Conn. lawmaker apologizes over Facebook post

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker has apologized after saying in a Facebook post that shooting victim and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should "stay out of my towns."
Giffords last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at an elementary school last month. The Democrat, who met with families of the victims, was critically wounded two years ago in a deadly mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.
The Hartford Courant posted images Sunday showing Republican state Rep. DebraLee Hovey's Facebook comments. In one dated Friday she says, "Gabby Giffords stay out of my towns!!"
Hovey released a statement Monday saying her comments were insensitive and that she apologizes if she offended anyone.
Hovey had said in another post that the visit was political.

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Why Ford's New Car Apps Include China's Twitter

LAS VEGAS — New car apps will allow Ford owners to call up their favorite music playlist or search for last-minute date suggestions by using voice alone. But the voice-activated car apps announced at CES 2013 included one "hidden dragon" surprise aimed at Chinese drivers rather than Americans.
Many Americans won't recognize the name of Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, among the latest car app offerings from more familiar names such as USA Today and Amazon. Yet Weibo represents a social media behemoth with 424 million users — more people than the entire U.S. population — sharing 120 million news and message posts every day. Such numbers could add up to a huge opportunity for Ford car sales in China.
Ford announced the collaboration with Sina Weibo near the end of a press event here at CES 2013 on Jan. 7. The upcoming Sina Weibo app represents one of nine newly-announced apps that include the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Kaliki, Amazon Cloud Player, Aha Radio, Rhapsody, Greater Media, Glympse, and BeCouply.
The Detroit automaker has already enjoyed big sales in China, the world's largest car market, where car ownership may reach 300 to 500 million before 2030. Ford recorded an annual sales record in China by selling more than 626,000 vehicles to Chinese buyers in 2012.
That number still falls below the 2 million Ford vehicles sold to U.S. customers in 2012. But Ford has already set aggressive goals to double production capacity and its China dealership network by 2015 — and it clearly sees car apps in smarter vehicles as a way to win over even more customers worldwide.
Ford's car apps could end up making roads in both the U.S. and China a bit safer for drivers who can't put down their smartphones or tablets. Toward that end, Ford has begun offering a license- and royalty-free program for app developers, but prohibits driving apps from having video-rich imagery, requiring text-reading or offering games to play.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @jeremyhsu. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
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Tide QB's beauty queen girlfriend in spotlight after title game; her Twitter account swells

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A day after ESPN cameras lingered on her, announcers piled on compliments and at least one pro athlete made an online pass at her, Twitter was still abuzz Tuesday about former Miss Alabama Katherine Webb, who is dating Crimson Tide championship quarterback AJ McCarron.
Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during and after Alabama's 42-14 win over Notre Dame on Monday to claim its third national championship in four seasons. For her part, the surprised beauty pageant queen isn't taking it too seriously.
"It's been actually kind of fun," the 23-year-old model and Miss Alabama USA 2012 told The Associated Press.
She said at the time it all started, she was oblivious in the stands, sitting near McCarron's mother. Her iPhone had died so she didn't know about the attention until friends seated nearby showed her what was happening on Twitter and pointed out that her picture was on TV.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Webb, who, according to her pageant biography, graduated with a business degree from Alabama rival Auburn University in 2011. "I was just in complete surprise."
Dee Dee Bonner, McCarron's mother, said the two laughed as Webb's Twitter count grew.
"We were like, 'Oh my God,'" Bonner said. "She said, 'All I want to do is date your son.' We've been laughing about it. It's quite shocking."
ESPN announcer Brent Musburger remarked that Webb was a beautiful woman as the cameras revisited her. "Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women," he said.
Some found the remarks from the 73-year-old Musburger out of line. On Tuesday, ESPN released this statement: "We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that."
But Webb said Musburger's comments didn't bother her.
"It was kind of nice," she said. "I didn't look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don't see how that's an issue."
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Webb had topped 175,000 Twitter followers, trumping McCarron's 114,000. Before the game, she reportedly had about 2,000.
Webb told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that she first encountered McCarron on Twitter, and they met in early December when he attended the Miss Alabama USA pageant in Montgomery. Her biography says she was born in Montgomery and grew up in Phenix City, but now lives in Los Angeles — though Bonner said she is considering moving back to Alabama to be with McCarron.
Before Monday's game, Webb tweeted a photo of herself wearing a jersey with McCarron's number, her arms wrapped around him.
Early Tuesday, Webb posted her first tweet to her new followers: "So extremely blessed... (at)10AJMcCarron. Congrats to Alabama and making history! (hash)BCSChamps."
Webb later said she doesn't think McCarron minds the attention on her.
But when Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett tweeted Webb his telephone number and suggested they meet after the game, McCarron responded, telling Dockett, "(hash)betterkeepdreaming like the rest of these dudes.

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Hacker Fears Are Seriously Messing with the Oscars' Online Voting

So what happens if the Academy is too scared to cast Oscar ballots this year? It's not an entirely outlandish scenario, with the nominations less than two weeks away and reports screaming out of Hollywood that the awards' attempt at going digital may already be backfiring. Both the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline have semi-detailed accounts today of the surprising flaws within the Academy's new online voting system, and both conclude that it's so worried about hackers rigging  the Oscars that it's become difficult for the (increasingly aging) members to pick their actual favorites.
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The Academy enlisted Everyone Counts — an electronic voting company whose clients include the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.K.'s Ministry of Justice — back in January to help develop a secure system for voting online. Maybe too secure. Pete Hammond of Deadline writes that the system is "so loaded with specific safeguards and military-type encryption methods to keep hackers and imposters out that it is causing extreme frustration for some of those who have tried to vote." One member joked (we think) to The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg that "it's easier to break into the CIA." Everyone Counts, as a CNN article about online voting in political contests noted, "uses 'military-grade encryption' for its ballots, and can also provide a paper trail for clients who want it, [CEO Lori] Steele says."
RELATED: And the Best Actor Nominations (Might) Go To...
Feinberg and Hammond both detail the new Oscar voting process, which includes forcing members to create an elaborate second password (beyond the one for main access to the Academy's site) and enter a security code that arrives via phone call or text message. Which sounds kind of like, say, resetting your online banking password, but remember, as Feinberg notes, the Los Angeles Times found that 54 percent of Oscar voters are over 60. Though certainly not all people over the age of 60 are computer illiterate, Feinberg himself pointed out in January that "the full story is that more than a few members don't even have computers and/or know how to use the Internet, which would preclude them not only from streaming screeners, but also from filling out an e-ballot." There have been efforts to include voters who don't want to turn to the Internet, but now, amidst all the bubbling frustration, there's worry that some members will just give up altogether.
RELATED: And This Year's Best-Picture Nominations (Might) Go to...
Voting for nominees closes January 3, and, as Hammond writes, the Academy is so secretive about this stuff that we may never get a good sense of turnout anyway. But we can't help but wonder: If the Oscar voting pool's majority contingent of old white men gets diminished, does that mean some films could sneak to glory? Does it mean old white men-centric contenders for Best Picture like, say, Lincoln could suffer? Or could The Master, a favorite with the younger oddball set, or — gasp! — awards-season underdog Beasts of the Southern Wild break free? We'll just have to wait and count the e-ballots, we guess.

