January 2011| Technology News and Gadgets Updates

Monday, January 31, 2011

Government rejects RIM offer, demands full BlackBerry access

India rejected on Monday Research In Motion's (RIM) offer to allow it only partial access to its BlackBerry data services as neighbouring Pakistan also moved to restrict the popular smartphone's services.

It was not immediately clear what the Indian government, which says it is driven by security concerns, would now do after the Canadian smartphone maker failed to fulfill demands to monitor encrypted corporate email by a Jan. 31 deadline. RIM had previously said was confident India would not ban its services.

Earlier this month, RIM said it had given India the means to access its Messenger service ahead of the deadline but reiterated that it could not give the authorities access to monitor secure corporate emails.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told a news conference the government still wanted access to emails.

"I think a decision will be taken today by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs)," Chidambaram added. RIM's India-based spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Last year, India demanded access to all BlackBerry services as part of efforts to fight militancy and security threats over the Internet and through telephone communications, demands echoed by several other countries that have also tried, sometimes successfully, to restrict the popular smartphone.

Google's Android dethroned Nokia's Symbian as the most popular smartphone platform in the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry 10 years ago.

Research firm Canalys said on Monday phone makers sold a total of 32.9 million Android-equipped phones in the last quarter, compared with Symbian's total sales of 31 million. The landmark piles pressure on Nokia as it struggles to reassert itself at the top end of the mobile handsets market.

Following Apple's 2007 entrance into smartphones, Google rolled out its open-source Android operating system, which has become the standard for smaller phone makers.

Hit models from Samsung Electronics, HTC and LG Electronics helped Android in the quarter, while Symbian suffered from troubles of its owner and main user, Nokia.

"We have seen some strong products from a number of vendors," said Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd.

Android performs well in tablet segment

Google Inc's Android software won a 22 percent share of the tablet computer market in the fourth quarter, biting at the heels of Apple Inc's iPad, which still has a massive market lead.

Google's Android dethroned Nokia's Symbian as the most popular smartphone platform in the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry 10 years ago.

Research firm Canalys said on Monday phone makers sold a total of 32.9 million Android-equipped phones in the last quarter, compared with Symbian's total sales of 31 million. The landmark piles pressure on Nokia as it struggles to reassert itself at the top end of the mobile handsets market.

Following Apple's 2007 entrance into smartphones, Google rolled out its open-source Android operating system, which has become the standard for smaller phone makers.

Hit models from Samsung Electronics, HTC and LG Electronics helped Android in the quarter, while Symbian suffered from troubles of its owner and main user, Nokia.

"We have seen some strong products from a number of vendors," said Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd.
Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

A technique that can lift fingerprints from fabric!

In what could change the face of forensics forever, scientists in Scotland have developed a new technique which they claim could lift fingerprints from cloth and household fabrics such as curtains and couches.

In the past, forensic officers have only been able to take fingerprints from solid objects. But, the new technique means that full sets of prints can now be taken from clothing and fabrics, 'The Scotsman' reported.

The ground-breaking research was carried out by the University of Abertay and Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) laboratories.

Paul Deacon, fingerprint unit manager at the SPSA, said: "This is cutting-edge research which will increase the type of cases we can look at. There's now virtually no smooth surface we don't have some chance of finding a print on. This is just the tip of the iceberg."

A piece of fabric is put into a vacuum chamber and a fine layer of gold is spread over it. Zinc is then added which sticks to the gold but not where there are ridges or remains of a fingerprint.

The fabric then looks like a photographic negative where the fabric appears grey except for the fingerprint.

The scientists used one of two existing machines in Scotland which have been effective for decades in getting prints off smooth, solid objects. The machine, using vacuum metal deposition (VMD), was originally used to make car lamps.

This is the first time its use has been expanded to reliably get prints from fabric. The research found fabrics with thread counts of more than three per millimetre, such as silk or nylon, were best for catching a full print.

Prof David Bremner, forensic science research leader at the University of Abertay Dundee and another author on the recent report in Forensic Science International, said: "This research is very exciting, showing a huge amount of progress in the development of the technique.

"By proving that fingerprinting from fabrics is possible, this should help future criminal investigations and the apprehension of perpetrators."

However, the scientists cautioned that their work could not solve all cases. But they said the science could eventually be used in an average of one major case each week.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Air laser to sniff out bombs from a distance

Engineers have developed a new laser sensing technology that may allow soldiers to sniff out hidden bombs from a distance.

"We are able to send a laser pulse out and get another pulse back from the air itself," said Richard Miles, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University in the US.

"The returning beam interacts with the molecules in the air and carries their finger prints," said Miles, who led the study, the journal Science reports.

This "air laser" is a much more powerful tool than previously existed for remote measurements of trace amounts of chemicals in the air, according to a Princeton statement.

Miles collaborated with Arthur Dogariu, James Michael of Princeton and Marlan Scully, professor with joint appointments at Princeton and Texas A&M University.
Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Facebook boosts security, adds HTTPS

In order to stay safe and protect users from getting hacked, the popular social networking site Facebook is rolling out a new set of security features.

