Stumped on a tough decision? New Web sites are there to help.

Hunch, a site open to the public Monday, asks questions and helps people make decisions.

Hunch, a site that launches for the public Monday, will consider your quandary by getting to know you, asking you a series of questions and then spitting out three decisions.

Another site, Let Simon Decide, makes a similar attempt.

Caterina Fake, co-founder of the photo-sharing community Flickr, says she created Hunch not because people need help with emotional decisions but because it's too tough to find smart information online. You often have to replicate someone else's research, which is a waste, she said.

Tech bloggers seem to be pleased with the effort.

"For the most part, I was impressed, though it quickly became clear that Hunch isn't capable of magically making up your mind for you," wrote Jason Kincaid, a reporter at TechCrunch, a technology blog. He called the site "very clean and unintimidating."

Fake spoke with CNN about decision making, her nerdy past and the power of collective knowledge. The following is an edited transcript:

CNN: Where did you get the idea for Hunch?

Fake: It's a user-generated content site similar to Flickr, but the unit is not a photograph but a decision. And so it's sort of a similar thing in that way. We kind of built the system so people can contribute to it. They can ask questions on there and suggest questions. And then you sort of codify it into a decision tree.

CNN: So you're answering questions about yourself?

Fake: Well, there are two components. So you answer questions about yourself, and there's a little module that says things like, "Alien abductions: real or fake?" And what [Hunch] does is, it then puts together a profile of you, a taste profile. And then you can go into the system and ask it any question that's in the system. So it's things like, "What HD-TV should I buy?" or "Where should I go to college?" or, you know, "Where should I eat in San Diego on a Saturday night?" It could be just about anything.

Once it kind of gets to know you, you can ask it questions, and then it gives an answer to you that it doesn't give to anyone else.

CNN: What are the downsides?

Fake: It depends on what the decision is. There is kind of an array of decisions that are too taste-oriented. Like, no matter how well we know you, we're not going to know that your backyard is like 25 feet by 10 feet, versus 10 feet by 10 feet [for a person looking to buy a backyard grill]. You know what I'm saying? There's no system that can get to know that. So what we try to do is narrow it down. So we ask you questions about your aesthetics or your beliefs or your politics or your demographic.

CNN: What kind of decision-maker are you?

Fake: It's really funny, because I think there's a mistake that's generally made with people asking about Hunch, and it's that it's solving people's emotional problems. And it's not. It's solving people's informational problems.

I don't have any problems making any decisions. I've never had any problem making decisions, but when I go to Google and I'm looking for information, say, about trademarks. I have to do all this research, and somebody has already done this research.

CNN: So you see Hunch as a kind of search engine, almost?

Fake: No, it's not a search engine. The feel of it is nothing like a search engine. It's something new.

CNN: How do you think collective knowledge online will change the way people live, or the way we interact with each other?

Fake: It's like it's an amazing period in the history of the Internet just in that way. ... We know more in the collective than we do in the individual.

It becomes even more amazing when you extend that out to people outside your social network. Like, I don't know anyone that has taken a yoga class in Romania. But I'm sure that if I ended up in Romania, and I wanted to sign up for a yoga class that somebody in the world would know three places to recommend me.

The information is out there in a sort of disorganized fashion. ... These systems that are kind of growing up now -- and Hunch hopefully is among them -- are able to take this sort of collective knowledge and make it easy for people to use and easy for people to access.

CNN: Is there anything in your background that influences your belief in this collective knowledge idea?

Fake: I was a nerdy little girl. I played Dungeons and Dragons, and I had a little TRS-80 computer.

It was really early on, I think it was, gosh, like 1994 when I first saw the Web, right? So I went online, and I saw these people uploading pictures of, like, their cats. And I remember there was a video cam of ... the famous coffee pot at the IBM research center that uploaded every 5 minutes to show that the coffee pot was full or empty or whatever.

And so the Internet struck me as this incredible thing where anybody -- like anybody -- could publish anything, and then anybody anywhere else in the world could read it. And I never got over that. There was kind of this wonder, this sense of wonder that I had about this incredible culture of generosity on the Web -- of all these people sharing stuff with each other. I've always been so amazed by that. I love that. Like, I love that aspect of the Internet. That's the thing that always seemed like it was magic to me.

CNN: What are some cool Web sites that are flying under the radar right now?

Fake: Have you heard of Etsy?

CNN: Yeah, is that where people buy and sell art?

