NewsFactor Network

Are iOS Mobile Devices Outpacing Macs?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:55:01 -0500

Is Apple's iOS platform doing more Web surfing than the Mac OS platform? The argument in the affirmative has some new evidence, in the form of a study showing there are now more ad impressions being received on Apple tablets and smartphones than on desktops and laptops.

The report, from advertising company Chitika, looked at data sets of U.S. traffic from August of last year to this month for the Chitika Ad Network, which covers hundreds of millions of ad impressions. Aggregating the user agents, Chitika was able to determine the relative overall share of various operating systems.

Apple the Cannibal

The data indicated that the relative traffic volumes have been converging since last August, with iOS showing overall growth of nearly 50 percent, while OS X has dropped in market share by 25 percent since a September high point. This month, iOS passed OS X for the first time, showing 8.15 percent of all Web traffic, while OS X had 7.96 percent.

Given the legendary loyalty of Mac users, Chitika asked in its report why Mac might be experiencing a market share drop in ad impressions.

One obvious factor is the much larger number of iOS device sales compared with Mac. In the fourth quarter of last year, for example, Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 15.4 million iPods, but only 5.2 million Macs.

Chitika's data only gives a partial view of the landscape, since the data is derived entirely from its network, and its network is primarily directed at mobile devices. Other companies, analyzing their traffic data, have found that Macs outnumber iOS devices in surfing their Web sites, for instance.

Apple executives have commented publicly on the possibility that its popular mobile devices, which are joining other mobile devices in taking over many of the functions of...

Google's Dedicated Home Device May Stream Music or Video

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:15:00 -0500

Taking another step in the bold journey into electronic hardware that began with branded smartphones, search giant Google is working on a home entertainment device that will initially stream music throughout homes and later other media, reports say.

The device is most likely to made by Motorola Mobility, which Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is in the process of acquiring in a $12.5 billion deal, The New York Times reported.

Google filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission last week for testing the new device, the Times said.

In the Prototyping Phase

"Google is developing an entertainment device that requires testing outside the laboratory environment," reads the application. "The device is in the prototyping phase and will be modified prior to final compliance testing."

The testing, to continue through July, would measure "throughput and stability of home Wi-Fi networks using an entertainment device. Testing will include functional testing of all subsystems, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio. Users will connect their device to home Wi-Fi networks and use Bluetooth to connect to other home electronics equipment. This line of testing will reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks."

A Google spokesman told us the company had no comment about the device reports. Google also did not provide comment for the Times story.

Melding content and hardware has become essential to technology companies: Apple uses content such as music, videos and apps to drive sales of its mobile devices, while Amazon and Barnes & Noble each developed e-readers and tablets to drive sales of digital books and other media. Software giant Microsoft developed the Xbox entertainment system to sell games and online memberships and services.

Google in May 2010 announced the development of its Google TV smart TV system for interactive features, but hardware partner Logitech dropped out of the project in November 2011 after losing...

Watchdog Lawsuit Seeks Google Privacy Policy Review

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:58:04 -0500

A U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., agreed Thursday to expedite a lawsuit filed against the Federal Trade Commission for failing to review Google's recent decision to consolidate the privacy policies governing its Web sites and services.

Filed Wednesday by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, the suit contends that the new all-in-one privacy policy violates the terms of a prior settlement between Google and the FTC.

EPIC's lawyers asked the court to impose a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent Google's new policy from going into effect March 1.

EPIC Had Sued Over Google Buzz

Under the expedited rules, the FTC is required to respond to EPIC's latest briefs by Feb. 17. EPIC's reply is then due Feb. 21.

"The FTC has a non-discretionary obligation to enforce a final order," EPIC's lawyers wrote in a new brief. "But the agency has thus far failed to take any action regarding this matter, placing the privacy interests of literally hundreds of millions Internet users at grave risk."

Last year, EPIC contested several privacy aspects of the search-engine giant's plans for Google Buzz -- an online service that would have compiled and made public a Gmail user's social-networking list based on address book and Gchat list contacts.

