sexta-feira, 25 de abril de 2014

Marco Civil provocará muitas batalhas jurídicas

 

Publicada em 25/04/2014 20:00

Há um consenso entre os defensores do Marco Civil da Internet: as batalhas para garantir a sua aplicação serão inúmeras e duras. A maioria delas travadas em torno da aplicação dos três princípios basilares da lei: a neutralidade de rede, a privacidade e a liberdade de expressão.

A regulamentação de alguns mecanismos do Marco Civil é apenas uma das frentes onde os embates acontecerão. Outras passam pelas adequações de práticas correntes, no judiciário e na iniciativa privada, a partir das novas regras estabelecidas com a entrada da lei em vigor, em 22 de junho de 2014.

Neutralidade

Por exemplo: na interpretação das teles, o princípio de neutralidade de rede, conforme disposto no Marco Civil, não impede serviços como a Banda Larga Móvel 0800, a gratuidade de acesso às redes sociais via telefonia móvel e até acordos como o firmado pela NetFlix com a Comcast nos Estados Unidos, uma vez que ele caracteriza contratação de banda na última milha e não controle de pacotes.

Frisando não estar falando em nome da Anatel, onde é conselheiro, o advogado Marcelo Bechara, que se auto define como um estudioso da Internet, argumenta que o texto da legislação recém sancionada dá margem para alguns questionamentos. Entre eles o de facultar o estabelecimento de contratos entre as teles e os serviços OTT, onde se encaixam a Netflix, o Facebook e o Twitter.

“A neutralidade de rede do Marco Civil é a neutralidade de rede da camada de conexão. Isso está bem definido no artigo nono quando ele diz que o responsável pela transmissão, comutação ou roteamento tem o dever de tratar de forma isonômica quaisquer pacotes de dados, sem distinção por conteúdo, origem e destino, serviço, terminal ou aplicação. Transmissão, comutação e roteamento estão na camada de conexão, não na de aplicação. Quem faz isso? Teles e provedores de acesso, não os provedores de aplicação, os OTTs”, explica Bechara. Portanto, na sua interpretação – que coincide com a de membros do SindiTelebrasil – o acordo como o assinado entre a Comcast e a Netflix seria perfeitamente legítimo no país, bem como os acordos do Facebook, do Bradesco e do Twitter com as operadoras móveis.

O entendimento parece ser o mesmo da FCC, nos Estados Unidos, nesse momento, ao propor novas regras sobre neutralidade que permitam que empresas como a Disney, Google ou Netflix paguem os fornecedores de serviços de Internet como Comcast e Verizon por banda extra na última milha. “Em teoria, os contratos de cima para baixo com o pessoal de última milha não tem relação com regulação pacotes de dados. Isso é contratação de mais banda”, explica Carolina Rossini, do Open Technology Institute. Mas esse novo modelo de negócio não afeta os mesmos interesses públicos que o Marco Civil tenta promover ao dispor sobre neutralidade? Como tratar isso?

Em entrevista durante a conferência NETmundial, o deputados Alessandro Molon, autor do texto do Marco Civil aprovado pelo Congresso, esclareceu alguns pontos. Em relação aos serviços de Banda Larga 0800, Molon disse que o governo já está revendo esses contratos, caso a caso, para analisar se há ou não quebra de neutralidade em cada um deles. “Vamos analisá-los juridicamente, à luz da neutralidade”.

Já em relação a acordos entre provedores de aplicações OTT com operadoras, Molon é bem claro: o texto atual já não permite isso. “A neutralidade não permite que haja privilégio no tráfego em função de origem, destino, conteúdo, serviço ou aplicação, diz o deputado. “A mesma velocidade de Netflix seria oferecida para todos os usuários? Ainda assim, embora não haja discriminação em função do destino, há discriminação em função da origem”, alega Molon, garantindo que esse enfrentamento ele vai fazer, já que no seu entendimento isso é uma tentativa de contornar a lei.

Na opinião do deputado, ao permitir esse tipo de modelo de negócio, a FCC deu uma passo atrás. “Nós demos um passo para frente. É lamentável a decisão que foi tomada lá. O Brasil fez o que é certo. A Europa está caminhando na mesma direção do Brasil”, afirma.

Como há muitas questões técnicas envolvidas nesses acordos das operadaoras com as empresas de serviços OTT, ninguém é capaz de afirmar, categoricamente, se o assunto deve ou não ser tratado na regulamentação das exceções da neutralidade.


Privacidade e proteção de dados pessoais

Outros temas espinhosos, que darão margem à muita controvérsia, dizem respeito aos artigos que versam sobre privacidade (7º) a guarda dos registros de conexão e acesso (10 ao 17) e o tratamento dos dados pessoais (também o 7º). Muitos desses pontos serão necessariamente revistos, em função da necessidade de regulamentação posterior. Outros, em função de divergências de interpretação.

A sociedade civil, por exemplo, já está trabalhando na construção de uma Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade (ADIN) contra o Artigo 15, que obriga a guarda dos dados de acesso dos provedores de aplicação (redes sociais, correio eletrônico, etc) por seis meses. Argumenta que ele favorece o vigilantismo.

