China’s largest computer maker, Lenovo has launched its own tablet computer at home as it tries to compete for a share of an increasingly crowded market dominated by Apple's iPad. The LePad - powered by Google's Android software - was launched in China on Monday at a Chinese-media only event. Lenovo will begin selling LePad directly to Chinese consumers this week through its own retail stores and it will put it on sale outside China by June. The firm said in a statement that it was aggressively pursuing the mobile Internet device business and established a special division - the Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group - this year to better compete. "The LePad is the first major launch since the business group's founding, we are confident in it and will continue to enrich its product line with better performing products and a richer selection of styles," Lenovo said. In addition to the iPad, Lenovo's new tablet will compete against gadgets from other major electronics companies such as Dell, Samsung Electronics and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion. LePad - which was first unveiled in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - has a 10.1-inch colour screen and connects to the Internet using WiFi or 3G telecom services. In China, models equipped with WiFi wireless technology will carry a recommended price tag of 3,499 yuan ($533) for the 16-gigabyte version. The pre-orders for LePad have began on March 16. Lenovo, which bought IBM's PC business in 2004 for $1.25 billion, had roughly 27 percent of its home market last year and was ranked fourth in the world with a global share of about eight percent, according to data from IDC intelligence firm.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Online marketplace operator EBay has said that it will pay $2.4 billion for GSI Commerce, which operates websites for retailers like Toys R Us and Bath & Body Works. EBay Inc., which runs its namesake site where users buy and sell items through auctions and fixed-price "Buy it Now" formats as well as online payments service PayPal, hopes the acquisition will bolster its ability to connect buyers and sellers around the world. GSI runs websites, packs and ships products and offers interactive marketing services to a variety of retailers. It has long-term contracts with 180 retailers, including Radio Shack, Ace Hardware and American Eagle Outfitters. EBay has been working on improving its eBay.com website by doing things such as revamping its home page, cutting upfront listing fees it charges sellers and bolstering its search engine. In an interview, eBay CEO John Donahoe said the GSI deal fits in with his company's efforts to help retailers grow. Lots of businesses need help doing things like generating demand for products, running their websites, delivering goods to customers, and growing their mobile sales, Donahoe said. GSI does this for large companies, and eBay and PayPal do this for small- and medium-sized companies, he said, which makes the acquisition a natural fit. The purchase might also help eBay compete with Seattle-based Amazon, which, in addition to selling many items directly, allows merchants to sell their products through its site and offers product fulfillment services, too. EBay is already involved with GSI through PayPal, which was integrated with GSI customers' sites last year. San Jose-based eBay said it will pay $29.25 per share. The $2.4 billion total is the second-largest amount eBay has paid for another company so far. In 2005 eBay paid at least $2.6 billion for Internet calling and messaging service Skype, which it has since sold.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Paul Baran, whose work with packaging data in the 1960s has been credited with playing a role in the later development of the Internet, has died at age 84. Baran died at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Saturday night of complications from lung cancer, said his son David Baran. Paul Baran is best known for the idea of "packet-switching," in which data is bundled into small packages and sent through a network. Baran outlined the concept while working on Cold War issues for the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica in 1963 and 1964. In 1969 the technology became a concept the Department of Defense used in creating the Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet, numerous reports on the subject said. The idea had been so advanced at its development that private companies had passed on it. "Paul wasn't afraid to go in directions counter to what everyone else thought was the right or only thing to do," Vinton Cerf, a vice president at Google and a colleague and longtime friend of Baran, told the New York Times, which first reported Baran's death. President George W. Bush presented him with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2008. A year earlier, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, joining the likes of Thomas Edison. "I think that we give a lot of attention to music and football, why not those who come up with ideas that we use in a different way," he said. Baran's method of moving data was designed to still function after a nuclear attack. Because there were no centralized switches, and bundles of data could simply find a new route if one weren't working, the system could still work even if much of it were destroyed, the RAND Corporation said. He called the process "message blocks." Donald Davies of Great Britain independently developed a similar system and his term, "packet-switching," would eventually be adopted, RAND said. It would be decades before the social and commercial possibilities of the technology would become clear, and Baran would miss out on a lot of the money and glory that came with it, but he was happy to live to see it happen, his son said. "He was a man of infinite patience," David Baran said. The son said his father recently shared a paper that he wrote in 1966, speculating on the future of the computer networks he was working on. "It spelled out this idea that by the year 2000 that people would be using online networks for shopping and news," he said. "It was an absolute lunatic fringe idea." Paul Baran was born in Grodno, Poland in 1926 and his family moved to the United States when he was 2 years old. Baran received many accolades late in life for his pioneering work, but he was anxious to widely distribute the credit. "The process of technological developments is like building a cathedral," he told the Times in a 1990 interview. "Over the course of several hundred years, new people come along and each lays down a block on top of the old foundations, each saying, I built a cathedral. If you are not careful you can con yourself into believing that you did the most important part." Baran's wife since 1955 Evelyn died in 2007. He is survived by his son and three grandchildren.According to a report by Wall Street Journal, Google is joining Citigroup and Mastercard to set up a mobile payment system that will turn Android phones into a kind of electronic wallet. The new technology, which is in its early stages, will allow consumers to wave their Android phones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter to make payments. The planned payment system would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help them target advertisements and discount offers to mobile device users near their stores. However, Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees. Initially, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to pay for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Nokia has said it will continue to sell smartphones using its legacy Symbian software for a long time after its first phones using Microsoft's Windows go on sale. Symbian is due to be replaced by Microsoft's Windows Phone over the coming two years under a plan announced in February, raising concerns Nokia could drop Symbian phones - which have lost market share, but generate strong profits - too early. "We will be selling Symbian-devices long after Windows Phone devices from Nokia have already started to appear," said Purnima Kochikar, head of developer relations at Nokia. Nokia has promised to introduce its first models using Windows Phone platform at the latest in 2012. Nokia didn't specify how long it would continue to offer Symbian. Earlier this week research firm Ovum forecast that Symbian phones will continue on some markets into 2016. Kochikar said coming Symbian models would focus on strong integration of services, as well as have faster processors than so far in the Symbian product line. "Over the past weeks we have been evaluating our Symbian roadmap and now feel confident we will have a strong portfolio of new products during our transition period - i.e. 2011 and 2012," Kochikar said. "They will also include improvements in hardware performance such as GHz+ processing capabilities and faster graphics speeds," she said. Nokia's current top models, the N8 and the E7, use 680 MHz processors, while rivals top models already use 1 GHz and faster processors.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Dell has launched the Inspiron M5030, what it claims to be the first Spanish-language laptop sold within the U.S.
The Inspiron M5030 doesn't just have a Spanish-language operating system, as anyone can configure Windows or the Apple OS to operate in Spanish. The $499 notebook also contains a Spanish-language keyboard, designed to give Spanish speakers a more familiar experience.
Dell said it was targeting the 50.5 million Hispanics who live in the U.S.
However, the M5030 will launch in a limited release at BrandsMart USA shops in both Florida and Georgia.
"The launch of the laptop stems from Dell's commitment to listen to customers," said Gerald Zapata of Dell. "By listening, we realized there was a need to develop a laptop that was 100 percent designed for Spanish speakers, affordable and available in the United States. The concept was to introduce a laptop that meets all of these needs and enables Spanish-speaking families to better communicate and keep in touch with relatives, share information and experience the ultimate in technology."
Aside from the cosmetic changes to the OS and the keyboard interface, the new M5030 looks nearly identical to the existing M5030, a Dell laptop which is only sold in stores. The Spanish-language version includes an Athlon II P360 prcoessor, a 1366-by-768 15.6-inch widescreen display, 4 Gbytes of memory, DVD burner, 3-in-1 card reader, 802.11g/n, all running under Windows 7 Home Premium.
The Inspiron M5030 doesn't just have a Spanish-language operating system, as anyone can configure Windows or the Apple OS to operate in Spanish. The $499 notebook also contains a Spanish-language keyboard, designed to give Spanish speakers a more familiar experience.
Dell said it was targeting the 50.5 million Hispanics who live in the U.S.
However, the M5030 will launch in a limited release at BrandsMart USA shops in both Florida and Georgia.
"The launch of the laptop stems from Dell's commitment to listen to customers," said Gerald Zapata of Dell. "By listening, we realized there was a need to develop a laptop that was 100 percent designed for Spanish speakers, affordable and available in the United States. The concept was to introduce a laptop that meets all of these needs and enables Spanish-speaking families to better communicate and keep in touch with relatives, share information and experience the ultimate in technology."
Aside from the cosmetic changes to the OS and the keyboard interface, the new M5030 looks nearly identical to the existing M5030, a Dell laptop which is only sold in stores. The Spanish-language version includes an Athlon II P360 prcoessor, a 1366-by-768 15.6-inch widescreen display, 4 Gbytes of memory, DVD burner, 3-in-1 card reader, 802.11g/n, all running under Windows 7 Home Premium.
Friday, March 25, 2011
AsusTek Computer Inc. has unveiled a sleek tablet computer, after the Taiwanese firm saw the sales of its once popular line of mini-laptops stall following the launch of Apple's hit iPad.AsusTek says the EEE Pad Transformer, which runs on the Android 3.0 operating system, distinguishes itself with an optional keyboard that is superior to docking options for other tablets because of its light weight and flexibility.
Its 10.1-inch screen with a front and rear camera can be detached from the keyboard to allow users on the move quick Web browsing and film viewing. Plugging it to the keyboard dock, the device can then be used as a full-fledged laptop.
"In our own pursuit of perfection, we offer users more options," said AsusTek CEO Jerry Shen. "They can get a full range of functions including 10-finger touch, Flash supported video viewing, e-book reading, and a physical keyboard so they don't have to deal with any inconveniences."
The EEE Pad Transformer, which became available for pre-order in Taiwan on Friday, goes on sale in the U.K. on March 30, to be followed by U.S. sales.
In Taiwan, the 16 GB version without the keyboard sells for 14,900 New Taiwan dollars ($500), while the keyboard version costs NT$17,900 ($600). The company did not provide prices for other markets.
Another Asus tablet, the 12-inch e-Slate powered by the Microsoft Windows operating system, went on sale in January, while two additional Asus tablet models will go on sale soon. Shen said he expected total sales of the four models to reach two million units in 2011.
Taiwan's Acer Inc., the world's third largest computer vendor, has already unveiled four tablet models, as well as a 4.8-inch smartphone that doubles as a tablet. The company says all will be on sale next month.
Shen acknowledged Apple Inc.'s current dominance in the rapidly expanding tablet computer market, but predicted that its market share would fall to 50 percent by 2012, as devices run on Android and Microsoft systems pick up steam.
Asus pioneered netbooks - mini-laptops - to great fanfare in 2007. Once seen as a key to the company's growth, sales remained flat in 2010, following the iPad's appearance in the marketplace.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
T-Mobile's new 4G mobile broadband laptop stick, the T-Mobile Jet 2.0, can now be ordered for free, with a 2-year contract for mobile broadband service. The device, which plugs into a USB port on your PC or Mac laptop, is meant to deliver high-speed HSPA+ 4G Internet access.
Most importantly, T-Mobile has continued to demonstrate its commitment to growing its 4G network, with the announcement of doubling the network's theoretical download speed to 42 Mbps and the introduction of new 4G smartphones, the T-Mobile G2x and Sidekick 4G. In addition to the Jet 2.0 laptop stick, T-Mobile is also launching other 4G mobile broadband devices later this spring: the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 (first device with 42 Mbps capability) and a prepaid T-Mobile Rocket 4G.
The T-Mobile Jet 2.0 is available now. It features Wi-Fi connection management and a microSD memory card slot. So, you can use the laptop stick for external storage as well as wireless Internet access.
Most importantly, T-Mobile has continued to demonstrate its commitment to growing its 4G network, with the announcement of doubling the network's theoretical download speed to 42 Mbps and the introduction of new 4G smartphones, the T-Mobile G2x and Sidekick 4G. In addition to the Jet 2.0 laptop stick, T-Mobile is also launching other 4G mobile broadband devices later this spring: the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 (first device with 42 Mbps capability) and a prepaid T-Mobile Rocket 4G.
The T-Mobile Jet 2.0 is available now. It features Wi-Fi connection management and a microSD memory card slot. So, you can use the laptop stick for external storage as well as wireless Internet access.
South African mobile phone giant, MTN, has joined with an insurance company to launch a program in Ghana that will allow subscribers to pay for life insurance through their mobile phones.
Phone banking has taken off in Africa, where the impoverished majority can't afford the costs of traditional banks, including account fees and bus fares to get to town from villages to visit the banks.
More Ghanaians have mobile money accounts than bank accounts, said Jeremy Leach, a divisional director of Hollard Insurance Group. South Africa-based mobile phone giant The MTN Group is partnering with the group to increase Ghanaians' access to life insurance, he said.
Mobile banking users send and receive money through their cell phones.
Leach said Hollard approached MTN to establish a plan where Ghanaians can pay premiums as low as one cedi ($0.65) per month on their mobile phones through MTN's mobile banking system.
"Ghana has a fast-growing market and is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa," Leach said. "One of the things that was pleasing when we got there was that we thought we'd have to do a lot of consumer education, but what we found was that the national health insurance had been rolled out so there was increased awareness."
Ghana has 9 million MTN mobile subscribers, 2 million of whom have joined the mobile banking program launched in July 2009. Mobile banking customers can buy the insurance using menus on their cell phones. They need a valid mobile money account to sign the application form, but medical or other documents are not required.
The program is only in the pilot stages limited to a number of service centers, Leach said, adding that the full rollout will occur within months.
Pieter Verkade, MTN's mobile money executive, said: "What we believe is it's a whole new area for us, as well as insurance companies. We are bringing these kinds of products to a market where they before would not have access to these projects."
Verkade said MTN is looking to expand its mobile banking services in regions such as West Africa, where there is a lot of demand. Already, MTN offers Rwandans the ability to purchase prepaid electricity through their cell phones.
"It's certainly doing a bit to improve the whole economy's income and the way people can interact by providing them financial tools they didn't have before," Verkade said. "In that respect, it's some kind of a revolution."
Phone banking has taken off in Africa, where the impoverished majority can't afford the costs of traditional banks, including account fees and bus fares to get to town from villages to visit the banks.
More Ghanaians have mobile money accounts than bank accounts, said Jeremy Leach, a divisional director of Hollard Insurance Group. South Africa-based mobile phone giant The MTN Group is partnering with the group to increase Ghanaians' access to life insurance, he said.
Mobile banking users send and receive money through their cell phones.
