Google, Facebook lose social network patent ruling (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Google Inc and Facebook Inc failed to win dismissal of a lawsuit by a New York company related to software designed to let people take part on social networks through their mobile phones.

Wireless Ink Corp, which runs the Winksite service, may pursue claims that Google Buzz and Facebook Mobile infringed its October 2009 patent, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan wrote in a ruling made public on Friday.

The patent related to a method to help novice mobile phone users create mobile websites that other phone users can see. Wireless Ink is seeking a halt to the alleged infringement, and compensatory and triple damages.

Jeremy Pitcock, a lawyer for Wireless Ink, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Facebook and Google did not immediately return requests for comment.

According to an amended complaint filed in December, Wireless Ink's application for its so-called '983 patent became public in January 2004.

It said this was three years before Facebook, the world's most popular social networking website, launched its first mobile website, and six years before Google launched Buzz to compete with Facebook.

"If two of the most resource-rich, patent-savvy and technologically advanced companies leading the Internet were not aware of the '983 patent, despite its potential ramifications upon a major segment of the defendants' business," Wireless Ink wrote, "this was solely due to a deliberate indifference on the part of defendants."

Wireless Ink said Winksite had more than 75,000 registered users, while Facebook Mobile has tens of millions of users, and Google said tens of millions of people had "checked Buzz out" in the service's first two days.

In his ruling, Castel said Wireless Ink "does not allege any facts that are inconsistent with the existence of a viable claim." He also dismissed counterclaims seeking to invalidate the Wireless Ink patent.

Facebook is based in Palo Alto, California, and Google in Mountain View, California.

Analysts now generally consider Google Buzz a failure. Google raised privacy concerns when it at first used email lists from users' Gmail accounts to build social networks of Buzz contacts. It later changed the settings so that Gmail contacts are kept private by default.

The case is Wireless Ink Corp v. Facebook Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-01841.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang)

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Toyota cars to be driver's "friend" in social network service (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp and cloud computing company Salesforce.com Inc will build a social network service that will enable owners to become "friends" with their cars and get friendly, tweet-like reminders for maintenance checks and other notices.

The deal marks the second tie-up between the world's biggest automaker and a software company in as many months. Toyota and Microsoft Corp last month announced plans to bring Internet-connected services to Toyota's cars across the world.

"Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication," Toyota President Akio Toyoda told a joint news conference with Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff in Tokyo on Monday.

"The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation," Toyoda said.

Information technology and telematics are expected to play a key role in adding value to future cars, and become a marketing tool as consumers look for connectivity not just from their laptops and phones but also with their cars. Toyota has already developed its own telematics service to connect it with drivers and dealers.

Under the new private social network, called "Toyota Friend," owners will be able to "chat" with their Toyotas like they would with a friend on Twitter or Facebook.

The car would have its own "profile" and send a message to the driver's phone, for instance, reminding him to recharge its depleted battery. The owner would be able to carry out a simple, two-way conversation with the car.

The service would be an extension of Toyota's network to be based on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform that would give customers across the world access to Toyota's digital services such as GPS and multimedia.

Customers will be able to extend the private "Toyota Friend" network to include their family and friends through public social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

The service will be offered first in Japan with Toyota's first battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars due next year, Toyota said.

Cloud-computing, one of the fastest-growing areas in the technology sector, refers to the use of remote data centres to deliver software, data and computing power.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

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Toyota to set up social networking service (AP)

TOKYO – Toyota is setting up a social networking service with the help of a U.S. Internet company and Microsoft so drivers can interact with their cars in ways similar to Twitter and Facebook.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, announced their alliance Monday to launch "Toyota Friend," a private social network for Toyota owners that works similar to tweets on Twitter.

In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, an owner of a plug-in Prius hybrid found out through a cell phone message from his Prius called "Pre-boy" that he should remember to recharge his car overnight.

When the owner plugged in his car to recharge it, the car replied, "The charge will be completed by 2:15 a.m. Is that OK? See you tomorrow."

The exchanges can be kept private, or be shared with other "Toyota Friend" users, as well as made public on Facebook, Twitter and other services, the company said.

The companies did not give details of how the technology, such as the content of the talking car's dialogues, will be managed. But officials said the answers will be automated through sensors in the car.

If your car is up for an inspection, for example, the owner will be notified through "Toyota Friend," which will in turn automatically link to a dealer to set up an appointment.

Toyota is investing 442 million yen ($5.5 million), Microsoft Corp. is investing 335 million yen ($4.1 million) and Salesforce.com 223 million yen ($2.8 million) in the project.

Many cars are already equipped with navigation and other network-linking capabilities, and can function as a mobile device just like an iPhone or a Blackberry.

Toyota's service, built on open-source cloud platforms that are the specialty of Salesforce.com, as well as on Microsoft's platform, will start in Japan in 2012, and will be offered later worldwide, initially with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, according to Toyota.