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McAfee’s 2013 predictions: Mobile malware threats will grow, Anonymous will fade

Security firm McAfee Labs released its annual Threat Predictions report this week, highlighting the potential malware, viruses and other security concerns we may see in 2013. The firm says that with the rise of more advanced mobile devices, smartphones and tablets will become an even larger focus for cybercriminals. This past year we saw a number of high-profile attacks from the hacktivist group Anonymous that had the National Security Agency on edge, however McAfee Labs believes the group will begin to decline due to “incoordination and competition” from more politically-motivated hackers. It has also been predicted that the threat of large-scale attacks such as Stuxnet, which is believed to have taken down Iran’s computer infrastructure earlier this year, will increase as well.

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Exclusive: Huawei partner offered embargoed HP gear to Iran

 A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010, documents show.
China's Huawei, the world's second largest telecommunications equipment maker, says neither it nor its partner, a private company registered in Hong Kong, ultimately provided the HP products to the telecom, Mobile Telecommunication Co of Iran, known as MCI. Nevertheless, the incident provides new evidence of how Chinese companies have been willing to help Iran evade trade sanctions.
The proposed deal also raises new questions about Shenzhen-based Huawei, which recently was criticized by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee for failing to "provide evidence to support its claims that it complies with all international sanctions or U.S. export laws."
At least 13 pages of the proposal to MCI, which involved expanding its subscriber billing system, were marked "Huawei confidential" and carried the company's logo, according to documents seen by Reuters. In a statement to Reuters, Huawei called it a "bidding document" and said one of its "major local partners," Skycom Tech Co Ltd, had submitted it to MCI.
The statement went on to say, "Huawei's business in Iran is in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations including those of the U.N., U.S. and E.U. This commitment has been carried out and followed strictly by our company. Further, we also require our partners to follow the same commitment and strictly abide by the relevant laws and regulations."
In October, Reuters reported that another Iranian partner of Huawei last year tried to sell embargoed American antenna equipment to Iran's second largest mobile operator, MTN Irancell, in a deal the buyer ultimately rejected. The U.S. antenna manufacturer, CommScope Inc, has an agreement with Huawei in which the Chinese firm can use its products in Huawei systems, according to a CommScope spokesman. He added that his company strives to comply fully with all U.S. laws and sanctions.
Huawei has a similar partnership with HP. In a statement, the Palo Alto, Calif., company said, "HP has an extensive control system in place to ensure our partners and resellers comply with all legal and regulatory requirements involving system security, global trade and customer privacy and the company's relationship with Huawei is no different."
The statement added, "HP's distribution contract terms prohibit the sale of HP products into Iran and require compliance with U.S. and other applicable export laws."
Washington has banned the export of computer equipment to Iran for years. The sanctions are designed to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons; Iran says its nuclear program is aimed purely at producing domestic energy.
CLOSE LINKS
Huawei and its Iranian partner, Skycom, appear to have very close ties.
An Iranian job recruitment site called Irantalent.com describes Skycom as "a leading telecom solution provider" and goes on to list details that are identical to the way Huawei describes itself on its U.S. website: employee-owned, selling "solutions" used by "45 of the world's top 50 telecom operators" and serving "one-third of the world's population."
On LinkedIn.com, several telecom workers list having worked at "Huawei-skycom" on their resumes. A former Skycom employee said the two companies shared the same headquarters in China. And an Iranian telecom manager who has visited Skycom's office in Tehran said, "Everybody carries Huawei badges."
A Hong Kong accountant whose firm is listed in Skycom registration records as its corporate secretary said Friday he would check with the company to see if anyone would answer questions. Reuters did not hear back.
The proposal to MCI, dated October 2010, would have doubled the capacity of MCI's billing system for prepaid customers. The proposal noted that MCI was "growing fast" and that its current system, provided by Huawei, had "exceeded the system capacity" to handle 20 million prepaid subscribers.
"In order to keep serving (MCI) with high quality, we provide this expansion proposal to support 40M subscribers," the proposal states on a page marked "HUAWEI Confidential."
The proposal makes clear that HP computer servers were an integral part of the "Hardware Installation Design" of the expansion project. Tables listing equipment for MCI facilities at a new site in Tehran and in the city of Shiraz repeatedly reference HP servers under the heading, "Minicomputer Model."
The documents seen by Reuters also include a portion of an equipment price list that carries Huawei's logo and are stamped "SKYCOM IRAN OFFICE." The pages list prices for HP servers, disk arrays and switches, including those that already are "existing" and others that need to be added. The total proposed project price came to 19.9 million euros, including a "one time special discount."
The proposed new HP equipment, which totaled 1.3 million euros, included one server, 20 disk arrays, 22 switches and software. The existing HP equipment included 22 servers, 8 disk arrays and 13 switches, with accompanying prices.
Asked who had provided the existing HP equipment to MCI, Vic Guyang, a Huawei spokesman, said it wasn't Huawei. "We would like to add that the existing hardware equipment belongs to the customer. Huawei does not have information on, or the authority to check the source of the customer's equipment."
Officials with MCI did not respond to requests for comment.
In a series of stories this year, Reuters has documented how China has become a backdoor for Iran to obtain embargoed U.S. computer equipment. In March and April, Reuters reported that China's ZTE Corp, a Huawei competitor, had sold or agreed to sell millions of dollars worth of U.S. computer gear, including HP equipment, to Telecommunication Co of Iran, the country's largest telecommunications firm, and a unit of the consortium that controls TCI.
The articles sparked investigations by the U.S. Commerce Department, the Justice Department and some of the U.S. tech companies. ZTE says it is cooperating with the federal probes.
TCI is the parent company of MCI.

