Gadgets and Tech Updates

Torque Android Phones : Price, Specs, Features - Dual SIM, WiFi, TV

2011-05-23T16:00:00.000+08:00

Local handset company, Torque Mobile, has just joined the Android smartphone race by releasing two 'Droidz' with dual SIM support and mobile TV functionality.

Check out Torque Droidz Dual --

and Torque Droidz Tandem --

The two phones share practically similar specifications save for screen size and design identity. Both handsets come with Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, 256MB ROM 256 MB RAM, mobile TV, Dual-SIM Dual-Standby capability, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity support, dual cameras - 2 MegaPixel shooter with flash at the rear and a VGA one in front, G-sensor, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio and microSD card slot supporting up to 16GB. As for the screen, Torque Droidz Dual has a 3.2-inch HVGA Capacitive Touchscreen while Torque Torque Droidz Tandem flaunts a 3.5-inch display.

As regards pricing, iPhone4-look-alike Torque Droidz Tandem come with an SRP of Php 9,999 while probably-HTC-Tattoo-inspired Torque Droidz Dual sells for Php 7,999.

Torque Mobile hasn't sent us review units of these 'Droidz'. So as yet, we can't talk about their construction and overall quality.

Samsung Nexus S Philippines : Price, Specs, Globe Plans Availability

2011-05-23T15:30:00.000+08:00

The phone comes FREE with Plan 2499, 3799, 5000 and 10000. Bundled with all Unli plans and Plan 299, it costs Php 21,307. With Plan 499, 999 and 1799, you can get it for Php 19,189, Php 13,071 and Php 7,204 respectively.
The distinguishing characteristic of Android 2.3-powered Samsung Nexus S aka Google Nexus Sis its unique Contour 4-inch SuperAMOLED Display with curved glass screen -- designed to kiss/hug the cheek nicely when you make a phone call. Other features include a 5 MegaPixel autofocus camera with flash, VGA front camera, 16GB of internal storage, WVGA 30fps videocamera, 3.5mm audio jack, microUSB port and Wifi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity support. Oddly enough, it doesn't come with a microSD card slot for expanding the memory, CPU 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset and 512MB RAM

140plus Tweak For Twitter for iPhone Lets you Send Tweets Over 140 Characters Long [Jailbreak Tweak]

2011-05-23T15:00:00.000+08:00

140plus is a tweak for Twitter for iPhone which allows you to get around the annoying 140-character Twitter limit. Instead, you’ll be given the option to either shrink the tweet down to 140 characters or send it anyway. So how can you send a larger tweet? Read on.

Sadly, there’s no way to post long tweets directly on the service, since they’re simply not supported and don’t work with the service. This mod gets around that similarly to other services such as Twitlonger or Deck.ly, available on other clients, removing all excess characters and inserting a link to the full tweet instead. Unlike Twitlonger, tweets will be stored on Pastie.org service, which wasn’t specifically developed to to host tweets, but is able to do that job just fine.

This tweak requires you jailbreak your phone first, since this method isn’t approved by either Apple or Twitter. It’s recommended that you have basic skills on how to restore your device. If you’re not willing to jailbreak your phone or modify Twitter, you can always get another client that supports long tweets, such as TweetDeck for iPhone.

This mod was created by Moe Seth, who authored many other iPhone tweaks, such as Photector, which allows you to password-protect your pictures, in order to prevent them from being deleted, or just remove the option to delete them altogether; and TwitPlaying, which lets you tweet out the song currently playing on your device. Like many popular mods, 140plus is available on BigBoss, which is among the most popular Cydia repositories. The installation process is simple and no restart is required. You’ll simply have to re-launch Twitter for iPhone app to see the changes.

Be wary of updates to Twitter for iPhone, since they can and will most likely break this mod, or at least require users to re-apply it.

Next iPhone To Feature Heart Rate, Mood, Altimeter And Temperature Sensors [REPORT]

2011-05-23T14:30:00.000+08:00

Your next iPhone could feature a number of new sensors for working out your location, temperature and even mood according to an interview with Benedetto Vigna.

The New York Times‘ Nick Bilton interviewed the General Manager of the MEMS division of STMicroelectronics, with Vigna sharing information on just what new sensors could find their way into the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 4 already features a selection of sensors with accelerometers and gyroscopes adding an interesting dimension to apps, particularly games.

Additional sensors could bring improved accuracy to already accurate location applications.

