HP TouchPad is the productivity tablet

On one hand, the HP TouchPad faces an uphill battle in the tablet market because the Apple iPad has been such a hit with the public and continues to gain momentum. On the other hand, the TouchPad has a great opportunity because the iPad’s current rivals — Android tablets and the BlackBerry PlayBook — haven’t exactly set the world on fire, and Microsoft and Intel haven’t shown up yet with a true iPad competitor.

The TouchPad is no match for the iPad when it comes to media, entertainment, and games, but for those who want the portability of a tablet but the work ethic of a desktop, the TouchPad has raised the bar on productivity.

Specifications

• Launch date: July 1, 2011 (U.S.)
• OS: HP webOS 3.0
• Processor: 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060
• RAM: 1GB
• Storage: 16GB or 32GB internal
• Display: 9.7-inch XGA, 1024×768, IPS
• Ports: Micro USB, 3.5mm headset
• Weight: 1.6 pounds (740 grams)
• Dimensions: 9.45(h) x 7.48(w) x 0.54(d) inches
• Camera: 1.3MP front-facing
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11a/g/n; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and A2DP
• Price: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB)

Who is it for?

The TouchPad will mostly appeal to professionals who want a tablet to handle work tasks — Web-based business apps, email, instant messaging, contacts, calendar, etc. These will mostly be executives, project managers, IT administrators, and other business folks who want to purchase their own tablets and use them for work.

What problems does it solve?

One of the biggest unsolved problems in tablets has been content creation and productivity. The iPad’s great strength is its singularity of focus. The app experience is immersive. But, the flip side of that is that it’s not very good at multitasking. It’s simply not designed for it. The BlackBerry PlayBook and Android tablets have tackled the issue and made some progress, but they haven’t gone as far or done it as elegantly as the TouchPad, which allows users to group open apps and windows into logical groups, quickly separate, re-order, or close them, and jump between them with the flick of a finger. The excellent on-screen keyboard (including number keys) and the wireless dock and wireless keyboard make it easier to enter data on the TouchPad than other tablets. All in all, these productivity improvements make the TouchPad the most effective laptop replacement of any of the current tablets.

Standout features

• Multitasking - Where the TouchPad really shines is in the interplay between multiple apps, multiple windows within the same app, and multiple browser tabs. When most professionals do work, they need to access multiple data streams at once and synthesize that information into a document or email message, and while they’re doing it they may need to call, text, or IM a colleague to ask a question or get some data they’re missing. In the middle of all that, they may also receive a message where they need to respond to someone else’s question or issue. With its notification system, multitasking, and smartphone/tablet interaction, the TouchPad is designed to help these types of knowledge workers be (nearly) as productive on a tablet as they are on a laptop or desktop.
• Full Web experience - The TouchPad also offers Web browsing that gets a lot closer to the desktop Web experience than the iPad. A lot of that has to do with its Flash capabilities, but it also handles some other interactive Web code better than the iPad, even though both are based on Webkit browsers. I’m not a fan of Flash but much of the Web is still based on Flash and will be for years to come. The TouchPad offers a much better Flash experience than the buggy Flash you’ll find on Android tablets, but it’s not quite as smooth as the excellent Flash experience on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, the iPad does not support Flash at all. An example of how the TouchPad also works on some sites where the iPad does not is WordPress, the popular blogging tool. I actually started this review of the TouchPad on the TouchPad itself in the WordPress Web interface — which does not work on the iPad.
• Smartphone interaction - Most of the professionals who have a tablet also have a smartphone and there are times when it gets clumsy and confusing as to when to use which one for which task. HP has addressed this by letting you pair an HP smartphone with the TouchPad. I tested this with the Pre3 and was pretty impressed. It allows you to take a call received on your phone and bump it over to speakerphone on the tablet or take a text message from the phone and bump it over to the tablet’s instant messaging app. There’s also a feature called Touch-to-Share that allows you to take a Web page you have open on the TouchPad and share it to the smartphone by simply touching the phone to the tablet. This is fairly rudimentary stuff and it’s limited just to HP phones, but it’s nice start in bridging these two devices in some meaningful ways.
• Email app - One of the iPad’s worst features (from a business perspective) is the native email app. Using the app in portrait mode is especially clumsy, and moving between a message you’re composing and a message in your inbox means you have to save the message, access your information, and then reopen your message from your drafts to finish it. The TouchPad streamlines that process with its multitasking capabilities and provides an email app that makes it a simple finger flip on the bottom of the screen to move from various email accounts and folders to your inbox/folder message list to a full-screen view of a message.