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Analysis: Six months on, Monti's labor reform has changed little

ROME (Reuters) - Overhauling Italy's rigid labor rules was supposed to be Mario Monti's flagship reform.
It required drawn out, often heated bargaining with unions, employers and political parties. Yet six months after their approval the measures seem to be having little effect on hiring, firing or the labor market in general.
The technocrat premier's aim was to encourage hiring of permanent rather than temporary workers and to make it easier for firms to shed staff during economic downturns. Businesses and workers' bodies say it is doing neither.
Monti, who resigned as prime minister last month, hoped to boost a chronically low employment rate and end a "dual" labor market made up of over-protected older workers and millions of mostly young people on temporary jobs with no labor rights.
However, he quickly ran into strong opposition, led by the CGIL union which found support from the centre-left Democratic party (PD) that he relied on for his majority and which is now, polls suggest, likely to win February elections.
The unions, which largely represent older, more protected workers, held a series of strikes and protests to defend existing job protection. Labor minister Elsa Fornero, who drew up the reform proposal, became a hate figure for millions of workers.
After being watered down during a lengthy passage through parliament, the final version of the plan, approved in June last year, slightly eased firing restrictions in large and medium sized firms and made temporary hiring more costly.
Unions warned it could lead to a firing spree, while businesses said it would discourage new hires. Six months on, unionists now admit their fears were exaggerated, but employers say their concerns are being confirmed.
"There is no evidence that companies are firing more under the new rules. It just isn't happening," said Pierangelo Albini, responsible for labor issues at employers' lobby Confindustria.
No official data is available on the number of workers who have been dismissed under the new norms but even the unions, which are monitoring the situation closely, estimate the figure is negligible.
They were quick to denounce isolated cases concerning telecoms companies Huawei and Vodafone, which attracted attention in Italian media, yet each one involved no more than a couple of workers.
"The reform doesn't actually change much in terms of firing procedures," said Michele Tamburini, a labor lawyer with a U.S. law firm in Milan. "Potentially, it could make firing easier but it all depends how it is interpreted by judges and hardly anyone wants to test it."
Tamburini said he and his colleagues at other firms had seen no rise in new business in the form of contested dismissals, as some commentators had expected.
PROBLEMS REMAIN
Monti, who says he will seek a second term at the Feb 24-25 election, initially defended the reform as a good compromise but now acknowledges its limits and blames the left-wing CGIL union for blocking more radical changes.
In a new policy platform presented before Christmas he urged a "drastic simplification" of labor market rules to "overcome the dualism between protected and unprotected workers". These were exactly the goals his reform was meant to achieve.
"Monti's intentions on the labor reform were right but the politics of it were all wrong," said Riccardo Barbieri of Mizuho International. "The PD couldn't let him make firing easier in a pre-election period and in the middle of a recession."
Despite criticism of some of his reforms, investors would love to see the former European commissioner stay on after the election, ideally at the head of a more cohesive majority that allows him to push through his new agenda.
Tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs since the labor reform was passed as companies close or downsize, but they are still shedding staff under the old terms rather than risking difficulties by trying to capitalize on the reform.
"There has been very little recourse to the new rules," said Giorgio Santini, head of labor issues for the CISL trade union, Italy's second largest.
One reason may be that firing procedures are more complicated than ever because the changes have increased the discretionary power of the courts.
The reform made it possible for private firms with more than 15 employees to fire individual workers for business reasons, such as a fall in demand, without necessarily having to re-instate them if a judge ruled the dismissal was unjustified.
In smaller firms, where job protection was much weaker, nothing changed under the reform. The public sector, where protection is strongest of all, was also unaffected.
Companies were always able to shed staff if they were restructuring or closing a product line but it was much harder to fire people for poor performance or other reasons. Paradoxically it was easier to shed 10 or 20 workers than one or two.
The courts can now order firms to offer wrongly dismissed workers financial compensation rather than giving them their job back. However, if the unfair dismissal is for discriminatory or disciplinary reasons, re-instatement is still obligatory.
Judges now have to decide not only whether a dismissal is justified but also whether it is being attempted for business reasons, disciplinary reasons or due to discrimination.
Unions have been ready to fight any cases where they suspected firms were presenting bogus business reasons to shed workers considered difficult or disruptive. Yet even the leftist CGIL union said few had emerged.
"There have been maybe a couple of hundred cases that firms have tried to justify under the new rules, and in many we have seen evidence of discrimination and we've contested them," said the CGIL's head of labor policy Claudio Treves.
Other unions put the figure considerably lower.
APPRENTICESHIP FLOP
Santini of the CISL union said a positive aspect of the new rules was that they oblige firms to co-ordinate more pre-emptively with unions before trying to fire, meaning that shedding staff had not actually become easier at all.
He said that with the unions acting as mediators there are signs that dismissed workers are more willing to come to terms for financial compensation rather than taking their cases through the courts, though he added that this had often happened even before the reform.
Yet if firing has not become easier, hiring has become more difficult, according to both the CISL and Confindustria.
Monti tried to boost the role of apprenticeships, taking Germany as a model, to replace temporary or "precarious" contracts that are seen as the unacceptable face of the dual labor market. These contracts were not scrapped, as some experts urged, but the rules for using them were tightened.
However, both the CISL's Santini and Confindustria's Albini said apprenticeships have failed to take off because of too much bureaucracy and a rule - required by Italy's Constitution - that regional governments must be partly responsible for organizing the apprenticeship courses, something they are failing to do.
"What is happening is confirming some of our worries," said Albini. "It's no easier to fire but it is more expensive and complicated to hire on a temporary basis, which is important flexibility especially at a time of crisis."
When the labor reform was being watered down in parliament last spring two of Italy's leading economists, Alberto Alesina of Harvard in the United States and Francesco Giavazzi of Milan's Bocconi University, warned Monti of the dangers of a weak compromise.
"Making do with marginal adjustments would be worse than not doing anything because it would create the illusion that a problem has been solved when it isn't true," they said in a joint newspaper column. Their fears now seem well grounded.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in November it remained "fundamental" that Italy reform its labor market to make it less rigid. Yet it is unlikely that unions or leftist parties will consider returning to the issue soon.