Such next-generation cars need to be recharged and so drivers may need real-time information, such as the battery level of their cars and locations of charging stations, more than regular gas-engine cars.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, a racing fan, said he always "talks" with his car when he is zipping around on the circuit.

With the popularity of social networking, cars and their makers should become part of that online interaction, he said.

"I hope cars can become friends with their users, and customers will see Toyota as a friend," he said.

Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff said social networks can add value to products and companies. It can also help Toyota gain massive information not only about their buyers but about how the car is working or not working, he said.

"I want a relationship with my car in the same way we have a relationship with our friends on social networks," he said.

Toyoda, who has always been interested in telematics, or the use of Internet technology in autos, has been aggressive in forging alliances with new kinds of companies, including one with U.S. luxury electric carmaker Tesla Motors that he announced last year.

Partnerships with dot.com types have been a bright spot in Toyoda's bumpy career as president. He has faced growing doubts about reliability and transparency because of the massive global recalls that began two years ago, shortly after he took office, and which now affect more than 14 million vehicles.

Toyota is also battling parts shortages after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan destroyed key suppliers, hampering production.

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Social network Viadeo shelves IPO plan (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – Viadeo, the world's second-biggest social network for professionals behind LinkedIn, is deferring a plan for an initial public offering (IPO), preferring instead to focus on growth in emerging markets, its chief executive said.

The France-based start-up had been mulling an IPO in Europe, the United States or Hong Kong in a bid to surf on a wave of investor interest in technology start-ups that has sent valuations sky-rocketing in recent months.

Viadeo's rival LinkedIn is in the midst of listing part of its capital on Wall Street and hopes to raise around $150 million to further its product expansion, hiring and acquisitions.

Chief Executive Dan Serfaty told the Reuters Global Technology Summit that Viadeo would reconsider a listing in roughly 18-24 months.

"We saw a tremendous level of interest by bankers, private equity investors and venture capitalists," said Serfaty. "But we decided that our fundamentals were good enough that we could wait for a listing and instead focus on growing the business."

Serfaty said he was worried that a flotation would hamper the company's ability to invest heavily to expand in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America in the coming years.

"We want to grow and not be faced with the pressure to deliver profitability right away," he said. "There is a risk of going public too early."

Viadeo, which says it has more than 35 million users, is seeking to position itself as the more international cousin of LinkedIn, with its users coming from Europe, China, India and Latin America.

Serfaty added that there was so much money available from private equity and venture capitalists that even if the company needed funds to fuel its expansion, it could collect them easily without going public.

LinkedIn, which says it has more than 100 million users, focused in the U.S., has set a price range for its IPO that values it at $3 billion or around 12 times 2010 sales.

In comparison, search engine giants Google and Yahoo are valued at 6 and 3.5 times 2010 sales respectively.

Both LinkedIn and Viadeo have business models focused on free initial access for users to post their resumes, followed by paid access for premium users. The sites also sell advertisements to generate revenue.

(Editing by James Regan)

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Medicare, Social Security running out of money faster

Medicare's trust fund will run dry in 2024, five years earlier than forecast just last year, and Social Security's will be exhaused by 2036, adding fuel to the debate over cutting one or both programs to reduce annual budget deficits.

The government programs' trustees issued their gloomy findings today amid a rancorous debate in Washington over the future of the New Deal and Great Society programs, which eat up huge and growing shares of the federal budget.

The pessimistic outlook was hastened since the last report in August 2010 by the continued impact of the recession, which has sapped revenue and increased spending.

Both programs are running in the red and will continue to do so, the trustees said. Medicare is paying out more in benefits each year than it takes in in taxes. Last year, its trust fund wasn't expected to run dry until 2029.

Another factor: longevity. The report projects that men who turned age 65 in 2010 can expect to live another 18.6 years, an extra half-year compared to last year's report. Life expectancy for women at age 65 is projected at 20.7 years, up from 20.4 years in 2010.

"Americans are living longer, and health care costs are continuing to rise," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. "And if we do not do more to contain health care costs, our commitments will become unsustainable."

Social Security has longer before its trust fund runs dry in 2036, but it ran a deficit last year for the first time since 1983. Now it's projected to run deficits every year; last August, the trustees had projected a few more years of surpluses from 2012-14.

If the trust funds run out, the programs no longer would be able to pay full benefits. Social Security would be able to pay only about 75% of promised benefits through 2085. Medicare could pay 90% starting in 2024, dropping to 75% in 2045.

The Social Security Disability Insurance program is in the worst shape. Its trust fund will run out before 2018, the trustees reported, forcing it to borrow funds from the retirement insurance program.

The Medicare figures are suspect, because they rely on billions of dollars in savings projected under the health care law signed by President Obama last year. Without passage of that law, the Medicare trust fund would be projected to run out in 2016, just five years from now.

