US launches wireless public safety network
The U.S. government and the country's top mobile phone service providers on Tuesday launched a public safety program that will allow people to receive emergency alerts via text message.
New York will serve as the launch market for the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) service, which will be operational in that market by 2012, according to Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who spoke at a press conference. The remainder of the country will receive the service at the midpoint of 2012, he said. Read more...
Google I/O day 1: Android 3.1, Ice Cream Sandwich, movies and more
Whew! Google just wrapped up the opening keynote session for day one of its I/O developers' conference -- and boy oh boy, is there a lot of Android news.
Here's a quick wrap of all the highlights.
Google I/O: The Android Numbers
It wouldn't be a modern mobile event without some proper bragging, and Google certainly seized the opportunity. According to Android Product Management Director Hugo Barra, more than 100 million Android devices have now been activated worldwide. Google is currently seeing more than 400,000 new activations every day -- up from 300,000 in December 2010; 200,000 in August 2010; and 100,000 in May 2010. That's some serious growth.
In terms of apps, the Android Market now has 200,000-plus programs available. Read more...
Microsoft promises not to ditch Mac, iPhone, Android Skype users
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today promised that the company would continue to develop and support Skype on rival platforms.
"We will continue to invest in Skype on non-Microsoft client platforms," said Ballmer during a news conference announcing the company's plan to buy chat and Internet phone software maker Skype for $8.5 billion.
Skype currently offers versions of its software for Apple's Mac OS X and Linux on the desktop, and on Google's Android, Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry and Nokia's Symbian mobile operating systems.
Ballmer was adamant that the new Microsoft Skype division would not ditch owners of iPhones, Android smartphones, Macs and more. Read more...
NetSuite Aims at Enterprises With ‘unlimited’ Push
On-demand ERP software vendor NetSuite is expected to announce a new push into large enterprises on Tuesday during its SuiteWorld user conference in San Francisco.
Dubbed NetSuite Unlimited, the announcement is less about a specific product than about an array of partnerships, services, applications and technology improvements meant to respond to the demands of the world's biggest companies. The move represents a further shift away from the small and medium-sized businesses that have largely constituted NetSuite's user base since its formation in 1998. Read more...
Google: Location Data is Anonymous, Deleted After One Week
Google said Tuesday that any location-based data it collects via its Android mobile operating system is anonymous in nature and the majority of that information is deleted after one week.
"The location information sent to Google servers when users opt in to location services on Android is anonymized and stored in the aggregate and is not tied or traceable to a specific user," Alan Davidson, director of public policy at Google, said in prepared remarks for the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The collected information is stored with a hashed version of an anonymous token, which is deleted after approximately one week." Read more...
Adobe Photoshop Touch Apps Let You Fingerpaint, Mix Colors, and Manipulate Photoshop on Your iPad
Adobe's three new Photoshop Touch apps are available for purchase from the App Store. Color Lava, Eazel, and Nav interact with Photoshop CS5 on Windows or Mac, enhancing how you can interact with the program.
Here's a brief description of each (starting from the left and going clockwise in the image above):
Color Lava ($2.99) - an app for creating custom colors and color themes by dabbing and swirling. Tapping a swatch on the iPad can make it the foreground color in Photoshop CS5. Read more...
Security firm exploits Chrome zero-day to hack browser, escape sandbox
Posts video demo of attack that relies on one or more zero-day vulnerabilities in Google browser.
French security company Vupen said today that it's figured out how to hack Google's Chrome by sidestepping not only the browser's built-in "sandbox" but also by evading Windows 7's integrated anti-exploit technologies.
Google said it was unable to confirm Vupen's claims.
"The exploit ... is one of the most sophisticated codes we have seen and created so far, as it bypasses all security features including ASLR/DEP/Sandbox," said Vupen in a blog post Monday. "It is silent (no crash after executing the payload), it relies on undisclosed ('zero-day') vulnerabilities and it works on all Windows systems." Read more...
LG Optimus 3D Comes Featuring Wikitude 3D Augmented Reality Browser
The LG Optimus 3D now has something more to boast of. LG Electronics have just announced that the LG Optimus 3D will come incorporated with a 3D browser from Wikitude, the pioneer in Augmented Reality (AR).
The brand new Wikitude 3D browser has been designed in such a way that it enables the user to experience better interaction and engagement with real-time user environments.
The 3D AR shows places, landmarks and objects in 3D, thereby making them easy to differentiate from one another, unlike the 2D AR which displays only overlapped objects. Read more...
Microsoft near deal to buy Skype
SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft Corp. is nearing a deal to buy the popular Internet telephone service Skype in what could be the biggest deal in the software maker's 36-year history, according to a published report.
If Microsoft does buy Skype, The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal could be valued at $8.5 billion, including assumed debt. At that price, a Skype takeover would top Microsoft's biggest previous acquisition — a $6 billion purchase of the online ad service aQuantive in 2007. Read more...
Sony Explains How The PSN Was Hacked
Sony’s Online Entertainment division is rebounding itself to a sustainable strength after the Sony PSN attack that massively took down the Sony’s PSN bringing it to a state of dormancy and inaccessibility for weeks together.
This clearly is one of the biggest online disasters as PSN users lie crippled and cut-off from their online entertainment arena and the blissful online multi-player gaming and content-downloads store.
Steve Jobs is a ‘Dictator’ CEO
LONDON: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been deemed as a dictator.
According to an article on the inner workings of Apple it's boss, written by Adam Lashinsky and published in the current edition of Fortune, the author painted Jobs as something of a dictator - involved in every decision, right down to the design of shuttle buses ferrying employees to work and the food that is to be served in the cafeteria, reports the Daily Mail.
When the company released its iPhone 3G and MobileMe service in 2008, it suffered its most humiliating failure. Read more...