In response, the FTC issued a consent order in October 2011, which EPIC's lawyers contend prevents "Google from misrepresenting the company's privacy practices, requires the company to obtain users' consent before disclosing personal data, and requires the company to develop and comply with a comprehensive privacy program."

Google Declines European Pause Request

Earlier this month, the Article 29 Working Party -- an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy -- called on Google to pause its new privacy policy implementation plans.

"Given the wide range of services you offer, and popularity of...

Microsoft Offers Details about Windows on ARM

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:48:37 -0500

Microsoft has begun releasing more details about Windows on ARM devices. Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky posted Thursday on the company's Developer Network blog a long description of the "reimagined" Windows on ARM, or WOA, as he called it.

WOA, he wrote, is a new category of the Windows operating system, like Windows Server, Windows Phone, and Windows Embedded. It will be available for ARM-based products, including tablets, smartphones, e-readers and embedded devices.

What Is ARM?

For those unfamiliar with ARM, it refers to devices that use technology from ARM Holdings PLC, a company based in the United Kingdom, that develops intellectual property (IP) for semiconductors. Rather than manufacturing actual semiconductor chips, ARM develops the technology and then licenses its intellectual property to partner companies that produce the semiconductors, chips, and devices.

These partners utilize ARM technology to produce system-on-chip designs, paying ARM a license fee for the original IP, plus a royalty on every chip or wafer produced.

ARM claims its technology is currently being used in 90% of smartphones, 80% of digital cameras, and 28% of all electronic devices.

No Legacy Apps on WOA

Now, getting back to Microsoft's announcements regarding WOA, or Windows on ARM devices....

Out of the box, Sinofsky said, WOA will feel "just like using Windows 8" on x86/64 devices. Starting and launching apps and using the new Windows Store, for instance, will be the same. The goal is to ship WOA PCs at the same time as Windows 8 for x86/64.

ARM devices will feature a Metro mode, with a tile-based, touch-optimized interface, as well as a more traditional Windows desktop mode.

Apps designed for the Metro interface will be supported on both WOA and Windows 8 on x86/64, and WOA includes support for hardware-accelerated HTML5. WOA will offer desktop versions of the key apps in the new Office 15 -- Word, Excel,...

Microsoft Shows Love to IT Admins with Light Patch Tuesday

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:29:34 -0500

Microsoft on Thursday offered some good news for IT admins via its advance notification service. Microsoft's February Patch Tuesday will include just nine bulletins, four of them "critical," to address 21 vulnerabilities.

Microsoft's February focus addresses vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, and .NET/Silverlight. The five "important" rated security bulletins address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio Viewer 2010 in the Office productivity suite and Sharepoint, the advance notification advisory reported.

The Microsoft Security Response Center also took space in its advance notification blog post to note that information on Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle system has been downloaded more than 850,000 times so far. And the Trustworthy Computing initiative is 10 years old.

Remote Code Executions

Marcus Carey, security researcher at Rapid7, said the four "critical" bulletins are rated so high because they allow remote code execution -- and three of them require a reboot for patching. Of the five "important" bulletins, two affect Microsoft Office.

The first bulletin is a core operating-system vulnerability that affects all modern deployed workstations and servers. The second bulletin is an Internet Explorer vulnerability allowing remote code execution.

"We're seeing a great many browser patches from Microsoft these days because researchers and attackers have realized that browser exploits have the most potential for harm and are currently the best attack surface," Carey said. "Browser-based attacks will certainly continue to be an attack vector from here on."

Bulletin No. 4 is the third critical over the last few months that patches .Net and Silverlight, Carey said, noting that media players and browser plug-ins are very popular attack vectors. Because browsers are effectively taking the role of operating systems for users, he explained, anything that can exploit the browser directly or indirectly will receive attention with exploit development and research.

Prioritizing Bulletins

"IT continues to benefit from Microsoft's security initiatives in 2012 with...

BofA, Foxconn Breaches Display Diversity of Hacker Motives

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:24:13 -0500

This year has already witnessed a rise in data breach activity. Beyond the Symantec pcAnywhere drama and the Zappos breach, Bank of America came under fire via a merchant breach even while in the midst of a multibillion-dollar legal battle over faulty mortgages.

