Reuters - HP aims to transform market with touchy-feely PCs

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HP aims to transform market with touchy-feely PCs

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2008 5:35PM UTC

By Georgina Prodhan, European Technology Correspondent

BERLIN (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest computer maker, launched a new generation of PCs on Tuesday that respond to users tapping or stroking the screen, potentially bringing user-friendly computing to the masses.

The TouchSmart All-in-One is designed around music, photos and video but has a full set of PC functions, and is the most persuasive product yet in HP's turnaround of a PC business that was once defined by run-of-the-mill products and low margins.

The starting price of $1,299 for the TouchSmart, which will go on sale in 17 countries in July, is comparable with that of other premium models that are less distinctive and easy to use.

The way icons or documents on the screen can be enlarged, diminished or scrolled through by a fingertip brush of the screen is reminiscent of Apple's iPhone, although HP has been developing touch technology for a quarter of a century.

"No new product has been more significant as this new TouchSmart PC we just showed you," said David Roman, head of marketing communications for HP's Personal Systems Group, at HP's main annual product launch held this year in Berlin.

Todd Bradley, the group's executive vice president, told Reuters: "We don't think about this as a niche. We think about it as a global product that will inspire demand and drive desirability," he said, but declined to speculate on what size the market for such PCs might reach.

Crawford Del Prete, executive vice president of global research at IDC, said: "I think the price point is getting compelling for a premium PC. I think it would be even more attractive if they could get it under a thousand."

He pointed out, however, the risks HP was taking by making large investments in an unproven market.

"It requires a set of marketing expertise and it requires a significant amount of investment," he added. "An Apple or someone else could do this but it's not for the faint of heart, it's not for people who don't want to invest in the product."

HP's touchscreen technology works on top of Microsoft's Vista operating system, and product managers said there were no current plans to develop versions for other operating systems, such as open-source Linux.

HP's launch came a day after Apple announced a new version of its ground-breaking iPhone, the original version of which sparked intense interest in touchscreens and a host of imitators.

IDC's del Prete said: "I don't think Apple's impact can be underestimated."

Rob Enderle, chief analyst with technology research firm the Enderle Group, said HP's products launched on Tuesday, which include 17 new notebooks and a professional display monitor that can show a billion colors, could put it out of rivals' reach.

"Todd Bradley took a unit that many thought was a liability to HP and turned it into one of HP's top performers and into segment leadership ... to a point where it may not be possible for a competitor to catch it," he said.

The new TouchSmart PCs will launch in countries including the United States, Japan, China, India and Britain on July 13. The models sold in Europe will be about half as expensive again as their U.S counterparts, partly due to extra features.

Del Prete said the HP TouchSmart could appeal to social groups such as families or students sharing an apartment who wanted a PC that could also double as a group messageboard or second television set.

When invited to compare the touchscreen interface with the early days of PCs, when users unfamiliar with using a computer mouse would commonly jab at the monitor with a fingertip, del Prete said: "Now you point at the screen and something happens."

(editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

Reuters - Apple iPhone encore expected

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Apple iPhone encore expected

Monday, Jun 09, 2008 2:55PM UTC

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - June has arrived and for Apple Inc fans and investors that means just one thing -- a new iPhone.

The encore to the original iPhone, which launched nearly a year ago amid unprecedented industry buzz, is widely expected to be the main attraction when Chief Executive Steve Jobs takes the stage at Apple's developers' conference on Monday.

The new iPhone will be accompanied by support for corporate e-mail and a slate of new programs that could help boost sales of the devices, which sport a touch-sensitive screen, wireless Internet access and iPod-style media functions.

"The thing for Apple is to be able to leverage the iPhone for further innovation, or they run the risk of being the next (Motorola) RAZR, which was iconic in its own way, but for which innovation did not come fast enough," Shiv Bakhshi, director of mobility research for market research firm IDC.

Apple has declined to comment on what Jobs will announce, but analysts are betting he will show off a long-rumored phone running on a so-called 3G, or third-generation, network.

That would address one of the chief complaints about the current iPhone: the speed at which it calls up Web pages on AT&T Inc's pokey EDGE network.

