Data: New (physical) book chronicles the virtual

NEW YORK (AP) — We question. We research. We catalog. We quantify. We aggregate, calculate, communicate, analyze, extrapolate and conclude. And eventually, if we're fortunate and thoughtful, we understand. These are the contours of the society that has taken shape in the past generation with the rise of an unstoppable, invisible force that changes human lives in ways from the microscopic to the gargantuan: data, a word that was barely used beyond small circles before World War II but now governs the day for many of us from the moment we awaken to the extinguishing of the final late-evening light bulb. This is the playing field of "The Human Face of Big Data," by Rick Smolan ("A Day in the Life of America") and Jennifer Erwitt, an enormous volume the size of a flat-screen computer monitor that chronicles, through a splash of photos and eye-opening essays and graphics, the rise of the information society. The book itself ($50, Against All Odds Productions) is a curious, wonderful beast — a solid slab that captures a virtual universe. Weighing in at nearly five pounds (a companion iPad app is available), it is being delivered Tuesday by the publisher to what it calls some of the world's most influential people, including the CEOs of Yahoo and Starbucks and Amazon, Oprah Winfrey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The goal, say those behind the project, is to "ignite a conversation about an extraordinary knowledge revolution." You would think that capturing such a sprawling — and, one might easily conclude, inherently nonvisual — societal change would be difficult in a coffee-table book. You'd be wrong. This is one of those rare animals that captures its era in the most distinct of ways. It's the kind of thing you'd put in a time capsule for your children today to show them, long after you're gone, what the world was like at the beginning of their lives. The obvious is here, of course — the crimefighting, the moneymaking, the advertising, the breathtaking medical advances, the dark pathways of data nefariousness. But there are more unexpected tales as well. Among the pools the book dips into: —How data can provide utterly unexpected results: In Singapore, a project designed to look at why people couldn't get a taxi during a rainstorm came back with a surprising dividend — the cabs, fearful of accidents and the financial impact they cause even for drivers who may not be at fault, were just pulling over when it started to pour. Now they're changing policies to counteract that problem. —How global connectivity can beget entirely new forms of storytelling: The Johnny Cash Project invites people worldwide to share their visual representations of the iconic musician, and each submission is combined with others to create a music video that keeps changing based on the images that people are sending in. —How crowdsourcing is changing science: "Technology grants us the ability to harness wisdom from anywhere for specific projects, encouraging scientists to cooperate more, seek other points of view and share their achievements quickly — "the beginning of a democratization of discovery," writes science journalist Gareth Cook. —How machines are now communicating among themselves (though no sign yet of Skynet from the "Terminator" movies): "Humans will no longer be the center of the data solar system, with all of the billions of devices orbiting around us, but will rather become just another player, another node, in an increasingly autonomous data universe," writes technological thinker Esther Dyson. Brave new world? Of course. Yet it's easy to be unsettled by all of this. Hackers lurk everywhere; organizations like WikiLeaks are — depending on your politics — irresponsibly revealing secrets or responsibly liberating information. And anytime the notions of biology and technology meld, it's difficult not to summon images of the part-human, part cybernetic Borg from "Star Trek." In the face of so many preconceptions, what makes "The Human Face of Big Data" so engaging, so important, is its balanced tone. This is not a screed, in either direction. Technology is not greeted only as a marvel to be worshipped, nor is it cast as only a villain whose bits and bytes can blight our inherent humanity. The notion of making sense of information, of unpacking what the changes that data has wrought will mean to all of us, is the underpinning of the book. That's as it should be: As information's pathways and archives develop at breakneck speeds, we must race, too, to develop a vocabulary to describe and critique its rise. Passionate, critical thinking about a subject is still the sole purview of humanity — at least for now. "The history of mankind has always been influenced by a shortage of knowledge," technology and business writer Michael S. Malone says in one essay. "Now the opposite — an information surplus — may soon define our lives." The question, of course, runs even deeper. There is information, there is knowledge and there is wisdom. And no matter how many strong numbers we humans have at our disposal, if we can't understand the important differences between those three categories, the odds are good that we're on a path not toward 1, but toward 0. Save to the cloud and fire up the iPad tonight, sure — but do it with open eyes and probing mind. "Not everything that can be counted counts," warns a saying that Albert Einstein loved, "and not everything that counts can be counted."

