AT&T iPhone 4S Launch Its Best iPhone Launch Ever

AT&T called the iPhone 4S launch the most successful iPhone launch that the company has ever had, based on preorders. In a statement Friday, AT&T said that the company has rung up more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours that the phone went on sale. “AT&T has seen extraordinary demand for iPhone 4S with more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours alone, the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had,” the company said. “It’s obvious customers like AT&T’s 4G network, which is the only one that lets their iPhone download twice as fast and talk and surf simultaneously.” Apple and AT&T began taking preorders for the iPhone 4S on Friday, as did Sprint and Verizon. Apple is selling three carrier-subsidized versions of the iPhone 4S: the 16GB device is selling for $199.99, the 32GB is $299.99, and the 64GB is $399.99, all with a two-year service contract. The carrier-subsidized version of the iPhone 4S will be formally released on October 14. In addition, all three carriers are offering the 8GB iPhone 4 for $99. The iPhone 3GS is also available for free, with a contract, from AT&T. Apple is also selling a carrier-unlocked version of the iPhone 4S, which is available for $649 for the 16-Gbyte model, $749 for the 32-GB version, and $849 for the 64-Gbyte model. All three versions will ship on an unspecified date in November, and will be available in black and white.  Readmore

Samsung Google Postpone Nexus Prime Ice Cream Sandwich

Google and Samsung have postponed an October 11 event that was expected to include the launch of Android “Ice Cream Sandwich” and the Samsung Nexus Prime smartphone out of respect for Steve Jobs. “Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11,” Samsung said in an initial blog post. “Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We ask for your understanding regarding any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.” In a later statement, Google said “we believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing.” A Samsung spokesperson said rumors of an October 27 event in London, meanwhile, are “not true whatsoever.”  Readmore

The Tech World Tributes to Steve Jobs

The death of Steve Jobs has generated tributes from the Apple visionary’s colleagues, peers, rivals, and many who simply admired him from afar. Here’s a roundup of what some of those people were saying in publicly released statements and on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook about Jobs after news of his passing was confirmed on Wednesday: “Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. “By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. “And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. “Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.  Readmore

Former Apple Chief Steve Jobs Dies

Apple on Wednesday confirmed that its former CEO, Steve Jobs, has died. He was 56. “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” Apple said in a note on its Web site. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” The Apple.com Web site currently bears a photo of Jobs (left). Apple asked fans to share their memories, thoughts, and condolences via rememberingsteve@apple.com. Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO in August after nearly 14 years at the helm of the company he co-founded in 1976. “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” he said at the time. Apple did not disclose any additional details about his passing, but Jobs had battled health problems for several years. Three years after having successful surgery for pancreatic cancer, Jobs announced in January 2009 that he had a “hormone imbalance” that was robbing his body of necessary proteins. He took a leave of absence, and it was later revealed that he underwent a liver transplant. By June 2009, he was back at work. Though highly successful, Jobs’s busy 2010 again took a toll on his health and he took another leave of absence in January 2011. He surprised and delighted fans, however, by showing up for the debut of the iPad 2 in March, telling those in attendance that he had worked too hard on the product to miss its launch. He was also there to show off iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion a few months later. Tim Cook, who is now Apple’s CEO, took the stage in Jobs’ place to launch the new iPhone 4S, the start of a new era at Apple.  Readmore

Non Sprint Nexus S Users Access Google Wallet App Sans Security

Nothing fuels a hacker more than a barrier to break, and Google Wallet presented just that: a groundbreaking mobile payment application that, so far, works on only one phone from one carrier, the Nexus S 4G on Sprint. So it was only a matter of time when Android users began porting the app to rooted Samsung Nexus S 4Gs and original Nexus S devices from the other carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), as chronicled over at the XDA Developers forum. Users were reportedly able to open the app and receive the Google Prepaid Card with the $10 credit that comes with the app; one reader of NFC World said he used the credit to buy a coffee in Australia. It’s unclear how much Google is spending to fund the “rooted” credit, but the hack sounds sophisticated enough to deter most novice Nexus S users. Although the author of the hack, “venumx,” urged people to back up their phones first in case your data gets wiped out, Google is more concerned about entering your payment info in what is essentially an unsecured app. Although you don’t need to enter any card information to start the app, you will after your free $10 runs out and you want to top up the prepaid card. “For security reasons, Google doesn’t support Google Wallet on modded phones and we strongly advise against entering your payment information on any modded device,” said Nate Tyler, a Google spokesman.”If you choose to port Google Wallet to an unsupported device, we can’t guarantee your payment information will be safe.”  Readmore

Apple Unveils New iPhone 4S

Apple on Tuesday finally unveiled a new iPhone—the iPhone 4S. Sprint was also added to the iPhone carrier lineup. Pre-orders for the device start October 7 and they will be in stores on October 14. The iPhone 4S will come in black and white. A 16GB will cost $199, the 32GB will be $299, and, for the first time, a 64GB version will be $399. “Don’t be fooled. Inside it is all new,” Apple’s Phil Schiller said. That includes Apple’s new dual-core A5 chip, as well as dual-core graphics and 7x faster performance, with the same retina display found on the iPhone 4. Schiller said users will get eight hours of 3G talk time with the iPhone 4S, for the first time. He also said the device will “intelligently switch between two antennas to improve call quality” and double download speeds. It will support HSPA+ 14.4, which can deliver speeds up to 14.4 Mbps. The “world phone” will support both CDMA and GSM networks. One of the updates coming to the 4S is voice recognition. “We really just want to be able to talk to our device. Tell it what we want and have it do it for you,” Forstall said. iPhone 4S Last year, Apple acquired voice-recognition application startup Siri and added some voice-to-text features to iOS 4. That option will be beefed up with the iPhone 4S to understand context and allow you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, Apple said. Forstall asked Siri for the weather, for example, and it spit out the forecast. It also told him the time in Paris, and the status of the NASDAQ, and also provided restaurant recommendations for Palo Alto, sourced from Yelp. Siri can also read messages aloud so you don’t have to read them on the screen, Forstall said. Voice-activated search is also supported. Siri is incorporated into the navigation of the device, so you can have Siri do just about anything you would do with your phone, according to Forstall. “You can manage your calendar now with your voice. You can compose and dictate emails right to Siri.” The technology will initially include support for English, French, and German. It will debut as a beta, meaning Apple will add more languages and services over time. Readmore

Live From Apple Lets Talk iPhone Event

Here we go! Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event will be starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. Pacific) today, and PCMag will be reporting live from Apple’s Cupertino campus with all the news. But be sure to be here at 12 noon ET, when PCMag’s lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan will kick off a open-mic preview discussion of the iPhone. As for Apple’s plans, all we know for sure is that Apple will use today’s event to talk about the iPhone (yep, we got that from the title). Of course, there’s been the requisite truckloads of rumors and speculation that accompany an iPhone event, but many reports have led to more questions than answers. (Click here for a detailed breakdown of the expectations). There will be a new iPhone—that’s pretty much guaranteed. What it will be, though, isn’t clear. It could be a complete redesign of the current model, with a bigger screen and thinner profile. Or it could be slight upgrade from the current iPhone 4, just with a faster chip and fancier camera. Or it could be both.  Readmore

Facebook Timeline and 5 Other Ways to Visualize Your Life Online

Today Facebook is set to roll out its new Timeline feature. Facebook Timeline, in case you missed it, is a way to address the increasingly ephemeral nature of the updates that you share on the network. Your wedding, for example, is probably one of the most important events of your life, but it’s quickly pushed down beneath the sea of Likes, pokes, and friend comments on what you may have had for breakfast when you got back from your honeymoon. Before Timeline, you had to endure clicking “Older Posts” several times to find many of those memorable events. No longer. Timeline re-organizes and changes the presentation of your Facebook information—all of it—in a way that turns your life (even pre-Facebook) into a kind of digital scrapbook. Like Facebook, Timeline is impressive in its scale: it takes your entire history on the network, analyzes it to highlight bigger events, groups things like Likes all in one place, and presents it all in an easy-to-digest timeline format. Why didn’t people think of this before? Well, they have. Timeline, while possibly the most comprehensive “life aggregator” ever made, is just the latest in a long line of data-visualizing apps that aim to help organize and make sense out of big piles of personal data. Facebook’s new toy aside, most social services don’t have any way to go back and make sense (or even back up) the continual sharing they enable, but third parties have stepped up. From Foursquare to Twitter, anyone who spends time online is leaving digital bits that are just waiting to be snapped up and compiled. Of course, the idea isn’t always altruistic—analytics tools and somewhat murkier “data scrapers” often do it without our knowledge—but that’s not the subject of this slideshow. The aggregators presented here are all sites or services that you need to specifically use and approve for them to generate their summaries. Those summaries can range from the mildly interesting (a map of check-ins) to the breathtaking (a beautiful graphical representation of your social network). Keep reading to see how six social aggregators can make sense of your digital life.  Readmore

