AP source: Apple considering Hulu bid (BLOG)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple Inc. is in talks to potentially bid for video-streaming service Hulu, a person close to the situation said Friday.

The person, who said Apple is among several companies interested in Hulu, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the matter. In early July, search giant Google Inc. was said to be among about a dozen companies in talks to potentially buy Hulu. Yahoo Inc. is also believed to be interested.

Hulu, which is owned by Disney, News Corp., Comcast Corp. and Providence Equity Partners, started presenting its financial information to interested bidders late last month, after an unsolicited offer prompted its board to look for other offers.

The online video service streams movies and TV shows from broadcasters ABC, Fox and NBC to computers and — for a monthly fee — to a number of Web-connected mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It expects its paid service, Hulu Plus, to have over a million subscribers by the end of the summer and its CEO, Jason Kilar, has said it is profitable.

For Apple, an acquisition of Hulu could bolster its iTunes store, which provides videos users can rent or buy, but does not currently stream content or offer a subscription streaming service. It could also help the Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad maker as it spars with competitors such as online video pioneer Netflix Inc., which offers both a DVD-by-mail and video streaming service, and Google Inc.'s popular YouTube video streaming site, which streams free, ad-supported videos and rents movies from several major studios.

Apple has plenty of available cash for making a deal. At the end of the last quarter, its horde of cash and securities totaled $76.2 billion.

And Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is currently on medical leave, already has a connection with one of Hulu's owners: He's The Walt Disney Co.'s largest shareholder and a member of its board.

However, if Apple — or any other company — were to buy Hulu, there's no guarantee it would be able to continue streaming content from the company's current owners. A buyer may have to reach a new deal in order to license the content.

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said key to any deal involving Hulu would be an agreement for the continued streaming of its current video content. And if, as many analysts expect, Apple is developing its own TV set, the addition of Hulu would put the company in an "amazingly powerful position," he said.

Hulu isn't interested in just exploring possible offers. Earlier this month Disney CEO Bob Iger told reporters that Hulu's owners are "committed to selling." He spoke on the sidelines of an annual gathering of top media executives hosted by investment bank Allen & Co. in Sun Valley, Idaho. Iger's comments were reported by Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal.

BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said it makes sense that Apple would take a meeting with Hulu, but since part of Hulu's business is ad-supported it's contrary to Apple's current model of buying or renting videos. It makes more sense for Google or Yahoo Inc. to buy Hulu, he said.

"They're not the most logical buyers," Gillis said of Apple. "Maybe peeling off a couple bills to keep it out of the hands of Google makes some sense."

Still, as with any deal, he noted that whether or not it makes sense depends on the purchase price.

Apple's interest in Hulu was reported earlier by Bloomberg.

Google warns of malware infection on Windows users' computers (BLOG)

Google is harnessing the power of the web to alert Windows users of possible malware infections on their machine.

The malware alert was developed after the company noticed "some unusual search traffic" during routine maintenance on their data centers.

"After collaborating with security engineers at several companies that were sending this modified traffic, we determined that the computers exhibiting this behavior were infected with a particular strain of malicious software, or 'malware,'" said Google security engineer Damian Menscher in a July 19 post on the Google Security Blog. "As a result of this discovery, today some people will see a prominent notification at the top of their Google web search results."

The yellow "Your computer appears to be infected" warning will appear at the top of Google's web search results if the company finds a computer is housing a specific type of malware, along with a link that shows how to fix the issue and remove the infections.

"We hope to use the knowledge we've gathered to assist as many people as possible," said Menscher, but comments left on Google's Security Blog suggested that the warning could be more detrimental to non-savvy computer users in the future than no official warning at all.

"It's too bad that the malware folks in the world already use 'your computer appears to be infected' messages to trick people into installing malicious software," commented a user by the name of Mecandes. "Tomorrow, the bad guys will copy the format and appearance of Google's version of the message, to leverage the trust people have in Google. Perhaps Google needs something akin to the Yahoo personalized 'sign-in seal' for moments like this?”

According to a January Security Threat Report by security company Sophos, the USA is home to the most infected webpages in the world. France, Russia, Germany and China follow in second to fifth places.

Google Will Defend HTC in Fight with Apple (BLOG)

(newsfactor)Google's executive chairman is sticking his mouth into the middle of the Apple vs HTC battle. Eric Schmidt defended HTC against a company where he used to sit on the board of directors.

At Google's Mobile Conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Schmidt pledged Google's support for HTC in its patent battle against Apple. HTC is appealing a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that the company trespassed on two Apple patents with its Google Android-based smartphones. Apple had charged that HTC violated 10 patents.

Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC, said the company will "vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC commissioners who make the final decisions."

Schmidt's Mouthful

"We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits, as they cannot respond through innovations," Schmidt said. "I'm not too worried about this."

Although he didn't say exactly how Google would help, whether via attorneys or financial help or some other support, Schmidt did say, "We will make sure they don't lose, then."

Google has a lot at stake. The company just announced that it sees 550,000 Android activations a day, outpacing Apple's iOS, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, and the BlackBerry OS.

Schmidt said of a once-close ally, without naming names: "The big news in the past year has been the explosion of Google Android handsets, and this means our competitors are responding. Because they are not responding with innovation, they're responding with lawsuits. We have not done anything wrong and these lawsuits are just inspired by our success."

Defending Licensees

Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, said if Google believes that HTC is being sued overintellectual property that is actually core Android functionality, then it would be understandable for Google to ensure its licensees are protected.

"We are at a stage of the market where intellectual property is incredibly important and valuable, and everyone is suing everyone else," Greengart said. "There are some companies at which IP is an important part of the overall corporate value. If you don't properly monetize that intellectual property, your shareholders get understandably upset. The way you monetize that is to get people to license your patents. In cases where that doesn't work, you bring them to court."

Greengart said some IP suits are about licensing terms. In such cases, he said, it's about trying to level the playing field and taking full advantage of the innovations the company brought to market and getting full value for them.

"Patent suits tend to be a long process," Greengart said. "If you follow cases on a day-by-day blow by blow, you often end up assuming things are more dire than they actually are for any of parties involved."

8 Crucial Elements of Startup Success (BLOG)

(MASHABLE)Most people understand that a high percentage of startups never make it. So what if you could give yourself a leg up on the competition? Below is a list of tips that may help your startup get to the next level. These ideas are not revolutionary, and many successful startups already have these qualities. Why not ensure yours does too?

[More from Mashable: 19 Essential Google+ Resources]
1. Hire Great Coders

If you don’t have the skills to code, make sure you find someone with a solid programming background who can implement your idea. You want to make sure that person has built successful websites with features similar to your own vision. That way, you know they have the right skills for your startup. An inefficient coder will take a long time to launch the site, wasting time by making minor changes and fixing bugs. You will lose valuable time and potentially miss the opportunity to capitalize on first-to-market advantages.

2. Launch Your Product Site Quickly

Sometimes you’ll encounter a last-minute opportunity to add features to your product. However, this can delay the launch. You might consider it worth the wait, especially if the added features will further engage customers. However, make sure to launch as soon as possible with the critical functionality. You can always make later changes to improve your site and product. Furthermore, you’ll be able to start gathering valuable feedback from your customers. If you’re insecure about a hasty launch, let customers know they’re viewing the beta version of the site, and they can expect improvements soon.

