Reuters - Google CEO woos suspicious mobile industry

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Google CEO woos suspicious mobile industry

Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 10:59PM UTC

By Georgina Prodhan and Kate Holton

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt urged the mobile industry to embrace the mobile Web instead of seeing Google as the enemy, in his first speech to the world's biggest wireless industry fair.

Schmidt said the industry stood at an historic moment when the computing power of mobile phones, attractive services and networks that could handle them had come together, and said Google was driving network traffic to the benefit of operators.

"It's like magic. All of a sudden there are things that you can do that didn't really occur to you... because of this convergence point," he told a packed auditorium at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"That time is upon us -- right now, right here, for this year and at least the next many years," he told the audience of operators, telecoms gear vendors, and observers of an industry that generally views Google with suspicion.

Google has recently made overtures to other industries who consider it a threat, including newspaper and book publishers, and advertising agencies.

In telecoms, Google has raised hackles by launching a free smartphone platform, Android, selling its own-branded phone directly to consumers without the mediation of carriers, and announcing plans to build a super-fast broadband network.

It has also been seen as a problem by some operators, who are having to invest to upgrade their networks to meet the huge demand for data services required by users who are spending more and more time on the mobile Web on sites from Google and others.

Google announced two new features: one that translates images of text in foreign languages captured by a camera, such as restaurant menus, and the addition of German as the fourth language supported by Google's voice-recognition technology.

YES, NOT NO

Schmidt's remarks were met with skepticism and some hostility from an audience already worried about economic recession and the prospect of becoming "dumb pipes" that merely carry valuable content, including free Internet calls.

"I'm talking about Google stealing operators' talk minutes," said one questioner, when asked by Schmidt to clarify his concerns. Schmidt shot back: "It's not our objective to steal your minutes."

Later, in a roundtable with journalists, Schmidt explained why he believed the two industries needed one another.

"We need them to go ahead and invest these enormous amounts of money at great risk and, in return, they need us to continue to build powerful new reasons to upgrade the connections and get a new phone," he said.

"Find a way to say yes, not no, is our thesis."

Google's core business is in helping online businesses to attract vast audiences to which it can sell advertising.

"We want to have a little bit of Google in everybody's transaction with the Internet," Schmidt said.

He added that, eventually, other means of making money than advertising, like selling software to large enterprises, would become significant. Google has email, document-management and other subscription services for business users.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan and Kate Holton; Editing by Andre Grenon and Tim Dobbyn)

Reuters - FCC to propose faster broadband speeds

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FCC to propose faster broadband speeds

Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 11:35PM UTC

By John Poirier

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission unveiled a plan on Tuesday that would require Internet providers to offer minimum home connection speeds by 2020, a proposal that some telecommunications companies panned as unrealistic.

The FCC wants service providers to offer home Internet data transmission speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to 100 million homes by a decade from now, Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said.

Industry estimates generally put average U.S. Internet speeds at below 4 Mbps.

The proposal is part of the FCC's National Broadband Plan, due next month. It comes a week after Google Inc rattled Internet service providers with its plan to build a super-fast Internet network.

Some providers derided the FCC's plan.

"A 100 meg is just a dream," Qwest Communications International Inc Chief Executive Edward Mueller told Reuters. "We couldn't afford it."

"First, we don't think the customer wants that. Secondly, if (Google has) invented some technology, we'd love to partner with them," Mueller added.

AT&T, the top broadband provider among U.S. telecommunications carriers, said the FCC should resist calls for "extreme forms of regulation that would cripple, if not destroy, the very investments needed to realize its goal."

Verizon, the third-largest provider, and one that has a more advanced network than many competitors, said it has completed successful trials of 100 Mbps and higher through its fiber-optic FiOS network.

"(One gigabit per second) as discussed in current news reports is a lot of signal; typically enough for many massive business operations," Verizon said in a statement that referred to Google's plan to test a network with those speeds. "But we could make it happen over the FiOS network without much trouble, should a market for it develop."

Verizon said it offers speeds of up to 50 Mbps.

One analyst questioned whether the FCC's proposal could lead to a sustainable business model.

"In order to earn a return for investors, you have to be conscious of what consumers will pay. I don't know this is something consumers will pay for," Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen said. "It's a nice goal, but it's a little on the over ambitious side."

Genachowski said the FCC plan would set "ambitious but achievable goals" in remarks to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners conference.