“O Marco Civil foi tristemente inovador, no sentido de que não há nenhum outro país que obrigue a guarda de registros de acesso a aplicações internet, mesmo sabendo que a delimitação dessa obrigação ainda depende de regulamentação, explicou Danilo Doneda (Ministério da Justiça), hoje, durante o IV Fórum da Internet no Brasil.

Alessandro Molon argumenta que esse risco será completamente afastado na regulamentação, feita por decreto. Além disso, o aceso aos dados retidos só se dará com ordem judicial. Durante debate com internautas no Facebook, na manhã de ontem, a presidente Dilma confirmou essa informações e ainda procurou tranquilizar os ativistas garantindo que o decreto que regulamentará a retenção de dados será amplamente discutido, pela internet e com toda a sociedade, para coibir eventuais abusos.

Com relação à privacidade, Carlos Affonso, do Instituto de Tecnologia & Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro, prevê questionamentos por conta da necessidade de consentimento expresso para coleta, uso, armazenamento e tratamento de dados pessoais. Questão relacionada com termos de uso de muitos serviços na internet e também com atividades como marketing dirigido, marketing e publicidade digital, estratégias de retargeting, etc.

“A aplicação do termo de uso e ciência vai ser importante para o Marco Civil. Requer o consentimento expresso para o tratamento de dados é algo que certamente vai causar certa inquietação na indústria”, afirma Carlos Affonso.

“Imagine uma situação de alguém postando um foto no Facebook onde apareça uma pessoa que não tenha acesso à rede social. A informação dessa pessoa será tratada. Mas o Marco Civil diz que o Facebook só pode tratar dados pessoais se essa pessoa tiver dado o consentimento prévio expresso, o que ela não fez, por não ser usuária da rede social”, completa. Como tratar casos assim? Aqui a gente tem um típico problema de interpretação do Marco Civil que vai gerar controvérsia.”

Além disso, na opinião de muitos empresários, o Marco Civil vai impactar diretamente nas estratégias de retargeting das empresas, principalmente de empresas de e-commerce. A regra sobre a não permissão de busca de dados de navegação dos usuários tem total relação com uma nova demanda que surge para suprir essa lacuna que vai acontecer no marketing digital, uma vez que o retargeting depende diretamente disso.

Protagonismo do Comitê Gestor

Ao fim do primeiro dia de debates do IV Fórum da Internet no Brasil, ficou claro que o Comitê Gestor da Internet precisa tomar a frente de uma série de ações para auxiliar na aplicação do Marco Civil, como a produção de material para embasar o trabalho dos juízes dos tribunais especiais, que vão lidar com as autorizações aos pedidos de remoção de conteúdo, além de campanhas de conscientização da população sobre liberdade de expressão e crimes como calúnia e difamação. E, na sua função de ser ouvido como aconselhador no processo de regulamentação das exceções da neutralidade de rede, promover um amplo debate sobre o tema.

 

Crônica de morte anunciada- Hoje é o último dia do Windows XP - IDG Now! 2014-04-08 09-42-50

Farewell Nokia: The rise and fall of a mobile pioneer

 

Nokia was once a dominant force in the wireless world. CNET takes a look at its successes -- and what went wrong.

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Nokia's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, is known as Nokia House, or NoHo, and is the centerpiece of an industrial park on the bay. It's about a 10-minute drive from the center of neighboring Helsinki. Roger Cheng/CNET

You never forget your first cellphone.

Mine was the Nokia 5190. By today's standards, it was bulky and embarrassingly lacking in features. It made phone calls and played the game "Snake." Forget a Retina Display; it boasted a monochromatic screen with a green backlight. And how's this for fashionable: It came with a freebie leather case and belt clip that I, regrettably, wore proudly.

It was perfect.

Nokia served as my ambassador to the wireless world, letting me experience for the first time what it truly meant to be unfettered from landlines and payphones (remember those?). It was a massive revelation for a young reporter on the road. For better or worse, Nokia helped set me on the path to becoming the gadget-obsessed geek I am today.

So it's with a fair bit of melancholy that I bid farewell to Nokia. On Friday, the once-staid Finnish company confirmed that it had completed the sale of substantially its entire devices and services business to Microsoft. Microsoft said the unit, now named Microsoft Mobile Oy, would fall under its devices group.

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Nokia's headquarters has a lounge that features a lineup of past notable devices. Roger Cheng/CNET

"Today is an exciting day as we join the Microsoft family, and take the first, yet important, step in our long-term journey," said Stephen Elop, the former CEO of Nokia and the new head of devices at Microsoft, in a blog post.

Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition is a sobering reminder that even the strongest companies can fall.

Next to Motorola, which invented the mobile handset, there was no bigger name in the business than Nokia. The company has been on such a steady downward slide over the past six years that it's easy to forget how dominant and long-lasting its reign was over the cellphone business. Samsung Electronics is heralded as a titan with just over a quarter of the global handset market today; Nokia at its peak in 2007 controlled 41 percent of the market.

