There are reports that upgrading the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to iOS 4 causes the phone to drag and the battery to run out more quickly. Apple has said it is investigating the issue, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
"My I-phone 3G was running perfectly fine, till I updated to OS 4, it's been slower than the slowest, and even turns itself off at anytime, during browsing and even during calls. I updated to 4.0.1 only to improve things a little bit. Still the problems persist," wrote a user from India who calls himself I-Phone 4.0.1 bugs. "Am cursing myself why I updated it."
The problem isn't confined to Asia. Users in the United States are reporting the same issues. Some say the iPhone 3GS now "stutters." Others say the iPod capabilities on the phone are "completely busted." Still others report the updated iPhones won't go to the home screen and take 30 seconds to respond to various commands.
One forum complainer named "Savvytraveller" said his apps are crashing or just freezing after the upgrade to iOS 4.0.1. This same users reports the handset is getting hot. The complaints go on and on, giving Apple another headache after the iPhone 4 case giveaway just eased the last one.
Indeed, this isn't what Apple expected when it touted iOS 4, the newest version of the iPhone mobile operating system with the much-anticipated multitasking. Many iPhone 3GS users upgraded to tap into the multitasking capabilities, which promise to let users switch between apps while preserving battery life.
iOS 4 also offers a new Folders capability that... Read More...
Mobile Apps Leak Personal Info on Android, Apple Phones
Mobile apps on Android-powered smartphones and Apple's iPhone can disclose more personal data than most users realize, security vendor Lookout revealed Wednesday at the Black Hat USA 2010 conference in Las Vegas. Rather than being malicious, users often give the apps permission to access data when they are installed.
Lookout CEO John Hering and CTO Kevin Mahaffey told a session titled App Attack: Surviving the Mobile Application Explosion that a popular Android wallpaper app from Jackeey Wallpaper sent users' data, including phone numbers and SIM card numbers, to a server in Shenzhen, China. The wallpapers included My Little Pony and Star Wars.
Free apps can be risky, they said, with about 29 percent of free Android apps and 33 percent of those for the iPhone able to determine a user's location. Apple's iOS does, however, require apps to alert users when location information is accessed. iPhone users can also use the settings to block apps from accessing personal data.
In addition, Hering and Mahaffey said, about eight percent of Android apps and 14 percent of iPhone apps can access user contacts. And 47 percent of Android apps and 23 percent of iPhone apps have third-party code, usually for mobile ads and analytics, but sometimes for other purposes.
They urged app developers to be aware of security practices, especially when third-party code is added. Mahaffey noted, "The lesson today is that developers don't always know what's inside their apps."
Hering added, "Standardized APIs are making it easier and easier to actually create practical attacks. Instead of having to do something complex in a desktop-like environment, I know I can just call the contact API, for example, and have a very simple programmatic way to grab that information." Read More...
HP Confirms Plans for Both Windows and webOS Tablets
Hewlett-Packard has confirmed it plans separate tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows and Palm's webOS. HP says it will use Windows for a business device and webOS for a consumer-oriented machine.
No release dates, product specs, or prices have been named, but HP spokesperson Marlene Somsak told us in an e-mail that a Slate-type computer is coming soon.
"We aren't saying anything beyond 'fall' for a Windows-based slate," she wrote. "And we have not set an official name or set pricing. We are aiming that product at the commercial market. webOS from Palm is the platform for our consumer slate -- no timing, name or pricing revealed there."
Somsak declined further comment.
Speculation abounded last week about the technology giant's tablet plans when the HP Slate made a brief appearance on the company's web site, listed as the Slate 500-1002TU, with no release date or price. First unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, the Slate was assumed to be dead when HP purchased the failing Palm, creator of webOS.
The Slate 500-1002TU was described in product specs as a fun device for social media, photos and videos, which means it's not likely the upcoming HP Windows device geared toward enterprises. It had an 8.9-inch screen, video and still cameras, a gigabyte of memory, a 1.6-gigahertz processor, and support for input from an electronic pen "to write or draw as if on a piece of paper," HP said.
That device disappeared from the web site after it prompted numerous articles in the technology media.