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Pope gets more than half million Twitter followers

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Even though he hasn't sent a single tweet yet, Pope Benedict had more than half a million Twitter followers in eight languages on Tuesday, the day after the Vatican unveiled his handle: @Pontifex. They included people ranging from the simple Roman Catholic faithful to a Jewish head of state. "Your holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their best & can form a basis to further peace everywhere," tweeted Israeli President Shimon Peres, who at 89 is four years older than Benedict. The Vatican said on Monday that Benedict will start tweeting on mostly spiritual topics from December 12. The pope actually has eight linked Twitter accounts. @Pontifex, the main account, is in English. The other seven have a suffix at the end for the different language versions. For example, the German version is @Pontifex_de, and the Arabic version is @Pontifex_ar. On Tuesday afternoon, the English version had the most followers, with nearly 400,000. The next largest was Spanish, with some 93,000. The lowest number of followers was the Arabic, with about 3,500. Benedict's native German had about 10,000. But the pope, leader of some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, won't be following anyone but himself, the Vatican said. A look at his official Twitter page on Tuesday showed that he is "following" seven people but they are merely versions of his own Twitter account in different languages. The first papal tweets will be answers to questions sent to #askpontifex. The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future. The tweets will come primarily from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters. He will push the button on his first tweet himself on December 12 but in the future most of the tweets will be written by aides, and he will sign off on them. The Vatican, whose website has been taken down by hackers in the past, said it has taken precautions to make sure the pope's certified account is not hacked. Only one computer in the Vatican's Secretariat of State will be used for the tweets. The pope's Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colors of the Vatican - and his picture over the backdrop of a St Peter's Square packed with pilgrims. The page may change during different liturgical seasons of the year and when the pope is away from the Vatican on trips.

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Nokia Siemens to close German services unit: sources

FRANKFURT/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia Siemens Networks' (NSN) German services unit faces closure and 1,000 jobs are at risk as Nokia and Siemens shake up the joint venture, two sources said. One of the people familiar with the situation said the closure would be effective by the end of 2013 and will be announced on Wednesday during a meeting at which workers will be told a crucial contract with Deutsche Telekom will not be extended. The Mobile telecoms equipment joint venture is cutting costs and plans to shed a quarter of its staff and sell product lines to focus on mobile broadband. The program is expected to yield about 1 billion euros ($1.31 billion) in cost savings by the end of next year. The telecoms equipment market is going through tough times with stiff competition from Chinese peers Huawei and ZTE as the major telecoms operators postpone investments, faced with shrinking markets due to the weak economy. France's Alcatel-Lucent has also said it will cut costs and jobs to survive stiff competition and weak demand. NSN Services Gmbh, which generates under 100 million euros in annual sales and employs about 1,000 people, provides network operations and management services and also includes Vodafone among its customers. Deutsche Telekom sold the unit to NSN five years ago, when the two companies also agreed on a 300 million euro services contract that now will not be renewed, according to the sources. NSN, which declined to comment, has said such services, often provided on older overhead cable networks, are not considered core operations, and it exited a similar business in Brazil earlier this year. Verdi union representative Mike Doeding said that a meeting to update workers about next year's plans was scheduled for Wednesday, adding he had no idea about what message to expect from management. "If they are to close the unit it would be an outrage," Doeding said. Deutsche Telekom referred requests for comment to NSN. On Monday, NSN said it was selling its optical fiber unit to Marlin Equity Partners, resulting in the transfer of up to 1,900 employees, mainly in Germany and Portugal. NSN had 60,600 employees at the end of the third quarter. ($1 = 0.7650 euros)

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Android projected to own the smartphone market for the next four years

Despite the increased adoption rate of smartphones, the overall worldwide mobile phone market is expected to see minimal growth this year. The International Data Corporation predicts that the market will see a year-over-year increase of only 1.4% in 2012, the lowest annual growth rate in three years. Going forward, however, the market is expected to see increased growth. Mobile phone vendors are estimated to ship more than 1.7 billion handsets this year and more than 2.2 billion devices by 2016. Consumers are continuing to buy smartphones faster than ever. Vendors are expected to ship 224.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, representing a 39.5% year-over-year increase. On the year, smartphone shipments are predicted to grow 45.1% from 2011 to 717.5 million units. “Sluggish economic conditions worldwide have cast a pall over the mobile phone market this year,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “However, the fourth quarter will be relatively bright due in part to sales of high-profile smartphones, such as the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3, in addition to lower-cost Android-powered smartphones shipped to China and other high-growth emerging markets.” The research firm forecasts Android will “be the clear leader in the smartphone mobile operating system race” due to the large selection of devices from a wide range of manufacturers. Samsung (005930) is once again expected to be the top Android vendor, although both LG (066570) and Sony (SNE) are seeing increased sales and “are not to be overlooked.” Google’s (GOOG) operating system is expected to control 68.3% of the market this year and continue its dominance through 2016 with a slightly lower 63.8% share. Apple’s (AAPL) iOS platform is expected to remain in the number two spot behind Android in 2012 with a 18.8% market share. The operating system is predicted to see minimal growth through 2016 due to “the popularity of the iPhone across multiple markets” and is expected to control 19.1% of the market. IDC notes that until Apple examines the possibility of offering less expensive models, iOS is expected to ship lower volumes than Android. Windows Phone is estimated to capture a 2.6% share of the market in 2012, compared to BlackBerry’s 4.7% share. The two platforms are expected continue to fight for the number three spot, although ultimately the research firm predicts Windows Phone will succeed. Microsoft’s (MSFT) operating system is expected to have an explosive future with the help of its partners — Nokia (NOK), HTC (2498), Samsung, ZTE (0763) and Huawei (002502) — and is estimated to increase its market share to 11.4% by 2016, while BlackBerry is seen falling to 4.1%. “Underpinning the worldwide smartphone market is a constantly shifting mobile operating system landscape,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Android is expected to stay in front, but we also expect it to be the biggest target for competing operating systems to grab market share. At the same time, Windows Phone stands to gain the most market share as its smartphone and carrier partners have gained valuable experience in selling the differentiated experience Windows Phone has to offer. What bears close observation is how BlackBerry’s new platform, BlackBerry 10, and multiple versions of Linux will affect the market once the devices running these systems are available.”