Leach said Hollard approached MTN to establish a plan where Ghanaians can pay premiums as low as one cedi ($0.65) per month on their mobile phones through MTN's mobile banking system.
"Ghana has a fast-growing market and is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa," Leach said. "One of the things that was pleasing when we got there was that we thought we'd have to do a lot of consumer education, but what we found was that the national health insurance had been rolled out so there was increased awareness."
Ghana has 9 million MTN mobile subscribers, 2 million of whom have joined the mobile banking program launched in July 2009. Mobile banking customers can buy the insurance using menus on their cell phones. They need a valid mobile money account to sign the application form, but medical or other documents are not required.
The program is only in the pilot stages limited to a number of service centers, Leach said, adding that the full rollout will occur within months.
Pieter Verkade, MTN's mobile money executive, said: "What we believe is it's a whole new area for us, as well as insurance companies. We are bringing these kinds of products to a market where they before would not have access to these projects."
Verkade said MTN is looking to expand its mobile banking services in regions such as West Africa, where there is a lot of demand. Already, MTN offers Rwandans the ability to purchase prepaid electricity through their cell phones.
"It's certainly doing a bit to improve the whole economy's income and the way people can interact by providing them financial tools they didn't have before," Verkade said. "In that respect, it's some kind of a revolution."
Google's has launched its own full-length online magazine, a quarterly publication whose aim is to create a "breathing space in a busy world."
The first edition of Think Quarterly, based out of the UK, is a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business. The first thing most people will notice is that it's a visually stunning piece of work. It's a rich Flash app with Google's quirky sensibilities and the in-depth writing you might find in BusinessWeek or Salon. Google's quarterly magazine is edited and designed by creative agency The Church of London.
The articles are thought pieces about major business and technology topics from a variety of freelancers and contributors. Google was able to snag Simon Rogers (editor of The Guardian's Datablog), Ulrike Reinhard (editor of WE Magazine), and other journalists for the project. Many of Think Quarterly's articles feature interviews with Google executives and technology leaders. Some of the people featured include Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence, Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and famed psychologist Peter Kruse.
"At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten 'killer application' – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest," Matt Brittin, Google's managing director of UK & Ireland operations, said in Think Quarterly's introduction. "We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service."
"But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It's a place to take time out and consider what's happening and why it matters."
It's unclear whether the new online magazine is another sign that Google is entering the media business or whether it's just a project to feed the company's intellectual curiosity. Google doesn't describe its newest project as a magazine or a publication. Instead, Google calls it a book on its website and a "unique communications tool".
The first edition of Think Quarterly, based out of the UK, is a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business. The first thing most people will notice is that it's a visually stunning piece of work. It's a rich Flash app with Google's quirky sensibilities and the in-depth writing you might find in BusinessWeek or Salon. Google's quarterly magazine is edited and designed by creative agency The Church of London.
The articles are thought pieces about major business and technology topics from a variety of freelancers and contributors. Google was able to snag Simon Rogers (editor of The Guardian's Datablog), Ulrike Reinhard (editor of WE Magazine), and other journalists for the project. Many of Think Quarterly's articles feature interviews with Google executives and technology leaders. Some of the people featured include Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence, Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and famed psychologist Peter Kruse.
"At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten 'killer application' – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest," Matt Brittin, Google's managing director of UK & Ireland operations, said in Think Quarterly's introduction. "We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service."
"But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It's a place to take time out and consider what's happening and why it matters."
It's unclear whether the new online magazine is another sign that Google is entering the media business or whether it's just a project to feed the company's intellectual curiosity. Google doesn't describe its newest project as a magazine or a publication. Instead, Google calls it a book on its website and a "unique communications tool".
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Despite the news of AT&T acquiring T-Mobile this week, T-Mobile's showing some solid phones at this Spring's CTIA mobile conference. The latest of the bunch, the T-Mobile G2x, is a dual-core beast that runs on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network with 4G data speeds.
The name is a bit misleading-this is not an HTC phone. The G1 and G2 were designed by HTC, but the G2x is an LG phone. And it looks familiar, it is because it is essentially a T-Mobile version of the LG Optimus 2X, which was seen in Vegas at CES 2011.
In addition to the G2x, T-Mobile has announced that it is expanding its network as well as double the speed to achieve a theoretical download speed of 42 Mbps. Customers in Las Vegas, New York and Orlando will be the first to experience the faster speeds.
T-Mobile is showing off a few other 4G products at the show including the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, the T-Mobile Jet 2.0 laptop stick, the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 (the first 42 Mbps-capable product) and the ZTE-manufactured T-Mobile 4G Hotspot.
The name is a bit misleading-this is not an HTC phone. The G1 and G2 were designed by HTC, but the G2x is an LG phone. And it looks familiar, it is because it is essentially a T-Mobile version of the LG Optimus 2X, which was seen in Vegas at CES 2011.
In addition to the G2x, T-Mobile has announced that it is expanding its network as well as double the speed to achieve a theoretical download speed of 42 Mbps. Customers in Las Vegas, New York and Orlando will be the first to experience the faster speeds.
T-Mobile is showing off a few other 4G products at the show including the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, the T-Mobile Jet 2.0 laptop stick, the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 (the first 42 Mbps-capable product) and the ZTE-manufactured T-Mobile 4G Hotspot.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Two of the world's richest men, software pioneer Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett, are set to visit India this week to persuade the country's super-wealthy to part with more of their cash.
The pair made headlines last year when they said they would seek to get fellow billionaires to commit half of their wealth to good causes as part of the "Giving Pledge". So far, 59 rich Americans have taken the pledge.
But while charitable giving is widespread in countries such as the United States, it is less well established in developing nations such as India and China, where Gates and Buffett went in September on a similar mission.
The former, in an open letter in the Times of India newspaper, said he and Buffett plan to sit down with some of India's affluent business leaders "to talk about our own enthusiasm for philanthropy and the impact it can have".
"We come not as preachers, but more like cheerleaders," said Gates, just a few months on from the billionaires' high-profile China trip, where they wined and dined the country's richest industrialists to promote charity.
Fast-growing India is home to some of Asia's richest billionaires, making it "an exciting time to be having this conversation," added Gates.
But while there is no shortage of billionaires for Gates and Buffett to meet, it may not be the easiest of missions.
India's booming economy - growing by nine percent annually - has 55 billionaires with an average net worth of $4.5 billion, according to Forbes, the third-largest pool of billionaires after the United States and China.
Yet rich Indians are often criticised by local media for a reluctance to part with their cash. In fact, India's wealthiest social class has the lowest level of giving - just 1.6 percent of household income compared to 1.9 percent for the country's middle classes, according to global consultancy Bain and Company.
A $2 billion education donation by high-tech tycoon Azim Premji late last year was a rare exception - and shone a harsh light on the patchy philanthropic track record of India's wealthy.
Arpan Sheth, a consultant for Bain who is author of a recent overview of Indian philanthropy, said the country's charitable potential is huge. "Should individuals in India, particularly the well-off, be giving more? And can they afford to make more and larger donations? The answer to both questions is, 'Absolutely yes'," he said.
Philanthropic activity has failed to keep pace with growing riches, partly, Sheth believes, because the rapid accumulation of individual wealth is still a relatively new phenomenon.
"We have a history of scarcity and so it takes a while to build confidence that the future will be better on a sustainable basis and let go of newly earned wealth," said Sheth. There is also a suspicion that charities are badly managed and so donors fear their contributions "won't be put to good use or are at risk of being misappropriated," Sheth added.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity set up by the software tycoon and his wife, was tight-lipped about the visit, citing security.
According to India's Business Standard newspaper Gates, his wife and Buffett would hold talks with the country's wealthy on Thursday in New Delhi.
There is no doubt that the need to help India's teeming poor is glaring. Some 42 percent of Indians, or 455 million people, live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. India's statistics on health, infant mortality and malnutrition are worse than those for some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are signs, though, that India's billionaires are waking up to the urgent need to bridge the yawning gap between rich and poor in the country of 1.2 billion people.
India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who heads the country's largest private company Reliance Industries, warned earlier this month that "there will be no peace" if people are "discontented, deprived, unhappy and therefore angry."
The pair made headlines last year when they said they would seek to get fellow billionaires to commit half of their wealth to good causes as part of the "Giving Pledge". So far, 59 rich Americans have taken the pledge.
But while charitable giving is widespread in countries such as the United States, it is less well established in developing nations such as India and China, where Gates and Buffett went in September on a similar mission.
The former, in an open letter in the Times of India newspaper, said he and Buffett plan to sit down with some of India's affluent business leaders "to talk about our own enthusiasm for philanthropy and the impact it can have".
"We come not as preachers, but more like cheerleaders," said Gates, just a few months on from the billionaires' high-profile China trip, where they wined and dined the country's richest industrialists to promote charity.
Fast-growing India is home to some of Asia's richest billionaires, making it "an exciting time to be having this conversation," added Gates.
But while there is no shortage of billionaires for Gates and Buffett to meet, it may not be the easiest of missions.
India's booming economy - growing by nine percent annually - has 55 billionaires with an average net worth of $4.5 billion, according to Forbes, the third-largest pool of billionaires after the United States and China.
Yet rich Indians are often criticised by local media for a reluctance to part with their cash. In fact, India's wealthiest social class has the lowest level of giving - just 1.6 percent of household income compared to 1.9 percent for the country's middle classes, according to global consultancy Bain and Company.
A $2 billion education donation by high-tech tycoon Azim Premji late last year was a rare exception - and shone a harsh light on the patchy philanthropic track record of India's wealthy.
Arpan Sheth, a consultant for Bain who is author of a recent overview of Indian philanthropy, said the country's charitable potential is huge. "Should individuals in India, particularly the well-off, be giving more? And can they afford to make more and larger donations? The answer to both questions is, 'Absolutely yes'," he said.
Philanthropic activity has failed to keep pace with growing riches, partly, Sheth believes, because the rapid accumulation of individual wealth is still a relatively new phenomenon.
"We have a history of scarcity and so it takes a while to build confidence that the future will be better on a sustainable basis and let go of newly earned wealth," said Sheth. There is also a suspicion that charities are badly managed and so donors fear their contributions "won't be put to good use or are at risk of being misappropriated," Sheth added.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity set up by the software tycoon and his wife, was tight-lipped about the visit, citing security.
According to India's Business Standard newspaper Gates, his wife and Buffett would hold talks with the country's wealthy on Thursday in New Delhi.
There is no doubt that the need to help India's teeming poor is glaring. Some 42 percent of Indians, or 455 million people, live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. India's statistics on health, infant mortality and malnutrition are worse than those for some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are signs, though, that India's billionaires are waking up to the urgent need to bridge the yawning gap between rich and poor in the country of 1.2 billion people.
India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who heads the country's largest private company Reliance Industries, warned earlier this month that "there will be no peace" if people are "discontented, deprived, unhappy and therefore angry."
Opera Software has unveiled a new versions of its Mini and Mobile wireless browsers, improving tablet support and features like scrolling, zooming and sharing.
The new versions feature a share button, so you can easily post, tweet, or share info on Facebook, vKontakte or My Opera.
According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, Opera is the world's most used mobile browser ahead of Apple, Nokia and Google's Android, controlling 21.6 percent of the market in March so far.
The iPhone, Nokia and Android browsers all have 15 to 19 percent market shares.
The new versions feature a share button, so you can easily post, tweet, or share info on Facebook, vKontakte or My Opera.
According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, Opera is the world's most used mobile browser ahead of Apple, Nokia and Google's Android, controlling 21.6 percent of the market in March so far.
The iPhone, Nokia and Android browsers all have 15 to 19 percent market shares.
Research In Motion has announced that its much-awaited iPad rival, the BlackBerry PlayBook, will sell at a starting price of $499 in the United States and Canada and will be available in more than 20,000 retail outlets.
RIM plans to sell the PlayBook through retailers and wireless carriers including Best Buy, AT&T, Verizon, Radioshack, Sears Canada and Walmart.
Best Buy said the PlayBook will be available at its stores from April 19.
RIM plans to sell the PlayBook through retailers and wireless carriers including Best Buy, AT&T, Verizon, Radioshack, Sears Canada and Walmart.
Best Buy said the PlayBook will be available at its stores from April 19.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Google has said that the Chinese government is interfering with its email services in China, making it difficult for users to gain access to its Gmail program, amid an intensified Internet crackdown following widespread unrest in the Middle East.
Google Inc. said its engineers have determined there are no technical problems with the email service or its main website.
"There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail," the company said.
China has some of the world's strictest Internet controls and blocks many popular social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The government has intensified those efforts after pro-democracy protest erupted across the Middle East in January.
A Google spokesperson said users in China, the world's most populous Internet market, have reported having intermittent problems with the service since the end of January.
Problems include difficulty accessing the home page for Gmail and problems sending emails when logged into the service. The instant messaging function is often not working as well.
Google officials said the blocking appears to be more sophisticated than other problems experienced by users in the past because the disruption is not a complete block.
Google has had highly public run-ins with the Chinese government.
In January last year, Google announced that it would no longer cooperate with the government's requirement to censor search results for banned sites. It also complained about major attacks on its website by Chinese hackers, suggesting the government may have been instigated the attacks.
Attacks were also mounted against email accounts by activists working on human rights in China at that time.
Google moved its Chinese-language search engine to Hong Kong, which operates under separate rules from the rest of mainland China.
Google Inc. said its engineers have determined there are no technical problems with the email service or its main website.
"There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail," the company said.
China has some of the world's strictest Internet controls and blocks many popular social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The government has intensified those efforts after pro-democracy protest erupted across the Middle East in January.
A Google spokesperson said users in China, the world's most populous Internet market, have reported having intermittent problems with the service since the end of January.
Problems include difficulty accessing the home page for Gmail and problems sending emails when logged into the service. The instant messaging function is often not working as well.
Google officials said the blocking appears to be more sophisticated than other problems experienced by users in the past because the disruption is not a complete block.
Google has had highly public run-ins with the Chinese government.
In January last year, Google announced that it would no longer cooperate with the government's requirement to censor search results for banned sites. It also complained about major attacks on its website by Chinese hackers, suggesting the government may have been instigated the attacks.
Attacks were also mounted against email accounts by activists working on human rights in China at that time.
Google moved its Chinese-language search engine to Hong Kong, which operates under separate rules from the rest of mainland China.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
T-Mobile really wants you to know the Sidekick 4G is coming. In a new video released recently, product manager Joe Fernandez shows off the phone's sliding mechanism and Android interface.
