YouTube rules the mobile net roost: study

YouTube video-sharing service is the most popular website among smartphone users, accounting for 17 per cent of mobile data traffic, according to a report released Tuesday by network firm Allot Communications.

"As video streaming continues to reign supreme within mobile networks, YouTube continues as the single most significant website for video steaming and sharing, now accounting for 45 per cent of overall mobile video streaming traffic and 17 per cent of total traffic on mobile networks," said Allot Communications.

Last month YouTube said that it was serving up more than 200 million videos daily to smartphones and other Internet-linked mobile devices .

Allot Communication's Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report for the second half of 2010 found that video streaming extended its lead over other services, accounting for 37 per cent of total traffic.

File sharing represented 30 per cent of traffic, which Allot said indicates many subscribers see mobile Internet as a direct substitute for fixed connectivity.

Nokia software choice in focus as Elop takes stage

Nokia Oyj's new chief executive Stephen Elop will take the stage amid high expectations on Friday at an investor event in London.

The world's biggest cellphone maker warned on January 27 of a grim start to 2011, but its shares quickly recovered their subsequent steep losses after Elop flagged a possible change of software strategy.

Yet he faces formidable challenges. Nokia has rapidly lost share in the higher-margin smartphone market to new entrants such as Apple Inc and it lost its No. 1 spot in the segment to products based on Google Inc's Android platform last quarter.

Its answer to the high-end competition, the MeeGo platform, is unproven and its workhorse Symbian software has lost its appeal to developers.

"Any change from current strategy would be positive for the share price ... Investors think Nokia should at least try out another platform. Nokia stock would rise 30 percent," said Canaccord analyst Michael Walkley.

After limiting its financial forecasts on January 27 to just the first quarter, Elop is also set to unveil longer-term forecasts on Friday.

Egyptian protesters rally around Google Inc executive

Egyptian protesters are rallying around a recently released Google Inc executive as they try to maintain the momentum of a mass protest calling for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster.

Activists also called for 1 million people to fill the central Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

The protests already have brought the most sweeping changes since Mubarak took power nearly 30 years ago, but activists are insisting Mubarak step down immediately.

Some 90,000 have signed a Facebook page calling Google marketing manager Wael Ghoneim to be their leader, and they expect him to appear in the square Tuesday afternoon, a day after he was released from detention.

Ghoneim has said he was the administrator of a Facebook page used to organise Egypt's unprecedented pro-democracy uprising.

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

Cellphone security threats rise sharply - McAfee

Cellphone security threats rose sharply last year as a proliferation of Internet-enabled mobile devices like smartphones and tablets provided new opportunities for cybercriminals, security software maker McAfee said.

In its fourth-quarter threat report, released on Tuesday, McAfee said the number of pieces of new cellphone malware it found in 2010 rose 46 percent over 2009's level.

"As more users access the Internet from an ever-expanding pool of devices -- computer, tablet, smartphone or Internet TV -- web-based threats will continue to grow in size and sophistication," it said.

McAfee, which is being bought by Intel for $7.68 billion, said it expected PDF and Flash maker Adobe to remain a favourite of cybercriminals this year, after it overtook Microsoft in popularity as a target in 2010.

It attributed the trend to Adobe's greater popularity in mobile devices and non-Microsoft environments, coupled with the ongoing widespread use of PDF document files to convey malware.

MS launches Office web apps in India

Software giant Microsoft launched its Office Web Apps in India, which will allow users to access applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free.

Users can access Office Web Apps, the online companions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for free using their Windows Live ID on the SkyDrive or Hotmail, Microsoft India said in a statement.

This will allow users to create, view, edit, and share Office documents from anywhere with an Internet connection, it added.

"Office Web Apps are a key piece of Microsoft's overall cloud strategy and are designed to empower people to take their familiar productivity experience on the web," Microsoft Business Division Director Sanjay Manchanda said.

There are more than 30 million users of the beta version of Office Web Apps globally, within over six months after it was introduced.
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 users 'more likely to have eating disorders'

A new study from the University of Haifa has shown that the more time adolescent girls spend in front of Facebook , the more are their chances of developing a negative body image and various eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and exaggerated dieting.

This study, conducted by Prof Yael Latzer, Prof. Ruth Katz and Zohar Spivak of the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa, set out to examine the effects of two factors on the development of eating disorders in young girls: exposure to the media and self-empowerment.

A group of 248 girls aged 12-19 (average age: 14.8) took part in the survey. These girls were asked to provide information on their Internet and television viewing habits. Regarding the latter, they were asked to give the number of popular shows related to extreme standards of physical image (the "Barbie" model) that they watched.

The girls also filled out questionnaires that examined their approach to slimming, bulimia, physical satisfaction or dissatisfaction, their general outlook on eating, and their sense of personal empowerment.