Facebook, with over 500-million members, has added the ability for users to login and surf the site using a more secure encrypted connection, known as HTTPS.

The encryption is the same used on shopping and banking websites to secure connections, and was previously used on Facebook when passwords are checked.

"Starting today we'll provide you with the ability to experience Facebook entirely over HTTPS. You should consider enabling this option if you frequently use Facebook from public Internet access points found at coffee shops, airports, libraries or schools," the company said in a blog post.

Facebook noted that the site may function more slowly using HTTPS, and some features, including many third-party applications, don't currently support HTTPS.

In addition to the added encryption , Facebook said it will now also offer "social authentification," a unique form of the traditional "captcha" coding that will ask a user to identify Facebook friends from their photos.

Google Inc's Android software won a 22 per cent share of the tablet computer market in the fourth quarter, biting at the heels of Apple Inc's iPad, which still has a massive market lead.

Research firm Strategy Analytics said Apple's share of the global market for tablets fell to 75 per cent in the fourth quarter from 95 per cent in the third quarter while the overall market increased 120 per cent to almost 10 million units.

The Galaxy tablet from Samsung Electronics was the main competitor to iPad in the quarter as it was on sale in dozens of countries, according to the research firm.

Samsung has said it sold 2 million Galaxy tablets in the last three months, still putting it far behind Apple, which sold more than 7 million iPads in the last quarter. It was not immediately clear whether both companies were referring to the exact same time period.

Strategy Analytics expects Android to increase its tablet market share further in the first half of this year as new devices such as the Xoom from Motorola Mobility are expected to go on sale during that time.

However, Canada's Research In Motion will add yet more competition to the burgeoning market when it launches its PlayBook tablet toward the end of this quarter.

The United States was the biggest tablet market by far in the fourth quarter, Strategy Analytics said.

Google Searches for Mobile-App Experts

Google Inc. plans to hire dozens of software developers to create applications for smartphones and other mobile devices, people familiar with the matter said, a new strategy aimed partly at helping Google counter Apple Inc. in one of high tech's hottest sectors.

The Internet company has begun recruiting software engineers, product managers, user-interface experts and others who have ideas for mobile apps, the people said. Some current Google employees have changed jobs to work on the effort, they added.

World-wide, revenue from mobile apps is expected to triple this year to $15.1 billion, including paid downloads and advertising revenue generated by free apps, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Besides the potential of making money directly from such creations, more and better apps can help devices powered by Google's Android operating system continue to gain ground on Apple's iPhones and iPads.

The Google software is still playing catch-up when it comes to apps. Android users can access an online market with more than 100,000 applications available for download, but Apple's app store has more than 350,000 apps. Apple declined to comment.

Google also has reason to try to spur quality, not just quantity, since getting hit apps first can drive demand for operating systems and devices. Some of the apps developed by Google's new effort may be available only for Android, the people familiar with the matter said. The adoption of Android also helps ensure that Google's search engine, the principal revenue source for the company, and other Google services are prominent on mobile devices.

Saudi Arabia — In the Netherlands, the jailhouse recantation of a convicted terrorist renouncing violence has circulated online. Counterterrorism officials say it could make disaffected youth think twice about joining violent extremist ranks.

In Pakistan, the authorities are posting on YouTube gruesome videos of mosques bombed by Islamic extremists, to show that such attacks kill fellow Muslims.

And here in Saudi Arabia, a government-supported program has enlisted hundreds of Islamic scholars turned bloggers to fight online radicalization by challenging the interpretations of the Koran posted on extremist social networking forums.

In recent years, governments and allied grass-roots advocacy groups had largely ceded cyberspace to extremists, who use the Internet to recruit, raise money, spread their ideology and disseminate instructions on bomb-making and other terrorist techniques. Governments have carried out covert operations to undermine or take down extremist Web sites, but many pop back within days or weeks.

Now these governments, often working with international organizations like the United Nations and European Union, and more quietly with private or nonprofit groups, are opening a counterattack to try to undermine the appeal of terrorists, expose their lack of legitimacy, and attack the credibility of their ideology and online messengers.

Counterterrorism officials from more than 30 countries met here last week under the auspices of the United Nations and Naif Arab University to share tactics and strategies on how to use the Internet to counter the appeal of extremist violence.

Believe it or not, mobile phones say quite a lot about their owners, says a new study. Social analyst David Chalke said a person's mobile phone could give outsiders insight into their attitudes towards work, rest and play.

"Twenty years ago when you said 'your phone', you meant the white Telecom commander on the wall in the kitchen, but it doesn't mean that at all now it means your social accessory. "People always used to say it about cars, 'you drive what you are'... and now your phone (represents) what you are," he was quoted by the 'Courrier Mail' as saying. In fact, a research by Roy Morgan revealed most attributes differed between the owners of mobile phone brands. The typical iPhone user thinks computers give them control over their lives. "iPhone is the Alfa Romeo," Chalke said.

SonyEricsson users like a full social life and fast food. Users of an LG handset are usually women aged 14 to 24, not mechanically minded and unlikely to have pay TV . "LG is the Kia," Chalke said.

