Blackberry-maker RIM reports $125m loss

Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has reported a quarterly loss, due in part to falling revenues on the back of weak smartphone shipments. The Canadian company made a net loss for the three months to 3 March of $125m (£78m), compared with a profit of $934m a year earlier. Revenues fell to $4.2bn from $5.2bn. The firm also suggested it would refocus on the corporate market rather than on individual consumers. It also announced the resignation of former co-chief executive Jim Balsillie. Chief technology officer David Yacht will also be standing down. Shares in the company fell as much as 9% in after-hours trading following the trading statement. They have fallen by 80% over the past year. Shipments of BlackBerry smartphones in the quarter fell to 11.1 million, down 21% from the previous three-month period. Shipments of the company's PlayBook tablets hit 500,000, largely due to substantial discounting. For the full financial year, the company made a net profit of $1.2bn, down from $3.4bn in the previous year. The results were worse than analysts had expected and RIM shares fell sharply in after-hours trading.

Corporate Focus

RIM has struggled to keep up with rivals in the smartphone market, such as Apple's iPhone and handsets running on Google's Android operating system. It has also struggled to gain a foothold in the tablet market. Newly-appointed chief executive Thorsten Heins said the company would now focus on its traditional core market of corporate customers rather than on individual consumers as part of a strategy to turn the business around. "We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment," he said. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength." Analysts said the company could continue to struggle until it became clear whether this turnaround plan would succeed. "They clearly have no fix on when this process will bottom, and until it really does, it's going to be very difficult for a lot of investors to come back in," said Eric Jackson at Ironfire Capital in New York.

Apple hit by China Foxconn factory report

An independent investigation has found "significant issues" among working practices at Chinese plants making Apple iPhones and iPads. The US Fair Labor Association (FLA) was asked by Apple to investigate working conditions at Foxconn after reports of long hours and poor safety. The FLA says it has now secured agreements to reduce hours, protect pay, and improve staff representation. Apple said it "fully accepted" the report's recommendations.

"We share the FLA's goal of improving lives and raising the bar for manufacturing companies everywhere," it said in a statement. The findings emerged as Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Foxconn facilities. Mr Cook toured Zhengzhou Technology Park, where 120,000 employees work, on Wednesday. A string of suicides at Foxconn last year put the spotlight on working conditions at its factories. Last month, the company announced it was to send independent inspectors from the FLA to audit the facilities.

Legal limits

The investigation - one of the largest ever conducted of a US company's operations abroad - found employees often worked more than 60 hours a week and sometimes for seven days running without the required day off. Other violations included unpaid overtime and health and safety risks. Average monthly salaries at the three factories ranged from $360 (£227) to $455 (£289). Foxconn raised salaries by up to 25% recently. The FLA said Foxconn had agreed to comply with the association's standards on working hours by July 2013, bringing them in line with a legal limit in China of 49 hours per week. The company will hire thousands more workers in order to compensate for the move, Reuters reports. The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says the report has been much anticipated as embodying a new and transparent approach to an old problem: that of cheap but popular consumer goods manufactured in poor conditions in developing countries. However, he says, a telling line in the report is the one which notes that the Foxconn workers did not have true trade union representation. The authorities in China are very wary of unions and are likely to remain so. Before the report was released, labour unions expressed doubts that the company was committed to improving standards. "The report will include new promises by Apple that stand to be just as empty as the ones made over the past 5 years," SumOfUS.org, a coalition of trade unions and consumer groups, said. Foxconn employs 1.2 million workers in China to produce products for Apple as well as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and other companies.

France arrests 19 suspected Islamists in dawn raids

Police in France have arrested 19 suspected Islamists and seized weapons in a series of dawn raids, President Nicolas Sarkozy says.

The raids were in Toulouse, the home of gunman Mohamed Merah, and other cities.

Merah, who killed seven people in three separate attacks, was buried in Toulouse on Thursday after being killed in a shoot-out with police on 22 March.