Taking advantage of Microsoft's strong desire to be in the burgeoning tablet market -- Ballmer on July 12 said it is "one of the most important things we'll do in the smart-device category" -- while also promoting webOS for tablets... Read More...
Motorola Smartphone Sales Up Despite Mobile Loss
Motorola said it shipped 8.3 million cellular handsets in the second quarter -- including 2.7 million smartphones, or 400,000 more units than the company shipped in the prior quarter. Overall, the company said it earned $162 million -- up from $26 million in the same period last year.
However, Motorola said its mobile-device shipments declined from 8.5 million in the first quarter and mobile-device sales were $1.7 billion, down six percent year over year. Additionally, the company reported an operating loss of $109 million for its mobile-device business.
As a possible sign of better days to come, Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha noted that demand for the company's Droid X has been "exceeding our expectations" since its launch earlier this month. "I believe we have momentum going into the third and fourth quarter," Jha said. "As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we are in a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and improving our operating performance."
According to Gartner, Motorola ranked sixth in the global smartphone market with a three percent share at the end of this year's first quarter, right behind Sony Ericsson at 3.1 percent. Moving forward, Motorola hopes to benefit from the rising popularity of the Android mobile operating system, which grew a stunning 707 percent year-on-year during the first quarter in the North American market, where Motorola recorded 66 percent of its mobile-device sales.
Motorola is also hoping to capitalize on the headline-grabbing antenna flaw sowing doubt about Apple's iPhone 4. A new IDC survey indicates that 66 percent of current iPhone owners have decided to put off their purchase of Apple's new smartphone.
Apple is attempting to address the flaw by offering a free case that promises to mitigate connectivity problems even as it contends that rival... Read More...
Amazon Offers New $189 Kindle, with a $139 Model Coming
In a move to compete with Apple's iPad and emerging e-reader alternatives, Amazon.com on Wednesday unveiled the next-generation Kindle. The new-look Kindle comes equipped with a new electronic-ink screen that offers better contrast in a 21 percent smaller body that holds fast to its six-inch reading area. The new Kindle is also 15 percent lighter than its predecessor.
The made-over Kindle promises to turn pages 20 percent faster, offers up to one month of battery life, pulls content in Wi-Fi and free 3G, and doubles storage to accommodate 3,500 books. The price is $189. If you don't need the 3G capability, a Wi-Fi-only Kindle is expected Aug. 27 for $139.
At a $139 price point, some analysts are seeing commoditization of the Kindle. But Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, disagrees: "I'm not calling it a commoditization because it's not a commodity. This is tied very closely to Amazon's bookstore, so it defies commoditization. This is getting into impulse-buy territory."
Along with the new Kindle, Amazon is making sure the e-book-buying world knows that Kindle e-books can be read on other devices, including the iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC and Android-based devices. The bookseller also pointed to its Whispersync technology that keeps track of where a reader left off reading an e-book on one device so it picks up in the same place when the reader resumes reading on another device.
"The Kindle is a delivery mechanism for Amazon. Amazon is perfectly happy if you buy Kindle books and read them on the iPad or the PC," Greengart said. "But if you want a dedicated e-book reader, they are going to provide you with several different models at extremely aggressive prices so that you join the Amazon family rather than the Barnes & Noble family, the Sony family, or the... Read More...
U.S. Orders for Dell Streak Overflow Even Without a Price
Though the Dell Streak took its inaugural bows on Telefonica's O2 network in the United Kingdom early last month, U.S. consumers are still waiting to get their hands on the hybrid tablet-smartphone. Despite a large volume of pre-orders on the company's web site, Dell has yet to announce pricing or provide a firm U.S. launch date.
The reason for the delay is that the Streak is the most successful pre-sale device that the computer maker has ever offered, according to Dell blogger Lionel Menchaca. "There are many pieces that need to fall into place to release a product like this, and the reality is that we need more time to work out some things," Menchaca wrote Monday.
Once Dell launches the device in the United States, the main question will be to what extent it impacts Apple's iPad sales, given that the Streak will offer similar features but be small enough to carry just about anywhere. IDC Research Manager Francisco Jeronimo expects to see the iPad and the Dell Streak successful in two different market segments.