"It's hard to imagine any vendor reaching 41 percent share in today's world," said Ken Hyers, an analyst with Strategy Analytics.

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Stephen Elop, former Nokia CEO and now head of Microsoft's devices business, speaking at Mobile World Congress last year. Stephen Shankland/CNET

By the end of last year, Nokia's market share still sat at 15 percent, thanks to a horde of cheaper basic phones, according to data compiled by Strategy Analytics. Its share of the smartphone market was in the low single-digits.

But when Nokia was on top, nobody could touch it. That kind of success eventually bred an obstinate attitude and vulnerability that was exposed first by the Motorola Razr, and then more fully by Apple's iPhone.

Floundering in a world that was moving forward without it, Nokia tapped outsider and Microsoft veteran Stephen Elop in 2010 to shake things up, which he promptly did with a controversial decision to drop the company's proprietary software and adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system. What followed was a three-year battle to gain acceptance for Windows Phone software and its Lumia phones.

Now, Nokia's devices and services business finds itself a part of the Microsoft family. "You forget when you see a giant fall, when you're that tall, that high, the collapse is pretty dramatic," Hyers said.

Rubber roots

Nokia isn't going completely away. Beyond mobile devices, the company's telecom infrastructure business, mapping services, and advanced technology division will continue operating under the Nokia brand. It's the latest incarnation of a 150-year-old business that can trace its origins back to making rubber galoshes.

Nokia was an industrial conglomerate in multiple areas before Jorma Ollila took over as CEO in 1992. Prior to his appointment, Nokia was in shambles, having made several poor investments in new businesses -- all in an attempt to transform itself from a paper supplier. Those investments went sour after a massive recession hit Finland. At one point in the late '80s, the board had considered selling the fledgling mobile phone business.

Ollila, however, convinced Nokia to not only stick with the business, but to throw its full weight behind it and the telecommunications infrastructure unit. The company would go on to jettison the rubber, cable, and consumer electronics divisions in the subsequent years.

Ollila made a lot savvy bets early on. Nokia played a big part in the development of GSM wireless technology, a global phone standard still used today. He set up the company's internal manufacturing supply chain, allowing it to quickly and efficiently build its own phones.

The cellphone industry was highly fragmented with multiple vendors who looked at the market on a country-by-country basis. Nokia was one of the first to view the global market as a whole, building phones that worked in many countries at once. But at the same time, it recognized the importance of reaching every price tier. It established a strong presence in high-end Western markets, and saw one of its phone featured in films such as "The Matrix." It played well to audiences in emerging markets such as India, where phones would sold for as little as $40.

In 1998, Nokia overthrew Motorola to become the world's largest phone manufacturer. By the time I purchased the 5190 in a year later, Nokia supplied a little more than one out of every four phones in the market.

"Nokia was to mobile as Kleenex was to tissue paper," Hyers said. "That was how dominant they were."

It wasn't just the nuts and bolts that won Nokia praise. The phones looked great. And Nokia did a lot of work to reduce the size with each new generation. The Finnish design aesthetics worked for consumers. "Back then, cellphones were simple, but did they have style? No," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. "That was something Nokia was quick to pick up."

The company was in full expansion mode.

"Those first years were crazy," said Petra Soderling, a former Nokia employee who worked at the company between 2000 and 2012, and now runs a nonprofit software support community called Mobile Brain Bank. "New people were being hired from left and right...even the bust of the dotcom bubble didn't seem to have much impact on how fast mobile was growing."

Nokia embraced "Nokia DNA," a concept that its phones all have a distinct, but consistent look. While the company experimented with multiple designs, its engineers were wedded to the "candy bar" look.

That stubborn refusal to change the design turned out to be the first crack in its dominance.

Rise of the Razr

While most of the world was gobbling up Nokia's steady menu of candy bar-shaped cellphones, consumers in North America began eyeing flip phones, handsets with a clamshell design.

Motorola, mounting a comeback of its own, led the charge for flip phones, and cemented the trend with the debut of the ultra-slim Razr in late 2004. It remains one of the most successful cellphones ever, reigning as a top seller for nearly three years.

By the time I purchased a Razr through Verizon Wireless, the model was almost two years old. I was still excited to own one. And it had been years since I thought about Nokia.

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Motorola's ultra-thin Razr. CNET

Nokia refused to succumb to the whims of a select region, instead pressing on with its candy bar designs featuring higher-end components such as metal ball-bearings found in luxury cars. I asked Nokia executives about the possibility of a flip phone several times in those years. They dismissed it as a fad.

Hyers recalled that a Nokia executive complained about how he couldn't open it up with a single hand. Meanwhile, the analyst and his colleagues were all using flip phones (which they had little trouble operating with one hand).

It was at this point that Nokia largely abandoned the US market. The US carriers were increasingly looking for vendors to supply customized phones, a request that upstarts Samsung and LG were all too happy to fill. The carriers backed away from Nokia, which maintained a niche presence in the US through a handful of boutique stores.

