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Intel, Samsung Behind New Phone OS
October 3, 2011 by admin
Filed under Smartphones
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Two Linux software groups have decided to collaborate, they said on Wednesday, to develop a new operating system for cellphones and other devices in partnerships with Intel and Samsung Electronics.
However, analysts said the new Tizen platform is likely to struggle to attract wider developer and manufacturer support to compete with the dozen or so other mobile operating systems in a market dominated by Apple and Google’s Linux-based Android.
Even industry majors Nokia and Hewlett-Packard have canceled their mobile platforms this year.
“The best hope for them is that big operators get worried by Android’s increasing smartphone dominance and decide to consciously switch their allegiances to rival platforms to restrict Google’s huge influence over the mobile market,” said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.
LiMo Foundation and the Linux Foundation said the new Tizen platform is an open-source, standards-based software platform that supports multiple devices including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle ‘infotainment’ systems.
The initial release is planned for the first quarter of 2012, enabling the first devices using Tizen to come to market in mid-2012, the two groups said.
HTC Is On A Buying Spree
September 13, 2011 by admin
Filed under Consumer Electronics
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Taiwanese handset maker HTC has been on a shopping spree to reshape its business, though it remains to be seen if the strategy will help it gain ground on rivals such as Apple, Samsung and Research In Motion.
HTC has bought or invested in at least six companies this year, many of which provide technologies to improve how users consume and share content on its devices. It’s a big change for the Taiwanese manufacturer, which focused for much of its existence on hardware, leaving software and content to its partners.
Times have changed, however, with rivals like Apple and Nokia building whole ecosystems around their products, including app stores and content delivery systems. HTC has shifted its focus before, moving from contract manufacturer for Microsoft’s smartphones to selling its own HTC-branded devices. It must now evolve once more.
“It is no longer enough to focus only on hardware innovations,” said Ryan Lee, an analyst with Taipei-based Topology Research Institute. HTC’s acquisitions, which include both technology and patents, “pave the way for HTC’s greater competitiveness,” he said.
Shareholder Group Demands RIM Shake-up
September 12, 2011 by admin
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An activist shareholder in Research In Motion said on Tuesday it wants the struggling BlackBerry maker to seriously ponder selling itself or spinning off its patent portfolio, sending RIM’s share price higher.
Jaguar Financial Corp said it wants the Canadian company’s board to take control from co-Chief Executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie and for up to five of RIM’s independent board members to explore options to maximize shareholder value.
RIM shares were up 1.3 percent at midday Tuesday at $30.52 on the Nasdaq and gained 2.3 percent to C$30.26 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Both markets were down sharply
overall. RIM shares have lost almost half their value since the start of the year.
“Our call is for (RIM’s board) to take action; no more study, take action. Take action now, before it’s too late,” Jaguar Chief Executive Vic Alboini said in an interview.
Alboini said Jaguar has talked to a select group of shareholders and received broadly positive feedback for its plan.
“We haven’t found one who wasn’t supportive,” he said. “We haven’t found any opposition.”
Microsoft: Stolen SSL Certs No Good
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Microsoft has officially stated that a digital certificate stolen from a Dutch company could not be used to force-feed customers malware through its Windows Update service.
The company’s assertion came after a massive theft of more than 500 SSL (secure socket layer) certificates, including several that could be used to impersonate Microsoft’s update services, was revealed by Dutch authorities and several other affected developers.
“Attackers are not able to leverage a fraudulent Windows Update certificate to install malware via the Windows Update servers,” said Jonathan Ness, an engineer with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), in a Sunday blog post. “The Windows Update client will only install binary payloads signed by the actual Microsoft root certificate, which is issued
and secured by Microsoft.”
Seven of the 531 certificates now known to have been fraudulently obtained by hackers in July were for the domains update.microsoft.com and windowsupdate.com, while another six were for *.microsoft.com.
Nokia Had Horrible Quarter
July 27, 2011 by admin
Filed under Smartphones
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Nokia has just posted very disturbing quarterly results this morning. The European smartphone giant outlook appears to be getting worse and CEO Stephen Elop has acknowledged that things will not turn around overnight.
Elop is reporting that Nokia’s operating profit is down 44 percent since Q1 and sales of mobile devices are down 23 percent consecutively. While the overall sales of mobile phones and smartphones are down, along with average selling prices.
Elop labelled the results as “clearly disappointing” and went on to say that competitive pressures are continuing. He tried to paint a somewhat more positive outlook for the rest of the year, thanks to Nokia’s clear strategy and several major product launches.
Apple Website Is Ripe For Hacking
July 4, 2011 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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According to the Ethical Hacking group YGN, Apple’s website for developers is virtually wide open and gives the opportunity for hackers to introduce malware such asphishing attacks to gain access to subscriber’s vital personal information.
One group known as Networkworld identified three holes on Apple’s website that arbitrary URL redirects, cross-site scripting and HTTP response splitting. That said, these holes could allow hackers to arbitrarily redirect to other websites and make phishing attacks against developers login credentials more successful.
Jobs Returns To Announce Apple’s New Product
June 8, 2011 by admin
Filed under Consumer Electronics
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Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs returns on Monday to the stage at San Francisco’s Moscone center to unveil what investors hope will be the next source of growth for the world’s most valuable technology company.
Jobs, who has been on medical leave for several months and last took the stage in March to present the iPad 2, will announce the iCloud, a Web-based service that lets consumers stream music they bought to any Apple device, pitting it against rivals Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
That expansion into cloud computing is seen as necessary if the company is to stay competitive with increasingly popular open-sourced software, such as Google’s Android operating system, according to analysts and investors.
The iCloud has the potential to make Apple’s iTunes even more powerful, making it tougher for rivals to keep up, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.
“It looks like Apple will likely offer some base service for free,” Wu said. “Competitors, including RIM, Google, Amazon and Microsoft already have a hard time competing with iTunes as it is, but we believe will likely find it even tougher with iCloud enhancements.”
Windows 8 For Tablets To Be Outed
There is a rumor circulating around the Internet that Microsoft will demo Windows 8 for tablets next week at All Things D and Computex. That said, Bloomberg is said to have cited a source from within Microsoft that confirmed Windows 8 tablet OS will be showcased at these events next week. They went on to say the tablet will be demoed using a Tegra based ARM processor.
Over the years Microsoft has totally dedicated their Windows operating system to x86 based processors, specifically Intel and AMD. However, things have changed as smartphones and tablets use has skyrocketed using non x86 processors. This trend left Microsoft no choice but to join the ARM party or be left totally in the dust. As Microsoft showed off the new features in Windows Phone Mango update this week; they were also in the process of getting the tablet version of Windows 8 out as soon as possible.
Windows/ARM Tablet Out By December
May 27, 2011 by admin
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Analysts around the Internet are saying that Windows based tablets will begin using ARM processors by the end of 2011.
Digitimes is saying that the system performance will mean that the platform will be mainly used for targeting the tablet PC market. Digitimes said that there are several problems which need to be solved with the idea and most notebook makers are wary about it.
Microsoft Rebukes Intel
Microsoft is pouring water on Intel’s assertions that legacy Windows current programs won’t operate on Windows 8 for ARM processors. Yesterday, Intel made the claim and Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky came to the rescue of Microsoft and said that Intel’s statements were “factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading.” Mr Sinofsky went on to say that Microsoft’s development goals were clear and that the technology was still in its demonstration stage. That was an extremely vague statement right? So Microsoft is still working out the kinks.
We also need to say that Sinofsky never gave any hard-core specifics and there was never any clarification as to what Intel’s error was in their statement.