Fake: Yeah, it's great. I think it's gonna be like the next eBay. And I met those guys when they were really small. I've been helping those guys since it was three kids in a dorm room. I love those guys. It's one of my favorite companies.

It has that same kind of ethic [as Hunch]: the power of the individual. There are like these housewives in the Midwest who had no idea they could make a living making Christmas ornaments or whatever. It's just kind of an amazing thing that can only happen on the Internet.

Need for Speed SHIFT - Latest Trailer Revealed

Time Warner to separate AOL near year end

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc on Thursday made official plans to separate its AOL division sometime around the end of this year, a widely expected move that sheds one of the media company's weakest divisions.

For Time Warner, the move represents a return to its roots as a pure content company with a focus on its cable channels, film studios and publishing businesses and unwinds a massive merger in 2000 that failed to live up to its promise.

The struggling AOL, for its part, will once again be an independent company left to seek its fortunes in an Internet landscape dominated by Google Inc and smitten with social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Time Warner, which for months has signaled such a plan was in the works, said the deal has been approved by the board and would be structured as tax-free to its stockholders. It still needs regulatory approval.

Time Warner recently spun off Time Warner Cable Inc and is bent on becoming a pure content company that concentrates on brands like CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. Its shares were steady in midday trade, having climbed 40 percent in the last month.

"Overall, we are encouraged by the pace of change at Time Warner and management's move to deconsolidate," Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang said in a report.

In the last three years alone, AOL's share of the U.S. search market has dropped from nearly 12 percent to around 4 percent. Its dial-up web access business continues to shrink. And a broader pullback in spending by marketers is hurting its web advertising business, Platform A.

Still, analysts say AOL could find its footing as an independent company under Tim Armstrong, the former Google executive tapped in March to head the company.

Analysts also point out that an independent AOL could pursue a combination with Yahoo Inc or Microsoft Corp's MSN in hopes of taking on Google. Most value AOL between $3 billion and $5 billion.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see a consolidation," said Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Egan. "It's easier for Time Warner if that happens as a separate stock because Time Warner doesn't want shares of any of the companies that AOL could merge with as currency."

At Time Warner, plans to become a content company left AOL increasingly out of place. Time Warner wrote down the value of AOL several times.

Time Warner also tried a number of efforts to help the struggling unit, including splitting it into two units, with one focused on audience and advertising, the other on a shrinking dial-up web access business.

But as those failed to turn AOL around, Time Warner came under increasing pressure to shed the business either through a spin off or a deal with Yahoo or Microsoft.

As part of the plan announced on Thursday, Time Warner will buy out Google's 5 percent stake in AOL -- which it bought 2005 in a deal that valued AOL at $20 billion -- before the separation.

Microsoft is shutting down its Encarta encyclopedia

Microsoft is shutting down its Encarta encyclopedia Web sites and will also discontinue its Student and Premium Encarta software products. “The category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed,” reads a note explaining the move on the MSN Encarta Web site. “People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.” The Encarta Web sites worldwide will shut down on Oct. 31 and Microsoft will stop selling the software products by June this year. One exception is the Encarta Japan Web site, which will stay live until the last day of this year.

People who have paid for a subscription to MSN Encarta Premium, which offers them access to more information, will get a refund for fees paid beyond April 30, although they’ll continue to be able to access the site until it shuts down in October. Microsoft will continue to offer technical support for the software products for three years. The software giant has discontinued a couple of other products recently. Late last year it announced it would stop selling OneCare, its consumer antivirus product. It also killed off a mobile browser research product last year.

Acer Launching Android phone in 2009

PARIS (Reuters) - Acer Inc, the world's third-largest PC brand, plans to introduce a phone model running on Google's Android software this year, the head of its phone unit said on Wednesday.

The company plans to sell this year around 10 models, with all but one using Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

Aymar de Lencquesaing told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in Paris Acer was seeing a lot of benefit from its laptop offering when looking for operator-partners to sell its smartphones.

Acer entered the market for smartphones -- mobile phones that offers advanced computer-like capabilities -- this year following the acquisition of Taiwan's portable device-maker Eten Information Systems Co in 2008.

The fast growing smartphone industry has emerged as a battleground between traditional phone-makers and PC makers with Asustek, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Dell also eyeing the growth market.

Gartner said on Wednesday it expects smartphone market to surge 27 percent in 2009, while the overall phone market would shrink.

In February the world's top cell phone maker Nokia said it was looking also planning to expand its product offering, looking to enter the laptop business.