Police have been hunting possible accomplices but sources said there was no direct link with the raids.

Merah's brother, Abdelkader, has been charged with aiding him and police are hunting a third man said to be involved in the theft of a scooter that Merah used in all the killings.

IT jobs will grow 22% through 2020, says U.S.

U.S. officials on Thursday said that offshoring will hurt the growth of U.S. programming jobs in this decade, though expansion of healthcare IT and mobile networks will in turn increase demand for software developers, support technicians and systems analysts. By 2020, employment in all computer occupations is expected to increase by 22%, but some IT fields will fare better than others, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) biennial update of employment projections. Demand for software developers will be the strongest in this period, with increases ranging from 28% to 32%, depending on the type of software development.

Comparative growth rates

Projected 10-year growth	Compared to other categories
Increase 29% or more	Much faster than average
Increase 20% to 28%	Faster than average
Increase 10% to 19%	About average
Increase 3% to 9%	More slowly than average
Decrease 2% to increase 2%	Little or no change
Decrease 3% to 9%	Decline slowly or moderately
Decrease 10% or more	Decline rapidly

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The BLS update imagines what IT employment will look like through 2020. The agency's forecasts, particularly for technology-related jobs, are often controversial because they can't account for rapid market changes and tech disruptions. But its estimates are often cited in various policy debates on issues ranging from education to immigration. The IT employment growth rate projected by the BLS was characterized as "anemic" by Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, a research firm that analyzes IT wage and employment trends. "When you consider the overall demand for systems and applications in high-growth markets like China and India, [the BLS projections] mean the U.S. will be doing a diminishing portion of the development and implementation work," said Janulaitis. "If that's the case, the U.S. will no longer be the leader in IT. "The BLS projections are a bad sign for the U.S. IT graduates from universities. Those numbers do not cover the net growth necessary to give all of the graduates jobs," Janulaitis added. The outlook varies from occupation to occupation. Here's a look at the BLS projections for various tech jobs.

Job growth forecast

Job title	May 2010 employment	2020 jobs forecast	Job growth forecast	Pct job growth forecast	Expected growth rate thru 2020	May 2010 median wage
Software developers, systems software	392,300	519,400	127,100	32%	Much faster than average	$ 94,180
Database administrators	110,800	144,800	34,000	31%	Much faster than average	$ 73,490
Network & computer system admins	347,300	443,800	96,500	28%	Faster than average	$ 69,160
Software developers, applications	520,800	664,500	143,700	28%	Faster than average	$ 87,790
Computer systems analyst	544,400	664,800	120,400	22%	Faster than average	$ 77,740
Information Security Analysts, Web Developers, and Computer Network Architects	302,300	367,900	65,600	22%	Faster than average	$ 75,660
Computer & information systems managers	307,900	363,700	55,800	18%	About average	$115,780
Computer support specialists	607,100	717,100	110,000	18%	About average	$ 46,260
Computer programmers	363,100	406,800	43,700	12%	Average	$ 71,380

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook

Database administrators

Demand for database administrators is expected to increase by 31%, with 33,900 jobs being added this decade as enterprises endeavor to cull valuable information from an ever-growing mountain of data. The field employed 110,800 people in 2010 at a median salary of $73,490.

IT managers

For IT managers, employment is projected to increase by 55,800 jobs, or 18%, to 363,700 jobs by 2020. The BLS said growth in the healthcare industry and the need for more IT security may spur an increase in the number IT management jobs, but the agency added that "cloud computing may shift some IT services to computer systems design and related services firms, concentrating jobs in that industry." The median pay for IT managers in 2010 was $115,780.

Computer programmers

The IT occupation expected to show the weakest growth is computer programming, which is also the profession most susceptible to off shoring. The number of people employed as computer programmers will increase by just 12% through the decade, from 363,100 in 2010 to 406,800 by 2020, the BLS projects. That's less than the expected 14% increase in the number of U.S. jobs across all occupations, IT and otherwise, over the same period, according to the BLS. Offshoring was blamed for relatively weak growth in demand for computer programmers. "Since computer programming can be done from anywhere in the world, companies often hire programmers in countries where wages are lower," said the BLS. "This ongoing trend will limit growth for computer programmers in the United States." The median pay for programmers in 2010 was $71,380.