The new Sidekick interface is based on Android 2.2 and Samsung's TouchWiz, although it has some unique Sidekick touches, like those links on the right-hand side of the screen. Samsung's "Feeds and Updates" social-networking widget appears in the video, though.
The screen slides up with a click to reveal the 5-row QWERTY keyboard. The black version of the phone is made of a matte, soft-touch material, Fernandez said.
The Sidekick 4G is supposedly coming out "this spring". Hope we learn more about it at the CTIA Wireless trade show next week.
The new Sidekick interface is based on Android 2.2 and Samsung's TouchWiz, although it has some unique Sidekick touches, like those links on the right-hand side of the screen. Samsung's "Feeds and Updates" social-networking widget appears in the video, though.
The screen slides up with a click to reveal the 5-row QWERTY keyboard. The black version of the phone is made of a matte, soft-touch material, Fernandez said.
The Sidekick 4G is supposedly coming out "this spring". Hope we learn more about it at the CTIA Wireless trade show next week.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Swiftly following Microsoft's release of Internet Explorer 9, Google has recently issued a plug-in for the new browser that allows users to play videos in Google's WebM video file format.
The release can be installed for IE9 running on either Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
"They said elephants couldn't ride flying dolphins. They said that one of the world's most popular browsers couldn't play WebM video in HTML5. They were wrong," The Google Web page for the plug-in stated.
The release represents the latest installment in the ongoing saga of bringing video to HTML5, the next-generation standard for designing Web pages.
Browser makers have not reached consensus on which video format to use. While Apple and Microsoft have put their weight behind the widely used H.264, Mozilla and Opera have declined to support that codec, citing worries over eventually having to pay patent royalties.
Last year, Google acquired video-compression-technology vendor On2 Technologies, which developed the open source VP8 video codec. Google subsequently used VP8 as the basis for creating WebM, positioning it as a patent-free alternative to H.264-based formats.
While this new WebM release still requires a plug-in, it will at least allow content creators using WebM to have their creations be played on the world's most widely used browser, which may help Google attract more users to the format.
The release can be installed for IE9 running on either Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
"They said elephants couldn't ride flying dolphins. They said that one of the world's most popular browsers couldn't play WebM video in HTML5. They were wrong," The Google Web page for the plug-in stated.
The release represents the latest installment in the ongoing saga of bringing video to HTML5, the next-generation standard for designing Web pages.
Browser makers have not reached consensus on which video format to use. While Apple and Microsoft have put their weight behind the widely used H.264, Mozilla and Opera have declined to support that codec, citing worries over eventually having to pay patent royalties.
Last year, Google acquired video-compression-technology vendor On2 Technologies, which developed the open source VP8 video codec. Google subsequently used VP8 as the basis for creating WebM, positioning it as a patent-free alternative to H.264-based formats.
While this new WebM release still requires a plug-in, it will at least allow content creators using WebM to have their creations be played on the world's most widely used browser, which may help Google attract more users to the format.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Computer maker Lenovo has formally announced its new ThinkPad X220 ultraportable notebook and ThinkPad X220 convertible tablet PC, incorporating second-generation Intel Core processors for plenty of computing oomph and promising road warriors up to 15 to 24 hours of battery life, depending on configuration.
“Put simply, The ThinkPad X Series has everything a modern road warrior needs without compromises - low weight, long battery life, and high performance,” said Lenovo’s VP for ThinkPad marketing Dilip Bhatia, in a statement. “We’ve refined the mobile computing experience to make it more productive and enjoyable with features like smart PC technologies and enhanced video and voice calling.”
Both the notebook and convertible tablet versions of the ThinkPad X220 feature a 300-nit, 12.5-inch high-definition screen with space-saving self-closing hinges, with the convertible tablet version getting a Gorilla Glass screen that can stand up to the bumps and scratches of mobile use. The systems use the Intel integrated graphics built into the Sandy Bridge chip, and select models will feature a USB 3.0 port for high-bandwidth connections to peripherals and storage devices. The systems will be available with a range of second-generation Intel Core and Intel vPro processors.
Lenovo says the X220s will get up to 15 hours of battery life with a standard 9-cell battery, and up to 24 hours of use by adding a new ThinkPad external battery - when configured with a ULV processor and an SSD drive, anyway. With a four-cell battery, the notebooks start out under four pounds.
Lenovo is touting the new ThinkPads as big productivity aids partly because users won’t have to wait around as long for the machines to get ready. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 improves shut down, start up, and resume times for the systems, and a new Instant Resume function maintains wireless and network connections for up to 99 minutes during sleep mode so connections don’t have to be re-established when the system wakes up. And the convertible notebook version will notify a user if they move the tablet without having the pen in the integrated pen-holder.
Lenovo says the ThinkPad X220s will be available in April with the ultraportable notebook starting at $899, and the convertible tablet starting at $1,199.
“Put simply, The ThinkPad X Series has everything a modern road warrior needs without compromises - low weight, long battery life, and high performance,” said Lenovo’s VP for ThinkPad marketing Dilip Bhatia, in a statement. “We’ve refined the mobile computing experience to make it more productive and enjoyable with features like smart PC technologies and enhanced video and voice calling.”
Both the notebook and convertible tablet versions of the ThinkPad X220 feature a 300-nit, 12.5-inch high-definition screen with space-saving self-closing hinges, with the convertible tablet version getting a Gorilla Glass screen that can stand up to the bumps and scratches of mobile use. The systems use the Intel integrated graphics built into the Sandy Bridge chip, and select models will feature a USB 3.0 port for high-bandwidth connections to peripherals and storage devices. The systems will be available with a range of second-generation Intel Core and Intel vPro processors.
Lenovo says the X220s will get up to 15 hours of battery life with a standard 9-cell battery, and up to 24 hours of use by adding a new ThinkPad external battery - when configured with a ULV processor and an SSD drive, anyway. With a four-cell battery, the notebooks start out under four pounds.
Lenovo is touting the new ThinkPads as big productivity aids partly because users won’t have to wait around as long for the machines to get ready. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 improves shut down, start up, and resume times for the systems, and a new Instant Resume function maintains wireless and network connections for up to 99 minutes during sleep mode so connections don’t have to be re-established when the system wakes up. And the convertible notebook version will notify a user if they move the tablet without having the pen in the integrated pen-holder.
Lenovo says the ThinkPad X220s will be available in April with the ultraportable notebook starting at $899, and the convertible tablet starting at $1,199.
Just after proclaiming Internet Explorer 6 needs to die, Microsoft is readying the launch of IE9, the newest version of its market-leading web browser.
Microsoft plans to debut the browser at the SXSW (South by Southwest Conference and Festivals) conference in Austin on March 14, and the browser will be available for download that same evening.
IE 9 does what no Microsoft browser has done before - embraces HTML 5. HTML 5 is the latest greatest version of HTML, the core coding language for the web. With HTML 5, rich media web sites with stronger animation are made possible.
A More Private Experience..
One of the key new features in IE9 is Tracking Protection. This feature was originally planned for IE8, but Microsoft held off on executing the software that lets customers control tracking on web sites. Essentially, Tracking Protection lets consumers filter content in a page that may have an impact on their privacy.
Here's how Tracking Protection works: Consumers can indicate what web sites they would prefer to not exchange information with. Consumers do this by adding Tracking Protection lists to IE. Anyone, and any organization, on the web can create and publish Tracking Protection lists.
In practice, this means that if you visit a news site, then a sports site, then some other web site, third-party advertisers can't build a profile of browsing activity. Although there are many benefits to building those profiles, including driving more relevant, personalized content, Microsoft is responding to privacy concerns by giving consumers a way to block that tracking.
IE9 also offers InPrivate Browsing, another feature to help consumers control what their machine remembers about browsing sessions. InPrivate Filtering was a forerunner of Tracking Protection.
A Comeback Platform..
"This is Microsoft's comeback platform. They've broken from the pack and the end result is that it's incredibly fast," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "It's probably one of the most secure products Microsoft has ever brought out."
Beyond speed, security and privacy features, Enderle said Microsoft has something else important in the realm of web browsers: massive developer support to use the underpinning features. That means there should be a number of web sites at launch that make unique use of some of the performance and graphics capabilities of the product.
"This is probably going to be one of Microsoft's strongest launches ever and probably one of the most important IE launches since IE 3 when Microsoft stepped away from Spyglass," Enderle said. "So this is very critical one for Microsoft and one where the company is taking a pretty big risk by jumping out so far ahead of the other guys with regard to technology."
Microsoft plans to debut the browser at the SXSW (South by Southwest Conference and Festivals) conference in Austin on March 14, and the browser will be available for download that same evening.
IE 9 does what no Microsoft browser has done before - embraces HTML 5. HTML 5 is the latest greatest version of HTML, the core coding language for the web. With HTML 5, rich media web sites with stronger animation are made possible.
A More Private Experience..
One of the key new features in IE9 is Tracking Protection. This feature was originally planned for IE8, but Microsoft held off on executing the software that lets customers control tracking on web sites. Essentially, Tracking Protection lets consumers filter content in a page that may have an impact on their privacy.
Here's how Tracking Protection works: Consumers can indicate what web sites they would prefer to not exchange information with. Consumers do this by adding Tracking Protection lists to IE. Anyone, and any organization, on the web can create and publish Tracking Protection lists.
In practice, this means that if you visit a news site, then a sports site, then some other web site, third-party advertisers can't build a profile of browsing activity. Although there are many benefits to building those profiles, including driving more relevant, personalized content, Microsoft is responding to privacy concerns by giving consumers a way to block that tracking.
IE9 also offers InPrivate Browsing, another feature to help consumers control what their machine remembers about browsing sessions. InPrivate Filtering was a forerunner of Tracking Protection.
A Comeback Platform..
"This is Microsoft's comeback platform. They've broken from the pack and the end result is that it's incredibly fast," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "It's probably one of the most secure products Microsoft has ever brought out."
Beyond speed, security and privacy features, Enderle said Microsoft has something else important in the realm of web browsers: massive developer support to use the underpinning features. That means there should be a number of web sites at launch that make unique use of some of the performance and graphics capabilities of the product.
"This is probably going to be one of Microsoft's strongest launches ever and probably one of the most important IE launches since IE 3 when Microsoft stepped away from Spyglass," Enderle said. "So this is very critical one for Microsoft and one where the company is taking a pretty big risk by jumping out so far ahead of the other guys with regard to technology."
Facebook not only made household names out of its founders thanks to the movie "The Social Network" - it has also minted the latest crop of the richest people on the planet.
Six of the founders and investors behind the hot Internet startup made the annual list of world's top billionaires compiled by Forbes and four of them are new to the roster.
They join a list of others made wealthy by the latest gold rush on the Internet, underscoring the extent of the resurgence in a sector left for dead at the turn of the millennium.
Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg clocked in at No. 52 with an estimated worth of $13.5 billion, up from 212 and $4 billion in 2010.
Co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, the youngest billionaire on the Forbes list at 26, Eduardo Saverin, and investors Sean Parker and Russian Yuri Milner are new to the ranks. Rounding out Forbes' "Facebook Six" is investor Peter Thiel, who has moved down to 833 from 828, despite increasing his wealth to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion.
Created in a Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook rocketed from an online directory for college students to the world's No. 1 social network, quickly surpassing its predecessor Friendster and dominating its rival News Corp's MySpace in popularity.
Facebook has about 600 million users and is a threat to more established big Web businesses such as Google and Yahoo for users' time and advertising dollars.
The private Silicon Valley company recently rounded up $1.5 billion in financing led by Goldman Sachs and Milner's Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, suggesting it could be worth $50 billion and setting off a feeding frenzy among investors.
Other names familiar in tech, media and Internet circles make an appearance on the Forbes list. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page both come in at No. 24 on the Forbes list, unchanged from a year earlier though their fortunes have increased to $19.8 billion each from $17.5 billion each.
In China, Robin Li, the man behind the popular search engine Baidu, is listed with an estimated wealth of $9.4 billion. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba.com - a site similar to eBay for businesses' transactions - is worth $1.6 billion.
Digital Sky Technologies Chief Executive Milner, credited with beating Silicon Valley at its own game, landed on the cover of Forbes' billionaires list magazine. His firm holds stakes in the center of this generation's Internet leaders including social gaming Zynga and the online coupon site Groupon.
Six of the founders and investors behind the hot Internet startup made the annual list of world's top billionaires compiled by Forbes and four of them are new to the roster.
They join a list of others made wealthy by the latest gold rush on the Internet, underscoring the extent of the resurgence in a sector left for dead at the turn of the millennium.
Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg clocked in at No. 52 with an estimated worth of $13.5 billion, up from 212 and $4 billion in 2010.
Co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, the youngest billionaire on the Forbes list at 26, Eduardo Saverin, and investors Sean Parker and Russian Yuri Milner are new to the ranks. Rounding out Forbes' "Facebook Six" is investor Peter Thiel, who has moved down to 833 from 828, despite increasing his wealth to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion.
Created in a Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook rocketed from an online directory for college students to the world's No. 1 social network, quickly surpassing its predecessor Friendster and dominating its rival News Corp's MySpace in popularity.
Facebook has about 600 million users and is a threat to more established big Web businesses such as Google and Yahoo for users' time and advertising dollars.
The private Silicon Valley company recently rounded up $1.5 billion in financing led by Goldman Sachs and Milner's Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, suggesting it could be worth $50 billion and setting off a feeding frenzy among investors.
Other names familiar in tech, media and Internet circles make an appearance on the Forbes list. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page both come in at No. 24 on the Forbes list, unchanged from a year earlier though their fortunes have increased to $19.8 billion each from $17.5 billion each.
In China, Robin Li, the man behind the popular search engine Baidu, is listed with an estimated wealth of $9.4 billion. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba.com - a site similar to eBay for businesses' transactions - is worth $1.6 billion.
Digital Sky Technologies Chief Executive Milner, credited with beating Silicon Valley at its own game, landed on the cover of Forbes' billionaires list magazine. His firm holds stakes in the center of this generation's Internet leaders including social gaming Zynga and the online coupon site Groupon.
In-flight Wi-Fi provider Aircell has unveiled plans for its second generation of wireless links from aircraft to the Internet, promising higher capacity and the capability to offer its service outside the U.S.
Aircell equips airliners and business jets with in-cabin Wi-Fi systems and operates a network of special cellular base stations around the U.S. to send data from the Internet to the planes and back. Its Gogo service is offered by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America and other commercial carriers, and the company also sells Gogo Biz for business jets.