[More from Mashable: Discovered a New Band? Find Out Which Songs To Check Out First With GoRankem]
3. Identify Your Users

If you’re developing a product, make sure you truly understand the needs of your end users. You might assume that potential customers are seeking your particular solution, only to discover after launch that your product might be too expensive or doesn’t precisely repair the problem. Make sure that you take some time to understand exactly what your users need, and what they are willing to pay for.

4. Don’t Target a Small Niche

Solving a problem for a targeted niche is not a bad idea -- the smaller the niche, the less competition you may face. The downside is that you might not gain enough users to render a profit. Make sure to perform market research to understand the scale of consumers interested in your product. Also, plan to expand the niche once you service its need. When you evolve your original idea into adjacent markets, you will increase the probability of exponential growth.

5. Raise Enough Money the First Time

As most startups know, determining how much money to raise is difficult. Raising enough money in your seed round will carry your business through inevitable growing pains and redesigns, but it’s important to retain enough money to develop the final product your users will love. You don’t want to spend all your time convincing investors to sign that next check that will keep the company afloat. Investors would rather you spend it further developing the business and getting them a timely return on investment. You want to raise enough money initially so that you can hit a major milestone and have something to show investors.

6. Don’t Waste Money

As obvious as this one sounds, startups waste money every day. They often overspend on things that can wait until later, or on a tool that doesn’t get them the expected results. By outsourcing a variety of activities, however, startups are now becoming less expensive to launch.

One area in which startups waste money is hiring too many employees too fast. You need to make sure you can fill up the entire day of each (indispensable) employee. Early on, only hire people who add required functionality that cannot be fulfilled by current staff. You should also determine whether a person can be hired as a short-term, temporary resource (i.e. outsourcing), or whether hiring a full-time employee is the right, long-term solution. Employee salaries contribute to high overhead expenses, and should be carefully controlled at the beginning of a successful startup.

7. Have Multiple Co-Founders

A startup can be very time-consuming. Although you envisioned its concept, you may lack the required skills to launch your idea into reality. Therefore, divide the work among trusted partners with necessary skills sets, and be able to bounce ideas off each other freely.

Dave McClure states that the ideal startup has a hacker, a hustler and a designer. The hacker can code, the hustler brings in the business, and the designer architects the concept to make it appealing to a consumer or investor. You may have one or all of these skills, but often not enough time in the day to wear all of the hats. If you can’t convince a co-founder to come on board and fill a role, it may be a red flag that your idea needs tweaking.

8. All Or Nothing

We’ve all heard the saying “don’t quit your day job, kid,” but in the world of startups, any time spent focused on outside tasks is an opportunity for competitors to beat you to market. You need to focus all your time on your startup if you want it to succeed. And this may mean quitting your day job.

If you’re building a product, targeting customers, and trying to attract investors all in your spare time, you don’t have your priorities lined up. If you dedicate all your time to your startup, you will have more drive to successfully get it to market, because now your livelihood depends on it.

This list doesn’t guarantee that you will succeed, but it will give you some benchmarks to compare yourself against. Can you think of any additional characteristics that successful startups have going for them? If so, leave them in the comments.

Women's World Cup final breaks Twitter record (BLOG)

LONDON (AP) — The Women's World Cup final between Japan and the United States set the record for tweets per second, eclipsing the wedding of Prince William and Kate and the death of Osama bin Laden.

Japan rallied twice to tie the United States 2-2 after extra time before winning a penalty shootout on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany. The U.S. was aiming for its third World Cup victory, while Japan lifted the World Cup trophy for the first time after going 0-25 against the Americans over the years.

The exciting climax drew 7,196 tweets per second, according toTwitter. Paraguay's penalty shootout win over Brazil in a Copa America quarterfinal later the same day came close to beating it with 7,166.

The previous record of 6,939 was set just after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day. Other spikes include bin Laden's death (5,106 per second) and the Super Bowl in February (4,064).

Spain's World Cup win over the Netherlands in July 2010 managed a high of 3,051, although the record for the tournament (3,283) was set when Japan beat Denmark in the group stage — another statistic pointing to Twitter's popularity in Japan.

The record-breaking numbers Sunday reflect a sharp rise in Twitter usage. Its users send 200 million tweets per day, compared to 10 million two years ago, according to Twitter.

New wristband tracks your every move in the name of health (BLOG)

Personal trainers are great, especially robotic ones, but what happens after you leave the gym and hit the couch can be another story altogether. Jawbone, traditionally a manufacturer of bluetooth headsets, is branching out with the Up, a lightweight bracelet that will track your daily physical activity (or lack thereof) with the use of built-in motion and vibration sensors.



The small piece of health-conscious wristwear, due out later this year, will tie into a clever smartphone app. On the app you'll be able to log your eating habits by snapping shots of your food (just like the app Meal Snap, we presume). The Up app crunches the numbers, giving you a data-rich portrait of your lifestyle, complete with motivational nudges to improve upon your existing health habits.

In the vast realm of technology, consumer health tech remains largely unexplored. With the advent of the Wii, exercise and gaming suddenly made sense in combination, and Microsoft's Kinect has improved on the formula since. Jawbone's Up also takes its cues from devices like the Nike+, a small exercise sensor with a companion app. But rather than just focusing on the kind of stats runners care about, the Up wants to paint a comprehensive portrait of health, from what we eat to how we sleep.

Both devices employ sensors to passively monitor our activities, zapping a wealth of personal data to the web where we can analyze and make sense of it. While we're arguably not quite cyborgs yet, more feedback technology on and in our bodies is just over the horizon.

Jawbone via Engadget

Man builds his own million dollar Bugatti supercar by hand (BLOG)

The Bugatti Veyron is a modern automotive legend. The sleek speedster from Volkswagen boasts a top speed of over 260mph, making it the fastest road-legal car in the world, and it has a stunningly large $1.5 million price tag to match. Because of this astronomical cost of entry, only a few hundred of the vehicles have ever been built, meaning your chances of owning one are rather slim. That is, unless you're Mike Duff, an ambitious 25-year-old from Florida who decided to build his very own Bugatti with his bare hands.

Starting with a complete 2002 Mercury Cougar coupe, Duff set to work transforming the vehicle's entire exterior into that of a world-class supercar. He used fiberglass and composite material to create the Veyron's iconic lines, and laid it all over a tubular steel frame. After a professional paint job and plenty of buffing, the car was ready for the showroom, but Duff wasn't done yet. He then took to the Cougar's interior, covering everything from the seats to the dashboard in genuine leather. When we spoke with him, he said the project took him a full 9 months from start to finish.

The detailed doppelgänger even sports usable back seats, which is something the real million-dollar ride completely lacks. Speaking of price, that's another area where this fantastic fake beats out its original counterpart. Duff currently has the vehicle up for sale with a price of $89,000 — less than 1/10th the price of a genuine Veyron.