Help desk, technical support

The healthcare industry's growth and its shift to electronic records will help spur demand for computer support specialists, a job category that includes help desk personnel. There were 607,000 people employed in computer support in 2010. That figure is expected to grow to 717,000 by 2020, for an 18% increase. The 2010 median pay for computer support specialists was $46,260. Technical support workers are also being hurt by a shift of jobs to other countries, though the BLS is a little more optimistic about the outlook for this occupation. "A recent trend to move jobs to lower-cost regions of the United States may offset some loss of jobs to other countries," the bureau said, referring to the trend of hiring people who handle call center duties largely from their homes.

Systems analysts

The BLS projects that the number of computer systems analysts will grow by 22% through 2020, thanks to the spread of mobile networks and the expanded use of computerized healthcare tools, such as e-prescription systems. The number of computer system analysts in the U.S. in 2010 was 544,000. That figure is expected to rise 22% to 664,800 by 2020. The median salary of a systems analyst was $77,740 in 2010.

Software developers

The BLS said there were 913,100 software developers in the U.S. 2010; they were earning a median salary of $90,530. The bureau forecasts that the number of software development jobs will increase by 30%, or 270,900, through 2020. The fastest rate of growth (32%) will be for system software developers, and the lowest (28%) will be for application developers, the bureau said.

Other IT occupations

In 2010, there were 347,200 network and computer systems administrators employed in the U.S., earning a median wage of $69,160. Employment in these occupations is expected to grow by 96,600 jobs, or 28%, through 2020. The BLS lumps information security analysts, Web developers and computer network architects in a single category. It said a combined 302,300 people held those positions in 2010 and projected that employment in that category would grow 22% to 367,900 jobs by 2020. The median pay for all workers in that category was $75,660 in 2010.

BLS critics

Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said the BLS IT forecasts have been wildly wrong in the past. "Volatile occupations tend to be subject to bad forecasts, and it's clear that computer occupation employment levels are very hard to forecast," said Hira. "The forecasts are biased toward the most recent history in the occupation," he said. Hira said he would place more stock in growth projections for a predictable profession. Citing primary school teachers as an example, he pointed out that the BLS can estimate the number of births during the decade and factor in teacher-student ratios to reach an estimate of employment growth. The BLS has "no methodology to estimate technological disruptions that can increase demand for computer occupations," said Hira, citing the rapid increases in the use of the Internet and ERP systems as examples of IT disruptions. David Foote, CEO of Foote Partners, an IT labor market research firm, scoffed at the BLS's projections and said they extended too far out into the future to be reliable. In light of "current market volatility and uncertainty which is unprecedented," Foote said that anyone who makes a 10-year IT employment projection "is kidding themselves." The projections don't take into account the rate of technological change, he said. Foote said the BLS only identifies a "small group" of IT jobs and doesn't track the new kinds of technology jobs that combine business and IT experience to create hybrid professions. Much of that is being driven by the demands to find useful ways to apply use so-called big data in a business.