On planes where the airlines choose to upgrade the radio equipment, users should get about four times the speed with the new technology, according to Aircell. The main upgrade option, using a faster cellular technology, is scheduled to become available in the first half of 2012, the company said.
Aircell's plan for a new generation of technology is the latest signal that in-flight Wi-Fi is here to stay. Aircell's services began to appear in 2008 after an earlier, satellite-based attempt to put passengers online, Connexion by Boeing, had failed to capture a strong following. But Wi-Fi is now available on many domestic flights in the U.S. Aircell, the biggest provider of these services, charges between US$4.95 and $12.95 depending on the length of the flight and the passenger's device. Facebook, airlines and other companies have sometimes offered special deals that make the service free.
Business travelers are already demanding in-flight Wi-Fi, and more consumers will, especially the growing number of passengers with smartphones, said analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis.
"Connectivity is something that consumers are beginning to take for granted in other aspects of their lives," Greengart said.
And, on flights just as in hotels and coffee shops, people are willing to pay for it, Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall said.
Aircell will upgrade its cellular infrastructure from Revision A to Revision B of EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized), the 3G data technology for CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) networks. In Aircell's implementation, Revision B can increase EVDO's downstream speed from about 3.1M bps (bits per second) to 9.8M bps, according to Anand Chari, vice president of engineering. For airlines that want even more capacity, Aircell will also install satellite equipment on planes to link up with Ka-band satellites. The Ka-band system will be available in the continental U.S. in 2013 and around the world in 2015, according to Aircell.
Satellite uplinks will also allow Aircell to offer services outside the continental U.S., on carriers based both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Airlines that want to provide Internet access on international flights before the Ka-band satellites become available will be able to use an existing network on the so-called Ku band, Chari said. The Ka band will be more economical, he said.
Individual passengers should see better performance on their phones and laptops once the faster links are installed. Because not everyone is typically using the shared link at a given time, users are likely to get 5M bps or more, Chari said. However, there will still be limits to what they can do online on a typical flight, he added. For one thing, Aircell uses traffic engineering to make sure everyone sharing the network gets the best possible experience.
"If you want to sit on a plane and watch a Netflix movie, it's not going to work very well for you, because we did not build the network where everybody can watch a Netflix movie," Chari said.
Aircell said in 2008 that it hoped to deploy LTE beginning in 2011 and achieve a 300M bps link from the ground to the air. However, the company doesn't yet have enough radio spectrum to use LTE, though it is working on acquiring more, Chari said. EV-DO Revision B will be a hardware and software upgrade to Aircell's existing EV-DO network, which is supplied by Chinese telecommunications vendor ZTE.
EV-DO Revision B has been available for several years but was upstaged by LTE (Long-Term Evolution), which can offer even higher speeds. Only three mobile operators in the world have deployed Revision B, according to Qualcomm, the pioneer of EV-DO. However, Aircell is better able to take advantage of the technology, Chari said. For one thing, Revision B requires a clean signal, which is harder to achieve when it has to go through walls and other obstacles, he said.
"We have a very unique situation: There is nothing between the aircraft and our towers," Chari said.
Aircell equips airliners and business jets with in-cabin Wi-Fi systems and operates a network of special cellular base stations around the U.S. to send data from the Internet to the planes and back. Its Gogo service is offered by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America and other commercial carriers, and the company also sells Gogo Biz for business jets.
On planes where the airlines choose to upgrade the radio equipment, users should get about four times the speed with the new technology, according to Aircell. The main upgrade option, using a faster cellular technology, is scheduled to become available in the first half of 2012, the company said.
Aircell's plan for a new generation of technology is the latest signal that in-flight Wi-Fi is here to stay. Aircell's services began to appear in 2008 after an earlier, satellite-based attempt to put passengers online, Connexion by Boeing, had failed to capture a strong following. But Wi-Fi is now available on many domestic flights in the U.S. Aircell, the biggest provider of these services, charges between US$4.95 and $12.95 depending on the length of the flight and the passenger's device. Facebook, airlines and other companies have sometimes offered special deals that make the service free.
Business travelers are already demanding in-flight Wi-Fi, and more consumers will, especially the growing number of passengers with smartphones, said analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis.
"Connectivity is something that consumers are beginning to take for granted in other aspects of their lives," Greengart said.
And, on flights just as in hotels and coffee shops, people are willing to pay for it, Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall said.
Aircell will upgrade its cellular infrastructure from Revision A to Revision B of EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized), the 3G data technology for CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) networks. In Aircell's implementation, Revision B can increase EVDO's downstream speed from about 3.1M bps (bits per second) to 9.8M bps, according to Anand Chari, vice president of engineering. For airlines that want even more capacity, Aircell will also install satellite equipment on planes to link up with Ka-band satellites. The Ka-band system will be available in the continental U.S. in 2013 and around the world in 2015, according to Aircell.
Satellite uplinks will also allow Aircell to offer services outside the continental U.S., on carriers based both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Airlines that want to provide Internet access on international flights before the Ka-band satellites become available will be able to use an existing network on the so-called Ku band, Chari said. The Ka band will be more economical, he said.
Individual passengers should see better performance on their phones and laptops once the faster links are installed. Because not everyone is typically using the shared link at a given time, users are likely to get 5M bps or more, Chari said. However, there will still be limits to what they can do online on a typical flight, he added. For one thing, Aircell uses traffic engineering to make sure everyone sharing the network gets the best possible experience.
"If you want to sit on a plane and watch a Netflix movie, it's not going to work very well for you, because we did not build the network where everybody can watch a Netflix movie," Chari said.
Aircell said in 2008 that it hoped to deploy LTE beginning in 2011 and achieve a 300M bps link from the ground to the air. However, the company doesn't yet have enough radio spectrum to use LTE, though it is working on acquiring more, Chari said. EV-DO Revision B will be a hardware and software upgrade to Aircell's existing EV-DO network, which is supplied by Chinese telecommunications vendor ZTE.
EV-DO Revision B has been available for several years but was upstaged by LTE (Long-Term Evolution), which can offer even higher speeds. Only three mobile operators in the world have deployed Revision B, according to Qualcomm, the pioneer of EV-DO. However, Aircell is better able to take advantage of the technology, Chari said. For one thing, Revision B requires a clean signal, which is harder to achieve when it has to go through walls and other obstacles, he said.
"We have a very unique situation: There is nothing between the aircraft and our towers," Chari said.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The final version of Internet Explorer 9 is launching on March 14. Microsoft announced the launch date on its Windows Team Blog. IE9 will be available for download at 9 p.m. Pacific, so for east coasters the launch date is technically March 15 at midnight.
Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's biggest Web browser redesign yet. The redesign takes on a minimalist look, which gives the user more browsing room by squashing menu space. It accomplishes this by using a single bar for URLs and searches - Google Chrome-style - and by placing browser tabs in a single strip alongside the omnibar.
IE9 also fuses with Windows, allowing you to pin Website shortcuts to the Windows taskbar and create lists of links from within those pinned sites. There's also a download manager. As for performance, IE9 supports hardware acceleration for HTML5 video.
Since launching the IE9 beta in September, Microsoft has added even more features based on user feedback, including ActiveX filtering and tracking protection.
The vast majority of IE9's features were set in stone with last month's Release Candidate, but Microsoft says it still has "a few surprises left." The company is planning a party for the release of IE9 at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's biggest Web browser redesign yet. The redesign takes on a minimalist look, which gives the user more browsing room by squashing menu space. It accomplishes this by using a single bar for URLs and searches - Google Chrome-style - and by placing browser tabs in a single strip alongside the omnibar.
IE9 also fuses with Windows, allowing you to pin Website shortcuts to the Windows taskbar and create lists of links from within those pinned sites. There's also a download manager. As for performance, IE9 supports hardware acceleration for HTML5 video.
Since launching the IE9 beta in September, Microsoft has added even more features based on user feedback, including ActiveX filtering and tracking protection.
The vast majority of IE9's features were set in stone with last month's Release Candidate, but Microsoft says it still has "a few surprises left." The company is planning a party for the release of IE9 at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
With the launch of Apple's new iPad 2 imminent, companies like Samsung are rethinking about their tablet strategy, while deep discounts are expected for Motorola's Xoom tablet. But HTC, the company responsible for the Evo 4G and Droid Incredible smartphones, has already lined up a million orders for its new Flyer tablet from retailers and carriers.
That number may not be the best comparison point. Samsung moved 2 million of its tablets to retailers, while Apple sold that many iPads in just 60 days. But the HTC Flyer has some interesting features to recommend it, perhaps even over the iPad 2.
The Stylus is the draw..
Windows-based tablets of old, like Palm Pilots, needed a pen-shaped stylus to interact with their pressure-sensitive touchscreens. You could use your fingers, but it wasn't as precise and you needed to apply more pressure. Capacitive touchscreens like the iPad's, meanwhile, are sensitive to body heat, making them easy to use with your fingers but hard to draw or write on.
The HTC Flyer features the best of both worlds: It has a capacitive, multitouch screen like the iPad 2's, but it also comes with a working stylus accessory for drawing and taking notes. An app syncs your drawings with the online Evernote service, and the built-in e-reader app lets you highlight and annotate books. And despite the Flyer's 7-inch screen size - making it about the same size as a Kindle, or half the size of the iPad 2 - it recognizes when you've got your hand on the screen while drawing.
Content and apps..
Since it's powered by Google's "organic," open-source Android operating system and meets Google's hardware requirements, the HTC Flyer will let you buy apps from the Android Market, which has over 150,000 at last count. It will have its own "HTC Watch" movie store, for access to video content; and apps for Pandora Internet radio, Amazon's MP3 store, and Jamendo's free Creative Commons music are all available in the market.
The downside, of course, is that it doesn't have access to iTunes or the iTunes App Store. There are already 65,000 apps designed just for the iPad, whereas very few Android apps have been designed with tablets in mind. Now that Android has seen its 3.0 "Honeycomb" release, though, which was made for tablets, more tablet apps are on the way and while the HTC Flyer isn't shipping with Honeycomb, HTC has tweeted that an upgrade to Honeycomb will be available soon.
Live video gaming..
Perhaps the Flyer's most interesting feature, besides its stylus interface, is its integration with the OnLive gaming service. OnLive lets you stream games to your PC or television using a controller and a high-speed Internet connection, and it will be built into the Flyer at launch. No word yet on how well it performs, though.
As another possible downside, the pen input feature didn't seem quite mature when the Flyer was introduced last month, plus there's no silo to store the pen in. Worse, it requires its own batteries. The feature of having one, though, may be compelling on its own if HTC works the bugs out; and my personal experience with HTC products has been that they're extremely well-made.
Coming soon..
No release date for the HTC Flyer has been given. But, Sprint is rumored to be debuting an Evo-branded tablet at the CTIA Wireless conference this month.
That number may not be the best comparison point. Samsung moved 2 million of its tablets to retailers, while Apple sold that many iPads in just 60 days. But the HTC Flyer has some interesting features to recommend it, perhaps even over the iPad 2.
The Stylus is the draw..
Windows-based tablets of old, like Palm Pilots, needed a pen-shaped stylus to interact with their pressure-sensitive touchscreens. You could use your fingers, but it wasn't as precise and you needed to apply more pressure. Capacitive touchscreens like the iPad's, meanwhile, are sensitive to body heat, making them easy to use with your fingers but hard to draw or write on.
The HTC Flyer features the best of both worlds: It has a capacitive, multitouch screen like the iPad 2's, but it also comes with a working stylus accessory for drawing and taking notes. An app syncs your drawings with the online Evernote service, and the built-in e-reader app lets you highlight and annotate books. And despite the Flyer's 7-inch screen size - making it about the same size as a Kindle, or half the size of the iPad 2 - it recognizes when you've got your hand on the screen while drawing.
Content and apps..
Since it's powered by Google's "organic," open-source Android operating system and meets Google's hardware requirements, the HTC Flyer will let you buy apps from the Android Market, which has over 150,000 at last count. It will have its own "HTC Watch" movie store, for access to video content; and apps for Pandora Internet radio, Amazon's MP3 store, and Jamendo's free Creative Commons music are all available in the market.
The downside, of course, is that it doesn't have access to iTunes or the iTunes App Store. There are already 65,000 apps designed just for the iPad, whereas very few Android apps have been designed with tablets in mind. Now that Android has seen its 3.0 "Honeycomb" release, though, which was made for tablets, more tablet apps are on the way and while the HTC Flyer isn't shipping with Honeycomb, HTC has tweeted that an upgrade to Honeycomb will be available soon.
Live video gaming..
Perhaps the Flyer's most interesting feature, besides its stylus interface, is its integration with the OnLive gaming service. OnLive lets you stream games to your PC or television using a controller and a high-speed Internet connection, and it will be built into the Flyer at launch. No word yet on how well it performs, though.
As another possible downside, the pen input feature didn't seem quite mature when the Flyer was introduced last month, plus there's no silo to store the pen in. Worse, it requires its own batteries. The feature of having one, though, may be compelling on its own if HTC works the bugs out; and my personal experience with HTC products has been that they're extremely well-made.
Coming soon..
No release date for the HTC Flyer has been given. But, Sprint is rumored to be debuting an Evo-branded tablet at the CTIA Wireless conference this month.
Intel has officially launched the second generation of its Core vPro processor family, which packs the technology and performance improvements of its Sandy Bridge architecture with security and identity protection technologies primarily aimed at businesses, but which may benefit consumers too. Among the new vPro’s capabilities is a new “poison pill” function that can disable a processor via a SMS message sent over a 3G cellular network in the event a machine is stolen.
“Businesses face numerous challenges today, but also opportunities in the wealth of new technologies that are helping workers be more productive, businesses to be more creative, and IT to be more innovative,” said Intel architecture group VP and general manager Rick Echevarria. “The new Core vPro processor family has the capacity to offload tasks or even better share them to get the most from companion devices. With such performance, the PC could be a service provider, coordinating encryption, virus scanning, near transparent syncs and remote control.”
Like the Sandy Bridge Intel Core processors that Intel has already shipped for consumer PCs, the new Intel Core vPro line features enhanced Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, along with new Intel Advanced Vector Extensions that the company says can speed business applications by as much as 60 percent and multitasking by up to 100 percent, at least comparing a new Intel Core VPro Core i5 to its previous Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Intel says encryption can also be handled up to 300 percent faster.
Intel has also introduced its Anti-Theft Technology 3.0, which will work not only on the new Intel Core vPro processors but also the consumer-oriented second-generation Intel Core systems. The new version of the anti-theft technology enables “authorized IT or service personnel” to send a special SMS message via 3G cellular networks that can shut down a machine in the event it’s lost or stolen, disabling the system and preventing access to encrypted data. With the new version, the system can now be unlocked in the event the machine is recovered. Systems can also be set up to require an encryption login when woken up from a standby state.
