Technology News and Gadgets Updates: 12/05/10

Sunday, December 5, 2010

No jobs if you link to WikiLeaks, Columbia warns students

New York: Columbia University students eyeing careers in diplomacy are being warned to avoid linking to or posting comments about secret US documents released by the WikiLeaks website.

A spokesman for the Ivy League school confirmed on Saturday that the Office of Career Services circulated an e-mail to students at the School of International and Public Affairs, known for cultivating future diplomats.

The November 30 e-mail says an alumnus at the US State Department had contacted the office, saying the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks were "still considered classified."

The e-mail said online discourse about the documents "would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information."

Most federal government jobs require a background check. WikiLeaks has been releasing a trove of sensitive US diplomatic cables over the past week.

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Twitter Goes After Twittersearch.com

Twitter late last week filed a UDRP complaint, notably its first ever since the company was founded, in an effort to obtain ownership over the (currently parked) domain name twittersearch.com – as you can see here.

Obviously, Twitter is right to do this, since the domain is likely to cause some confusion, although we should note Twitter hasn’t managed to secure a trademark for the term ‘twitter’ in the United States so far, despite multiple attempts.

Nevertheless, Twitter has a popular search product that bears the obvious name Twitter Search, so I’d do the exact same thing if I were them.

That said, they took their sweet time to make the move – twittersearch.com was first registered back in March 2007.

A quick WHOIS search reveals that the owner of the contested domain name has opted to hide his or her identity, and the domain name is currently inactive, leading to a placeholder page riddled with ads.

China leaders ordered hacking on Google: US cable

American diplomats that hacking attacks against Google were ordered by China's top ruling body and a senior leader demanded action after finding search results critical of him, leaked U.S. government cables show.
The American Embassy sent a cable to Washington saying a source told diplomats the Chinese government coordinated late last year's attacks on Google under the direction of the Politburo Standing Committee.

It was impossible to verify the details of the cables, but if true, they show the political pressures facing Google when it decided in March to close its China-based search engine.

The cable about the hacking attacks against Google, which was classified as secret by Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Goldberg, was released by WikiLeaks to The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers.

It notes that it is unclear if Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were aware of these reported actions before Google went public about the attacks in January.

Another source said in that cable he believed an official on the top political body was "working actively with Chinese Internet search engine Baidu against Google's interests in China."

Google's relations with Beijing have been tense since the U.S.-based search giant said in January it no longer wanted to cooperate with Chinese Web filtering following computer hacking attacks on Google's computer code and efforts to break into the e-mail accounts of human rights activists. Google closed its China-based search engine March 22 and began routing users to its unfiltered Hong Kong site.

Google's spokeswoman in Tokyo, Jessica Powell, said the company had no comment on the cables released by Wikileaks, and on the hacking attacks, referred to a January statement that said it had evidence that the attack came from China. Google did not release any details then.

A man who answered the phone at the spokesperson's office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said no one was around to comment Sunday. Calls to the State Council Information Office and the Foreign Ministry rang unanswered.

A separate cable released by WikiLeaks showed a Politburo member demanded action against Google after looking for his own name on the search engine and finding criticism of him.

The May 18, 2009, cable did not identify the leader but The New York Times reported it was propaganda chief Li Changchun, the fifth-ranked official in the country.

The cable classified as confidential cited a source as saying the Chinese official had realized that Google's worldwide site is uncensored, capable of Chinese language searches and search results, and that there is a link from the home page of its China site, google.cn, to google.com.

The official "allegedly entered his own name and found results critical of him," and asked three government ministries to write a report about Google and "demand that the company ceases its 'illegal activities,' which include linking to google.com," the cable said.

The cable said American officials could neither confirm nor deny the details given by the source about the Chinese leadership's action.

Motorola To Break into Two Parts in January

Motorola's breakup will be final in January. The company is is splitting its consumer-oriented side, which makes cell phones and cable set-top boxes, from the side that sells police radios and barcode scanners to government and corporate customers. The breakup is motivated by the desire to present two simple stories to investors.
Motorola Inc. will split into two companies effective Jan. 4, finalizing the breakup of one of the founders of the U.S. electronics industry.
Motorola is splitting its consumer-oriented side, which makes cell phones and cable set-top boxes, from the side that sells police radios and barcode scanners to government and corporate customers.