The iPad will be the choice for people with "a clear preference for a bigger screen" who primarily wish to use their devices at home, Jeronimo said. However, another segment of users will be attracted to a smaller go-anywhere device that sports a screen large enough to view web pages in their natural form -- something they are unable to do on a smartphone.
"For these users, the Dell Streak will be a much more attractive proposition," Jeronimo said. "There's definitely a need on the market for a mobile device that falls midway between a netbook and a smartphone."
Unlike the iPad, the Streak will be able to place and receive calls as well as offer support for Adobe Flash 10.1 multimedia... Read More...
Safari 5.0.1 Released with Extensions Gallery, Bug Fixes
On the heels of an iMac refresh, Apple on Wednesday released the next version of its web browser. As promised, Safari 5.0.1 comes complete with extensions and a Safari Extensions Gallery. In June, Apple rolled out extensions support to help developers create extensions using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. The result is a growing gallery currently at 100 extensions.
The gallery lets Apple fans find extensions that add new features to the browser, such as toolbars that display live web feeds and sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 users can download and install extensions from the gallery or directly from a developer's web site.
"The Safari Extensions Gallery puts Safari right up there with Chrome or Firefox with its ability to add functionality to the browser," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "It looks like they've got a good collection of extensions already up in the gallery. What's interesting is that once again there is a Bing extension built in. Other than the extensions, this is a minor release."
Apple is getting kudos from some of its heavy-hitting technology colleagues (and competitors), including Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon.com. Gianna Puerini, vice president of worldwide design and community at Amazon, pointed to how the browser helps its customers build wish lists.
"With Safari 5, we were able to quickly build the Add to Amazon Wish List extension that lets customers add items from any web site to their Amazon wish list with the click of a button," Puerini said.
Jeff Henshaw, general manager of Microsoft's Bing User Experience, said the software giant is excited about working closely with Apple to bring "visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari."
"The Bing Extension for Safari brings Bing search intelligence to everyday browsing with Safari," Henshaw said. "When a user selects text in Safari,... Read More...
What Your Smartphone App Doesn't Say: It's Watching
Your smart phone applications are watching you -- much more closely than you might like.
Lookout Inc., a mobile-phone security firm, scanned nearly 300,000 free applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones built around Google Inc.'s Android software. It found that many of them secretly pull sensitive data off users' phones and ship them off to third parties without notification.
That's a major concern that has been bubbling up in privacy and security circles.
The data can include full details about users' contacts, their pictures, text messages and Internet and search histories. The third parties can include advertisers and companies that analyze data on users.
The information is used by companies to target ads and learn more about their users. The danger, though, is that the data become vulnerable to hacking and use in identity theft if the third party isn't careful about securing the information.
Lookout reported its findings this week in conjunction with the Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas.
Lookout found that nearly a quarter of the iPhone apps and almost half the Android apps contained software code that contained those capabilities.
The code had been written by the third parties and inserted into the applications by the developers, usually for a specific purpose, such as allowing the applications to run ads. But the code winds up forcing the application to collect more data on users than even the developers may realize, Lookout executives said.
"We found that not only users, but developers as well, don't know what's happening in their apps, even in their own apps, which is fascinating," said John Hering, CEO of the San Francisco-based Lookout.
Part of the problem is smart phones don't alert users to all the different types of data the applications running on them are collecting. IPhones only alert users when applications want to use their locations.
And... Read More...
Amazon-Facebook Deal Could Lead To Social Shopping
The leading e-commerce site and the leading social network just shook hands on a tie-up that could lead to social shopping. Amazon.com launched a new beta feature Tuesday that lets shoppers connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts. The feature serves up gift recommendations for users and their friends based on the information stored in Facebook profiles.
Privacy advocates haven't launched any missives yet, but Amazon was nonetheless quick to stress that it will not share any user account information or purchase history with Facebook. Amazon also promised not to try to contact anyone's friends on the social network.