Bank of America could not immediately be reached for comment, but published statements indicate that the company has sent letters to customers to notify them of a possible compromise that may have exposed credit card account details. BofA has not disclosed how many accounts were affected in the breach.

"As part of our routine fraud monitoring, if we believe a customer's card may have been compromised at a third-party location, we will notify the customer and block and reissue the card, which is what happened in this case," BofA spokeswoman Betty Riess told Bank Info Security. "Security for our customers is a top priority, and we take proactive steps like this to protect our customers from fraud."

Hacker Activity Heightens

Lawrence Reusing, general manager for mobile security at Imation Corp., said Bank of America's disclosure of the recent breach again highlights the sophistication of criminals trying to breach network and mobile devices in 2012.

"The news proves that no business is immune," Reusing said. "Just weeks ago, Zappos came under scrutiny because of a network breach, and this latest disclosure from BoFA is concerning for businesses and the consumers that put trust in retailers, banks and other services companies to secure their private information."

At some level, the Zappos breach was worse. Some 24 million customer passwords were stolen in the hack, a black eye for the Amazon-owned property. Zappos was tight-lipped about the root cause of the attack. The difference is account-holder details were not accessed.

Whether for financial gain or social protest, hacker activity shows no sign of slowing...

Free Anti-Tracking Tool Meets Growing Demand for Private Browsing

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:28:40 -0500

With concern about tracking and malware on the rise, a Boston-based company that creates privacy tools is offering a free program it says will keep your browsing out of the public domain.

The company, Abine, says its Do Not Track Plus browser tool will not only fend off advertisers who want to monitor your shopping habits and show you which companies and technologies are spying on you on the various sites you visit, but also quadruple your browser speed.

"Online tracking is a very real thing, even though you can't see it," said Abine in a company blog post announcing the tool Thursday.

What's the Catch?

Abine is upfront about its intentions in offering the product free.

"We have a 'freemium' model, meaning that we offer a free base service (DNT+) and separate paid upgrades, such as our DeleteMe service that removes our customers' personal information from public Web sites," the company writes. "We are also working on another software offering called PrivacySuite that's currently in beta, but it will have premium upgradeable features like forwarded e-mails and phone numbers."

Once they have built up a base of free users, Abine hopes that at least 1 percent to 2 percent will upgrade to premium services down the road, making the undertaking worthwhile. The basic model of Do Not Track Plus, however, will always remain free, Abine promises.

For $99 a year, the DeleteMe service regularly checks people-search databases to remove customers' names, sending regular reports. Abine also has apps coming soon that allow a single log-in to sites with one click and to protect e-mail and phone numbers by "automatically generating unique forwarding contact info for each site."

Abine is not alone in offering free privacy tools. Yahoo! offers Anti-Spy, a spyware and malware removal program by Computer Associates, as part of its browser toolbar. Microsoft's...

Ford's Touch Software To Be Upgraded

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:39:01 -0500

Ford will give new software to about 250,000 owners of vehicles with the often-maligned "MyFord Touch" dashboard technology in about two months to make the system easier -- and less distracting -- to use.

The company's new 2013 models will come with upgraded MyFord Touch, which replaces most knobs and buttons for climate, navigation and entertainment with a touch-screen. The system has both attracted buyers to Ford's brand and hurt it in some owners' eyes, says the independent market research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

Ford held customer clinics, and employees have been testing the upgraded system so it's a "high-quality experience," Ford spokesman Alan Hall says.

MyFord Touch is now available on 20% of Ford models, including the Explorer and Focus, and will be on 70% of new models by the end of this year.

Ford dropped from fifth to 23rd in J.D. Power's quality survey last summer, in large part because of this technology. The study looks at problems owners report in the first 90 days of ownership.

MyFord Touch "was a significant issue. Most of their declines from the previous year could be attributed to it," says David Sargent, J.D. Power's global vehicle research vice president. "Other than that, their quality was going fairly well."