What’s wrong?

• Inconsistent performance - Biggest beef with the TouchPad is performance. It has a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and 1GB of RAM, so it’s got the hardware to really move, and there are times when it flies between tasks and apps and runs great. However, there are also times when it unexpectedly chugs, freezes, or gets really slow. 
• Bulky form factor - The look of the HP TouchPad echoes the first generation iPad. It has the same rounded corners and curved backplate, only it’s black instead of silver and plastic instead of aluminum. Of course, by the time the TouchPad landed, Apple had already come out with the thinner and lighter second-generation iPad. By comparison, the TouchPad feels bulky and heavy.
• Entertainment gap - The one big area where the TouchPad falls short of the iPad is in entertainment — music, movies, and games. Some of you will say, “That doesn’t matter for a business device.” However, a lot of the professionals with iPads love to use them to watch movies during flights on business trips. The size of a tablet is perfect for a tray table or a lap, and it’s much nicer than wrestling with a laptop. The TouchPad simply doesn’t have the app or entertainment catalog to compete with Apple’s iTunes or iOS ecosystem. However, if it could partner with Amazon, it could make up a lot of ground very quickly, at least on the entertainment side. Since Amazon has its Kindle app on the TouchPad at launch, at least there’s some potential there.

Bottom line for business

For business professionals intent on productivity, there’s a lot to like about the HP TouchPad. The email and multitasking capabilities alone are enough to give it an edge over the iPad. And, we haven’t even talked about the TouchPad’s ability to print (especially to HP printers) — another important asset for some professionals. The expanded Web browsing capabilities are huge, too. It allows the TouchPad to access a lot of sites (Flash and others) that aren’t accessible from the iPad. This can open the door to Web-based business apps and other important

However, for people who couldn't care less about the latest games and movies and just want to get work done in meetings and on airplanes, the HP TouchPad will be a breath of fresh air.

Lot of business professionals will find the TouchPad to be exactly what they were hoping for in a tablet because it will allow them to work the way they are used to working, but do it in the convenient form factor of a multi-touch tablet. TouchPad is recommended to professionals if it weren't for the performance issues and the fact that HP needs to add editing capability for Microsoft Word and Excel files (something HP says is coming “this summer”). With those two things in mind, TouchPad is recommended holding out until HP addresses those issues and adds more productivity apps to the catalog. For professionals, the TouchPad is a solid first step.

source:techrepublic

Lindsay Lohan Stumbles on First Night of Freedom

So much for Lindsay Lohan telling her friends she's afraid to go out.Lindsay Lohan, who had said she was scared to leave home because of the paparazzi, went out to Lexington Social House last night -- where the paps were out in full force.

As she walked out with friends including "Into the Wild" star Emile Hirsch and "Nikita's" Lyndsy Fonseca, the flashes went wild -- causing Lindsay to block her face and nearly fall over on the curb as one photog shouted "She's drunk!".Lohan just completed 35 days in home confinement yesterday.