He offered few details on the plan and how the FCC would get providers to reach the minimum speeds. He said the goal is to transform the United States into the world's largest market of very high-speed Internet users.

NEED FOR SPEED

Genachowski said speedier Internet service would help create jobs and economic growth.

"Despite significant private investment and some strong strides over the last decade, America's broadband ecosystem is not nearly as robust as it needs to be," he said.

The United States ranked 19th in broadband speed, trailing Japan, Korea and France, according to a 2008 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Data shows that about 64 percent of U.S. households used a high-speed Internet service in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. That is a 25 percent increase from 51 percent two years earlier.

Companies like network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc, which makes routers and switches which support Internet traffic, would benefit from greater broadband investment.

"Cisco believes that a next generation Internet will enable economic growth and job creation, as well as improve the delivery of health care, education and energy," Jeff Campbell, Cisco's director of technology and trade policy, said in a statement.

Research in Motion Ltd, which makes the BlackBerry mobile device, said on Tuesday that smartphone manufacturers must start developing fewer bandwidth-guzzling products or risk choking already congested airwaves.

Genachowski lauded Google, the world's top Internet search company, for plans to offer its fast network to up to half a million people, and called on other companies to step up their broadband plans.

Google wants to demonstrate that a carrier could easily manage complex applications that use a lot of bandwidth without sacrificing performance.

"We should stretch beyond 100 megabits," Genachowski said. "The U.S. should lead the world in ultra high-speed testbeds as fast or faster than anywhere in the world."

The FCC also wants to use the universal service fund, a U.S. subsidy program for low-income families to gain access to phone service, to get more people high-speed Internet access.

(Additional reporting by Ritsuko Ando and Sinead Carew in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman, Robert MacMillan, Tim Dobbyn)

Reuters - U.S. official confirms top Taliban commander captured

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U.S. official confirms top Taliban commander captured

Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 6:3AM UTC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured in Pakistan in a joint raid by Pakistani and U.S. spy agencies, a U.S. official said on Monday, confirming a report of the capture in The New York Times.

Washington hopes the capture will at least temporarily weaken the Taliban-led insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, where U.S. Marines are leading one of NATO's biggest offensives in the southern militant stronghold of Marjah.

"I would call it significant," another U.S. official said of Mullah Baradar's capture. "But even when you get their leaders, they've shown an amazing resilience to bounce back. It's an adaptive organization."

Both U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The New York Times reported that the raid that apprehended Mullah Baradar was conducted by Pakistan's spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and involved CIA operatives.

The ISI's role may signal a new level of Pakistani cooperation against Taliban leaders behind the Afghan insurgency. Pakistan has long resisted U.S. calls for a crackdown.

"We continue to look for opportunities to coordinate across the border," the second American official said. "We appreciate the help we get."

The White House, the CIA, and the Pentagon declined comment on the operation.

(Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Chris Wilson)

Reuters - Google tweaks Gmail to challenge Facebook, Twitter

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Google tweaks Gmail to challenge Facebook, Twitter

Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010 8:40PM UTC

By Alexei Oreskovic

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Google Inc injected social networking features into its popular Web email product as the world's No. 1 search engine seeks to fend off competition from Facebook and Twitter.

Google introduced a new product dubbed Google Buzz on Tuesday that allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the company's popular email product.

And the company unveiled a handful of new products designed to make the new social networking features suited to mobile devices, like smartphones based on Google's Android operating system.

Google's new social networking technology mimics some of the key features of popular social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which are increasingly challenging Google for web surfers' online time.

Gmail is the third most popular Web based email in the world, with 176.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore. Microsoft Corp's Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Inc's Mail were No. 1 and No. 2, with 369.2 million unique visitors and 303.7 million unique visitors respectively.

In addition to the Buzz features for Gmail, Google said it is launching a special mobile application for Buzz, as well as weaving Buzz technology into the mobile versions of its flagship Web site and its maps products.

Google has tried to ride the social networking wave before, launching the Orkut social network in 2004. But while Orkut is big in certain overseas markets, like Brazil, it has failed to attract as many users as social giants like Facebook and MySpace in the United States.

In building a social network on top of an email product, Google is following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which has taken a similar approach in efforts to keep up with Facebook.

(Additional reporting by Ian Sherr, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

For real-time mobile news, go to - http://usatoday.mlogic.mobi

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As attitudes shift, marijuana classes roll

This school doesn't have a problem with students not paying attention.