Many complaints to J.D. Power centered on the system's tendency to freeze, which the company called "a hard defect," and its slowness.

Complicated controls could also be distracting for those "operating the system when trying to drive a vehicle," Sargent says.

The upcoming fix won't come in time to boost Ford's quality rankings in the June Power initial quality report, which only covers vehicles sold through this month. While Ford has made running improvements to the systems, Sargent says those could be offset by the increased number of models sold with MyFord Touch.

It can take up to 45 minutes to...

More States Seek To Collect Online Sales Tax

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:40:15 -0500

Attention, online shoppers. The days of tax-free online shopping may be coming to an end. More than a dozen states have enacted legislation or rules to force online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases, according to tax publisher CCH. Similar legislation is pending in 10 states.

Reasons for the spread of online sales tax laws:

Budget shortfalls. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that uncollected state sales taxes will cost states $23 billion this year. Residents of sales-tax states are supposed to pay taxes on online purchases, but because retailers don't collect them, they rarely do.

Heavy lobbying from retailers. Retailers have long argued that exempting online purchases from sales taxes gives online retailers an unfair advantage over brick-and-mortar stores. The pressure escalated in December after online giant Amazon offered customers a one-day 5% discount if they used its Price Check app to make a purchase while in a physical store, says Jason Brewer of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which supports taxing online purchases.

"A store manager has the power to say, 'I'll match that price,' but they don't have the power to say, 'I won't charge you a sales tax,'" he says. "They go to jail if they do that."

Gridlock. Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would give states broad authority to require online retailers to collect state sales taxes, as long as they streamline the collection process.

Amazon supports the legislation, says spokesman Ty Rogers. Federal legislation to permit interstate collection of sales tax "is the only way to level the playing field for all sellers and provide states the right to obtain more than a fraction of the revenue already owed," he says.

Despite bipartisan support, though, the bill has languished in Congress. "Many of the states have gotten somewhat frustrated waiting for Congress to act,"...

Kodak To Stop Making Cameras, Digital Frames

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:41:33 -0500

Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, marking the end of an era for the company that brought photography to the masses more than a century ago.

Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. But the company was battered by Japanese competition in the 1980s, and was then unable to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.

The Rochester, New York-based company, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, said it will phase out the product lines in the first half of this year and instead look for other companies to license its brand for those products.

It's an especially poignant moment for Kodak. In 1975, using a new type of electronic sensor invented six years earlier at Bell Labs, a Kodak engineer named Steven Sasson created the first digital camera. It was a toaster-size prototype capturing black-and-white images at a resolution of 0.1 megapixels.

Through the 1990s, Kodak spent some $4 billion developing the photo technology inside most of today's cellphones and digital devices. But a reluctance to ease its heavy financial reliance on film allowed rivals like Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. to rush into the fast-emerging digital arena. The immensely lucrative analog business Kodak worried about undermining was virtually erased in a decade by the filmless photography it invented.

Today, the standalone digital camera faces stiff competition, as smartphone cameras gain broader use. Kodak owns patents that cover a number of basic functions in many smartphone cameras. The company picked up $27 million in patent-licensing fees in the first half of 2011. It made about $1.9 billion from those fees in the previous three years...

Review: Soulo Converts iPad into Karaoke Machine

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:38:19 -0500

Karaoke lovers typically fall into two categories: Those who enjoy it, and those whose arms have to be twisted to get up and sing in public.

Enter Soulo, a software and microphone kit that can turn an iPad or other Apple device into a karaoke machine. It gives you instant karaoke in the privacy of your own home, or wherever you carry your Apple gadgets.

That's the idea, anyway.

In practical terms, the quality of the karaoke experience depends largely on the kind of sound system you pipe Soulo through.

The software app does a great job of emulating the sing-along video animation typically found in a commercial karaoke machine. It also offers a good selection of songs.

But I wasn't thrilled by the sound quality I got from the Soulo microphone. That dampened an otherwise entertaining way to use an iPad.

In particular, I like how the Soulo-iPad combo makes it a snap to record audio and video of a performance and then post clips -- not full songs -- on YouTube, Facebook and elsewhere.