"Nokia wasn't delivering, or not delivering quickly enough," said Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen. "The Korean vendors could deliver it faster, and they were able to pick up on (Nokia's) weaknesses."

Nokia's N95, for example, was hailed by the company's fans as the ultimate showcase device. But in the US, it was largely ignored because the carriers refused to sell it.

Motorola, fueled by the Razr, had taken the crown in the US, and then-Motorola CEO Ed Zander believed he had enough momentum to realistically gun for Nokia's global leadership position.

Ultimately, Motorola failed to build upon the success of the Razr. Nokia's decision to abandon the US market didn't have any immediate consequence; it continued to gain market share around the world and hit its peak until the second half of 2007. That was after the release of Apple's first iPhone.

Apple's smartphone revolution

Contrary to public misperception, Apple did not invent the smartphone. Before Steve Jobs' touchscreen powerhouse came on the scene, Nokia was the leader in the smartphone business, owning roughly half the market.

But what the iPhone brought to the market was a new sense of what a smartphone could do, and who could benefit from such a device: virtually everything and everyone. Apple led the charge in turning the smartphone into a consumer device from one primarily used in a corporate setting, a notion that then-Research in Motion had scratched at the year before with its compact and consumer friendly BlackBerry Pearl.

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The original iPhone. Declan McCullagh/CNET News.com

Apple's slick iOS touchscreen-based software revolutionized how people interacted with their phones. In comparison, the slew of smartphones in the market worked on older, clunky operating systems. Nokia's Symbian software was no different, and it was starting to show its age just as the iPhone, and later Google's Android operating system, began to take off.

Still, Nokia refused to jump on the touchscreen bandwagon, again showing its inability to adapt to new trends. It waited a year after the original iPhone launched to unveil its first touchscreen phone, the Nokia 5800. Unfortunately, it was less a smartphone and more a handset optimized to play music.

Just as important was Apple's success in popularizing the concept of an app store. Nokia actually had a fairly robust app store, but it was geared to more technically savvy users, and not as easy to use as the iOS App Store. The app ecosystem is credited with locking customers into Apple's operating systems, firming its lead in the smartphone business.

In doing research for a profile on Nokia in late 2012, I had a chance to talk with a several former and current employees about what it was like at the company at that time. To many of them, it wasn't just arrogance that kept them rooted in Symbian, but the inability to take risks.

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The first floor of Nokia House's central building houses the Cantina, the largest public space in the company's headquarters. Roger Cheng/CNET

"There wasn't a sense of urgency," a former Nokia executive told me. When dealing with a machine that pumped out millions of phones, a single mistake or bad call could cost the company billions of dollars. As a result, management was structured around many layers of approval bodies and meetings. "The whole structure was built to prevent mistakes."

The lack of urgency is understandable; Nokia's share of both the smartphone and total cellphone markets were in decline, but the drop-off wasn't dramatic. In countless interviews with Nokia executives, they were quick to point to their market leadership as proof they were still in a strong position.

Nokia attempted to dress its Symbian platform with well-crafted hardware, using premium materials and high-end camera technology. But the company knew Symbian couldn't be its long-term software option, and was readying a next-generation platform, Meego, as its successor.

Aside from one commercial device, the N9, Meego was not to be.

Jumping off a "Burning Platform"

After four middling years with Nokia veteran Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo at the helm, the company's board opted to go with an outsider. In came former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, who was unburdened with the institutional baggage that had developed at the company.

Just a few months after taking over in September 2010, Elop made waves with his infamous "Burning Platform" memo, which called for the company to take drastic action to change or die. That change came in the form of Nokia dumping Symbian and its burgeoning Meego platforms and betting on his former employer's Windows Phone platform for its high-end smartphones.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop speaks with CNET October 2012

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop showing off a the Lumia 900. Josh Miller/CNET

Some veteran Nokia employees were appalled. Others applauded the new direction.

Love or hate him, credit Elop for bringing a new sense of urgency to the company. My profile of Nokia found a company whose employees were geared up for a startup mentality. There was a willingness to take risks. Some even allowed themselves to hope a comeback was possible.

Starting with the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, which debuted in October 2011, Nokia began a long, slow battle to win fans over for its own phones. It also became Microsoft and Windows Phone's biggest cheerleader.

Innovating with Lumia

Roughly a year later, during the debut of the Lumia 920, Elop boldly touted the phone as the most innovative in the industry.

It wasn't simple marketing bluster. The Lumia 920 featured an ultra-sensitive touchscreen that your fingers could swipe even if you had gloves on. It was one of the first phones to popularize wireless charging - complete with color-coordinated wireless charging accessories.

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Stephen Elop showing off the latest Lumia phone at Microsoft's Build developer conference. James Martin/CNET

Most important was the optical image stabilization found in its "PureView" camera lens. Nokia had a heritage of strong camera phone technology, and the company continued to build upon that with a more stable camera that could also take low-light pictures. The following year, Nokia pushed the technology further by packing a 41-megapixel camera into the Lumia 1020, allowing for 3X zoom.