Facebook hires PS3 hacker Geohot

Facebook has hired George Hotz, the young programmer whose hacking of the PlayStation 3 allegedly led to crippling attacks on Sony’s network.Mr Hotz, 21 and also known online as “Geohot”, is not a hacker in the sense of illegally accessing private data, rather he is known for circumventing software controls on consumer hardware.He first found fame in 2007 when he broke restrictions on Apple’s iPhone to allow it to work on any mobile network. And last year he gained further attention for “jailbreaking” the PlayStation 3 to allow it to run unauthorised software.

The act angered Sony, which sued Mr Hotz in January after he published details of the process online. The case was settled out of court, but Sony had stirred a hornet’s nest of hackers who supported Geohot.
Anonymous, the online “hacktivist” collective, targeted it with Denial of Service attacks, which the firm told the US Congress led to the theft of 77 million PlayStation network users’ personal details. The network was subsequently shut down for six weeks to improve security.Sony said the hackers also left a calling card implicating Anonymous, but people claiming to speak for Anonymous have denied responsibility for network intrusion.

Facebook has not commented on what Mr Hotz will work on.At the firm’s Palo Alto HQ posters celebrate the positive connotations of hacking and developers are encouraged to experiment and tinker with software.

Mozilla and Firefox 5: Upgrade or Die!

In shifting gears to a faster pace of development and release, Mozilla has opted to abandon security support for Firefox 4 immediately upon the release of version 5, which came out this week. This could be a risky move, since many users neglect to update their browsers immediately for various reasons, despite the pop-up reminders Firefox periodically displays.

Mozilla released Firefox 5 earlier this week, just three months after rolling out Firefox 4 and a month after it released version 5 in beta.Version 5 has "more than 1,000 improvements," which include the "Do Not Track" privacy feature and support for the CSS Animations standard, among other things.In its rush to make the Web better, however, Mozilla is taking criticism for not making it especially clear to users that it would stop issuing vulnerability patches for Firefox 4.


That has given rise to concerns that users who delay updating for various reasons may not realize they'll lack protection against the latest malware."Firefox 5 is the security update for Firefox 4, and we do not plan to release a Firefox 4.0.2," Johnathan Nightingale, the Mozilla Foundation's director of Firefox engineering, told TechNewsWorld.


Should Mozilla have more forcefully notified Firefox 4 users that they have to upgrade to version 5? Should it include automatic updates instead of just sending users a pop-up window reminding them to update their browsers?


Fear and Loathing in the Browser Update World


The rapid-fire release of browser updates -- Mozilla aims to issue a new version every three months -- may leave some users bewildered and others bothered.One issue some users have pointed out is that Firefox add-ons and plug-ins aren't updated in sync with the release of new versions of the browser.That might leave users in a quandary: Lose your plug-ins or lose your security.


"Users who don't wish to update are exposing themselves to potential security risks," James Reid, manager of threat research at Webroot, told ."On the other hand, upgrading now may create issues with existing plug-ins, which may not immediately be supported in Firefox 5.0," Reid said.


Incompatibility between users' Firefox add-ons and version 5 of the browser could be one of the main reasons they may delay upgrading their browsers, suggested Francis Brown, managing partner at Stach & Liu.Add-ons are one of the key reasons for Firefox's popularity.


In retrospect, Mozilla could perhaps have been more explicit about dropping security support for Firefox 4, Brown remarked. For example, it could have included a note about terminating security support for version 4 in the notification prompt to upgrade to Firefox 5, he said.


Gotta Go With the Update Flow


The need for online security may outweigh users' reasons for not upgrading their browsers."This isn't like Microsoft Office or an operating system, where it makes sense to stay with an earlier version for compatibility or cost reasons," Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld.


"You get Mozilla's software for free, and consumers should know by now that, just like they do for Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) Acrobat or Flash, they should update their browser whenever an update is available," McGregor said.


"As a manager of threat research, I consider the benefits of patching known browser vulnerabilities more important than many of the inconveniences that may come along with early adoption," Webroot's Reid affirmed.


Should We Get Updates on Autopilot?