That is a particularly important concern in Europe, which is ahead of the United States in building new networks and where sales of the iPhone have lagged.

"I see 3G as important for the U.S. but essential for overseas," analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis said of a faster iPhone.

"It will be appreciated by technology enthusiasts and anybody who wants to get fast Web browsing outside the hot spots."

A new iPhone may be a catalyst for Apple stock. Investors have regained confidence that demand for the company's Macintosh computers and iPod media players is holding up amid fears the U.S. economy is headed for recession.

Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid raised his price target on Apple shares on last Monday to $225 share from $195, citing strong demand for its laptops and sales of up to 16.5 million iPhones next year.

INEXPENSIVE IPHONE?

There is also speculation Apple could bow to a cellphone industry practice and offer a subsidized iPhone, an arrangement where AT&T could kick in a couple hundred dollars to make the devices more affordable. AT&T already gives Apple a slice of the monthly service fees it gets from iPhone subscribers.

"We think that actually Apple could talk about a very disruptive business model, or a change in their business model, embracing subsidies where necessary, multiple carriers to help get the iPhone into more hands," Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes told a conference call last week.

But more important than the actual hardware will be new services and programs that can tap the increased power.

Some reckon that will include the ability to download songs from iTunes using the cellular network. IPhone users now have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to get music from Apple's online store.

Apple will also roll out its highly anticipated support for corporate e-mail, a capability it showed off earlier this year and that is expected to give iPhone a push into business, which now overwhelmingly use Research In Motion Ltd's Blackberry devices.

Apple will also launch its iPhone "applications store" that will sell programs made by developers outside of Apple. The service marks an about-face for Jobs, who initially blocked third-party software from the device.

"That's important for developers who can now build this out as a critical platform for Apple," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "The potential here is sort of unlimited."

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Andre Grenon)

Reuters - Ed McMahon fights foreclosure on Beverly Hills home

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Ed McMahon fights foreclosure on Beverly Hills home

Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008 5:37PM UTC

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to U.S. talk show host Johnny Carson, is fighting to save his multimillion dollar Beverly Hills home from foreclosure, McMahon's spokesman said on Wednesday.

McMahon, 85, most famous for his "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny" introduction to "The Tonight Show" for 30 years, is one of the most high-profile people to be caught up in the U.S. housing downturn and credit squeeze. Beyond his "Tonight Show" duties, McMahon also hosted popular U.S. TV talent show "Star Search."

Spokesman Howard Bragman said the jovial TV personality was having "very fruitful discussions" with his mortgage lenders after a notice of default was filed in February.

According to public records, McMahon was then about $644,000 in arrears on the mortgage for the six-bedroom, five-bathroom home in an exclusive area of Beverly Hills. The house has been on the market for about two years and the current asking price is $5.75 million.

Bragman said McMahon fell and broke his neck about 18 months ago, preventing him from working. His health problems and the weak housing market forced him into foreclosure proceedings.

McMahon and his wife Pamela "understand that they are in the same situation as hundreds of thousands of other hard-working Americans, and their hearts go out to them," Bragman said.

According to the National Association of Realtors, 14.5 percent or one in seven homes for sale across the nation in April were the result of foreclosure.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by David Wiessler)

USA TODAY - U.S., Japanese scientists win prize for nanotech

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MADRID, Spain
By Ciaran Giles, Associated Press

Three Americans and two Japanese scientists hailed for developing materials to fight diseases and protect the environment were named winners Wednesday of the Prince of Asturias prize.

The scientists won the 2008 technical and scientific research award for their work in the field of nanotechnology, the Prince of Asturias Foundation said.

The five, who work separately, are physicist Sumio Iijima; engineers Shuji Nakamura and Robert Langer, and chemists George Whitesides and Tobin Marks.

"These scientists have created new, revolutionary materials and transcendental techniques for fighting diseases, such as those related to the brain and cancer, and for producing artificial tissues and organs," the foundation said in a statement.

"Their work also stands out for its contribution to the protection of the environment and energy-saving via the use of new sources of clean energy that may be produced at a low cost," the foundation said.

