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While ASUS' Padfone was being launched with much sticker-clad-model fanfare at Computex today, CMIT's TransPhone was apparently enjoying its third day of life, having first appeared on the web as early as Saturday. Both tablets include built-in docks with smartphones to match, but are otherwise unique in appearance and features. The TransPhone includes a bluetooth headset and a slide-in smartphone dock, while the Padfone's handset is completely hidden by a flip-up rear door. The CMIT device reportedly packs a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor and SVGA display, along with USB and HDMI ports, though we're still unclear on which OS will be running on the tablet. There's also no word on pricing or availability, but the TransPhone is in good company there, so don't get ready to ditch those standalone gadgets just yet.
We have done it! HTC’s CEO, Peter Chou has confirmed in a quote from the HTC facebook page that they will no longer be locking the bootloaders on their devices. This could be the first step to other companies following suit. We can only hope. Here’s the quote from Mr. Chou.
“There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience”
So there you have it. Expect a lot more news stemming from this shortly. Congratulations everyone who wanted this so badly.
As expected earlier this week, Google announced the Google Wallet NFC payments program as well as the Google Offers open platform at its headquarters in New York City on Thursday
Using both Near Field Communications and geo-targeting technologies, Google already has several partners lined up, including Sprint (as rumored), First Data, MasterCard and Citi.
In an effort to combine mobile and local commerce, Google’s VP of Commerce Stephanie Tilenius said at the media event:
Google Wallet combines offers and payments at the point of sale, makes it easy for partners and third-parties to create better consumer experiences, and drives brand new shopping experiences for everyone…Your phone will be your wallet. Just tap, pay and save.
Tilenius acknowledged that “this vision will take awhile to come to fruition.” A field test starts today, and Google Wallet will officially launch this summer in San Francisco and New York City first, followed by a roll-out nationwide.
Google execs asserted that 300,000 merchants are ready for the Google Wallet program, including Macy’s, Walgreens, Noah’s Bagels and Toys ‘r’ Us, among others.
As far as the actual credit cards stored in the phone, Google Wallet will support “multiple cards,” including Citi’s MasterCard and a Google pre-paid card that can be reloaded by any existing credit cards. Wallet will also be supported at MasterCard’s PayPass terminals.
NFC is starting to become an integral feature on smartphones. At least Google and Samsung’s Nexus S is ready to go. Android phones without NFC chips will be able to take advantage of at least Google Offers. Tilenius added:
By 2014, 50% of smartphones will be NFC-enabled. That’s 150 million devices. For business, Google Wallet is an opportunity to offer faster and easier shopping with rewards points.
Naturally, security is going to be a huge question on the minds of consumers when it comes to paying with a mobile device - especially one that could easily be lost. Google reps cited several security features, starting with the most obvious function: the phone itself can already be locked. Additionally, to use Google Wallet, the user has to enter a four-number pin number, the credit card information is encrypted and the card itself is never fully displayed.
Despite the reassurances, It’s almost certain that this discussion on mobile payment security will continue as the technology evolves.
The second big announcement of the day was Google Offers, which is essentially Google’s entry into the daily deal craze. Google Offers will be delivered to inboxes daily, much like consumers already subscribe to email lists from retailers. A few of the big retail partners cited at the event included American Eagle Outfitters and Jamba Juice.
To redeem offers, buyers have two options: either tap the phone at the point of sale or show the display to a cashier on the way out. Again, this is going to take awhile to get used to as it almost seems that the door for theft could have opened a bit wider.
As far as the types of offers go, promos include check-in offers (like FourSquare, Loopt, etc.), Google Places pages offers and other advertisements. From there, users could pay, use offers and earn loyalty/rewards points with one tap. Eventually, Google promises that consumers will be able to put everything in the Google Wallet.
Google Offers will be available first in Portland, San Francisco and New York City this summer.