Ukraine Shuts Down Forum for Malware Writers

Ukrainian authorities have shut down a long-running forum that was used to trade tips on writing malicious software, a sign the country's law enforcement may be watching hackers more closely. Administrators for the forum, VX Heavens, wrote that its servers were seized on March 23 for allegedly creating and intending to sell malicious software programs, a violation of Ukraine's criminal code. The website called the accusation "absurd" but said it couldn't offer services with the pending court case. VX Heavens might have been easy pickings for Ukraine, which has been noted by computer security experts as being a hotbed of cybercrime. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for security vendor Sophos, wrote that VX Heavens operated for many years, hosting virus-writing tutorials and malicious code samples. But the site is likely just a small player in an expansive cybercriminal underground. "The folks using the VX Heavens website were probably not in the same league as the financially-motivated organized criminals computer users are often troubled by today, and mirror rather more the hobbyist malware authors of yesteryear," Cluley wrote. "Nevertheless, it's clear that the Ukrainian authorities didn't like what they saw and have confiscated the website's servers in their hunt for evidence of criminality," he wrote. Ukraine has stepped up its computer crime and fraud enforcement efforts in recent years. Last June its security service, the SBU, said it busted a cybercrime ring that stole some US$72 million using Conficker, a fast-spreading worm that appeared in 2008. Since October 2009, the FBI has stationed a supervisory special agent at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to assist with cybercrime investigations that target the U.S.

Android Expected to Eclipse Windows Devices by 2016

Windows will lose its place as the dominant computing platform over the next four years, supplanted by ARM-based devices running Google's Android operating system, according to a report from IDC. A "dramatic shift" will take place, IDC says, with the market share of Windows devices based on the x86 architecture dropping to 25.1 percent in 2016, a significant slide from 35.9 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, devices running Android will see their share grow to a market-leading 31.1 percent in 2016, up from 29.4 percent in 2011. 

Devices based on Apple's iOS operating system will also gain during the period, to 17.3 percent of the market, from 14.6 percent in 2011. Despite the burgeoning market for Android devices, many makers will find it difficult to stay in the black, according to Tom Mainelli, director of IDC's Mobile Connected Devices program. "Android's growth is tied directly to the propagation of lower-priced devices," said Mainelli. "So, while we expect dozens of hardware vendors to own some share in the Android market, many will find profitability difficult to sustain." The Android market won't leech developers from the smaller iOS realm. 

"[W]e expect a large percentage of application developers to continue to focus their efforts on iOS because iOS end users have proven more willing to pay for high-quality apps". As more "smart connected devices"  smartphones, tablets and some personal computers enter the market, the multiple device user will become the norm, according to IDC. That will create a challenge for makers of those devices. "The trick, moving forward, will be to integrate all these devices into a unified whole through use of personal cloud-type applications and services," Bob O’Donnell, IDCs vice president for clients and displays, explained. "That's the real challenge of what we have often called the 'PC Plus' era." Overall, 916 million smart connected devices were shipped in 2011, generating $489 billion in revenue, IDC reported. This year, it predicted shipments would reach 1.1 billion, and by 2016, 1.84 billion. The IDC report, although careful to avoid the volatile phrase "post-PC era," will add gasoline to the heated discussion on that topic. 

Before dying, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs declared the world had entered the post-PC era. His sentiments were later echoed by IBM. Nevertheless, there are those who would argue that post-PC devices supplement a PC infrastructure and are not a substitute for it. Yet others would point out that the death knell for PCs have been sounded many times in the past, but somehow they always find a way to survive.

Facebook Password Amendment Rejected by Congress

The House of Representatives has rejected an effort to give the Federal Communications Commission the power to stop employers from asking job applicants for their password to Facebook and other social networking sites. The effort was an amendment, proposed by Representative Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, added to legislation to reform the FCC. "What this amendment does is it says that you cannot demand, as a condition of employment, that somebody reveal a confidential password to their Facebook, to their Flickr, to their Twitter, whatever their account may be," Perlmutter said during a speech on the House floor. The amendment would have added the following paragraph to the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012:

“Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this Act shall be construed to limit or restrict the ability of the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a rule or to amend an existing rule to protect online privacy, including requirements in such rule that prohibit licensees or regulated entities from mandating that job applicants or employees disclose confidential passwords to social networking websites.”