Iranian Graphic Designer

Montreal (Canada) – At the latest board meeting in Vilnius (Lithuania), the Icograda Executive Board approved the applications of seven new members. One professional organisation – Iranian Graphic Design Network – and two corporate members – INSPIRIT International Communications and Beijing Kingee Culture Development – have joined Icograda. Newly admitted to the Icograda Education Network are Jilin College of the Arts, Kingston University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and the School of Visual Arts. The Iranian Graphic Designer Network, founded in 2005, was among the first professional graphic design networks in Iran. They count 249 professional graphic artists as members and their portal site has registered 15000 artists. www.golestaneh.org

Among its initiatives are free weekly workshops for its members and associated graphic artists, teaching graphic software to members, and a career opportunities service. The IGDN lends aid to various charity organisation including the children’s cancer organisation in Iran. In joining Icograda, the IGDN seeks to develop international relations, opening doors for its member abroad and also increasing dialogue with international designers to foster internal growth and new ideas.  Readmore

The 50 Best iPhone Apps

Whether you’re joining the roster of iPhone owners for the first time, perhaps when the iPhone 5 launches, or you’re a long-time Apple customer trying to make the most out of your iPhone 3 or 4, you need app recommendations. The app store is just too big to go through on your own. Word-of-mouth advice is useful, but we at PCMag spend thousands of hours each year scouring iTunes, speaking with developers, reviewing the best apps we find, and hunting for hidden gems. If there’s an app that makes owning the iPhone more worthwhile, we find out about it. Why? Because apps are what transform the iPhone from mobile phone to pocket PC. Anyone can find an app for just about anything, but plenty of them aren’t worth your time. Others are good—entertaining, usually, at the very least—and still others seem useful for only a day or two, until their novelty wears off. And some make you wonder how you ever functioned without them. The 50 apps that made the cut for this list are the ones that have shown outstanding performance, have been almost universally liked by users young and old, or have had a solid history of being among the first apps we’d recommend new users download. Many of the apps listed here are free, a few cost a couple of dollars, and the priciest one on this list will only set you back about $10. Long-time iPhone owner may recognize some of these iPhone apps, but a few might surprise you. In this list, we recommend one extraordinary app for keeping your passwords safe, six unique games, apps that can make you smarter (or at least seem smarter) and more organized, as well as apps that can help you lose weight.  Readmore

Gears of War 3 Biggest Game of the Year So Far

Gears of War 3 said this week that the third iteration in its franchise has sold three million copies, making it the biggest game of the year so far. “Gears of War was the first killer app for Xbox 360, and the series has continued to contribute directly to the overall success of the platform ever since,” said Microsoft Corporate Vice President Phil Spencer, in a statement. “Gears of War 3 kicked off the biggest holiday in Xbox history with a bang last week, setting the standard for the kinds of amazing, action-packed experiences gamers should expect on Xbox 360 this year.” The one-week tally is impressive, although one of its top rivals in the games space, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, is not far off. So far, Gears of War 3 is exclusive to the Xbox 360 platform, while rivals like Call of Duty were written for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, among others.  Readmore

iPhone 5 to Support HSPA 4G Speeds

Apple is set to unveil a new iPhone next week, and among the many questions tech-watchers have about the new smartphone is whether the updated device will have 4G LTE speeds. A China Unicom executive apparently shed a bit more light on that subject this week, saying at a conference that the iPhone 5 would support HSPA+ 21, which some carriers have referred to as 4G. But while HSPA+ is faster than 3G (21Mbps vs. 7.2Mbps), it’s not as fast as 4G LTE. As PCMag mobile analyst Sascha Segan pointed out recently, “4G LTE isn’t 4G, or HSPA+. The latter’s more closely related, technology-wise, to a 3G network,” he wrote. On many an iPhone fan’s wish list is an iPhone with 4G LTE speeds. Now that Verizon Wireless and AT&T have started rolling out their LTE networks, and many high-powered 4G smartphones have hit the market, it would also make competitive sense for the iPhone to have those capabilities, right? According to Segan, the lack of 4G LTE in the iPhone at this point likely comes down to aesthetics—current LTE chips are just too bulky. “Apple has always prioritized slim elegance over network speed, and the company is definitely concerned about battery life. Sticking with a high-speed HSPA network rather than nascent LTE lets Apple keep its phone slender and running all day,” Segan writes. The slimmer, single-chip LTE solutions that come from Qualcomm won’t be out until the third or fourth quarter of next year, he said. For more, see Why the iPhone 5 Probably Won’t Have 4G LTE. In August, a carrier partner told Boy Genius Report that Apple was testing iPhones with 4G LTE support, but that doesn’t mean the technology will be enabled on the iPhone 5. It should be no surprise that Apple is testing a 4G version of its smartphone, but it’s not expected to be included in the next-gen iPhone.  Readmore

Is Apple Killing iPod Classic iPod Shuffle

Start writing your eulogies for the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle. The rumor mill is beginning to erupt with reports that Apple is going to kill these two MP3 players. Apple referred to a “product transition” in its last earnings call,

and according to TUAW it was talking about the iPod. TUAW said Apple is moving toward having a touchscreen on every iPod, which means ditching the Classic and the Shuffle. It predicted that Apple will update the iPod touch and hold onto the nano, which will become Apple’s lowest-end iPod. TUAW wouldn’t disclose the source of its information, but claimed it’s not an analyst and is more reliable than the usual speculators. Furthermore, CNet noted that the iPod isn’t the cash cow it once was for Apple. iPod sales comprised just 8 percent of Apple’s total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010. While Apple usually sticks to a predictable product update cycle, debuting new iPods in the fall, this year it bucked the system and on Tuesday announced an iPhone-centric event with no mention of an iPod. Retailers such as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart have already started offering discounts on some iPods, further evidence that they could be starting to clear out existing inventory. The iPod Classic hasn’t been discounted, but it could be in the future. It’s been a decade since the iPod first entered our consciousness through those iconic white ear buds, and a 10-year run is nothing to sneeze at. But as Apple puts further emphasis on touchscreen products, likely unveiling a new iPhone next Tuesday, it’s logical that it would nix products that don’t fit that specification. Readmore

Apple to unveil new iPhone on Oct 4

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Apple confirmed Tuesday that it will hold a press event on Oct. 4 at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Expected to be the star attraction: The long-awaited iPhone 5. It’s been 15 months since Apple’s iPhone 4 went on sale, making this lag between new models the longest since the iPhone debuted in 2007. As always, the next-generation iPhone has been the subject of intense speculation. Almost daily, blogs and news agencies offer up new tidbits based on supposed leaks from hardware component makers or iPhone case designers to glean any information about what the next device could look like. The dominant rumors for the next iPhone involve an 8-megapixel camera, longer battery life, a faster processor and availability on the Sprint (S, Fortune 500) network. Others have claimed that the device will have a larger screen, a curved display, no home button, support for 4G networks, and more memory. In the past, about half the pre-launch rumors have turned out to be correct. Apple has typically unveiled its new iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, but this year, Steve Jobs reserved that time to preview the company’s new software, including the iPad and iPhone’s iOS operating system, the new Mac OS X Lion operating system, and iCloud.  Readmore

Facebook Changes Could Mean More Security Risks

The major changes Facebook introduced at last week’s f8 developer conference have met with mixed reactions from Facebook users—and could open the site to more security risks, according to Bitdefender. The Internet security software developer said Monday that Facebook’s changes may expose users to targeted attacks from cybercriminals, spambot infestations like the ones that plague Twitter, interactive scams, and other unwelcome threats. Facebook is now “silently pushing” Smart Lists, according to Bitdefender, which means users are being encouraged more than ever to publish information about themselves such as places of employment that can be indexed and potentially used for high-level targeted attacks. The site’s new Twitter-like subscriber feature, meanwhile, makes it more “open to spambots and ‘how to get more subscribers’ schemes,” Bitdefender said in a statement. “Copying Twitter features may also mean importing Twitter scams.”  Readmore