Unfortunately, while that price will buy you the looks of a barely-legal race car, it doesn't buy you the performance. Under its gorgeous exterior, the "Cougatti" is still distinctly pedestrian, and remains equipped with its original 2.5-liter V6 engine that produces roughly 170 horsepower. This is in stark contrast to the 8-liter 16-cylinder powerplant of the real car, which produces a neck-snapping 1,000 horses.

Still, for the price of a Porsche, there's not much you can complain about when the car is a nearly indistinguishable replica of the fastest road car in the world. Not to mention the fact that some other Bugatti tributes can cost an order of magnitude more, and are never meant to leave your office.

Batman fan builds real Batmobile powered by jet engine (BLOG)

Batman is well-known for his ridiculously cool crime-fighting gear, and no piece of tech is more recognizable than the iconic Batmobile. Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film introduced us to one of the coolest versions of the superhero's speedy ride, which was theoretically capable of speeds in excess of 300mph due to its jet turbine power system. The car was, of course, completely fictitious, and no actual jet-powered Batmobile was ever constructed... until now.

The automotive gurus at Putsch Racing decided to take on the challenge of recreating a life-sized version of the vehicle from Burton's films, complete with a Boeing turbine engine as its power source. The team managed to track down a decommissioned military helicopter from which to salvage the engine, and then went to work perfecting the ambitious replica.

The vehicle isn't light on features either, and it includes digital readouts of all vital speed and temperature stats, along with an integrated iPad interface complete with a Wayne Enterpriseswallpaper. The Putsch Batmobile is currently making its rounds at various car shows and has racked up an impressive list of trophies so far in its short life. But a car show isn't the only place you might catch a glimpse of the intimidating ride; the car is completely street legal, so if it should roll up next to you at a stop light, we recommend avoiding any Fast and the Furious antics, as you're likely to lose. Badly.

Two photos, thirty years apart, move the Web (BLOG)

Thirty years ago, the first space shuttle launched into the stratosphere. Chris Bray and his father Kenneth watched -- and took a picture. Then last Friday, the shuttle Atlantis took its final trip. Again, the Bray men were there. And again, the two snapped a photo to capture the moment.

The side-by-side photos, which are up on Chris Bray's Flickr photostream, immediately went viral on the Web.

The first shot shows 13-year-old Chris with then 39-year-old dad looking through binoculars at thespace shuttle Columbia's first launch on April 12, 1981, from the Kennedy Space Center.

The second snap comes three decades later and recreates the same moment at the last shuttle voyage. The young son is now an adult. His father is now gray-haired.

Chris Bray wrote on his Flickr page of the side-by-side images: "The picture we waited 30 years to complete."

The younger Bray told the Washington Post, "We've always loved that first photo. Taking a similar one for the last launch seemed like the perfect opportunity to celebrate the shuttle program and our relationship by putting the time passed in perspective, celebrating the interests we share, and illustrating the father/son bond we've maintained over the years."

The Brays' photo touched a chord of nostalgia in many rocket enthusiasts, and the pic has been viewed on Flickr an astronomical 510,000 times.

Comments on the pictures commend the melding of the personal with the historical. Says one: "Epic. To be able to share in something so wonderful with your dad, both beginning and end. I am jealous -- both that you watched not only the first but also the last mission -- but also that you did it with your father."

Another fan of the photo who used to work on the space program wrote in, "Everyone I used to work [with in the shuttle program] thinks it's so cool, [they] get chills."

Chris Bray responded in an email that he was overwhelmed by the response: "I was surprised. The picture had a lot of significance for me and my father, but we didn't expect that the photo would touch so many other people." He added, " The moment has stayed with me since that day, and is one of my fondest memories and childhood experiences."

Woman says goodbye to privacy, publishes 12 years of text messages in new book(BLOG)

The thought of someone rifling through your private text messages might be enough to send shivers down your spine. And you're not alone, as many extremely private details are shared via text message every day. For better or worse, the texting revolution has changed the way we communicate, and forartist Tracey Moberly, it has become an outlet of expression. Her new book titled Text-Me-Up!chronicles over a decade of text messages, arranging them into a sort of autobiography.

The book is a revealing look inside Moberly's life, including personal events like her divorce and struggles as a single parent. Beginning in 1999, the texts are strung together with a narrative that offers a bit of background into who certain people are and why they matter to Moberly. In her adventures as an artist she comes into contact with various celebrities who also make appearances — in text message form, of course.

Though Moberly's profession and life experiences make her a better candidate than most for such a book, we can't help but wonder if simple bursts of text will be enough to hold our attention for a full 12 years of daily updates. If we were so bold as to attempt a similar venture, any potential readers would likely toss the novel in the garbage somewhere around the 10th text that read "Locked keys in car, come home soon. Bring Starbucks."

Minnesota Wi-Fi hacker gets 18 years in prison for terrorizing neighbors(BLOG)

Minnesota hacker Barry Ardolf was sentenced to an 18-year term in a federal prison this Tuesday. Ardolf had terrorized a neighboring family for two years through a carefully planned campaign involving a hijacked Wi-Fi network to harass, frame and embarrass the next-door neighbors in every facet of their lives.

Ardolf’s obsessive passive-aggression was apparently ignited in late 2008 when his neighbors, Matt and Bethany Kostolnik, filed a police report against him. The Kostolniks had a 4-year old son who wandered over to their next-door-neighbors property shortly after moving into the Minnesota suburb of Blaine. Ardolf, 46 and a father of two, had reportedly picked the boy up carried him back to the couple and then kissed the child on the lips. Ardolf was offended when the cops were called and vowed his revenge like every good villain.

The man, a Medtronic computer technician, downloaded a Wi-Fi hacking program to tear into his neighbors WEP encryption. Ardolf created a fake Myspace page as well as several fake emails for Matt Kostolnik. The hacker then posted child porn on the Myspace page and emailed the same child porn to co-workers at Kostolnik’s law office.

To top it all off, the Blaine hacker sent death threats to Vice President Joe Biden and other politicians from Kostolnik’s Yahoo account. This granted Kostolnik a visit from the secret service who had traced the emails back to his IP address. One of the emails told Biden, “I swear to God I’m going to kill you!”

Ardolf’s mischief was detected when a frustrated Kostolnik told bosses he had no clue as to what was going on. The law office hired a firm to poke around the Wi-Fi network and install a packet sniffer to figure it all out. Eventually Ardolf’s name and Comcast account were found which gave the FBI a reason to obtain a search warrant for Ardolf’s house. They found massive evidence that led to the Blaine hacker being slapped with charges for identity theft, making threats against Biden, possession of child pornography as well as distribution of kiddie-porn.

The FBI also found evidence that Ardolf had staged a similar attack against in a family in Brooklyn Park for parking their cars in front of his house. Ardolf’s charges will tag him with lifetime-sex-offender registration requirements and after his release he’ll be supervised for 20 years. According to the Pioneer Press, he’ll also be restricted when working with computers by his parole officers. The man may have been a nightmare to live next to, but is the 18 years in prison a bit overkill?

How to photograph fireworks (BLOG)

It's happened — somehow, it's gotten to be summer already. Summer means Fourth of July celebrations, and fireworks offer wonderful opportunities for photography. Despite the somewhat challenging circumstances (nighttime and with bright, moving light), it's actually pretty easy to photograph fireworks as long as you follow some simple guidelines. You'll find that many of these suggestions are a lot like those we discussed in our article on how to photograph lightning, because many of the principles are the same.

