Google, Facebook reps can skip court hearings
The Delhi High Court will continue with the hearing against the 21 websites, who have been accused of allegedly hosting objectionable content in May, but it did offer Google India and Facebook India a concession. Both Google and Facebook can now choose to make their court appearances by the way of their lawyers, and not their representatives, necessarily before the magistrate. The court, however, has granted this concession to only Google India and Facebook India, and not the remaining 19 websites, confirms a report in the Indian Express. The representatives of the remaining 19 websites will have to make appearances before the magistrate, each time a hearing a scheduled. Alongwith postponing the next scheduled hearing to May, the court also decided that in the meanwhile the criminal proceedings against the websites would continue, and subsequently refused to implement a stay order.Click here for full story
Facebook and Saavn tie-up for music
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Apple responds to Address Book criticism, US Congress seeks explanation
Apple responds to Address Book criticism, US Congress seeks explanation
Akanksha Seth, February 16, 2012,
Apple
has finally responded to reports and allegations that dozens of iOS
applications have been accessing, sharing and storing user contact data
without explicit permission. Path was the first to be flagged for this,
after an iOS user, Arun Thampi discovered that Path was collecting the
data off his address book without first asking his consent.
Apple has faced growing criticism that it has given iOS developers far too much access to address book information without requiring a user prompt. Twitter, in response to that growing criticism, also admitted to uploading your address book, and they have since tidied up the way they ask for address book data.
The company agreed with that assessment, arguably something they should've done a long time back and admitted their mistake. They said that soon apps that use address book data will require explicit user permission to do so.
Apple's comments were followed by an inquiry from House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Commerce Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chair G.K. Butterfield, expressing concerns over Path's collecting address book information.
While Path's CEO apologised and "fixed the bug" so to say and introduced a notification asking user permission to access data, two crucial questions came to mind - how do other app developers access the data? And secondly, how exactly do they utilize it?
Butterfield and Waxman have given Apple until February 29 to answer the questions.
The letter, wasn't exactly hunky-dorey. It quoted excerpts of Apple's iOS developer website which stated that Apple provides all the tools and frameworks required for storing, accessing and sharing data. It is then questioned whether Apple requires apps to request user permission before transmitting data about a user. The letter goes onto quote Dustin Curtis' article Stealing your Address Book stating: "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission".
To top it all, the legislators stated "This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts."
The Committee's full letter, below:
Mr. Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer, Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
Dear Mr. Cook:
Last week, independent iOS app developer Arun Thampi blogged about his discovery that the social networking app "Path" was accessing and collecting the contents of his iPhone address book without ever having asked for his consent.[1] The information taken without his permission - or that of the individual contacts who own that information - included full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.[2] Following media coverage of Mr. Thampi's discovery, Path's Co-Founder and CEO Dave Morin quickly apologized, promised to delete from Path's servers all data it had taken from its users' address books, and announced the release of a new version of Path that would prompt users to opt in to sharing their address book contacts.[3]
This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.
The data management section of your iOS developer website states: "iOS has a comprehensive collection of tools and frameworks for storing, accessing, and sharing data. ... iOS apps even have access to a device's global data such as contacts in the Address Book, and photos in the Photo Library."[4] The app store review guidelines section states: "We review every app on the App Store based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria. This review criteria is now available to you in the App Store Review Guidelines"[5] This same section indicates that the guidelines are available only to registered members of the iOS Developer Program.[6] However, tech blogs following the Path controversy indicate that the iOS App Guidelines require apps to get a user's permission before "transmit[ting] data about a user".[7]
In spite of this guidance, claims have been made that "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It's common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database."[8] One blogger claims to have conducted a survey of developers of popular iOS apps and found that 13 of 15 had a "contacts database with millions of records" - with one claiming to have a database containing "Mark Zuckerberg's cell phone number, Larry Ellison's home phone number and Bill Gates' cell phone number."[9]
The fact that the previous version of Path was able to gain approval for distribution through the Apple iTunes Store despite taking the contents of users' address books without their permission suggests that there could be some truth to these claims. To more fully understand and assess these claims, we are requesting that you respond to the following questions:
- Please describe all iOS App Guidelines that concern criteria related to the privacy and security of data that will be accessed or transmitted by an app.
- Please describe how you determine whether an app meets those criteria.
- What data do you consider to be "data about a user" that is subject to the requirement that the app obtain the user's consent before it is transmitted?
- To the extent not addressed in the response to question 2, please describe how you determine whether an app will transmit "data about a user" and whether the consent requirement has been met.
- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit "data about a user"?
- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be "data about a user"?
- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be data of the contact? If not, please explain why not. Please explain how you protect the privacy and security interests of that contact in his or her information.
- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit information from the address book? How many of those ask for the user's consent before transmitting their contacts' information?
- You have built into your devices the ability to turn off in one place the transmission of location information entirely or on an app-by-app basis. Please explain why you have not done the same for address book information.
Please provide the information requested no later than February 29, 2012. If you have any questions regarding this request, you can contact Felipe Mendoza with the Energy and Commerce Committee Staff at 202-226-3400.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member
G.K. Butterfield, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade
Apple has faced growing criticism that it has given iOS developers far too much access to address book information without requiring a user prompt. Twitter, in response to that growing criticism, also admitted to uploading your address book, and they have since tidied up the way they ask for address book data.
The company agreed with that assessment, arguably something they should've done a long time back and admitted their mistake. They said that soon apps that use address book data will require explicit user permission to do so.
Apple's comments were followed by an inquiry from House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Commerce Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chair G.K. Butterfield, expressing concerns over Path's collecting address book information.
While Path's CEO apologised and "fixed the bug" so to say and introduced a notification asking user permission to access data, two crucial questions came to mind - how do other app developers access the data? And secondly, how exactly do they utilize it?
Butterfield and Waxman have given Apple until February 29 to answer the questions.
The letter, wasn't exactly hunky-dorey. It quoted excerpts of Apple's iOS developer website which stated that Apple provides all the tools and frameworks required for storing, accessing and sharing data. It is then questioned whether Apple requires apps to request user permission before transmitting data about a user. The letter goes onto quote Dustin Curtis' article Stealing your Address Book stating: "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission".
To top it all, the legislators stated "This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts."
The Committee's full letter, below:
Mr. Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer, Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
Dear Mr. Cook:
Last week, independent iOS app developer Arun Thampi blogged about his discovery that the social networking app "Path" was accessing and collecting the contents of his iPhone address book without ever having asked for his consent.[1] The information taken without his permission - or that of the individual contacts who own that information - included full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.[2] Following media coverage of Mr. Thampi's discovery, Path's Co-Founder and CEO Dave Morin quickly apologized, promised to delete from Path's servers all data it had taken from its users' address books, and announced the release of a new version of Path that would prompt users to opt in to sharing their address book contacts.[3]
This incident raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.
The data management section of your iOS developer website states: "iOS has a comprehensive collection of tools and frameworks for storing, accessing, and sharing data. ... iOS apps even have access to a device's global data such as contacts in the Address Book, and photos in the Photo Library."[4] The app store review guidelines section states: "We review every app on the App Store based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria. This review criteria is now available to you in the App Store Review Guidelines"[5] This same section indicates that the guidelines are available only to registered members of the iOS Developer Program.[6] However, tech blogs following the Path controversy indicate that the iOS App Guidelines require apps to get a user's permission before "transmit[ting] data about a user".[7]
In spite of this guidance, claims have been made that "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It's common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database."[8] One blogger claims to have conducted a survey of developers of popular iOS apps and found that 13 of 15 had a "contacts database with millions of records" - with one claiming to have a database containing "Mark Zuckerberg's cell phone number, Larry Ellison's home phone number and Bill Gates' cell phone number."[9]
The fact that the previous version of Path was able to gain approval for distribution through the Apple iTunes Store despite taking the contents of users' address books without their permission suggests that there could be some truth to these claims. To more fully understand and assess these claims, we are requesting that you respond to the following questions:
- Please describe all iOS App Guidelines that concern criteria related to the privacy and security of data that will be accessed or transmitted by an app.