Samsung users tend to be conservative dressers over 50 who don't like taking risks. "Samsung is the Daihatsu." BlackBerry users are high-earners aged 35 to 49. Nokia users are unlikely to be aged 14 to 24 and less likely to have played arcade video games in the past three months, according to him. "Nokia is the security blanket ... it is the Toyota of phones," Chalke said.

Fast, clean and secure: Browsers getting smart

It takes around 100 milliseconds to bat your eyelid. And the race now among the popularly used browsers is to optimize javascript performance to be within the time you bat your eyelid twice. There is very little difference between the speeds clocked by the latest versions of the browsers of Google, Microsoft and Mozilla. What this means is that applications and graphics pop up at enviable speeds.

Google's Chrome, Microsoft's latest Internet Explorer 9 Beta version and Mozilla Firebox's 4 Beta 10 update offer just that - ultra fast speeds, a clean browser and a high level of security. Perhaps the key differentiator here is the user interface experience and extra features/extensions that each browser offers. It is in this niche services, that one browser scores over the other, says Harish Vaidyanathan, Director, Evangelism, Microsoft India . But for ordinary users, these advanced features help them save time and increase efficiency. For instance, you don't have to key in the entire URL address in any of these browsers.

All the three latest versions are smart enough to throw up the exact link you are looking for. In some cases, they even offer different options or they may even track your browsing history and display sites you visit very often. You may not need to open separate applications to view Excel sheets or your photo albums, these have now become integrated into the browser itself. Here's a look at some of the fascinating developments introduced by the major browsers.

Google Chrome Browser
Tabs are getting very adventurous across browsers. Instead of having multiple windows piled up at the bottom, it saves so much space to have tabs neatly arranged on the top. The fascinating thing here is that you can have split tabs into different windows. This means that you can write that research project you have been working on and at the same time keep a tab on the cricket scores. And this is how you do it:

1. Drag a tab to the middle of either side of your computer screen

2. When the docking icon appears, release the mouse over the icon and the tab will snap into place, filling exactly half your screen

3. Four other docking positions will help you work simultaneously in multiple tabs with ease

Iomega needs something big to fight off the onslaught of competition from other HD media players, especially from Western Digital . And that something big is ironically rather small, but with a really long name - Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link MX HD Media Player . We'll just keep it simple and call it the Iomega MX for this review.

Iomega has several other options in HD media players; even ones with built in hard drives. But honestly speaking, none of them have been as desireable as the options offered by Western Digital. Until now! The Iomega MX is super-compact and lightweight, with a nice brushed aluminium surface.

In fact, after unpacking it, we wondered how something so small could pull off full HD video playback and upscaling. The skepticism was there in spades. It's just 20mm thick and weighs about 180 grams; just slightly more than an average smartphone .

However, right out of the box, the Iomega MX is impressive; it's easy to setup, starts up quickly, responds fast and is ready to play the moment you plug in a hard drive or flash drive. It supports all the major audio, video and photo formats. AVI, MKV, M2TS, WMV, RMVB, VOB , MP4, FLV, AVCHD — that's all the major video file formats right there.

The interface is pleasing, intuitive and responsive. Unlike some of the low cost HD media players we've seen, this one responds instantly to the commands from the remote. Even a native full HD file ripped from a Blu-Ray disc (an 8GB MKV file) starts playing a few seconds after it is selected. Quality of playback is excellent, with no visible artifacts on a full HD TV, and no stutter or lag.

Ashok Soota , who announced his decision to move out of MindTree and resign from his role as executive chairman, is bound by a non-compete agreement that prevents him from taking any MindTree client and employee with him, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Soota is starting a new venture and has asked the board to release him by March 31.

The veteran IT leader is held in high esteem and there were fears that after his departure, many employees and clients would also move out of MindTree to join him. Soota, who co-founded MindTree with nine others, is the single largest shareholder in the company with over 11% stake.

Investment bankers are closely watching the developments and awaiting the outcome of the board meeting to be held early this week to determine how the company will move forward. Company officials could not be reached for comment.

Some of the immediate concerns around Soota's departure is if the company will be able to contain the damage and reassure all stakeholders that it is business as usual. Else it could lose business and talent to rivals, who are stepping up hiring to meet increased demand after the downturn, and risk a possible implosion, said bankers. "A lot depends on how quickly the board acts. The earlier the better," said an analyst tracking the developments.

Financial investors, Walden and Nalanda, which hold around 10% each, and Global Technology Ventures with a 6.6% stake are the other large investors in the firm. Among the promoters, Bagchi and Krishnakumar hold around 5% each and S Janakiraman, president and group CEO of product engineering services holds around 2.5%. Bagchi, Krishnakumar and Janakiraman also play a more central role in the company's decision making.

Specialised online stores hottest e-commerce start-ups: Survey

They are a constant feature of internet surfing - online retailers offering cash on delivery facility, option of creating your own T-shirts and other services. In fact, such specialised online stores , fashion brand retailers and group buying stores are among the hottest e-commerce start-ups, a survey says.