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Tras seis meses, poco ha cambiado con la reforma laboral de Monti

ROMA (Reuters) - Reacondicionar las rígidas leyes laborales de Italia se suponía que iba ser la reforma clave de Mario Monti.
Ello requería negociaciones prolongadas y a menudo acaloradas con sindicatos, empleadores y partidos políticos. Pero seis meses después de su aprobación las medidas parecen estar teniendo poco efecto en la contratación, el despido o el mercado laboral en general.
La intención del primer ministro tecnócrata era alentar la contratación permanente en lugar de los trabajos temporales y facilitar los despidos a las empresas durante los malos momentos económicos. Los negocios y sindicatos de trabajadores dicen que no está haciendo nada.
Monti, que dimitió como primer ministro el mes pasado, esperaba impulsar una tasa de empleo crónicamente baja y poner fin a un mercado laboral "dual" compuesto de trabajadores mayores sobreprotegidos y millones de jóvenes con trabajos temporales y sin derechos laborales.
Sin embargo, rápidamente contó con una fuerte oposición, liderada por el sindicato CGIL que encontró apoyo en el Partido Democrático (PD) de centroizquierda en el que confiaba para su mayoría y que ahora, según los sondeos, será el probable ganador de las elecciones de febrero.
Los sindicatos, que en su mayoría representan a los trabajadores mayores y más protegidos, celebraron una serie de huelgas y protestas para defender la actual protección laboral. La ministra de Trabajo, Elsa Fornero, que redactó la propuesta de reforma, se convirtió en una figura odiada por millones de trabajadores.
Después de suavizarse durante su paso por el Parlamento, la versión final del plan, aprobada en junio del año pasado, aliviaba ligeramente las restricciones al despido en las empresas grandes y medianas y hacía más costosa la contratación temporal.
Los sindicatos advirtieron de que esto podría llegar a la extensión del despido, mientras las empresas decían que desalentaría nuevas contrataciones. Seis meses después, los sindicalistas admiten que sus temores eran exagerados, pero los empleadores dicen que sus preocupaciones están siendo confirmadas.
"No hay pruebas de que las compañías estén despidiendo más con las nuevas leyes. Esto simplemente no está pasando", dijo Pierangelo Albini, responsable de asuntos laborales en el grupo de empresarios Confindustria.
No hay datos disponibles sobre el número de trabajadores que han sido despedidos con las nuevas leyes, pero incluso los sindicatos, que estudian la situación de cerca, estiman que la cifra es insignificante.
Fueron rápidos a la hora de denunciar casos aislados que implicaban a las empresas de telecomunicaciones Huawei y Vodafone, que atrajeron la atención de los medios italianos, aunque cada una no implicó a más de un par de trabajadores.
"La reforma en realidad no cambia mucho en términos de procedimientos de despido", dijo Michele Tamburini, abogado laboralista para un bufete estadounidense en Milán. "Potencialmente, podría facilitar el despido pero todo depende de cómo lo interpretan los jueces y casi nadie quiere comprobar eso".
Tamburini dio que él y sus colegas en otras firmas legales no habían visto aumentar las impugnaciones por despidos, como algunos comentaristas habían esperado.
SIGUEN LOS PROBLEMAS
Monti, que dice que se presentará a las elecciones del 24 y 25 de febrero, inicialmente defendió la reforma como un buen compromiso pero ahora reconoce sus límites y culpa al sindicato izquierdista CGIL por bloquear más cambios radicales.
En una nueva plataforma política presentada antes de Navidad instó a una "simplificación drástica" de las leyes del mercado laboral para "superar el dualismo entre los trabajadores protegidos y desprotegidos". Esos eran exactamente los objetivos que su reforma quería conseguir.
"Las intenciones de Monti sobre la reforma laboral eran buenas pero las políticas fueron todas equivocadas", dijo Riccardo Barbieri, de Mizuho International. "El PD no podía permitirle facilitar el despido en período preelectoral y en medio de una recesión".
A pesar de las críticas hacia algunas de sus reformas, a los inversores les encantaría que el ex comisario europeo se quedara después de las elecciones, idealmente a la cabeza de una mayoría más consistente que le permitiera sacar adelante su nuevo programa.
Decenas de miles de trabajadores han perdido sus empleos desde que se aprobó la reforma laboral, mientras las compañías cierran o se reducen, pero aún se deshacen de sus empleados con las antiguas condiciones en lugar de arriesgarse a las dificultades intentando sacar provecho de la reforma.
"Ha habido muy poco recurso a las nuevas normas", dijo Giorgio Santini, jefe de asuntos laborales del sindicato comercial CISL, el segundo mayor de Italia.
Una razón podría ser que los procedimientos para el despido son más complicados que nunca porque los cambios han elevado el poder facultativo de los tribunales.
La reforma hacía posible para las empresas privadas con más de 15 empleados despedir a trabajadores individuales por razones empresariales, como una caída en la demanda, sin tener necesariamente que readmitirlos si un juez fallaba que el despido era injustificado.
En las empresas más pequeñas, donde la protección laboral era mucho más débil, no ha cambiado nada con la reforma. El sector público, donde la protección es la más fuerte de todas, tampoco se ha visto afectado.
Los tribunales ahora pueden ordenar a las empresas que ofrezcan compensaciones financieras a los despedidos de forma improcedente en lugar de devolverles su puesto. Sin embargo, si el despido improcedente es por discriminación o razones disciplinarias, la readmisión todavía es obligatoria.
Los jueces ahora tienen que decidir no sólo si un despido es procedente sino si es debido a razones empresariales, disciplinarias o discriminación.
Santini, del sindicato CISL, dijo que un aspecto positivo de las nuevas leyes es que obligan a las empresas a coordinarse más con los sindicatos antes de intentar algún despido, lo que supone que despedir plantilla en realidad no se ha facilitado en absoluto.
Pero si el despido no se ha facilitado, la contratación se ha vuelto más difícil, según CISL y Confindustria.
Monti trató de impulsar el papel de los aprendices, tomando Alemania como modelo, para reemplazar los contratos temporales o "precarios" que son considerados la cara inaceptable del mercado laboral dual.
Pero estos contratos de aprendizaje no han conseguido despegar debido a la burocracia y a la norma constitucional de que los gobiernos regionales deben ser en parte responsables de organizar los cursos de aprendizaje.
El presidente del Banco Central Europeo, Mario Draghi, dijo en noviembre que seguía siendo fundamental que Italia reformara su mercado laboral para hacerlo menos rígido. Sin embargo es poco probable que sindicatos o partidos de izquierdas consideren volver pronto sobre el asunto.