"They're paying us to come, and our classes are full," says Jeff Jones, chancellor of the Los Angeles branch of Oaksterdam University, where students learn the business of marijuana from seed to ash.

Attitudes are changing as 14 states now have laws allowing some form of legal marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation. And with legalization comes a growing cannabis industry.

In California alone, the medical-marijuana business could be worth as much as $2 billion, says Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for NORML, a marijuana advocacy group. Prices vary widely, but dispensaries have advertised an ounce of dried marijuana for $340 or more.

"Ten years ago I couldn't get a room full of people to talk about this," Jones says. Now, people from across the country come to learn how to legally grow, distribute and profit with pot, even though it remains illegal under federal law.

Oaksterdam holds classes in three California cities and is expanding out of state. Students learn about the law and science of marijuana as well as how to lobby local government leaders and how to tamp down the pungent, tell-tale smell of cannabis gardens. Growers often worry about theft, and because of legal uncertainties, there is always the risk of a raid by authorities.

About 7,000 people have taken classes at Oaksterdam, says Executive Chancellor Dale Sky Clare, who oversees all branches. There are waiting lists to enroll 850 students started courses this semester, and more than 300 have signed up for next semester, she said.

"It's not just hippies in tie-dye," Clare says.

Mixed group of students

Jeff Studdard, a former police officer, was among students at a recent class. Studdard, 46, of Riverside County, said he had been a school district police officer and a Los Angeles County auxiliary sheriff's deputy trained to recognize drug users until a broken back forced him to retire. The pain, even after three surgeries, prompted him to try marijuana.

"I never smoked pot as an officer," he says, but after the injury, "I know first-hand the benefits." He was hoping to incorporate medical marijuana in a holistic treatment business.

Kenji Klein, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California-Irvine, is studying the emerging legal pot market as a basis for his doctoral thesis. "It's interesting to me the way social change and entrepreneurship get linked together," Klein said.

Many students, worried about legal uncertainties, did not want to be identified.

"We all like to have fun in this industry, but sometimes people go to jail," says Sarah Diesel, an instructor.

Oaksterdam University opened in 2007 in Oakland. Its name is part Oakland, part Amsterdam, the Dutch city known for its permissiveness toward pot. Classes are offered in Oakland, Los Angeles and Sebastopol, north of San Francisco. Last year, it expanded to Michigan, where voters passed a medical-marijuana law in 2008.

On a recent weekend, 55 students in Los Angeles paid $250 each for Marijuana 101, a two-day introductory course.

They were instructed on key court decisions, how to work in a dispensary, which varieties of cannabis are best for various ailments and how to cultivate a good pot crop.

Oaksterdam is not the only school of its type. In Michigan, Nick Tennant, 24, opened Med Grow Cannabis College. "Our law is in its infancy," Tennant says. "We've been doing very well. I think there's huge demand."

'People come from all over'

Oaksterdam's founder and owner, Richard Lee, is a successful medical marijuana entrepreneur. His Coffeeshop Blue Sky is one of four dispensaries licensed in Oakland. He recently financed most of a $1 million signature-gathering effort for a proposal on California's ballot this fall to fully legalize pot while establishing state and local taxation.

"It's been amazing, the response," Lee says of his school. "People come in from all over the country."

Special Agent Casey McEnry of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, wouldn't comment on the cannabis school but said, "It is not the practice or policy of DEA to target individuals with serious medical conditions who comply with state laws."

Much of the school's teaching is devoted to helping students operate within the law, while acknowledging that gray areas remain 14 years after California approved the nation's first medical-marijuana law.

"If you have a grow, don't let anyone know," Diesel warns.

In a recent Los Angeles class, there were students from states with medical-marijuana laws, such as Colorado and Nevada, and states without, including Arizona, Florida, Minnesota and Texas.

"Everybody wants to get in

CNN - Google analyst: U.S. Internet needs to get faster

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Google analyst: U.S. Internet needs to get faster

Google long has been an advocate of a single Web, one that's free of government censorship and barriers to information access.

That's not the reality in today's world however.

Governments from China to France put various roadblocks in the information superhighway to serve their interests, filter speech or protect copyrights.

And high-speed Internet connections haven't reached all corners of the globe -- not even all parts of the United States.

To learn more about this split between Google's idea of an all-access Web and the reality today, CNN sat down recently with Derek Slater, one of Google's policy analysts.