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New net rules would hit digital economy: diplomat

DUBAI (Reuters) - Inter-governmental regulation of the Internet could deter investment, raise costs for consumers and hinder online access, a U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday. The United States has been leading efforts to stop a United Nations body from extending its authority into cyberspace. U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer reiterated his country's "hands off" message at a summit hosted by the International Telecommunication Union that could decide the future of the Internet, at present largely unregulated at a global level. "We are concerned some of the proposals could create an investment environment that is very tenuous," Kramer told Reuters. "We need to be very mindful that we are not creating new, much greater problems than we are solving." About 150 countries are gathered to renegotiate an ITU treaty that was last updated in 1988, before the Internet and mobile phones transformed communications. Western Internet companies and rights groups are fiercely opposed to proposals that would require companies to identify Web users at the demand of national governments, which would make it easier for countries to identify and punish dissidents. Activists operating under the Internet banner Anonymous said on Wednesday they would organize public protests. A short time later, a denial-of-service attack was launched against the ITU's main website. Such attacks, in which thousands of computers try to connect to the same site simultaneously, can temporarily overwhelm the target with traffic, though they do not breach security or cause lasting damage. The ITU site was rendered at least temporarily unavailable to net users in some regions and was sluggish afterward. The United States wants to restrict the debate in Dubai to conventional telecoms, and two of its three core recommendations have been approved, Kramer said. Member states have agreed the definition of 'telecommunications' should remain unchanged, while the treaty's introductory passages, relating to its scope, will also be unaltered. The third recommendation, still being debated behind closed doors, is a technical, but important distinction that the treaty should relate only to "recognized operating agencies" - conventional telecom operators - and not "operating agencies." The latter definition would potentially place the likes of Facebook, Google and government and business networks under the jurisdiction of the ITU. "These sectors have done incredibly well without almost any regulation at all," said Kramer. The United States and its allies, including Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan, want a strict delineation between the two, while other countries say the two are now inseparable and both should be governed by ITU legislation. The United States says that allowing the Internet, and with it content, to come under global regulations would pave the way for online censorship and restrictions on free content. "There are still a lot of countries seeking to sweep the internet into this, and some of them have got ulterior motives," said Kramer. Some African and Arab states have adopted proposals from a European telecom association to introduce charges to companies such as Google if they deliver content to networks abroad. Telecom operators' voice revenue is in decline, and they claim the investment needed to keep up with surging demand for data does not justify the returns. "If there is a charge imposed on developers of content and applications that could significantly curtail traffic, it would potentially exacerbate the digital divide because a lot of countries would not receive the traffic they need," said Kramer.

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5 dead as heavy snow hits Balkans

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have killed at least five people and caused travel chaos across the Balkans, with rescue teams struggling to reach passengers stranded in buses and cars in Serbia on Sunday. Officials said four people have died in Croatia and one in Serbia as a result of blizzards in the region of southwestern Europe over the weekend, closing airports and roads and blocking public transportation in big cities. People traveling in vehicles waited for hours on several roads in Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, including the main highway leading from Belgrade to the Hungarian border, before rescue teams could free them from 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow that had fallen in just a few hours. Ivica Dacic, who serves as Serbia's prime minister and interior minister, ordered all available police personnel to take part in the rescue operations. The airport in Zagreb, Croatia, was closed for several hours Saturday, and several of that nation's roads were closed because of high winds and heavy snow. The situation improved in Croatia on Sunday, but a warning against driving remained in place because of icy roads. Authorities in Serbia and Croatia warned people to stay indoors. Blizzards also hit Slovenia and Bosnia. As the storms headed east across the Balkans on Sunday, Romania's army was trying to clear snowbound roads as the country voted in a parliamentary election.

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British police contact Australian police over hoax

LONDON (AP) — British police say they have contacted Australian authorities about a possible investigation into an Australian radio station's hoax call to a U.K. hospital. The callers impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles and received confidential details about the former Kate Middleton's medical information. The call was recorded and broadcast. The prank took an ugly twist Friday with the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, three days after she took the hoax call. Police have not yet determined Saldanha's cause of death, but people from London to Sydney have been making the assumption that she died because of stress from the call. The disk jockeys involved have been suspended indefinitely. Australian police Sunday confirmed they had been contacted by London police and said they would cooperate.

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