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Nintendo’s amazing triumph in Japan may doom the company

According to Japanese gaming bible Famitsu, Nintendo 3DS sold 333,000 units in the week ending December 16. Sony’s PS Vita limped along at 13’000 units. The new Wii U did an OK 130,000 units and PS3 managed 46,000 units.  The utter hardware domination of the 3DS is reshaping the Japanese software market. Franchises that were thought to be fading have been revitalized in their portable versions. The 3DS version of the ancient “Animal Crossing” series, famed for being the game where nothing happens, hit a staggering 1.7 million units last week in Japan. “Inazuma Eleven” sold 170,000 units in its launch week, up from 140’000 units its DS version managed in 2011.
[More from BGR: RIM, HTC and Nokia could all be headed the way of Palm]
Nintendo’s portable console 3DS had a muted start in its home market in the spring of 2011. Many thought that Sony would have a fair shot at competing with Nintendo once Playstation Vita launched at the end of 2011. But once Nintendo executed an aggressive price cut for 3DS in the summer of 2011 and then launched a large-screen version of the console in mid-2012, the gadget has grown into a godzilla in Japan, demolishing both Sony Vita and aging tabletop console competition.
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]
3DS is doing well also in America, where its lifetime sales are moving close to the 6 million unit mark this holiday season. According to NPD, the 3DS sales in the US market topped 500,000 units in November. That’s a decent number, though far from the torrid volume the portable is racking up in its home market. The US November video game software chart was dominated by massive home console juggernauts: new installments of Call of Duty, Halo and Assassin’s Creed franchises  shifted more than 13 million units in retail. At the same time, the Japanese software chart remains in a Nineties time warp,  dominated by Nintendo’s musty masterpieces: Super Mario Brothers, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, etc.
Japanese and American tastes have always been different. But what we are witnessing now is a particularly fascinating divergence. American consumers are spending more of their time and money on smartphone and tablet games, while console game spending is increasingly focusing on massive, graphically stunning blockbuster titles on Xbox360 and PS3. The casual gamers are shifting to mobile games, while hardcore gamers remain attracted to sprawling epics on home consoles. The overall video game spending in America keeps declining month after month, as casual titles and mid-list games slide. But the Triple A whales like Call of Duty series are doing better than ever.
In Japan, Nintendo has been able to battle back iPhone and Android game invasion with a nostalgic series of portable games that basically recycle the biggest hits of Eighties and early Nineties. Mario, Pokemons and other portable heroes are slowly losing their grip on US and European consumers. But in Japan, some form of national nostalgia is keeping Nintendo on track.
The problem here is that the Japanese success of the 3DS may now be convincing Nintendo that it does not have to rethink its business strategy. The smartphone and tablet game spending continues growing explosively across the world. Unlike console games, mobile game sales in China are legal. The global gaming spending is shifting towards new hardware platforms even as console mammoths like Halo still reign in America. At this critical juncture, Nintendo has managed to cocoon its home market in a web of nostalgia, turning the 3DS console and its Eighties left-over franchises into epic bestsellers yet again.
This means that there is no sense of urgency to push Nintendo into rethinking its long-term plans. The company may continue simply ignoring the smartphone and tablet challenge, designing new portable consoles and the 28th Mario game to support it. 20 years ago, Japan’s insularity doomed its chances to succeed in the mobile phone business. Ithe idiosyncratic nature of Japan may now be leading its biggest entertainment industry success astray.

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Nintendo’s amazing triumph in Japan may doom the company internationally

According to Japanese gaming bible Famitsu, Nintendo (NTDOY) 3DS sold 333,000 units in the week ending December 16, while Sony’s (SNE) PS Vita limped along at 13,000 units, the new Wii U did an okay 130,000 units and the PlayStation 3 managed to sell 46,000 units.  The utter hardware domination of the 3DS is reshaping the Japanese software market. Franchises that were thought to be fading have been revitalized in their portable versions. The 3DS version of the ancient Animal Crossing series, famed for being the game where nothing happens, hit a staggering 1.7 million units last week in Japan. Inazuma Eleven sold 170,000 units in its launch week, up from 140,000 units its DS version managed in 2011.
[More from BGR: RIM, HTC and Nokia could all be headed the way of Palm]
Nintendo’s portable console 3DS had a muted start in its home market in the spring of 2011. Many thought that Sony would have a fair shot at competing with Nintendo once Playstation Vita launched at the end of 2011. But once Nintendo executed an aggressive price cut for 3DS in the summer of 2011 and then launched a large-screen version of the console in mid-2012, the gadget has grown into a Godzilla in Japan, demolishing both Sony Vita and aging tabletop console competition.
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]
3DS is doing well also in America, where its lifetime sales are moving close to the 6 million unit mark this holiday season. According to NPD, the 3DS sales in the United States topped 500,000 units in November. That’s a decent number, though far from the torrid volume the portable is racking up in its home market. The U.S. November video game software chart was dominated by massive home console juggernauts: new installments of Call of Duty, Halo and Assassin’s Creed franchises shifted more than 13 million units in retail. At the same time, the Japanese software chart remains in a ’90s time warp, dominated by Nintendo’s musty masterpieces: Super Mario Brothers, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, etc.
Japanese and American tastes have always been different. But what we are witnessing now is a particularly fascinating divergence. American consumers are spending more of their time and money on smartphone and tablet games, while console game spending is increasingly focusing on massive, graphically stunning blockbuster titles on Xbox360 and PS3. The casual gamers are shifting to mobile games, while hardcore gamers remain attracted to sprawling epics on home consoles. The overall video game spending in America keeps declining month after month, as casual titles and mid-list games slide. But the Triple A whales like the Call of Duty series are doing better than ever.
In Japan, Nintendo has been able to battle back iPhone and Android game invasion with a nostalgic series of portable games that basically recycle the biggest hits of ’80s and early ’90s. Mario, Pokemons and other portable heroes are slowly losing their grip on U.S. and European consumers. But in Japan, some form of national nostalgia is keeping Nintendo on track.
The problem here is that the Japanese success of the 3DS may now be convincing Nintendo that it does not have to reconsider its business strategy. The smartphone and tablet game spending continues growing explosively across the world. Unlike console games, mobile game sales in China are legal. The global gaming spending is shifting towards new hardware platforms even as console mammoths like Halo still reign in America. At this critical juncture, Nintendo has managed to cocoon its home market in a web of nostalgia, turning the 3DS console and its Eighties left-over franchises into epic bestsellers yet again.
This means that there is no sense of urgency to push Nintendo into rethinking its long-term plans. The company may continue simply ignoring the smartphone and tablet challenge, designing new portable consoles and the 28th Mario game to support it. Twenty years ago, Japan’s insularity doomed its chances to succeed in the mobile phone business. And now the idiosyncratic nature of Japan may be leading its biggest entertainment industry success astray.