Eight Prince of Asturias prizes are awarded each year in categories such as arts, scientific research, sports, letters and humanities.

They will be awarded a $78,000 cash prize and a sculpture by the Spanish artist Joan Miro. The prizes are named for Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish crown, and are presented each fall in Oviedo, capital of the northern region of Asturias.

Iijima, who works at Meijo University, is credited with discovering carbon nanotubes, giving rise to a new generation of ultralight, ultrastrong materials used in the safe storage of hydrogen, one of the fuels of the future.

Nakamura, now working at the University of California, Santa Barbara, invented LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes, a revolutionary source of energy-saving light.

Langer is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directs an internationally renowned biomedical research laboratory. He is considered the father of intelligent drug delivery in the body, greatly enhancing the treatment of different types of cancer.

Whitesides teaches at Harvard University and has won numerous awards for his work in developed nanoscale materials.

Marks works at Northwestern University and is considered a leader in the field of chemical catalysis, having developed numerous types of recyclable, environmentally friendly plastics.

Website address: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/nano/2008-06-04-asturias-prize_N.htm

Reuters - AMD launches much-awaited Puma notebook chip line

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AMD launches much-awaited Puma notebook chip line

Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008 6:33AM UTC

By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc is rolling out a much-awaited line-up of chips for laptops, as Intel Corp's main rival seeks to regain a competitive footing against the world's biggest chip maker.

AMD, which in April posted its sixth consecutive quarterly loss amid missteps and market-share losses to Intel, said the launch of the processors and related parts, code-named Puma, is its largest-ever launch for notebook personal computers.

AMD counts more than 100 different notebook PCs designed to use versions of the Puma platform. "This is double the design wins over any previous mobile launches," Leslie Sobon, director of product marketing at AMD, said in a phone interview.

PC makers using Puma chips include Acer Inc, Asus, Dell Inc, Fujitsu Siemens Computers BV and Hewlett-Packard Co, she said. Prices for the mobile PCs will be mid-range for laptops, from about $700 up to $2,000. Most will be available in time for the back-to-school shopping season, and some will be available this week.

Growth in desktop PCs has been slowing for years, and the mobile segment is where the fastest growth is in the PC industry. Market research firm IDC predicts that consumers will buy more mobile PCs than desktop PCs by the end of this year.

"It is a good platform and I think the design wins are a testament to that fact," IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell said. "Everybody wants a serious competitor to Intel, you can't ignore that. But people aren't going to randomly take an alternative if it's not any good."

Sunnyvale, California-based AMD is offering three versions of the Puma platform -- a collection of the microprocessor, wireless chips to connect to WiFi, and related chips. Puma uses AMD's Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core processor as its brain.

At the cheaper end, AMD's new platform will use graphics technology integrated in the chipset, allowing video-gaming and also good enough to play back digital media seamlessly.

A chipset is a collection of semiconductors and components surrounding the microprocessor, a computer's electronic brain.

For those who want better graphics, AMD will sell another platform to PC makers for about $50 more. That will use both a graphics processing unit, from AMD's ATI graphics unit, as well as the integrated graphics functions of the chipset.

Typically, Sobon said, when a PC has a discrete, or separate, graphics chip, the built-in integrated graphics functions of the chipset are disabled.

At the pricier end, AMD will include a high-end discrete ATI graphics chip for more intense gaming as well as working with high-definition home movies and the like, Sobon said.

"What we've heard clearly from our customers is that consumers have enough productivity power. They don't need to open Excel or Microsoft Word any faster," Sobon said. "What people need more performance on is ripping CDs, watching high-definition movies, editing and creating home movies."

The initial focus of the launch is on consumers, but AMD will also target small and medium-size businesses, which is a high-volume market and profitable for big PC makers, AMD said.

Puma's processing engine will not be the Barcelona core, which is in AMD's latest chip used to power servers, but had a small design flaw that delayed volume shipments. AMD has since fixed the problem and aims to ramp up production of Barcelona.