Remember the Linux-based EVO game console? We can certainly forgive you if you don't, but it did actually end up shipping, and "sold out" according to the company the behind it. Now that company, Envizions, is back for a second try with another big promise: an Android-based game console dubbed, naturally enough, the EVO 2. First announced earlier this year, the console is now supposedly set to hit the US sometime this fall and, to prove that it's not completely vaporware, Envizions is making EVO 2 developer units available today -- the unit is "free," although developers will have to pay an annual $149 software support fee.
As for the console itself, it will apparently pack an unspecified 1.2GHz Samsung processor, a "modified" Android 2.2 OS, and both a TV remote and game controller. Leaving no stone unturned, Envisions says it's also planning to add a motion sensor by the end of the year, and it even has its own points system in mind that will let you buy Android games with "EVO tokens."
Yesterday, 25 days after the Mac Defender malware began to appear in the wild, Apple finally responded. In a technical support note, “How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware,” the company posted instructions for users to follow if they’ve encountered this malware specimen in the wild. It also promised a security update to remove infections automatically.
File that memo under, “Too little, too late.”
Within 12 hours of Apple’s announcement, the author of the original Mac Defender program had a new variant available that renders key portions of the current Mac Defender prevention plan obsolete.
A security researcher for Intego, the Mac-centric security company that identified the original Mac Defender, found the first example of this new code via a poisoned Google search very early this morning.
Several factors make this specimen different. For starters, it has a new name: MacGuard. That’s not surprising, given that the original program already had at least three names. But this one is divided into two separate parts.
The first part, a downloader program, installs in the user’s Applications folder. If you’re an administrator on your Mac (and most people are, given that the overwhelming majority of Macs have only one user and the default account in that scenario is an administrator), the installer will open automatically. All you have to do is click Continue to begin the installation.
Unlike the previous variants of this fake antivirus, no administrator’s password is required to install this program. Since any user with an administrator’s account – the default if there is just one user on a Mac – can install software in the Applications folder, a password is not needed. This package installs an application – the downloader – named avRunner, which then launches automatically. At the same time, the installation package deletes itself from the user’s Mac, so no traces of the original installer are left behind.
The downloader portion then installs the second part, which is similar to the original Mac Defender.
The new architecture seems to be a specific response to Apple’s instructions in the Mac Defender security note: “In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software. If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password.”
In this new variation, no password is required as long as you’re logged in using an administrator account. That might lull a potential victim into thinking they’re safe.
I know a lot of Apple users who breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, thinking that Apple’s belated response finally means that the problem is over. As any computer security researcher will tell you, this arms war is just getting started.
Apple appears to be treating this outbreak as if it were a single incident that won’t be repeated. They seriously underestimate the bad guys, who are not idiots. Peter James, an Intego spokeperson, told me his company’s analysts were “impressed by the quality of the original version.” The quick response to Apple’s move suggests they are capable of churning out new releases at Internet speeds, adapting their software and their tactics as their target—Apple—tries to put up new roadblocks.
If Apple plans to play Whack-a-Mole with these guys, they’re in for months of misery. Just ask any Windows security expert who was around in 2003 and 2004 when Microsoft was learning a similar painful lesson. If each reaction from Apple takes two or three weeks, the bad guys will make a small fortune and Mac users can count on significant pain and anguish.
Nokia has just unveiled a strange new beast of a smartphone. Internally, it's your good old C7 -- 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, 720p video recording, 8 megapixel camera, a pentaband radio, and Symbian as your zombie OS -- but externally it's taken on a lick of gold paint and a rear cover made of real leather. The price for a phone built quite so luxuriously is said to be upwards of €800 ($1,126) before taxes and subsidies and launch is expected in Q3 in select countries across Europe and Asia. Russia in particular is called out as a successful market for such "premium" phones, with Nokia's Gabriel Speratti, General Manager for its operations in the country, explaining that:
"We have a large number of users who are looking for products with a build quality and superior materials that attest to their success and social standing. In some areas, possession of such premium products is the passport to being taken seriously."