The results showed that the more time girls spend on Facebook, the more they suffered conditions of bulimia, anorexia, physical dissatisfaction, negative physical self-image, negative approach to eating and more of an urge to be on a weight-loss diet.

Smartphones growth exploding as Android operating system drives prices down

Smartphone growth is exploding around the world, as Google's open-source Android operating system drives prices down, according to a study released Monday by market research firm IDC.

The study found that smartphone sales reached 101 million in the fourth quarter, up 87 per cent from a year earlier. Smartphones sales for 2010 were 302 million, up 75 per cent on the year.

"Android continues to gain by leaps and bounds, helping to drive the smartphone market," said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst.

He called the Android operating system the "cornerstone" of the smartphone strategy for many vendors and the biggest challenger to Nokia's Symbian OS, the market leader.

Nokia was still the market leader with 33.1 per cent, down from 39 per cent the year earlier. Research in Motion, the maker of the Blackberry, also saw its share decline from 19.9 per cent to 16.1 per cent. Apple's share rose from 14.5 per cent to 15.7 per cent.

The most impressive gains were made by Samsung, whose Android-powered phones sold 23 million units compared to 5.5 million in 2009, more than doubling its market share to 7.6 per cent.

HTC also saw impressive gains, selling 21.5 million smartphones, up from 8.1 million in 2009, to increase its market share to 7.1 per cent from 4.7 per cent.

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

HP unveils reclining PC

Computers are increasingly coming in all shapes and sizes. Now there is even a reclining computer.

HP announced the new form factor on Monday, saying that it believed the ability to lay the screen almost horizontal would be eagerly welcomed by consumers and companies such as hotels and other customer-facing businesses.

Analysts said HP was hoping that the devices could help the world's top computer maker fend off the challenge posed by Apple's iPad, which is being widely adopted by businesses such as hotels, car dealers and others who like to share online information with customers.

Part of HP's TouchSmart line, the new devices feature 58-cm touch screens that can recline to a 60-degree angle and be swiveled from side to side. Both the consumer and business versions of the device run on Windows 7.

The consumer device goes on sale later this week with prices starting at $899. The business version will be available in May.

"As a leader in touch computing, HP has made each iteration of the TouchSmart PC more intuitive, resourceful and fun for users," said HP executive James Mouton. "The latest generation is no exception with a new design that makes it easier and more comfortable to use, and it allows businesses to integrate the TouchSmart where convenience, space constraints and appearance matter."

HP is expected to unveil its own line of tablet computers within weeks. The devices will run the company's WebOs operating system that it acquired as part of its $1.6-billion purchase of Palm last year.
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

Intel to ship flawed chipsets in some cases

Intel Corp resumed shipments of a flawed chipset for use with its new cutting-edge processors, responding to demands from PC makers who will use the chips selectively.

Intel had announced last week that it had discovered a flaw in a chipset used with its new Sandy Bridge processors, a major product launch for the company this year, and stopped shipments of them.

Intel also said on Monday it expects to begin shipping a new version of the so-called Cougar Point chipset in mid-February. It had previously said shipments of the corrected chips would resume in late February.

About 5 percent of PCs using the new chipsets could have failed over a three-year period, had the problem affecting communication ports with hard drives and DVD drives gone undiscovered.

"Under certain configurations, known configurations that work, they'll begin shipping again. We'll release the parts under those conditions," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters.

Many laptops for example, only use a small number of possible ports, not all of which are affected by the flaw.

Yahoo to move towards personalised content

Confronted by declining revenue and a steady stream of prominent departures, Yahoo plans to announce that it is developing a publishing platform for applications that would let users get personalised content on their phones and other mobile devices.

Carol A Bartz , Yahoo’s chief executive, is expected to unveil the plans for the project in an address this month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to speak about it. A spokeswoman for Yahoo declined to comment.

The move is part of a larger trend toward custom content. As news streams and Twitter feeds multiply on the Web, there is a flurry of new programs trying to help users cut through the noise. For instance, the iPad app flipboard finds content from a user’s social networking feeds and displays it in a magazine-like layout of photos and text blocks. AOL recently announced that it would release Editions, its own personalised iPad magazine application.

The Yahoo platform aims to draw from a user’s declared preferences, search items, social media and other sources to find and highlight the most relevant content, according to the people familiar with the matter. It will be available on Yahoo’s website, but is optimised to work as an app on tablets and smartphones, and especially on Google Android and Apple devices, they said.

The project, initially named “Deadeye,” has been the focus of a team of more than 50 engineers for the last several months. The company is also planning to work with outside publishers, like Hearst, to create third-party apps powered by the same software engine, they said.