While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry, where scale is the key to profits, is less obvious.

"For a handset maker to move into the PC business -- I'd say it was almost impossible," de Lencquesaing said. "One way is acquisition, another way is -- if you're willing -- to invest massively and lose a lot of money for a long time."

"If you do not have large volume then you're at such a handicap ... it's very hard to compensate."

Aymar de Lencquesaing said Acer has prioritized around 40 operators to sell its phones through.

"We're in discussions with all of them. To date none of them has said 'thanks, but no thanks, and never come back,'" he said.

Acer aims to reach 6 to 7 percent of the smartphone market by 2012-2013, boosted by volume growth of cheap smartphones.

De Lencquesaing said the company had no plans to introduce mid-range feature phones, but said it sees smartphone prices falling quickly to similar levels.

"Late 2009, we're releasing a smartphone... full touch, at the price of feature phones today," he said.

Hackers Attacking Via PowerPoint

Microsoft issued a security advisory yesterday saying that hackers are now attacking through an unpatched flaw in Microsoft Office PowerPoint.

On the heels of the big Conficker controversy taking place a few days ago, another threat has surfaced that appears to have more of an immediate impact. According to a security advisory launched by Microsoft yesterday, reports have surfaced that a vulnerability in (Office) PowerPoint could allow remote code execution if a user opens a special PowerPoint file created just for that purpose. The vulnerability affects Office versions 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2004 for Mac.

According to Microsoft, the vulnerability is caused when PowerPoint accesses an invalid object in memory when parsing the malicious file. This creates a condition that allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code. If successful, the attacker can take complete control of the affected system. "An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights," the company said. "Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights."

"At this time, we are aware only of limited and targeted attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability," the company added.

As of this writing, Microsoft has not issued an immediate fix. However, the company said the vulnerability would be addressed through the monthly security update release process, or via an out-of-cycle security update. In the meantime, Microsoft suggested that consumers not open or save PowerPoint files received from unknown sources via email or USB drives. Consumers can also use the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) if those file need to be opened. Additionally, the Microsoft Office File Block policy can restrict the opening of Office 2003 and earlier documents as well.

"Customers in the U.S. and Canada who believe they are affected can receive technical support from Security Support or 1-866-PCSAFETY," Microsoft offered. "There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates."

Oracle buys Sun for $7 billion

Oracle Corp plans to enter the computer hardware market by buying Sun Microsystems Inc for more than $7 billion, swooping in after Sun’s talks with IBM fell apart. The announcement on Monday surprised many Oracle watchers, who believed the company can boost profitability at Sun’s software businesses but were unsure if it can be as successful with Sun’s hardware unit amid stiff competition against IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and new entrant Cisco Systems Inc. "It's an out-of-the-box, left-field type of a deal because Oracle is buying a predominantly hardware business," said Jefferies & Co analyst Ross MacMillan. "The push-pull of the deal is the uncertainty of the hardware business with the earnings accretion of the software business."


Oracle will pay $9.50 a share for Sun, which values the high-end server and software maker at about $7.06 billion, based on 743 million shares outstanding as of the end of its second fiscal quarter on December 28, according to Sun. Sun had previously rejected IBM’s offer to pay up to $9.40 a share, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. Shares of Sun jumped 35.7 percent to $9.08 in morning Nasdaq trading, while Oracle shares fell 3.7 percent to $18.36. Shares of IBM, which did not immediately return calls for comment, fell 1.8 percent to $99.49 on the NYSE. Oracle President Safra Catz said on a conference call that Oracle intends to make the hardware division profitable. Sun’s top-selling products are high-end servers and storage equipment.

Need for Speed SHIFT

Imagine the emotions race drivers go through.

The thrill of driving incredibly fast, the pressure of the competition, the fear of losing control, the intense concentration and effort needed to harness the power of a racing car.

This is the True Driver's Experience of Need for Speed SHIFT.

EA has brought together some of the World's best racing game talent and real race drivers to deliver this experience totally authentically.

Developed by Slightly Mad Studios, a team that includes developers and designers from the critically acclaimed GT Legends and GTR2 games collaborating with Michael Mann (executive producer at Black Box) and Patrick Soderlund (senior Vice President of EA Games).

Patrick Soderlund is also part of a racing team that recently competed in the fourth edition of the TOYO TIRES 24H Dubai 2009, the first major race event of the year where his team finished fifth.

Soderlund and the SHIFT development team is committed to bringing the on-the-track experience to players across the world.