We have to agree, owning a phone like this will certainly have an effect on your social life, we're just not so sure it'll be a positive one.
Chevy had the whole "Heartbeat of America" thing cornered in the 80s, but now its Ford's turn to get in on the action. The car maker's European research team unveiled a prototype car seat capable of monitoring a driver's heart courtesy of six embedded electrodes, which can take measurements without coming in direct contact with skin. The technology, the latest in a recent string of health-related in-vehicle concepts from the company, can detect whether the driver is having a heart attack and transmit that information to the vehicle's safety system. According to the researchers, the system is already highly accurate in its prototype state, making correct readings for 98 percent of drive time with 95 percent of the drivers tested.
During remarks at a developers conference in Japan on May 23, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer referred to the next version of Windows as “Windows 8.” He also said the next generation of Windows systems will be out next year.
To those not following Microsoft’s Windows saga closely, this may seem like a “so what” moment. But Microsoft execs have been studiously avoiding any references to the timing or naming of the next version of Windows to try to keep the specifics of the product as quiet as possible. Microsoft’s top brass has been avoiding calling the next version of Windows “Windows 8″ publicly, preferring instead to call it “Windows Next.” (Internally, a number of Microsoft job postings and leaked slides have referenced “Windows 8,” however.”
Here’s what Ballmer said today in Tokyo about Windows 8, according to Microsoft’s own transcript:
“We’re obviously hard at work on the next version of Windows. Windows 7 PCs will sell over 350 million units this year. We’ve done a lot in Windows 7 to improve customer satisfaction. We have a brand new user interface. We’ve added touch, and ink, and speech. And yet, as we look forward to the next generation of Windows systems, which will come out next year, there’s a whole lot more coming. As we progress through the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.”
Parsing Ballmer’s words further, it’s interesting he called out Windows 8 slates and tablets as two separate form factors. Last year, Microsoft was pushing Windows Embedded Compact as its slate operating system, designed for devices that were more about consumption than creation….
It’s also interesting that Ballmer did not say specifically that “the next generation of Windows systems” due out next year were Windows 8 systems. (There’s been some speculation that Microsoft might deliver ARM-based tablets separately from Windows 8 laptops, PCs and notebooks — with some company watchers predicting that Win8 tablets would ship before the other SKUs, and others predicting they’d ship afterwards. I’ve heard from my contacts that Microsoft is planning to deliver all Windows 8 SKUs simultaneously, however.)
The head of Windows, President Steven Sinofsky, is slated to speak next week at the AllThingsD conference, where many are expecting him to show off an internal build of Windows 8 (whether or not he actually refers to it using the Windows 8 codename).
Microsoft is expected to provide testers with a first tech preview or beta of Windows 8 in mid-September during the company’s developer conference in Anaheim, Calif. The rumored release-to-manufacturing date of Windows 8 is mid-2012, with holiday 2012 retail availability targeted.
Update: OK, believe it or not, the “official” response is Ballmer’s statement isn’t what it seems to be… Sent from a Microsoft spokesman earlier tonight:
““It appears there was a misstatement. We are eagerly awaiting the next generation of Windows 7 hardware that will be available in the coming fiscal year. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.”
And, as usual, there are many ways to interpret these remarks. Is the next-generation Windows release nothing but Windows 7 with new paint? Windows 8 not the final name for the next version of Windows? (The final name possibly being something other than Windows 8 is something that I’ve heard from my tipsters…) You be the judge….
Two projects in Europe are using geothermal systems to make the most out of the body heat from commuting crowds.
Swedish realtor Jernhusen is investing in renovations of Stockholm Central Station, which will include a geothermal system that captures the body heat from the station’s 250,000 daily commuters to use in nearby offices.
