Bartz: Yahoo developing content optimization service - Computerworld

IDG News Service - Yahoo is developing technology to help publishers personalize their websites, in much the same way that it helps them to populate their sites with ads, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said on Tuesday.

"We're looking at helping people manage their content," Bartz said at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, during a keynote appearance in which she was interviewed on stage by conference co-chairman John Battelle.

When Battelle asked her if the content management service she was describing existed as a product already, she answered that it doesn't. Once it's ready, Yahoo will be able to help Web publishers with both ads and content, she said.

The "content optimization" tool would focus on helping publishers personalize their content offerings and target it better for their site visitors, a process that requires automation, algorithms and data crunching at a scale that can't be done manually, she said.

For example, Yahoo serves up 6 million variations of its home page every day, varying the content it displays and the placement of items, based on what it determines will be the best experience for different users, she said.

Part of that knowledge comes from what Yahoo knows about signed-in users, from machine-learning insights and, also, from human-driven editorial decisions, Bartz said.

To be a successful content provider, Web publishers need to strive for "intense personalization," and one thing that hurt Yahoo was that it kept its content pages "static too long," she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Yahoo announced new and enhanced local search and social media tools and features, including broader integration with Twitter and Zynga, a new beta version of Yahoo Messenger with more social-networking capabilities and local search improvements.

Yahoo also announced a program called Local Offers, in which Yahoo will aggregate offers, coupons and special deals from local merchants through partners including Groupon, LivingSocial, DealOn, Zozi, Tippr, Coupons.com and Valpak.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Verizon, ATandT, T-Mobile Join to Launch Isis NFC Payment Service - eWeek

Rival carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile will be working together to create a ?national commerce network that aims to fundamentally transform how people shop, pay and save,? the three announced Nov. 16.

The venture, called Isis, relies on smartphones and near-field communications (NFC), which uses short-range, high-frequency wireless technology to pass encrypted information between devices. In countries such as Japan, consumers have used such a service, which essentially turns one?s smartphone into a wallet, for several years now.

Michael Abbott, formerly with GE Capital, has been tapped to lead Isis, which is expected to roll out its service to ?key geographic markets? over the next 18 months.

?Our mobile commerce network, through relationships with merchants, will provide an enhanced, more convenient, more personalized shopping experience for consumers,? Abbott said in a statement. ?While mobile payments will be at the core of our offering, it is only the start. We plan to create a mobile wallet that ultimately eliminates the need for consumers to carry cash, credit and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes.?

Between them, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon offer wireless service to more than 200 million customers, who will have access to Isis. Currently, Isis is working with Discover Financial Services? payment network to develop an infrastructure for the program. Barclaycard US is expected to be the first issuer on the Isis network, offering mobile payment products.

?We believe the venture will have the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis,? said Abbott. ?In the beginning, we intend to fully utilize Discover's national payment infrastructure as well as Barclaycard's expertise in contactless and mobile payments. Moving forward, Isis will be available to all interested merchants, banks and mobile carriers.?

The day before the Isis announcement, Google CEO Eric Schmidt ? while showing off a device expected to be the Nexus S at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco ? explained that Android 2.3, or ?Gingerbread,? will leverage NFC technology, working with an embedded chip in the phone and a mobile application.

"The theory of the case is that you'll be able to take these mobile devices from everybody, and you'll be able to walk into a store and do commerce and be able to figure out where you are, again with your permission," Schmidt said. "It could eventually literally replace your credit card."

He added that NFC uses a higher level of authentication than the traditional credit card magnetic stripe, making it more secure.

Google competitor Apple is also preparing to get in on the action, and in August hired an NFC expert as its new product manger for mobile commerce, as well as published a number of NFC-related patents over the summer. In addition, Nokia ? no stranger to NFC, having launched a trial NFC payment plan in China in 2006, among other efforts ? plans to push out an upgrade to its Symbian 3-running C7 smartphone in early 2011, enabling the device to handle NFC tag reading, Near Field Communications World reported Nov. 14, citing the French site Teknologik.

?Anytime major industry players agree on a step forward, it's a great step for all involved, especially consumers,? Nokia spokesperson Joseph Gallo told eWEEK. ?In this case, with regards to NFC, it adds further value to the handset and ultimately the consumer by allowing access to new services and digital content on their mobile easily and conveniently.?

The ability to easily share content such as business cards and photos, or to use an NFC mobile device as a travel card, ticket, or loyalty card, Gallo explained, ?adds to the consumer's emotional attachment to the device.?

Bling Nation, a company that uses contactless stickers, called Bling Tags, on the back of mobile phones, has recently been running a mobile payment trial with PayPal and will roll out its solution in early 2011, Forbes reported Nov. 15. The Bling technology is compatible with NFC technology, and so will work with NFC phones, Forbes reports, adding that the company is currently in negotiations with handset manufacturers to incorporate the technology directly into their handsets.

Isis, effective as of Nov. 16, will be based in New York.