But all of those innovations did little to turn the heads of consumers, who were still gravitating toward the iPhone and the increasingly popular Samsung Galaxy S franchise. The first Lumia phone for the US, the Lumia 900, enjoyed a joint marketing push by Nokia, AT&T, and Microsoft, including a launch concert featuring Nikki Minaj in Manhattan's Times Square. Unfortunately, those efforts fizzled when it came to raising awareness.

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The Nokia XL, a larger version of the company's Android-powered phone. CNET

It wasn't until Nokia began expanding its portfolio to include more affordable Lumia phones that its market share position began to tick up. The company pressed the affordable strategy at Mobile World Congress in February with the debut of Nokia X, an Android-powered smartphone priced around $120 without a contract.

"This is such an awesome opportunity," Llamas said.

The progress has been slow, but steady. In the US, Nokia finally overtook Motorola in market share in the third quarter of 2013 as the fourth-largest smartphone vendor - long overdue payback in the back-and-forth between these two storied, but dramatically diminished, companies (Google is in the midst of foisting money-losing Motorola on to Chinese vendor Lenovo).

Despite the work that went into reviving Nokia, the company couldn't pull itself out of the red. Microsoft, with far more financial resources, looks like a logical home.

I'm not alone in my melancholy. Former Nokia vet Soderling said she started feeling emotional today when her Facebook stream started filling with pictures of the glowing blue Nokia sign being taken down at the Espoo, Finland, headquarters, replaced with a white Microsoft logo.

That Nokia could fall so low serves as a lesson to all handset vendors. As dominant as Samsung and Apple are, Nokia was even bigger in its prime.

Perhaps Microsoft and Elop can continue to build the Lumia brand with more advanced bells and whistles. But sometimes, I do miss the simplicity of the 5190, stubby antenna and all.

Spring cleaning- Going digital with your wallet - CNET 2014-04-25 12-51-01

Malária mata uma criança por minuto em todo o mundo

 

Terceira maior causa de morte entre menores de cinco anos, doença tirou a vida de 627 mil pessoas em 2012, a maioria na África; tratamento e prevenção, no entanto, ajudaram a salva 3,3 milhões entre 2001 e 2012.

Redes mosquiteiras podem prevenir a doença. Foto: Pnuma

Mônica Villela Grayley, da Rádio ONU em Nova York.

As Nações Unidas comemoram neste 25 de abril o Dia Mundial de Combate à Malária. A malária mata uma criança menor de cinco anos a cada minuto em todo o mundo.

Nove em cada 10 casos ocorrem na África. A Iniciativa da ONU sobre o tema informou que em 2012, 627 mil pessoas morreram de malária. Os custos de perda de produtividade chegam a US$ 12 bilhões, equivalentes a mais de R$ 26 bilhões.

Cuidados Médicos

Segundo a Organização Mundial da Saúde, OMS, a malária é uma doença fácil de prevenir e tratar. Entre 2001 e 2012, mais de 3,3 milhões de pessoas foram salvas com terapias de prevenção e cuidados médicos.

Apesar de um buraco no financiamento de US$ 6 bilhões, houve uma queda de 54% no número de mortes na África. Especialistas da Iniciativa da ONU de Combate à Malária afirmam que é preciso continuar a mobilizar ajuda e a pressionar governos para dar a resposta adequada ao problema.

O representante da Organização Internacional para Migrações. Christopher Lom, disse que muitos migrantes e suas famílias tornam-se um grupo de risco para a malária por falta de acesso aos serviços de saúde.

A doença é a terceira maior causa de morte entre crianças menores de cinco anos no mundo.  São mais de 1,5 mil mortes infantis todos os dias, o que representa um óbito a cada minuto.

Para prevenir a doença, foram distribuídos somente neste ano, cerca de 200 milhões de redes mosquiteiras tratadas com inseticida para mais de 40 países.

 

Malária mata uma criança por minuto em todo o mundo - Rádio das Nações Unidas 2014-04-25 13-11-57

12 Reasons Google+ Isn't As Bad As You Think

 

The Huffington Post  |  By Matthew Rappaport Posted: 02/15/2014 3:33 pm EST  |  Updated: 02/18/2014 8:59 am EST

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Sit down for this: I use Google+, and I love it.

Having said that, you might be thinking that I, like the parent company aggressively pushing the social network, should stop trying to make Google+ happen. After all, how many social media accounts does one really need?

When I first told a friend on Myspace about Facebook, she rolled her eyes. Maybe in the same way you might have shrugged off Twitter when you first learned of its existence. Both have been called fads. So has the entire Internet, for that matter.

So why join Google+ in addition to (or even in lieu of) Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and their ilk? It started for me as curiosity after I had used Google Buzz. It wasn't that I was "done" with Facebook, but I wanted to see what Google could bring to my social networking experience, which I thought was still lacking.

On Google+, I've found a blank canvas to create, share and interact with people all over the world. It's a chance to be openly expressive on a platform where there are no preconceived notions of people who think they "know" me. You might have a lot of strong political opinions or a love of food porn pictures that you want to share with the world, but hold back on Facebook in fear of what your friends might think.