The Core vPro and second-generation Intel Core chips also support Intel’s new Identity Protection Technology by generating a new six-digit numerical password every 30 seconds when connected to supporting online banking, commerce, and other secure sites: even if someone phishes the connection or executes a man-in-the-middle attack, the connection will become re-encrypted after 30 seconds. Symantec and Vasco are already rolling out support for the technology.
Intel says OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu, and HP are already gearing up a spate of notebooks, convertible tablets, and desktop systems built around the Intel vPro line. And we bet the company is hoping it won’t have to do a recall on these.
“Businesses face numerous challenges today, but also opportunities in the wealth of new technologies that are helping workers be more productive, businesses to be more creative, and IT to be more innovative,” said Intel architecture group VP and general manager Rick Echevarria. “The new Core vPro processor family has the capacity to offload tasks or even better share them to get the most from companion devices. With such performance, the PC could be a service provider, coordinating encryption, virus scanning, near transparent syncs and remote control.”
Like the Sandy Bridge Intel Core processors that Intel has already shipped for consumer PCs, the new Intel Core vPro line features enhanced Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, along with new Intel Advanced Vector Extensions that the company says can speed business applications by as much as 60 percent and multitasking by up to 100 percent, at least comparing a new Intel Core VPro Core i5 to its previous Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Intel says encryption can also be handled up to 300 percent faster.
Intel has also introduced its Anti-Theft Technology 3.0, which will work not only on the new Intel Core vPro processors but also the consumer-oriented second-generation Intel Core systems. The new version of the anti-theft technology enables “authorized IT or service personnel” to send a special SMS message via 3G cellular networks that can shut down a machine in the event it’s lost or stolen, disabling the system and preventing access to encrypted data. With the new version, the system can now be unlocked in the event the machine is recovered. Systems can also be set up to require an encryption login when woken up from a standby state.
The Core vPro and second-generation Intel Core chips also support Intel’s new Identity Protection Technology by generating a new six-digit numerical password every 30 seconds when connected to supporting online banking, commerce, and other secure sites: even if someone phishes the connection or executes a man-in-the-middle attack, the connection will become re-encrypted after 30 seconds. Symantec and Vasco are already rolling out support for the technology.
Intel says OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu, and HP are already gearing up a spate of notebooks, convertible tablets, and desktop systems built around the Intel vPro line. And we bet the company is hoping it won’t have to do a recall on these.
One would expect a company of Microsoft's caliber to make a better showing in the mobile OS market, considering its resources and experience. Nevertheless, Microsoft held 8 percent OS market share as of January, down 1.7 percent from October 2010. In comparison, Android gained 7.7 percent, while iOS gained only 0.1 percent, losing its second-place lead in October. RIM and HP/Palm lost for the second report in a row; RIM fell 3.5 percent in October and 5.4 percent in January, while HP/Palm's WebOS fell 1 percent in October and 0.7 in January.
Microsoft's mobile market record is poor, but not because the platform is bad; Microsoft is legendary in the IT world and has more OS experience than any other company does. Nevertheless, it is still smarting from the abject failure of the KIN cell phones, the Windows Mobile 6.5 disaster and the now-failing Windows Phone 7 OS.
Hoping to come back and expand its reach, Microsoft and Nokia announced their partnership, an impossible road for Microsoft since Nokia has almost zero U.S. market share and does even appear on ComScore reports. Even if Microsoft were to dominate Nokia sales, it could only hope to gain in a few areas where Symbian dominates.
No matter how one looks at it, the story is the same: Microsoft is losing the mobile battle. Windows Phone 7 is failing to attract the sales Microsoft originally predicted; in fact Microsoft lied about these predictions to make them sound better. While it's a decent system, it is nowhere near good enough to challenge Android.
Microsoft has one of the most innovative research centers in the world. Microsoft developed a good smartphone OS with Windows Mobile 2003. With so much time and experience on its side, it's hard to justify Microsoft's mistakes, lack of urgency and failed recognition by management of just how important the mobile market place was then.
Microsoft is facing the growing trend of users shifting from desktops to smartphones and tablets for Internet access, but not making the switch to Microsoft devices. The year has yet to play out and things may change, but it is difficult to imagine Microsoft gaining enough to overcome consistent Android gains.
Microsoft's mobile market record is poor, but not because the platform is bad; Microsoft is legendary in the IT world and has more OS experience than any other company does. Nevertheless, it is still smarting from the abject failure of the KIN cell phones, the Windows Mobile 6.5 disaster and the now-failing Windows Phone 7 OS.
Hoping to come back and expand its reach, Microsoft and Nokia announced their partnership, an impossible road for Microsoft since Nokia has almost zero U.S. market share and does even appear on ComScore reports. Even if Microsoft were to dominate Nokia sales, it could only hope to gain in a few areas where Symbian dominates.
No matter how one looks at it, the story is the same: Microsoft is losing the mobile battle. Windows Phone 7 is failing to attract the sales Microsoft originally predicted; in fact Microsoft lied about these predictions to make them sound better. While it's a decent system, it is nowhere near good enough to challenge Android.
Microsoft has one of the most innovative research centers in the world. Microsoft developed a good smartphone OS with Windows Mobile 2003. With so much time and experience on its side, it's hard to justify Microsoft's mistakes, lack of urgency and failed recognition by management of just how important the mobile market place was then.
Microsoft is facing the growing trend of users shifting from desktops to smartphones and tablets for Internet access, but not making the switch to Microsoft devices. The year has yet to play out and things may change, but it is difficult to imagine Microsoft gaining enough to overcome consistent Android gains.
The No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier is talking with Deutsche Telekom over a merger with its U.S. T-Mobile unit, the nation's No. 4 mobile phone carrier, according to published reports.
Sprint Nextel reportedly wants a majority stake, but Deutsche Telekom hasn't agreed. Sprint-controlled Clearwire, also could be part of a deal.
Sprint Nextel reportedly wants a majority stake, but Deutsche Telekom hasn't agreed. Sprint-controlled Clearwire, also could be part of a deal.
Blackberry-maker Research In Motion will release its long-awaited PlayBook tablet computer with Britain's 7digital music store.
The music store of 7digital, half-owned by HMV, which has some 13 million tracks, will be pre-installed on the tablet at its launch in the United States and Canada, with further international roll out in 2011.
The PlayBook, set for launch in March, was first announced in September last year, and will now join a booming market dominated by Apple's iPad and compete for attention with tablets from the likes of Samsung, Motorola Mobility and Hewlett-Packard.
The music store of 7digital, half-owned by HMV, which has some 13 million tracks, will be pre-installed on the tablet at its launch in the United States and Canada, with further international roll out in 2011.
The PlayBook, set for launch in March, was first announced in September last year, and will now join a booming market dominated by Apple's iPad and compete for attention with tablets from the likes of Samsung, Motorola Mobility and Hewlett-Packard.
Google has released a finished version of its speedy new Chrome Web browsing software for desktop or laptop computers.The latest version of Chrome promised quick and responsive handling of software running in the Web browser.
"We realize that speed isn't just about pure brawn in the browser," Google engineer Tim Steele wrote in a blog post announcing the latest Chrome release. "It's also about saving time with simple interfaces."
Google improved settings for bookmarks, passwords, searches and home pages as well as enhanced protection from websites booby-trapped by hackers with malicious code.
The latest Chrome browser software is available free online at www.google.com/chrome. Earlier versions of the Web browser already being used in computers will be automatically updated.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser in the United States followed by Firefox, Chrome and Apple's Safari.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad X220 laptop, which is one of the early ultraportable laptops running on new processors based on Intel's Sandy Bridge microarchitecture.The X220 comes with a 12.5-inch display and will be powered by Intel's Core i3, i5 or i7 processors running at clock speeds between 2.1GHz and 2.7GHz, Lenovo said in a statement. The laptop weighs less than 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms) with a four-cell battery.
The laptop can provide up to 15 hours of battery life with a nine-cell battery, according to Lenovo. The laptop's run time can stretch up to 24 hours with an external battery.
The company also announced a convertible variant of the X220 - the X220 Tablet - which will include a swivel touchscreen. The screen will accept multitouch input for users to manipulate photos, control applications or scroll down documents. The screen is based on Gorilla Glass technology for protection from scratches and cracks.
The X220 Tablet weighs 3.88 pounds with a four-cell battery.
The X220 and the X220 Tablet will both have hard-drive storage of up to 320GB or solid-state drive storage of up to 160GB. They will have up to 8GB of memory and select models will include USB 3.0 ports.
They also include a DisplayPort and VGA ports to attach monitors. The specification sheets for them do not list the availability of HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) ports, which are commonly used to connect laptops to high-definition TV sets.
The X220 laptop will become available in April starting at US$899. Pricing for the X220 Tablet was not immediately available.
PC makers have just started announcing ultraportable laptops with Sandy Bridge chips. Dell said it would announce a lightweight laptop with Sandy Bridge microprocessors in the next few weeks.
Shortly after the iPad 2 was unveiled, it was reported that Samsung would be overhauling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 to more ably compete with Apple’s new tablet.
The company’s executive VP of mobile Lee Don-Joo had said “We will have to improve that parts that are inadequate. Apple made it very thin,” and “The 10-inch was to be priced higher than the 7-inch, but we will have to think the over.”
But Samsung is now denying the whole thing. Now, the 10-inch Galaxy Tab will launch “as scheduled.” Were a remodel in order, the device would obviously be delayed, and Don-Joo says “We will continue to make every effort to provide the most powerful, well-designed and productive model device to customers.”
While the tablet itself might not be getting any work done, a change in price can’t be ruled out. The iPad 2’s low pricing is going to make it fairly difficult for competitors, who will want to undercut Apple and sway on-the-fence buyers. That means a couple of things: One, it’s obviously good for consumers, who will be able to choose from a wider selection of more affordable tablets. Two, it means Samsung might be hard-pressed to actually profit off its Galaxy Tab lineup.
On a comforting note, it appears the wheels are in motion over at Samsung. The 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab reportedly in the works.
The company’s executive VP of mobile Lee Don-Joo had said “We will have to improve that parts that are inadequate. Apple made it very thin,” and “The 10-inch was to be priced higher than the 7-inch, but we will have to think the over.”
But Samsung is now denying the whole thing. Now, the 10-inch Galaxy Tab will launch “as scheduled.” Were a remodel in order, the device would obviously be delayed, and Don-Joo says “We will continue to make every effort to provide the most powerful, well-designed and productive model device to customers.”
While the tablet itself might not be getting any work done, a change in price can’t be ruled out. The iPad 2’s low pricing is going to make it fairly difficult for competitors, who will want to undercut Apple and sway on-the-fence buyers. That means a couple of things: One, it’s obviously good for consumers, who will be able to choose from a wider selection of more affordable tablets. Two, it means Samsung might be hard-pressed to actually profit off its Galaxy Tab lineup.
On a comforting note, it appears the wheels are in motion over at Samsung. The 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab reportedly in the works.
According to a ComScore survey, Google's Android software platform has captured the No. 1 rank among smart-phone platforms in the U.S. for the first time.
For the 3-month period ending in Jan., Android had a 31.2% market share, up from 23.5% the prior quarter. Apple's iPhone share was flat at 24.7%, while Research In Motion's BlackBerry, the longtime leader, skidded to 30.4% from 35.8%. Microsoft garnered an 8% share.
Ownership of smart phones climbed 8% from the prior quarter to 65.8 mil, ComScore said.
For the 3-month period ending in Jan., Android had a 31.2% market share, up from 23.5% the prior quarter. Apple's iPhone share was flat at 24.7%, while Research In Motion's BlackBerry, the longtime leader, skidded to 30.4% from 35.8%. Microsoft garnered an 8% share.
Ownership of smart phones climbed 8% from the prior quarter to 65.8 mil, ComScore said.
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Apple iPad 2, announced March 2, is hitting shelves March 11 with the updated iOS 4.3, a year after the April 2010 original iPad was released. Both the iPad 2 hardware and software updates promise users a better overall user experience.
New iPad 2 Features, Old iPad Pricing
The iPad 2 offers HDMI mirroring, FaceTime Chat, advanced browsing, and iTunes Home Sharing, one front facing and one rear facing camera-finally-but still no flash. iPad 2 also has an in-the-box "extra," a USB Dock Connector; the original iPad did not offer these features. iPad 2 comes with the improved Apple A5 processor, and its battery will still last about 10 hours. However, the iPad 2 uses the same 9.7-inch screen and 1024-pixel by 768-pixel resolution as the original, so the iPhone's retina display technology is not included.
The iPad 2 sells at original iPad prices, from $499 to $699 for Wi-Fi, but the Wi-Fi + 3G versions cost $130 more per unit, and storage has not changed. The Wi-Fi + 3G CDMA version will sell in the U.S. at Verizon only; otherwise, all versions will be available at AT&T and Verizon. Here is a sneak peak at the competitors.
Motorola ZOOM Tablet PC:
The Motorola XOOM runs the newest Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0, features a 10.1-inch screen, 1200-pixel by 800-pixel resolution, true multitasking, and a 16:9 widescreen HD display. In comparison, the iPad 2 only allows some multitasking in the background and its resolution equates to a ratio of 4:3. The XOOM is one of the only tablets of this size that has a battery lasting as long as the iPad 2 at 10 hours.
Xoom also offers two cameras, and LED flash; a Micro USB port and an HDMI out connector are standard, while a Tegra 2 Dual Core CPU powers the device. The Motorola XOOM debuted at the 2011 CES, where it took home the "Best of Show" award for its intriguing design and features, making it a great iPad 2 competitor. The XOOM is available from Verizon for $800 or $600 with a two-year contract; not much different from the iPad 2 models offering half the features.
T-Mobile LG G-Slate:
This LG G-Slate, announced at the 2011 CES, is another Android Honeycomb 3.0 tablet, this time from T-Mobile. Even though the G-Slate only offers an 8.9-inch touchscreen display, it makes up for it by offering a 3D experience. The G-Slate features not two, but three cameras; two cameras are rear facing, one for use with video, and the other for stills and LED flash for both, and one front facing camera for chat. The tablet also allows HDMI out for 1080p compatible video natively; something the iPad 2 is still has not gotten right just yet. A Dual core Tegra 2 processor powers the tablet, while it is available in either a 32 GB or 64 GB version, all of which include Google Mobile apps such as Google Maps, Talk, and Video. It will be available from T-Mobile, but prices are not yet public.