The study was conducted jointly by leading infotech magazine Dataquest, online research company JuxtConsult and business solution provider firm SapientNitro.

The 20 companies selected for the survey included 20north.com, 99labels.com, Bindaasbargain.com, Buytheprice.com, Caratlane.com, Dealsandyou.com, Fashionandyou.com, Flipkart.com, Indiangiftsportal.com, Infibeam.com, Inkfruit.com and Magazinemall.in.

The selection depended on three broad parameters -- business model, user experience and traction.

The report did not rank the companies.

According to the report, the business model of these companies is far more robust than the companies set up in the first phase of e-commerce ten years ago. Many of these sites have adapted models better suited to Indian needs.

In order to stay safe and protect users from getting hacked, the popular social networking site Facebook is rolling out a new set of security features.

Facebook, with over 500-million members, has added the ability for users to login and surf the site using a more secure encrypted connection, known as HTTPS.

The encryption is the same used on shopping and banking websites to secure connections, and was previously used on Facebook when passwords are checked.

"Starting today we'll provide you with the ability to experience Facebook entirely over HTTPS. You should consider enabling this option if you frequently use Facebook from public Internet access points found at coffee shops, airports, libraries or schools," the company said in a blog post.

Facebook noted that the site may function more slowly using HTTPS, and some features, including many third-party applications, don't currently support HTTPS.

In addition to the added encryption, Facebook said it will now also offer "social authentification," a unique form of the traditional "captcha" coding that will ask a user to identify Facebook friends from their photos.

If you're stuck on your sudoku puzzle, there's hope. New photo recognition software for Android mobiles, Goggles, can help solve the puzzle.

Just hold the numerical puzzle up to the camera on your mobile. Goggles will then recognize the numbers already in the puzzle and calculate the missing values.

Goggles, now in version 1.3, is also capable of reading ads in US magazines and newspapers and pulling up the appropriate websites. Recognition of bar codes has also gotten better, reported Google in its blog.

Goggles photographs items and loads them up to Google's servers, where they are analyzed before results are sent to the user's mobile.

Google says the app can also recognize products and famous sites. It also translates texts between English, German and Spanish.

The free software is available for all smart-phones that use the Android operating system. The Sudoku assistance is also available in the Google Mobile app for the iPhone.

iPod, iPhone, iPad fuelling Apple's logic defying growth

Size is the enemy of growth. It is one of the unwritten laws of business, a matter of simple percentages. After all, when a company has $1 billion in yearly sales, an extra $1 billion doubles its size. Add $1 billion in new business to a $10 billion-a-year company, and it amounts to just 10 percent growth. The size-growth tradeoff seems inevitable, an inescapable force like gravity.

Try telling that to Apple, the corporate giant that two weeks ago reported a 71 percent jump in quarterly sales. Apple generates revenue at the rate of $100 billion a year. Its chief executive, Steve Jobs , who went on medical leave this month, is ailing, but the company is certainly not.

Hit products like the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad are fueling Apple’s logic-defying growth. The latest entry – the iPad, introduced in April – is on track to deliver $15 billion to $20 billion in revenue in its first full year of sales, estimates A.M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. At that size, if the iPad were a stand-alone company, it would rank within the top third of the Fortune 500.

The software and services that work on Apple’s hit products are accelerating its extraordinary expansion. Apple provides the underlying technology and marketplace: iTunes software and the iTunes Store for managing, downloading and buying music and media; iPhone and iPad software for creating applications; and the App Store for sampling and buying them.

The more people buy iPhones and iPads, the more software developers and media companies want to write applications for them, as various as games and digital magazines. And consumers are more likely to buy iPhones and iPads when more entertainment and information applications are available on them. The combination of hardware, software and services is what corporate executives, economists and analysts call a platform. Successful technology platforms sustain and reinforce growth. And this self-reinforcing cycle is known as a network effect. It helps the platform owner and raises a barrier to competitors.

About 180 Mexican archaeological sites and 116 museums are being made available for virtual visits via the Google Earth platform from any part of the world, Mexican authorities and executives of Google Latin America said.

During the platform's presentation at Chapultepec Castle in the Mexican capital, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH's director Alfonso de Maria y Campos, and Google Latin America' marketing manager, Miguel Angel Alva, said Thursday that this is "a unique effort in the Latin American region and its first such project at an international level."

At the event, which included the awarding of prizes for entries in the "Put Mexico on the Map" contest, De Maria y Campos said that the sites form part of Google's interactive digital atlas, and will help boost the promotion of Mexico's culture and tourism around the world.

The INAH director said that "cultural tourism brings in twice the cash that sun, sea and sand tourism does, which tells us that this tourist segment travels more, has a better image of the country and above all leaves more money in non-traditional places."

For his part, Alva said that the project was born of an alliance between INAH and Google Mexico aimed at creating international awareness of the country's cultural riches.

Egypt shutdown worst in Internet history: Experts

The scale of Egypt's crackdown on the Internet and mobile phones amid deadly protests against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak is unprecedented in the history of the web, experts said.