Google automatically updates its Chrome browser in the background, so it's always protected against the latest threats, a practice that perhaps paid off when it survived the Pwn2Own 2011 competition unscathed earlier this year.Opinion is divided on whether other browser vendors should follow Google's lead.


"For the average user, I recommend automatic updating of their browser, the way Chrome does, as many users simply ignore updates otherwise," Webroot's Reid stated.Automatic updates would be a good thing because browsers are a security feature, In-Stat's McGregor said.


However, automatic updating of the Firefox browser will reduce its appeal."One of the best things about Firefox is the degree of control and customization that users have over the browser," Brown pointed out.


"I think giving the end user the option to install updates now or wait until a more convenient time to do so is definitely the right approach," Brown explained.


The Paradox of Speed and Security


The release cycle for new versions of browsers has been drastically shortened as the players seek to trump each other's products with newer and better ones.That bumped-up product cycle has both advantages and disadvantages."Security is typically the first area to be sacrificed when developers are under increased pressure to get out new software releases," Stach & Liu's Brown pointed out.


"The industry will need to be vigilant in scrutinizing the security of new browser releases," Brown warned.On the other hand, hackers are ramping up their assaults and coming up with inventive new attacks, so browsers whose vendors lag in issuing an update pose a security risk.


"Hopefully, this rapid release approach will also result in the faster patching of security vulnerabilities," Brown remarked.That's exactly what Mozilla thinks."By releasing small, focused updates more often, we are able to deliver improved security and stability even as we introduce new features, which is better for our users, and for the Web," Mozilla's Nightingale said.


"If a serious security issue is found between regularly scheduled Firefox updates, we will release an interim update quickly, as we always have," Nightingale stated.





source:technewsworld

Winklevoss twins end appeal of Facebook settlement

Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court a ruling upholding their $65 million settlement with Facebook Inc and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, signaling the possible end of the long-running dispute.

The 2008 accord was intended to resolve a feud over whether Zuckerberg stole the idea for what became the world's most popular social networking website from the Winklevosses, who like him had attended Harvard University. Their battle was dramatized in the 2010 film "The Social Network."

 

After agreeing to the cash-and-stock accord, the Winklevosses sought to undo it, saying it was fraudulent because Facebook hid information from them, and that they deserved more money.The 6-foot 5-inch (1.96-meter) twins, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had been planning to appeal an April 11 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco upholding the settlement, which that court called "quite favorable."

But in a filing on Wednesday with that court, the Winklevosses said that after "careful consideration," they decided not to seek Supreme Court review. The filing did not give a reason for the decision.Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 in his Harvard University dormitory room.The California case had been brought by ConnectU Inc, which the Winklevosses set up with another Harvard student, Divya Narendra, who joined in Wednesday's filing.

Facebook, in a statement, said: "We've considered this case closed for a long time, and we're pleased to see the other party now agrees."Jerome Falk, a lawyer for the Winklevosses and Narendra, did not immediately return requests for a comment.Wednesday's filing clears the way for Facebook to seek the dismissal of a related lawsuit filed in Boston federal court.

Analysts have estimated that Palo Alto, California-based Facebook could be worth $70 billion or more should it conduct an initial public offering, perhaps in early 2012.Facebook could be worth more than $100 billion in an IPO, CNBC television estimated last week.
The case is Facebook Inc et al v. ConnectU Inc et al, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 08-16745.

Apple pulls controversial ThirdIntifada iOS app

Apple has pulled the ThirdIntifada app from the App Store. The free app, which first hit the App Store on June 15, presented information on upcoming Palestinian protests and activities, including events that called for acts of violence against Israel.

On June 21, Israel’s Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein issued a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, asking him to remove the app. “I believe Apple, as a pioneering and progressive company, places the values of liberty, freedom of expression and creativity as a guiding light,” Edelstein wrote. “Also, as a leader in its area, I am convinced that you are aware of this type of application’s ability to unite many toward an objective that could be disastrous.” Later that day, The Simon Weisenthal Center—a group focused on eliminating anti-Semitism—echoed Edelstein’s objections.