ASUS Eee Slate EP121 Tablet PC:
The ASUS Eee Slate Tablet PC offers more features than iPad 2 does. It runs the desktop Microsoft Windows 7 version, powered by an Intel Core i5 CPU and Intel-based HD graphics system. The Eee Slate has a huge 12.1-inch, 1280-pixel by 800-pixel resolution display, a full 2.3-inches larger than the iPad 2. Eee Slate has dual card reader compatible with SD and MMC, two built-in USB ports, a mini HDMI out port, a Bluetooth Keyboard, and a Pen Stylus. While a tad expensive, the extra features are worth the $999.
Worth watching for Apple
Even though iPad 2 is may become as popular as the original, Apple should worry about competitors, since iPad 2 is still missing features included on other tablet PC models that debuted at the 2011 CES in Jan. 2011. With Android in second place ahead of Apple in platform market share, iOS 4.3 also needs more than "faster browsing," if it hopes to compete. The standard features of these tablets are nowhere to be seen on an iPad 2, and prices are comparable.
New iPad 2 Features, Old iPad Pricing
The iPad 2 offers HDMI mirroring, FaceTime Chat, advanced browsing, and iTunes Home Sharing, one front facing and one rear facing camera-finally-but still no flash. iPad 2 also has an in-the-box "extra," a USB Dock Connector; the original iPad did not offer these features. iPad 2 comes with the improved Apple A5 processor, and its battery will still last about 10 hours. However, the iPad 2 uses the same 9.7-inch screen and 1024-pixel by 768-pixel resolution as the original, so the iPhone's retina display technology is not included.
The iPad 2 sells at original iPad prices, from $499 to $699 for Wi-Fi, but the Wi-Fi + 3G versions cost $130 more per unit, and storage has not changed. The Wi-Fi + 3G CDMA version will sell in the U.S. at Verizon only; otherwise, all versions will be available at AT&T and Verizon. Here is a sneak peak at the competitors.
Motorola ZOOM Tablet PC:
The Motorola XOOM runs the newest Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0, features a 10.1-inch screen, 1200-pixel by 800-pixel resolution, true multitasking, and a 16:9 widescreen HD display. In comparison, the iPad 2 only allows some multitasking in the background and its resolution equates to a ratio of 4:3. The XOOM is one of the only tablets of this size that has a battery lasting as long as the iPad 2 at 10 hours.
Xoom also offers two cameras, and LED flash; a Micro USB port and an HDMI out connector are standard, while a Tegra 2 Dual Core CPU powers the device. The Motorola XOOM debuted at the 2011 CES, where it took home the "Best of Show" award for its intriguing design and features, making it a great iPad 2 competitor. The XOOM is available from Verizon for $800 or $600 with a two-year contract; not much different from the iPad 2 models offering half the features.
T-Mobile LG G-Slate:
This LG G-Slate, announced at the 2011 CES, is another Android Honeycomb 3.0 tablet, this time from T-Mobile. Even though the G-Slate only offers an 8.9-inch touchscreen display, it makes up for it by offering a 3D experience. The G-Slate features not two, but three cameras; two cameras are rear facing, one for use with video, and the other for stills and LED flash for both, and one front facing camera for chat. The tablet also allows HDMI out for 1080p compatible video natively; something the iPad 2 is still has not gotten right just yet. A Dual core Tegra 2 processor powers the tablet, while it is available in either a 32 GB or 64 GB version, all of which include Google Mobile apps such as Google Maps, Talk, and Video. It will be available from T-Mobile, but prices are not yet public.
ASUS Eee Slate EP121 Tablet PC:
The ASUS Eee Slate Tablet PC offers more features than iPad 2 does. It runs the desktop Microsoft Windows 7 version, powered by an Intel Core i5 CPU and Intel-based HD graphics system. The Eee Slate has a huge 12.1-inch, 1280-pixel by 800-pixel resolution display, a full 2.3-inches larger than the iPad 2. Eee Slate has dual card reader compatible with SD and MMC, two built-in USB ports, a mini HDMI out port, a Bluetooth Keyboard, and a Pen Stylus. While a tad expensive, the extra features are worth the $999.
Worth watching for Apple
Even though iPad 2 is may become as popular as the original, Apple should worry about competitors, since iPad 2 is still missing features included on other tablet PC models that debuted at the 2011 CES in Jan. 2011. With Android in second place ahead of Apple in platform market share, iOS 4.3 also needs more than "faster browsing," if it hopes to compete. The standard features of these tablets are nowhere to be seen on an iPad 2, and prices are comparable.
Dependence on televisions, cell-phones and laptops may be costing Americans in lack of sleep.
The national penchant for watching television every evening before going to sleep, playing video games late into the night or checking emails and text messages before turning off the lights could be interfering with the nation's sleep habits.
"Unfortunately, cell phones and computers, which make our lives more productive and enjoyable, may be abused to the point that they contribute to getting less sleep at night leaving millions of Americans functioning poorly the next day," said Russell Rosenberg, the vice chairman of the Washington DC-based National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
Nearly 95 percent of people questioned in an NSF study said they used some type of electronics in the hour before going to bed, and about two-thirds admitted they do not get enough sleep during the week.
Charles Czeisler, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said exposure to artificial light before going to bed can increase alertness and suppress the release of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone.
"Technology has invaded the bedroom," Czeisler explained in an interview. "Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported they routinely get less sleep than they need."
Baby boomers, or people aged 46-64 years old, were the biggest offenders of watching television every night before going to sleep, while more than a third of 13-18 year-olds and 28 percent of young adults 19-29 year olds played video games before bedtime.
Sixty one percent also said they used their computer or laptop at least a few nights each week.
And a propensity to stay in touch means that even people who have managed to fall asleep, are being woken up by cell-phones, texts and emails during the night.
"One in 10 kids report they are being awoken by texts after they have gone to bed. People don't turn off their Blackberries," said Czeisler, adding that much of this is happening at the expense of sleep.
Generation Z'ers, 13-18 year olds, were the most sleep-deprived group, with 22 percent describing themselves as "sleepy," compared to only nine percent of baby boomers.
Sleep experts recommend that teenagers get 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep a night but adolescents in the study were only averaging 7 hours and 26 minutes on weeknights.
"I am the most concerned about how little sleep 13-18 years are getting," said Czeisler. "Kids today are getting an hour and a half to two hours less sleep per night than they did a century ago. That means that they are losing about 50 hours of sleep per month," said Czeisler.
Americans' lack of sleep is negatively impacting their work, mood, family, driving habits, sex lives and health, according to the NSF.
All age groups are coping by consuming caffeinated drinks - about three 12-ounce (354 ml) beverages per person - per day, and taking naps, sometimes more than one during the day.
"Parents should get these technologies out of the bedrooms of kids if they want them to do well," said Czeisler.
The national penchant for watching television every evening before going to sleep, playing video games late into the night or checking emails and text messages before turning off the lights could be interfering with the nation's sleep habits.
"Unfortunately, cell phones and computers, which make our lives more productive and enjoyable, may be abused to the point that they contribute to getting less sleep at night leaving millions of Americans functioning poorly the next day," said Russell Rosenberg, the vice chairman of the Washington DC-based National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
Nearly 95 percent of people questioned in an NSF study said they used some type of electronics in the hour before going to bed, and about two-thirds admitted they do not get enough sleep during the week.
Charles Czeisler, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said exposure to artificial light before going to bed can increase alertness and suppress the release of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone.
"Technology has invaded the bedroom," Czeisler explained in an interview. "Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported they routinely get less sleep than they need."
Baby boomers, or people aged 46-64 years old, were the biggest offenders of watching television every night before going to sleep, while more than a third of 13-18 year-olds and 28 percent of young adults 19-29 year olds played video games before bedtime.
Sixty one percent also said they used their computer or laptop at least a few nights each week.
And a propensity to stay in touch means that even people who have managed to fall asleep, are being woken up by cell-phones, texts and emails during the night.
"One in 10 kids report they are being awoken by texts after they have gone to bed. People don't turn off their Blackberries," said Czeisler, adding that much of this is happening at the expense of sleep.
Generation Z'ers, 13-18 year olds, were the most sleep-deprived group, with 22 percent describing themselves as "sleepy," compared to only nine percent of baby boomers.
Sleep experts recommend that teenagers get 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep a night but adolescents in the study were only averaging 7 hours and 26 minutes on weeknights.
"I am the most concerned about how little sleep 13-18 years are getting," said Czeisler. "Kids today are getting an hour and a half to two hours less sleep per night than they did a century ago. That means that they are losing about 50 hours of sleep per month," said Czeisler.
Americans' lack of sleep is negatively impacting their work, mood, family, driving habits, sex lives and health, according to the NSF.
All age groups are coping by consuming caffeinated drinks - about three 12-ounce (354 ml) beverages per person - per day, and taking naps, sometimes more than one during the day.
"Parents should get these technologies out of the bedrooms of kids if they want them to do well," said Czeisler.
The French finance ministry has come under sustained cyber attack since December from Internet hackers targetting the treasury and G20 documents, said Paris-Match magazine.
"Between December and this weekend, the ministry of finance and the economy was the victim of an unprecedented cyber attack," the publication reported.
The management of the French Treasury department was the prime target of the attacks.
The origin of the attacks had not yet been established.
"We noted that a certain amount of information was redirected to Chinese sites. But that does not say very much," a senior official told Paris-Match.
Patrick Pailloux, directeur general of the French National Agency for Information Technology Security, told the magazine the hackers were after "documents related to the French presidency of the G20 and to international economic affairs."
"The actors were determined professionals and organised. It is the first attack of this size and scale against the French state," he added.
More than 150 ministry computers had been hacked and numerous documents pirated. Individuals were not targetted in the attack.
Bercy has filed an official complaint with the French courts and the French secret service has taken up the case.
"Between December and this weekend, the ministry of finance and the economy was the victim of an unprecedented cyber attack," the publication reported.
The management of the French Treasury department was the prime target of the attacks.
The origin of the attacks had not yet been established.
"We noted that a certain amount of information was redirected to Chinese sites. But that does not say very much," a senior official told Paris-Match.
Patrick Pailloux, directeur general of the French National Agency for Information Technology Security, told the magazine the hackers were after "documents related to the French presidency of the G20 and to international economic affairs."
"The actors were determined professionals and organised. It is the first attack of this size and scale against the French state," he added.
More than 150 ministry computers had been hacked and numerous documents pirated. Individuals were not targetted in the attack.
Bercy has filed an official complaint with the French courts and the French secret service has taken up the case.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Tapping into Android apps on the Motorola Xoom tablet literally introduces a new dimension to Google’s mobile operating experience.
While the distinction between apps on tablets and smartphones on Android devices is less pronounced than what exists between the iPad and iPhone as well as the iPod touch, there are a handful of great Android apps for the Motorola Xoom that one should consider downloading right out of the box. Here are some of them to consider…
Great games on the Xoom..
Shortly before the Xoom’s February 24 release date, Zynga’s immensely popular game Words With Friends debuted on Android’s devices. The Scrabble-like game, which is free, is much better suited to the tablet form factor than on any smartphone. Battle other wordsmiths in the living room or match your skills against a random stranger in another part of the globe.
If you are more of a fan of action games, than dual-stick shooter Gun Bros is a great free title to download to the Xoom. Games optimized for the Xoom like Gun Bros should inspire independent developers to invest more time and resources in the Android space.
While Angry Birds is addictive on any device, Android users will love tapping into this transformative game in tablet form on the Xoom.
Customizing your Xoom with these apps..
There is a reason why Beautiful Widgets, which lets users customize clock, weather date and other functions on their device, is one of the best paid Android apps of all time. Make the Xoom your own with this $2.99 application.
Androidify is a playful app officially developed by Google that lets users dress up the little green character and then share variations with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. With the Xoom, the little guy can get an extra large wardrobe.
Apps to entertain on the big screen..
Before watching a flick or television show on your Xoom or a bigger screen, check out trailers, showtimes and TV listings with the iconic IMDb Movies and TV Android app.
Conan O’Brien may have been relegated to basic cable after being dismissed from The Tonight Show, but his humor translates well in interactive and mobile media environments. The free Team Coco Android app offers clips, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage of Conan’s steadily popular TBS show.
For the kiddies, Dr. Seuss titles on tablets beautifully reproduce his classic books and offer interactive features and compelling narration. The Lorax - Dr Seuss, at $2.99, may forever change storytime in your house.
Informative apps that offer the bigger picture..
A great showcase for Honeycomb, the CNN App for Android includes live video, breaking news and the user-generated iReport feature.
The free Pulse News Reader should satisfy even the most voracious news junkie. Consuming this app on the Xoom is a qualitatively different experience than tapping into it on a smartphone. While smartphones are ideal for news on-the-go, reading articles on the tablet version of Pulse News Reader may finally motivate you to suspend subscriptions to all print publications.
Multi-tasking in the kitchen becomes a whole lot easier and enjoyable with the $4.99 Mario Batali Cooks Android app on the Xoom.
The free Medscape app powered by healthcare professionals and might be the most favored Xoom app for hypochondriacs.
Xoom apps that rock..
The Xoom offers best-in-class audio fidelity for tablets and is a great home for your musical library. As far as applications are concerned, the free Soundcloud app is worth taking up to 11, while Chord! (Guitar Chord Finder) may have you permanently retire from air guitar and try on the real thing.
The app for Android app discovery..
With more than 200,000 Android apps available, it’s hard to sort through which titles are best for you. The newly updated Appolicious AndroidApps.com app, which runs beautifully on the Xoom, makes finding apps easy and enjoyable. You can find out which apps your Facebook friends own, discover hot new apps that hit the market, and read reviews, compilations and industry news and analysis from our staff of professional writers. Sure, we’re biased, but the free Appolicious Android app is also favored by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Also worth downloading to your Xoom are..
Google Earth: There is a reason Motorola executives were showing off this app when the Xoom was announced at CES earlier this year. You’ll know why once you download it.
Twitter: The official Twitter app for Android outperforms all independent clients on the Xoom so far.
ESPN iScore Baseball: Who needs a printed program at the ballgame anymore after downloading this $9.99 app from ESPN?
TurboTax SnapTax: While it’s nice to know that taxes can be done on a smartphone, it’s not exactly the most convenient tool to get your accounting in order by, or before, April 15. Doing taxes on the Xoom, while not fun, is a lot easier with this free application.