You can enjoy this blank canvas and find a place to share what you're truly passionate about, too. Here are 12 reasons you should give Google+ a second chance, if you haven't already:

1. Easily Control Who Can See Your Stuff

Let's say, for example, you want to share a post with only 10 people, but not the entire world. It's as simple as typing your friends' names into Google+'s share box. And if someone's not on Google+? If you include their email address, they'll get an email that lets them read your post. (Though the email will, understandably, ask them to join the network.) On Facebook, you must go through the tedious process of creating a specific group of people to privately share anything, and you can't share outside the social network. And what about disabling comments or reshares? Can't do it on Facebook, but you can on Google+.

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2. Google+ Is A Photographer's Paradise

Google+ is full of amazing photographers, but you don't have to include yourself in that category to appreciate what the social network offers. Google+ can automatically back up your Android or iPhone pictures privately as you take them (no other social network does that), and offers you tools to improve the tone, color and saturation of your so-so camera phone pics. There's also something called "Auto Awesome," a set of photo-editing tools that can automatically merge a burst of five or more pics into a GIF, erase people in the background of photos or add animated snow and twinkle to shots, among other tricks.

3. Unlimited Space To Rant

It's unclear exactly what the character limit is on Google+ -- some say it's 100,000 -- but it's absolutely clear you get a LOT more space than other social networks offer. Facebook only lets you rant for about 60,000 characters, and, of course, Twitter give you only a paltry 140. Neither allow any of the flourishes like bolding or italics that Google encourages. If you're looking for some free self-expression and have plenty to say, Google+ is the place for you. Have at it, Interwebs!

4. You Can Find Your Interest Soulmates

Google+ lets you join or create a "Community" on any topic you are passionate about -- immediately connecting with people who also love zombies, or whatever you might be into. The communities can be used as places have passionate discussions, or just for meeting like-minded friends. You can also create a private community and save posts to read later. Do you like travel, sci-fi, or animals? You can find fellow enthusiasts on Google+.

Right now, Facebook is where your family and friends are. Google+ is where you can discuss your interests and passions with people who like the same things you like.

google communities

5. Celebrities Ignore You On Twitter, But They Won't On Google+

Celebrities didn’t take to social media in big, genuine ways until Ashton Kutcher blew up on Twitter. Now, instead of just reading their tweets, you can regularly find all kinds of VIPs on Google+ who will give you the time of day, including astronaut Chris Hadfield, actress Jeri Ryan, tech geek Robert Scoble and Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. Even luminaries like President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama might actually give you face time on the social network that Reddit or Twitter can't emulate.

Jeri Ryan hanging out in 2012

6. Did I Mention How Awesome The People On Google+ Are?

The best part of the entire Google+ experience is meeting other regular people. People have dated, fallen in and out of love, gotten married, made lifelong friendships, formed business relationships, gotten new jobs and found places to crash when traveling abroad -- all from hanging out on this network. Anything can happen: One day I was made into a zombie by Canadian artist Byron Rempel. The next day I hung out with Dell founder Michael Dell. Spend enough time on Google+, and you'll (virtually) run into characters like bodypainter Paul Roustan, toy collector Michael Mozart, news anchor Sarah Hill, radio personality Jane Ellen and chef Larry Fournillier.

Australian artist Ashlan Nathens displays a love note he made in honor of Google+ community

7. You Can Start Your Own Hangout On Air Show And Reach The World Through A Live Video Broadcast

A Hangout On Air is a live HD video event that you can schedule in advance, easily invite people to watch on Google+, and use in a number of awesome ways. People have used them to host their own videocast to talk about Game of Thrones, chat with photographers, hold an "Open Mic," and even interview Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth.

Every week, you can join a FOX-11 Los Angeles Celebrity Interview Hangout to interact LIVE with a mix of cool celebs, meet up in the Virtual Star Party to see views via telescope that are out of this world, join the Collectors Hangout to discover the largest cool collections of anything from Legos to World War II memorabilia, weigh in on how your sports team is doing in the Sportschat.TV, or find out what tech device to purchase in an episode of Google+ Weekly.

On Google+, there was a Virtual Landing Party for the Curiosity Rover from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Paul Roustan showed us how he bodypaints a nude model (NSFW), the community got to interact with Vic Gundotra, the head of Google+, the National Finals Rodeo Fanfest in Las Vegas was brought to life in hangouts, and there was even an online music concert festival rocking Google+!

A Virtual Star Party on Google+

8. Star Wars Tuesday

Forget Twitter and its Follow Friday. May the +1 be with you.

9. Google+ Hangouts Happen In Real Life, Too

A "hangout in real life," or HIRL, happens when a bunch of Google+ enthusiasts actually meet in person. I've organized three HIRL weekends so far in New York. When you meet people you've hung out with on Google+, it can feel like you’ve known them forever. This following HIRL moment is from a concert of Google+ musicians, in which Canadian singer Ryan Van Sickle invited me up on stage for my New York singing debut.