T-Mobile Launches New 4G Phones Modems

T-Mobile today launched one of its fastest 4G phones yet, the HTC Amaze 4G, gave more details on its Samsung Galaxy S II, launched a 4G hotspot, and delivered a defense of its HSPA+ network in an interview with PCMag.com. The HTC Amaze 4G smartphone runs on T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ 42 network, which is seeing download speeds of 8Mbps on average, said T-Mobile senior vice president of marketing, Andrew Sherrard. That’s faster than most home Internet connections, but slightly slower than the average speeds we found on Verizon Wireless’s LTE network in our Fastest Mobile Networks tests this year. HTC Amaze 4G The Amaze (at right) is like a sped-up HTC Sensation 4G, a popular slab-style Android smartphone for T-Mobile. It’s running a 1.5-Ghz dual-core Qualcomm processor and the Android Gingerbread 2.3 OS, along with a 4.3-inch, 960-by-540, super-LCD screen. Along with its faster processor and global HSPA+ 42, the Amaze adds new software for its 8-megapixel camera, Sherrard says. The new software improves low-light performance and shutter lag, and even filters your best photos into an automatic album. The carrier also gave more details about its Samsung Galaxy S II model, which we first saw a few weeks ago. This Android-powered smartphone will also feature Qualcomm’s dual-core, 1.5-Ghz CPU and will be topped by an 800-by-480, 4.5-inch screen. Specs on the two HSPA+ 42 smartphones are actually very similar. The Samsung phone is considerably lighter and thinner, yet it has a bigger battery. The HTC phone has a higher-resolution screen and HTC software, which many people prefer over Samsung’s. Along with the two phones, T-Mobile announced the Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspot by Huawei, a Wi-Fi hotspot that can share an HSPA+ 42 connection among five devices.  Readmore

Smartphone Buyers Choosing Android Will iPhone 5 Change That

The lack of a new iPhone on the market might be helping Google’s Android OS, as 56 percent of U.S. buyers who acquired a new smartphone in the last three months opted for an Android device, according to Monday data from Nielsen. That could change if Apple finally unveils the iPhone 5, but “the preferences of these so-called ‘recent acquirers’ are important as they are often a leading indicator of where the market is going,” Nielsen concluded. About 28 percent of those who bought a smartphone in the last three months purchased an iPhone. “But those figures could change quickly in the months to come. Every time Apple launches a new iPhone or makes it available on a new wireless carrier, there is an increase in their sales,” Nielsen said in a blog post. Recent rumors suggest that Apple will hold an iPhone press event on October 4 at its Cupertino headquarters, but Apple has not yet made any announcements. Overall, about 43 percent of smartphone owners have an Android device, while 28 percent have an iPhone. About 18 percent have BlackBerrys, but that appears to be slipping; only 9 percent of those who bought a smartphone in the last three months opted for a BlackBerry. Nielsen didn’t break out Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, throwing everything else into the “other” category. The “smartphone pie” is also growing, Nielsen said. “While 43 percent of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. had a smartphone as of August, 58 percent of those who got a new device in the last 3 months chose a smartphone over a feature phone.  Readmore

Why Amazon Kindle Tablet Is No iPad Killer

The Amazon tablet, expected to arrive Wednesday, doesn’t have anyone at Apple scared, and it shouldn’t. It’s Barnes & Noble, Samsung, and Acer who should be quaking in their boots. That’s because Amazon’s tablet aims to be to the 7-inch tablet market what the iPad is to the 10-inch market. Those two categories can coexist just fine, but Amazon’s competitors are going to have to pedal hard to keep Amazon from sucking all of the air out of the 7-inch room. The tablet market is embryonic. It looks like everyone has an iPad, but that’s nowhere near true. I’m not going to get into the details of analysts’ predictions, because they’re all just guesses, but everyone is at least guessing in the same direction: in the next few years, the tablet market will be several times the size it is now. As markets get larger, they segment. We’ve seen this in every product category, and we’ll see it in tablets, too. The 7-inch tablet segment is the most obvious, and various manufacturers have been hammering at it for a while. The first “real iPad competitor,” after all, was seven inches: the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Seven-inch tablets can be used one-handed, making them qualitatively different from 10-inch tablets. They’re also, often, cheaper.  Readmore

Samsung Decisions Creep Forward in Netherlands Australia

Courts in the Netherlands and Australia heard arguments from Apple and Samsung on Monday, the latest in a months-long patent war between the two smartphone manufacturers. In Australia, Apple temporarily excluded two of five patent claims against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, according to itnews Australia. The two dropped patents covered the use of a slider icon that unlocked the tablet’s touch screen as well an icon that bounced when zooming. In the Netherlands, according to IDG Netherlands, a judge postponed until October 14 a decision on whether or not Samsung should be allowed to pursue an injunction on Apple products based on Samsung patents that are declared essential to all 3G devices. Patent blogger Florian Mueller parsed out some fascinating details that came out of the semi-public hearings in the Netherlands. Citing 9to5Mac, Mueller noted that for one patent violation claimed by Samsung, a part of a 3G chip, Samsung was demanding 2.4 percent of the price of a 3G chip as a licensing fee. “Considering that there are at least several hundred patents that are declared essential to a standard like 3G, such a per-patent royalty demand appears to be completely out of line,” Mueller writes. Because the contested patent is categorized as an essential patent, Samsung is obligated to set a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing fee.  Readmore

How to Think About Windows on ARM

The first time I went to see Microsoft, it was still up in Bellevue, Washington and it employed about 70 people. This is a company that I have followed even closer than Apple over the years and I’ve interacted with almost all of its leaders since 1982. I have even worked on various Microsoft projects from time to time. And as a PC analyst, I was expected to follow all of the company’s moves closely, as they had a major impact on the industry and all of my customers. Consequently, I came to understand clearly every version of Windows, including a few detours like OS2 and the first Pen Computing version of Windows. One thing that has remained constant in the development of every Windows version is the strict commitment to ensure that all legacy apps work in any new version. This has been both good and bad for Microsoft and the user community; good in that it guarantees legacy support for almost all applications created for Windows, but bad because to achieve this level of backward software compatibility, it has meant that Microsoft must build new versions on top of older versions. In the process, the OS code grew and grew so that today it is probably one of the largest, by actual code base, software operating systems on the market. It became too large and inefficient to deliver one major thing customers really want—Windows instant boot and instant on from hibernation or sleep. Ultimately, customer’s want an OS that is more responsive and flexible. Any new versions of Windows built on old Windows simply lacks that kind of feature set. This has led many media outlets and analysts, including myself, to suggest that Microsoft make a clean break from Windows. It should instead create a fresh and clean version of an OS optimized for the next generation of devices, especially since the new world of computing is moving to the cloud. Until recently, Microsoft fought hard to keep Windows moving forward, with full legacy app support being a cornerstone of its design. As far as I can tell, that is still true with Windows 8 on Intel-based processors. But the more I hear about Windows on ARM (WOA), the more I sense that, with this OS, Microsoft is finally taking the big leap of faith. Possibly, it is creating a version of Windows that is much slimmer yet very powerful. For apps to work on this version of the OS, software developers have two choices: They can recompile the current app completely, customizing it for native use within the new Metro UI, or write apps anew from scratch to support Windows on ARM devices. Indeed, if you look at the plethora of software development tools released at its recent Build conference, you can almost hear Microsoft telling developers to start over. It clearly wants people to create new apps for Win 8 on both x86 and WOA. Looking forward, I notice the new platform for them with this OS is Windows 8 on ARM—a very important fact for both developers and customers. In fact, if this is done right, it could not only revitalize Microsoft but the entire existing PC industry, keeping Microsoft relevant for many more years. Its gutsy goal is to give developers a set of tools that will let them create a single app that works across smartphones, tablets and PCs. I say it’s gutsy because nobody has been able to do this so far. In no way does this mean the existing PC market or ecosystem with thousands of apps available for it on x86 will vanish any time soon. Some people will demand legacy apps for another 10 to15 years or so, if history is any guide. But think about Win 8 on ARM as a completely new software palette that Microsoft and its developers can paint into new devices of all sizes and shapes.  Readmore

Amazon Tablet to Sell for $171

There’s a rumor going around that the Amazon tablet, which will almost certainly be unveiled this Wednesday, will cost just $171. As odd a price as that sounds, it’s not entirely unexpected for Amazon; after all, this is the company that priced it’s ad-supported Kindle e-reader at $114. But it’s all speculation resting atop rumor. The Amazon tablet needs to position itself as a competitor to the Nook Color, which effectively established the price of a tablet e-reader at $250. So the Amazon tablet has to be priced at the same amount or lower, but to go lower would probably shrink the margin too much for Amazon’s liking. So we’re probably looking at a $250 tablet. At the same time, it’s clear that one of the big selling points of an Amazon tablet is that it’ll be tied closely with Amazon’s services. After all, besides shopping, Amazon offers video streaming, music, and cloud storage—and a tablet represents an opportunity to put these services in front of a whole new set of customers. One of those services is Amazon Prime, the company’s “preferred” tier that gives customers free unlimited two-day shipping. Besides fast-tracked orders, Prime also offers streaming of some video content, including the today’s addition of a bunch of TV shows and movies from Fox.  Readmore