"Barcelona is another bet they have," said Roger Kay, president of market researcher Endpoint Technologies Associates. "I had initially thought that Puma would not do that much for them simply because (Intel's mobile chip) Centrino has so much momentum."

"But as it's unfolded it looks like Puma might be quite successful for AMD," Kay said. "In mainstream notebook computing, this is a very viable alternative to Intel."

(Editing by Braden Reddall)

Reuters - Rare Marley and Hendrix performances sold online

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Rare Marley and Hendrix performances sold online

Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008 1:51PM UTC

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Vintage concert performances by such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix will soon join the nearly 500 recordings already available for download purchase at the music and memorabilia site Wolfgang's Vault.

The additions were made possible through a deal between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Wolfgang's Vault founder Bill Sagan. The recordings include live performances by UMG artists culled from thousands of concerts produced by late promoter Bill Graham, along with gems from other catalogs and archives dating back decades.

"This is a far-reaching agreement to make available what I would consider previously unreleased live performance recordings of Universal Music Group artists from the mid-'60s on through today," Sagan told Billboard.com. "It covers hundreds of UMG performers and thousands of live performance concerts."

Sagan launched the Web site in 2003 after acquiring Graham's cache of memorabilia and concert recordings for $5 million. The downloadable content deal is for 10 years, with a streaming deal stretching "into perpetuity," Sagan said.

If the concert is longer than 30 minutes, a full download is priced at $9.98, with concerts of less than 30 minutes at $5.98. Some one- or two-song performances cost $3.98. The site will continue to offer free streaming.

"Of the 1,434 concerts that are up on the site, 488 can be downloaded right now," said Sagan. "And some very major artists will be downloading within the next 30 to 60 days."

Eventually the product will be offered as CDs and vinyl under Universal's direction. "There will be physical product," Sagan said.

A quick run through the site shows vintage performances for sale by artists including the Alarm, Fleetwood Mac, the Kinks, Billy Joel, Iggy Pop, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople, Poco, Steve Miller, the Tubes, Uriah Heep, Warren Zevon and many others. (http://www.wolfgangsvault.com)

Reuters/Billboard

CNN - Kennedy at North Carolina hospital for brain surgery

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Kennedy at North Carolina hospital for brain surgery

Sen. Edward Kennedy was at Duke University Medical Center on Monday for surgery to treat a malignant brain tumor.

In a statement, the 76-year-old Democratic icon said he and his wife, Vicki, "along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation."

Aides said the senator would be going into surgery around 9 a.m. ET and the surgery would last four to six hours.

Afterward, Kennedy said in the statement, he expects to remain in the hospital "to recuperate for approximately one week."

He added, "Shortly thereafter, I will start radiation treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital and begin chemotherapy."

Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts since 1962, suffered a seizure May 17 while walking his dogs at his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

Three days later, Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General said that preliminary results from a brain biopsy showed a tumor in the left parietal lobe was responsible for the seizure.

The surgeon is Dr. Allan Friedman, Kennedy's statement said. Friedman is chief of the division of neurosurgery and co-director of Duke's Neuro-Oncology Program, according to the hospital's Web site.

Friedman is responsible for more than 90 percent of all tumor removals and biopsies conducted at Duke, the medical center's Web site says.

It's possible Kennedy will be awake for his surgery, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent a neurosurgeon.

Friedman and the Duke hospital are known for surgery called "motor mapping" in which doctors locate the areas of the brain responsible for things such as movement and speech and map these areas to ensure they are avoided.

Often during such operations, surgeons ask a patient to repeat certain words or make a movement such as squeezing a hand so they can identify areas of the brain involving speech and movement.

They then attempt to remove as much of the tumor as they believe they can safely, Gupta said.

Gupta said earlier that a tumor in the left parietal lobe could affect the senator's ability to speak and understand speech as well as the strength on the right side of his body.

Gupta said such tumors don't usually metastasize or spread to other parts of the body.

"What they do do -- and I think that's a concern to people -- is that they grow, and sometimes they invade other normal parts of the brain. That is the big concern here," he said.