- Please describe how you determine whether an app meets those criteria.
- What data do you consider to be "data about a user" that is subject to the requirement that the app obtain the user's consent before it is transmitted?
- To the extent not addressed in the response to question 2, please describe how you determine whether an app will transmit "data about a user" and whether the consent requirement has been met.
- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit "data about a user"?
- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be "data about a user"?
- Do you consider the contents of the address book to be data of the contact? If not, please explain why not. Please explain how you protect the privacy and security interests of that contact in his or her information.
- How many iOS apps in the U.S. iTunes Store transmit information from the address book? How many of those ask for the user's consent before transmitting their contacts' information?
- You have built into your devices the ability to turn off in one place the transmission of location information entirely or on an app-by-app basis. Please explain why you have not done the same for address book information.
Please provide the information requested no later than February 29, 2012. If you have any questions regarding this request, you can contact Felipe Mendoza with the Energy and Commerce Committee Staff at 202-226-3400.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member
G.K. Butterfield, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade
Apple launches new legal attack on Samsung phones
pple has asked a federal court in California to block Samsung Electronics from selling its new Galaxy Nexus smartphones, alleging patent violations.
In a suit filed last week in San Jose, Apple said the Galaxy Nexus infringes on patents underlying features that customers expect from its products. Those include the ability to unlock phones by sliding an image and to search for information by voice.Samsung representatives did not immediately return requests for comment.
With the new suit, Apple is opening up another legal assault on the Korea-based company after taking Samsung to the same court in April of last year. In the earlier case, Apple alleges that Samsung illegally copied iPhone and iPad design features and the look of its screen icons. That case is still going on, though in December Apple lost a bid for a preliminary bar that would have kept Samsung from selling Galaxy phones and tablets.
Apple acknowledged the setback in the new action and said it is now suing over new products and different patents.
In addition to the California cases, Apple and Samsung are waging more than 20 legal fights in at least 10 countries in their war for global leadership of smartphone and tablet markets.
The new case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, et a 12-00630.
Facebook can terminate Mark Zuckerberg services 'at will'
WASHINGTON: Facebook can terminate services of its chief Mark Zuckerberg
at any time for any reason, or even without a reason, but the social
networking giant's founder and CEO also enjoys similar exit rights.
As per Facebook's employment agreement with Zuckerberg, his tenure at
the social networking giant would be on an "at will" basis, meaning his
job can be terminated "at any time for any reason or no reason", either
by him or by the company.
The company has disclosed
Zuckerberg's employment agreement, revised late last month, as part of
an amended registration document for its upcoming IPO (Initial Public
Offer) filed with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The global leader in social networking space is planning for a USD five
billion dollar IPO, which could push Zuckerberg and a few others into
the league of billionaires, based on the valuation of their shareholding
in the company.
While the job duties, title, compensation and
benefits, as well as the company's personnel policies and procedures,
might change from time to time, the 'at will' nature of Zuckerberg's
employment can be changed only after a written agreement approved by the
Facebook board.
The employment agreement of Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also has an 'at-will' clause.
Sandberg's agreement also provides for reimbursement of her business
expenses by Facebook, although that of Zuckerberg has no such clause.
One of the clauses also bars Zuckerberg from creating a rival to Facebook.
As per the agreement, Zuckerberg cannot "assist any person or entity in
competing with the company, in preparing to compete with the company or
in hiring any employees or consultants of the company."
Similar clauses apply to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, chief
financial officer David Ebersman and vice-president (Engineering) Mike
Schroepfer, for the period these people are rendering their services to
Facebook.
The agreements are silent on whether these people,
including Zuckerberg, can help create a rival to Facebook after leaving
the company.
The company said that Zuckerberg, as President and
CEO, would get $500,000 of base salary and up to 45% of this amount as
bonus every year.
Sandberg and Ebersman would get an annual
base salary of $300,000 each, while the same for Schroepfer would be
$275,000. All the three executives would be entitled for a bonus payment
of up to 45 per cent of their base earnings.
The collective base salary and bonus of the four executives stand at $1.99 million (about Rs 10 crore).
WASHINGTON: Facebook can terminate services of its chief Mark Zuckerberg
at any time for any reason, or even without a reason, but the social
networking giant's founder and CEO also enjoys similar exit rights.
As per Facebook's employment agreement with Zuckerberg, his tenure at the social networking giant would be on an "at will" basis, meaning his job can be terminated "at any time for any reason or no reason", either by him or by the company.
The company has disclosed Zuckerberg's employment agreement, revised late last month, as part of an amended registration document for its upcoming IPO (Initial Public Offer) filed with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The global leader in social networking space is planning for a USD five billion dollar IPO, which could push Zuckerberg and a few others into the league of billionaires, based on the valuation of their shareholding in the company.
While the job duties, title, compensation and benefits, as well as the company's personnel policies and procedures, might change from time to time, the 'at will' nature of Zuckerberg's employment can be changed only after a written agreement approved by the Facebook board.
The employment agreement of Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also has an 'at-will' clause.
Sandberg's agreement also provides for reimbursement of her business expenses by Facebook, although that of Zuckerberg has no such clause.
One of the clauses also bars Zuckerberg from creating a rival to Facebook.
As per the agreement, Zuckerberg cannot "assist any person or entity in competing with the company, in preparing to compete with the company or in hiring any employees or consultants of the company."
Similar clauses apply to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, chief financial officer David Ebersman and vice-president (Engineering) Mike Schroepfer, for the period these people are rendering their services to Facebook.
The agreements are silent on whether these people, including Zuckerberg, can help create a rival to Facebook after leaving the company.
The company said that Zuckerberg, as President and CEO, would get $500,000 of base salary and up to 45% of this amount as bonus every year.
Sandberg and Ebersman would get an annual base salary of $300,000 each, while the same for Schroepfer would be $275,000. All the three executives would be entitled for a bonus payment of up to 45 per cent of their base earnings.
The collective base salary and bonus of the four executives stand at $1.99 million (about Rs 10 crore).
As per Facebook's employment agreement with Zuckerberg, his tenure at the social networking giant would be on an "at will" basis, meaning his job can be terminated "at any time for any reason or no reason", either by him or by the company.
The company has disclosed Zuckerberg's employment agreement, revised late last month, as part of an amended registration document for its upcoming IPO (Initial Public Offer) filed with the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The global leader in social networking space is planning for a USD five billion dollar IPO, which could push Zuckerberg and a few others into the league of billionaires, based on the valuation of their shareholding in the company.
While the job duties, title, compensation and benefits, as well as the company's personnel policies and procedures, might change from time to time, the 'at will' nature of Zuckerberg's employment can be changed only after a written agreement approved by the Facebook board.
The employment agreement of Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also has an 'at-will' clause.
Sandberg's agreement also provides for reimbursement of her business expenses by Facebook, although that of Zuckerberg has no such clause.
One of the clauses also bars Zuckerberg from creating a rival to Facebook.
As per the agreement, Zuckerberg cannot "assist any person or entity in competing with the company, in preparing to compete with the company or in hiring any employees or consultants of the company."
Similar clauses apply to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, chief financial officer David Ebersman and vice-president (Engineering) Mike Schroepfer, for the period these people are rendering their services to Facebook.
The agreements are silent on whether these people, including Zuckerberg, can help create a rival to Facebook after leaving the company.
The company said that Zuckerberg, as President and CEO, would get $500,000 of base salary and up to 45% of this amount as bonus every year.