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North Korean Video Game Has Western Ties

Video games represent a true luxury for most North Koreans living in a country where even the elite have only hours of electricity each day. That has not stopped a Western company in the capital city of Pyonyang from creating what may be the first North Korean game widely available online.
The game, called "Pyongyang Racer," is a simple Web browser game that allows players to drive a car around North Korea's capitol city of Pyongyang, according to Beijing Cream. Players must avoid hitting cars and collect gasoline in the form of petrol barrels to keep their run going as long as possible — all while getting warnings from one of Pyongyang's famously picturesque traffic girls.
"Pyongyang Racer" has an unusual development history as a video game. The North Korean programmers who made the game work for Nosotek, a Western company that describes itself as the "first western IT venture" in North Korea.
Nosotek's North Korean programmers previously made mobile-phone games based on the Hollywood films "The Big Lebowski" and "Men in Black." Those games ended up getting published through a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (owner of Fox News), according to Bloomberg News.
Nosotek claims to have "attracted the cream of local talent as the only company in Pyongyang offering Western working conditions and Internet access." That would likely be true in North Korea, given the nuclear-armed country's pariah status among Western countries and businesses.
The Nosotek website also praises the advantages of working in North Korea because "IP secrecy and minimum employee churn rate are structurally guaranteed." Translation: North Korean programmers would likely never leave Nosotek with the company's intellectual property secrets because they have practically no other employment options.
Nosotek built the game for Koryo Tours, a company based in Beijing, China, to distribute "Pyongyang Racer" through the Koryo Tours website. Koryo Tours is currently the leading company that runs tours of secretive North Korea for Westerners and other foreigners.
"This game was developed in 2012 and is not intended to be a high-end technological wonder hit game of the 21st century, but more a fun race game (arcade style) where you drive around in Pyongyang and learn more about the sites and get a glimpse of Pyongyang," Koryo Tours said on the game's website.

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Video game shares down in wake of shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shares of video game makers and sellers fell Thursday in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, which has renewed debate about violent games and their potential influence on crime.
Shares of GameStop Corp., whose stores sell video games as well as systems like the Xbox and Wii, fell 5 percent in afternoon trading.
Investors are seen as being increasingly concerned that the government may impose tougher rules on the sales of games rated for "mature" and older audiences.
Investors may be worried that parents will also avoid buying first-person shooter games like "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2" after the tragedy Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary, in which 20 children and six adults were shot and killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza.
"Maybe there will be more stringent efforts to make sure youth are not playing games that they're not old enough to play," said Mike Hickey, an analyst with National Alliance Securities. "Maybe there will be a greater effort by parents in managing the content their kids are playing."
Shares of companies involved in the video game industry, many of which had been dropping since the shooting, declined further Thursday.
— GameStop stock lost $1.37, or 5 percent, to $26.18. Shares have barely changed since last Thursday's close, the day before the shooting, to Wednesday's close.
— Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc., the publisher of "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2," fell 9 cents to $10.70. The stock had already dropped 5.6 percent.
— Electronic Arts Inc. shares fell 41 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $13.99. Shares had dropped 5.6 percent.
— Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shares slipped 29 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $11.69. The stock had dropped 8 percent.
The declines came as broader markets rose. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.3 percent at 13,295.

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North Korea’s first video game: A boring version of ‘Crazy Taxi’ that nitpicks your bad driving

In theory, a driving game set in North Korea could be fun — it could revolve around delivering kidnapped movie stars from the airport to Dear Leader’s headquarters, for instance. In reality, though, it looks as though playing a driving game set in North Korea is about as much fun as actually living in North Korea. Business Insider’s Gus Lubin has posted his first impressions of “Welcome to Pyongyang,” an online game that’s “produced by Nosotek, a western IT company based in North Korea,” and he’s found that it’s pretty lame.
[More from BGR: Years after cashing out, MySpace cofounder mocks people who work for a living]
The goal of the game is to drive around the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and become familiar with all the great tourist attractions it has to offer. But unlike action-driving classics such as Crazy Taxi and the Grand Theft Auto series, Welcome to Pyongyang is annoyingly authoritarian and won’t put up with you crashing into cars or mowing down civilians. To make matters worse, the game doesn’t even give you the satisfaction dying at the hands of bloody-minded authorities if you break the rules too often — rather, it sends out a fascistic meter maid to simply tell you that you have been “stopped for bad driving.” We’re not sure what the actual penalty is for reckless is in North Korea, but we get the feeling it’s more severe than getting nitpicked by an annoying digital character.