When you connect Amazon and Facebook, the Internet book-selling giant said it will improve your shopping experience via an Amazon Facebook page. Amazon offers three reasons why shoppers should make the Amazon-Facebook connection.
First, the company said it helps shoppers discover recommendations for movies, music and other products. Second, you can see upcoming birthdays of your friends and buy them a gift they'll enjoy because you can see their Amazon wish lists. Finally, you can explore your friends' profiles to see who has similar interests.
Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said the Amazon-Facebook deal could significantly improve product recommendations that Amazon offers, as well as increase frequency and engagement with the site.
"Ultimately it could help Amazon incrementally sell more stuff to people," Sterling said. "This was not an explicit part of the deal, but I also wonder whether Amazon will become a product data provider to any 'social shopping' initiative that Facebook might consider doing. I'm not sure, but it's interesting."
Amazon didn't go so far as to integrate the "Like" button on its product detail pages. Taking that step would have opened the door for Facebook to collect information about a customer's book, music and other... Read More...
WikiLeaks: Source of Leaked Data Is Unknown
WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief claims his organization doesn't know who sent it some 91,000 secret U.S. military documents, telling journalists that the Web site was set up to hide the source of its data from those who receive it.
Julian Assange didn't say whether he meant he had no idea who leaked the documents or whether his organization simply could not be sure. But he did say the added layer of secrecy helps protect the site's sources from spy agencies and hostile corporations.
"We never know the source of the leak," he told journalists gathered at London's Frontline Club late Tuesday. "Our whole system is designed such that we don't have to keep that secret."
U.S. officials said U.S. operatives inside Afghanistan and Pakistan may be in danger following the massive online disclosure Sunday.
In his first public comments, President Barack Obama said the leak of classified information from the battlefield "could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations." He spoke in Washington after meeting Tuesday with Congressional leaders from both parties on the topic.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said a Pentagon investigation will determine whether criminal charges will be filed in the leaking of Afghanistan war secrets. Holder, speaking during a visit Wednesday to Egypt, said the Justice Department is working with the Pentagon-led investigation to determine the source of the leak.
In Baghdad, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters he was "appalled" by the leak.
"There is a real potential threat there to put American lives at risk," he said.
While Assange acknowledged that the site's anonymous submissions raised concerns about the authenticity of its material, he said WikiLeaks had yet to be fooled by a bogus document.
"We do see wholly fabricated submissions, usually around election time," he said, but added that they were "quite rare."
Assange added that WikiLeaks used ex-military and... Read More...
Cyber Mastermind Arrested in Slovenia
A cyber mastermind from Slovenia who is suspected of creating a malicious software code that infected 12 million computers worldwide and orchestrating other huge cyberscams was arrested and questioned, police said Wednesday.
Leon Keder, a spokesman for the Slovenian police, did not identify the suspect. Keder told The Associated Press the man was released after police made sure that he could not tamper with evidence or leave Slovenia, but offered no details pending an investigation.
The FBI told The AP in Washington that a 23-year old Slovene known as Iserdo was picked up in Maribor in northwestern Slovenia 10 days ago, after lengthy investigation by Slovenian police, FBI and Spanish authorities.
His arrest comes about five months after Spanish police broke up the massive cyberscam, arresting three of the alleged ringleaders who operated the Mariposa botnet, which stole credit cards and online banking credentials. The botnet -- a network of infected computers -- appeared in December 2008 and infected hundreds of companies and at least 40 major banks.
Botnets are networks of PCs that have been infected by a virus, remotely hijacked from their owners, often without their owners' knowledge, and put into the control of criminals.
The Mariposa botnet, which has been dismantled, was easily one of the world's biggest. It spread to more than 190 countries, according to the researchers who helped take it down after examining it in the spring of 2009.
Jeffrey Troy, the FBI's deputy assistant director for the cyber division, said Iserdo's arrest was a major break in the investigation.
On Wednesday, the FBI also identified, for the first time, the three individuals arrested in connection with the case in Spain: Florencio Carro Ruiz, known as "Netkairo;" Jonathan Pazos Rivera, known as "Jonyloleante;" and Juan Jose Bellido Rios, known as "Ostiator.