Sandberg and Ebersman would get an annual base salary of $300,000 each, while the same for Schroepfer would be $275,000. All the three executives would be entitled for a bonus payment of up to 45 per cent of their base earnings.
The collective base salary and bonus of the four executives stand at $1.99 million (about Rs 10 crore).
Apple now worth more than Google, Microsoft combined
LONDON: Tech giant Apple's market capitalization is now bigger than the values of Google and Microsoft combined.
The iPhone maker's market cap is around 462 billion dollars as of mid-Friday.
Microsoft's is about 257 billion dollars and Google's weighs in at about 197 billion dollars, The Washington Post reports.
According to the paper, tech bloggers have been coming up with all kinds of statistics to put Apple's market cap in context.
Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt pointed out that Apple's now worth more than the gross domestic product of Sweden, which is 458 billion dollars.
According to earlier reports, Apple's revenue figures revealed that its
iPhone business alone has become bigger than the whole of Microsoft.
The tech giant's popular smartphone division generated 24.4 billion
dollars of revenue in the quarter up until December, whereas the whole
of Microsoft generated 20.9 billion dollars in the same quarter.
LONDON: Tech giant Apple's market capitalization is now bigger than the values of Google and Microsoft combined.
The iPhone maker's market cap is around 462 billion dollars as of mid-Friday.
Microsoft's is about 257 billion dollars and Google's weighs in at about 197 billion dollars, The Washington Post reports.
According to the paper, tech bloggers have been coming up with all kinds of statistics to put Apple's market cap in context.
Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt pointed out that Apple's now worth more than the gross domestic product of Sweden, which is 458 billion dollars.
According to earlier reports, Apple's revenue figures revealed that its iPhone business alone has become bigger than the whole of Microsoft.
The tech giant's popular smartphone division generated 24.4 billion dollars of revenue in the quarter up until December, whereas the whole of Microsoft generated 20.9 billion dollars in the same quarter.
The iPhone maker's market cap is around 462 billion dollars as of mid-Friday.
Microsoft's is about 257 billion dollars and Google's weighs in at about 197 billion dollars, The Washington Post reports.
According to the paper, tech bloggers have been coming up with all kinds of statistics to put Apple's market cap in context.
Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt pointed out that Apple's now worth more than the gross domestic product of Sweden, which is 458 billion dollars.
According to earlier reports, Apple's revenue figures revealed that its iPhone business alone has become bigger than the whole of Microsoft.
The tech giant's popular smartphone division generated 24.4 billion dollars of revenue in the quarter up until December, whereas the whole of Microsoft generated 20.9 billion dollars in the same quarter.
Samsung Galaxy Note review: It's a phone, not a tablet
Online theft of IDs at Microsoft store
NEW DELHI: Hackers, calling themselves the Evil Shadow Team
and reportedly based in China struck at www.microsoftstore.co.in on
Sunday night, stealing login IDs and passwords of people who had used
the site for shopping.
According to reports, the IDs and passwords were stored in plain text files without any encryption.
Evil Shadow later posted a message on the Microsoft website, saying the "unsafe system will be baptized".
A Microsoft spokesperson said they were investigating a "limited
compromise" of the company's online store in India. "Customers have
already been sent guidance on the issue and suggested immediate actions.
We are diligently working to remedy the issue," the spokesperson said.
In its email to customers, Microsoft reportedly claimed that databases
storing credit card details and payment information were not affected
during the security breach. At the same time, the company is said to
have acknowledged that the exposed account details may include
non-financial information, including e-mail addresses, passwords, order
details and shipping addresses.
Last year, hacker groups like
Lulzsec had carried out several high-profile break-ins, putting the
focus on security measures companies put in place. Sony allegedly suffered several security breaches and hackers stole user IDs and passwords of customers.
Lulzsec had said that with its actions it was trying to draw attention
to the poor security methods used at websites, even by multinational
firms.
Evil Shadow Team, a group of hackers reportedly based in
China, struck Microsoft's online store in India, stealing customers'
login IDs and passwords. Microsoft said it was a 'limited compromise'
NEW DELHI: Hackers, calling themselves the Evil Shadow Team
and reportedly based in China struck at www.microsoftstore.co.in on
Sunday night, stealing login IDs and passwords of people who had used
the site for shopping.
According to reports, the IDs and passwords were stored in plain text files without any encryption.
Evil Shadow later posted a message on the Microsoft website, saying the "unsafe system will be baptized".
A Microsoft spokesperson said they were investigating a "limited compromise" of the company's online store in India. "Customers have already been sent guidance on the issue and suggested immediate actions. We are diligently working to remedy the issue," the spokesperson said.
In its email to customers, Microsoft reportedly claimed that databases storing credit card details and payment information were not affected during the security breach. At the same time, the company is said to have acknowledged that the exposed account details may include non-financial information, including e-mail addresses, passwords, order details and shipping addresses.
Last year, hacker groups like Lulzsec had carried out several high-profile break-ins, putting the focus on security measures companies put in place. Sony allegedly suffered several security breaches and hackers stole user IDs and passwords of customers.
Lulzsec had said that with its actions it was trying to draw attention to the poor security methods used at websites, even by multinational firms.
Evil Shadow Team, a group of hackers reportedly based in China, struck Microsoft's online store in India, stealing customers' login IDs and passwords. Microsoft said it was a 'limited compromise'
According to reports, the IDs and passwords were stored in plain text files without any encryption.
Evil Shadow later posted a message on the Microsoft website, saying the "unsafe system will be baptized".
A Microsoft spokesperson said they were investigating a "limited compromise" of the company's online store in India. "Customers have already been sent guidance on the issue and suggested immediate actions. We are diligently working to remedy the issue," the spokesperson said.
In its email to customers, Microsoft reportedly claimed that databases storing credit card details and payment information were not affected during the security breach. At the same time, the company is said to have acknowledged that the exposed account details may include non-financial information, including e-mail addresses, passwords, order details and shipping addresses.
Last year, hacker groups like Lulzsec had carried out several high-profile break-ins, putting the focus on security measures companies put in place. Sony allegedly suffered several security breaches and hackers stole user IDs and passwords of customers.
Lulzsec had said that with its actions it was trying to draw attention to the poor security methods used at websites, even by multinational firms.
Evil Shadow Team, a group of hackers reportedly based in China, struck Microsoft's online store in India, stealing customers' login IDs and passwords. Microsoft said it was a 'limited compromise'
Microsoft India Store Hacked, User Database Exposed
Microsoft is investigating a "limited compromise" of the company's online store in India, the company said Monday.
"The store customers have already been sent guidance on the issue and suggested immediate actions," the company said in a statement.
The user names and passwords of some customers may have been leaked, and users are being advised to change their passwords, said a person close to the situation, who declined to be named. Financial information of customers has not been exposed, the person said.
The store was defaced over the weekend by hackers who claimed to be Chinese. The hackers also released images of what appeared to be lists of users' names and passwords.
The Microsoft website is managed by a third-party service provider and was still down on Monday. Microsoft said on the site that it is working to restore access as quickly as possible.
The relatively unknown hacker group, called EvilShadow Team, wrote in Mandarin in a blog post that it had changed the main page of the store, and placed an image of China's flag on it because it wanted Microsoft to pay attention. "We are not famous, we know that there are other experts among us, people who are even better," the group said.
India has border disputes with both China and Pakistan, and the animosity gets reflected on social networks, and in hacks of websites on both sides of the borders. Some top Indian websites including that of the country's Central Bureau of Investigation have been hacked.
1,651 websites were defaced in India in November, according to data from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
Michael Kan in Beijing contributed to this report.