The amendment was deemed unnecessary by the Republicans, and was voted down 236 to 184. Only one House Republican voted in support of the amendment, while only two House Democrats voted against the amendment. Republicans argued that while the proposed legislation wouldn't help the situation, they were willing to work on new legislation in the future. While this might sound like Republicans hate privacy, that's not necessarily the case. The actual proposal that was being debated was the FCC Process Reform Act, which is a Republican-backed and Democrat-opposed bill. The FCC Process Reform Act wants to require the FCC to be more transparent, and Democrats believe it's unacceptable to require the (currently Democrat-controlled) agency to do this. As CNET points out, Perlmutter's amendment was merely a "transparent, if clever, delaying tactic." After all, CNET's Declan McCullagh says, "If Perlmutter actually wanted to add that pro-privacy section to the bill, he could have suggested an amendment instead of returning to the committee." Perlmutter may not care nearly as much about our privacy as we think he does. In 2008, he voted for anti-privacy legislation. The FCC Process Reform Act did pass, by a vote of 247 to 174.

Apple Devices Reside in Half of All U.S. Households

Around half of all U.S. households own at least one Apple product, whether it’s an iPad, iPod or Mac, according to a CNBC survey. It’s estimated that some 55 million homes have at least one Apple gadget, and one in 10 of the non-Apple households plans to purchase a fruit-branded product in the next year. The results on Apple’s penetration in U.S. homes are hardly surprising. The company’s stock recently rose above $600 per share to reach record highs, as over the past decade the company’s profits went from $65 million to $33 billion. At the same time, Apple has sold tens of millions of iPods, iPhones and iPads, dominating almost every market it has entered (besides PCs, of course). The survey shows the main buyers of Apple gear tend to be male, college-educated, younger and richer: 77 percent of those earning more than $75,000 a year own at least one Apple product, compared with 28 percent of those making less than $30,000 per year. Age is not a barrier though: 63 percent of respondents between 18 and 34 as well as those between 35 to 49 called themselves Apple users, but the percentage goes down to 50 when you look at those aged 50 to 64. 

The biggest legion of Apple fans reside in the West, where 57 percent of homes own around two Apple products, compared with 47 percent on average in the rest of the country. People own the least Apple devices in the South, the survey found. Also, regardless of political inclinations, around 56 percent of both Republicans and Democrats own at least one device with the fruit logo on it. The survey however, does not say which devices the households own, as Macs, iPads, iPods and iPhones are lumped together. The number of people polled in the survey is also relatively low -- 836 Americans, and the survey lacks context such as comparison figures with ownership of PCs or Android devices. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

PlayStation 4 is Code-Named 'Orbis,' May Restrict Second-Hand Games

The next-generation PlayStation console will display resolutions up to 4096-by-2160 and show 3D games in 1080p, but it may render second-hand games useless, according to an online report. Games would only be accessible for the purported new console, codenamed Orbis, on brand new discs or as downloads from the PlayStation Network. New discs would require online authentication via PSN and then be locked to the account of a single user, according to Kotaku. While these are only claims from anonymous sources at this point, the idea that console makers are looking to destroy or at least restrict the second-hand gaming and rental market is not surprising. The move could push more users toward using Sony's PSN Store to download game titles. And game makers would also welcome the lockdown, as Kotaku points out, since it would remove the need to create so-called online passes to bilk more money out of second-hand gamers. Online passes typically offer pre-owned game users access to online features or new content downloads for a fee. It's not clear what Sony's purported plans would mean for second-hand gaming havens such as GameStop or online disc rental services such as Gamefly. Kotaku says one possibility for pre-owned discs, when inserted in another console, could be that users have access to a trial version of the game with the option to purchase the full version. The next-generation PlayStation console will display resolutions up to 4096-by-2160 and show 3D games in 1080p, but it may render second-hand games useless, according to an online report. Games would only be accessible for the purported new console, codenamed Orbis, on brand new discs or as downloads from the PlayStation Network. New discs would require online authentication via PSN and then be locked to the account of a single user, according to Kotaku. While these are only claims from anonymous sources at this point, the idea that console makers are looking to destroy or at least restrict the second-hand gaming and rental market is not surprising. The move could push more users toward using Sony's PSN Store to download game titles. And game makers would also welcome the lockdown, as Kotaku points out, since it would remove the need to create so-called online passes to bilk more money out of second-hand gamers. Online passes typically offer pre-owned game users access to online features or new content downloads for a fee. It's not clear what Sony's purported plans would mean for second-hand gaming havens such as GameStop or online disc rental services such as Gamefly. Kotaku says one possibility for pre-owned discs, when inserted in another console, could be that users have access to a trial version of the game with the option to purchase the full version.