10. Google+ To Learn About Google Glass

Unsurprisingly, those who've shelled out hundreds of dollars for the privilege of testing a Google product have taken to Google+ in a big way. There are a ton of excellent Google Glass-related photos, videos and other information on the social network for those thinking about buying the face computer when it finally goes on sale at the end of the year.

If you want to watch people using Google Glass, circle Glass Explorers Brett Lipton, Daniel Fontaine, Bobbie Today, Derek Ross, Robert Warren, Jeris JC Miller, Laurie Des Autels, Mike Elgan, Shaker Cherukuri, Katy Kasmai and Peter McDermott to get a taste.

11. GIFs!

With the exception of Tumblr and more recently Pinterest, Google+ is the only major social network to let you share and view GIFs. Posted GIFs animate on both desktops and mobile devices, and you can even choose a GIF as your profile pic or cover photo.

12. One Last Thing: There Are Currently No Ads On Google+

And of course, if you do try Google+, don't forget to circle HuffPost.

12 Reasons Google  Isn't As Bad As You Think 2014-04-25 12-58-07

Spring cleaning: Going digital with your wallet

 

The days of carrying around countless cards and pieces of paper in a less-than-secure wallet are numbered. Go digital with your wallet.

digitalwallet.jpg

Jason Cipriani/CNET

It's true, mobile payments aren't mainstream quite yet, but that shouldn't stop you from going digital with your wallet. Over the course of the last year how many times have you accidentally forgotten your wallet? How about your smartphone? I'm willing to bet your wallet is far more neglected, and for good reason.

When you combine insurance cards, rewards cards, credit cards, debit cards and some form of ID -- wallets become heavy, thick, and downright annoying to deal with.

Continuing with our theme of spring cleaning, let's take a look at how to convert your boring, analog wallet into an interactive (and at times impressive) digital solution.

Payments

Let's start with the elephant in the room: mobile payments. The expectation surrounding the idea of digitizing a wallet is the the ability to pay with a smartphone. A reasonable expectation on all accounts.

Services such as ISIS and Google Wallet allow certain devices to be scanned via NFC at a slim list of vendors to transact a payment. The combination of requiring a limited list of devices along with an even more limited list of vendors is a frustrating pain point for the mobile payment industry as a whole. There's nothing wrong with using either system (ISIS or Wallet) if you own the right device and find yourself at a participating retailer, but odds are you won't be happy with the overall experience.

For a more robust and sometimes magical experience, check out a solution from a company called Loop. By purchasing a small fob from the company, you're able to swipe, transfer and store your card information into a secure app directly on your device. Not only does the fob act as a card reader, it also doubles as a payment solution which Loop claims is compatible with 90 percent of current credit card readers. Meaning, you don't have to consult a map of vendors that accept Loop; you simply walk in, hold it up to the credit card machine and press a button. Here, watch this video to get a better idea of how it works.

In addition to being able to pay with the Loop Fob or ChargeCase, you can also store cards of all types within the app; essentially replacing your wallet.

The Fob is available now and retails for $39. An iPhone case (that doubles as a battery case) being released in Q2 for $99. The Fob is better suited for Android users (the Android version of the app is in beta, with planned release for Q2), while iOS users can use either the Fob or the ChargeCase.

LifeLock Wallet App

The name isn't all that familiar, but the app likely is. LifeLock purchased the Lemon Wallet App late in 2013 and promptly relaunched the app with a new name.

Names aside, LifeLock is a free app to help you maintain a digital wallet. You're able to scan credit cards, debit cards, rewards cards, membership cards -- you get the point. Going even further than simply letting you store payment information in the app, you can also track your account balances and spending. Try doing that with your current wallet.

Naturally, there are prompts to sign up for LifeLock's identity-protection service, but you can just ignore them. The wallet portion of the app remains free.

Download the LifeLock Wallet App for iOS or Android.

Receipts

Receipts are a necessary evil at times, including during business trips and the holidays. Personally, I despise having to carry around a piece of paper to prove I purchased something, but I digress.

Instead of managing a pile of paper, scan your receipts and store them digitally. One of the apps I use to scan receipts isn't meant for personal use so much as it's meant for business users. The service is called Expensify. Using an iOS or Android device you can snap a photo of a receipt and save it to the app, where it will then covert it into a digital copy for you.

Both free and paid account options exist, each offering a varying number of scans and features respectively.

 

Spring cleaning- Going digital with your wallet - CNET 2014-04-25 12-51-01

NETMundial: desafio agora é a implementação

 

Publicada em 25/04/2014 7:06

A Internet amanheceu nesta sexta-feira, 25 de abril de 2014, ciente dos princípios comuns que devem nortear a sua governança e do roteiro desejado para o seu desenvolvimento. Nos últimos dois dias, 1.480 representantes de diferentes setores e 97 países, aclamou o documento final da conferência NETmundial, nomeado “Declaração Multissetorial de São Paulo“, que avançou e alguns pontos e retrocedeu em outros.