Apple iPads seizedin China due to name dispute
BEIJING: Authorities have seized Apple iPads from retailers in a city in northern China due to a dispute with a domestic company that says it owns the iPad name, an official said Monday. The Chinese company said it is asking for similar action in more than 20 other cities.
The dispute with Shenzhen Proview Technology threatens to complicate
Apple's efforts to sell its popular tablet computer in China, its
fastest-growing market.
Investigators started seizing iPads on
Thursday in Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, after receiving letters
from Shenzhen Proview, said an official of the economic investigation
unit of the city's Xinhua district. He would give only his surname,
Wang.
"All the Apple iPads in the big shopping malls and
supermarkets have been taken off shelves in Xinhua district," said Wang.
He wouldn't say how many devices had been seized or the number of
retailers affected.
An Apple Inc spokeswoman in Beijing, Carolyn Wu, declined to comment.
Cupertino, California-based Apple has five stores in mainland China - two in Beijing and three in Shanghai
- and authorized resellers in other cities. Phone calls to the Beijing
and Shanghai commercial bureaus, which enforce trademarks, were not
answered.
Shenzhen Proview registered the iPad name in China in 2001. Apple bought rights to the name from a Taiwan
affiliate, Proview Taipei, that registered it in various countries as
early as 2000. The mainland company says it still owns the name in
China.
A Chinese court rejected Apple's complaint in December
that Shenzhen Proview was violating its rights to the iPad name. The
court ruled Proview is not bound by a 2009 agreement under which Proview
Taipei transferred the trademarks to Apple for 35,000 pounds ($54,700).
Shenzhen Proview says it filed a trademark violation complaint in January with the commercial bureau of Beijing.
The company has asked authorities in more than 20 cities to investigate
and to destroy promotional materials that violate its trademark, said
its lawyer, Xie Xianghui. He declined to identify the cities, saying
that might disrupt investigations.
"We haven't made a demand for economic compensation. We will pursue it through another channel," Xie said.
Shenzhen Proview Technology is a subsidiary of LCD screen maker Proview International Holdings Ltd, headquartered in Hong Kong.
Olympus posts net loss of $426m
TOKYO: Scandal-hit Olympus reported a net loss
of 33.08 billion yen ($426 million) for the nine months to December
amid a massive accounting cover-up that has tarnished the image of
corporate Japan.
For the full-year to March, the camera maker
also said it expects a net loss of 32.0 billion yen, owing to one-off
costs unrelated to the loss scandal.
The forecast is the first since the scandal
broke last year, with the company previously saying it could not make a
full-year projection because it did not know the full ramifications of
the crisis.
Olympus's admission that a small group of top
executives used overpriced deals to cover up bad investments dating back
to the 1990s has shaken confidence in Japanese corporate governance.
For the nine months to December, Olympus said operating profit fell
19.0 percent on-year to 25.9 billion yen on sales of 624.6 billion yen,
which were up 0.1 percent.
"We were worried about the impact of
the delayed booking of losses, as well as continued strength of the yen
and deterioration of the European economy," Olympus president Shuichi
Takayama told a news conference.
"However, thankfully, we saw solid business performance during this period, with the medical business at its core."
Olympus said earlier this month it would hold an extraordinary general
meeting (EGM) of shareholders on April 20, at which the company is
expected to select a new management board.
Takayama and five
other current board members, who are being sued by the camera and
endoscope maker over a scandal in which $1.7 billion in investment
losses were hidden, are expected to resign at the EGM.
Takayama said last month a new management team would be nominated in mid-March and selected at the meeting.
TOKYO: Scandal-hit Olympus reported a net loss
of 33.08 billion yen ($426 million) for the nine months to December
amid a massive accounting cover-up that has tarnished the image of
corporate Japan.
For the full-year to March, the camera maker also said it expects a net loss of 32.0 billion yen, owing to one-off costs unrelated to the loss scandal.
The forecast is the first since the scandal broke last year, with the company previously saying it could not make a full-year projection because it did not know the full ramifications of the crisis.
Olympus's admission that a small group of top executives used overpriced deals to cover up bad investments dating back to the 1990s has shaken confidence in Japanese corporate governance.
For the nine months to December, Olympus said operating profit fell 19.0 percent on-year to 25.9 billion yen on sales of 624.6 billion yen, which were up 0.1 percent.
"We were worried about the impact of the delayed booking of losses, as well as continued strength of the yen and deterioration of the European economy," Olympus president Shuichi Takayama told a news conference.
"However, thankfully, we saw solid business performance during this period, with the medical business at its core."
Olympus said earlier this month it would hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on April 20, at which the company is expected to select a new management board.
Takayama and five other current board members, who are being sued by the camera and endoscope maker over a scandal in which $1.7 billion in investment losses were hidden, are expected to resign at the EGM.
Takayama said last month a new management team would be nominated in mid-March and selected at the meeting.
For the full-year to March, the camera maker also said it expects a net loss of 32.0 billion yen, owing to one-off costs unrelated to the loss scandal.
The forecast is the first since the scandal broke last year, with the company previously saying it could not make a full-year projection because it did not know the full ramifications of the crisis.
Olympus's admission that a small group of top executives used overpriced deals to cover up bad investments dating back to the 1990s has shaken confidence in Japanese corporate governance.
For the nine months to December, Olympus said operating profit fell 19.0 percent on-year to 25.9 billion yen on sales of 624.6 billion yen, which were up 0.1 percent.
"We were worried about the impact of the delayed booking of losses, as well as continued strength of the yen and deterioration of the European economy," Olympus president Shuichi Takayama told a news conference.
"However, thankfully, we saw solid business performance during this period, with the medical business at its core."
Olympus said earlier this month it would hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on April 20, at which the company is expected to select a new management board.
Takayama and five other current board members, who are being sued by the camera and endoscope maker over a scandal in which $1.7 billion in investment losses were hidden, are expected to resign at the EGM.
Takayama said last month a new management team would be nominated in mid-March and selected at the meeting.
World's cheapest tablet launched
NEW DELHI: India's finally got its much hyped ultra-low-cost tablet, Aakash. The government is buying the first units of the device for Rs 2250 each from a British company which is assembling the devices in India. They will initially be given to students for free in a pilot run of 100,000 units.
"The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide," Telecoms and Education Minister Kapil Sibal said.
The tablet runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and comes with a 7-inch resistive touchscreen with 800x480 resolution and weighs 350 grams. The tablet has a 256MB of RAM, a 32GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.
The tablet comes with a 12-month replacement warranty and supports formats like DOC, DOCX, PDF and PPTX etc. Aakash has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
The tablet has a 2100mAh battery which can reportedly last for 2-3 hours depending on the usage. The device is also said to be completely made in India, as according to a review, a sticker at the back emphasises the fact. Aakash also reportedly packs some pre-loaded apps, however, lacks the Android Market Place.
DataWind, the British-based company that developed the tablet, said the cost would drop when mass production begins. The tablet will be commercially available from November for Rs 2999. The commercial version of the tablet would have no duty waivers or subsidy, as in the government's version and come with added features like an inbuilt cellular modem and SIM to access internet.
Initial reactions to the Aakash were mixed, with the mainly middle-class technology department students at the event saying it needed refinement but was a good option for the poor.
"It could be better," said Nikant Vohra, an electrical engineering student. "If you see it from the price only, it's okay, but we have laptops and have used iPads, so we know the difference."
Some 19 million people subscribe to mobile phones every month, making India the world's fastest growing market, but most are from the wealthier segment of the population in towns.
India lags behind fellow BRIC nations Brazil, Russia and China in the drive to get its 1.2 billion population connected to technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones, according to a report by risk analysis firm Maplecroft.
The number of Internet users grew 15-fold between 2000 and 2010, according to another recent report. Still, just 8 per cent of Indians have access. That compares with nearly 40 per cent in China.
