Japan pitches mind-blowing high-tech 3D World Cup

Japan promised a high tech marvel in its final pitch to host the 2022 World Cup on Wednesday by paving 400 stadiums around the world with 3D flat screens to show life size matches thousands of miles away.

"I have to admit that the idea of this blows my mind away," admitted Japan 2022 bid committee chief executive Kohzo Tashima.

"Three hundred and sixty million people could have a full stadium experience of matches; that's over 100 times the number of spectators at the 1994 World Cup in the United States," he told FIFA's executive committee.

Backed by Sony chairman Howard Stringer, Japanese officials mirrored the promise of an electronics revolution for the next generation that would eliminate language problems in Japan by providing tiny real-time interpretation machines and constant connection to palm sized screens.

But the highlight of the presentation a day before the grandees of world footballs' governing body -- some of whom are in their 80s -- choose the hosts, was the idea of paving whole pitches including Wembley or the legendary Maracana stadium with flat screens.

They would project real-time hologram-like three dimensional images of the game in life size and real time to crowds around the world.

"Our nation's bid is not about one nation hosting the games or two nations, but 208 regions and FIFA nations hosting the game together," said Junji Ogura, chairman of the Japanese bid and a member of FIFA's executive committee.

"Create a World Cup for the next generation to bring 208 smiles to the world," he urged his fellow footballing offocials.

Although the idea seemed far fetched, Stringer insisted it was as realistic as the steps taken when the Walkman portable music player, home video cameras, or PlayStation were launched

"The truth is the world is changing faster than any of us can understand," the Sony chief explained.

"I can tell you that this is not science fiction, in 2022 this will be science fact," Stringer insisted, dressed in a Japan football jersey.

Japanese sports minister Kan Suzuki said the government was ready to give "absolute guarantees" not only for the political and financial pledges, but also the technological promise.

Ogura said: "The challenge for FIFA, for football, is to identify the next big idea."

Japan is vying with more traditional bids from Australia, the United States, Qatar, and South Korea to host the 2022 tournament.

Verizon launching 4G wireless network

US telecom titan Verizon will launch a new generation wireless network on Sunday that delivers data as much as 10 times faster than 3G technology currently used by smartphones.

The "4G LTE" network debuting in 38 major metropolitan areas and at more than 60 airports will be aimed at business "road warriors" who want super speedy connections for laptop computers, according to Verizon.

"This next-generation network will provide speeds significantly faster than existing wireless networks," Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis told AFP.

"Downloading a video that takes 10 minutes now will take one minute on a 4G network."

Verizon worked with South Korean electronics firms LG and Pantech to design USB modems people can plug into laptop computers to connect to the LTE network.

The devices will be priced at 150 dollars each, with 50-dollar rebates available if people sign two-year service contracts with Verizon.

Data plan options will be to pay 50 dollars per month for a five-gigabyte allowance of data monthly or 80 dollars each month for 10 gigabytes of data, with users paying 10 dollars per gigabyte for overages.

The modems switch to 3G coverage in places where the LTE network isn't available, according to Verizon.

"Our 4G LTE launch gives customers access to the fastest and most advanced mobile network in America and immediately reaches more than one-third of all Americans right where they live," said Verizon chief executive Dan Mead.

"That's just the start. We will quickly expand 4G LTE, and by 2013 will reach the existing Verizon Wireless 3G coverage area."

Verizon expected smartphones synched to the 4G, short for "fourth generation," network to be available by the middle of next year.

Google acts to demote distasteful Web sellers

Google announced on Wednesday that it had changed the way it ranks search results so that unscrupulous merchants would find it harder to appear prominently in searches.

The change was prompted by an article in The New York Times on Sunday about Vitaly Borker, a Brooklyn-based online seller of eyeglasses. Mr. Borker claimed that he purposely shouted at and frightened some of the customers at DecorMyEyes.com because the online complaints actually worked in his favor in Google search results.

In essence, he claimed, Google's search engine is unable to tell the difference between positive posts and withering online critiques. Therefore, the more complaints posted about Mr. Borker's site, the more likely customers would be to find his store ranked high on a Google search, which yielded him more revenue.

In a blog posting titled "Being bad to your customers is bad for your business," Google said that it had revised its algorithm so that it could detect Mr. Borker and "hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide extremely poor user experience."

Google did not reveal how it had changed its algorithm, or how that change would affect online sellers like Mr. Borker. It simply said that the more it reveals about the changes it made, the easier it will be for unscrupulous sellers to game it.

"We can't say for sure that no one will ever find a loophole in our ranking algorithms in the future," Amit Singhal, a Google fellow, wrote on the blog post.

"We know that people will keep trying."

With the changes, Mr. Borker has already had a harder time pushing DecorMyEyes to its previous high rankings on Google. The store once showed up on the first page of a search of "Christian Audigier" and "eyeglasses." As of Wednesday night, it was not in the first 20 pages.

Mr. Singhal said that the change was made after the company read in The Times about the ordeal of Clarabelle Rodriguez, who bought a pair of glasses and contact lenses from DecorMyEyes in July.