US President Barack Obama, social networking sites and rights groups around the world all condemned the moves by Egyptian authorities to stop activists using cellphones and cybertechnology to organise rallies.

"It's a first in the history of the Internet," Rik Ferguson, an expert for Trend Micro, the world's third biggest computer security firm, said.

Julien Coulon, co-founder of Cedexis, a French Internet performance monitoring and traffic management system, added: "In 24 hours we have lost 97 percent of Egyptian Internet traffic.

According to Renesys, a US Internet monitoring company, Egypt's four main Internet service providers cut off international access to their customers in a near simultaneous move at 2234 GMT on Thursday.

These days, Facebook may be the single best way online to keep in touch with friends, associates, far-flung family members, and people with similar interests. But if you're not careful, it's probably also the site most likely to get you into trouble.

Virtually every week, there's another news report about employers using Facebook to evaluate or screen employees or potential employees, making assumptions about character, trustworthiness, or conduct based upon Facebook postings or "friends."

Girlfriends and boyfriends, husbands and wives, friends and neighbours can check out each other's Facebook pages with ease, possibly jumping to erroneous conclusions about what shows up. So how can you enjoy what Facebook has to offer while limiting your risk? Follow these steps:

Know your privacy settings

Whether you're active or not on Facebook, if you haven't visited the Privacy Settings area, you should put this on the top of your to-do list. In short, Facebook pages get indexed very well by the major search engines, and unless you know both what's on your page and what could be on your page as a result of friends' postings, you should take control pronto.

Scientists have developed a new laser sensing technology that could allow soldiers to detect hidden bombs from a distance.

The Princeton University technology may also help scientists better measure airborne environmental pollutants and greenhouse gasses.

"We are able to send a laser pulse out and get another pulse back from the air itself. The returning beam interacts with the molecules in the air and carries their finger prints," said Richard Miles, the research group leader and co-author on the paper.

Miles collaborated with three other researchers: Arthur Dogariu, the lead author on the paper, and James Michael of Princeton, and Marlan Scully, a professor with joint appointments at Princeton and Texas A&M University.

The new laser sensing method uses an ultraviolet laser pulse that is focused on a tiny patch of air, similar to the way a magnifying glass focuses sunlight into a hot spot.

Within this hot spot oxygen atoms become "excited" as their electrons get pumped up to high energy levels. When the pulse ends, the electrons fall back down and emit infrared light.

Scientists have developed a new mobile technology which they claim is set to improve calls during disasters by allowing the transmission of signals with -out nearby cell phone towers.

An international team, led by Flinders University, has created the software which can run on "off-the-shelf" mobile phones and allow them to relay calls for one phone to another -- without the presence of mobile phone towers in the vicinity -- before ultimately re-connecting with an operating mobile telephone tower.

"Our technology allows the signal from the working towers to be relayed into areas lacking signal, allowing calls in and out of affected areas. What is amazing is that we have programmed fairly ordinary mobile telephones to perform this function, without using any specialised hardware," Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen, who led the team, said.

He added: "My team and I are excited about the potential of our technology to help when a crisis strikes.

From the outset of this project we have been committed to making our technology freely available.

"Any telephone carrier or handset manufacturer that wishes to incorporate our technology into their products is free to do so, and indeed we would be delighted to assist them in that process."

The technology also has the potential to dramatically improve mobile telephone coverage in many rural and remote locations where a signal is available only from limited locations in a community or with a frustratingly weak signal, say the scientists.

"Phones running our software relay calls between themselves. If even just one of those can see a cell tower, then calls can be with any of the phones, thus sustaining communications in affected areas. A balloon is not necessary; a phone running our software at any vantage point can suffice," he said.

BlackBerry knocked out of Top-5 sellers by China' ZTE

China's ZTE Corp. has replaced BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) among the world's top five mobile phone sellers.

According to a report released Friday by tech research company IDC, the low-priced cellphone maker ZTE also pushed Apple to the last spot on the Top-5 list on the back its surging sales.

The report "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker'' said Apple was pushed from the fourth slot to the last position despite shipping a record number of iPhones during the fourth quarter.

BlackBerry had made to the IDC's Top-5 list only last April.

According to figures, Nokia remained the No. 1 mobile phone seller, shipping 123.7 million units during the quarter even though its sales declined 2.4 percent since last year.

However, Nokia still commands about 31 percent of the global smart phone market.

Shipping 80.7 million units during the period, Samsung was at the second spot, with 20.1 percent share of the global market.

An Internet blockade in Egypt inspired Google on Friday to provide an improved tool for tracking access to the firm's popular websites.

A portion of a Google Transparency Report that charts worldwide Internet traffic patterns was modified to reflect conditions on the Web within the past four hours.

Prior to the change, the traffic tool launched late last year had a 30-hour delay.

"Given the recent interest in the availability of our services, we've reduced the time delay in the Traffic tool on our Transparency Report to less than four hours," the company said.

The roller coaster graph line for Egypt traffic to YouTube , Blogger, and other Google sites during the past two weeks plunged abruptly to zero on Thursday and was still there when checked by AFP at 2330 GMT on Friday.