Slater declined to comment on Google's negotiations with China. The search engine has threatened to pull out of the country after the Gmail accounts of some human rights activists were hacked. Since this interview, it has been reported that Google is working with the National Security Agency to prevent similar cyberattacks.

But Slater did offer insights about increasing today's sluggish Internet speeds and why a unified Web can change peoples' lives.

The following is an edited transcript:

CNN: What are you expecting from the broadband talks in the United States?

Slater: Earlier in the year the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] started its proceedings to create a national broadband plan, and in our view that's a great step in the right direction, to make the U.S. once again a leader in broadband.

The Internet was essentially invented here, but over the years we've fallen further and further behind in speed, deployment, penetration.

And we think it is essential that there be a national goal to have fast, affordable and open access to the Internet.

CNN: What aren't we doing that we should be?

Slater: It's a combination of classical and jazz. So there are certain things that we need to do in order to bring faster connections to all Americans, to make sure there's really, truly universal service, and updating the ways in which we do that.

But there's also a range of experimentation that's going to have to go into this.

It's a really difficult challenge to think about how are we going to move not just a step further in terms of the speeds that we're getting today, but a leap further. How are we going to get to 100 megabits per second, a gigabit per second, to homes?

There is no silver bullet there. Instead, it's going to take encouraging creative solutions. Some of them will come from the public sector, that is, some of them will involve municipalities or governments. Some of them are going to come from the private sector. And some of them are going to be a mix.

CNN: What are the ideas that Google has submitted to the FCC?

Slater: One is that community institutions can serve as hubs to improve adoption within communities. Schools, libraries, health care facilities can be local and centralized points where people from the community who aren't familiar with Internet access or don't have access to it can get access, and we can help achieve universal adoption. ...

One other one that we had talked about was encouraging deployment of multiple strands of fiber to peoples' homes. That's because the biggest cost of broadband is digging up the streets, running cables into peoples' homes and so-on.

CNN: Zooming back a bit, why is broadband [high-speed Internet] important for the average person?

Slater: Broadband is the dial tone of the 21st century. It is essential for participation in civil society and political processes. It's also essential infrastructure when it comes to economic growth and innovation, and job creation.

It's also to this century what the beginning of national highways and the electricity grid was for the 20th century. It's going to be an input into a broad range of economic activities.

So, as we fall behind, that's also falling behind in our global competitiveness and our global ability to grow our economy and compete as an innovative country.

That's why this is a national issue, and that's why broadband is different from average consumer goods.

CNN: Why is an "open Internet" important to the globe, or to developing countries?

Slater: At this point the benefits of the open Internet are really indisputable.

We've seen unprecedented innovation come from that. Not just companies like Google, but all sorts, both commercial and not. The net is also essential to free expression and creativity. It's democratizing the ability for everyone to speak and create. It puts a printing press and a megaphone in everyone's hands. That can reach billions of people potentially all over the world.

That sort of democratization of creativity, of innovation, of free expression, is essential to us all, essential to our economy and our society.

You can look specifically at the way the Internet today is transforming the way small businesses operate. Through both Google and other platforms they can advertise their businesses, make people aware of what they're doing online, which they couldn't do through traditional media as easily.

CNN: Are there limits to how much the Internet can improve peoples' lives?

Slater: Faster broadband is not a cure-all to everything, but we see every day how it is improving our economy and benefiting our society. ...

I think improving broadband infrastructure can improve peoples' lives in a number of core areas that are important to our society.

Health care. Improving medical treatment. Imagine if someone in rural Montana could do a medical consultation over the Internet with an expert in New York City. Imagine the same thing if we were talking about a student in Iowa [who] could do a distance learning course with somebody miles away, and in that way could improve education.

CNN: In watching the first weeks after the earthquake in Haiti, have you thought of any ways tech infrastructure or the Web might be used to help build that country back up?

Slater: That's a really interesting question, and I don't have a great answer off the top of my head. I've only seen parts of [the news coverage], but it's been amazing to watch all of the sites that have sprung up to get funding to Haiti. ... Google set up a site to help drive funding there. It's amazing how quickly that stuff can just take root and spread quickly throughout our society.

It reminds me in certain ways of the protests in Iran. It was so quick and easy for people there to start snapping photos and tweeting. And that information diffused and spread throughout the world in a very quick way and a way we've never seen before.

Reuters - U.S. teens lose interest in blogging: study

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U.S. teens lose interest in blogging: study

Thursday, Feb 04, 2010 9:18PM UTC

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blogging by teenagers and young adults has dropped by half over the past three years as they turn instead to texting and social networking sites such as Facebook, a new study shows.