Edelstein added that Apple should keep the App Store full of entertaining and informative apps, not apps that serve as an “incitement to violence.”Starting late Wednesday, attempts to load the ThirdIntifada app in iTunes generated an error message. The New York Times quoted an Apple spokesman as saying, “We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people.”

New details on Apple iPhone 5 'revealed'

 

Apple Inc plans to introduce a new iPhone in September that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera, according to two people familiar with the plans. The device will include the A5 processor, the more powerful chip that Apple added to the iPad 2 earlier this year, along with an 8 megapixel camera, up from the 5 megapixel model in the iPhone 4, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren't public. Apple is also testing a new version of the iPad that has a higher resolution screen, similar to the one now used in the iPhone 4, one of the people said.

The iPhone is Apple's top seller, accounting for half of revenue last quarter. A faster chip will enable speedier data downloads and help the device vie with handsets being introduced by rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co that are powered by Google Inc's Android software. The iPhone's gains versus the BlackBerry partly explain why Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) last week forecast its first-ever quarterly sales decline.

The new phone will run the iOS 5 operating system Apple previewed at a developer's conference this month. Codenamed "Telluride," it will feature already-announced features such as improved messaging and photo-sharing, one person said. It's also designed to run on all of Apple's mobile devices, this person said. Until late last year, iPads, iPhones and iPod touches used slightly different versions of iOS.

Apple pushed back the release of the next iPhone -- its fifth -- to coincide with the release of the new iOS 5, the people said. Apple has not kept pace with Google in the smartphone market, projected by researcher IDC to reach almost 1 billion units by the end of 2015. This year, Apple is projected to account for 18.2 percent of the global market, compared with 38.9 percent for devices running Android, according to IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Apple is also working to finish a cheaper version of the iPhone aimed at attracting customers in developing countries, the people said. This device would use chips and displays of similar quality to today's iPhone 4, the people said. Apple's work on a smaller, lower-priced version of the device was discussed by people familiar with the matter in February.

The screen resolution on Apple's new iPad would be about one-third higher than that of the iPad 2 and will boast a more responsive touchscreen, one of the people said. The new iPhone will closely resemble the iPhone 4, the people said. As Apple upgrades its mobile operating system it may eventually stop guaranteeing that all iOS apps run on older models, such as the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, one person said.

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella

21-year-old Miss California Alyssa Campanella took home the desirable Miss USA crown in Las Vegas. The beauty queen shined in a green gown last night and posed with a big smile for the cameras on the red carpet.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Photoshoot for Women’s Health

Victoria’s Secret babe and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is everywhere these days, including on the cover of Women’s Health Magazine, where she looks fit in a bikini bottom and a tummy-revealing top.

Firefox Strategy is a Recipe for Failure

Firefox 5 was launched as planned and on schedule this week--and also marked the "end of life" for support of Firefox 4. Mozilla's rapid release schedule, and the strategy to essentially make each new release a requirement to continue support paint Firefox into a corner where only loyal hobbyists can reliably use the browser.

Were you hoping for a patch or update to address the security concerns with WebGL in Firefox? Well, if you are using Firefox 4, don't hold your breath. The "fix" for the WebGL issues in Firefox 4 is to upgrade to Firefox 5.

For consumers, it probably won't be a big deal. Firefox 5 is more like Firefox 4.1, or Firefox with some minor tweaks and updates. Compared with Firefox 4, Firefox 5 is the sort of update that many users would just automatically enable, and--if it weren't for the new version number--might barely notice. Internet Explorer gets a cumulative update patch every Patch Tuesday, and it automatically installs on PC.

For companies and organizations, though, it is another story. The lasting, tenacious, endurance of Internet Explorer 6 is a testament to how stubborn some IT departments can be about moving to a new version of a browser.