Pond skaters' feet inspire buoyant new material

The feet of pond skaters have helped create a novel super-buoyant material. Finnish scientists have drawn on the structure of the insect's foot to exploit its ability to let the creature skim across a pond's surface. The buoyancy of the material has been boosted by making it out of plant cellulose. The properties that make it float could help it act like a powerful sponge to aid oil spill clean-ups, say its creators.

Five fridges: The material is a type of aerogel - substances in which the liquid has been replaced with a gas but the structural components are left in place. The lightest aerogels are only a few times denser than air itself and have been called "solid smoke". The aerogel created by Dr Olli Ikkala and colleagues at the Helsinki University of Technology uses tiny fibres from plant cellulose - a natural polymer that, in some ways, resembles plastic. Cellulose is typically used to make paper and cloth. Dr Ikkala's team have used a specially processed form of cellulose, known as nanocellulose, to form their gel. "These materials have really spectacular properties that could be used in practical ways," said Dr Ikkala in a statement. Early tests based on a cellulose aerogel constructed to a design suggested by the feet of the pond skater have revealed how buoyant it is. They speculate that a 500g chunk of the material could support five standard household fridges weighing about half a tonne. The early work has also revealed that the material is a very efficient sponge that could aid oil spill clean-up efforts. Floating mats of the aerogel could be dragged through the water gathering up spilled oil which could then be recovered. The research was unveiled at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society.

World leaders: Nuclear terrorism a 'grave threat'

World leaders have called for closer co-operation to tackle the threat of nuclear terrorism at a summit on nuclear security in Seoul. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said nuclear terrorism remained a "grave threat", while US President Barack Obama said action was key. Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the group to work together on the issue. The meeting has so far been dominated by North Korea's plan to launch a rocket next month. North Korea says the long-range rocket will carry a satellite. The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and constitute a missile test. Iran's nuclear programme was also on the minds of the summit participants, with Mr Obama pledging to meet the leaders of Russia and China on the sidelines to work towards a resolution.

Chocolate 'may help keep people slim'

People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests. The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) - a measure of obesity. It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer  than those who ate it occasionally. Even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favour weight loss rather than fat synthesis, scientists believe. Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine. The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account. And it appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed. According to the researchers, there is only one chance in a hundred that their findings could be explained by chance alone. Lead author Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: "Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight." This is not the first time scientists have suggested that chocolate may be healthy for us. Other studies have claimed chocolate may be good for the heart. Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been linked to some favourable changes in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level. And chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, does contain antioxidants which can help to mop up harmful free radicals - unstable chemicals that can damage our cells. Dr Golomb and her team believe that antioxidant compounds, called catechins, can improve lean muscle mass and reduce weight - at least studies in rodents would suggest this might be so. Mice fed for 15 days with epicatechin (present in dark chocolate) had improved exercise performance and observable changes to their muscle composition. They say clinical trials are now needed in humans to see if this is the case. But before you reach for a chocolate bar, there are still lots of unanswered questions. And in the absence of conclusive evidence, experts advise caution. While there's no harm in allowing yourself a treat like chocolate now and again, eating too much might be harmful because it often contains a lot of sugar and fat too. And if you are looking to change your diet, you are likely to benefit most from eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Political activist killed, vehicles torched in Karachi

Muttahida Quami Movement activist Mansoor Mukhtar was gunned down in PIB colony area early Tuesday, reported Geo News. The news of the activist's killing spread like wildfire and sparked a string of arson incidents. Fourteen vehicles were torched in different areas and tyres were set on fire at Jamshed Road where shop owners were forced to shut their establishment. There were also reports of firing in the air. An official of the Petroleum Dealers Association said all fuel stations would remain closed after an oil tanker was set on fire in Korangi. A traders association announced that business would remain closed due to tension.