The study released this week by the Pew Internet and American Life project also found that fewer than one in 10 teens were using Twitter, a surprising finding given overall popularity of the micro-blogging site.

According to the report, only 14 percent of teenagers who use the Internet say they kept an online journal or blog, compared with a peak of 28 percent in 2006 -- and only 8 percent were using Twitter.

"It was a little bit surprising, although there are definitely explanations given the state of the technological landscape," Pew researcher Aaron Smith told Reuters.

Smith said the report's authors attributed the decline in blogging to the explosion of social networking sites such as Facebook, which emphasize short status updates over personal journals.

According to the study, 73 percent of teens who were online used social networking sites.

He also cited the ubiquity of cell phones. Much of the communication between young people now takes place on mobile devices, which don't lend themselves to long-form writing.

He said teens may be shying away from Twitter because they see it as designed for celebrities, and because of reluctance to put their thoughts on such a public forum when they can post them to their Facebook page instead.

"It was somewhat interesting in the sense that teens tend to be the early adopters," Smith said. "They were the first to use social networking and texting. Its certainly unusual compared to what we've seen with other technology."

Blogging among adults has held steady since 2005, Pew found, but it has dropped among Internet users between the age of 18 and 29 -- while rising in those over 30.

"Older people are becoming more comfortable with the online environment and young people in the meantime have moved on to social networking and text messaging," Smith said.

The teen portion of the study was based on a telephone survey of 800 people, aged 12 to 17, that was conducted from June to September of 2009.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Reuters - Oracle claims firm stole its intellectual property

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Oracle claims firm stole its intellectual property

Friday, Jan 29, 2010 12:28AM UTC

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has filed a suit against a little known rival that provides low-cost software maintenance services, in a case similar to one that Oracle is fighting against rival SAP AG.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Nevada on Monday, alleges that privately held Rimini Street stole copyrighted material using the online access codes of Oracle customers.

Rimini Street Chief Executive Seth Ravin denied the allegations, saying in an interview on Thursday that his company had done nothing wrong.

"We are going to fight this battle," he said. "The specific allegations we are going to be answering vigorously and aggressively when the time comes in court."

Las Vegas-based Rimini Street sells updates and bug-fixes to Oracle's software for about half of what Oracle charges its customers. Ravin said his company booked about $150 million in business last year.

The charges are similar to claims that Oracle made in a high-profile lawsuit against SAP's TomorrowNow business unit.

Oracle alleges that SAP's Texas-based TomorrowNow business unit illegally used customer log-ins to steal copyrighted materials from Oracle's password-protected Web site.

That case is due to go to trial in San Francisco federal court in November.

Ravin is a co-founder of TomorrowNow, which SAP bought in January 2005. He founded Rimini Street in September 2005.

Maintenance services are one of Oracle's core profit generators. That business generated $11.8 billion in its most recent fiscal year, or about half Oracle's total revenue.

"We are committed to enforcing our intellectual property rights against those who steal or infringe" upon them, Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill)

Reuters - AT&T profit rises 26 percent, plans more spending

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AT&T profit rises 26 percent, plans more spending

Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 8:0PM UTC

By Paul Thomasch and Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers' obsession with using smartphones to find restaurants, surf the web and navigate city streets helped propel a 26 percent rise in AT&T's <T.N> quarterly profit -- but at a cost for the operator.

The strain that wireless devices like smartphones and e-readers have placed on AT&T's network is such that the company announced on Thursday it will increase capital spending by about $2 billion this year, targeting improvements in its wireless service.

The increase was unveiled as AT&T posted revenue and earnings that largely matched analysts' estimates, although its addition of 2.7 million net subscribers in the fourth quarter was nearly 1 million more than expected.

Analysts did, however, point out that just 910,000 of those were the highly prized monthly bill-paying customers, compared with bigger rival Verizon Wireless' addition of 1.15 million postpaid users.

Every new AT&T customer puts more demands on its network. Consumers have complained about service problems in cities such New York and San Francisco, where there are a high proportion of data-hungry iPhone users surfing the web on the go. AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc's <AAPL.O> wildly popular iPhone.

Given the strain on its network, AT&T's announcement yesterday that it will support Apple's iPad tablet is being viewed as a mixed blessing.