Organizations interested in Firefox 4 might not even be done deploying the browser, and now it is already obsolete. Does Mozilla expect IT admins to halt deployment of Firefox 4 and switch gears to implement Firefox 5? Does Mozilla think that IT departments need to pick up the pace and rush deployment of Firefox 5 so they can get some use out of it before it is rendered obsolete by Firefox 6 in August?

One reader, AgentF, commented on  about Mozilla's rapid release strategy to say, "One of the reasons I haven't fully adopted Chrome is because of the regularly scheduled major releases. It's hard trying to help out clients if they all have different versions of the software," adding, "The web doesn't drastically change every few months to warrant major releases."

Mozilla has shot Firefox in the foot. The result will be that Mozilla will continue to churn the market share of Firefox loyalists--Firefox 4 will plummet, and Firefox 5 will climb to the top...until Firefox 6. Rinse and repeat. Basically, the same percentage that use Firefox and switch from FF4 to FF5 will be the users likely to jump from FF5 to FF6.

The rest of the world--particularly companies--however, will shy away from the Mozilla browser because forcing users to upgrade every two months to keep up with the latest release just to maintain basic support and security updates is too much of a commitment.

Britney Spears Fans Declare She's 'Back'

'You can tell that she was having fun. She looked like she was enjoying herself and loving it,' one fan says after Spears' L.A. show

Have you heard? Britney's back! That's the consensus her fans came to on Monday night in Los Angeles, where Britney Spears took the stage at the Staples Center, garnering very positive reviews from her fans.Rachel Guillory, who happens to be from Brit's home state of Louisiana, said, "She interacted with the audience. She talked, she looked happy the whole time."Her friend Chandler Cortina added, "You can tell that she was having fun. She looked like she was enjoying herself and loving it."

The good vibes were pouring out from everyone MTV News spoke to after the show, with fans raving about her stage presence and her killer dance moves. "I'll tell you one thing: Britney is back," Andrea Urioste declared. "Who feels me on that?" she asked the crowd, who cheered in approval.Duprel Nave agreed. "I've been a Britney fan since the beginning. She rocked it and I've been waiting for her to come back," she said. "She gets so much criticism in the media, but she is badass. She's amazing."

Fan Heather Goodly compared this trek, which is several dates in from its kickoff last week in Sacramento, to her last tour. "I went to Circus and this is a thousand times better than that show," she said. "She dances a lot more fiercely, [there are] a lot more hair flips, which is amazing for Britney.""It's like 2004, 2001 Britney is completely back. Energetic, excited," Ricardo Garcia shared.

So, which parts rocked the most? " 'I Wanna Go,' " Pattie Cortez said of Spears' performance of her new single. "That was our favorite part. It was so intense. Everybody was doing the fist pump."Chris Rocha went old-school for his pick. "When she did 'Slave For U,' [with] the original choreography, that brought back the old Britney for me. I was waiting for that, and to see that come back, it was awesome."

Google to dump 'I'm feeling lucky' button

Google Inc has plans to kill the " I'm feeling lucky" button, which has for more than 10 years now proved to be an essential part of its search engine. The button is missing from a new user interface design Google is testing in Finland.

'I'm Feeling Lucky' was first created to reflect Google's confidence that its top search result would almost always be the one being looked for. But since the launch of the Google Instant search last year, the button only works if the user first disables the instant search function.

There has been no official word yet confirming whether or not it will be permanently removed. As Google continues to break new ground at a tremendous rate, perhaps the button is part of an older online mindset, reports the Daily Mail.

Bizarre performance by Amy Winehouse puts tour in doubt

The five-time Grammy Award winner, whose battles with alcohol and drug abuse have long overshadowed her music career, had a very public meltdown on stage Saturday night in Belgrade, the first stop of her European concert tour.The disastrous performance shattered the whole goal of the troubled singer's comeback tour: A renewed focus on her musical ability, not her substance abuse problems. It also raised serious doubts about whether she is well enough to perform before an audience.