Heat exchangers in the ventilation system will convert surplus low-grade body heat into hot water, which will then be pumped to heat office space in the nearby Kungsbrohuset building, also owned by Jernhusen. The plans, due for completion in June 2012, also include the replacement of all lighting in the station with LEDs, with the aim of obtaining Green Building certification.
The system could reduce the energy costs of the office block by up to 25% – a significant saving given Sweden’s cold winters and costly gas. The common ownership of the two buildings makes the transfer of energy a clear win, but – says Klas Johnasson, one of the developers – if real estate owners collaborate, there’s no reason why the project could not be replicated on a commercial basis.
Stockholm Central Station
A similar project is underway at the Paris Metro’s Rambuteau station. While this project will generate heat from commuters, it will also use heat from the moving trains to provide heating for a nearby public housing project.
These projects are great because they’re gathering energy that would otherwise be wasted. But they are also only practical in dense, walkable cities where crowds are normal and the harnessed energy doesn’t need to travel far. So is there hope to see this technology on a larger scale?
Forum for the Future’s Head of Built Environment, Martin Hunt, notes that “Geothermal technologies have been around for a long time and are commercially viable. It looks like this application of heat recapture technology will only make sense in busy public spaces, but if the numbers stack up I can see it could be used on a wider scale.”
Sure you can do neat things like unlock your iPhone using facial recognition, but the Air Force has fargrander visions for the tech. Specifically it wants a camera that can identify and track possible insurgents at a significant distance (though it's unclear how far we're talking about here) using only a few seconds of footage. It's turned to Photon-X Inc. to develop a sensor that combines spacial measurements, infrared and visible light to create a "bio-signature" that maps not only static facial features but muscle movements that are unique to each individual. The technology could also be used in targeting systems to identify enemy vehicles and integrated into robots to help them navigate and identify objects... or threatening meatbags. The Air Force even foresees law enforcement, banks, and private security firms using the cams to monitor customers and watch for suspicious activity. Similar tools have been created that use software to analyze video feeds, but they can't match the accuracy or range of this "behaviormetric" system. Normally, this is where we'd make some snide reference to Skynet or Big Brother but, honestly, we're too creeped out for jokes.
Just because Nokia has done everything short of taping a "Dear John" letter to MeeGo's mirror doesn't mean the OS is dead. In fact, Intel's Linux-based baby just got a refresh to version 1.2. So what's new this go around? Well, primarily it's under the hood stuff, like improved Atom support and bug fixes out the ying yang. New audio and networking stacks have also been added for A2DP streaming and HSPA+ support. The tablet UI that Intel was showing off in February is has arrived, to complement the standard netbook version and the in-car interface. Sadly, the handset edition was left out of this update. Those eager to dip their toes in the MeeGo water can download the latest version at the source link.
HP has already rolled out a few new Sandy Bridge laptops this month, but it's now back with yet another: the Pavilion g6s. Like the still-available g6t and g6x, this one packs a 15.6-inch display with a rather lowly 1,366 x 768 resolution, but you can now get that paired with your choice of Core i3, i5 or i7 Sandy Bridge processors. Otherwise, you'll get some fairly respectable specs across the board, including up 6GB of RAM, up to a 750GB hard drive, and optional Radeon HD 6470M graphics -- not to mention your choice of four different color options. Of course, cost is still the main concern with the g6 series, and this one keeps things in check with a starting price of $550.
Sprint customers holding out for the HTC Evo 3D can now inch slightly closer to that glasses-free display -- without dropping by RadioShack. The carrier has confirmed that you can reserve the WiMAX handset by visiting a Sprint-owned retail store and plunking down $50 for a gift card. There's still no word on when you'll be able to get the device in-hand (and the 3D's exclusive carrier is mum on pricing), but, if you don't mind reserving a phone without any hint as to how much you'll eventually need to pay, then Sprint seems happy enough to swap your Grant for a spot on the list. It's also taking names for the Evo View 4G tablet and, like the 3D, that $50 deposit can be used to take a bite out of a 2D handset. You know, in case you decide that a third dimension is too hot to handle.