AT&T to sell Lumia 900 for $100, starting April 8

The first real test for Nokia in North America will come April 8, the day AT&T announces it will start selling the Lumia 900. First announced in January, the Lumia 900 is the Windows Phone that Nokia said it designed specifically for North America. At the time, Nokia also said it would price the phone aggressively. It is. With a two-year contract, the Lumia 900 will cost $100. That beats the price of many other LTE smart phones, which have been launching at $150 or $200. While Nokia previously said the phone would come in blue and black, AT&T said it will also sell a white model, although interested buyers will have to wait for that one. It goes on sale April 22. The black or blue phones can be preordered starting Friday. Nokia smartphone sales in North America have plummeted over the past years and now account for just a few percentage points in market share. "Consider Lumia 900 as Nokia's triumphant return to the U.S. smartphone market," Jonathan Church, director of product marketing management for AT&T, wrote in a blog post Monday. Industry observers will be closely watching sales of the Lumia 900 as an indication of whether Nokia's decision to drop Symbian, the smartphone operating system it used previously, in favor of Windows Phone will pay off. While Nokia started selling its first Windows Phone smartphones in the U.S. last year, they offered models that had been repurposed from other regions or based on designs that ran different operating systems. AT&T also said Monday that the HTC Titan II, also a Windows Phone, will go on sale April 8. It will cost $200 with a contract, has a 4.7-inch screen and a 16-megapixel camera. The Titan II and the Lumia 900 are the first Windows Phones that can operate on LTE networks.

HTC to shut Sense backup services

HTC plans to shut down its HTCsense.com cloud backup services on April 30 in preparation for the launch of "new and improved services," it said on its website. The HTCsense.com services let HTC phone users back up contacts, messages, call history and geotagged photos in the cloud. The backup service will become unavailable after April 30, when HTC plans to delete customer data, the company said on the HTCsense.com website. In the meantime, users are encouraged to download their data. HTC is offering tips on how to do so. It also suggests that users visit Google Play, the recently rebranded Android Market, to look for a backup application that might meet their needs. HTC didn't say when a new service would be launched. Earlier this year HTC said it planned to launch Sense 4, the latest version of the software that runs on its Android phones. It said that users of its forthcoming HTC One series of phones, which will come with Sense 4, would be able to use 25 gigabytes of free storage with Drop-box. The service will be integrated with Sense 4 so that users can easily store photos online at Drop-box, HTC said. The company may also be implementing technologies it acquired along with Dash-wire last year. That backup service let phone users store contacts, text messages, calendar entries, photos, videos and voice-mail messages online. It also let users send and receive text messages, manage contacts, make new calendar items and listen to voice-mail from a browser on a computer. When it announced the acquisition, HTC said it would use Dashwire's technology to extend its HTCsense cloud services. 