Some 19 million people subscribe to mobile phones every month, making India the world's fastest growing market, but most are from the wealthier segment of the population in towns.
Apple makes employees 'work on fake products'
Here's another tale of
Apple's super secret work cutlure. According to a tidbit from Adam
Lashinsky's recently-released book "Inside Apple: How Americas Most
Admired and Secretive Company Really Works," it seems that the tech
giant sometimes makes its new employees work on fake products until they
can be trusted.
According to a report in Business Insider, a former Apple employee also confirmed this when Lashinsky spoke at LinkedIn recently.
The engineer is reportedly quoted as saying, "A friend of mine who's a
senior engineer at Apple, he works on -- or did work on -- fake products
I'm sure for the first part of his career, and interviewed for 9
months. It's intense."
Fortune's senior editor Lashinsky's book
aims to provide a glimpse into the super secretive corporate culture at
Apple. The book also talks about Apple's organizational structure, and
what makes it so successful.
Apple loses bid to ban sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N
DUESSELDORF: Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd's reworked tablet PC does not look like a copycat version of the
iPad, a German court said, affirming a preliminary assessment and
dealing another legal blow to Apple Inc.
Apple is fighting several rival makers of smartphones and tablet PCs in courts worldwide over intellectual property.
Samsung
changed the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the German market --
naming it Galaxy Tab 10.1N -- to get around a sales ban imposed by a
court in September, and Apple challenged the new version.
The state court in Duesseldorf said on Thursday there were "clear differences" between the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and the iPad.
Apple's battle with Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc's Android software, has been especially bitter, with the Galaxy devices seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple's mobile products.
In a global intellectual property battle, Apple has claimed the Galaxy
line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad and has sued the Korean company in the United States, Australia, Japan and Korea as well as in Europe.
Since then, several countries including the Netherlands, the United
States and Australia have decided to allow Samsung to sell the Galaxy
tablet.
Samsung, which is Apple's supplier as well as a
competitor, has been trying to have the ban on sales of the original
Galaxy Tab in Germany overturned while also seeking other means to fight
Apple. The ban was upheld by a court last week.
Samsung has
counter-sued Apple in Germany, claiming infringements of mobile
technology patents. A court in Mannheim has ruled against Samsung in
cases concerning two of the patents and is due to decide on a third on
March 2.
Intel settles antitrust case for $6.5m
Intel Corp agreed to pay just $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit
in which New York's attorney general accused the world's largest
chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars
of kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
The settlement ends a November 2009 Delaware case brought by Andrew Cuomo,
then New York's attorney general and now governor. Eric Schneiderman,
the current attorney general, took over the case when he succeeded Cuomo
in that position.
Intel's $6.5 million payment represents less than five hours of profit for the Santa Clara, California-based company, based on reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.
Cuomo had accused Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law
through a "systematic worldwide campaign" to bully customers into buying
its personal computer chips, at the expense of rival Advanced Micro
Devices Inc.
But the lawsuit lost much of its punch when US
District Judge Leonard Stark said the state could not seek triple
damages, and was allowed to pursue claims over just three years of
computer purchases, not four or six as it had sought.
Jennifer
Givner, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, said the state's lawyers still
believe their substantive claims have merit, but that "in light of the
court's decision believe that no purpose is served by pursuing the
matter further."
Intel said it was pleased to settle, and that
the accord did not require it to admit to any allegations or violation
of law, or make any changes to its business.
"We have always
said that Intel's business practices are lawful, pro-competitive and
beneficial to consumers," General Counsel Doug Melamed said in a
statement.
Cuomo had contended that Intel bribed or coerced computer makers such as Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and International Business Machines Corp, and threatened retaliation.
Emails showed that top Intel officers including Chief Executive Paul Otellini were aware of some of the improper activity, Cuomo alleged.
Intel has long faced allegations of anticompetitive conduct, and is
still appealing a 1.06 billion euro (now US$1.41 billion) fine imposed
in 2009 by European regulators.
In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission settled a case in which it accused Intel of unlawfully stifling competition in microprocessors.
The same year, a different Delaware federal judge approved a settlement
with shareholders that called for Intel to make more than 40 corporate
governance changes, including the creation of a compliance committee to
monitor antitrust litigation.
And in November 2009, barely a week after Cuomo sued, Intel agreed to pay AMD $1.25 billion to settle all outstanding legal disputes with its smaller rival.
Intel is incorporated in Delaware.
Apple is fighting several rival makers of smartphones and tablet PCs in courts worldwide over intellectual property.
Samsung
changed the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the German market --
naming it Galaxy Tab 10.1N -- to get around a sales ban imposed by a
court in September, and Apple challenged the new version.
The state court in Duesseldorf said on Thursday there were "clear differences" between the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and the iPad.
Apple's battle with Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc's Android software, has been especially bitter, with the Galaxy devices seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple's mobile products.
In a global intellectual property battle, Apple has claimed the Galaxy
line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad and has sued the Korean company in the United States, Australia, Japan and Korea as well as in Europe.
Since then, several countries including the Netherlands, the United
States and Australia have decided to allow Samsung to sell the Galaxy
tablet.
Samsung, which is Apple's supplier as well as a
competitor, has been trying to have the ban on sales of the original
Galaxy Tab in Germany overturned while also seeking other means to fight
Apple. The ban was upheld by a court last week.
Samsung has
counter-sued Apple in Germany, claiming infringements of mobile
technology patents. A court in Mannheim has ruled against Samsung in
cases concerning two of the patents and is due to decide on a third on
March 2.
Intel Corp agreed to pay just $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit
in which New York's attorney general accused the world's largest
chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars
of kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
Intel settles antitrust case for $6.5m
Intel Corp agreed to pay just $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit
in which New York's attorney general accused the world's largest
chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars
of kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
The settlement ends a November 2009 Delaware case brought by Andrew Cuomo,
then New York's attorney general and now governor. Eric Schneiderman,
the current attorney general, took over the case when he succeeded Cuomo
in that position.
Intel's $6.5 million payment represents less than five hours of profit for the Santa Clara, California-based company, based on reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.
Cuomo had accused Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law
through a "systematic worldwide campaign" to bully customers into buying
its personal computer chips, at the expense of rival Advanced Micro
Devices Inc.
But the lawsuit lost much of its punch when US
District Judge Leonard Stark said the state could not seek triple
damages, and was allowed to pursue claims over just three years of
computer purchases, not four or six as it had sought.
Jennifer
Givner, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, said the state's lawyers still
believe their substantive claims have merit, but that "in light of the
court's decision believe that no purpose is served by pursuing the
matter further."
Intel said it was pleased to settle, and that
the accord did not require it to admit to any allegations or violation
of law, or make any changes to its business.
"We have always
said that Intel's business practices are lawful, pro-competitive and
beneficial to consumers," General Counsel Doug Melamed said in a
statement.
Cuomo had contended that Intel bribed or coerced computer makers such as Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and International Business Machines Corp, and threatened retaliation.
Emails showed that top Intel officers including Chief Executive Paul Otellini were aware of some of the improper activity, Cuomo alleged.
Intel has long faced allegations of anticompetitive conduct, and is
still appealing a 1.06 billion euro (now US$1.41 billion) fine imposed
in 2009 by European regulators.
In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission settled a case in which it accused Intel of unlawfully stifling competition in microprocessors.
The same year, a different Delaware federal judge approved a settlement
with shareholders that called for Intel to make more than 40 corporate
governance changes, including the creation of a compliance committee to
monitor antitrust litigation.
And in November 2009, barely a week after Cuomo sued, Intel agreed to pay AMD $1.25 billion to settle all outstanding legal disputes with its smaller rival.
Intel is incorporated in Delaware.