Winehouse was jeered and booed as she stumbled around the stage unable to remember the lyrics to her own songs. At times she could barely stand up. She was not able to carry a tune, appearing disoriented and unaware of her surroundings. At one point she dragged over a backup singer to take the mike and sing.

The crowd at Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park was often unable to decipher even what song Winehouse was performing – a startling problem for a singer who is popular in Serbia. Many of the 20,000 fans walked out in protest, angry that they paid steep ticket prices for such a spectacle.

Serbian media called the concert a “scandal,” with the Blic daily labelling it “the worst in the history of Belgrade.”Instead of continuing to Istanbul on Monday and Athens on Wednesday for long-scheduled concerts, Winehouse cancelled those concerts and returned to her London home. She is now holding talks that are expected to lead to further cancellations of her 12-date European tour.

The next scheduled concert is July 8 in Bilbao, Spain, but it is likely to be cancelled. The tour was to end in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 15.The demanding schedule was supposed to be an important test of Winehouse's ability to stand up to the rigours of live performing.

Amy Winehouse booed and jeered by Serbian crowd as she slurs and stumbles her way through Belgrade concert 

Winehouse, 27, has been hospitalized twice for injuries suffered after fainting and falling at home, and her father said she has health problems stemming from smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine.Her recording career has also been put on hold. There have long been plans for a follow up to her two successful albums – including the breakthrough Back to Black released in 2006 – but new material has not been released.

It has been a dramatic fall for Winehouse, whose grasp of pop and soul – along with her trademark beehive hairdo and her raunchy stage act – brought her worldwide fame and substantial sales.Her first album Frank, released in 2003, was heavily influenced by contemporary jazz and earned her critical acclaim. Back to Black arrived three years later and was an overwhelming success with its unusual fusion of jazz, pop and soul with a heavy debt to the girl groups of the early, pre-Beatles 1960s.

It was edgy as well, with the song Rehab dealing with the health issues that were soon to sidetrack her musical career.“They tried to make me go to rehab,” Winehouse sang on the hit. “I said ‘No, no, no.“’Winehouse has sought rehab therapy in the past after her widely publicized battles with alcohol and drugs.

21-year-old Californian Alyssa Campanella wins Miss USA 2011 crown

America's latest Miss USA winner Alyssa Campanella is a California model and self-described history geek, obsessed with Britain's monarchy of centuries past but also a fan of "Star Wars."Alyssa Campanella of Los Angeles says on Twitter that she was born in the wrong time period and played the popular pig-exploding game Angry Birds backstage on her iPad before the pageant Sunday night.

She hopes to keep modeling after her run as Miss USA is finished, depending on how she does representing the country at Miss Universe in September in Brazil.The celebrity she'd most like to meet, now that she's one herself? Pastry chef Buddy Valastro of TLC reality show Cake Boss.

"I love to bake cakes, and he's an Italian, and he acts like I do in the kitchen," the 21-year-old said after beating 50 other hopefuls in Miss USA's 60th pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip."Right now, I'm still kind of like - whoa," Campanella said.

She strutted across the stage in a blue bikini with white polka dots, then donned a dark turquoise Sherri Hill evening gown with beading on its top. After making the final four, she answered a question about legalizing marijuana by saying she didn't think it should be fully legalized as a solution to help ailing economies.

She also professed a love for history after E! News anchor Giuliana Rancic asked her about it during the pageant."I'm obsessed with the Stuart and Tudor era," Campanella said. "Whenever I go to Barnes & Noble I'm always in the history section and that is where you will find me.""I watch 'Game of Thrones,' I watched 'Camelot' - I know those are fantasy but I also watch the Tudors, so I'm a huge history geek," she said.

She said she grew up watching "Star Wars."Campanella said during a news conference after the pageant that the win validated her decision to quickly move to Los Angeles from New Jersey after losing an apartment more than a year ago.