According to Renesys, a US Internet monitoring company, Egypt's four main Internet service providers cut off international access to their customers in a near simultaneous move on Thursday.

"The Internet has been one of the greatest innovations of our lifetime because of the access to information it gives people around the world," Google chief legal officer David Drummond told Al-Jazeera news on Friday.

"We believe that access is a fundamental right, and it's very sad if it's denied to citizens of Egypt or any country."

The Egyptian government's unprecedented shutdown of Internet access in the face of massive anti-government protests came under fire on Friday from the White House , social networking giants and digital rights groups.

iPad apps, accessories as profitable as the tablet itself

iPad hasn't just made $10 billion for Apple in less than a year of its launch. It is also the breeding ground for thousands of apps and accessories that make millions on the side. This is because an iPad buyer is condemned not to be content with just the device alone.

Within days of the purchase — if not at the time of purchase itself — iPad owners download many of the over 2 lakh apps (some free, some paid) on offer and pick up an accessory or two-cases, docks, speaker systems, keyboard...the list goes on.

Now that the iPad is officially available, here's a quick lowdown on what you will most probably need to have with the device — if you are planning to buy one. The first thing you will need is a case. You can choose to go for the official Apple iPad case (Rs 2,500) or one of the many hundreds of different skins, sleeves or hard cases from manufacturers like Belkin and Griffin.

Prices start as low as Rs 1,200 and can go up to Rs 4,000 on the more expensive wooden, engraved or personalised options. Then, depending on how finicky you are, you will want a screen protector and/or screen cleaner kit (the fingerprints on that gigantic screen are a nightmare).

As for the apps-the iPad accesses a specific section of the Apple App Store , so you don't have the might of 3,00,000 applications like you do with the iPhone, but there were 60,000 iPad-specific apps at last count. Many of the same apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch are also available for the iPad, but tagged with the 'HD' (or high definition) moniker.

Microsoft surprised Wall Street with a better-than-expected profit, helped by resurgent corporate spending after the belt-tightening of past years. But its shares stayed flat as investors expressed concern about the weakness of overall computer sales amid a faltering US recovery.

The world's largest software maker, whose Windows operating system runs on 90% of the world's computers, is heavily dependent on PC sales, which grew only 3%in the quarter. “Outstanding numbers when you take a first look at it, but then you delve into them, Windows missed expectations by $300 million,” said Brendan Barnicle , analyst at Pacific Crest Securities .

Sales of smartphones and tablets are expected to grow much more quickly than PCs over the next few years, posing athreat to Microsoft's key market.

But some analysts argued that fears of tablets and other hot-selling gadgets replacing PCs were overblown -- at least for now. “We've gotten over 300 million Windows 7 licenses sold. I mean, PCs are not disappearing. Put that into perspective with 7 million tablets sold last quarter from Apple ,” said BGC Financial's Colin Gillis.

Friday, January 28, 2011

MIT unveils fastest 3-D holographic video to date

Researchers from MIT have unveiled the fastest 3-D holographic video to date, filming a graduate student dressed as Princess Leia and projecting her as a postcard-sized hologram in real time.

The holographic device, unveiled at the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers’ conference in San Francisco, plays a 3-inch projection at 15 frames per second, just shy of movie refresh rates of 24 to 30 frames per second.

“I think it’s an important milestone because they were able to get to 15 frames per second, which is almost real time,” Discovery News quoted physicist Nasser Peyghambarian, who led the Arizona research, as saying.

“The quality is not as high, but hopefully it will get better in the future,” he stated.

The MIT team used a Kinect camera from an Xbox 360 gaming console to capture light from a moving object.

Then they relayed the data over the Internet to a PC with three graphics processing units, or GPUs, tiny processors found in computers, cell phones, and video games that render video quickly.

The processors compute how light waves interfere with each other to form patterns of light and dark fringes. Light bouncing off these fringe patterns reconstructs the original image.

The MIT team used a display to illuminate the computer-generated fringes and create a hologram.

“The students were able to figure out how to generate holograms by using what GPU chips are good at,” Michael Bove, an MIT engineer who led the research, said.

“And they get faster every year. There’s room for a lot more understanding of how to compute holograms on them,” he added.

World's first hack-free software 'developed'

Scientists have developed what they claim is the world's first hack-free software which can protect systems from failure or malicious attacks.

The 'seL4' microkernel has been developed by a team led by Australia's ICT Research Centre of Excellence's spinout company -- Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs). It is a small operating system kernel which regulates access to a computer's hardware.

Its unique feature is that it has been mathematically proven to operate correctly, enabling it to separate trusted from untrusted software, protecting critical services from a failure or a malicious attack, say the scientists.

In future applications, seL4 could ensure that trusted financial transaction software from secure sources like banks or stock exchanges can operate securely on a customer's mobile phone alongside "untrusted" software, such as games downloaded from the Internet, according to its developers.

It could also provide a secure and reliable environment for mission-critical defence data, operating on the same platform as everyday applications like email. Or, it could protect the life-supporting functions of an implanted medical device, such as a pacemaker, from hacking, they say.