Tips for using your camera phone
Before we dive in, know that no matter what equipment you have at hand, you can still snap great fireworks photos. Fireworks have the benefit of generally being very bright, so it is possible to get decent photos even without an expensive camera. Since the sensors on compact cameras and camera phones don't tend to be as large as on the average DSLR, motion blur can be a significant issue. Take extra care to hold your camera as still and steady as possible. If your camera phone can capture video, that might be an even better option, especially for the grand finale! And read on — much of the general shooting advice here will still help you work wonders in your photos.

Fireworks Mode: Easy and automated
Beyond camera phones, many "point-and-shoot" digital cameras offer a special fireworks shooting mode that's definitely worth trying out. To figure out if your camera has this option, hunt around in the settings for a small icon that looks like a burst of fireworks (hopefully it will be labeled). This mode will automate much of the challenge of capturing bright bursts of light at night, ideal if you'd prefer to kick back and let your camera do the legwork.

It should be noted that "night mode" is not the same as "fireworks mode" — the former will use the camera's flash, which isn't helpful for shooting fireworks, so make sure you turn off the flash if you use that setting. If you don't have a fireworks mode and you aren't comfortable delving into the more advanced settings, you might want to try landscape mode; it will set your focus to infinity and give you a nice, wide depth of field.

Find your vantage point
Where you decide to shoot from will depend on the location of the fireworks and what sort of shots you're going for. Ask around or look online to determine where the fireworks will be launched, so you can figure out ahead of time the best place to be to photograph them. The ideal position would be some distance away, at a vantage point above ground level — a balcony, a hillside, or even just standing on a picnic table or other raised object. The elevation and distance result in nice, wide-open shots of the fireworks themselves, as well as the scene around and beneath them.

Try to avoid external light sources like street lamps, if possible. They won't necessarily ruin your photos, but they will detract from the fireworks themselves. It's also a good idea to check the speed and direction of the wind so that, ideally, the wind blows the smoke from the fireworks away from you and your camera.

Add perspective and context with scenery
While the colorful explosions are beautiful to watch and provide lovely photos, pictures focusing only on the bursts aren't terribly exciting in and of themselves. Consider including scenery in your pictures, both to offer a sense of scale and to keep your compositions interesting. Obviously, you want an unobstructed view of the sky, but trees and other objects can provide interesting framing for your compositions. Being lucky enough to be somewhere the fireworks will reflect in a body of water like a lake, bay, or pond can result in stunning photographs.


Also consider whether you want people in your photographs. Including spectators can be a great way to capture the excitement of a fireworks display and gives you the opportunity to play around with techniques such as silhouetting. You could also consider including buildings, monuments, and similar structures as an addition to the fireworks themselves.

Use a tripod
As with most low-light photography, you'll get the best results if you use a tripod. This is especially important when photographing fireworks, as the long exposure times needed to capture the spectacle will also capture any movement of your camera. In a pinch, you can always try setting your camera on something like the hood of your car or a bench, but a tripod is definitely the best way to go.

You'll also probably want to use a remote release of some sort — either a remote control or a wired shutter release — for the same reason. You could just use the self-timer function, but since it's sometimes hard to predict when the most beautiful fireworks will light up the sky, timing your shots right will be difficult.

Flash and focus
In almost all fireworks photography, you should keep the flash turned off. You might want to use it to briefly illuminate a subject in the foreground while still allowing the fireworks themselves to light up the background. This can be tricky, though, and works best with an external flash.

The other thing you'll want to turn off is your camera's auto-focus function. A bright, moving object in a dark sky will utterly confuse your camera, which will spend so long whirring and stuttering to try to find something to focus on that you'll miss your shot! Turn it to manual, and set the focus to infinity (or focus on an object in the foreground, if that suits your composition).

Slow shutter speeds
The beauty of fireworks isn't just in the explosion itself, but in the trails of light that blossom out and slowly fade away as they fall. You'll have to use relatively slow shutter speeds to capture the whole show. Luckily, you'll probably have a bit of warning, as most fireworks make some sound as they shoot into the sky, but takes practice and a bit of luck to get the timing right.

If you have a bulb setting on your camera, which makes the shutter will stay open exactly as long as you hold the button down, that might be the most useful. If not, try using the shutter priority mode and setting the exposure time for 1 to 3 seconds.

Aperture and ISO
Finding the right balance between capturing enough of the explosion's beauty and not ending up with a washed-out blur or a grainy mess can be tricky. Play with your camera's settings and experiment with different shutter speed and aperture settings to see what works best. Since you're using a tripod, you should be able to select a relatively low ISO setting of 100-400 — remember that you're not exposing for the dark sky, but for the bright flashes of color.

While you could use a higher ISO, you don't need to. The fireworks are bright enough to be captured by your camera sensor, and using a lower ISO will reduce the digital noise you'd see in the dark sky at higher settings. Bear in mind, though, that a higher ISO will let you use a smaller aperture, which will give you a larger depth of field. That gives you a bit more wiggle room in terms of focusing, which is incredibly helpful for moving subjects like fireworks. So aim for the 200-400 range, but experiment and see what works best for your camera.

Light up your own backyard

In addition to the fireworks displays put on by municipalities, most states allow individuals to use some forms of smaller fireworks on their own property. While not as spectacular as the huge commercial displays, these smaller explosives can provide some beautiful photographs. What can be even more fun is that with your own personal fireworks display, you can control exactly when, where, and how everything happens. This is a great time to try out light painting techniques with sparklers!

Justin Timberlake part of group buying MySpace (BLOG)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pop star Justin Timberlake is part of a group that said Wednesday it will buy MySpace from News Corp., a bid to add some cool to a social network that has been losing it for some time.

Timberlake will become a part owner and play "a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company moving forward," according to Specific Media, the company that he will partner with.

The deal is for $35 million, mostly in Specific Media stock, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal values MySpace at a fraction of what News Corp. paid for the site six years ago and paves the way for the layoff of about half of the 500 workers, the person said. As part of the exchange, News Corp. will receive a private equity stake in Specific Media.

With Timberlake's help, the buyers hope to revitalize MySpace and transform it into a destination for original shows, as well as bolster its already available video content and music.

"There's a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. MySpace has the potential to be that place," Timberlake said in a statement.

The sale is expected to close later Wednesday, a day before the end of News Corp.'s fiscal year. News Corp. will maintain less than a 5 percent stake in the site, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, but users, advertisers and musicians who once relied on it for promotion fled the site for other hotter social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Less than half of MySpace's 74 million monthly visitors are now in the United States, where its visitor count dropped by half in May to 35 million, according to tracking firm comScore Inc.

Specific Media confirmed the acquisition but not the terms of the deal Wednesday.

"We look forward to partnering with someone as talented as Justin Timberlake, who will lead the business strategy with his creative ideas and vision for transforming MySpace," said Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook in a statement. "This is the next chapter of digital media, and we are excited to have a hand in writing the script."

MySpace CEO Mike Jones, the last member of a three-member executive team appointed to fix the site in April 2009, said in a memo to staff Wednesday that he would help with the transition for two months before departing.