While the distinction between apps on tablets and smartphones on Android devices is less pronounced than what exists between the iPad and iPhone as well as the iPod touch, there are a handful of great Android apps for the Motorola Xoom that one should consider downloading right out of the box. Here are some of them to consider…
Great games on the Xoom..
Shortly before the Xoom’s February 24 release date, Zynga’s immensely popular game Words With Friends debuted on Android’s devices. The Scrabble-like game, which is free, is much better suited to the tablet form factor than on any smartphone. Battle other wordsmiths in the living room or match your skills against a random stranger in another part of the globe.
If you are more of a fan of action games, than dual-stick shooter Gun Bros is a great free title to download to the Xoom. Games optimized for the Xoom like Gun Bros should inspire independent developers to invest more time and resources in the Android space.
While Angry Birds is addictive on any device, Android users will love tapping into this transformative game in tablet form on the Xoom.
Customizing your Xoom with these apps..
There is a reason why Beautiful Widgets, which lets users customize clock, weather date and other functions on their device, is one of the best paid Android apps of all time. Make the Xoom your own with this $2.99 application.
Androidify is a playful app officially developed by Google that lets users dress up the little green character and then share variations with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. With the Xoom, the little guy can get an extra large wardrobe.
Apps to entertain on the big screen..
Before watching a flick or television show on your Xoom or a bigger screen, check out trailers, showtimes and TV listings with the iconic IMDb Movies and TV Android app.
Conan O’Brien may have been relegated to basic cable after being dismissed from The Tonight Show, but his humor translates well in interactive and mobile media environments. The free Team Coco Android app offers clips, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage of Conan’s steadily popular TBS show.
For the kiddies, Dr. Seuss titles on tablets beautifully reproduce his classic books and offer interactive features and compelling narration. The Lorax - Dr Seuss, at $2.99, may forever change storytime in your house.
Informative apps that offer the bigger picture..
A great showcase for Honeycomb, the CNN App for Android includes live video, breaking news and the user-generated iReport feature.
The free Pulse News Reader should satisfy even the most voracious news junkie. Consuming this app on the Xoom is a qualitatively different experience than tapping into it on a smartphone. While smartphones are ideal for news on-the-go, reading articles on the tablet version of Pulse News Reader may finally motivate you to suspend subscriptions to all print publications.
Multi-tasking in the kitchen becomes a whole lot easier and enjoyable with the $4.99 Mario Batali Cooks Android app on the Xoom.
The free Medscape app powered by healthcare professionals and might be the most favored Xoom app for hypochondriacs.
Xoom apps that rock..
The Xoom offers best-in-class audio fidelity for tablets and is a great home for your musical library. As far as applications are concerned, the free Soundcloud app is worth taking up to 11, while Chord! (Guitar Chord Finder) may have you permanently retire from air guitar and try on the real thing.
The app for Android app discovery..
With more than 200,000 Android apps available, it’s hard to sort through which titles are best for you. The newly updated Appolicious AndroidApps.com app, which runs beautifully on the Xoom, makes finding apps easy and enjoyable. You can find out which apps your Facebook friends own, discover hot new apps that hit the market, and read reviews, compilations and industry news and analysis from our staff of professional writers. Sure, we’re biased, but the free Appolicious Android app is also favored by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Also worth downloading to your Xoom are..
Google Earth: There is a reason Motorola executives were showing off this app when the Xoom was announced at CES earlier this year. You’ll know why once you download it.
Twitter: The official Twitter app for Android outperforms all independent clients on the Xoom so far.
ESPN iScore Baseball: Who needs a printed program at the ballgame anymore after downloading this $9.99 app from ESPN?
TurboTax SnapTax: While it’s nice to know that taxes can be done on a smartphone, it’s not exactly the most convenient tool to get your accounting in order by, or before, April 15. Doing taxes on the Xoom, while not fun, is a lot easier with this free application.
One and every conscious net user knows the basics of Internet security and keeping your personal data private while browsing the Web: Use a firewall, don’t open attachments you aren't expecting, and never follow links from strangers. But what about your smartphone? The ease with which security researcher Georgia Weidman was able to infect Android phones with her custom botnet during the 2011 ShmooCon security conference suggests that anyone concerned about the privacy of the personal data stored on their smartphone should think twice before downloading dubious or otherwise untrustworthy apps.
So how does a smartphone botnet spread? First, the victim needs to download a file that contains a bot builder program--a secret snippet of malicious code that will install a bot into the basic operating system of a phone. The infected file could be an app, a piece of music or even an email attachment. “It could be camouflaged in anything at all;” claims Weidman. “Someone might put out a great, functional app that users want. Worse, the app would work as advertised so they wouldn’t suspect it; meanwhile the botnet could be active for years.”
Once your phone is infected, a slave bot program will be installed in the base operating system, beneath the application layer that most users are familiar with. From there these bots can monitor and modify all data sent to and from the phone before you do, allowing the botmaster to command and control your phone without your knowledge. “Since the bot sees everything before the user does, it’s possible to catch private data and forward it elsewhere on the internet,” says Weidman. “What you’ve been doing, who you’re speaking to and where you’ve been.”
Once a botmaster is in control of your phone, the first priority is to spread the infection to as many other users as possible. In the past, mobile botnets have taken advantage of smartphone Internet access to spread malicious code via e-mail; Weidman's Android botnet is dangerous because it communicates and spreads via SMS text messaging instead. Weidman claims hijacking the SMS text messaging service is more battery-efficient and far more subtle than accessing the Internet via a phone’s modem. In addition, it opens up a new attack vector whereby unsuspecting users may receive text messages from an infected friend that contain links to malicious code.
“If I get a text message from a friend with a link that says “hey check this out,” why wouldn’t I trust it?” says Weidman. “If one of my contacts is infected they could be infecting me without knowing it.” Of course, smartphone malware is nothing new; security companies like Symantec and Lookout offer iOS and Android apps that provide malware detection and remote security features like locking or wiping a phone via SMS, but the balkanization of the wireless market among so many different devices and carriers means that it’s often difficult for security companies to keep their apps updated with the latest malware profiles.
But while Weidman’s security research may seem scary, for the moment it’s just that: research. “If this type of attack becomes prevalent in the future, we will update our software to detect it,” says Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of Lookout Security. “Unless we see malware like this in the wild, we will continue to focus our efforts on existing threats.”
Plus, it’s actually pretty simple to secure your smartphone and keep your data private from a botnet: just remember to take security on your iPhone or Android device as seriously as you do on your laptop. Don’t download apps or files from people you don’t trust, and be wary of any links or files embedded in text messages. Be aware that any file you download to your phone has the potential to be infected.
So how does a smartphone botnet spread? First, the victim needs to download a file that contains a bot builder program--a secret snippet of malicious code that will install a bot into the basic operating system of a phone. The infected file could be an app, a piece of music or even an email attachment. “It could be camouflaged in anything at all;” claims Weidman. “Someone might put out a great, functional app that users want. Worse, the app would work as advertised so they wouldn’t suspect it; meanwhile the botnet could be active for years.”
Once your phone is infected, a slave bot program will be installed in the base operating system, beneath the application layer that most users are familiar with. From there these bots can monitor and modify all data sent to and from the phone before you do, allowing the botmaster to command and control your phone without your knowledge. “Since the bot sees everything before the user does, it’s possible to catch private data and forward it elsewhere on the internet,” says Weidman. “What you’ve been doing, who you’re speaking to and where you’ve been.”
Once a botmaster is in control of your phone, the first priority is to spread the infection to as many other users as possible. In the past, mobile botnets have taken advantage of smartphone Internet access to spread malicious code via e-mail; Weidman's Android botnet is dangerous because it communicates and spreads via SMS text messaging instead. Weidman claims hijacking the SMS text messaging service is more battery-efficient and far more subtle than accessing the Internet via a phone’s modem. In addition, it opens up a new attack vector whereby unsuspecting users may receive text messages from an infected friend that contain links to malicious code.
“If I get a text message from a friend with a link that says “hey check this out,” why wouldn’t I trust it?” says Weidman. “If one of my contacts is infected they could be infecting me without knowing it.” Of course, smartphone malware is nothing new; security companies like Symantec and Lookout offer iOS and Android apps that provide malware detection and remote security features like locking or wiping a phone via SMS, but the balkanization of the wireless market among so many different devices and carriers means that it’s often difficult for security companies to keep their apps updated with the latest malware profiles.
Worse, most detection apps only scan other applications for malicious code; that approach will catch an infected app, but it won’t do much good if the bot builder program has already overwritten part of the phone’s operating system. It doesn’t matter which operating system either; while Weidman developed her prototype botnet on the Android OS, she claims the bots could work on any smartphone and is currently seeking iOS and Windows Phone 7 devices for testing purposes.
But while Weidman’s security research may seem scary, for the moment it’s just that: research. “If this type of attack becomes prevalent in the future, we will update our software to detect it,” says Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of Lookout Security. “Unless we see malware like this in the wild, we will continue to focus our efforts on existing threats.”
Plus, it’s actually pretty simple to secure your smartphone and keep your data private from a botnet: just remember to take security on your iPhone or Android device as seriously as you do on your laptop. Don’t download apps or files from people you don’t trust, and be wary of any links or files embedded in text messages. Be aware that any file you download to your phone has the potential to be infected.
China may soon launch a domestically developed "fourth generation" mobile phone system in its commercial market.
The homegrown candidate for the 4G standard, known as TD-LTE, is being tested in seven cities and will go into commercial use "when the technology is mature", said China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou.
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator with 589.3 million subscribers, has developed a Chinese 3G standard called TD-SCDMA. It has been working on a variation it hopes will become a 4G standard, which provides faster broadband wireless services.
The UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) accepted TD-LTE in October as a candidate to be designated 4G and is watching the tests by China Mobile and its partners to see if it meets 4G transmission standards.
China Mobile said late last year that a number of Chinese and foreign telecom equipment makers would participate in the tests of its 4G candidate, including China's ZTE Corp, Huawei Technologies, Finnish-German Nokia Siemens and Swedish group Ericsson.
Wang also said that Japanese tech conglomerate Softbank is planning to deploy the first commercial TD-LTE network in Japan by the end of the year.
The homegrown candidate for the 4G standard, known as TD-LTE, is being tested in seven cities and will go into commercial use "when the technology is mature", said China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou.
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator with 589.3 million subscribers, has developed a Chinese 3G standard called TD-SCDMA. It has been working on a variation it hopes will become a 4G standard, which provides faster broadband wireless services.
The UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) accepted TD-LTE in October as a candidate to be designated 4G and is watching the tests by China Mobile and its partners to see if it meets 4G transmission standards.
China Mobile said late last year that a number of Chinese and foreign telecom equipment makers would participate in the tests of its 4G candidate, including China's ZTE Corp, Huawei Technologies, Finnish-German Nokia Siemens and Swedish group Ericsson.
Wang also said that Japanese tech conglomerate Softbank is planning to deploy the first commercial TD-LTE network in Japan by the end of the year.
A staggering seven billion people now inhabit our planet. It's a number so large that it's difficult to conceptualize. But National Geographic is helping, with a new special online series of infographics, videos and photos, called Seven Billion, that examines a plethora of information about how we live, and how we live differently from one another based on income, location, and other factors.
The stats include technology, that indispensible 21st century necessity. In analyzing the world's population by income level, the magazine reports that the world's 1 billion poorest own 22 mobile phones per 100 people, but only have 1.2 computers per 100 people. Those billion make $995 or less a year and reside primarily in Africa. Lower-middle income populations, which account for 4 billion people (earning $995 to $3,945 per year) mostly in India, China, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa, own 47 mobile phones per 100 people and have 4.3 personal computers per 100 people.
The one billion upper middle income people, residing mostly in South America, Russia, and Eastern Europe, own 92 mobile phones and have nearly 12 computers per 100 people. The highest earners making more than $12,195 per year - and there's about a billion of them, mostly in North America and Western and Northern Europe - have on average more than one mobile phone per person (106 per 100 people) and have 60.4 personal computers per 100 people.
Additionally, National Geographic teamed up with digital artist Joe Lertola of Bryan Christie Design and researchers at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing to create a digital portrait of what should be the "average person," based on data about who makes up the seven billion people.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, which helped generate the image, used photos that it had collected over 10 years from several national technology research programs, according to National Geographic.
The publication then had digital artist Joe Lertola of Bryan Christie Design turn out a poster based on the original image, but using 7,000 smaller images of people cobbled together. These smaller figures represent 1 million people each, thereby visualizing the 7 billion people now on Earth.
The stats include technology, that indispensible 21st century necessity. In analyzing the world's population by income level, the magazine reports that the world's 1 billion poorest own 22 mobile phones per 100 people, but only have 1.2 computers per 100 people. Those billion make $995 or less a year and reside primarily in Africa. Lower-middle income populations, which account for 4 billion people (earning $995 to $3,945 per year) mostly in India, China, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa, own 47 mobile phones per 100 people and have 4.3 personal computers per 100 people.
The one billion upper middle income people, residing mostly in South America, Russia, and Eastern Europe, own 92 mobile phones and have nearly 12 computers per 100 people. The highest earners making more than $12,195 per year - and there's about a billion of them, mostly in North America and Western and Northern Europe - have on average more than one mobile phone per person (106 per 100 people) and have 60.4 personal computers per 100 people.
Additionally, National Geographic teamed up with digital artist Joe Lertola of Bryan Christie Design and researchers at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing to create a digital portrait of what should be the "average person," based on data about who makes up the seven billion people.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, which helped generate the image, used photos that it had collected over 10 years from several national technology research programs, according to National Geographic.
The publication then had digital artist Joe Lertola of Bryan Christie Design turn out a poster based on the original image, but using 7,000 smaller images of people cobbled together. These smaller figures represent 1 million people each, thereby visualizing the 7 billion people now on Earth.
Microsoft is ready to move beyond Internet Explorer 6. The software giant has launched a new website, The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown, that bears the slogan: "Moving the world off Internet Explorer 6."
With the exception of specialized corporate/government environments and intranets, the arguments for continued usage of IE 6 are all but over.
On its new website, IE6Countdown.com, Microsoft is making its most concentrated effort yet to get users to move away from the decade-old browser. As the site says in its preamble, "10 years ago a browser was born. It's time to say goodbye." The goal of the website is to get Internet Explorer 6 usage to drop to less than 1% worldwide.
Current IE 6 usage on a global level is 12% - though in many parts of the world, that figure is less than 5%. In the U.S., Net Application's most recent numbers indicate that 2.9% of web users are still using IE 6.
The website has links to reasons why users should upgrade, documentation for corporate networks that need to migrate to a new browser and banners that webmasters can embed in their sites, alerting users that they should upgrade.