Mr. Vigna said the next smartphones would have altimeter sensors that would be able to detect your elevation. These sensors will tell people what floor they are on in a building, or could be used to more precisely determine where you are in relation to your friends on a location-based service, he said.

Bilton also shares the possibility the Apple could include mood sensing technology in the iPhone with sensors checking the user’s temperature and perspiration.

A combination of sensors could also be used to increase security past the current solution of entering a passcode when a device is unlocked.

After you use a new phone for a short period of time, it will start to learn your patterns and automatically lock or unlock the phone accordingly. This could be used for more secure banking too.

The only problem with Apple adding more and more technology into an already snug internal design of both iPhones and iPads.

Take Screenshots on Android Phones And Honeycomb Tablets With Screenshot ER

2011-05-23T14:00:00.000+08:00

Taking screenshots on Android phones and tablets has always been a pretty jumbled up issue. I do remember the time when taking a screenshot on my HTC Wildfire was actually real-time tinkering and hacking with my Wi-Fi network etc. However as development for Android gathers pace every day, there is now an app available that not only takes screenshots on your phone / tablet but also allows saving images in PNG or JPEG formats. The app under discussion is Screenshot ER for Android and according to its developer, ftgg99 from XDA, “ER is for emergency room, because it works where nothing else does”.

The main features of Screenshot ER app for Android are:

Take Screenshots Of Your Current Screen With Shake, Delay And Icon-Tap Gestures
Save These Screenshots in Form of a PNG or JPG file On Your SD card.
Share Your Screenshots In Real Time With Picasa, Dropbox Or Any Other Image Supporting / Sharing App That You Have Installed On Your Device.

Like all other handy Android apps, I took this one to test on my HTC Wildfire and Huawei Ideos. The first major drawback that I found after downloading and installing Screenshot ER was its non compatibility with unrooted or stock Android devices. Screenshot ER requires you to have root on your device and if you don’t, then a better option will be to go for Screenshot It app from Market. Screenshot It was found as working OK for many Android devices but was a total failure on handsets with smaller screens like Huawei Ideos.

Coming back to the topic, installing and setting up Screenshot ER for Android is really simple. All you need to do is launch Android Market and run a keyword search “screenshot ER”. But as it’s a paid application, so you also have an option to get it free from XDA forums.

Here is how you can manually install Screenshot ER on your Android phone / tablet:

The first step is to download Screenshot ER from XDA forums thread here. Please remember that you will need to be a XDA member to download this donate version. I highly encourage you to donate if you find this app useful.
Once you are done with downloading the APK, connect your phone to the computer and mount SD card as disk drive.
Now copy the downloaded APK to SD card root.
Once done, disconnect your phone from the computer.
After this download Astro File Manager from market and install it on your phone.
Once the installation is complete, launch Astro File Manager and tap on SD card on main app screen.
Once in the SD card, navigate down to fahrbot.apps.screen-1.0.8-(r9)-xda-ver.apk and tap on it to install.
Now after the installation completes, you will have Screenshot ER donate version installed on your device.

How To Set up Screenshot ER:

So onne you have installed Screenshot ER on your device, tap on the app’s icon in home screen.

First time launch will ask you for Super User Permissions, tap on Allow.

Now the main app screen will show you these options:

Enable Service
Snap On Shake
Snap On Notification Icon
Snap Icon Delay
Take Screenshot Now
Screenshot Delay
Create Home Screen Shortcut
Storage Folder
File Format
Play Sound
Debug

We will only be discussing some of the useful options while you can checkout and test others yourself:

You need to tap on the check box in front of Enable Service to let the application take screenshots. After this it’s up to you if you select Snap on Shake or Snap on Notification Icon. Other options like Take Screenshot Now and Screenshot Delay lets you toggle immediate screenshot capture or to delay it by a couple of seconds. The easiest way to take a screenshot with this app is to first go to app > enable services > Snap on Notification Icon. You will now be able to see a small camera in notification bar. Once you drag the notification bar down, you will be able to take screenshots on your device by tapping on “Tap to Take a Screenshot”.

Once you take a screenshot, it will take some time to get processed. And after the processing is complete, you will be given options like Share, Discard and Save from within the screen. Please note that before saving your screenshot, you must define a location on SD card by using the Storage Folder option in main application. By default, Screenshots are saved in JPEG format in Screenshot ER folder of your SD card.