MySpace launched in 2003, founded by entrepreneurs Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, who is every MySpace user's first friend. It became a popular Internet destination and a key way for little-known musicians to market themselves and interact with their fans.

But MySpace lost its footing over the years as the fun of customizing one's profile began to bore its users and heavy use of banner advertisements slowed the speed at which pages load. Meanwhile, Facebook, founded in 2004, limited what users and advertisers could do, but kept pages clean, and freshened them with its "news feed" of updates, a feature that MySpace later copied.

People found Facebook easier to use and a great migration from MySpace to Facebook picked up several years ago. When Facebook began allowing apps, including music functions and addictive games like "FarmVille," MySpace was left in the dust. According to comScore, Facebook now has more than a billion users worldwide.

"Apps were the breaking point and MySpace could never recover from that," said Charlene Li, a social media analyst and founder of Altimeter Group.

Rohit Kulkarni, an 18-year-old member of the San Jose, Calif. pop punk band Four O'Clock Heroes, said his group once exclusively used MySpace to reach fans with their music, but they haven't checked the site in months. They opened their Facebook band page last year.

"Most of our following was already on Facebook anyways," Kulkarni said. "Nowadays, people use Facebook over MySpace because it's integrated into almost everything, like all your mobile phones. I'm guessing that's why it became more popular."

Even "FarmVille" game-maker Zynga has taken a role promoting music, as shown recently when Lady Gaga unveiled her new album there.

Timberlake's involvement is a clear sign that MySpace will try to reconnect with its musical roots.

Over the last 11 quarters, News Corp. had cumulatively lost about $1.4 billion on the business segment that houses MySpace. By getting rid of the site before the close of the fiscal year, News Corp. has rid itself of about $250 million in losses this year, estimated Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente.

At $35 million, Specific Media gets an Internet property for a price that Li called "ridiculously low" and values each monthly U.S. visitor at about $1 each. Its new owners should be able to recoup their investment if the company gets each user to click on about 20 ads over their lifetime, she said.

Specific Media, based in Irvine, Calif., brokers the sale of ads to websites and has dabbled in creating original programming and matching it with sponsors. The company was founded in 1999 by brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook.

Microsoft Office 365 Launches (BLOG)

Microsoft Office 365, the technology giant's suite of productivity apps for the cloud, made its global debut Tuesday.

The cloud-based software places Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync into the cloud. The product was first introduced last October as Microsoft's way to bring its popular collaboration and productivity products to the web. Office 365 comes with all of the Office Web Apps (Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint), as well as email support and Microsoft Access. Essentially, Microsoft has created one product for all of its cloud-based productivity software.

Office 365 also comes with ActiveSync, a new tool that lets customers access their cloud-based data (email, web apps, websites, calendars, etc.) from almost any device, including mobile phones and tablets. The company also guarantees 99.9% uptime. Executives we've spoken with seem confident in the system's redundancies and the security measures they've put in place to protect customer data.

Office 365 comes in two flavors: small business and enterprise. The small business version of Office 365 is designed specifically for small teams that don't want to deal with IT, while the enterprise version is a customizable version of Office with advanced IT configurations, Office Professional Plus, use right controls and more. The small business plan costs $6 per user per month, and the enterprise version costs anywhere between $2 and $27, depending on which features a company decides to implement.

As part of the launch, Microsoft will be working with more than 20 different service providers to package, sell and provide support for Office 365. Bell Canada, Intuit, Telefonica S.A., Telstra Corp. and Vodafone are among Microsoft's launch partners. The company already has approximately 400,000 customers on board from the beta testing of the cloud-based software.

Microsoft has been making big bets on the cloud in recent years with products like Azure, but Office 365 is by far the company's biggest push into cloud software. It faces stiff competition from Google and its Google Apps offering, though.

12 Common Email Mistakes made at work (BLOG)

Failing to include basic greetings.

Simple pleasantries do the trick. Say “hi” at the start of the message and “thanks” at the end. Be sure to use the recipient's name. Be polite yet brief with your courtesy.


Expecting an instant response.

Don’t send an email and show up at the recipient’s desk 30 seconds later asking if they’ve received it. They did, and they’ll answer at their convenience. That’s the point of email.

Sending before you mean to.

Enter the recipient’s email address only when your email is ready to be sent. This helps reduce the risk of an embarrassing misfire, such as sending an important email to the wrong person or emailing a half-written note.

Not reviewing all new messages before replying.

When you return to the office after being away, review all new emails before firing off responses. It might be hard to accept, but odds are, things did march on without you. Replying to something that was already handled by a co-worker can lead to confusion, errors, and wasted time.

Omitting recipients when you "reply all."

Unless there’s an important reason to omit someone, don’t arbitrarily leave people off the response if they were included on the original message.

Composing the note too quickly.

Don’t be careless; write every email as if it will be read at Saint Peter’s Square during the blessing of a new Pope. Be respectful with your words and take pride in every communication.

Underestimating the importance of the subject line.

The subject line is your headline. Make it interesting, and you’ll increase the odds of getting the recipient's attention. Our inboxes are cluttered; you need to be creative and direct to help the recipient cut through the noise.

Violating your company’s email policy.

Many companies have aggressive spam filters in place that monitor "blue" language. From that famous four-letter word to simple terms, such as "job search," don't end up tripping the system by letting your guard down.

E-mailing when you're angry.

Don’t do it. Ever. Recall buttons are far from a perfect science, and sending a business email tainted by emotion is often a catastrophic mistake. It sounds cliche, but sleep on it. Save the message as a draft and see if you still want to send it the next morning.

Using BCC too often.
Use BCC (blind carbon copy) sparingly. Even though it’s supposed to be a secret, it rarely is. Burn someone once, and they’ll never trust you again. Likewise, forwarding email is a great way to destroy your credibility. When people send you something, they aren’t expecting you to pass it on to your co-workers.

Relying too much on email.

News flash! No one is sitting around staring at their inbox waiting for your email. If something is urgent, use another means of communication. A red “rush” exclamation point doesn’t compare to getting up from your desk and conducting business in person.

Hitting "reply all" unintentionally.

This is a biggie. And it's not just embarrassing; depending on what you wrote in that email, it can ruin your relationship with a co-worker or even your boss. Take extra care whenever you respond so you don't hit this fatal button.

A look at the HTC Evo 3D smartphone and Evo View tablet (BLOG,Video)

HTC's Evo line expanded into new territory this week with the Friday release of the Evo 3D phone and Evo View 4G tablet.

The Evo 3D phone is packed with some of the higher-end features of current smartphones -- a 4.3-inch touchscreen, a dual-core Qualcomm processor, 3G and battery-draining 4G connectivity. But the differentiating feature for the Evo 3D is, yup, 3D.

Photos and videos can be snapped or shot in three-dimensions of depth and viewed on the Evo 3D's screen in 3D without the need for glasses. The effect is somewhat similar to what the Nintendo 3DS videogame system offers. If the device is held in the right way -- dead-on center to the viewer -- then the depth kicks in. Otherwise, 3D comes across as a lot of image and color separation.