“Pode não ser um documento perfeito, mas é o resultado de um processo de baixo para cima que agrega contribuições de múltiplos setores dos quatro cantos do mundo”, disse Virgílio Almeida, presidente do NETmundial, em alusão ao descontentamento das delegações da Rússia, Cuba e Índia, além de representantes da sociedade civil, com o resultado final. “Esse documento deve ser visto como uma contribuição de um grande número de representantes para estabelecer de fato uma governança mundial para a Internet”, pontuou. “Chegar a esse texto foi uma vitória”, completou.

As delegações russa e indiana criticaram a falta de transparência na organização da conferência. Os russos manifestaram descontentamento de não terem sido convidados a participar do Comitê de Alto Nível que consolidou os debates no documento final.

Avanços
Em linhas gerais, a Declaração Multisetorial avança ao reforçar a necessidade de globalização da ICANN e manter o cronograma para as transições da administração da IANA, do governo americano para uma entidade multisetorial, que pelo ouvido durante a conferência, aponta para a criação de uma estrutura administrativa para a própria IANA que deverá estar funcionando em setembro de 2015, quando termina o contrato que a vincula aos EUA.

Avança também ao consagrar o processo multisetorial para deliberar sobre a governança da Internet, e reforçar a importância do Internet Governance Forum (IGF) ao cobrar que as recomendações do grupo de trabalho CSTD, da ONU, sejam implementadas até o fim do segundo ciclo, em setembro de 2015, com melhorias (veja abaixo).

Decepções
Esses avanços garantiram que, ao contrário de Rússia, Cuba e Índia, que declaradamente se opuseram ao documento, a sociedade civil não retirasse o apoio ao texto, mas fizesse algumas objeções.

Na opinião deste segmento, a Declaração Multisetorial retrocede nas definições dos princípios que devem nortear a Internet ao adotar uma redação mais branda – embora mais abrangente – para condenar a prática de vigilância e deixar de fora uma definição de neutralidade de rede, comprometendo, sobretudo, a liberdade de expressão.

O texto final acabou ficando “mais conservador” ou “pior que o rascunho”, murmuravam alguns pelos corredores. O próprio ministro Paulo Bernardo reconheceu que o texto poderia ter avançado mais em relação à definição de neutralidade de rede. “Mas tivemos que ceder, para não comprometer todo o trabalho feito. Como ficou, nos atende”, afirmou o Ministro.

A neutralidade de rede é citada entre os pontos muitos discutidos na NETMundial que requerem discussões posteriores em fóruns para além da conferência, por necessitarem de uma maior compreensão. Se opuseram à inclusão da definição de neutralidade de rede no texto o setor empresarial (notadamente as operadoras de telefonia) e os representantes do governo dos Estados Unidos e da Comunidade Europeia. Ambos discutem em suas respectivas jurisdições legislações específicas sobre o tema.

A grande frustração da sociedade civil foi a retirada, no parágrafo que trata da arquitetura aberta e distribuída da Internet, da menção ao igual tratamento de protocolos e dados, um dos princípios da neutralidade da rede.

Alguns representantes da sociedade civil também lamentaram a inclusão, no texto final, de uma menção à proteção aos direitos autorais no capítulo que fala da responsabilização de intermediários, após pedido do representante da Motion Pictures Association. “Ficou a redação da OCDE, que remete à proteção de direitos autorais”, explica Veridiana Alimonti, advogada do Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (Idec) e conselheira do Comitê Gestor.

De um modo geral, o texto da Declaração Multisetorial, ainda que de forma implícita, acompanha uma série de resoluções da ONU com relação aos Direitos Humanos. A própria definição de direitos humanos, alvo de grande controvérsia durante os debates, acabou ficando em conformidade com os documentos da ONU.

Próximos passos
Ao fim, Vírgilo de Almeida conclamou os participantes a continuarem contribuindo com comnetários no site oficial da NETMundial e reforçou a necessidade de avançar da formalização dos processos de governança internacional de Internet na reunião do IGF, em setembro, na Turquia.

O maior desafio agora é assegurar que o diálogo internacional em torno da governaça da rede, iniciado aqui em São Paulo, não vire letra morta.  “Devemos celebrar o enorme avanço do NETMundial.  Mas, a partir de amanhã, a luta é pela implementação”, disse Fadi Chehadé, presidente do ICANN, na plenária final.

Não por acaso, cabe a ele uma das tarefas mais importantes: a definição do novo modelo de administração da IANA. Dirigindo-se a ele e membros da ICANN, em um painel que tratou do assunto, Vinton Cerf, pai do TCP-IP e vice-presidente do Google foi contundente: “Não compliquem as coisas. Não ferrem com tudo!”

Vale não só para a administração da raiz.

A ONG Access fez uma das melhores coberturas do NETmundial. Vale ver. É dela o infográfico abaixo, que resume bem todos os assuntos em debate

 

 

Crônica de morte anunciada- Hoje é o último dia do Windows XP - IDG Now! 2014-04-08 09-42-50