Malignant glioma is the most common primary brain tumor, accounting for more than half of the 18,000 primary malignant brain tumors diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Kennedy used his statement Monday to focus on the presidential race as well his surgery. "After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president," he said.

Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, described Kennedy as a "giant" of the Senate.

"I think you can argue that I would not be sitting here as a presidential candidate had it not been for some of the battles that Ted Kennedy has fought," Obama said.

"He is somebody who battled for voting rights and civil rights when I was a child. I stand on his shoulders."

Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, said Kennedy's courage and resolve made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history.

"He's a fighter. There isn't anybody like him who gets up and goes out and does battle on behalf of all of us every single day," Clinton said. "I know he's a fighter when it comes to the challenges he's facing right now."

Sen. John McCain, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee, also offered his thoughts and prayers for Kennedy's family.

"I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate. And I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate," McCain said.

President Bush said in a statement he was saddened by the news and would keep the senator in his prayers.

"Laura and I are concerned to learn of our friend Sen. Kennedy's diagnosis. Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit. Our thoughts are with Sen. Kennedy and his family during this difficult period," he said.

Kennedy had surgery in October to clear his carotid artery in hopes of preventing a stroke. Until the seizure, the powerful Democrat appeared in fine health. He suffers chronic back pain from injuries suffered in a 1964 plane crash.

Kennedy is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is an iconic liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave and the minimum wage.

He is the youngest of four brothers in a powerful and legendary family. His oldest brother, Joe Kennedy, was killed in World War II; John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States and slain in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. attorney general, was running for president when he was assassinated in 1968.

Reuters - Small PCs big news as economy slows

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Small PCs big news as economy slows

Sunday, Jun 01, 2008 5:40PM UTC

By Baker Li

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Smaller, low-cost PCs are likely to be at the top of the shopping list for technology buyers gathering in Taipei this week for the world's second largest computer fair, as an economic slowdown in the United States forces consumers to cut back on spending.

Shoppers are feeling the pinch from rocketing fuel costs and rising prices, and in the United States the subprime crisis has left lenders less willing to hand over credit, leaving some consumers reluctant to buy new expensive personal computers and gadget heavy mobile phones.

Cheaper, low-cost PCs, such as Asustek Computer Inc's <2357.TW> Eee computer, aimed at emerging markets and buyers of additional computers, may keep growth on track for many computer and component makers.

These PCs, many with longer battery lives and wireless connection features, will share the stage with a line of eco-friendly computers with slimmer, energy-efficient displays and solar power systems, designed to cut power consumption as oil prices soar and consumers seek ways to reduce their environmental impact.

"We don't have deep pockets now," said Kevin Chung, manager at Taiwan's Jih Sun Investment Consulting.

"We really have to watch closely on the buying interest because that is going to be a signal on how the recovery's strength will be in the second half."

Asustek Computer, which makes the runaway success Eee PC, will display new, wider-screen models that allow users to do everything from storing video clips in shock-proof flash memory and surfing the Web in coffee shops.

Acer Inc <2353.TW>, Taiwan's most famous PC brand, will also test the water by introducing similar low-cost PCs as it expand into fast-growing emerging markets, including China and India.

"We will launch a notebook different than the ones we've sold before and targeted at a new consumer segment," an Acer spokeswoman said.

Next to Acer's booth, Intel Corp <INTC.O> will be promoting its new processors, as the U.S. chip giant sees a big market for ultra low-cost PCs that can fit in one's pocket and for the netbook, a PC selling for about $250.

WIMAX

The show's organizers say a total of 1,725 exhibitors, including foreign technology companies, such as Intel and AMD <AMD.N>, will attend the June 3-7 show in Taipei, up 29 percent from last year to a record high.

They arrive at a time when semiconductor and display makers are scaling down their capital spending to ease pressure on the supply side, and when a new batch of computers, mobile phones and game machines have just hit the stores.

Research firm IDC predicts that worldwide PC shipments are expected to rise 13 percent, to reach 296 million units in 2008, and will grow about 10 percent in each of the next two years.

For the first time, Computex buyers can have a quick tour by using trial laptops that have an ultra-high-speed Internet technology, WiMax, built in when they take free shuttle buses, the organizers said.