Broadcom Unveils First NFC Chips Smallest On the Market

Broadcom, one of the biggest Wi-Fi chipmakers in the world, on Monday unveiled its first line of near-field communications (NFC) chips for smartphones. The announcement comes on the heels of Google Wallet, a groundbreaking, if small-scale, step intended to popularize the use of phones to pay for items. NFC radios can transmit information between devices when held just a few inches apart; the technology has been used for mobile payments in Japan since 2004, but the rest of the world has been remarkably slower at aligning all the necessary players. But more are betting on the mobile payments industry, which is expected to double to $670 billion by 2015 from $240 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. Broadcom claims its first NFC chipset, BCM2079x, is 90 percent more energy-efficient and 40 percent smaller than any other NFC solution on the market, and was developed using 40 nm chip processing technology. Interestingly, Broadcom has also said its chips can communicate with devices using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, which are competing wireless communications technologies. “Broadcom is committed to making NFC as ubiquitous as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are today,” Craig Ochikubo, vice president and general manager of wireless personal area networks at Broadcom, said in a statement. “These solutions provide the features and performance that enable disruptive innovation that will reshape the mobile consumer experience. Our leadership and proficiency in wireless connectivity influenced the architecture of these new chips to meet the performance required by OEMs, allowing them to more easily add NFC to their designs.” Although several phones available in the U.S. today come with NFC chips, like the Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S II, and BlackBerry Bold 9930/9900, applications are few and far between. Last November, three of the nation’s largest cell phone operators, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, made perhaps the biggest financial investments in mobile payments through Isis, a platform that will finally debut next year after experiencing a few blips this year. Readmore

Facebook Will Not Charge You For Access

Facebook last week made a number of changes to its service, including the introduction of Timeline and the real-time news ticker. One thing it didn’t do, however, was announce plans to charge for access. The rumor spread virally on peoples’ news feed, via a message that said Facebook would charge people for access unless they copied and pasted a certain message onto their Wall. “If you copy this on your wall, your icon will turn blue and Facebook will be free for you,” the message said. “Please pass this message on, if not your account will be deleted if you do not pay.” The rumor made enough of an impact for Facebook to step in and formally deny it. “A rumor on the internet caught our attention. We have no plans to charge for Facebook. It’s free and always will be,” Facebook announced on its own Facebook page today. Facebook last week held its annual f8 developer conference, at which CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to unveil Timeline, which is basically a digital time capsule. The service, set to formally debut later this month, lets users chart their Facebook activity from beginning to end, and tell the “story of you.” For more, see 10 Things You Should Know About Facebook Timeline. The company also announced plans to let music and media companies develop Facebook-centric apps that will allow you to share what you’re watching or listening to right on Facebook. Music partners included Spotify, Rdio, Slacker, and more, while Facebook also inked deals with Netflix and Hulu. Netflix, however, will only be available in Canada and Latin America for now because of a 1988 law that prevents people from sharing details about their video-watching histories. Earlier in the week, Facebook also introduced a revamped news feed that surfaced only the most relevant information, while a real-time “ticker” service on the top right of Facebook.com scrolled through everything happening on the site.  Readmore

Amazon Prime Gets Speed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Other Fox Content

Amazon today announced a licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox that adds an extra 2,000 movie and TV shows to the deep content well available to Amazon Prime members. The new deal brings the total number of Amazon Prime instant videos to more than 11,000 when the movie and television shows becomes available later fall. The Twentieth Century Fox films available to Amazon Prime members will include familiar names such as “Speed,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Doctor Dolittle,” “Last of the Mohicans,” “Office Space,” “The Longest Day,” “All About Eve,” “9 to 5,” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” On the television front, Twentieth Century Fox delivers “24,” “The X-Files,” “NYPD Blue,” “Arrested Development,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Ally McBeal,” and “The Wonder Years.” “We have received very positive feedback from Prime members about Prime instant videos. Customers love the instant access to thousands of movie and TV favorites,” said Steve Oliver, director of Video at Amazon. “Since the launch of Prime instant videos in February, we have more than doubled the library to 11,000 titles and will continue to add more of our customers’ favorite movies and TV shows to Prime instant videos.” Amazon Prime members get unlimited, commercial-free, instant access to more than 11,000 movies and TV shows for $79 per year. The service is also compatible with hundreds of internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players, as well as Mac and PC computers. Since the launch of Prime instant videos, Amazon has secured licensing deals from partners such as CBS, Fox, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Bros., IFC, Sesame Workshop, and many more.  Readmore

Labor Board Reviewing More Facebook Firing Cases

You must be careful about what you say on Facebook. But just how careful do you have to be? According to the Associated Press, confusion about what people can post about their jobs on Facebook has caused a spike of more than 100 complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and uncertainty about how far employers can go with their social media policies without breaking the law. “Employers are struggling to figure out what the right policies are and what they should do when these cases arise,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce labor law policy director Michael Eastman told the AP. According to the AP, in one case a Chicago-area car salesman was fired after posting about overcooked hotdogs, stale buns, and cheap food ironically served at an event hosted by the BMW dealership he worked at to launch a new high-end car. However, the NLRB ruled in his favor, finding that his comments were protected because he was “expressing concerns about the terms and conditions of his job,” the AP said. But a Wal-Mart employee that took to Facebook to air qualms with management “tyranny” and call a female manager a vulgar name did not get the same ruling. The board ruled against the worker after concluding that the Facebook posts was “an individual gripe” rather than an effort with coworkers to talk about conditions. The employee was suspended from the job for a day and banned from receiving a promotion for a year. General counsel for the NLRB Lafe Solomon said the law allows workers to talk about work and job conditions, online or in person. “Most of the social media policies that we’ve been presented are very, very overboard,” he said in an interview with the AP. “They say you can’t disparage or criticize the company in any way on social media, and that is not true under the law.” Labor laws protect “protected concerted activity,” or collective discussions about work, for union and non-union workers alike. However, considering the broad reach of social media sites, many businesses aren’t comfortable with these public conversations. And not all talk is protected. “A lot of Facebook, by its very nature, starts out as mere griping,” Solomon added. “We need some evidence either before, during, or after that you are looking to your fellow employees to engage in some sort of group action.” The AP said there has only been one formal ruling made out of the more than 100 cases the NLRB is reviewing. The NLRB ruled that Hispanics United of Buffalo, N.Y. must reinstate five employees that were previously fired for comments related to “workload and staffing issues” and give them back pay.  Readmore

FTC Wants to Update Online Child Privacy Law

Federal law prohibits Web sites from gathering information about kids under 13 without a parent’s permission, but that law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), has not been updated since 1998—before Facebook, Twitter, or smartphones. Given those vast changes in the technology landscape, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been reviewing COPPA in the hopes of bringing it more in line with 2011 realities. After asking for public comments on the matter last year, the agency today released several recommendations for how the law might be updated. First, the FTC said there needs to be an update to the various definitions. The phrase “Personal information,” for example, should include geolocation data and tracking cookies used by online advertisers. When it comes to “collection,” the FTC said children should be allowed to use certain sites or online destinations without parental consent provided Web site owners take steps to delete a child’s information before it is made public. COPPA only allows Web sites to gather the personal information of children with parental consent, but the FTC recommended updating the ways by which that is obtained. At this point, Web site operators can do so via email, but the agency proposed stronger safeguards, like electronic scans of consent forms, video conferencing, or using government-issued IDs that are checked against a database. The FTC said it is open to other ideas, however, and proposed a 180-day comment period during which companies could submit their parental consent process for approval. “In this era of rapid technological change, kids are often tech savvy but judgment poor. We want to ensure that the COPPA Rule is effective in helping parents protect their children online, without unnecessarily burdening online businesses,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “We look forward to the continuing thoughtful input from industry, children’s advocates, and other stakeholders as we work to update the Rule.”  Readmore

Skype for Mac Gets Facebook Integration

Skype on Thursday introduced an update for its beta Mac app that brings the Facebook integration already available on Windows PCs. Skype 5.4 for Mac Beta basically brings Facebook functionality into Skype. It’s available for download now. “Just like in our Windows client, you will now be able to IM and connect with your Facebook friends without leaving Skype,” Skype said in a blog post. “You will also be able to read and update your News Feed, as well as comment and ‘Like’ your Facebook friends’ posts – all within Skype for Mac.” To set it up, sign into Skype, click on the “Connect to Facebook” tab, and enter your Facebook sign-in details. Facebook features were added to Skype for Windows back in October 2010. At the time, Skype also added “Facebook Phonebook,” which let users call and text Facebook friends directly on mobile phones and landlines with a few clicks. If a Facebook friend is also on Skype, the feature allowed for free Skype-to-Skype calls. The Mac update, meanwhile, also includes an advertising platform, though paying Skype customers or those with Skype Credit won’t see the display ads, the company said.  Readmore

