white

Apple's profits to be highest ever for public company, analyst says

Analyst Brian White remains ever bullish on Apple.

White, you may recall, is the Topeka Capital Markets analyst who in April boldly declared that Apple's stock would eventually be worth $1,001 a share. A few weeks later, he pushed that up to the singular price target of $1,111 "over the next year." That would amount to Apple's stock roughly doubling in value.

This morning, the supremely optimistic Mr. White has focused in on Apple's profits, in a tabulation relayed by Boy Genius Report. In a note to clients, White writes that, as he … Read more

How to make your speakers sound better than ever

Since most people listen to music on free earbuds, plastic computer speakers, or car audio systems, it's easy to understand why great-sounding new recordings are rare. Even so, exceptional ones sneak through from time to time, and when I have a stack of candidates, I cover the best new releases here.

"The Raconteurs: Live in Montreux 2008" (Blu-ray) The Raconteurs were formed in 2005 by Jack White of the White Stripes, but this show from 2008 has just been released. The band's ferocious performances sound great here in DTS Master Audio. I like the two Raconteurs … Read more

How the White House is aiming the X Prize model at big problems

On October 4, 2004, the idea of incentive prizes hit the mainstream when Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites launched SpaceShip One into orbit for the second time and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

Since then, prizes like that have become more and more common, and though the X Prizes are still the gold standard, there are now similar competitions from medical research to science to business, and beyond.

Not long ago, however, the U.S. government got into the business (PDF) of using competitions like these to come up with new ways to solve existing … Read more

White House prepares to convene anti-botnet summit

The White House is planning to convene a cybersecurity summit Wednesday morning to discuss ways to counter botnets, which have emerged as the leading Internet security threat.

Industry representatives are planning to announce a nine-point plan that includes sharing more information about identifying botnets -- and how to help their customers remove the malware from their computers.

The forum, which will be closed to the press but Webcast on the White House Web site starting at 5:30 a.m. PT, will be hosted by Howard Schmidt, who said earlier this month he will retire after three years as cybersecurity … Read more

White House cracks whip on move to mobile

Barack Obama might be the head of state, but smartphones and tablets increasingly rule the world -- and the White House says the feds need to embrace that reality.

The president yesterday issued a directive to make key government services accessible through the mobile devices toted by much of the citizenry, and charged the federal CIO with developing a plan for a "21st century digital government."

"For far too long, the American people have been forced to navigate a labyrinth of information across different Government programs in order to find the services they need," Obama wrote … Read more

U.S. cybersecurity chief Howard Schmidt retiring

Howard Schmidt, who was named cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to President Obama in late 2009, is retiring from public service, The White House said today.

"It has been a tremendous honor for me to have served in this role and to have worked with such dedicated and professional colleagues both in the government and private sector," Schmidt said in a statement. "We have made real progress in our efforts to better deal with the risks in cyberspace so, around the world, we can all realize the full benefits that cyberspace brings us."

Schmidt filled a … Read more

White House aims to boost U.S.-made high-tech materials

"Made in USA." That's a designation that President Barack Obama and dozens of American companies, universities, and research labs want to apply to a new generation of high-tech materials, the White House said today.

As part of its Materials Genome Initiative, the Obama administration and partners in business, academia, and national labs are pushing the fast and efficient development and utliization of a wide range of new advanced, American-made materials. The goal is to cut the time it takes to discover, develop, and deploy these new materials in half, the White House said.

The theory behind the … Read more

Deaf IBM researcher scoffs at not talking on the phone

You might think you can't have a phone conversation with someone who's deaf, but Dimitri Kanevsky would not only disagree, he'd prove you wrong.

Deaf since he was 3, Kanevsky has hardly let his disability get in the way of progress -- or success. Born in the Soviet Union, he eventually emigrated, first to Israel, and then to the United States, and went on to become a research staff member in the speech and language algorithms department at IBM's Thomas Watson Research Center.

On Monday, Kanevsky and 13 others were honored at the White House in … Read more

Nokia Lumia 900 white and cyan models now available from AT&T

Consumers eyeing Nokia's Lumia 900 can now find the phone in all three of its colors at AT&T's online retail store.

The black and white models are in stock and available immediately, while the cyan model requires a wait of five to seven business days.

Both the white and cyan models were out of stock at AT&T just a couple of weeks ago, so Nokia seems to be revving up its supply to catch up with demand.

A Nokia representative told CNET last month that the company was striving to ramp up production of … Read more

Say hello to the white PS Vita

Following in the footsteps of a colorful PSP lineup, Sony has announced a white PlayStation Vita set to be released in Japan on June 28.

The white Vita (PCH-1100 AB02) will sell at the same price as the original black base model, contains identical innards, and comes in Wi-Fi-only or 3G/Wi-Fi configurations. … Read more