The savings in the law depend on many factors, such as cuts in payments to doctors that Congress habitually sidesteps, as well as improvements in doctors' and hospitals' productivity. There is no guarantee those will happen; in fact, the physician payment cuts surely will not.

Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, mentioned these and other factors in a separate opinion at the end of the lengthy report which, in essence, calls its conclusions into question:

The financial projections shown in this report for Medicare do not represent a reasonable expectation for actual program operations in either the short range, as a result of the unsustainable reductions in physician payment rates, or the long range....

The economic outlook remains more uncertain than usual. Due to the sensitivity of hospital insurance trust fund operations to wage increases and unemployment, the current slow recovery from the recent recession adds a significant further element of uncertainty to the trust fund projections.

Unlike past years, the annual report could have an immediate impact on the most important domestic policy issue pending before President Obama and Congress -- how to reduce annual budget deficits and get a handle on the nation's $14.3 trillion debt.

Geithner has said that debt ceiling must be raised by Aug. 2, or the country would face an unprecedented default on its obligations. Republican leaders in Congress have said they won't vote to raise the debt ceiling without substantial spending cuts. House Speaker John Boehner wants $2 trillion.

"For decades, politicians in Washington, D.C., have looked up at the size and scale of the fiscal challenges facing our country, particularly in Medicare, and chosen to kick the can down the road," Boehner said. "Today's trustees report is another reminder that we've run out of road. With tens of millions of Baby Boomers beginning to retire, this is the moment to act. The time is now."

The GOP leaders have ruled out tax increases, but the White House insists they remain on the table. That could include raising the Social Security payroll tax cap or increasing the Medicare tax that pays for hospital insurance.

See photos of: Barack Obama, Timothy F. Geithner

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Social Security Payments to Go Paperless Beginning May 1

AP

In this Feb. 11, 2005, file photo, trays of printed social security checks wait to be mailed from a facility in Philadelphia.

Social Security checks are going paperless beginning May 1, as the U.S. Treasury Department retires paper checks for electronic payments. 

The cost-saving measure, which won't be fully implemented until May 2013, is aimed at reducing government expenses by $1 billion over the next decade as millions of baby boomers and others apply for monthly federal benefits. Federal benefits will also be paid electronically to recipients of veterans and disability payments, the Treasury Department announced Friday. 

Eighteen million baby boomers are expected to go onto the retirement rolls in the next five years. 

Direct deposit has long been an option for Social Security recipients and others, and in fact, most recipients of federal checks already get payments electronically. 

But electronic payments are still precarious to some, especially Depression-era babies who never learned to trust banks. Currently, 11 million people still get government checks in the mail.  

U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios will be rolling out the new system next week in anticipation of the May 1 turnover. 

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Govt Shutdown Will Affect Troops, National Parks, Social Securities And Congressional Facilities

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The deal reached between congressional leaders at white house will affect national parks, troops, post offices, congressman, social security offices and congressional facilities.
Though sky will not fall but still public has huge concerns over Federal Government’s shutdown deal. Congressional leaders agreed by midnight in White House over cutting billions of dollars funding in order to avoid the first shutdown on behalf of government in 15 years period. They have reached a short-term deal and work is continuing for agreement over a long-term deal.
All national parks like Rocks National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park of Michigan will close after the deal is signed by the leaders of federal government. Similarly, Post offices will continue their operations and you will be getting your mail, but their worker’s number will decrease. Just like post offices, government is also looking to decrease its expenditures on congressional facilities. In this background Huizenga, a congressman, said that he was sleeping in his room. Due to reduction in facilities, he would not be able to shave and shower on expenditures of government. But he said that troops were more important than his shave and shower.

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Reid blames possible shutdown on Tea Party's 'extreme social agenda'

Update at 11:21 a.m. ET: Senate Majority Harry Reid, speaking on the Senate floor, said an agreement had been reached on spending cuts, but that the issue of women's health, a reference to the dispute over funding Planned Parenthood, was the sticking point.

Reid said "now the Tea Party among others, they are the biggest push, is trying to push its extreme social agenda, issues that have nothing to do with funding the bill."

More from our colleagues at On Politics and The Oval.

Earlier post: Only hours before a possible government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner indicated no agreement had been reached, saying that Senate Democrats should do "the responsible thing" and pass the House budget bill.

"When will the White House and Senate Democrats get serious about cutting spending?" the Ohio Republican said.

Only moments later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor, "We're very hopeful we can reach agreement on the budget today."

Reid told reporters earlier today that both sides had agreed on a spending cut of $38 billion, but that a fight over federal dollars for Planned Parenthood is blocking a deal. Boehner's aides have denied that.

Boehner and Reid failed to reach a breakthrough during their meeting late Thursday with President Obama at the White House.

Obama had called upon both sides to give him a response this morning on whether they could bridge their differences and avoid a shutdown.

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