Visual History of Videogame Controllers

If you’ve ever played a video game console, you’ll appreciate this aesthetic infographic from Pop Chart Lab covering the history of videogame controllers. Unlike most infographics, you won’t find a slew of charts and graphs here. The illustrations and connecting lines lead the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, implying connections between the elements of the various generations. Key trends emerge, however: in the earliest days of gaming the dial or “paddle” dominated as a controller element. Then two seminal gaming systems influenced the design of game controllers to come: the Atari 2600′s joystick and the Intellivision’s keypad. The ColecoVision, which followed both, incorporated both elements. I was five when the Atari 2600 was introduced in 1977, and I’d bet that it was a year or two later that my parents allowed me to have one. At about the same time, my parents began allowing me to ride my bike down the street to a guy who owned an Intellivision; I have vague memories of long hours playing Intellivision football and some Smurfs game with that odd circular disk directional controller and number pad. Over time, the Nintendo NES introduced the iconic directional cross controller, and numerous consoles, both portable and desktop, took design cues from that element. At about the same time, the industry began to experiment with other, non-traditional controllers, such as the NES Zapper light gun, and the first feeble efforts at rhythm games.  Readmore

Kyoceras Four New Phones for Sprint

PCMag recently got to take a look Kyocera’s four new phones for Sprint. There’s the Milano, a keyboarded Android device; the Brio, a free keyboarded feature phone; and the DuraMax and DuraCore, two push-to-talk rugged devices that will run on Sprint Direct Connect. You can click through the slideshow below to see images of each new phone in all its glory, but here’s a quick rundown of all four devices. Kyocera Milano The Kyocera Milano is a budget Android smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It’s tiny, but the keyboard felt comfortable and roomy enough to do some serious typing. It’s powered by an 800MHz processor and is running Android 2.3.4 “Gingerbread.” There’s a 3.2-megapixel camera with camcorder, along with a 2GB microSD card, and support for cards up to 32GB. The Milano also includes Sprint ID, with ID packs available from E!, MTV, and Nascar. In addition, there’s an ‘Eco Mode,’ which is a proprietary preloaded power-management application from Kyocera that helps users manage battery life. Users can pre-set a point (based on percentage of battery charge remaining) at which their phones will go into low-power consumption mode by automatically adjusting various phone functions like screen timeout and brightness.  Readmore

Apple to Match $10K in Charitable Contributions Per Employee

Barely two weeks after a New York Times article called out ex-Apple CEO Steve Jobs for falling short in his philanthropic commitments compared to his peers, new Apple CEO Tim Cook has decided to grab the issue of Apple philanthropy by the horns. According to a memo sent by Cook to all of Apple, reported by Fortune’s Brian Caulfield, Apple will now begin matching employees’ charitable contributions. The limit per employee sits at $10,000 annually, and the contributions must (obviously) be directed toward an official 501(c)(3) organization. “I am very happy to announce that we are kicking off a matching gift program for charitable donations,” reads Cook’s memo, sent this past Thursday. “We are all really inspired by the generosity of our co-workers who give back to the community and this program is going to help that individual giving go even farther.” Apple plans to start the program for its full-time Apple employees in the U.S. first, and intends to roll out matching contributions for the company’s international workers over time. As for Jobs, he faced a bit of mild criticism from Andrew Ross Sorkin’s August 29 piece in the Times, in which the self-professed “admirer” of Apple’s departed CEO questioned why there was no public record of Jobs’ charitable commitments – despite his $8.3 billion fortune, Sorkin noted. “But the lack of public philanthropy by Mr. Jobs — long whispered about, but rarely said aloud — raises some important questions about the way the public views business and business people at a time when some “millionaires and billionaires” are criticized for not giving back enough while others like Mr. Jobs are lionized,” Sorkin wrote. While neither Apple nor Jobs offered comment for Sorkin’s article, longtime friend and U2 frontman Paul Hewson, or “Bono,” came to Jobs’ defense in a letter to the editor September 1. “I’m proud to know him; he’s a poetic fellow, an artist and a businessman. Just because he’s been extremely busy, that doesn’t mean that he and his wife, Laurene, have not been thinking about these things,” Bono said. “You don’t have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn’t do things by halves.”  Readmore

9/11 Anniversary Spurs Hacker Mischief

Hackers are using the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to create online mischief. The latest antics targeted NBC, several government agencies and the White House. While most of the nation will be commemorating in solemn and respectful ceremonies the tenth anniversary of the attacks on Washington and New York, hackers aren’t giving authorities a rest. On Friday, a hacker group that specializes in targeting large media outlets hijacked the NBC News Twitter account and posted bogus messages about an attack on “Ground Zero” in New York. It posted several messages saying there had been a plane crash at the site after a suspected hijacking. Finally, the hackers decided to pull off the mask on their subterfuge and crowed, “NBCNEWS hacked by The Script Kiddies.” An NBC executive monitoring the Twitter account saw the bogus messages and alerted Twitter, which quickly suspended the account. The FBI is investigating the incident, MSNBC reported. The hack attack was perfectly timed to make the NBC Nightly News, where anchor Brian Williams read a statement from the company. He said the network’s Twitter account had been hacked and that NBC was working to correct the situation. He also apologized for the scare “that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act.” It appears that the Twitter account, which has 130,000 followers, was compromised through a spear phishing attack. Only three people know the password to the account. One of them, NBC Social Media Director Ryan Osborn, admitted to MSNBC that he recently clicked on an attachment in an e-mail from someone he didn’t know. Prior to the NBC attack, the Script Kiddies were known for their Fourth of July sortie this year on the Twitter account of Fox News. In that foray, they posted a series of bogus tweets announcing that President Barack Obama had been killed by an assassin. While the Script Kiddies were doing their latest mischief, another group of Internet rogues, Team Poison, began drumming up support for a phone calling campaign on the federal government protesting U.S. foreign policy. The group has posted to the Internet the phone numbers of the White House, U.S. embassies in Libya and Afghanistan, the FBI and CIA and is exhorting its followers to call the numbers and leave the message: “Dear USA, your 9/11 is our 24/7. Sincerely. [a country that has been bombed/attacked by USA].” The group maintained that “mass phone calls will have a huge effect on the business.” That seems to be a dubious assertion, since much of the federal government is closed on Sundays so there’s little business to disrupt. Team Poison gained a measure of notoriety recently when it defaced a website operated by Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of the Blackberry smartphone. The hackers were upset that RIM agreed to cooperate with police to apprehend participants in the London riots. The group has also been known to attack other hackers. It took down the LulzSec website, apparently because it believed members of Lulz were inferior hackers, or Script Kiddies.  Readmore

Apple Blocks DigiNotar Digital Certificates

Never one to follow the crowd, Apple on Friday finally got around to blocking digital certificates from DigiNotar. Cupertino released a security update today for Mac OS X v10.6.8, Mac OS X Server v10.6.8, OS X Lion v10.7.1, Lion Server v10.7.1. “Fraudulent certificates were issued by multiple certificate authorities operated by DigiNotar,” Apple said. “This issue is addressed by removing DigiNotar from the list of trusted root certificates, from the list of Extended Validation (EV) certificate authorities, and by configuring default system trust settings so that DigiNotar’s certificates, including those issued by other authorities, are not trusted.” Without the update, Apple said, “an attacker with a privileged network position may intercept user credentials or other sensitive information.” As security firm Sophos noted in a blog post, those with older Macs can still protect themselves with a manual update. Though Apple was late to the party on this release, Sophos suggested that it could get ahead of the game by releasing an update for its mobile platform, something rivals like Microsoft, Google and RIM also have not done. “It is much easier for Apple to patch iDevices then Google to fix Androids, get the handset makers to apply the fixes and then convince the carriers to deploy the updates,” wrote analyst Chester Wisniewski. While rivals like Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Adobe already blocked the DigiNotar digital certificates, Apple was silent on the issue until now, prompting criticism from an analyst earlier this week. In the update, Apple noted that it “does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available.” Apple said its update is available via Software Update preferences or from Apple Downloads. At issue is Netherlands-based DigiNotar, which issues certificates that validate Web sites as legitimate. It recently disclosed that it had been hacked, and an investigation into the effect of the intrusion found that, among other things, the hack possibly compromised the Google accounts of more than 300,000 Iranians. What this means is that when users in Iran and elsewhere navigated to certain Web sites, they might actually be visiting spoofed sites that stole personal information when users logged in. The fix from Apple and the other firms is intended to make sure you don’t stumble upon a fake digital cert and compromise your data. A hacker known as Comodo Hacker, who got his name thanks to a March hack of Comodo, has also taken credit for the DigiNotar job. He also claims to have accessed GlobalSign, prompting the company to temporarily stop issuing digital certificates.  Readmore

