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Sean Parker says 'The Social Network' was great, but 'complete fiction'

Posted by Harshad

Sean Parker says 'The Social Network' was great, but 'complete fiction'


Sean Parker says 'The Social Network' was great, but 'complete fiction'

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 08:55 PM PST

Sean Parker says 'The Social Network' was great, but 'complete fiction'Former Facebook president Sean Parker has said today that the movie "The Social Network" was great, but the plot is "complete fiction."

Sean Parker is played in the film by actor/musician Justin Timberlake.

In the film, Parker is portrayed as a drug-using, paranoid playboy who eventually loses his position at the company after being caught by the police whilst partying with cocaine and under-aged Facebook interns.

When asked about his thoughts on the film, Parker told the DLD media conference (via Reuters):
It's a complete work of fiction. I kind of wish my life were that cool. There are no Victoria's Secret models in Silicon Valley."


In the late 90s, Parker co-founded Napster, and the online address book Plaxo later.

Because of his current 7 percent stake in Facebook, Parker will become a multi-billionaire when the company goes public.

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Motorola Xoom leaks show off release date, price

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 07:59 PM PST

Motorola Xoom leaks show off release date, priceEngadget has posted a few leaks showing off the Motorola Xoom's still unconfirmed release date and price.

The site says the powerful tablet will be released on February 17th (at least in Best Buy stores) with a price tag of $700, $30 less than the comparable Apple iPad (Wi-Fi/3G/32GB). The current-generation iPad's other specs, however, pale in comparison to the Xoom.

Motorola's Xoom will be the first tablet to run Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which has been optimized for media tablets.

The powerful tablet will ship with a 10.1-inch display, 1280x800 resolution, a Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 32GB onboard memory (expendable via SD), a 5MP dual-LED flash standard camera and a 2MP front-side camera for video conferencing.

Furthermore, the tablet has a micro USB 2.0 port, an HDMI-port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.

Battery life has been rated at 10 hours (peak) for video playback.

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The Pirate Bay's "Music Bay" is 'coming soon'

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 07:33 PM PST

The Pirate Bay's "Music Bay" is 'coming soon'A few years ago, the infamous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay registered The Music Bay domain, but did nothing with it.

It appears now, however, The Music Bay is well on its way to becoming a reality and TF says the record industry should be "very afraid" of its presence.

The subdomain fear.themusicbay.org has been displaying a "coming soon" headline recently, with no other details.

TF spoke with a Pirate Bay 'insider' who said:

The music industry can't even imagine what we're planning to roll out in the coming months. For years they've complained bitterly about piracy, but if they ever had a reason to be scared it is now. It will be a special surprise for IFPI's 78th birthday, and we're thinking of organizing a huge festival in Rome where IFPI was founded.


The IFPI, one of the major music trade groups in the world, will turn 78 in April.

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PSP 2 to have full 3G support, OLED screen?

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 07:00 PM PST

PSP 2 to have full 3G support, OLED screen?The Japanese Nikkei has posted some details about the upcoming PSP 2 handheld, which has yet to be confirmed by Sony but most expect to be unveiled next week.

In the report, the paper says the device will have full 3G support.

Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo will offer the 3G in Japan.

Through 3G, gamers can play multiplayer, download apps, movies and music, but not make any phone calls.

Furthermore, the PSP 2 will have an OLED screen, one that will be significantly larger than current PSP displays. The new PSP's processor will also allow for a new way to "handle HD resolution visuals," says Destructoid.

There is no word on 3G data plan fees and whether Sony will release a Wi-Fi-only model.

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Some Samsung Galaxy S owners finally getting Android 2.2

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 05:27 PM PST

Some Samsung Galaxy S owners finally getting Android 2.2Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant owners will finally receive their OTA Android 2.2 upgrade, after months of waiting.

The Vibrant is the T-Mobile model of the device, which sells as the Captivate on AT&T, the Fascinate on Verizon and the Epic 4G on Sprint.

Because Samsung would not give a detailed answer as to why 10 million Galaxy S owners were still without the update, rumors began flying that the manufacturer was purposely sinking the update to not "devalue" the upcoming 4G models of the device.

As a response, Samsung said:

Samsung does not charge carriers for updates to new versions of Android. We are working to make the Android 2.2/Froyo upgrade available to all U.S. Galaxy S owners as soon as possible. Due to the complexity and unique functionality of each Galaxy S device, we are performing additional testing.


T-Mobile has said the delay was purely technical and the OTA update will hit all Vibrant users within the next month.

Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have not announced any 2.2 update, yet.

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Pachter: Nintendo should have Wii 2 in stores already

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 05:01 PM PST

Pachter: Nintendo should have Wii 2 in stores alreadyVideo game industry analyst Michael Pachter has said this weekend that Nintendo has "blown" their chances to compete by not releasing the Wii 2 yet.