The Evo 3D phone is exclusive to Sprint and sells for $199.99 with a two-year data plan.

The Evo View 4G tablet also is only available with 3G and 4G service from Sprint, selling for $399.99 with a two-year data plan. Its also HTC's latest tablet, a bit of a follow-up to the HTC Flyer tablet which sells for $499.99 and requires no data plan as it only can connect to the Web via Wi-Fi.

One feature glaringly lacking from both of HTC's tablets -- the Evo View 4G and the Flyer -- no Honeycomb. Both devices run on Google's Android Gingerbread software, the same operating systems that run on the latest HTC phones.

Android Honeycomb, Google's OS built specifically for the tablet form factor, isn't yet available on HTC tablets, though the company has said it should be available to users in later software updates.

Both tablets, however, work with the optional HTC Scribe stylus which come free with the Evo View and run an extra $80 for Fyler buyers.

Take a look at the video below for a quick rundown of the latest from HTC.

Beginner’s guide to Facebook privacy settings (BLOG)

Within just a few years, Facebook has grown to be one of the most popular destinations online and the most popular social networking site. Sharing personal stories, photos, and news with friends and family members is great, but what about all those other people on Facebook? Maybe your privacy is important to you and you don't want to share every aspect of your personal life with everyone on Facebook. Here's how you can make (and keep) your Facebook profile secure.

Navigating to the settings hub
The first place you need to go once you've signed into Facebook is the account settings page. You can navigate to your account settings by left-clicking on the Account tab at the top-right corner of your browser page. In the drop-down menu, select the third option down: Account Settings. From the Account Settings page, you can manage and edit almost every facet of your Facebook profile.

Facebook Ads settings
On this page, you want to left-click on the last tab to the right — "Facebook Ads." The Facebook Ads tab has two sections: Ads shown by third parties and "Ads and friends."

Under "Ads shown by third parties," there is a brief explanation of Facebook's terms of service regarding third party advertisements. Click "Edit third party ad settings" and you'll see a drop-down menu under the next paragraph that will allow you to chose "Only my friends" or "No one." While this setting isn't active yet, by making your choice now you'll be ready just in case Facebook decides to let third-party sites use your activity info and profile picture for social advertising. Click Save Changes, then click the Facebook Ads tab again.

The "Ads and friends" section deals with social advertising: "find products and services you're interested in, based on what your friends share and like." Click "Edit social ads setting." Below the explanatory paragraphs you'll find "Pair my social actions with ads for" and another drop-down menu with the same options as the last page ("Only my friends" or no one). This is where people end up seeing advertisements with their friends' profile picture. Ever wonder how that happened? Select the "no one" option to prevent your profile pic from adorning someone else's advertisement.

Sharing privacy options
Next, navigate to the Privacy Settings page. Just like accessing Account Settings, you'll go to the top-right corner and click Account. This time, select the Privacy Settings option from the drop-down menu.

The Privacy Settings page controls exactly that — privacy. The first section, "Connecting on Facebook" isn't displayed right off the bat, so let's take a look at the second section first, which is displayed. It's called Sharing on Facebook, and this is where you set exactly who you can see your various types of information.

The default settings by Facebook are pretty general. Your first three types of information are shared with everyone (yes, visible to anyone on Facebook!), the next three are friends and friends of friends, and the last three are friends only. You can set these however you like, but let's take a quick look at which ones are probably the ones you'll want to customize.



The first one listed is status, photos, and posts. These are your day-to-day items that you'll share most often. That being said, if you're concerned about your privacy, these are probably the ones you'll want to limit to friends only, or at the most, friends of friends. Other items in this category of concern would include photos and videos you're tagged in, birthday, places you've checked into, and contact information.

You can change any of these settings by left-clicking on the Customize Settings link located just below all of the options. You'll also see a check box for the option to let friends of people you've tagged in your photos and videos see them. This is just like using the friends of friends setting mentioned above, but goes one step further when you tag people in your own photos and videos.

Connection privacy options
Now, let's take a look at your connection privacy options. On the same page (Privacy Settings), left-click the View Settings link under the Connecting on Facebook section. This will bring up a new page with seven more privacy areas for you to control. Each privacy area has a short description next to it that will help you decide which option is best for you. The drop-down menu options for each setting are the same as the previous page: everyone, friends of friends, and friends only. Once again, let's take a look at some of the options that can help you keep it "all in the family."

The ability to "see your education and work" and "see your current city and hometown" is something you probably don't want to grant to strangers on the street. These are things you will want to keep to friends only or friends of friends. "See your likes, activities and other connections" could also fall into this category, depending on your level of comfort online. The first four areas are commonly set to Everyone, especially if you're looking to connect with old friends, acquaintances, or if you just want to network in general.

Micro-manage, post-by-post
One final (and really neat) option is one that allows you to change your sharing options for any individual post. Here's how it works. Simply go to your Facebook home page and left-click the "What's on your mind?" text box like you are going to share a status update, link, or whatever. You'll notice a small drop-down arrow (possibly with a lock, depending on your settings) next to the Share button. Clicking on this arrow gives you the same "Everyone, Friends of Friends, and Friends Only" options. Changing the option here will only impact this post, rather than your entire profile settings.

Keeping the ball in your court
Facebook has been changing its privacy settings on a regular basis as of late. Some changes have been in response to advertisers wanting more customization and control over targeting their ads, other changes have been in response to the website's users decrying encroachment of their privacy. Make sure you read and take note of any notices that legitimately come from Facebook.

Even this level of diligence may not be enough. Some changes have been implemented in the past without any real notification other than a change in the Terms of Service. We recommend following a good tech news source (such as Tecca!) in order to keep up with all of the changes surrounding Facebook. You can do that right on our Facebook topic page. We'll keep you posted on all the changes and what you can do to keep your private information safe.

World's Oldest Bentley up for Auction (BLOG)

We're used to seeing chassis numbers on collector cars go on for several digits. But not this one. This one is chassis number 3. That's it. And that's because this is the oldest production Bentley in existence.

Following EXP 1 and EXP 2 – the former of which is no longer with us, the latter kept in Bentley's corporate collection – this 1921 Bentley 3-Litre was the first production model to leave the factory. And it's in immaculate condition, despite having been raced through much of its life. In fact, while Bentley's own EXP 2 has had many parts replaced by now, Chassis No. 3 here is all original, down to the aluminum coachwork, brass brightwork, engine and gearbox.

This extremely rare example of automotive history is going up on the auction block at Pebble Beach in August under the auspices of Gooding & Company, along with an exceptional motorcycle we'll be bringing you shortly. So stay tuned and don't forget to check out the high-resolution images in the gallery for a closer look.

Man ships himself over 2,000 miles in wooden crate while playing online game (BLOG)

While summer trips are something many of us look forward to as a relaxing break from our normal routine, performance artist Jordan Wayne Long decided to do things a bit differently. Starting on July 7, Long will be confined to a small wooden box as he is shipped from Bald Knob, Arkansas to Portland, Oregon. The 7-day trip will top 2,100 miles, and all the while, Long's only contact with the outside world will be through Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), a massively multiplayer online game.