Microsoft is continuing to move some of its SQL Server capabilities to the cloud and turn them into services.
The latest to join the coming SQL Azure services line-up — alongside the already announced (but still undelivered) SQL Azure Reporting Services— is complex-event processing. The cloud version of this capability is known as codename “Austin,” according to a couple of new Microsoft blog posts this week.
(For those codename buffs keeping track at home, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has used “Austin” as a codename. Version 2.0 of Microsoft’s now-defunct ResponsePoint VOIP/telephony software for small businesses, also was codenamed “Austin.”)
But back to the new Austin. Austin will be the service version of the StreamInsight complex-event-processing capabilities that are in SQL Server today. Complex event processing “enables real time insight into vast volumes of streaming data,” according to Microsoft’s explanation, which is distinct from, but related to, business intelligence, which “enables analytics and insight into a set of existing data to inform future decision making.”
Austin is being released in private Community Technology Preview (CTP) form now, but will be available as a public CTP, available from the SQL Azure Labs Site, in the second half of the year, the Softies told attendees of the TechEd 2011 conference this week. Microsoft isn’t sharing publicly a release target for the final version of Austin.
By hosting StreamInsight on the Windows Azure platform, Microsoft will allow customers and partners “to build event-driven applications where the analysis of the events is performed in the cloud,” explained Zane Adam, a Microsoft General Manager of Azure and Middleware, in a May 15 blog post.
Among some of the potential scenarios where Austin could be used, as envisioned by Microsoft:
Collecting data from manufacturing applications (e.g. real-time events from plant-floor devices and sensors)
Financial trading applications (e.g. monitoring and capitalizing on current market conditions with very short windows of opportunity)
Web analytics (e.g. immediate click-stream pattern detection and response with targeted advertising.)
“Smart grid” management (e.g. infrastructure for managing electric grids and other utilities, such as immediate response to variations in energy to minimize or avoid outages or other disruptions of service).
Microsoft is pitching Austin as helping customers from having to implement complex event processing on-premises themselves, “but more importantly, be able to collect and process events from anywhere on the planet and derive trends from a vastly increased series of events since that data is sent to the cloud.”
In other SQL Azure-related news this week, Microsoft officials said the company has released its May 2011 service update for SQL Azure, which includes four new updates:
SQL Azure Management REST API – a web API for managing SQL Azure servers
Multiple servers per subscription – create multiple SQL Azure servers per subscription
JDBC Driver – updated database driver for Java applications to access SQL Server and SQL Azure
DAC Framework 1.1 – making it easier to deploy databases and in-place upgrades on SQL Azure
Officials also told TechEd attendees this week that they are planning to add in some unspecified future SQL Azure release the integration of import and export features in the management portal; and enhancements to the Web-based database manager (a k a, “Project Houston”) for additional schema management, and a new service for managing SQL Azure databases through an Open Data Protocol endpoint.
Microsoft made a CTP for a database import/export capability available this week, as well. This capability is designed to allow SQL Azure database users to more simply archive SQL Azure and SQL Server databases, or to migrate on-premises SQL Server databases to SQL Azure, according to company officials.
It’s official: Verizon’s unlimited data plans don’t have much longer to live.
The confirmation comes from Verizon CEO Fran Shammo, who told Reuters that the the unlimited data plans would be replaced by tiered service plans aimed at heavy users. Verizon’s tiered data plans would likely mimic AT&T’s own, which offer 250MB of data for $15 per month and 2GB for $25.
Shammo also said that Verizon is also preparing “mega plans” for data aimed at families. These plans, which would offer a set amount of data for one set price, would be shared among multiple phones in a household. These plans would operate in a similar fashion to Verizon’s current shared minutes plans.