Pachter believes that since the Wii 2 will be playing catch-up to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, regardless, it should be available now, and competing in the "online space."

Says the analyst (via CVG):

With as much respect for Nintendo management as I can muster, I think Nintendo's completely blown it with their second generation Wii strategy. I think they have the mentality that to launch a new [console] they have to retire the old, and I think that's wrong.

I think the right strategy would have been to get a second generation Wii out and keep the old Wii at the same time, and have the second generation be the natural progression upgrade model.


Nintendo has been quoted as saying they will not even talk about the Wii 2 until the original Wii has sold 45 million units in America. Wii sales topped 40 million in the States last month.

Pachter concluded:

They should let people start with the Wii and graduate to the Wii 2, and have online functionality and Call of Duty multiplayer on there and compete with the 360. Instead, they're actually conceding that multiplayer market to Xbox 360 and PS3. They've always conceded it, but now with Kinect and Move, it's a lot easier for people to make 360 or PS3 their starter console.

I just think Nintendo's blown it; I think by the time they launch [their next console] if it's Christmas 2011, it's two years too late, and for sure one year too late. So it's over - I don't think they can ever recover.

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Warner Music Group CEO convicted of insider trading

Posted: 23 Jan 2011 12:10 AM PST

Warner Music Group CEO convicted of insider tradingWarner Music Group chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. has been convicted and fined over insider trading.

The ruling, in French court, came as a surprise as even the prosecutor had recommended that the executive be cleared of charges due to lack of evidence.

During his time as an executive vice president for Vivendi, Bronfman was known as a "mastermind" behind giant mergers in the telecom and media markets.

The disgraced exec received a fine of $6.7 million, and a 15-month suspended jail sentence. Additionally, former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier received a 3-year suspended sentence and a $200,000 fine for similar charges including misleading shareholders.

Both execs said they will appeal the decision.

Messier turned the small water utility company into a major media group during his 8-year reign, which ended in 2002 when the board of directors of the company fired him. When he exited, the company was around 45 billion in debt, after taking on companies like Universal.

The company still has over $15 billion in debt.

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Twitter worm using goo.gl URL shortener to trick users into malware

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 11:43 PM PST

Twitter worm using goo.gl URL shortener to trick users into malwareTwitter has been hit by a new worm this week, one that uses the goo.gl URL shortener to trick users into downloading malicious code.

The worm uses the shortened link to take unsuspecting users to a site which offers the download for "Security Shield."

As with most malware, the "anti-virus protection" is really malicious code.

Writes Sophos security:
If you make the mistake of clicking on one of the malicious goo.gl links you are ultimately taken to a website which attempts to scare you into believing that you have a virus problem on your computer. You are then frightened into installing malicious code on your PC, and asked to pay money to disinfect your systems.


Twitter itself gives some standard advice, asking users to be more cautious when clicking shortened links:

In general, please use caution when clicking on links. If you click on a link and find yourself unexpectedly on a page that resembles the Twitter login page, don't give up your username and password! Just type in Twitter.com into your browser bar and log in directly from the Twitter homepage.

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Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt given $100 million outgoing award

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 11:17 PM PST

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt given $100 million outgoing awardGoogle CEO Eric Schmidt, who announced last week he will be stepping down to be succeeded by co-founder Larry Page, will receive a $100 million equity award as a parting gift.

The stock and option award will be the first for Schmidt since he joined the company in 2001.

Whilst losing his title as CEO, Schmidt will remain as executive chairman, in charge of external matters like relationships with governments and other partnerships.

Page says the decision was made to "speed up decision-making at the top" of the search giant.

Furthermore, Schmidt will cash out of $335 million worth of company stock. After the move he will still have $5.4 billion in shares remaining.

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Steve Ballmer says only 1 in 10 users in China pay for software

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 10:39 PM PST

Steve Ballmer says only 1 in 10 users in China pay for softwareMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer, during a panel discussion about intellectual property protection, has made sure to tell Chinese President Hu Jintao that around 90 percent of Chinese citizens are running pirated Microsoft software.

Microsoft's most popular software includes the Windows operating system and Office word processing suite.

President Obama even went as far as to discuss Ballmer's concerns (via NW):

We're making progress on making sure that the government procurement process in China is open and fair to American businesses. And we've made progress as a consequence of this state visit.

Some of it has to do with intellectual property protection. So we were just in a meeting with business leaders, and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft pointed out that their estimate is that only 1 customer in every 10 of their products is actually paying for it in China. And so can we get better enforcement, since that is an area where America excels -- intellectual property and high-value added products and services.


Ballmer also noted that about 50 percent of Chinese Internet users still use the ancient Internet Explorer 6, because they cannot update their software since they are running pirated editions.

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