How Much Electricity Does Google Consume Each Year

Google on Thursday shed some light on its energy consumption, revealing that it generated about 2.26 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2010. This, according to the New York Times, is about a quarter of the output of a nuclear power plant. “We’ve learned a lot in the process of reducing our environmental impact, so we’ve added a new section called ‘The Big Picture’ to our Google Green site with numbers on our annual energy use and carbon footprint,” Urs Hoelzle, senior vice president of technical infrastructure at Google, wrote in a blog post. Though Google has discussed its green efforts, including various wind and solar panel projects, this is the first time the search giant has provided such detailed consumption numbers. An April Greenpeace study about energy efficiency at top Internet firms gave Google high marks for talking “the best and most consistently about the need to not only increase efficiency, but also move to renewable sources of electricity to power the cloud,” but it still gave Google an F for transparency. Hoelzle, however, maintained in his blog post that “for the last decade, energy use has been an obsession.” In 2007, Google pledged to be a carbon-neutral company and this weekend, it will open a new data center in Finland that “uses a unique seawater cooling system that requires very little electricity.” In 2010, before Google offset its emissions, it generated a total of 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. “Without efficiency measures in our data centers our footprint would have been about twice as big,” Google maintained. “By purchasing and generating renewable energy, as well as buying high-quality carbon offsets, we bring our carbon impact to zero.” How much energy do you use when you type in a Google search or watch a YouTube video? Google said that 100 searches are equal to a 60-watt light bulb burning for 28 minutes. “Specifically, we currently use about 0.0003 kWh of energy to answer the average search query,” Google said. “This translates into roughly 0.2g of carbon dioxide.” Streaming one minute of YouTube, meanwhile, eats up 0.0002 kilowatt hours and generates 0.1 grams of carbon dioxide. That’s about the same amount of energy that your body burns in eight seconds. Each Gmail user also uses 2.2 kilowatt hours each year and generates 1.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide. That, Google said, is “less than the energy it takes to drink a bottle of wine, stuff a message in the bottle, and toss it in the ocean.” The stats come one day after Google released a study that compared the energy savings and carbon footprint of using Gmail via Google Apps. “For a small office of 50 people, choosing Gmail over a locally hosted server can mean an annual per-user power savings of up to 170 kWh and a carbon footprint reduction of up to 100 kg of CO2,” Google said. “Larger organizations show smaller, though still impressive efficiency gains.” Readmore

Yahoo Fires Bartz Morse In as Temporary CEO

Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz has been fired from the Internet giant and replaced with former chief financial officer Tim Morse as temporary chief executive officer. Yahoo said that it also named “senior Yahoo executives” to a new executive leadership council tasked with replacing Bartz and finding a new chief executive officer. Bartz herself confirmed the management change, sending a note via her iPad, according to multiple reports: “To all, I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. A press release used the term “removed” to describe Bartz’s dismissal. “The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company’s leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities,” said Roy Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, in a statement. “We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders.”  Readmore

Fake Certificates Compromise Google Accounts of 300K Iranians

A recent hack of digital certificates issued by Diginotar possibly compromised the Gmail accounts of approximately 300,000 Iranians, according to a Tuesday report. These certificates are used to designate legitimate Web traffic. This breach, however, allowed the hackers to spoof legitimate Google sites and access peoples’ personal data once they signed in. News of these hacks was first reported in late August, and Diginotar called on security firm Fox-IT to conduct an investigation. In a report released Monday, the firm said it found that a number of servers were compromised and that the hackers obtained administrative rights to outside Web servers between June 17 and July 22. In total, 534 fraudulent certificates were issued. The first known mention of this activity was in an August Google forum posting, where an Iranian user reported being warned by the Google Chrome browser that there was something wrong with his certificate. That certificate was created on July 10, Fox-IT said. Investigating further, Fox-IT found that the offending certificate was revoked on August 29, but by that point, it had affected about 300,000 unique IP addresses, 99 percent of which originated in Iran. “The list of domains and the fact that 99 percent of the users are in Iran suggest that the objective of the hackers is to intercept private communications in Iran,” Fox-IT said. Fox-IT said it will hand over the list of IP addresses to Google so that the company can inform users that their email, and the login cookie, might have been intercepted. “Using this cookie, the hacker is able to log in directly to the Gmail mailbox of the victim and also read the stored emails,” Fox-IT said. “Besides that, he is able to log in to all other services Google offers to users, like stored information from Latitude or documents in Google Docs.” There is also the possibility that the hacker could reset Twitter or Facebook passwords using the lost password button. “It would be wise for all users in Iran to at least log out and log in, but even better change passwords,” the firm concluded. Fox-IT did not identify the hackers; it said that some of their activity suggested they were sophisticated hackers while some of the software “gives an amateurish impression.” At least one script included a digital fingerprint on purpose and that matched a fingerprint found in the March Comodo breach. In that case, Comodo said an affiliate of the company was compromised in what the company concluded was a “state-driven attack.” Comodo also concluded that the attack originated from an ISP in Iran. In a blog post, security firm F-Secure said a hacker who took credit for the Comodo hack recently claimed responsibility for the Diginotar breach as well. “In his latest post, ComodoHacker claims that he is the one that hacked DigiNotar as well. He also claims he still has access to four other ‘high-profile’ CAs and is still able to issue new rogue certificates (including code signing certificates),” F-Secure said. “As a proof to show that he really did infiltrate DigiNotar, he shares the domain administrator password of the CA network: Pr0d@dm1n. DigiNotar would be able to confirm if this was accurate or not.” F-Secure concluded that the “Certificate Authority system is in bad shape indeed,” and referred readers to a Black Hat 2011 discussion on the topic. The report has prompted concern from international regulators. On Tuesday, ABC News reported that Dutch prosecutors are investigating Diginotar for possible criminal negligence related to the case. For more, see the video below, which highlights activity surrounding the hack, which has been dubbed Operation Black Tulip.  Readmore

Google closes 10 businesses to focus on bigger bets

Google chief executive Larry Page continued shedding marginal operations from the Web giant today, shuttering 10 different businesses, including everything from social search to desktop software to Web security. In announcing the news, Google Senior Vice President Alan Eustace called it a “fall spring-cleaning.” Since taking over as chief executive in January, Page has moved to streamline Google’s operations, pulling back from niche businesses in order to focus on the biggest bets. Eustace wrote that the new cuts reflect that strategy. “This will make things much simpler for our users, improving the overall Google experience,” Eustace wrote. “It will also mean we can devote more resources to high-impact products.” And Eustace said that all of the employees working on the closing businesses will be moved to other Google posts. Some of the businesses that are closing came from acquisitions, including Aardvark, the social search engine that Google acquired in 2010 for a reported $50 million, and Google Web Security, which was part of the Postini acquisition in 2007. Other businesses shutting down were once launched with great fanfare. Google’s Marissa Mayer debuted Fast Flip, a service that let user read Web pages of magazines and newspapers as though they were flipping through analog copies, at the TechCrunch50 conference in 2009. And when the company launched Google Desktop, a PC application that let users search for files and documents on their computers, in 2004, it was hailed for providing zippier search than the feature native to Windows XP. Google is also closing Google Pack, a collection of software tools available for download; Google Image Labeler, a game that got users to label pictures to improve the quality of Google’s image search results; and Google Notebook, which let users combine clipped URLs from the Web and personal notes into documents. The company is also closing Sidewiki, which let people comment on Web content; Subscribed Links, which let users create specialized search results that were added to the normal Google search results on some queries for their subscribers; and Google Maps API for Flash, which was created to give ActionScript developers a way to integrate Google Maps into their applications. Those businesses join an already long list of Google operations that have closed shop in the Page era. In June, Google announced plans to close its Google Health and Google PowerMeter Services, as well as Google Labs. And just last week, Google closed the photo-sharing service Photovine only a week after launching it.  Readmore

Mystery of lost iPhone 5 prototype widens

Apple may need to teach its employees that they can’t field-test their iPhone prototypes in bars. In a story similar to Apple’s loss of the iPhone 4 prototype in 2010, another Apple employee has lost a company prototype in a bar. This one was presumed to be for the upcoming iPhone 5. CNET reports that according to sources, days after the phone was lost at San Francisco Mexican restaurant named Cava 22, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the company was desperate for its safe return. Apple electronically traced the phone to a single-family home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, and a man in his twenties who admitted being at the restaurant the night the phone was missing. The man denied knowing anything about the phone, and even allowed police to search his home, where they found nothing. Apple investigators offered the man money for the phone no questions asked, sources said, but he denied any knowledge of it. But the whole story appears to be questionable. SF Weekly reports that the San Francisco Police Department says no records exist of any investigation by SFPD inspectors. According to the SFPD, investigations should be documented as standard SFPD procedure. Police dispatchers also say they have no records of any search for the phone at the address where it supposedly took place.  Readmore