This is all well and good, but we sure hope that there is a multi-lingual version of this campaign. We say that because the bulk of iE 6 usage comes from China, where 34.5% of users are still on IE 6. South Korea, India, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam also still report more than 10% IE 6 usage.
It's a long time coming and the faster we can move on to more modern browsers, the better the web ecosystem as a whole will be.
With the exception of specialized corporate/government environments and intranets, the arguments for continued usage of IE 6 are all but over.
On its new website, IE6Countdown.com, Microsoft is making its most concentrated effort yet to get users to move away from the decade-old browser. As the site says in its preamble, "10 years ago a browser was born. It's time to say goodbye." The goal of the website is to get Internet Explorer 6 usage to drop to less than 1% worldwide.
Current IE 6 usage on a global level is 12% - though in many parts of the world, that figure is less than 5%. In the U.S., Net Application's most recent numbers indicate that 2.9% of web users are still using IE 6.
The website has links to reasons why users should upgrade, documentation for corporate networks that need to migrate to a new browser and banners that webmasters can embed in their sites, alerting users that they should upgrade.
This is all well and good, but we sure hope that there is a multi-lingual version of this campaign. We say that because the bulk of iE 6 usage comes from China, where 34.5% of users are still on IE 6. South Korea, India, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam also still report more than 10% IE 6 usage.
It's a long time coming and the faster we can move on to more modern browsers, the better the web ecosystem as a whole will be.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Apple CEO Steve Jobs called out Samsung and its Galaxy Tab during his keynote address, citing sales figures that put the Galaxy Tab at about 2 million shipped units and using a quote from Samsung VP Lee Young-hee that seemed to concede that few Galaxies actually made it into customers’ hands.That quote from Young-hee has been widely determined to be wrong. He actually said “smooth” but reporters heard it as “small,” and since then the quote has been corrected. Jobs engaged in some revisionist history during the iPad 2 keynote in other areas, too - he noted that the iPad 2 would be the first tablet with a dual-core processor to ship “in volume,” while the Dell Streak and the Motorola Xoom, both have dual-core processors and both have been shipping pretty high numbers. And that “greater than 90 percent market share” bullet point would be wrong, as well.
As for comparison of price points between the iPad 2 and other tablets on the market, Apple’s not being exactly forthright, either. Taking a look at hardware, though, the Xoom packs better components: a stronger processor, better cameras, 4G support and probably more RAM. Comparatively, that extra power puts the Xoom on good terms with the iPad 2 as far as price point - it’s the other peripheral areas, like app support, where Apple has the edge.
Despite playing a little fast and loose with exactly what “facts” about the tablet market Jobs was sharing at the iPad 2 announcement, other tablet manufacturers are still sitting up and taking notice. According to Ars Technica, Samsung is looking at the improvements the iPad 2 is bringing to the market, and working to adjust things about the Galaxy Tab it feels are “inadequate.”
Samsung’s mobile division executive vice president, Lee Don-joo, mentioned this week that Samsung might be considering a new price point for the incoming 10-inch Galaxy Tab, which was set to be higher than the original Galaxy Tab.
“The 10-inch (tablet) was to be priced higher than the seven-inch but we will have to think that over,” Don-joo said. Pocket Gamer reports the 10-inch tablet was aiming at a price point of just under $900 - way higher than even the most expensive iPad model.
Don-joo also commented about the size of the iPad 2. “They made it very thin,” he said, which suggests that thickness is a concern for Samsung as well as for Apple. The iPad 2, at 8.8 millimeters, slips under the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s 10.9mm. The 10.9mm measure was thinner than the original iPad, but still leaves Samsung outpaced by Apple.
Whether these changes to the iPad 2 will really affect the next iteration of the Galaxy Tab isn’t clear and Samsung hasn’t said what, if anything, it might do. A change to pricing seems like a smart decision, but as for attempting to redesign the tab ahead of launch, even subtly, it’s probably not something potential buyers should expect to see.
Samsung and other Android tab makers would probably have better success pointing to the real benefits of their products over the iPad 2 - specifically, the kinds of specs that can outpace the dominant device, like processing power and 4G LTE support. Apple isn’t the only company that can make claims about others’ products, and in a lot of cases, the truth is on Jobs’ competitors’ side.
The head of marketing for Research In Motion will leave the company in six months, raising questions about BlackBerry branding as the smartphone maker gets set to launch its long-awaited PlayBook tablet.Keith Pardy, who joined the Canadian technology company in December 2009, decided to leave for personal reasons. He will stay with the company for the next six months to help with transition.
His surprise resignation comes weeks before the expected launch of RIM's PlayBook - almost a year after the introduction of Apple's iPad tablet. The RIM offering will also have to compete against devices powered by Google's Android platform.
The appeal of the BlackBerry brand - once equal with Apple's - has withered under Pardy's stewardship, according to a January ranking from Brand Keys consultancy.
"The brand's been losing resonance over the past few years. It does not have the brand cachet to engage consumers the way an iPhone does," Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff said.
RIM has sought to keep PlayBook in the minds of consumers and business customers with a drip feed of announcements and trade show appearances since first lifting the covers on the tablet in September. The company has yet to announce when it will ship or give details of its pricing.
In contrast, Apple founder Steve Jobs received a standing ovation when he announced the iPad 2. The product will ship later this month, possibly ahead of the PlayBook.
But Pardy's imminent departure may not have much impact on the immediate success of the PlayBook when it finally launches, said Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at market research firm IHS iSuppli.
"Hopefully, when you're weeks away from product release, you've laid most of the groundwork for the marketing efforts," she said. "Others can execute the groundwork that's been laid out."
Keith Pardy has long experience in consumer marketing. Prior to joining RIM, he worked for 17 years in marketing at Coca-Cola before joining Nokia in 2004.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Japanese researchers said they have developed a human-shaped mobile phone with a skin-like outer layer that enables users to feel closer to those on the other end.
"The mobile phone may feel like the person you are talking to," the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) said in a press release, describing the gadget as a "revolutionary telecom medium".
The project is a collaboration between Osaka University, the mobile telephone operator NTT DoCoMo and other institutes.
They hope to put it into commercial production within five years by adding image and voice recognition functions.
The prototype, slightly bigger than the size of a palm, features an outer coating that feels like human skin, ATR officials said.
A speaker is installed in the head of the doll-like gadget and a light emitting diode in its chest turns blue when the phone is in use and red when it is in standby mode.
The body resembles a human being but its design is so blurred that it could be taken as either male or female and young or old, the press release said.
"The mobile phone may feel like the person you are talking to," the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) said in a press release, describing the gadget as a "revolutionary telecom medium".
The project is a collaboration between Osaka University, the mobile telephone operator NTT DoCoMo and other institutes.
They hope to put it into commercial production within five years by adding image and voice recognition functions.
The prototype, slightly bigger than the size of a palm, features an outer coating that feels like human skin, ATR officials said.
A speaker is installed in the head of the doll-like gadget and a light emitting diode in its chest turns blue when the phone is in use and red when it is in standby mode.
The body resembles a human being but its design is so blurred that it could be taken as either male or female and young or old, the press release said.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Apple has finally unveiled a slimmer, trimmer version of the wildly popular version of iPad, complete with a front facing camera for vedio chat and a souped-up processor.The new iPad 2 took the spotlight during a press event at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with none other than Apple CEO Steve Jobs - who is still on medical leave, taking the stage to unveil the much-anticipated follow-up to the best-selling original.
The "dramatically faster" iPad 2 boasts a dual-core A5 "system on a chip" processor under the hood, said Jobs, good for twice the CPU power and nine times the graphics performance of the original while maintaining the same 10-hour battery life.
Also new are, dual cameras, including a front-facing camera for VGA-quality video chat, while the rear camera will be good for 720p video capture.
As predicted, the 9.7-inch display on the iPad 2 has the same resolution as that on the original: 1,024 by 768, disappointing news for anyone hoping that the new iPad would boast an improved "retina"-style display.
Measuring 9.5 by 7.3 by 0.34 inches, the iPad 2 is slightly shorter and narrower than the original, with the listed weight of 1.33 pounds (or 1.35 for the 3G-enabled iPad 2) a bit lighter than the iPad 1.
As with the first iPad, the iPad 2 comes with Apple's proprietary 30-pin dock connector for syncing and charging, along with a 3.5mm headset jack. Missing in action, is a slot for SD (or microSD) memory cards.
A white version of the iPad will be available on "Day One," promised Jobs, with Apple probably hoping to avoid last year's debacle of the white iPhone that never quite arrived.
The iPad 2 retains the same price points as the original: $499 for the 16GB version, $599 for the 32GB model, and $699 for the 64GB model. The 3G-enabled versions will also come with the same $130 premium over the Wi-Fi-only models ($629 for the 3G-ready 16GB iPad 2, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for the 64GB version), and they'll be available for both AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
The shipping date is expected to be March 11 in the U.S., and March 25 in 26 additional countries.
Jobs also announced a new "Smart Cover" to go along with the iPad 2 - one with magnetic clasps that either wakes up the iPad or puts it to sleep depending on whether it's being attached or removed. The polyurethane version of the case will sell for $39, while a pricier leather one goes for $69.
Another new accessory is a $39 HDMI video-out cable that's capable of 1080p video mirroring. The cable works with all iPad apps, Jobs said, and it'll charge your iPad when plugged into a power source.
March 11 will also see the release of iOS version 4.3, with new features such as personal hotspot support for the iPhone 4, a speedier version of Safari, improvements to AirPlay media streaming, and FaceTime video chat, but the iOS 4.3 release on the 11th will only be for iPads, third- and fourth-generation iPod Touches, and the GSM version of the iPhone - meaning that owners of the iPhone for Verizon, which runs a CDMA network, will have to wait.
There will also be a new iPad version of Apple's iMovie video-editing app, which is slated to arrive March 11 for $4.99.
Before unveiling the new iPad, Jobs confirmed recent rumors that book publisher Random House, the last of the major iBooks holdouts, would be offering more than 17,000 volumes through Apple's e-book store.
Jobs also took a shot at Honeycomb, Google's new Android-based tablet OS, by bragging that only 100 Honeycomb-ready apps are currently available for download, versus about 65,000 apps for the iPad - perhaps not the fairest comparison, since the first Honeycomb-enabled tablet only landed in stores about a week ago.
The first iPad, originally unveiled last January before landing in stores the following April, was initially greeted with skepticism.
Unsurprisingly, the massive success of the iPad has drawn a slew of competitors, with sleek new tablets from the likes of Dell, HP, LG, Motorola, and Samsung either on sale now or waiting in the wings.
Most of the hottest new tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom and the upcoming LG G-Slate, are based on Google's tablet-oriented Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" OS, although we'll also see some non-Android tablets as HP's WebOS-based TouchPad and the BlackBerry PlayBook from RIM.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
When carmakers thought it safe to roll out new models in the wake of the economic crisis - 170 premiers are advertised for the Geneva Auto Show which opens this week – a spike in fuel price has cast a new shadow over the industry and redoubled attention on green technologies.Ford Motor Co. said it is boosting its offering of low-emission technologies and will have five alternative powertrains to market in Europe by 2013.
Stephen Odell, the chief of Ford Europe, said that the new powertrains will include hybrid, pure electric and plug-in hybrid technologies.
Fuel prices, driven sharply higher in the past month by tensions in the Middle East, have raised worries that consumers may shy away again from buying a new vehicle.
"With our capabilities in regular combustion engines and with five electric vehicles in production we are well placed," Odell said.
Although most carmakers are showing upbeat signs of recovery, the key theme at the auto show, as during the financial crisis years, will once again be fuel efficiency.
Rolls Royce's one-off electric-powered Phantom luxury sedan could give electric the kind of upscale appeal it so far lacks. Though at the moment there are no plans to put the car into full production, the carmaker said.
BMW, which owns Rolls Royce, also is launching its latest ActiveE electric concept car in Geneva. "We'll see a lot of alternative powertrains, which will get a lot of attention given the current oil prices. No one knows where that is going to go, especially given what is going on in the Middle East," said Ian Fletcher, analyst at IHS automotive.
As for hybrids, BMW and PSA Peugeot announced on the eve of the auto show that they would invest euro100 million ($138 million) in a joint venture to build hybrid components from 2014. Their goal is to create an open European platform for hybrid technologies, which PSA Peugeot Citroen CEO Philippe Varin said the joint venture also would enable development of electric powertrains.
Volkswagen presented a luxury hybrid for its Porsche brand, the Panamera S. The car boasts carbon emissions of 159 grams per kilogram and consumption of 6.8 liters per 100 kilometers.
There will be a particular focus on engine downsizing, an industry term for squeezing more power out of small engines. Nissan will be showcasing a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine in the Nissan Micar DIG-S that is touted as having the same power as a 1.5 liter four-cylinder model. Fiat has done similar work with the Twin Air engine in the Fiat 500.
"It's tweaking current technology to meet new levels of expectations. The internal combustion engine is still a relatively cheap way of producing power on a light vehicle," Fletcher said.
Overall, automakers are showing optimism coming into Geneva, evident in the rollouts planned. After seeing participants scale back in recent years, organizers said they had requests for more show space than they could provide, and that 70 brands will be represented from 31 countries.
Geneva's motor show, which focuses primarily on European companies, is considered one of the more prestigious auto events of the year. And because it is based in industry-neutral Switzerland, which does not produce cars on any industrial scale, it creates an even playing field for German, French and Italian companies alike, not to mention a rare venue for Asian automakers like Tata to show cars outside of their markets.
Automakers that held back launch during the economic crisis - not wanting to squander the considerable investment - will be out in force.
Fiat, which owns Chrysler, is launching the Fiat Freemont, based on the Dodge Journey and the first Fiat vehicle to be born of the alliance with Chrysler. It goes on sale in the second half of the year.
And Lancia, another Fiat brand that will be the European face of Chrysler, will unveil a series of rebadged cars to pave Chrysler's European renaissance under Fiat's management: an updated three-door Ypsilon minicar, a new Lancia Thema sedan in the C-segment combining American size with Italian style, Flavia concept, a D-segment sedan car, and Grand Voyager minivan.
A certain sign that carmakers are feeling cheery is that many high-end automakers have new products to show.
"You only have to look at the launches taking place. Look at the top end, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Rolls Royce. They are all either unveiling concept cars or new roll ours. If the top end of the market is doing well, it's a good sign for the overall economy and growth in developing markets," Fletcher said.
The 81st edition of the Geneva Auto Show opens to the public from March 3-13.