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British retailers start online sales early

 British retailers have brought forward their Christmas clearance sales online in the hope that shoppers will log on to buy bargains and offset lackluster spending in stores.
Marks & Spencer launched its sale online at midday on Monday, it said on its website, while department store John Lewis said it would cut online prices when its stores close at 1700 GMT. Debenhams has already started its online sale.
Retailers in recent years have started sales online on Christmas Day, ahead of the clearances in stores from Boxing Day, but are increasingly launching their online offers before Christmas after delivery deadlines for the day have passed.
Hard-pressed shoppers have been leaving it later to buy presents in the hope that retailers would slash prices, the British Retail Consortium said.
It was forecasting that 5 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) would be spent in the shops on Saturday and Sunday combined, the last weekend before Christmas.
Richard Dodd, the BRC's head of Media and Campaigns, said weekend trading had met expectations.
"Christmas, ultimately once all the final sums are done, will turn out to be acceptable but not exceptional," he said.
He said the sector expected a modest increase in cash spending against a year go, but not necessarily any significant increase in real terms once inflation was stripped out.
Many British families' budgets are stretched, according to a survey from Markit that showed the biggest deterioration in household finances for seven months.
Analyst Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said the weakening in household finances could not come at a worse time for retailers, and it highlighted why many people appeared to have been careful in their Christmas shopping this year.
"The suspicion has to be that consumers will be especially keen to take advantage of genuine major bargains in the sales to acquire items that they cannot otherwise afford or are reluctant to make at the moment," he said.
"However, we suspect that people will likely to be more careful in buying - or reluctant to buy - items that they don't really want or need in the sales."

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China may require real name registration for internet access

BEIJING (Reuters) - China may require internet users to register with their real names when signing up to network providers, state media said on Tuesday, extending a policy already in force with microblogs in a bid to curb what officials call rumors and vulgarity.
A law being discussed this week would mean people would have to present their government-issued identity cards when signing contracts for fixed line and mobile internet access, state-run newspapers said.
"The law should escort the development of the internet to protect people's interest," Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said in a front page commentary, echoing similar calls carried in state media over the past week.
"Only that way can our internet be healthier, more cultured and safer."
Many users say the restrictions are clearly aimed at further muzzling the often scathing, raucous - and perhaps most significantly, anonymous - online chatter in a country where the Internet offers a rare opportunity for open debate.
It could also prevent people from exposing corruption online if they fear retribution from officials, said some users.
It was unclear how the rules would be different from existing regulations as state media has provided only vague details and in practice customers have long had to present identity papers when signing contracts with internet providers.
Earlier this year, the government began forcing users of Sina Corp's wildly successful Weibo microblogging platform to register their real names.
The government says such a system is needed to prevent people making malicious and anonymous accusations online and that many other countries already have such rules.
"It would also be the biggest step backwards since 1989," wrote one indignant Weibo user, in apparent reference to the 1989 pro-democracy protests bloodily suppressed by the army.
Chinese internet users have long had to cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.
Despite periodic calls for political reform, the ruling Communist Party has shown no sign of loosening its grip on power and brooks no dissent to its authority.

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Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms

 Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year's election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office.
Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional amendments that allow him to seek a new seven-year term in November 2013.
The Internet remains the main platform where Tajiks can air grievances and criticize government policies at a time when the circulation of local newspapers is tiny and television is tightly controlled by the state.
Tajikistan's state communications service blocked 131 local and foreign Internet sites "for technical and maintenance works".
"Most probably, these works will be over in a week," Tatyana Kholmurodova, deputy head of the service, told Reuters. She declined to give the reason for the work, which cover even some sites with servers located abroad.
The blocked resources included Russia's popular social networking sites www.my.mail.ru and VKontakte (www.vk.com), as well as Tajik news site TJKnews.com and several local blogs.
"The government has ordered the communications service to test their ability to block dozens of sites at once, should such a need arise," a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"It is all about November 2013," he said, in a clear reference to the presidential election.
Other blocked websites included a Ukrainian soccer site, a Tajik rap music site, several local video-sharing sites and a pornography site.
VOLATILE NATION
Predominantly Muslim Tajikistan, which lies on a major transit route for Afghan drugs to Europe and Russia, remains volatile after a 1992-97 civil war in which Rakhmon's Moscow-backed secular government clashed with Islamist guerrillas.
Rakhmon justifies his authoritarian methods by saying he wants to oppose radical Islam. But some of his critics argue repression and poverty push many young Tajiks to embrace it.
Tighter Internet controls echo measures taken by other former Soviet republics of Central Asia, where authoritarian rulers are wary of the role social media played in revolutions in the Arab world and mass protests in Russia.
The government this year set up a volunteer-run body to monitor Internet use and reprimand those who openly criticize Rakhmon and other officials.
In November, Tajikistan blocked access to Facebook, saying it was spreading "mud and slander" about its veteran leader.
The authorities unblocked Facebook after concern was expressed by the United States and European Union, the main providers of humanitarian aid for Tajikistan, where almost a half of the population lives in abject poverty.
Asomiddin Asoyev, head of Tajikistan's association of Internet providers, said authorities were trying to create an illusion that there were no problems in Tajik society by silencing online criticism.
"This is self-deception," he told Reuters. "The best way of resolving a problem is its open discussion with civil society."
Moscow-based Central Asia expert Arkady Dubnov told Reuters that Rakhmon's authoritarian measures could lead to a backlash against the president in the election. "Trying to position itself as the main guarantor of stability through repression against Islamist activists, the Dushanbe government is actually achieving the reverse - people's trust in it is falling," he said.

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Netflix suffers Christmas Eve outage, points to Amazon

An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.'s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.
The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles such as Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray players.
Evers said that the issue was the result of an outage at an Amazon Web Services' cloud computing center in Virginia, and started at about 12:30 p.m. PST (2030 GMT) on Monday and was fully restored Tuesday morning, although streaming was available for most users late on Monday.
"We are investigating exactly what happened and how it could have been prevented," Evers said.
"We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix or Netflix capable devices can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night," he added.
An outage at Amazon Web Services, or AWS, knocked out such sites as Reddit and Foursquare in April of last year.
Amazon Web Services was not immediately available for comment. Evers, the Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company's contracts with Amazon.

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Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage

 An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc's streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.
The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray DVD players.
Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, California, has 30 million streaming subscribers worldwide, of which more than 27 million are in the Americas region that was exposed to the outage and could have potentially been affected, Evers said.
Evers said the issue was the result of an outage at an Amazon Web Services' cloud computing center in Virginia and started at about 12:30 p.m. PST (2030 GMT) on Monday and was fully restored before 8:00 a.m. PST Tuesday morning, although streaming was available for most users by 11:00 p.m. PST on Monday.
The event marks the latest in a series of outages from Amazon Web Services, with one occurring in April of last year that knocked out such sites as Reddit and Foursquare.
"We are investigating exactly what happened and how it could have been prevented," Evers of Netflix said.
"We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix or Netflix capable devices can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night," he added.
Officials at Amazon Web Services were not available for comment. Evers, the Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company's contracts with Amazon.