Many Taiwan PC makers and telecom operators have pinned their hopes WiMax technology winning the battle to be the fourth-generation mobile standard of choice.

Global spending on WiMax infrastructure, including base stations and equipments, is likely to grow to $3.5 billion in 2011, more than tripling from 2006, according to IDC.

"WiMax has been getting much chatter and with players like Sprint <S.N> and Google <GOOG.O> coming in, its a huge push for the technology," said Rosemary Ho, Chairman and CEO of Global Mobile Corp, a WiMax license holder in Taiwan.

Intel has also made a big bet that mobile WiMax will take off soon, even though many large operators in developed countries are throwing their weight behind a rival technology, known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

(Additional reporting by Sheena Lee)

(Editing by Louise Heavens)

Reuters - Is oil windfall a curse for poor countries?

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Is oil windfall a curse for poor countries?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:5PM UTC

By Ed Stoddard - Analysis

DALLAS (Reuters) - Red-hot oil prices are a blessing for big energy companies but often prove a curse for poor oil-producing countries.

Exxon Mobil Corp and other energy giants traditionally use good times as an occasion to make prudent investments with their cash. But oil-rich countries that are poor -- and often poorly run -- tend to squander their windfall profits on dubious projects or have them stolen by corrupt officials.

So when the inevitable price bust occurs, developing countries are ill-prepared.

"The oil majors have many decades of experience in smoothing out their revenues and investing the money during the fat years to prepare for the lean years," said UCLA political scientist Michael Ross.

Exxon, which was holding its annual meeting on Wednesday, enjoyed full-year earnings last year of $40.61 billion.

State coffers in oil-producing countries like Angola are also overflowing but many lack the transparency of publicly listed Exxon. Many have neither the capacity to handle such an income surge nor the will to spend it in an equitable manner.

"New oil producers especially are largely unprepared for revenues of this scale ... oil-producing countries today are being hit with a tsunami of cash, and the danger is that they will squander it just like they squandered the surpluses of the 1970s," Ross, a noted expert in the field, told Reuters.

The new oil club includes African nations such as Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Sudan.

Grounds for optimism are scant. Equatorial Guinea has risen in a few short years to become sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest crude exporter after Nigeria and Angola.

Yet most of its half-million people live in grinding poverty, and income disparities are glaring. Equatorial Guinea stands out as its small population means that oil cash could actually make a meaningful impact on the lives of its people.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has been in office since he overthrew his uncle in a coup in 1979, and human rights groups say he tolerates little dissent. The country was ranked as the tenth-most-corrupt in the world last year by Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International in a 180-nation survey.

Angola has been accused of graft on a grand scale while many of its people are among the world's poorest. According to the International Monetary Fund it could not account for at least $4.2 billion in oil revenue between 1997 and 2002.

"When you have a situation with little fiscal transparency in the context of high oil prices, you have problems. But Angola is doing better now, it is publishing details of what it's paid by the different oil companies," said Razia Khan, the Africa economist for Standard Chartered.

"But the criticism is that that data is only out with a considerable lag," she added.

Oil prices on Wednesday rose to near $130 per barrel, not far from the U.S. crude record high of $135.09 reached last week. Oil prices have doubled in the last year as speculators pile into commodities and as demand soars in emerging economies.

OIL, GUNS AND BUTTER

Red-hot oil prices strengthen the hand of repressive governments that can buy more guns and that seldom give much thought to the "butter" side of expenditure.

They can also grease the wheels of conflict as the stakes in the game are so much higher. The militant attacks in Nigeria's impoverished but oil-soaked Niger Delta which have helped keep prices on the boil are an example of this trend.

A botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea a few years ago is another. In a commentary in the current issue of "Foreign Affairs," Ross writes that oil-producing states today host about a third of the world's civil wars, up from one-fifth in 1992.

Rivers State in Nigeria's Niger Delta is often held up as a prime example. Elections in 2003 and 2007 were overwhelmingly won by the country's ruling party but widely dismissed by outside observers as farces.