Shareholders of record on Dec. 21 will receive shares in both the consumer business , Motorola Mobility, and the professional business, Motorola Solutions.

The breakup is motivated by the desire to present two simple stories to investors, rather than one complicated one.

Motorola set the breakup plan in motion in 2008 after prodding from activist investor Carl Icahn. The goal was to complete the separation by 2009, but the economic downturn and the continuing collapse of Motorola's phone sales prompted it to postpone the plan. Motorola announced the new date Tuesday.

One big piece of Motorola won't make it to separation: The company is selling a division that makes network equipment for cell phone companies to Nokia Siemens Networks, a Finnish-German joint venture. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

Motorola's phone division has continued to shrink, but cost-cutting and a focus on smart phones such as the Droid X allowed it to post an operating profit for the July-to-September quarter. It was the first profitable quarter in three years.

Once the second-largest phone maker in the world, Motorola is now the seventh-largest and sells fewer phones than either Apple Inc. or Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry.

On Jan. 4, shareholders will receive one share of Motorola Mobility for every eight shares of Motorola Inc. Motorola Inc. share will then go through a 1-for-7 reverse stock split, as the company renames itself Motorola Solutions. Both stocks will trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tablet and e-reader buying advice

This holiday season, it will be hard to enter a store without setting eyes on a tablet computer or an e-reader. In both categories, big-name manufacturers — along with some you might not have heard of — are jumping on the bandwagon, trying hard to undercut each other with lower-priced gadgets.
It doesn't help that so many of them claim to do the same thing. The iPad dominates the field, but there's a slew of contenders that all run Google Inc.'s Android software, which is already common on smart phones. Meanwhile, the smaller tablets look almost indistinguishable from some new e-readers that hope to unseat the Kindle.
So which to buy? Here are the best options and some advice for figuring out which is the right choice for the person on your list.
E-readers:
Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi only: $139; 3G: $189)
Pros: The Kindle's display, which measures 6 inches diagonally, uses "electronic-ink" technology, which makes it easy to read books, newspapers and magazines in direct sunlight. It falls somewhere between an iPhone and an iPad in size and weighs half a pound, making the device from Amazon.com Inc. thinner and lighter than Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nookcolor, its strongest rival. The Kindle also lasts longer on a charge: up to one week with Wi-Fi on and two to three weeks with it turned off.
Cons: Screen is gray-scale only. The pages are slow to turn, and zooming and scrolling don't work. Lacks a built-in light source. Clunky built-in Web browser. Doesn't accept books from public libraries.
Barnes & Noble Nookcolor ($249)
Pros: Displays books and magazines in color. The brightness of the 7-inch touchscreen can be adjusted for comfortable reading in a wide range of lighting conditions. Besides a large library of books, magazines and newspapers, Barnes & Noble sells children's books with built-in narration tracks. Some books can be lent to friends, who can download Barnes & Noble's software for free to read them.
Cons: Children's books are expensive — $8, compared with child-friendly iPad apps that cost about $2. The screen is too small for comfortable reading of magazines. At 1 pound, it is twice as heavy as Amazon's Kindle, although still lighter than the iPad. Its battery life (eight hours with Wi-Fi turned off) is relatively short, although still sufficient for a round-trip flight across the country.
Tablets:
Apple iPad (Wi-Fi only: $499-$699; 3G: $629-$829)
Pros: Has the same intuitive interface as the iPhone and iPod Touch, but optimized for the iPad's larger 9.7-inch display. Syncs with the popular iTunes software, whose store sells music, movies and e-books. Up to 10 hours of battery life. There are more than 300,000 apps available in the app store; more than 40,000 of them were designed specifically for the iPad, making this the most versatile tablet, by far. All models connect over Wi-Fi, while 3G versions can use AT&T's cellular network, whose plans in the U.S. cost either $15 or $25 per month and require no long-term contracts.
Cons: It is relatively large and weighs about 1.5 pounds, so it's not as easy to use one-handed as a smaller tablet such as Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab. Lacks a camera for video chatting. Students will find fewer textbooks available in Apple Inc.'s iBooks than in Amazon's Kindle store.
Samsung Galaxy Tab ($399 with two-year contract; $599-$649 without)
Pros: The Tab runs the same Android software that can be found on many a smart phone. Solid build quality and brisk performance. It is a bit smaller than the iPad and about half its weight. It has dual cameras, something the iPad lacks entirely, allowing people to video chat, record HD movies and snap still photos. The Tab's display is sharper than the iPad's.
Cons: The Tab's 7-inch display makes for a less immersive movie-watching experience than the iPad's larger one. Many Android apps weren't designed to fill the Tab's larger screen. Video chat can be slow over both Wi-Fi and 3G cellular networks. The Tab only costs $399 if you commit to a two-year contract with Sprint or Verizon Wireless, which let the Tab run over their 3G networks. Verizon Wireless and AT&T sell the Tab with optional contracts, but it costs more up front ($599 on Verizon and $649 on AT&T). Monthly data plans range from $25 to $60.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Available from Sprint Beginning Next month