Long's reasons for the unorthodox "performance" are mixed. Aside from providing entertainment through his blogs and Twitter account during the journey, he also aims to better understand post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many individuals who experience traumatic events fall victim to PTSD, a debilitating anxiety disorder that leads some to retreat to virtual worlds for comfort. As Long himself doesn't actually have the disorder, it's somewhat unclear what he hopes to prove with the experiment, other than experiencing what it's like to live in a virtual world for a week.

The crate itself will be powered by battery packs, allowing Long's computer setup to remain operational for the entire journey. As for creature comforts, there aren't many. There are just a handful of ways for Long to bend himself into the box, and as for restroom facilities, he notes simply "It's being outfitted to handle all my business."

Ten Brands That Will Disappear in 2012 (BLOG)

Each year, 24/7 Wall St. regularly compiles a list of brands that are going to disappear in the near-term. Last year's list proved to be prescient in many instances, predicting the demise of T-Mobile among others. In late May, AT&T (NYSE:T - News) and Deutche Telekom announced that AT&T would buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. The deal would add 34 million customers to the company and create the country's largest wireless operator.

Other 2010 nominees — including Blockbuster — bit the dust, while companies such as Dollar Thrifty are on the road to oblivion. Last September, after finally giving in to competition from Netflix and buckling under nearly $1 billion in debt, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In April of this year, Dish Network acquired the company for $320 million. Car rental chain Dollar Thrifty is still entertaining buyout offers from Avis and Hertz. On June 6, the embattled company recommended that its shareholders not accept Hertz's recent offer, valued at $2.24 billion, or $72 a share. Meanwhile, on June 13th, Avis Budget announced that "it had made progress in its discussion with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its potential acquisition" of the company. Although Dollar Thrifty can remain choosy, a sale is a matter of when, not if.

We also missed the mark on a few companies. Notably, Kia, Moody's, BP, and Zale appear to be doing better than we expected.

Brands that have stood the test of time for decades are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate. For instance, Pontiac, a major car brand since 1926, is gone, shut down by a struggling GM. Blockbuster is in the process of dismantling, after it once controlled the VHS and DVD markets. House & Garden folded after 106 years. It succumbed to the advertising downturn, a lot of competition, and the cost of paper and postage. Its demise echoed the 1972 shutdown of what is probably the most famous magazines in history — Life. That was a long time ago but serves to demonstrate that no brand is too big to fail if it is overwhelmed by competition, new inventions, costs, or poor management.

This year's list of The Ten Brands That Will Disappear takes a methodical approach in deciding which brand would walk the plank. The major criteria were as follows: (1) a rapid fall-off in sales and steep losses; (2) disclosures by the parent of the brand that it might go out of business; (3) rapidly rising costs that are extremely unlikely to be recouped through higher prices; (4) companies which are sold; (5) companies that go into bankruptcy; (6) firms that have lost the great majority of their customers; or (7) operations with rapidly withering market share. Each of the ten brands on the list suffer from one or more of these problems. Each of the ten will be gone, based on our definitions, within 18 months.

1. Sony Pictures

Sony has a studio production arm which has nothing to do with its core businesses of consumer electronics and gaming. Sony bought what was Columbia Tri-Star Picture in 1989 for $3.4 billion. This entertainment operation has done poorly recently. Sony's fiscal year ends in March, and for the period, revenue for the group dropped 15% to $7.2 billion and operating income fell by 10% to $466 million. Sony is in trouble. It lost $3.1 billion in its latest fiscal year on revenue of $86.5 billion. Sony's gaming system group is under siege by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - News) and Nintendo. Its consumer electronics group faces an overwhelming challenge from Apple. The company's future prospects have been further damaged by the Japan earthquake and the hack of its large PlayStation Network. CEO Howard Stringer is under pressure to do something to increase the value of Sony's shares. The only valuable asset with which he can easily part is Columbia which would attract interest from a number of large media operations. Sony Entertainment will disappear with the sale of its assets.

2. A&W

A&W Restaurants is owned by fast food holding company giant Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - News) which has had the firm for sale since January. There have been no buyers. The chain was founded in 1919. The size of the company grew rapidly, and immediately after WWII 450 franchises were opened. The firm pioneered the "drive in" fast food format. A&W began to sell canned versions of its sodas in 1971 — the part of the business that will survive as a container beverage business which is now owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple. The A&W Restaurant business is too small to be viable now. It had 322 outlets in the U.S and 317 outside the U.S at the end of last year. All were operated by franchisees. By contrast, Yum!'s flagship KFC had 5,055 stores in the U.S. and 11,798 overseas. Two massive global fast food chains are even larger. Subway has 35,000 locations worldwide, and McDonald's has nearly as many. A&W does not have the ability to market itself against these chains and at least a dozen other fast food operators like Burger King. And, A&W does not have the size to efficiently handle food purchases, logistics, and transportation costs compared to competitors many times as large.

3. Saab

The first Saab car was launched in 1949 by Swedish industrial firm Svenska Aeroplan. The firm produced a series of sedans and coups, the flagship of which was the 900 series, released in 1978. About one million of these would eventually be sold. Saab's engineering reputation and the rise in its international sales attracted GM to buy half the company in 1989 and the balance in 2000. Saab's problem, which grew under the management of the world's No.1 automobile manufacturer, was that it was never more than a niche brand in an industry dominated by very large players such as Ford and Chevrolet. It did not build very inexpensive cars like VW did, or expensive sports cars as Porsche did. Saab's models were, in price and features, up against models from the world's largest car companies that sold hundreds of thousands of units each year. Saab also did not have a wide number of models to suit different budgets and driver tastes. GM decided to jettison the brand in late 2008, and the small company quickly became insolvent. Saab finally found a buyer in high-end car maker Spyker which took control of the company last year. Spyker quickly ran low on money because only 32,000 Saabs were sold in 2010. Spyker turned to Chinese industrial investors for money. Pang Da Automobile agreed to take an equity stake in the company. But, the agreement is not binding, and with a potential of global sales which are still below 50,000 a year based on manufacturing and marketing operations, and demand, Saab is no longer a financially viable brand.

4. American Apparel

The once-hip retailer reached the brink of bankruptcy earlier this year, and there is no indication that it has gained anything more than a little time with its latest financing. It currently trades as a penny stock. The company had three stores and $82 million in revenue in 2003. Those numbers reached 260 stores and $545 million in 2008. For the first quarter of this year, the retailer had net sales for the quarter of $116.1 million, a 4.7% decline over sales of $121.8 million in the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales declined 8% on a constant currency basis. American Apparel posted a net loss for the period of $21 million. Comparable store sales have flattened, which means the firm likely will continue to post losses. American Apparel is also almost certainly under gross margin pressure because of the rise in cotton prices. The retailer raised $14.9 million in April by selling shares at a discount of 43% to a group of private investors led by Canadian financier Michael Serruya and Delavaco Capital. According to Reuters, the 15.8 million shares sold represented 20.3 percent of the company's outstanding stock on March 31. That sum is not nearly enough to keep American Apparel from going the way of Borders. It is a small, under-funded player in a market with very large competitors with healthy balance sheets. It does not help matters that the company's founder and CEO, Dov Charney, has been a defendant in several lawsuits filed by former employees alleging sexual harassment.