Apple's CEO meets with Beijing's mayor, calls for cooperation

Apple's CEO Tim Cook met with Beijing's mayor on Monday, and called for increased cooperation with China's capital city along with market expansion, according to a report from Chinese state-run press. Cook is reported to have said on his first visit to China after taking the position of CEO that the country had become important to Apple's research and development and the supply of its products. Beijing mayor Guo Jinlong, who met Cook on Monday afternoon, said he hoped Apple and Beijing could take further steps to deepen the company's cooperation with the capital. Beijing's top schools, rich talent, and market potential, makes the city ideal to develop the IT industry, he added. The brief report from the Beijing Daily did not elaborate more on Apple's cooperation with Beijing. On Tuesday, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said, "Tim is in China meeting with government officials. China is very important to us and we look forward to greater investment and growth here." She declined to comment further on Cook's activities while in the country. Earlier on Monday, Cook was spotted at a Beijing Apple store, with photos of his visit posted on the country's Twitter-like micro-blogging sites. He previously visited China in 2010 to investigate suicides at the factories of contract manufacturer Foxconn. Cook's is making his visit at a trying time for the company in the country. It is currently locked in an ongoing legal dispute over the iPad trademark, which threatens to ban Apple's tablet sales in the country. Regulatory offices in China are currently investigating the matter as a Chinese court prepares to make a decision on the case. Apple is also facing negative publicity for the alleged poor working conditions at its suppliers' factories in China. In January, the company also decided to cancel all iPhone 4S sales at its physical retail outlets after eggs were thrown at one of its Beijing Apple stores. Cook's visit could help stabilize the company's image in China after a string of negative publicity events, said Mark Natkin, managing director for Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. "I think they realize on multiple fronts, it's very important for them to establish strong relationships and then project the most positive image as possible," he said. "If they are smart, they will be working very hard to strengthen their government relations." In October, Cook said China has become the company's second largest market behind the U.S. The country is expected to become the world's largest smartphone market this year, according to research firm IDC.

More companies are OK with employees using Facebook at work

Workers connect with their friends on Facebook now and then when they're on the job, and that's just fine with executives there. Instead of discouraging employees from using social networks when they're on the job, being social, even outside the confines of the company, make workers more comfortable and happy. The company employs about 3,500 people at 55 offices in 38 countries. And happy workers make him happy. "There used to be a time when you'd go to work and you couldn't wait to get off and you wouldn't think about work after work," Rice said. "Today, there's very little down time. You're thinking about work even when you're not at work. And now you work six hours in the office and then you go home and work another four or five hours. You have to attend to work and personal relationships. These tools make that easier." While some corporate executives might worry that productivity would take a hit if employees used work time to post photos of their kids or comment on their college roommate's latest bike trip, Rice isn't worried about that at all. "If you're at work 12 or 15 hours a day, there are times when you want to break away and have a connection with reality, and connecting with family and friends allows you to do that," he said. Employees at AT Kearney often work at least 12-hour days. "These tools allow you to work that many hours ... without going stir crazy." Rice noted that AT Kearney uses Microsoft tools, such as SharePoint and Lync, to keep employees connected within the company. However, employees can escape the company network and take a breather with consumer-oriented social media. Earlier this month, a report from industry research firm Gartner, noted that the number of large companies that block employees from accessing social networking sites while on the job is dropping. The Gartner study showed that in 2010, 50% of large organizations blocked social sites, but by 2014, that number should drop to 30%. The study found that for some company departments and processes, such as marketing, access to external social media is a business need. Meanwhile, employees are finding ways to circumvent corporate blocks by using their personal smartphones. Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said it's well known that employees take breaks from working on spreadsheets and marketing reports to check out what's happening on social sites like Facebook, Google+,Twitter and Pinterest. Maybe it's time for employers to recognize that it can be good for a workforce that has endured a down economy and bosses who expect fewer people to do the job of a once-bigger staff, he said. "At an individual level, most managers know that workers are putting in more hours, including evenings and weekends, and they will turn a blind eye toward non-work activities, like Facebook, during working hours," said Olds. "But most official corporate policies that HR reps quote from aren't nearly as understanding." That may eventually change, however, at least in some enterprises. "I think employers have to recognize that whether or not they like it, workers can't, and won't, put in 100% effort 100% of the time," Olds added. "Social networking gives them a break from work and, as long as it doesn't get out of hand, isn't a threat to productivity. It's better than the three-martini lunch or employees spending hours around the water cooler." Rice also noted that allowing workers time to connect on social networks is a good recruiting tool for younger workers, who are accustomed to using social media throughout their day. "These kids are using these tools every day," Rice said. "It's a big part of making them happy. It shows them that we're in line with today's technology and practices ... It is not your grandfather's company anymore."