"Our seL4 microkernel is the only operating system kernel in existence whose source code has been mathematically proven to implement its specification correctly. Under the assumptions of the proof, the seL4 kernel for ARM11 will always do precisely what its specification says it will do," lead scientist Gerwin Klein said.

Added another scientist Gernot Heiser: "Verification of operating-system kernels has been attempted since the 1970s -- we pulled it off!"

NASA marks 25 yrs after Challenger disaster

The United States marked a day of remembrance for astronauts who have died in the line of duty, particularly the victims in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger 25 years ago.

Schoolchildren and space enthusiasts around the world watched live January 28, 1986 as the Challenger lifted off carrying seven astronauts including the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, to embark on a mission to space.

The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch at an altitude of 14,000 meters (46,000 feet), killing everyone on board. Engineers determined that the blast was caused by the failure of a joint seal due to cold weather.

"We have seen that achieving great things sometimes comes at great cost and we mourn the brave astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice in support of NASA missions throughout the agency's storied history," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"We pause to reflect on the tragic loss of the Apollo 1 crew, those who boarded the space shuttle Challenger in search of a brighter future, and the brave souls who perished on the space shuttle Columbia."

A total of 24 people have been killed while supporting the space agency's mission since 1964, NASA said.

North American smartphone vendors Apple and RIM , along with low-cost Chinese producer ZTE , emerged as the biggest winners on the booming cellphone market in final quarter of 2010.

Research firm IDC estimated the global handset market grew last quarter 18 percent from a year ago, while Strategy Analytics said growth was at 16 percent.

"Mobile phone users are eager to swap out older devices for ones that handle data as well as voice, which is driving growth and replacement cycles," IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement on Friday.

The phone market has recovered from a slump in 2009 when the global economic slowdown dampened sales of the latest gadgets. Demand has surged for new smartphones like Apple's iPhone 4 and Samsung's Galaxy S.

Apple's sales of iPhones grew 86 percent from a year ago, while RIM sold 35 percent more Blackberrys than a year ago in its latest fiscal quarter to end-November.

RISE OF ZTE "The past year has been a highly disruptive period, as high-tier smartphone specialists and manufacturers of entry-level handsets with multiple SIM-card slots made gains at the expense of several established mega-vendors," said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

Microsoft Corp has reported a marginal dip of 0.45 per cent in its net income to USD 6.63 billion in the October-December quarter of 2010 but the software giant's revenues surged on sale of Office software and Kinect video game accessory.

The entity had a net income of USD 6.66 billion in the year-ago period, Microsoft said in a press statement.

The company has registered a record revenue of USD 19.95 billion in the second quarter ended December 31, 2010, as against USD 19.02 billion in the year-ago period.

Microsoft's record revenues were driven by 55 per cent growth in revenues for the entertainment and devices division as the success of the Kinect sensor boosted sales of Xbox 360 consoles, Xbox Live subscriptions and Xbox games. The quarter earnings were also boosted by sales of Office 2010.

Revenues from software major's business division grew 24 per cent year-on-year. Besides, Office 2010 is the fastest- selling consumer version of Office in history, with licence sales over 50 per cent ahead of Office 2007 over an equivalent period following its launch.

"We are enthusiastic about the consumer response to our holiday lineup of products, including the launch of Kinect. The 8 million units of Kinect sensors sold in just 60 days far exceeded our expectations," said Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein.

"The pace of business spending, combined with strong consumer demand, led to another quarter of operating margin expansion and solid earnings per share growth," Klein added.

Revenue in the Windows division tanked 30 per cent to USD 5.05 billion,reflecting a slow growth in the personal-computer sector. However, Microsoft had launched Windows 7 in the same quarter of 2009, which makes a difficult comparison in revenues front.

Tablets won't steamroll Microsoft, top exec says

Concerns that roaring demand for tablets and smartphones like Apple's iPad and iPhone will leave Microsoft in the dust are simply overdone, Microsoft International's president told Reuters.

"Devices are going to go and come," Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International , told Reuters at the World Economic Forum , adding that the company was making progress developing products in the tablet arena.

In January, Microsoft said it would make a version of its Windows operating system compatible with chips designed by ARM Holdings to establish a major presence in smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft, whose Windows software powers 90 percent of the world's computers, on Thursday reported results that fell short of outsized expectations and failed to assuage investors that the rapid spread of devices made by Apple Inc and smartphones and tablets that run Google software would dominate the next phase of computing.

Its shares were flat after reporting results, despite reporting better-than-expected profit.

Micro-blogging site Twitter confirmed Wednesday that its service had been blocked in Egypt, indicating a probable government crackdown on technology that could disseminate information about the widening anti-government demonstrations.

"We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8 a.m. (Pacific Time, 1600 GMT) today," Twitter confirmed on the @twitterglobalpr feed. "It's impacting both Twitter.com & applications. We believe that the open exchange of info & views benefits societies and helps governments better connect w/ their people."