"The downs happen for a reason," she said. "The path that I'm on now is the path that's been meant to be."
Campanella, a former Miss Teen USA runner-up from 2007, when she represented New Jersey, said she has been competing in pageants since she was 15 because of her mom."I was going through a tough time in high school and she thought it'd be a great way for me to meet other girls throughout the state," she said. "It's Mom's fault."Originally from Manalapan, N.J., Campanella began modeling at age 16, graduated from high school a year early and received a scholarship to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, according to her personal website.

Campanella said she thought the marijuana question posed to her from "Real Housewives of New Jersey" housewife Caroline Manzo was fair, given that she represents California."Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today's economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically," she said during the pageant."I'm not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war," she said. "I mean, it's abused today, unfortunately, so that's the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it's OK."Marijuana has been legal for medical use in California for about 15 years.Miss Tennessee Ashley Durham was the first runner-up, while contestants from Alabama and Texas placed third and fourth.Campanella, a natural blonde, said she dyed her hair six years ago for a part in a play, for a "fiery" character with whom she found she had traits in common.

"It's really brought out the true Alyssa Campanella, I feel, and that's why I really enjoy being a redhead," she said.Campanella replaces Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih. The 25-year-old from Michigan teared up as she walked across the stage for a final goodbye.The pageant had three competitions: swimsuit, evening gown and interview question.The contestants were whittled to 16 after the show's opening number, in which the beauty queens introduced themselves one-by-one. The top 16 were picked by preliminary judges through competitions and interviews during the week before the telecast.

 Celebrity judges picked the top eight after the swimsuit competition and the top four after the evening gown portion.Durham appeared to stumble as she answered a question from celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito about whether the First Amendment should protect burning religious books, as it protects burning the flag."I know that some people view it as a freedom of speech, however, burning the American flag is not patriotic at all," Durham said. "No American citizen should do that, and you should also respect other religions. I'm a Christian and a faithful person. I would personally not appreciate someone burning the Bible, and that's just a line you do not cross."Miss Kentucky Kia Ben-et Hampton won Miss Congeniality USA, while Miss Arizona Brittany Dawn Brannon won Miss Photogenic USA.The Miss Universe pageant is scheduled for Sept. 12 from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Last year's winner was Mexico's Jimena Navarrete.

Facebook App for iPad Coming Soon-third party apps to lose out

Social networking giant Facebook is finalizing its new app that will run on Apple's iPad, according to New York Times.Facebook, which released its official app for iPhone immediately after the launch of Apple's App store in 2008, has not come with an app for the tablet device - iPad, which was released in April 2010.

The No.1 social networking site has been reportedly working on a free iPad app for more than a year and is in the final stages of testing, the New York Times reported citing sources familiar with the plans.

Currently, people have been resorting to third-party apps such as My Pad, iFace and Friendly for accessing Facebook on tablet devices, while many of the third party apps are currently operating in a risky space as the release of official Facebook app for iPad could curb traffic to their apps.If Facebook releases its official app for iPad then iPad owners would prefer the consistent experience of an official Facebook app rather than third-party apps.

In terms of usage, Oecoway’s Friendly for iPad is the front runner among the third-party apps, which is having around 600,000 daily active users and ranked 59th in the top free iPad apps in the last month.It is speculated that the upcoming Facebook application will address several issues from critics, who were saying that Facebook's web interface is not optimized for tablets such as iPad or any other touch screen interface.

According to those who have seen the app, it has a "slick design that has been tailored for the iPad and its touchscreen interface". Insider sources says the app enables users read and post on Facebook, participate in Facebook chats, as well as upload photos and video.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, is said to have invested heavily in the project and personally supervising the development apart from fine tuning the unique and advanced features of the app. Designers of the app are also working hard to make the user experience compelling and sticky.The company is also working on the site to improve the compatibility of the website with iPad.