Expect to be playing SHIFT in Fall 2009. It will be available on Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3, PC and PLAYSTATION®PORTABLE (PSP) as well as on Mobile and iPhone.

General Electric has developed a 500GB DVD

According to the BBC, General Electric has developed a DVD-sized optical storage disc that holds 500GB of data. Using 3D optics, instead of the "2D" pit method of writing/reading data, the discs, which hold more than ten times the data of the current highest-capacity Blu-ray discs are first being targeted at the "archive" market, but the fact the company is running with a storage medium that is the same size as traditional DVDs and CDs lets us know that they are eventually aiming at consumer markets.

In fact, the 500GB capacity of these disks places them at more than one hundred times the size of the writeable DVDs most of us use for backups. Technology editor Darren Waters says, "A single GE disc could be used to package up a library of high definition movies but is there pent-up consumer demand for such an offering?" But the question is a no-brainer for most of us. A quick and easy way to back up an entire hard drive, using one or a small number of these disks, will be good news for consumers with lots of photos and other media they have digitized.

These are micro-holographic discs, meaning that information is stored in three dimensions. As Brian Lawrence, head of GE's Holographic Storage, says, "Very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms."

The fact that GE will be using the same basic size for these new optical media means a big benefit for consumers in terms of backwards compatibility: "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs [on the same machine]." GE is cautious, however, given the relatively poor take-up of Bluray, but they are thinking about the future.

Lawrence concludes, "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs [as well as the new media]." The big challenges for GE now are to get the hardware manufactures on board and to convince consumers of the benefits of such high-storage capacity. The road ahead is long, but, if we think back to the shift from CD to DVD as a means of optical storage, there is a precedent, and the consumer desire for larger and larger amounts of data storage seems to be insatiable.

Hackers Assault Facebook with Devious Phishes

On Thursday, the popular social networking website Facebook was the subject of a phishing assault after hackers successfully compromised several accounts.

On Thursday, the popular social networking website Facebook was the subject of a phishing assault after hackers successfully compromised several accounts. As a result, many passwords were stolen, thus allowing the hackers to send phishing emails to other Facebook members listed as Friends. Currently Facebook's security team is working on "cleaning up the damage," and has blocked the compromised accounts until further notice. Fortunately, the problem hasn't spread across the entire 200 million user network, only affecting a small portion of accounts.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said Thursday that the phishing emails urged users to click on provided links to fake websites. In turn, these websites--www.151.im, www.121.im, and www.123.im--were designed to resemble the Facebook home page. The victim, thinking they're logging back into the real Facebook, unknowingly provides their user names and passwords to the hackers controlling the fake websites. With the login info in hand, the hackers thus repeat the process, compromising the user's account, send additional phishing emails, and gather personal details listed on the account for identity theft purposes.

With this kind of personal information, hackers can send spam outside Facebook to legit email addresses, and eventually gather financial details including credit card and banking account numbers through the usual fake link process (pharmaceuticals, male enhancement, etc). What makes this phishing scheme so clever is that Facebook members are somewhat trusting in that friends are approved before becoming part of the "trusted" network: a message sent by Mom's compromised account looks legit enough to take seriously, its embedded link unsuspicious. On a personal level, Facebook accounts usually provide extensive details to friends, including home phone numbers, places of employment, email addresses, and other useful information. In short, it's a gold mine for hackers looking for more ways to send spam and steal identities.

“There has been a definite ramp-up of attacks on Facebook over the last several months,” Michael Argast, an analyst at security software developer Sophos, told the New York Times. “As the user community grows, the criminal community sees an opportunity to make money.” He also said that Thursday's attack may be tied into a recent scam where hackers breaks into a Facebook account, impersonates the user, and posts a message to friends asking for money because the hacker is "in a pinch" in a faraway country. Friends falling for the scam usually send thousands of dollars to accounts not associated with the original user.

Currently the Facebook security team has blocked the three malicious websites; user's can't even type the fake domains in messages or in the status bar. Thankfully, the latest attack doesn't involve malicious files that are silently installed on user PCs. Facebook suggests that registered members access the website using an up-to-date browser with a built-in anti-phishing black list. Members should also use different login names and passwords for every website requiring login information, and be suspicious of sketchy messages hitting the Facebook Inbox, especially those asking for login and password information, or those from Marcus and Tuan asking for users to judge their "performance" recorded during the Tom's Karaoke Night this past Saturday (shivers).