Both of these changes come as Apple readies the release of the iPhone 5, which is widely expected to appear this fall. Shammo had a few interesting details on the Apple front as well. For one, the CEO confirmed a detail that most already suspected: Verizon and AT&T will get the iPhone 5 at the same time, thanks to the nifty GSM/CDMA Qualcomm chip included in the iPhone 4.
Shammo, however, could not say whether the next iPhone would take advantage of Verizon’s steadily-expanding 4G LTE network. While the consensus so far seems to point to Apple nixing LTE support, the possibly can’t be ruled out just yet. Either way, Shammo said that he isn’t concerned, and that a 4G iPhone was a bigger deal for Apple than Verizon.
Curiously, China Mobile today confirmed that it had reached a deal with Apple to offer 4G access to iPhones on its network. So don’t kill the 4G iPhone dream just yet.
It should come as no surprise by now that I am not a huge fan of Apple, the company. I do think they make excellent hardware, and my laptop is a MacBook Air running Windows 7. Their business practices, however, are pretty shady, and it’s my opinion that they hold nothing but contempt for their customers.
A perfect example is the new malware attack against OSX, MACDefender. For years, OSX users have crowed about how they didn’t have to worry about viruses or malware, because mommy Apple kept them safe with an operating system that was immune to such things.
No, it was never immune. It was simply never on the radar of malware authors because it wasn’t financially attactive enough to attack. With the hundreds of millions of unprotected Windows installations, it didn’t make sense to bother. Well, there’s enough OSX users out there now to make it worthwhile, and the attacks are starting.
Apple’s response? Sticking its fingers in its ears and shouting “LALALALA! I can’t hear you!”
ZDnet’s Ed Bott interviewed an AppleCare representative, and was told that Apple’s official stance is that they not assist their customers in removing the malware. In fact, in a follow-up article, Ed shows an internal memo that tells Apple support reps to not even acknowledge the existence of the malware on their computer, nor provide them with further help or escalate to a higher support level.
This is atrocious. Even Microsoft, which has a long history of operating system exploits and malware issues, has acknowledged the problems and even provides anti-malware protection for free, as well as providing online and phone support for security issues.
Don’t expect Apple to change their stance until they are shamed into doing it. Because they already have your money. And they know that their diehard fans will swallow anything they tell them, even if it’s against their own best interests.
Burying your head in the sand is NOT a viable form of customer support.
As expected, Red Hat has released its latest server business operating system: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.1. This is the first major update to the platform since RHEL 6 shipped in November 2010.
RHEL 6.1 features optimized KVMvirtualization, new hardware support, improved operational efficiency, and high availability (HA) improvements. It also includes improved development and monitoring tools such as an updated Eclipse development environment includes enhanced breakpoint and code generation for C/C++ and Java.
The company also announced, to no surprise, that it’s improved RHEL’s virtualization and cloud offerings. The company also claimed customers will see faster performance with HP and IBM hardware. You can see it for yourself. RHEL 6.1 is available to subscribing Red Hat customers today worldwide via the Red Hat Network.
Red Hat also commissioned a study from industry analyst firm IDC to examine its long-term total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits. This study compared RHEL with running mixed environments or non-paid Linux distributions. In a statement, Al Gillen, Program VP, System Software at IDC said that “Organizations that are heavily standardized on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and compared those organizations with others that had a mixture of Linux distributions in use, and organizations that were heavily penetrated by non-paid Linux distributions. The outcome of the study found that there is demonstrable business benefit associated with having professional support for an operating system, compared to a do-it-yourself approach. The real benefits came from lower IT staff costs and reduced end user downtime.” For the full report, see Understanding Linux Deployment Strategies: The Business Case for Standardizing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Add it all up and Red Hat has released a new strong, cloud-friendly Linux at the same time that its Linux rivals are starting to fall behind. Red Hat has long been the dominant business Linux. With these developments, I expect it to become the server Linux in the same way that Windows long ago became the desktop operating system.