When she tried to return the frames and get a refund, Mr. Borker (using one of his favorite pseudonyms, Tony Russo) commenced a campaign of phone and e-mail harassment.

That included threats of litigation and chilling statements like "You put your hand in fire. Now it's time to get burned."

He also sent a photograph of the front of her apartment building, and in a separate e-mail wrote "I AM WATCHING YOU."

Ms. Rodriguez went to the police several times and on Oct. 27, Mr. Borker was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment and stalking.

He is set to be arraigned on Dec. 22.

The Internet is rife with consumer complaints about DecorMyEyes, and even the quickest search of the store's name yields dozens of outraged testimonials.

In July, Ms. Rodriguez's search used only the brand name of the glasses she wanted. DecorMyEyes was at the top of Google's main search page.

"We were horrified to read about Ms. Rodriguez's dreadful experience," Mr. Singhal wrote in the blog post. "Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue."

Exactly how Mr. Borker wound up so high in Google searches has been a matter of online debate. His theory is that the great mass of grievances on all those highly regarded consumer complaint sites were the key to his success.

Google cast doubt on that idea, saying that consumer complaint sites typically include special coding along with the mentions to the companies in question so that such links do not count in the companies' favor in search results.

At the blog Search Engine Land, Byrne Hobart also wrote in a recent posting that the review-generating strategy was not the driver of Mr. Borker's success. His analysis found that Mr. Borker benefited chiefly from various "black-hat tricks" to improve his site's standing, including links from what he called auto-generated spam pages. He also found that the store was frequently linked to by mainstream media sites -- The Times included -- when references were made to high-end eyeglasses.

Facebook causes one in five divorces: Survey

'Facebook' or 'Twitter' may have helped unite many people across the globe, but a survey revealed that one in five divorces in the US now involve the popular social networking sites.

According to the survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a staggering 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have also reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating.

Flirty messages and photographs found on Facebook are increasingly being cited as proof of unreasonable behavior or irreconcilable differences. Many cases revolve around social media users who get back in touch with old flames they hadn't heard from in many years, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Facebook was by far the biggest offender, with 66 per cent of lawyers citing it as the primary source of evidence in a divorce case. My Space followed with 15 per cent, Twitter at 5 per cent and other choices lumped together at 14 per cent, the survey found.

The survey reflects the findings of a UK law firm last year showing that 20 per cent of its divorce petitions blamed Facebook flings. "The most common reason seemed to be people having inappropriate sexual chats with people they were not supposed to," Mark Keenan, the Managing Director of Divorce-Online said.

'Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria recently split from her basketball player husband Tony Parker after alleging that he strayed with a woman he kept in touch with on Facebook.

US regulator backs 'do not track' list for Web users

US regulators backed the creation of a "do not track" option for the Internet that would limit the ability of advertisers to collect consumers' data.

In a preliminary staff report, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday that while companies generally manage consumer information responsibly, there are exceptions.

"Self-regulation in privacy has not worked adequately," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "A legislative solution will surely be needed if industry doesn't step up to the plate."

Leibowitz said he supported creation of a mechanism that allows consumers to opt out of some tracking, adding that Congress would probably need to act, which may be difficult because of legislative gridlock next year.

Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on Wednesday that he planned to introduce legislation that would require companies to secure data and inform consumers about what data is being collected.

"Consumers should be given a simple mechanism for opting out of the process," Kerry said in a statement.

Republicans in the House of Representatives, like Representative Joe Barton, have said, without offering details, they would focus on privacy issues.

Any legislation could be two years off, at minimum, said Amy Mushahwar, a privacy expert with Reed Smith, who predicted industry would strike a deal with the government.

If consumers gain more control over their data, the biggest losers could be companies serving third-party ads, said Mushahwar. "Those are the targets," she said.

Privacy expert Lisa Sotto at law firm Hunton & Williams said the industry needed to pay close attention to the report. "The report gives industry a strong sense of where there is likely to be future FTC enforcement."

The FTC staff report also urged that special care be taken with information about sensitive topics such as finances, health, children or an individual's location.

"Before any of this data is collected, used or shared, staff believes that companies should seek affirmative express consent," the report said.

The agency's report urged the development of ways to build privacy into the design of business practices by, for example, collecting only the data that is needed and disposing of it when it is no longer being used.

The agency also proposed that company privacy policies be simpler, clearer and shorter.

"Staff also proposes providing consumers with reasonable access to the data that companies maintain about them, particularly for companies that do not interact with consumers directly, such as data brokers," the report said.

"In addition, all entities must provide robust notice and obtain affirmative consent for material, retroactive changes to data policies."

The report comes as the FTC is under pressure to contain the growing strength and savvy of companies collecting Internet users' personal data and selling it to advertisers.

A recent report by a privacy group found, for example, that some websites that present themselves as a way for ill people to connect with other people with the same ailments were actually created by companies to collect and sell data on those people to market medicines to them.

A final version of the FTC report will be released next year after taking into account comments from interested parties.