HTC opens with a - Flyer
The tablet has a 7inch touch screen with a powerful 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It also comes equipped with 1GB of RAM for high memory hogging applications with a built-in memory of 16GigaBytes. The tablet also features a 5—megapixel camera.
Earlier Blackberry had launched its Playbook with a price tag starting from Rs 27,990. The Apple iPad is selling currently at a starting price point of Rs 29,500 and the Samung Galaxy Tab for Rs 26,000.
iPhone 4 coming to India ?
The iPhone 4 is finally out! Although when is it due to release in India? God knows!
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion to expand footprint to 160 cities in India
NEW DELHI: Facing competition from smartphone-makers like Samsung and Nokia,
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has chalked out an aggressive
plan for India where it will be increasing its footprint to 160 cities,
besides launching new devices and the latest Operation System 10 soon.
The BlackBerry maker has a presence in 80 cities in the country now and is keen to tap the burgeoning demand for smartphones here. "In terms of expansion, we would like to strengthen our existing presence. As far as new cities are concerned we would like to double our presence this year and go to every city which has a demand for smartphones," RIM India Head Sunil Dutt said.
He, however, declined to comment on investment details. RIM started its operations in India in 2004 and has a presence in over 80 cities across more than 4,000 retail points of presence. It has three national distributors - Redington India, Brightpoint India and Ingram Inc.
Its portfolio in India includes the Curve, Bold and Torch series. The company also sells CDMA smartphones like BlackBerry Tour 9630, BlackBerry Curve 8530, BlackBerry Style 9670 and BlackBerry Curve 9350.
RIM shipped about 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in Q3 FY12.
During the same period, its subscriber base grew to nearly 75 million, up 35% year-over-year. RIM does not provide country-specific details.
Talking about its latest operating system, Dutt said, "The OS 10 would be available from the second half of 2012." The new operating system could be RIM's answer to other OS software like Windows Phone, Android, iOS and Samsung's Bada.
Asked if the company would look at setting up a manufacturing base in India, he said the company is open to the idea but "it would depend on the demand".
The former Samsung India leader, who joined RIM from HP India, is also excited about the BlackBerry brand.
"BlackBerry devices continue to be popular, especially the BlackBerry Messenger service. We would continue to bring out newer devices. The broad areas of focus are innovation, building brand association, effective go-to market channels and customer satisfaction," Dutt said. He said the company is also upbeat on its applications store.
The BlackBerry maker has a presence in 80 cities in the country now and is keen to tap the burgeoning demand for smartphones here. "In terms of expansion, we would like to strengthen our existing presence. As far as new cities are concerned we would like to double our presence this year and go to every city which has a demand for smartphones," RIM India Head Sunil Dutt said.
He, however, declined to comment on investment details. RIM started its operations in India in 2004 and has a presence in over 80 cities across more than 4,000 retail points of presence. It has three national distributors - Redington India, Brightpoint India and Ingram Inc.
Its portfolio in India includes the Curve, Bold and Torch series. The company also sells CDMA smartphones like BlackBerry Tour 9630, BlackBerry Curve 8530, BlackBerry Style 9670 and BlackBerry Curve 9350.
RIM shipped about 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in Q3 FY12.
During the same period, its subscriber base grew to nearly 75 million, up 35% year-over-year. RIM does not provide country-specific details.
Talking about its latest operating system, Dutt said, "The OS 10 would be available from the second half of 2012." The new operating system could be RIM's answer to other OS software like Windows Phone, Android, iOS and Samsung's Bada.
Asked if the company would look at setting up a manufacturing base in India, he said the company is open to the idea but "it would depend on the demand".
The former Samsung India leader, who joined RIM from HP India, is also excited about the BlackBerry brand.
"BlackBerry devices continue to be popular, especially the BlackBerry Messenger service. We would continue to bring out newer devices. The broad areas of focus are innovation, building brand association, effective go-to market channels and customer satisfaction," Dutt said. He said the company is also upbeat on its applications store.
Microsoft store India hacked; login IDs, passwords stolen
Microsoft’s online store in India has been hacked, with the hacker team – evidently from China – claiming credit and taking away login IDs and passwords of customers of Microsoft products.
The site is (Microsoftstore.co. in)not run by Microsoft, but is owned and operated by Quasar Media, an Indian company that has been “appointed by Microsoft to own, maintain and operate the online store.”
Login IDs and passwords were compromised in the hack attack.
The site is now offline, but wpsause website, which broke the news, reports that while the reason for this hack hasn’t been explicitly stated, the hackers appear to have uploaded a file called evil. Html, which says “Unsafe system will be baptized.”
More here and here
A word of advice from all these sites: If you have registered at Microsoft India Store at any point of time, you are strongly urge you to change your password right now. It’s extremely crucial you do that right away.
US Air Force may buy 18,000 Apple iPads
WASHINGTON: The US Air Force
may buy as many as 18,000 iPad2s in what would be one of the military's
biggest orders of computer tablets, accelerating Apple's inroads into
the federal government. The service's Air Mobility Command plans to
issue a request for proposals to buy between 63 and 18,000 "iPad 2,
Brand Name or Equal devices" to lighten the load of flight crews,
according to a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities
website.
The goal is to replace the bag of manuals and
navigation charts weighing as much as 40 pounds that are carried by
pilots and navigators, said Captain Kathleen Ferrero, a spokeswoman for
the command.
"The airline industry is way ahead of us on
this," she said in a telephone interview. "Most, if not all of the major
airliners are already switching to tablets."
Apple, based in
Cupertino, California, has been eating away at Waterloo, Ontario-based
Research In Motion Ltd's market share in the federal government market.
The Department of Veterans Affairs last year announced a plan to let
its employees use iPhones and iPads to conduct official work on the
agency's network. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
this week said it would supply employees with iPhones, the latest
government organization to drop RIM's BlackBerry.
Other
military branches have also begun buying phones and tablets running
Apple's iOS and Mountain View, California-based Google's Android operating systems.
The Army has purchased about 1,300 various mobile devices as part of a
pilot program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications,
according to Mike McCarthy, who helps oversee the service's program.
About 50 Android-based tablets will accompany troops deploying to
Afghanistan this summer, McCarthy said.
RIM's share of the
global smartphone market slid to 8.2% in the fourth quarter from 14% a
year earlier, while Apple's share rose to 24% from 16% in the same
period, according to research firm IDC of Framingham, Massachusetts.
Apple led the global tablet market with a 58% share in the fourth
quarter, down from 68% in the year-ago period, according to Strategy
Analytics, a Boston-based, market- research firm.
PocketTouch: A prototype for touch screen that can be used to send messages
NEW YORK: Yes, there are
still a few inhibiting social settings where people must forgo that
primal urge to pull out a cellphone and send a quick text message or
two.
But those who can't bear such timeouts may soon have a way to keep communicating. Researchers have created a prototype for a touch screen that can be used to send messages while it's concealed in a jacket or pants pocket.
The stealthy screen works when it is touched through the fabric,
whether it is silk, cotton or even thick fleece. In classes or meetings
of the future, with your hands tucked beneath the conference table or
desk, you may rest a fingertip discreetly on the pocket that holds the
touch screen and handle a call by tracing a message like "Running late.
In a mtg." on the fabric above the hidden screen. The touch screen will
understand the message - it has a program to decipher handwriting, even
of the scrawling sort.
So while you're writing on your pocket,
you can maintain polite eye contact with the group, no longer betrayed
by those telltale downward gazes necessary to text with a standard
screen. (Unfortunately, you will still need to look down, and be
possessed of X-ray vision, to view any response.)
The technology, called PocketTouch, was created by the Microsoft researchers T. Scott Saponas and Hrvoje Benko with Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University.
The prototype uses sensors similar to those in most touch screens, and is mounted on the back of a smartphone case.