Running Windows on a Mac Lion vs Windows 7 Shootout

If you’re one of the vast number of Mac users who, like me, love Apple hardware but either hate Mac OS X or simply can’t work with it for whatever reason (gaming? business policies?), running Windows on your Mac sounds like the perfect option. Be warned: There are some major concerns regarding performance, battery life and quite annoying usability quirks that Apple decided not to fix in their Boot Camp software. But don’t let that bog you down! In this three-part series, I’ll discuss the ups and downs, the gotchas and benefits of running Windows 7 on a Mac — and offer tips for making your Mac + Windows life easier.  Readmore

iPhone 5 Case Suggests Wider Taller Smartphone

It’s Friday afternoon, so how about another iPhone 5 rumor? This time around, we’re looking at an alleged iPhone 5 case that makes it look like the next-gen Apple smartphone will be wider and taller. Italian blog Macitynet.it has posted a photo gallery of a case that it says will fit the iPhone 5. The blog took comparison shots with the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch, both of which fit into the case with plenty of extra room, suggesting the iPhone 5 will be wider and taller than the current devices. Slots for the power button and headphone jack remain at the top of the case, but on the left side, there are only two buttons for volume; the slider “mute” option is now on the right. Macitynet.it also notes that the curves of the case are better equipped for the iPod touch rather than the iPhone 4. Of course, pre-release cases in the wild aren’t always the best predictor of what Apple might do. Most third parties likely have just as much information as we do and simply build a few different cases based on rumors. This could be one of those cases. In May, another iPhone 5 case suggested the device would have an edge-to-edge screen. Many recent rumors have actually focused quite a bit on the device’s screen size. There were reports that the next-gen iPhone would have an HD, 4.2-inch screen (the iPhone 4 is 3.5 inches), but recent rumors put it at less than four inches. On Monday, meanwhile, MacPost and Engadget posted photos of an LCD display labeled “N94 EVT 1.” The posts said the photos were from an iPhone prototype in the Engineering Verification Testing phase that date back to March 3. Losing track of all the Apple iPhone 5 rumors? Be sure to check out What the iPhone 5 Might Look Like and Six Amazing Phone Technologies We Want in iPhone 5, as well as the 8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones slideshow below.  Readmore

Google Gmail Offline

So you can finally work with Gmail again without having to be connected to the Internet. I know Gmail has legions of fanboys in the tech press, but I have to confess that I’m not in this group.

Its interface lacks usability and looks like nothing more than a spreadsheet cluttered with links and buttons. I also find its conversation view problematic to work with at times, though it can be helpful in compressing lots of emails on the same subject. A year and a half ago, you could get offline access to Gmail using Google’s Gears runtime, and after abandoning that technology, Google has finally come out with the HTML5-based Offline Google Mail. Unlike Gears, and though it’s based on the supposedly standard HTML5 standard, the Offline Google Mail Web app won’t work in any browser other than Chrome, even though several other browsers have long supported HTML5 storage. This new version is available as a Chrome Web Store “app,” something we’ve seen more and more of lately, restricting Google services and features to the company’s own browser. Readmore

Facebook Pays $40G to Hackers in New Bug Bounty Scheme

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Since launching its “bug bounty” program three weeks ago, Facebook has forked out $40,000 to hackers who detected security flaws on the social networking site.

About fifty people who have successfully identified problems have been acknowledged on Facebook’s “whitehat” — geek-speak for a hacker who is a good guy — site, and to date, Facebook has paid one individual $7,000 for flagging six issues and $5,000 for a particularly bad flaw, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.”We realize … that there are many talented and well-intentioned security experts around the world who don’t work for Facebook,” Facebook’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, wrote on the company’s blog Monday. “We established this bug bounty program in an effort to recognize and reward these individuals for their good work and encourage others to join,” he added. Facebook said that while it had received time-wasting alerts from people “looking for publicity,” the program was a success. The social networking site pomises hackers protection from legal action if they have to break the law to spot a security issue on Facebook. “If you give us a reasonable time to respond to your report before ma ing any information public and make a good faith effort to avoid privacy violations, destruction of data and interruption or degradation of our service during your research, we will not bring any lawsuit against you or ask law enforcement to investigate you,” Facebook said. Readmore

WikiLeaks Cable Apple Slow to Counter Chinese Fakes

Apple did not have a global security team, including in China, until March, 2008, when it hired employees from drug company Pfizer, to counter rampant counterfeiting of its products in China, according to a cable leaked by activist group, WikiLeaks. Apple had not so much as registered its trademarks in China or Hong Kong until Don Shruhan, one of the Pfizer executives, joined the company, the September, 2008 cable from the U.S. embassy in Beijing said. Apple was relatively unknown in China before the introduction of its iPod music player in 2001, and subsequently the iPhone. Now those products are so popular worldwide that China’s notorious counterfeit markets are filled with knock-off versions, according to the cable. Early evidence suggests nearly 100 percent of Apple products in unauthorized mainland markets are knock-offs, while factories in Guangdong province are exporting enough counterfeits to single-handedly supply the world with fake Apple products, the cable said.  Readmore

Apple iPhone 5 will have a 3.7 inch screen and a metal back according to a new report

If you were hoping for a massive screen on the next iPhone, you may be out of luck. According to Taiwan-based DigiTimes, the display of Apple’s next-generation handset will measure less than 4 inches, dashing the long-running rumors that said otherwise.

The screen, says an unnamed source, will measure 3.7-inches, up from the 3.5-inch Retina Display of the iPhone 4. Speculation that the iPhone 5‘s screen would measure 4-inches or more (some have said 4.2-inches) is reportedly based on little more than what the market expects the next iPhone to be, says DigiTimes. This means, basically, that there are a bunch of technology analyst out there making guesses about the iPhone 5 based upon what the rest of the mobile industry is doing, in order to advise investors who are trying to get a leg up on Wall Street. Those guesses are then leaked out into the world of tech news sites, the game of telephone begins, and rumors run wild. As we all know, however, Apple rarely follows industry trends; they make industry trends. So basing expectations about Apple on what other companies are doing isn’t worth much. While we’ve been hearing that the fifth-generation iPhone will have a 4-inch screen or larger for some time, this isn’t the first time we heard about a less than 4-inch display. Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next also reported (back in April) that the iPhone 5 would have a 3.7-inch screen. The screen of the new iPhone will maintain the 960×640 resolution of the iPhone 4′s display, which means Apple can only increase the size a small amount without a visible drop in image quality. “Rumors have been suggesting that the size would bump up to 4 inches, but at that size with the current resolution, pixel density drops to 288, making it harder for Apple to use the [Retina Display] branding,” writes Topolsky. In addition to screen size, DigiTimes‘ source also says that the iPhone 5 will have a metal back, rather than the glass back of the iPhone 4. This will do two things. First, it will “ allow the bezel of the panel to become thinner and make the screen look larger,” as DigiTimes points out. It should make the new iPhone a bit more durable than the iPhone 4, which has been often criticized for its fragility. In addition to these details, common iPhone 5 rumors say that the next-gen handset will have an 8-megapixel camera, a faster,dual-core A5 processor and full HD video recording capabilities. It may also be available on Sprint, as well as the current carriers, AT&T and Verizon. The iPhone 5 is expected sometime in late-September or October. Readmore

Steve Jobs on Camera The Best TV and Film References

Over the years, Steve Jobs the personality has become just as famous as the iconic products produced by his company. A black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers have become synonymous with the Apple mastermind, and references to Jobs have naturally made their way into movies and TV. Jobs has appeared in cartoon form on The Simpsons, Futurama, and South Park, and been brought to life by former ER doc Noah Wyle in a made-for-TV movie. Tina Fey even donned his signature outfit for an episode of 30 Rock, and his wardrobe got a nod in this year’s Crazy Stupid Love. The TV episodes touched on various Apple rumors: South Park tackled whether or not Apple can track your every move and capture your soul with one click of the iTunes “I agree” button. In Springfield, Bart and Lisa bemoaned the fact that they could not afford a shiny Apple product, while the Futurama gang tackled a popular theme: AT&T and its reputation for dismal service on the iPhone. Wyle, meanwhile, portrayed Jobs as a charismatic but egotistical tech magnate, irate when the nerdy and desperate Bill Gates stole his idea and used it for Windows. Over on 30 Rock, Liz Lemon tried to use that Steve Jobs charisma to wow some execs, but a calm tone, flashy graphics, and repetitive mantra was not enough to sway the higher ups. Check out the slideshow for some iconic Jobs moments on film. The list is not exhaustive; if you can think of any other favorite Jobs parodies or references, let us know in the comments.  Readmore