To that end, AT&T will increase capital spending by up to 10 percent from 2009 to a range of $18 billion to $19 billion. The roughly $2 billion increase includes spending on wireless network capacity and wires connecting mobile towers.

SLOW ECONOMIC RECOVERY

The spending boost comes as AT&T, along with rivals like Verizon, complained of a sluggish economy.

"Looking to 2010 we're modeling a slow recovery in the economy and employment," said Rick Lindner, chief financial officer of AT&T.

But even in a weak economy consumers appear willing to buy devices like iPhone, which was activated on AT&T's network by 3.1 million customers in the quarter.

Lindner said the high-profile iPad would come with "very positive" economics for AT&T because it neither has to share service revenue with Apple nor subsidize the price of the device.

In contrast, AT&T's payment of hefty subsidies for the iPhone has made its profit margins slimmer than some analysts had hoped even as it brings millions of customers to its network.

AT&T said it would expand wireless margins this year to the low 40 percent range from below 39 percent in the fourth quarter, and it set a long-term goal of margins around 45 percent. Verizon already produces margins in this range.

While iPad will not hit the market for months, other similar devices are already helping AT&T.

Analysts said, in fact, that the quarter's subscriber surprise came from the number of customers that AT&T added with wireless links to devices such as Amazon.com Inc's <AMZN.O> Kindle, Sony Corp's <6758.T> Reader Daily Edition, and the Barnes & Noble <BKS.N> Nook. In this "emerging devices" category, AT&T brought about 1 million users aboard.

Devices such as e-readers are seen bringing in much less monthly revenue per customer than traditional cellphones, but since they are unsubsidized they offer healthy profit margins.

"I don't want to overstate the value of it, but it's a very high profit margin business," said Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen. "There is very little cost associated with the business -- it might be a low revenue per individual user business, but it's a high margin business."

AT&T's quarterly earnings rose in line with Wall Street expectations to $3.01 billion, or 51 cents a share, from $2.40 billion, or 41 cents a share, a year ago, when it took charges for staff cuts and investment losses.

Revenue fell nearly 1 percent to $30.9 billion, which met analyst estimates, according Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For 2010, AT&T said it would deliver "stable consolidated revenues and stable-to-improved consolidated operating income margins, leading to stable-to-improved earnings per share."

Its shares were up 3 cents at $25.59 cents on NYSE.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch and Sinead Carew; Editing by Derek Caney and Steve Orlofsky)

Reuters - Startpage launches anonymous Web search service

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Startpage launches anonymous Web search service

Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 2:2PM UTC

By Georgina Prodhan

LONDON (Reuters) - Search-engine company Startpage launched a service allowing users concerned about privacy to carry out Web searches and click on linked pages without being identified, tracked or recorded.

Unlike mainstream search engines that gather commercially valuable information about user behavior, privately held Startpage (www.startpage.com) has focused on privacy since 2005.

Startpage -- also known as Ixquick outside the United States and Britain -- had already offered private searching, but users would leave the company's protection when they clicked on a search result and entered a third-party website.

The new service offers use of a Startpage proxy that means the user is invisible to all websites, though pages load more slowly since Startpage must first retrieve the contents and then redisplay them.

"My wake-up call came last year," says Katherine Albrecht, who runs U.S. media relations and marketing for Startpage and who says she noticed Google Inc had installed a program monitoring users who typed in terms indicating they had influenza -- and was sharing the information with the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

"I had been a privacy advocate for 10 years, but even so I was using Google just like everybody else," she said.

The chief executive of Google, which dominates the global Web search market, outraged critics last month with comments in a TV interview. "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Eric Schmidt said in a interview on news channel CNBC.

"The reality is that search engines, including Google, do retain this information for some time," he said. "We are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."

In 2006, however, Google was the only major search engine to reject a U.S. Justice Department subpoena to hand over data, saying the demand violated the privacy of users' searches and its own trade secrets.

Rivals Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc complied. Startpage does not keep information about its users on file, so it could not be forced to hand anything over.

Startpage says it has been profitable for the last five years. It is funded by advertising including sponsored links that are matched to the content of Websites and searches, but not to user profiles.

Startpage, which was founded in New York and is owned by private Dutch company Surfboard Holding BV, does not publish user numbers but says it had served over 1.2 billion searches as of December 2009.

It also competes with Infospace's Dogpile, WebCrawler and MetaCrawler in metasearch, or returning results from multiple search engines. It is also exploring ways to offer private email.

(Editing by David Holmes)