"There are a lot of situations where this technology could be useful,"
said Jeffrey P. Bigham, an assistant professor in the computer science
department at the University of Rochester, who chaired a conference panel on computer user interfaces where PocketTouch was demonstrated.
"It's a way to send short messages when it is not socially appropriate
to fish out your device," he said, or in many other instances when
people simply don't want to go to the trouble of removing a device from a
pocket.
Touch screens usually do not work through fabric, as
people who must pull off their gloves to text on winter days well know.
But PocketTouch uses software that can interpret signals through cloth.
"Most touch screens are calibrated in a static way, only responding to
direct touch with a finger, and rejecting a slightly different signal,"
Benko said.
PocketTouch, by contrast, calibrates continuously, adapting to different kinds of fabrics.
Saponas said the system could understand long messages like "The quick
brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" when written word by word on the
screen. But he sees the strength of the technology in its ability to
send short messages.
"We wanted a way for people to be able to respond quickly," he said, without having to break eye contact with a group.
"We're not trying to replace the functionality of the touch screen to compose email and browse the Web," Saponas said.
Apple seeks block on sale of Galaxy Nexus, alleges patent infringement
Apple Inc has asked a federal court in California to block Samsung Electronics Co Ltd from selling its new Galaxy Nexus smartphones, alleging patent violations.
In a suit filed last week in San Jose, Apple said the Galaxy Nexus infringes on patents underlying features customers expect from its products. Those include the ability to unlock phones by sliding an image and to search for information by voice.
The American company alleges patent violations by the South Korean phone manufacturer. AFP
With the new suit, Apple is opening up another legal assault on the Korea-based company after taking Samsung to the same court in April of last year. In the earlier case, Apple alleges that Samsung illegally copied iPhone and iPad design features and the look of its screen icons. That case is still going on, though in December Apple lost a bid for a preliminary bar against Samsung for selling Galaxy phones and tablets.
Apple acknowledged the setback in the new action and said now it is suing over new products and different patents.
In addition to the California cases, Apple and Samsung are waging more than 20 legal fights in at least 10 countries in their war for global leadership of smartphone and tablet markets.
The new case in US District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, et a 12-00630.
Google is moving into hardware, at work on an 'home entertainment device'
SAN FRANCISCO: Google is developing a home entertainment device, according to people with knowledge of the company's plans.
The device, which exists as a prototype and will eventually be sold as a
branded item to consumers, is the company's most significant venture
into hardware. While its initial purpose will be for streaming music,
its eventual use could be much larger.
Larry Page, who last year took the reins of the company he co-founded, has been intent on moving into hardware. To compete with Apple and Amazon, Google thinks it has to have greater control over production.
Next week, Google is likely to complete its acquisition of the handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. That purchase puts Google into direct competition with the phone makers that use its Android
software as well as Apple and its iPhone. The leader in desktop search,
Google did not want to be left behind as computing went mobile.
Motorola, which made an earlier generation of home entertainment
systems before stumbling, is the likely manufacturer of the new device.
A Google spokesman declined to comment.
While Google has talked openly about its designs on consumers' living
rooms, news that the device was becoming a reality surfaced last week in
an application the search giant filed with the Federal Communications
Commission. In the application, Google said it would begin testing a
device it labeled simply an "entertainment device."
The device
will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and, as Google noted in the application,
it will "connect to other home electronics equipment." The application,
which was first reported by the tech website GigaOM, said Google would test the device for stability in employees' homes through the summer.
Analysts are wary of Google's venture into the notoriously cutthroat
hardware field. Apple has loyal, sometimes fanatical followers, and
enviably rich profit margins. Amazon is willing to lose money on its
devices and make it up on sales of content. Most other hardware makers
have a much tougher slog.
But Google is seen as having little choice.
"Google's future depends on extending its influence beyond the PC
screen," said James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst. "They've made
tremendous progress in the mobile phone business, but their attempts to
do the same thing with the TV and tablet flopped because the hardware
manufacturers they relied on were not able to move fast enough."
But McQuivey noted that controlling manufacturing meant calling the
shots. "It's quite telling that Amazon introduced its tablet two months
ago and is already the second tablet maker in the market," he said.
Google's larger goal, a person closely tied to the project said, was to
connect everything in the home to the Internet, including light bulbs,
speakers and TV sets. The initial version will all be controlled from an
Android device.
The first version of Google TV was considered a disaster, both internally and with partners.
Guerrino De Luca, chief executive of Logitech,
which manufactured the Google TV set-top box, has acknowledged publicly
that Google TV was "a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature."
ED issues foreign exchange violation notice to Google
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has issued a foreign exchange violation notice to internet giant Google for alleged irregularities in transfer of funds to its foreign entities.
The Directorate has asked the Indian arm of the company to explain to it all the permissions the company has obtained from RBI in this regard and its source of income in the country along with I-T returns filed earlier.
“We have an obligation to our shareholders to set up a tax efficient structure and our present structure is compliant with the tax rules in all the countries where we operate. We make a very substantial contribution to local and national taxation and provide employment for close to 2,000 people in India,” a Google spokesperson said when contaced for comments over the latest ED action.
The
ED, according to sources, is investigating if the internet search giant
violated the norms laid down by the RBI with regard to transfer of
funds abroad. Reuters
The agency has obtained relevant data in this regard from the RBI and would take up any possible penal action under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after going through the documents.
Google India, along with other social networking websites, is embroiled in a raging controversy over monitoring the content on Internet and of those websites depending on user generated contents, which arose after Union Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal had asked the social networking websites to “screen” the contents. The company also filed a compliance report in this regard in a Delhi court recently.
Blackberry to expand footprint to 160 cities in India, launch OS 10 soon
NEW DELHI: Facing competition from smart phone makers like Samsung and Nokia, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion
has chalked out aggressive plan for India of increasing its footprint
to 160 cities, besides launching new devices and latest Operation System
10 soon.
The BlackBerry maker has a presence in about 80 cities in the country now and is keen to tap the burgeoning demand for smart phones here.
The BlackBerry maker has a presence in about 80 cities in the country now and is keen to tap the burgeoning demand for smart phones here.
Also Check: Newly launched gadgets & technologies gaining global spotlight | How 'smart' is your phone? Check out the OS before buying a new device | Smartphones unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show
"In terms of expansion, we would like to strengthen our existing presence. As far as new cities are concerned we would like to double our presence this year and go to every city which has a demand for smart phones," RIM India Head Sunil Dutt told PTI.
He, however, declined to comment on investment details. RIM started its operations in India in 2004 and has presence in over 80 cities across more than 4,000 retail points of presence. It has three national distributors -- Redington India, Brightpoint India and Ingram Inc.
Its portfolio in India includes the Curve, Bold and Torch series. The company also sells CDMA smartphones like BlackBerry Tour 9630, BlackBerry Curve 8530, BlackBerry Style 9670 and BlackBerry Curve 9350.
RIM shipped about 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in Q3 FY12.
During the same period, its subscriber base grew to nearly 75 million, up 35 per cent year-over-year. RIM does not provide country specific details.
Talking about its latest operating system, Dutt said, "The OS 10 would be available from second half of 2012." The new operating system could be RIM's answer to other OS' like Windows Phone, Android, iOS and Samsung's Bada.
Asked if the company would look at setting up manufacturing base in India, he said the company is open to the idea but "it would depend on the demand".
The former Samsung India leader, who joined RIM from HP India, is also excited about the BlackBerry brand.
"BlackBerry devices continue to be popular, especially the BlackBerry Messenger service. We would continue to bring out newer devices. The broad areas of focus are innovation, building brand association, effective go to market channels and customer satisfaction," Dutt said.
He said the company is also upbeat on its applications store.