5. Sears

The parent of Sears and Kmart — Sears Holdings — is in a lot of trouble. Total revenue dropped $341 million to $9.7 billion for the quarter which closed April 30, 2011. The company had a net loss of $170 million. Sears Holdings was created by a merger of the parents of the two chains on March 24, 2005. The operation has been a disaster ever since. The company has tried to run 4,000 stores which operate across the US and Canada. Neither Sears nor Kmart have done well recently, but Sears' domestic locations same store numbers were off 5.2% in the first quarter and Kmart's were down 1.6%. Last year domestic comparable store sales declined 1.6% in the total, with an increase at Kmart of .7% and a decline at Sears Domestic of 3.6%. New CEO Lou D'Ambrosio recently said of the last quarter that, "we also fell short on executing with excellence. We cannot control the weather or economy or government spending. But we can control how we execute and leverage the potent set of assets we have." D'Ambrosio needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat soon. Sharex are down 55% during the last five years. D'Ambrosio's only reasonable solution to the firm's financial problems is to stop supporting two brands which compete with one another and larger rivals such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT - News) and Target (NYSE: TGT - News). The cost to market two brands and maintain stores which overlap one another geographically must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Employee and supply chain costs are also gigantic. The path D'Ambrosio is likely to take is to consolidate two brand into one — keeping the better performing Kmart and shuttering Sears.

6. Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson was formed by the two large consumer electronics companies to market the handset offerings each had handled separately. The venture started in 2001, before the rise of the smartphone. Early in its history, it was one of the biggest handset manufacturers along with Nokia (NYSE: NOK - News), Samsung, LG, and Motorola. Sales of Sony Ericsson phones were originally helped by the popularity of other Sony portable devices like the Walkman. Sony Ericsson's product development lagged behind those of companies like Apple (NYSE: AAPL - News) and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM - News) which dominated the high end smartphone industry early. Sony Ericsson also relied on the Symbian operating system which was championed by market leader Nokia, but which it has abandoned in favor of Microsoft's Windows mobile operating system because of license costs and difficulty with programmers. In a period when smartphone sales worldwide are rising in the double digits and sales of the iPhone double year over year, Sony Ericsson's unit sales dropped from 97 million in 2008 to 43 million last year. New competitors like HTC now outsell Sony Ericsson by widening numbers. Sony Ericsson management expects several more quarters of falling sales and the company has laid off thousands of people. There have been rumors, backed by logic, that Sony will take over the operation, rebrand the handsets with its name, and market them in tandem with its PS3 consoles and VAIO PCs.

7. Kellogg's Corn Pops

The cereal business is not what is used to be, at least for products that are not considered "healthy." Among those is Kellogg's Corn Pops ready-to-eat cereal. Sales of the brand dropped 18% over the year that ended in April, down to $74 million. That puts it well behind brands like Cheerios and Frosted Flakes, each which have sales of over $200 million a year. Private label sales have also hurt sales of branded cereals. Revenues in this category were $637 million over the same April-end period. There is also profit margin pressure on Corn Pops because of the sharp increase in corn prices. Kellogg's describes the product as being "crispy, glazed, crunchy, sweet." Corn Pops also contain mono- and diglycerides, used to bind saturated fat, and BHT for freshness, which is also used in embalming fluid. None of these are likely to be what mothers want to serve their children in an age in which a healthy breakfast is more likely to be egg whites and a bowl of fresh fruit.

8. MySpace

MySpace, once the world's largest social network, died a long time ago. It will get buried soon. News Corp (NYSE: NWS - News) bought MySpace and its parent in 2005 for $580 million, which was considered inexpensive at the time based on the web property's size. MySpace held the top spot among social networks based on visitors from mid-2006 until mid-2008, according to several online research services. It was overtaken by Facebook at that point. Facebook has 700 million members worldwide now and recently passed Yahoo! (NYSE: YHOO - News) as the largest website for display advertising based on revenue. News Corp was able to get an exclusive advertising deal worth $900 million shortly after it bought the property, but that was its sales high-water mark. Its audience is currently estimated to be less that 20 million visitors in the US. Why did MySpace fall so far behind Facebook? No one knows for certain. It may be that Facebook had more attractive features for people who wanted to share their identities online. It may have been that it appealed to a younger audience which tends to spend more time online. News Corp announced in February that it would sell MySpace. There were no serious bids. Rumors surfaced recently that a buyer may take the website for $100 million. The brand is worth little if anything. A buyer is likely to kill the name and fold the subscriber base into another brand. News Corp has hinted it will close MySpace if it does not find a buyer.

9. Soap Opera Digest

The magazine's future has been ruined by two trends. The first is the number of cancellations of soap operas. Long-lived shows which include "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" have been canceled and replaced by talk shows, which are less expensive to air. The other insurmountable challenge is the wide availability of details on soap operas online. Some of the shows even have their own fan sites. News about the industry, in other words, is now distributed and no longer in one place. Soap Opera Digest's first quarter advertising pages fell 21% in the first quarter and revenue was down 18% to $4 million. In 2000, the magazine's circulation was in excess of 1.1 million readers. By 2005 it fell below 500,000 where it has remained for the last 5 years. Source Interlink Media, the magazine's parent, which also owns automotive, truck, and motorcycle publications, has little reason to support a product based on a dying industry.

10. Nokia

Nokia is dead. Shareholders are just waiting for an undertaker. The world's largest handset company has one asset. Nokia sold 25% of the global total of 428 million units sold in the first quarter. Its problem is that in the industry the company is viewed as a falling knife. Its market share in the same quarter of 2010 was nearly 31%. The arguments that Nokia will not stay independent are numerous. It has a very modest presence in the rapidly growing smartphone industry which is dominated by Apple, Research In Motion's Blackberry, HTC, and Samsung. Nokia runs the outdated Symbian operating system and is in the process of changing to Microsoft's Windows mobile OS, which has a tiny share of the market.

Nokia would be an attractive takeover target to a large extent because the cost to "buy" 25% of the global handset market would only be $22 billion based on Nokia's current market cap. Obviously, a buyer would need to pay a premium, but even $30 billion is within reach of several companies. Potential buyers would start with HTC, the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world. Its sales have doubled in both the last quarter and the last year. HTC will sell as many as 80 million handsets in 2011. The Taiwan-based company's challenge would be whether it could finance such a large deal. The other three likely bidders do not have that problem. Microsoft, which is Nokia's primary software partner, could easily buy the company and is often mentioned as a suitor. The world's largest software company recently moved further into the telecom industry though its purchase of VoIP giant Skype, which has 170 million active customers. Two other large firms have many reasons to buy Nokia. Samsung, part of one of the largest conglomerates in Korea, has publicly set a goal to be the No.1 handset company in the world by 2014. The parent company is the largest in South Korea with revenue in 2010 of $134 billion. A buyout of Nokia would launch Samsung into the position as the world's handset leader. LG Electronics, the 7th largest company in South Korea, with sales of $48 billion, is by most measures the third largest smartphone company. It has the scale and balance sheet to takeover Nokia. The only question about the Finland-based company is whether a buyer would maintain the Microsoft relationship or change to the popular Android OS to power Nokia phones.