According to Herdict.com, which tracks government attempts to block internet sites, Egyptian authorities appear to be taking action against other popular communications sites, too, such as Facebook, YouTube, Person.com and veoh.com. However it appears that such actions have been partially circumvented, because many users in Egypt still reported being able to access the sites, including by mobile telephones.

Intel gets EU nod for McAfee deal

Intel's acquisition of data security firm McAfee Inc cleared its last major hurdle after EU regulators approved the $7.68 billion deal on condition Intel grant rival firms access to its technology.

World No. 1 chipmaker Intel said it now expects to close the acquisition, which it aims to use bolster the security of Internet-connected devices, before the end of the first quarter.

Intel secured clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission on December 21 to acquire McAfee, the world's No. 2 maker of security software after Symantec Corp.

The deal will be Intel's largest acquisition to date. The decision by the European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, confirmed a Reuters report on January 20.

"The commitments submitted by Intel strike the right balance, as they allow preserving both competition and the beneficial effects of the merger," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

Intel agreed to ensure that rival security firms have access to all the necessary information that would allow their products to use Intel's chips and central processing units, the Commission said.

Facebook has no plans to launch Facebook-branded phones with Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC, it said, following reports that it planned to launch an official tie-up next month.

"This is really just another example of a manufacturer who has taken our public APIs (application programming interfaces) and integrated them into their device in an interesting way," said Dan Rose, head of business development at Facebook.

A London based business newspaper had reported that HTC would unveil two new Facebook-branded mobile phones at next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in a story that was widely picked up in other media.

"The rumors around there being something more to this HTC device are overblown," Rose told journalists at a company event in London. Asked whether the device would be Facebook-branded, he answered: "No."

Mobile is an increasingly important driver of traffic to Facebook, which says 250 million users per month access the social network on mobile devices.

HTC was the manufacturer of the first Google-branded phone, the Nexus One.

Facebook says has seen drop in traffic from Egypt

Facebook has seen a drop in traffic to its Web site from Egypt on Thursday amid anti-government protests in that country, the company said.

"We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic from Egypt this morning," Facebook spokesperson Jillian Carroll told Reuters in an email.

Apple finally brings iPad to India; starting price Rs 27,990

The Apple iPad is finally here! Starting Friday, you can visit the nearest Apple retailer (or iStore) and pick up the tablet you've always wanted. The starting price of Rs 27,990 will most likely make Apple aficionados rub their hands in delight. The base version of the iPad (16 GB, wi-fi only) has been selling at Rs 33,000 in the grey market and on online stores.

iPad has earned the title of the fastest selling gadget ever. In less than a year of its launch, it has sold nearly 15 million units, earning close to $10 billion in revenue. The iPad launch was announced in the US exactly a year ago (January 27, 2010), though it only went on sale in April 2011. Since then, the iPad has single-handedly reinvented the tablet market.

Though not through Apple, iPad has been on sale in India since August 2010, mostly through the grey market. Several e-commerce websites also started selling the device subsequently. Analysts peg the total number of iPads in India currently at about 40,000 units. This includes sales through the grey market, online sales or those who simply purchased the device abroad.

Not only is the India launch of the iPad delayed (it was launched in Hong Kong & Singapore as far back as July 2010) but the iPad 2, due out in a couple of months, is rumored to have dual cameras, a higher resolution 'retina' display and a faster processor. Add that to the increasing competition from other tablet makers like Samsung, Motorola and BlackBerry and your choice becomes confusing- wait for iPad 2 or pick up a non-Apple device that packs in more features.

Like elsewhere in the world, an entire ecosystem is getting created around the iPad. Accessories for Apple products is a flourishing industry and various accessories for the iPad have been available for the past few months at electronics stores and e-commerce sites.

BSNL has announced 3G plans specifically for the iPad while Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have been selling micro SIM cards (for 3G versions) for some time.

In all, there are six versions of the iPad available; capacities of 16, 32 or 64GB in a choice of Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + 3G. The 16GB Wi-Fi only version will be priced at Rs 27,990 while the top of the line 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G version will be priced at Rs 44,990.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Facebook founder's fan page hacked

The fan page of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been hacked by a mystery invader who posted a message decrying the company's attempts to cash in on its hugely successful site.

Facebook declined to comment on the embarrassing security snafu, but did take down the compromised page. "Let the hacking begin: If Facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn't Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way?" said the message, posted just days after Facebook confirmed that it had raised $1.5 billion from global investors at a valuation of around $50 billion.

"Why not transform Facebook into a 'social business' the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it?" the message continued, referring to the founder of the Grameen Bank which has transformed millions of lives by extending micro-loans to poor people.

Zuckerberg's fan page has more than three million followers and is probably managed by media assistants to the social networking magnate, according to cyber-security experts.

The hackers may have stolen control of the page by guessing the password, sniffing it out over unsecured wireless networks, tricking Zuckerberg or the account manager into revealing it, or even surreptitiously gaining control of their computer.

"We don't know how the hack was perpetrated," said Paul Ducklin , head of technology at internet security firm Sophos . "Whatever happened in this case, it raises one more tough question: do you still trust Facebook with your online persona?"

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