Soulo is available with a digital wireless microphone, which retails for $99, or with a wired microphone, which sells for $69. Songs cost extra after the first handful. I tested the wireless version, which comes with a receiver that plugs into the iPad dock and syncs with the microphone.

The karaoke app and microphones are compatible with iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch. Audio output options include listening through headphones or other speaker systems via the devices' stereo jack. The wireless receiver also can connect to a TV.

Transforming the iPad into a karaoke machine is easy. You download the free Soulo app from the Apple Store and register the software.

Soulo comes with a few songs and a code to download 10 karaoke tracks for free. You can purchase and download more songs...

Lenovo Warns About Global Hard Drive Shortage

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:48:01 -0500

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's second-biggest personal computer maker, said Thursday that quarterly profit grew by more than half but warned hard-drive costs would remain high amid a global shortage.

The company said it's confident of closing in on the top spot in PC sales as it reported strong sales growth across all major markets even as it focuses more attention on the burgeoning smartphone and mobile Internet market.

Net income rose to $153 million, or 1.46 cents per share, in the October-December period, which is the company's third fiscal quarter. That's up 54 percent from the same period the year before.

Sales jumped 44 percent to a record $8.4 billion as its share of the global personal computer market hit a high of 14 percent.

Lenovo posted 30 percent sales growth in China, which accounts for about two-fifths of total sales. Sales in Africa, Latin America and other emerging markets rose 13 percent.

Strongest growth came in developed markets including Western Europe and North America, where sales zoomed up 81 percent. They were helped partly by new a joint venture with NEC Corp. in Japan and the purchase of Germany's Medion AG, a maker of multimedia products and consumer electronics. Both deals were completed in July.

The company, which is based in Beijing and has U.S. headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, said market share in China, the world's biggest PC market, hit a high of 35.3 percent.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp.'s PC unit in 2005, overtook Dell Inc. in the third quarter of 2011 to become the second-largest PC vendor by shipments worldwide, according to both International Data Corp. and Gartner.

"We are closing the gap with No. 1," held by rival Hewlett-Packard Co., said Chairman Yang Yuanqing.

Gross profit margins dipped in the quarter because of higher prices for hard disk drives. Flooding in Thailand last...

Oracle To Pay $1.9B for Taleo, Extends SAP Rivalry

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:44:02 -0500

Oracle Corp. is escalating its rivalry with German business-software maker SAP AG and plans to pay $1.9 billion for Taleo Corp., a company that helps businesses hire and manage their employees.

The planned purchase extends Oracle's offerings in the growing arena of cloud-based computing. With such an approach, businesses don't run software and services in-house, but rather send those tasks over the Internet to remote locations operated by companies such as Oracle, SAP and IBM Corp.

Taleo makes human-resources software that runs on the cloud. Taleo, which has about 1,400 employees, said it has more than 5,000 customers, including nearly half of the Fortune 100. Through its software, people can apply for jobs and companies can manage the careers of their hires.

Oracle is paying $46 a share for Taleo stock, 18 percent above Wednesday's closing price of $38.94. Taleo's stock rose $6.65, or 17.1 percent, to $45.51 in morning trading Thursday after the announcement came out. Oracle's gained 4 cents to $28.77.

The board of Taleo, which is based in Dublin, California, has approved the deal. It is expected to close in mid-2012 subject to Taleo shareholder and regulatory approvals.

In December, SAP announced plans to buy another human-resources software company, SuccessFactors, for $3.4 billion. The rivalry between SAP and Oracle has been escalating, and the latest deal underscores the growing importance technology companies see in delivering software over the Internet.

SAP's specialty is business applications, such as those used for payroll and managing relationships with customers and suppliers. In recent years, Oracle has spent billions of dollars pushing into that field, though it remains behind SAP.

Oracle said Taleo's portfolio of products would complement Oracle's existing offerings.

"Human capital management has become a strategic initiative for organizations," said Thomas Kurian, an executive vice president at Oracle.

Taleo CEO Michael Gregoire said the company's products give customers "the...