As I didn’t test this app on any Android tablet, so here are some sample screenshots from appdeveloper:

All in all, Screenshot ER is a fantastic screenshot app for your Android device regardless of screen size or genre. You can use it flawlessly on small screened Android phones to 10.1 inches

4 Beautiful Ubuntu Unity Themes [Complete With How-To Download And Install]

2011-05-23T13:30:00.000+08:00

The world of Linux customization is a complicated and fragmented one. There’s so much variety, but also a lot of, frankly, suboptimal themes out there. No GNOME themes, no mac look-alikes: these are truly the greatest-looking and better-made Unity themes, at least in my humble opinion.

1. Orta – It’s a great-looking theme that mixes shades of gray with really bright colors. Professional would be the first world that would come to mind when talking about this theme, because that’s exactly what it is: nice lines, prominent window buttons and a gray color scheme. The window button placement on the left might turn a few off, but that’s a small price to pay for such a good-looking theme.

In order to install it, type the following into the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nikount/orta-desktop
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install orta-theme orta-emerald-decorators

2. Elementary – This theme is pretty popular among the Linux community, and for a good reason: it’s really nice-looking. Just like the one we mentioned before, this theme looks professional, except instead of shades of gray, we’re presented with a silver theme, with a silver-colored windows and a black menu bar (although there’s a silver option as well). As with the previous theme, the main drawback is probably the placement of the window buttons. It also doesn’t have the extensive icon set that can be found on other themes, but other than that, you can’t go wrong with this popular and great-looking theme.

In order to install it, type the following into the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementaryart/elementarydesktop
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elementary-icon-theme

3. Minty Freshness – If all of these themes have too much of a gray color scheme, you’ll likely enjoy this one more. Minty Freshness has a silver look with a touch of green: green window button, green icons and many other elements scattered around the system, including context menus. A major problem I found with the theme was the fact it breaks Google Chrome’s title bar. While that has no impact on usability, you’re advised to disable system windows (by going into Wrench > Preferences > Personal Stuff and checking “Hide system title bar and use compact borders“).

In order to install it, please download this PPA and select Minty Freshness.

4. Equinox – If you’re looking for a theme with the window buttons placed on the right, this is probably the best choice for you. Aside from a great-looking and comprehensive icon pack, this theme has a great color scheme based on blacks and shades of dark gray. It comes in various flavors, including a darker one, but they all share the same icon pack, and essentially the same look.

In order to install it, type the following into the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-equinox faenza-icon-theme equinox-theme

Those are my four picks for the best Ubuntu themes. If you’re just getting started with customizing Linux, these four themes could be a great way to start. We’ll keep you posted if we find any other great-looking theme.

How To Find Out Who Unfriend You On Facebook Or Twitter

2011-05-23T13:00:00.000+08:00

Sometimes we’re all so preoccupied with gaining friends and followers that we’re sometimes missing one of the most important metrics we can use to measure our performance on social media sites – who’s unfollowing us?

While both Twitter and Facebook are all too keen to send us emails and notifications when we gain a follower or friend, there is are no such notifications when someone deems us no-longer worth keeping an eye on – something that can often help us improve the way we interact with people online.

This is where TwentyFeet comes in.

What TwentyFeet does is tie into your Facebook and Twitter accounts (one of each if you’re going for the free service). From here on TwentyFeet will monitor your accounts for when someone removes you as a friend or, in Twitter’s case, unfollows you.

Obviously if you lose a friend on Facebook it’s possible they have jumped ship completely and deemed the network’s odd privacy issues just too much of a sticking point to overcome in order to farm some imaginary fruit but if not, just knowing who they are could help you prevent the loss of more people in future.

Check out the company’s explanation video for more information.

TwentyFeet is free for two accounts, with a business account available for just $2.49 per additional social media account.

Control Your Android Phone From Your Desktop Web Browser With LazyDroid

2011-05-23T12:30:00.000+08:00

When you’re beavering away at your computer, the last thing you want to do is break the concentration to find your phone just to fire off a quick SMS. Maybe you want to access the camera from afar? Now thanks to a handy remote app called LazyDroid, you can control your Android smartphone from the comfort of your desk without ever having to lay hands on it.

Firing up the LazyDroid app on your Android device gives you an IP address which, once plugged into your desktop browser, gives you access to what amounts to a web server running on your phone. Obviously the handset needs to be on the same WiFi network as the computer you are using, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

From here you have access to most of your phone’s functionality – SMS, camera, contacts, file system and even the ability to make and receive calls – though obviously a headset of some description would be required for anyone to hear you!