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Rare Honor for a Living Service Member - New York Times

The young staff sergeant, Salvatore A. Giunta, now 25, of Hiawatha, Iowa, was an Army specialist when he took part in the firefight in eastern Afghanistan three years ago. He is the first living service member to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s most prestigious award, for action in any war since Vietnam.

Sergeant Giunta and the other soldiers of Company B, Second Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, were part of a campaign to provide food, winter clothing and medical care to Afghans in remote villages. They were ambushed in the Korengal Valley in a coordinated attack from three sides.

In a packed ceremony in the East Room before Sergeant Giunta’s family, squad mates and the parents of two soldiers who were killed in the ambush, Mr. Obama recounted the events on the night of Oct. 25, 2007.

“The moon was full; the light it cast was enough to travel by without using their night-vision goggles,” Mr. Obama said, with Sergeant Giunta standing at his side, looking straight ahead. “They hadn’t traveled a quarter-mile before the silence was shattered. It was an ambush so close that the cracks of the guns and the whizzes of the bullets were simultaneous.”

The two lead squad men went down. So did a third who was struck in the helmet. Sergeant Giunta charged into the wall of bullets to pull him to safety, Mr. Obama said. Sergeant Giunta was hit twice, but was protected by his body armor.

The sergeant could see the other two wounded Americans, Mr. Obama recounted.

By now, the East Room was so silent you could hear a rustle from across the room. One Army officer took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.

Sergeant Giunta looked down as the president described how he and his squad mates threw grenades, which they used as cover to run toward the wounded soldiers. All this, they did under constant fire, Mr. Obama said. Finally, they reached one of the men. As other soldiers tended to him, Sergeant Giunta sprinted ahead.

“He crested a hill alone with no cover but the dust kicked up by the storm of bullets still biting into the ground,” Mr. Obama said.

And there Sergeant Giunta saw “a chilling sight” — the silhouettes of two insurgents carrying away the other wounded American — his friend, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan. Sergeant Giunta leaped forward, and fatally shot one insurgent while wounding the other. Then he rushed to his friend. He dragged him to cover, and stayed with him, trying to stop the bleeding, for 30 minutes, until help arrived.

Sergeant Brennan died later of his wounds. So did Specialist Hugo V. Mendoza, the platoon medic. Five others were wounded.

Speaking to reporters after receiving the award, Sergeant Giunta said the honor was “bittersweet.”

“I lost two dear friends of mine,” he said. “I would give this back in a second to have my friends with me right now.”

The outposts in the Korengal Valley were disbanded this spring after months of patrols that cost the American military dearly. Forces were moved to provide security to larger population centers.

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Awaiting the Next Step on Policy on Gay Service - New York Times

Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court issued a sweeping injunction on Tuesday that called on the military to stop enforcing the policy, and to “suspend and discontinue” any investigations or proceedings to dismiss service members under it.

While the Department of Justice is expected to appeal the decision, department officials would not confirm or deny that an appeal was on the way.

The administration has argued that Congress, not the courts, should change the law, because legislation could provide a more orderly process.

That point was telegraphed in comments delivered on Wednesday by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. In his first public statement since the judge’s ruling, he said changing the policy would have “enormous consequences.”

“I feel very strongly that this is an action that needs to be taken by the Congress, and that it is an action that requires careful preparation and a lot of training,” Mr. Gates said as he flew to Brussels for a meeting of NATO ministers.

He noted that the Pentagon was conducting a review of the policy, due in December. “Legislation should be informed by the review that we have under way,” he said.

Questions about President Obama’s response to the court ruling dominated the daily White House briefing with reporters on Wednesday. Mr. Obama has long opposed the policy, yet he now leads the government, which typically appeals to defend laws under challenge.

“The president strongly believes that this policy is unjust, that it is detrimental to our national security, and that it discriminates against those who are willing to die for their country,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary. “And the president strongly believes that it’s time for this policy to end.”

“The bottom line is this is a policy that is going to end,” Mr. Gibbs added. “It’s not whether it will end, but the process by which it will end.”

Opponents of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law anticipated an imminent filing of an appeal.

Robin McGehee, co-founder and director of GetEqual, a civil rights group in Washington for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, said such an action from the government would be “yet another shocking lack of leadership from the White House on issues of equality.”

If the government does appeal, it would probably ask higher courts to keep Judge Phillips’s injunction from taking effect during the appeals process, which could reach the United States Supreme Court.

That is a process that Log Cabin Republicans, the group that brought the suit, is willing to pursue, said Christian A. Berle, the group’s acting executive director.

The group “remains committed to defending this ruling and defending the rights of all service members — in the Ninth Circuit, and to the United States Supreme Court, if necessary.”

At the same time, he said, the group has also asked Congress to repeal the law.

“Log Cabin Republicans prefers whatever solution will end this policy the quickest,” he said.

Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Brussels, and Jackie Calmes from Washington.

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