Speck has been making cases for all kinds of devices including Laptops, Smartphones, Tablets, iPhones, Macbooks, GPS, iPod, Kindle etc. The company founded in 2001 believes in giving protection to the devices without being mundane or boring and hence brings in a lot of ‘personality’ to the design of its cases for various devices.

Speck has announced new cases for Samsung Galaxy Tab and Samsung Galaxy S. Available in Tartan Plaid White and Triplestroke Concrete, Speck’s road-tested fitted case for Samsung Galaxy Tab has a fabric-wrapped exterior and a raised front bezel design protecting the Tab touchscreen. The Candyshell case available in Moonsicle White, Nighshade Purple and Batwing Black has a rubbery-soft interior with a tough plastic shell for protection against scratches.

Features

Get Everything You Want–To Go
The Samsung Galaxy Tab™ brings you the media you want and keeps you connected with anyone, anytime. Compact and light, you can keep in touch with people and content through 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi® 802.11 b/g/n or Bluetooth® Wireless Technology 3.0. With a battery life of up to 13 hours* and a crisp TFT-LCD display, you’re free to communicate, update, and enjoy.
*Please Note: Usage times will vary depending on phone usage patterns and conditions. Battery power consumption depends on factors such as network configuration, signal strength, operating temperature, features selected, vibrate mode, backlight settings, browser use, frequency of calls and voice, data and other application usage patterns.
Only 13.58 Ounces
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a 13.58-ounce, 7-inch tablet that slips easily into a pocket or bag. A virtual QWERTY keyboard and SWYPE™ technology makes e-mail and texting on the go easy–you can type on the Tab either by using both thumbs or by using SWYPE input technology.
Android® 2.2 Platform
Galaxy Tab features Froyo, Google’s Android™ 2.2 platform, bringing you great performance and speed for browsing Adobe® Flash® Player compatible websites. Fully integrated with services like Google Maps™ and YouTube™ you can search, view, and easily download any of the tens of thousands of cool apps available on Android Market™.
Integrated Social Networking
The Samsung Galaxy Tab allows you to easily access Facebook®, MySpace™ and Twitter™ so that you can stay connected to friends and family.
Watch Movies and TV Shows on Media Hub
Samsung’s new Media Hub app brings your favorite entertainment to the Galaxy Tab. The app is preloaded for instant access to a broad selection of movies and TV shows that start playing while they download.
See more>>
Amazon Kindle™ e-Reader and ThinkFree Office™
Bury yourself in all of your favorite books, magazine and newspapers with just a touch of the screen with the pre-loaded Amazon Kindle™ e-Reader. Access all of your important documents as well as create new ones via ThinkFree Office™, which is compatible with Microsoft® Office applications like Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® as well as Adobe® pdf viewing.
Two Cameras, One Device
The Tab makes creating and sharing images and video fast and portable with its two cameras. The rear-facing 3-megapixel camera with flash captures images and video that can be edited and shared. With its front-facing camera, you can easily stay in touch and video-chat for either business or pleasure. Pre-loaded with Qik, users can video-chat and seamlessly talk with other people over a Wi-Fi connection.
Adobe® Flash® Player Compatible for Games and the Web
Armed with the latest Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, The Samsung Galaxy Tab supports fast and seamless viewing of any web page, and provides enhanced video and game experience. Experience the ultimate full HTML internet viewing experience with Adobe® Flash® for watching videos and animations on the incredible 7" LCD display.