LazyDroid is currently in a beta state and can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace for free.

An incredible web application that allows to take the control of you mobile phone from Wifi/Internet/Usb connection, simply using your web browser and accessing a website. You will have several apps to access different services on your Android device. The software is under development and this is a beta version, so please send me an email for every bug you found, or if you want other features.

Apple Lowering Current iPhone 4 Shipment Volume, New iPhone 4S With 8MP Camera To Follow?

2011-05-23T12:03:00.001+08:00

Thanks to the wonderful world of outsourcing, manufacturers, such as Apple, need to order most if not all of their products, such as iPhones, from suppliers, which in turn are responsible for assembling them. And it’s now being reported by Digitimes that Apple has ordered slightly fewer for next quarter, roughly 17.5-18 million units, a drop from the 20 million it ordered last quarter. Most units, roughly 16 million, will have GSM chips, while the remaining minority, around 2 million, are set to be CDMA-equipped.

This news comes after months of rumors and speculation regarding a possible iPhone 5. But more recently, it has become a clear such an overhaul won’t happen until 2012. Instead, we’ll have a smaller upgrade, awkwardly named 4S, that is expected to begin production in August and begin shipping sometime in September.

It’s being reported that the iPhone 4S will have a new A5 dual-core processor (which will lead to increased speed in all sorts of tasks) and a new 8-megapixel camera, as opposed to the 5-megapixel one found on the current iPhone, enabling the device to take nearly professional-grade pictures. There are also rumors about support for more carriers in the US, such as Sprint and T-Mobile, although no LTE (4-esque) support is expected.

Much like what happened with the 3GS two years ago, the iPhone 4S will have no visible differences compared to its predecessor. Apple seems to have settled for major design upgrades every two years, along with smaller hardware and speed bumps in between those upgrades.

Production drops, and consequently inventory shortages, are common when an Apple productis about to be replaced. The same happened last year, when a new MacBook Air was about to be introduced, as well as, although to a much greater extent, in 2008 when stores ran out of original iPhones, months before the iPhone 3G had the chance to be introduced.

The iPhone’s larger sibling, the iPad 2, is still going strong with plans to ship roughly 10.5 million units until the end of the year, therefore it should be pretty safe to get an iPad right now, without running the risk of having it fade into history by a newer model a few months down the road.

Will a small update such as the rumored iPhone 4S be enough to gain traction, or will it simply keep iPhones selling at their current pace?

TNS says Nokia still No. 1 in the Philippines

2011-05-19T13:15:00.001+08:00

A recent study by TNS Philippines showed that Nokia still ranks as the top choice of mobile phone users in the Philippines with 7 out of 10 users owning a Nokia phone. The same study showed Sony-Ericsson and Samsung also posted huge gains over the last 12 months (thanks to Android?).

The TNS study was limited to Metro Manila users with a sample size of only 500.

TNS, the world’s largest custom research company, recently launched results of its study dubbed “Mobile Life 2011,” the largest ever global research study into today’s mobile consumer. Now on its sixth year, Mobile Life 2011 is the result of more than 25,000 hours of interviews with over 34,000 respondents in 43 countries, including the Philippines. It provides a complete understanding of consumer experiences with mobility today and insights into how this will change tomorrow.

Here’s a copy of their presentation during the media briefing yesterday. Look out for more interesting bits of information.

Mobile Usage Behavior Study of Metro Manila

If you looked closely on the 2010 results and the 2011 results, Nokia’s share also dropped from 80% to 70%.

Twitter followers help recover stolen MacBook

2011-05-18T10:02:00.001+08:00

There is no denying the fact that social networking is a great tool, whether it’s being used to keep you up to date with the latest COD MW3 game or helping the victims of Japans earthquake it’s a great way to reach a wide range of people.

Previously we have reported how social networking site Twitter had been used to combat crime, in this post by Matt Tran he told us how a school boy used Twitter to catch a phone thief. The latest use of the site to foil crime involves a man who used his followers to track down the thief who took his laptop.

The man in question is Ottawa based web analyst Sean Power, a few days ago his laptop was stolen while visiting New York. A few days went past until Power remembered he had installed a free tracking program to his laptop called Prey,according to Cnet in the process of tracking down the thief he decided to keep his Twitter followers updated on his exploits.