Half of Americans Are Now Social Networkers

The percentage of adult Internet users using sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn is now 65 percent, up from 61 percent a year ago, according to a report released Friday by the Pew Research Center. Accounting for the percentage of adults who don’t use the Internet at all, that still means that half of all Americans now use social networking sites, Pew researchers said. The number of Americans using such sites has exploded since 2005, when Pew found that just 8 percent of Internet users, or about 5 percent of all adult Americans, said they did. The percentage of Internet users saying they use social networking sites has more than doubled since 2008, when 29 percent of respondents said they were using them, according to the Pew survey. Pew reported that women aged 18 to 29 are the most voracious users of social networking sites, with 89 percent of Internet users in that group participating in such sites and 69 percent of them reporting that they do so daily. Accounting for all age groups, 69 percent of adult women using the Internet said they’re social networkers as compared with 60 percent of men. That’s been the case since at least 2008, the first year that Pew found that more women than men were using social networking sites. Factoring in both genders, the youngest demographic still remains the most likely to frequent social networking sites, with 83 percent of online Americans aged 18 to 29 saying they visit them. Seniors who use the Internet are the least likely to log into Facebook and similar sites—just 33 percent of those over 65 said they do so. While Boomer-aged Internet users trailed those younger as social networking junkies, Pew did find that online adults aged 50 to 64 reported the biggest growth in daily use of social networking sites since last year’s survey, with 32 percent now saying they do so as compared with just 20 percent a year ago. Overall, 43 percent of adult Americans who use the Internet go to social networking sites daily, meaning that the only other online activities Internet users do more are email, which 61 percent said they do daily, and search, which 59 percent reported doing daily. About 38 percent of online Americans said they were daily frequenters of social networking sites in last year’s poll, according to Pew, while just 13 percent were in 2008. To put some more perspective on the staggering growth of social networking, Pew noted that in 2009, 46 percent of American Internet users said they’d been to a social networking site at least once in their lives, a percentage that was being fast approached in the latest poll by those who said they used those sites at least once on typical day. The report also stated that researchers found “no significant differences in use of social networking sites based on race and ethnicity, household income, education level, or whether the internet user lives in an urban, suburban, or rural environment.”  Readmore

Mozilla Will Keep Firefox Version Numbers

Earlier this month, there were reports that Mozilla was ditching the version numbers for its Firefox browser. Now it appears the company has had a change of heart.

“There are no plans to adjust the version number. It will remain in its current place in the about window, and we are going to continue with the current numbering scheme,” Alex Faaborg, principal designer on Firefox, wrote in a recent Google Groups post. Faaborg attributed the Firefox browser number controversy to the openness of the Mozilla process. “An attribute of working entirely in the open is that we sometimes create significant confusion as we discuss design work that is in progress,” he wrote. “However the bright side is that there is never a shortage of feedback.” Mozilla recently switched to a more Google-esque rapid release schedule. In recent years, Mozilla has waited about a year between major upgrades of its browser; between Firefox 3 and Firefox 4, for example. This year, however, Mozilla has already released Mozilla 4, 5, and 6. Readmore

The Book of Jobs 5 Essential Principles Behind Apples Success

Steve Jobs’ life reads like a book. Specifically A Regular Guy, written by his long-lost sister, novelist Mona Simpson. A Regular Guy chronicles the brilliant business life and considerably less organized private life of Tom Owens,

a genius biotech company founder and CEO. Not until they were grown did Simpson and Jobs learn of the other’s existence; Jobs was adopted by a couple from California and Simpson was raised by their biological parents in Wisconsin and later Los Angeles. By the end of Simpson’s book, it’s clear that her fictional recreation of her brother is a normal guy but he’s not really the regular guy of the title. And that’s the real life Jobs, too. He epitomizes the qualities Apple vaunted in their “Think Different” campaign. He’s one of the crazy ones. The misfit. The rebel. The troublemaker. The round peg in the square hole. The one who sees things differently. Steve Jobs ResignsJobs was booted by Apple’s board of directors in 1985 and came back just over a decade later in 1996. In his absence, the company stumbled and nearly went bankrupt. But that’s not to say that it can’t survive now. When he left 26 years ago, Apple was in its tween stage. It had just started to develop an identity. With Jobs’ guidance and wisdom, Apple has reached maturity and is prepared to go on without his daily direction. Apple will undoubtedly change but it will always bear Jobs’ imprimatur, especially as he sits as chairman. Read on to see how Jobs’ principles have become Apple’s. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. Readmore

How to Back Up Your Facebook Data

Facebook users get shaken up every few weeks with some kind of threat, whether it’s regarding privacy issues from within the social network itself, or outside sources—like the now-rescinded threat from Anonymous to destroy Facebook entirely in November. If your photos, friends’ contact information, and other important data are wrapped up in your Facebook account and nowhere else, it’s not a bad idea to download a copy of all of it (and back up your other data, too) for safe keeping. The site does permit users to download a Zip file of all their Facebook data, including wall photos, profile pictures, and messages, but I doubt many users have gone through the process, so few know how it actually works—what happens, how long it takes, and what steps are required. The company makes it sounds easy enough, but in typical Facebook fashion, it’s a lot trickier than you’d think. It took me about 80 minutes, start to finish, although most of that time (an hour) was spent waiting for an email for verification. It also took me two shots before I passed the verification test, and seeing as I am indeed who I say I am, I was rather surprised the test was so hard that I couldn’t pass it the first time around. It’s not a fool-proof test by any means, as you’ll see in this step-by-step walkthrough of the process, complete with screens shots at every stage. On the one hand, it does seem like Facebook made a good faith effort at security. It makes sense that it should be tough to download all your data from the site that hosts more user-uploaded personal information than perhaps any other. On the other hand, the verification process is very odd, and it wouldn’t be hard for someone who’s not you to pass it if they did a little poking around online. Before you try to back up your Facebook photos, message history, and information, make sure you know what you’re getting into, and set aside enough time to do it. November 5 is sooner than you think.  Readmore

Steve Jobs Resigns Nothing Changes

Steve Jobs is not dead. Steve Jobs is still working for Apple. Everyone at Apple will still treat whatever Steve Jobs says as divine writ. So hold the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth for another day. Steve Jobs’s “resignation” last night has generated a massive amount of media noise, much of it reading like obituaries. But this isn’t the usual CEO departure. Unlike Bill Gates in 2006, Jobs isn’t heading off into the sunset to become a philanthropist. Let’s make this perfectly clear: Tim Cook has been running the company on a day-to-day basis since Jobs announced his medical leave on January 17. So, no change there. Cook also ran the company for a while in 2009, and Apple neither collapsed nor became any less Jobsian for it. Steve Jobs is not leaving Apple. He will be “Chairman of the Board, director, and Apple employee.” That’s straight from his resignation letter. Apple has been his life for decades, and he hasn’t shown much public interest in doing anything else other than Pixar. The man has left the CEO position and come back before, of course, and “retirements”—of which this isn’t even one—often aren’t a permanent thing. Anyone remember when Jay-Z “retired?” Remember when Michael Jordan “retired?” When your heart and soul is in a project, whether it be a sport, an art, or that apotheosis of Jobsiness that Apple Inc. has become, it’s hard to stay in the background for long. Readmore

Cisco Plans First Major Acquisition Since Strategy Overhaul

Cisco Systems today announced its intent to acquire AXIOSS software from Helsinki-based Comptel Corporation for approximately $31 million in cash. The acquisition will enable Cisco to extend network and service management technology across its Internet Protocol (IP) network platforms. AXIOSS software will also aid in enhancing Cisco Prime—a unified network management solution for enterprises and service providers. This acquisition is in line with the re-focus CEO John Chambers called for in an April internal memo. In it, Chambers vowed to get the company back to its core enterprise networking roots and to focus on five areas driving the growth of networks and the Internet: core routing, switching, and services; collaboration; data center virtualization and cloud; video; and architectures for business transformation. The AXIOSS software suite will provide management capabilities for network services across these five areas, according to a statement by Cisco. The goal is to ease launching and management of new video, data, mobility, and cloud services for solution providers to customers. Although AXIOSS’ software has already been integrated into Cisco’s managed services solutions, the acquisition will strengthen Cisco Prime, particularly for solutions/service providers with automated ordering and fulfillment. “As more users, connected mobile Internet devices and bandwidth intensive applications drive the explosive growth in IP-based networks, service providers continue to invest in their infrastructure to support customers’ needs,” said Jesper Anderson, senior vice president and general manager for Cisco’s Network Management Technology Group (NMTG). “With the acquisition of AXIOSS software and talent, we will help enable service providers to generate greater profits using a single management architecture to drive quick monetization and optimization of their Cisco network investments.”  Readmore