"The spoils of controlling political office in the Delta are higher now than they've ever been, especially because so little has been done to prevent public officials from stealing the money they are accountable for," said Chris Albin-Lackey, the senior African researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"It really seems that the primary consequence of increasing revenues going into government coffers has been increasingly violent and corrupt struggles for political power," he said.

Many developing countries also simply lack the capacity and technical expertise to deal with such a sudden flow of revenue and would have trouble allocating it efficiently even with the political will to do so.

"There are several studies which show that the national oil companies are much more inefficient in terms of how they spend or invest their money because they are not market-driven companies," said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"But some have matured over time such as Petrobras in Brazil, which is an outstanding company," he told Reuters.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Reuters - Next Microsoft operating system has touch controls

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Next Microsoft operating system has touch controls

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:23AM UTC

By Eric Auchard

CARLSBAD, California (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp plans to give users of the next version of its Windows operating system touch screen controls as one option for controlling the software, its top executives said on Tuesday.

Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer showed off new Windows features based on software it calls "multi-touch" that will be part of Windows 7, the next version of Windows, which Ballmer said was due out in late 2009.

The ability to use touch to give users fingertip control of their screens could help revolutionize how computer desktops and mobile phones are controlled and would be an alternative to existing mice, keyboard and pen-based user controls.

During a joint interview that kicked off the Wall Street Journal's three-day D: All Things Digital conference, an annual gathering of the computer industry elite taking place north of San Diego, Ballmer said touch screen controls was one example of how Microsoft would improve on existing Windows software.

Microsoft is seeking to one-up Apple Inc, which made touch-screen software central to the success of its iPhone mobile device, which combines computer, phone and Web features and has sold around 6 million units in its first 11 months.

After more than a decade of slow development, Gates said new ways of interacting with computers other than keyboards and mice have matured to the point where they are ready to go mainstream.

"We are at an interesting juncture where almost all of the interaction is with the computer and mouse, today, and, over the years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink, all of those will become huge," Gates said.

He was referring to technologies that gives users the ability to control computers with voice commands, detect and sort different kinds of images and use electronic ink instead of typing for computer input.

SURFACE

Multi-touch software builds on existing capabilities Microsoft has introduced in recent years including Surface, for interacting with large tabletop computer displays, TouchWall for mounted screens and Tablet PCs for touch-screen notebooks.

In a demonstration of touch-screen capabilities to be offered in Windows 7, Microsoft showed a new application called "Touchable Paint" that lets a user paint with their fingers, as well as software to organize photos or navigate maps by touch.

"It is not about complete replacement of the mouse," Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's corporate vice president in charge of Windows Experience Program Management, said in a first-time demonstration of multi-touch features to run inside Windows 7.

Ballmer said Microsoft is trying to learn from the reaction to Windows Vista, the latest version of its operating system, which was introduced in January 2007 but faced initial criticism for being incompatible with many older applications.

He said Microsoft has sold 150 million copies of Vista, up from 140 million the company reported it had sold a month ago.

"When you read the customer research, the No. 1 people found jarring is that we changed the user interface," Ballmer said. "People take a while to get used to it."

He said Microsoft had learned lessons about making dramatic changes in the way users interact with new versions of Windows. Conference co-host Walter Mossberg asked Ballmer whether Microsoft was done changing the user interface.

"We will polish it," Ballmer replied. "We will change it, but there are ways to change it and there are times to do it."

Vista followed five years after the previous Windows upgrade and was beset by delays due to the complexity of updating a piece of software with some 50 million lines of code that runs on more than 90 percent of the world's computers.

After the problems of releasing Vista in a timely manner, Ballmer pledged to never again wait so long between releases of its Windows operating system. Microsoft has said it expected to release the new operating system code-named Windows 7 around three years after the early 2007 release of Windows Vista.

Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft considered Apple a formidable competitor. But he said the two companies' audiences were vastly different in scale, with Apple supplying around 10 million computers this year versus the roughly 290 million machines which PC makers will sell running Microsoft Windows.

"Whether Apple has a PC with touch in it to market first, we'll see," Ballmer said.

(Additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle; editing by Sue Thomas)