RIM announces three new BlackBerry Curve smartphones
Research in Motion today announced three new BlackBerry Curve smartphones running the latest BlackBerry 7 mobile operating system with its faster Web browsing experience.
The BlackBerry Curve 9350, Curve 9360, and Curve 9370 should be available in Canada in August and from carriers in other countries in September, RIM said, without naming carriers or pricing.
All three phones share the same look, with differences primarily in internal radios for different wireless networks used around the globe. All three come with a 2.44-inch screen (with 480 x 360 pixel resolution) above a traditional BlackBerry physical Qwerty keyboard. Read more...
Docs and devs: Health secretary wants healthcare apps
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has launched a call for new ideas for health apps to help patients make informed decisions about their care.
The invitation is open to healthcare professionals and app developers. Lansley cited an existing example of what could be done, the Choosing Well app developed by NHS Yorkshire and Humber which enables people to search for their nearest NHS services.
The Department of Health said any ideas, which can also extend to online maps, should relate to one of five themes: personalisation and choice of care and support; better health and care outcomes; autonomy and accountability; improving public health; and improving long term care and support. Read more...
Facebook tweaks site to clarify who can see what
Facebook is making a series of design changes to the site to make it clearer to users who can see the content that they post, an issue Google has been criticizing Facebook about since it launched its own social network, Google+, in June.
"You have told us that 'who can see this?' could be clearer across Facebook, so we have made changes to make this more visual and straightforward," Facebook said in a blog post on Tuesday.
The main change is that Facebook will now display the intended audience for a photo, a text post, a tag or any other piece of content right next to it, or "inline" as stated in the blog post. Until now, those controls have been on a separate Settings section of the profile.
"Your profile should feel like your home on the Web -- you should never feel like stuff appears there that you don't want, and you should never wonder who sees what's there," the post reads. Read more...
Researchers find first Android malware targeting Gingerbread
Researchers have spotted the first malware that exploits a critical vulnerability in Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, finding samples tucked into legitimate apps on Chinese download sites.
Earlier threats aimed at Google's Android, including the widely-distributed DroidDream and DroidDream Light, exploited bugs in older versions of the mobile operating system but were not able to hijack Gingerbread-powered smartphones.
Last Thursday, Xuxian Jiang, an assistant professor in computer science at North Carolina State University, said that his team and Beijing-based NetQin Mobile Security had identified new "high-risk" malware that can root, or completely compromise, Android 2.3. Read more...
HP releases 3Par storage system, federated storage software
As part of its Converged Storage portfolio, HP (Hewlett-Packard) announced today new federated storage software, Peer Motion, which enables admins to transparently move application workloads between disk systems in virtualized and cloud computing environments.
HP also unveiled a new storage array line, the P10000 3PAR Storage System, which is aimed at supporting public and private clouds with twice the capacity and port count of previous HP products.
Peer Motion
The Peer Motion software allows applications and data to be moved between any HP-branded storage systems as well as systems from its subsidiaries, 3Par and LeftHand, according to Craig Nunes, director of marketing for HP Storage.
Similar to VMware's vMotion software, Peer Motion allows live migration of data on storage systems supporting virtual machines with no application downtime. Read more...
Browsing and privacy: How to not get tracked
If you're old enough to remember the Cold War, you know what an arms race is. One side comes up with a new weapon, the other side matches it, and then the first comes back with something even bigger and so on and so on. That also describes the ongoing battle between computer users who value their privacy and the Web sites and their advertisers that don't.
Every time browser developers and others come up with a defense against tracking -- the use of tiny bits of computer code that tells Web sites where you've been on the Internet -- the other side ups the ante with a new trick. And it's happening again. Read more...
Google feels the pain of users who can’t get on Google+
Google is keenly aware that many people are eager to set up profiles in Google+, the company's new social network, but the site will remain in a limited trial while the company works feverishly toward a broader rollout that can accommodate a larger number and wider variety of users.
So said Bradley Horowitz, the Google+ vice president of product, during a webcast interview on Tuesday with Tim O'Reilly, CEO of O'Reilly Media.
In addition to regular people, there are a number of specialty user groups that are anxious to try out Google+, like application developers, Google Apps customers, corporate marketers and even minors, but the site isn't yet ready for them, he said. Read more...
IBM shines in strong Q2 server market
IBM's worldwide server revenue jumped a healthy 24.5 percent in the second quarter, putting it neck and neck with Hewlett-Packard for the top spot, IDC reported Tuesday.
Helped by a surge in mainframe sales, IBM's revenue climbed to just over US$4 billion in the quarter, giving it 30.5 percent of the overall market. HP's sales climbed a more modest 9.3 percent, to $3.9 billion, for 29.8 percent of the market. IBM crowed that it had recaptured the server crown, but IDC declared it "a statistical tie."
Server sales were strong overall, with worldwide revenue climbing 18 percent from a year earlier to $13.2 billion, IDC said. Unit shipments were 2.1 million, the second-highest total ever reported for a June quarter. The highest was in 2008, just before the economy went south. Read more...
3D laptops: Asus G74sx vs. Toshiba Qosmio X775
At the moment, 3D is the hottest thing in Hollywood, with most action and animated flicks coming out in both 3D and 2D versions. Game-makers have been a little slower in embracing the technology, but there are dozens of games that have been written for 3D viewing, including Activision's Call of Duty, Electronic Arts' Need for Speed, Prince of Persia from Ubisoft and Valve Corp.'s Portal 2.
So it's natural that 3D-capable notebooks should now be hitting the market, with the kind of specs and graphics capabilities necessary to handle fast-moving 3D animations and videos. (See our sidebar: "The basics of 3D".) Two of the most recent are the Asus G74SX and Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78, which I've run through their paces for this article.
These aren't systems meant for those who are looking to watch the occasional YouTube video. They are high-end systems with price tags that run close to $2,000. Still, if you're a 3D gaming or video enthusiast -- or if you plan to wow your clients with 3D presentations -- they could be worth it. Read more...
Twitter, Facebook light up after East Coast quake
Just moments after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the East Coast on Tuesday afternoon, Twitter and Facebook lit up with the news.
The quake struck central Virginia at 1:51 p.m. Eastern time today and rocked the Washington area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was felt as far away as New Jersey, New York and New England. It also disrupted cell phone service and closed two nuclear reactors, and many bridges and tunnels in East Coast cities
Various news services reported that parts of the Pentagon, the White House and the U.S. Capitol were evacuated as a precaution. The federal building in Newark, N.J., was also evacuated. Read more...