"We have about 50,000 apps but not much has been spoken about it. Our focus is not on numbers but to bring relevant apps and then taking it to consumers. The number of developers has increased substantially to 26,000 developers now. So, there is a lot of focus on innovation as well," Dutt said.
The smartphone market in India is estimated to be about 85 lakh devices in 2011 and is expected to double this year.
App gone wild: Path uploading address data without permission
More trouble for users and their data privacy as news came in today that Path, an iPhone app that works as a smart journal, has accessed the address books of users and uploaded them to their servers without permission.According to TheNextWeb, this was discovered by developer Arun Thampi who wrote about it on his website. Thampi clarified as well:
I’m not insinuating that Path is doing something nefarious with my address book but I feel quite violated that my address book is being held remotely on a third-party service… I wonder how many other iOS apps actually do the same…Path allows users to share thoughts, the music one is listening to, photos, videos, etc, with their friends. Thampi’s last point is actually quite valid for all smartphone users irrespective of whether you have Apple phone or Android device. Too many times, when downloading an app, we see that it wants access to our messages, address book, etc; so clearly, users are not entirely unaware of what information apps have access to. In fact, the Path app on Android clearly states that the app will have access to phone calls and all personal contact information. The trouble with this is that friends of a user who are not using Path will also have their information accessed by Path.
Path's Android reviews already has comments from angry users who are outraged by this privacy violation. Getty Images
TheNextWeb has an insightful post on the whole Path debacle arguing that what it actually reveals is how carelessly users and Facebook have been treating privacy.
While Path isn’t without fault here, it certainly doesn’t seem malicious. Apple isn’t innocent in all of this either. A bigger part of the problem is how we as users see our privacy …Meanwhile Dave Morin the CEO of Path has responded to these concerns with the following comments:
We upload the address book to our servers in order to help the user find and connect to their friends and family on Path quickly and effeciently as well as to notify them when friends and family join Path. Nothing more… we proactively rolled out an opt-in for this on our Android client a few weeks ago and are rolling out the opt-in for this in 2.0.6 of our iOS Client, pending App Store approval.For now the bigger issue that remains is that apps want access to a bunch of information most of which is at times not linked to why one is downloading the app. For instance users of the Facebook app should know that the app can send messages from their phone.
Sharing via Facebook, Twitter or email is a great feature that nearly every app comes with but it comes with its own cost to user privacy. And yes, while everyone wants to share that ‘cool photo’ on Facebook ‘asap’, one also inadvertently links personal information to the app when using it to share. This is not to say that users are entirely unaware of and very often choose to overlook this crucial fact, but it is unlikely that the magnitude of this open door policy has sunk in. This doesn’t just apply to apps but also websites. The fact that one uses Twitter/Facebook to access virtually any web experience is fraught with data privacy complications.
Ideally, the entire opt-in process as it were, must become more thoughtful for users, and more informative from the point of view of app-makers. Currently while downloading apps, one is forced to grant the apps rights that users would not normally be comfortable giving up. Clearly app developers, Google, Apple and Facebook, all need to wake up and treat data privacy and rights with a lot more respect.
Get ready for iPad 3 with ‘Retina’ display
According to a report by the tech website, AllThingsD Apple will be holding an event in March and the much awaited iPad 3 will be launched in San Francisco. The report stated,
Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these.This latest bit of news of has Apple fans and tech websites buzzing all over, with speculations as to whether the new iPad will see any major technical overhaul. According to a TechCrunch report the device is likely to see a much higher screen higher resolution or “Retina” display.
The report adds,
The first two iPads had a resolution of 1024 x 768… The new iPad will have a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Apple was now requiring developers to submit Retina-level screenshots of their apps to the App Store (for new apps, at least).What does a higher resolution mean on an iPad? Well your apps are going to look even better. According to AllThingsD Apple did not comment on the story, saying it does not respond to rumours and speculations.
The iPad 2. AFP
Sources with knowledge of the matter have informed The Next Web that the company is in ‘crunch mode’ when it comes to lining up apps both to demonstrate on-stage and to show off in new advertisements for its third iPad.Apple had posted blockbuster results last quarter thanks to the iPhone 4S, a phone which wasn’t as thin as many fans would have wanted but came packed with a much more powerful processor and a better camera.
Siri, the voice command app for iPhone 4S was one of the most talked about apps when the phone was released and the question on everyone’s mind next will be whether iPad 3 will come with Siri. The other big question is will iPad 3 get thinner? TheNextWeb doesn’t think so, mostly due to reports of a large battery going around on tech blogs.
As for Indian Apple fans, we’re hoping that iPad 3 will release in India soon. You can check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy vs iPad 2 here.
Google to make home entertainment system: Report
SAN FRANCISCO: Google
will mirror Apple's winning hardware-software formula with an
Android-powered entertainment system that wirelessly streams content
through homes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying Google will take the
unprecedented step of stamping its own brand on the home-entertainment
system, which was expected to debut this year.
Google, which
announced in August it is buying US smartphone maker Motorola Mobility
for $12.5 billion in cash, told AFP it would not comment on "rumor and
speculation."
The California-based technology firm has openly
shared a vision of its open-source Android software being used to power a
wide array of devices aside from smartphones and tablets.
Google also operates an Internet music service along with video-sharing
website YouTube, both of which have potential to provide digital content
to home entertainment systems.
Apple
has proven the money-making power of combining devices, software and
digital entertainment material in its iPad, iPhone, and iPod devices.
Pakistan block 13,000 ‘obscene’ websites
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have blocked 13,000 “obscene” websites and are taking more steps to prevent the spread of such materials through the Internet, a top official said today.
Parliamentary Secretary for Information Technology Nawab Liaqat Ali Khan made the remarks while responding to a calling attention notice in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament. It is a serious issue and we are trying to address it,” Khan said.
Even if such a system is installed in Pakistan, authorities will not be able to block all objectionable websites. Reuters
“However, we take action on receiving a complaint.
We are trying to devise a mechanism,” he said.
Though China and India have installed an “automated filtration system”, such measures are very costly, he said.
Even if such a system is installed in Pakistan, authorities will not be able to block all objectionable websites, Khan said. Most of these websites are based outside Pakistan and authorities were unable to take action against them or penalise them, he said.
After a string of cases were filed in courts across Pakistan against blasphemous and pornographic contents on the Internet, authorities last year began blocking websites.
Earlier, authorities had blocked popular portals like Facebook and YouTube but the move was criticised by civil society groups. Following protests, authorities began selectively blocking only pages that contained blasphemous and pornographic materials.
US Justice Department set to approve Google’s Motorola bid
Washington: The US Justice Department will approve Google’s $12.5 billion bid to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc , according to sources close to the antitrust review.The department is also expected to approve an Apple-led consortium’s bid to acquire a group of patents from bankrupt Canadian company Nortel Networks .
Both deals are expected to be cleared early next week.
Google, whose Android software is the top operating system for Internet-enabled smart phones, announced in August it planned to acquire phone-maker Motorola Mobility.
The
US Justice Department will approve Google's $12.5 billion bid to
acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc , according to sources close to
the antitrust review. Reuters
The Apple-led consortium, which includes RIM , Microsoft , EMC , Ericsson and Sony, had agreed in July pay $4.5 billion for 6,000 patents and patent applications that telecom-equipment maker Nortel had put up for sale, including coveted 4G wireless technologies.
The companies joined forces to outbid Google for the patents.
Google, the world’s No 1 search engine, has been under increasing regulatory scrutiny. The US Federal Trade Commission and the European Union are both investigating Google’s business practices. The company faces accusations it uses its clout in the search market to beat rivals as it moves into related businesses.
The Justice Department will likely continue monitoring patent litigation in the telecom space, according to the sources.
The department of Justice, Google, and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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