reported a 20 percent rise in third-quarter earnings on strong software and services sales, and said it expects to meet its 2008 outlook despite the economic downturn that has companies curbing spending.

IBM, Google, and AMD posted positive earnings reports on Thursday, lifting their stock prices in after hours and providing hope that things won’t be as bad for the tech sector as some feared.

“This is a tough environment but we were ready for it,” IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said in a conference call.

Asked what would have to happen in order for IBM to miss its expectations, Loughridge said: “We would have to have major markets fall off much more substantially and…we would have to see a dramatic slowdown in our emerging countries, but we don’t see that.”

In a statement, IBM Chief Executive Sam Palmisano wrote: “Our results demonstrate that the combination of a steady base of recurring revenue and profits, a range of products and services that deliver value to clients worldwide, and a strong and flexible financial foundation give IBM a competitive edge in good times and tough times. These strengths along with our strategy to manage for productivity in major markets and to invest for growth in emerging countries have enabled IBM to thrive despite an economic environment that no one could have predicted.”

Loughridge cited IBM’s ongoing actions to cut spending and margin performance as reasons for executives being optimistic about meeting its full-year 2008 earnings outlook of $8.75 per share.

(Credit:
Yahoo Finance)

At the same time, Google beat analyst expectations with third-quarter earnings per share of $4.92 on revenue of $4.04 billion, and AMD posted a significantly smaller net loss than expected at 11 cents.