They are being prosecuted for computer crimes. Officials said the Mariposa... Read More...
Sprint Nextel Posts First Subscriber Gain in Three Years
Sprint Nextel Corp. said Wednesday that it gained subscribers in its latest quarter, the first such gain in three years, as it continued to improve customer service and retention.
However, it continued to lose the most lucrative customers, those who sign two-year contracts, and posted a wider loss for its second quarter due to tax effects.
Sprint shares rose 6 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $4.90 in morning trading. In pre-market trading, shares were up as much as 10 percent before investors fully digested the numbers.
Sprint gained a net 111,000 subscribers in the April to June period, compared to a loss of 257,000 in the same quarter last year. It said it expects to keep adding wireless subscribers for the rest of the year, and reduce the number of contract customers who leave.
Sprint still lost 55,000 subscribers under its own brands -- which include Virgin Mobile and Boost -- in the latest quarter, but made up for that by adding 166,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers, who buy access to the network through resellers.
It lost 228,000 contract subscribers, a figure much improved from the 991,000 it lost in the same quarter last year.
Sprint has been hemorrhaging subscribers nearly constantly since its 2005 acquisition of Nextel. That network, incompatible with Sprint's, is valued for its walkie-talkie-like push-to-talk function, but is poorly suited to smart phones, and more than a million subscribers have been leaving every year.
The rate of contract subscribers canceling service every month was 1.85 percent in the quarter. That was Sprint's lowest figure ever, though it's still higher than the corresponding figure at AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said the company had some help from the launch of its first "4G" phone, the HTC EVO, which can tap into Clearwire Corp.'s wireless broadband network for faster downloads in some areas.... Read More...
With Today's Social Media, Is True Friendship Dying?
To anyone paying attention these days, it's clear that social media -- whether Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the countless other modern-day water coolers -- are changing the way we live.
Indeed, we might feel as if we are suddenly awash in friends. Yet right before our eyes, we're also changing the way we conduct relationships. Face-to-face chatting is giving way to texting and messaging; people even prefer these electronic exchanges to, for instance, simply talking on a phone. Smaller circles of friends are being partially eclipsed by Facebook acquaintances routinely numbered in the hundreds. Amid these smaller trends, growing research suggests we could be entering a period of crisis for the entire concept of friendship. Where is all this leading modern-day society? Perhaps to a dark place, one where electronic stimuli slowly replace the joys of human contact.
Awareness of a possible problem took off just as the online world was emerging. Sociologist Robert Putnam published the book Bowling Alone, a survey of the depleting levels of "social capital" in communities, from churches to bowling allies. The pattern has been replicated elsewhere in the Western world. In the United Kingdom, the Mental Health Foundation just published The Lonely Society, which notes that about half of Brits believe they're living in, well, a lonelier society. One in three would like to live closer to their families, though social trends are forcing them to live farther apart.
Typically, the pressures of urban life are blamed: In London, another poll had two-fifths of respondents reporting that they face a prevailing drift away from their closest friends. Witness crowded bars and restaurants after work: We have plenty of acquaintances, though perhaps few individuals we can turn to and share deep intimacies. American sociologists have tracked related trends on a broader scale, well beyond the urban... Read More...
Yahoo! News: Technology News
Attacking the edges of secure Internet traffic
(AP)
AP - Researchers have uncovered new ways that criminals can spy on Internet users even if they're using secure connections to banks, online retailers or other sensitive Web sites.
AP - Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.
AP - Google Inc. triggered a false alarm Thursday by posting a notice that its search engine and several other services had been cut off from mainland China - a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.
AFP - Hundreds of customers in New Zealand and Hong Kong were turned away empty-handed on Friday as the second phase of the Apple iPhone 4's global launch got off to a "nightmare" start.
AP - Japan received a sobering reminder Friday of its fragile recovery: The jobless rate rose, deflation deepened, and factories made fewer cars and mobile phones.
AP - The Black Eyed Peas have more proof of the ubiquity of "I Gotta Feeling."
AFP - Google said Friday its services appeared to be back up and running normally in China, after the US web giant reported that access to its search engine and other products were being blocked.