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The Case of the 2 Billion Missing Youtube Views

Youtube released its view counts earlier this week for its biggest channels, and people who watch these things noticed that some major record companies had their numbers drop by a whopping 2 billion views. So, where the heck did they all go?
RELATED: Major Record Labels Are Suing a YouTube Downloading Site
The Daily Dot reports Universal was the biggest loser in the case of the missing views. Their channel lost about about a billion views in comparison to where their numbers were before the recount. Sony/BMG lost 850 million, with RCA accounting for the rest. A lot of people were theorizing that Youtube caught them juicing their view counts -- doing something unseemly to make themselves look more popular than they are. The real answer is much more boring. And has nothing to do with Gangnam.
RELATED: Beware the Fake YouTube Site That's Sabotaging Syria's Uprising
Billboard's Alex Pham reports the reason the views disappeared, mostly, is because of Vevo. "The company recently decided to remove view counts for videos that are no longer live on the channel, or so-called 'dead videos,'" Pham explains. "For Universal and Sony, that meant thousands of music videos that over the past three years slowly have migrated to the VEVO channel, which is jointly owned by the two companies." Vevo is the music video-specific channel on Youtube started in conjunction with the record companies back in 2009. So, because all the music videos the companies used to host on Youtube are now under the Vevo umbrella, their views don't count anymore. They happened, sure. They just count somewhere else now.

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Developing Minds Want to Know: Q&A with Quinton Alsbury of Roambi

Roambi provides polished business analytics tools and financial expertise to a wide range of companies. Through Roambi Analytics and Roambi Flow, their unparalleled services also available on iPhone and iPad, they make it a cinch for clients to monitor important business statistics.

Quinton Alsbury, co-founder and president of Product Innovation at Roambi, shared his thoughts on inspiration, innovation, and the misconception that apps are exclusively microware. He also provided a short history of his company, the services they offer, and dishes out advice for aspiring app developers.

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Key Company Facts

Name and Title: Quinton Alsbury, co-founder and president of Product Innovation

Company: Roambi

Location: San Diego, CA

Size (Revenue and/or Employees): 150 Full-time employees

Primary Apps/Platforms: Roambi Analytics, Roambi Flow (both iOS Only)

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APPOLICIOUS: What inspired you to become an app creator?

Quinton Alsbury: When the first iPhone came out it was obvious to us that a tectonic shift in computing and software was about to occur. With a completely different screen size, and interface paradigm, along with a huge leap in hardware specs from other "smart phones" on the market, we believed that traditional software would have to be completely rethought, redesigned, and reinvented. Having come from an enterprise software background, we decided to try and reinvent the category for the new world.

APPO: How long have you been developing apps, and what is the most significant difference between now and when you began?

QA: We formed our company in November 2007, five months before Apple announced the native SDK. We felt so strongly that the path forward would be to open the platform to true native software development that we took a huge gamble at the time and started hiring hackers to open up iOS so we could experiment with bringing some of our ideas to life. The biggest difference was the evolution of the platform, in contrast to those early days when it was purely experimental.

APPO: What apps (outside of those that you develop) inspire you the most and why? Where do you see the most innovation in the app sector?

QA: Since we are in the enterprise world, the biggest inspiration has been to look to the world of consumer applications as a model for how a mobile business app should look, feel, perform, and engage. One of the biggest shifts in application development from the traditional PC world to mobile is the counterintuitive concept (especially to enterprise software) of simplifying functionality. We are also focusing on building highly engaging user experiences that lead to recurring usage of business-related tools on the phone, instead of just waiting to get to a desk, hotel room, office, etc.

APPO: How do you harness that innovation in your own titles?

QA: We use all of the above from the ground up. We milk every ounce of functionality we can out of the hardware and software innovations coming out of Apple. These devices are far too powerful to be considered a dumb terminal to a server. They are becoming the primary device for millions and your product needs to respect that.

APPO: In such a crowded space, explain how you generate awareness and drive downloads to your applications.

QA: In many ways I like to equate the App Store to the iTunes music store. Marketing, PR, and promotional activities are an important component of any awareness strategy, but I believe at the end of the day, the quality of the experience is the critical success factor. The habit-forming usage of mobile devices breeds a highly viral environment where people that love an app will continuously use it, show and share it with peers, friends, and family. If you build something special, and get it into people’s hands, they become the best advocates for your app.

APPO: What are the biggest technical constraints that exist today in the app sector? How do you (or will you) make money from your application?

QA: As the hardware continues to increase in processing power and other hardware specs, we’re seeing that constraints are becoming abstracted. You truly are only limited by your imagination! If you approach mobile as a checkbox for an existing PC application, or a cheap marketing utility, you will never fully realize all opportunities it presents. Every couple of decades we see a huge leap in technology that forces the development world to change: the first was the PC, then the web, and now mobile. To fully take advantage you must embrace the nuances and the opportunity of the new technology.

We monetize our application by selling a backend server that is used by companies to extract data from their major data warehouses and business intelligence tools.

APPO: What advice do you have to those working on their first applications?

QA: Design your product. That means going beyond the UI, all the way to the architecture that in the end drives how your app looks, feels, moves, and performs. The margin for adoption in mobile is razor thin. Most people don't need mobile apps, but they download, buy, and use applications that give them an amazing experience and provide an invaluable service. They'll delete it from their phones, or abandon it to the back page and never open it again, literally within minutes of using it. Apps are like singles in music, they are the equivalent of the perfect three-minute song.

APPO: Where do you see the app sector one year from now? Five years from now?

QA: It will be interesting to see how the evolution of HTML5 begins to affect how people perceive apps both from the developer side and the consumer side. Will there be backlash against a unique app for every individual task, service, or destination? It looks to me like the app concept, instead of morphing back into the traditional PC model, is actually beginning to permeate back into PCs as OSX begins to look more and more like iOS, with the same being true for Windows 8. I can see a day where developing "apps" isn’t a term that’s specific to a small piece of a microware especially made for mobile devices.

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