In his first Tweet which you can see above Power can be seen expressing his joy in tracking down his beloved MacBook, capitalizing on the use of his tracking software he then proceeded to gather more information on the man that was in possession of his computer, using a built in camera he was even able to gain a picture of the assailant.

Power then continued to keep his followers updated with all this newly acquired information and even sent out the thieves location, following this one of his followers headed down to the bar and confronted the guy who had stolen the laptop. After a brief conversation on the phone with Power the thief decided to do the right thing and return his much loved piece of kit.

This just goes to show how powerful social networking is, we don’t know about you but after reading this story we will definitely be downloading Prey onto our computers.

TechEd: Cisco Expands Microsoft, NetApp Relationships, chum up against VMware

2011-05-17T12:56:00.001+08:00

Who needs VMware? NetApp, Microsoft and Cisco are releasing validated server/hypervisor/storage designs for Hyper-V cloud data centres. We definitely won't call them vBlocks.

These template designs are part of Microsoft's clumsily named Hyper-V Cloud Fast Trackprogram and NetApp's storage component is called the even less-catchy "NetApp Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track with Cisco data center architecture," which defeats acronym shortening. Perhaps El Reg will call them Hyper-V blocks, which sounds better than H-blocks.

The design uses Cisco UCS servers and Nexus switches, and NetApp FAS storage running ONTAP. A NetApp OnCommand 3.0 plug-in for Microsoft will be included and available in August. The Microsoft components include Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2 and Microsoft System Center components. These are System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Service Manager, and Opalis Integration Server.

With no trace of irony and no mention of EMC and VMware, Soni Jiandani, an SVP in Cisco's Server Access and Virtualization Technology Group, said: "With this validated architecture design, customers can confidently take advantage of the Cisco Unified Computing System and the NetApp infrastructure to accelerate their journey to the private cloud."

Microsoft's channel partners can use the pre-validated designs to implement private public cloud infrastructures using the Cisco-Microsoft-NetApp combo. Other Microsoft partners in this program include Dell, Fujitsu, HDS, HP, IBM and NEC. We don't think it is likely EMC will show in the list, but you never know. ®

Microsoft And Baidu To Partner A Big Search Deal In China To Take On Google (REPORT)

2011-05-17T05:30:00.000+08:00

Looks like Microsoft is on a roll these days, after acquiring Skype for a whooping $8.5 Billion, reports in Chinese press now suggests that Microsoft is on the verge of announcing a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu.

Bing is currently an also-ran in Chinese search and any potential deal with Baidu could help Microsoft’s relatively new search business take off in the country.

Reports in China suggest Baidu could be about to take over the paid ads on Bing’s Chinese site while Microsoft would offer English language results for Baidu in return.

According to sources, Baidu will be Microsoft’s strategic agreement signed this weekend, both sides will cooperate in the search field to reach, but still unaware of the specific details of cooperation. Insiders speculate that Microsoft will be in the (bing) provided to use Baidu’s bid ranking service.

Reports also suggest a deal could be announced as early as next week.

Bing isn’t the only US-based search company having problems in China, with Google also struggling to make a dent in Baidu’s huge user base. Microsoft’s partnership with the big boys of Chinese search could see Google pushed even further down the pecking order.

Microsoft To Buy Nokia’s Mobile Division? (Rumor)

2011-05-17T05:00:00.000+08:00

Hot on the heels of their acquisition of Skype for $8.5 Billion, rumors now suggests that Microsoft is close to having a big deal of buying out Nokia’s mobile division.

The rumor comes from none other than the well known and respected Russian based technology analyst Eldar Murtazin, who believes that Microsoft and Nokia will announce the said deal deal as soon as next week.

With Nokia still struggling to match both Apple’s iPhone and Android devices in smartphone space, is to drop the name Ovi and sell apps under the Nokia brand in future, and likewise Microsoft still having not-so-good-looking sales figures for its WindowsPhone 7 based devices, the deal probably will bring hope of improving ailing fortunes of both the companies.

Could this be the end of Nokia as we know it? We cant be sure at the moment of course. But if sources of Murtazin are to believed, it could well possibly be it. It is also important to note here that Microsoft and Nokia have already announced a strategic partnership earlier this year according to which Nokia will be dumping Symbian and MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone 7 as the primary smartphone platform for its handsets.

Apple planning major product launch for 10th retail anniversary?

2011-05-17T03:56:00.004+08:00

Apple may be planning something big for its 10th retail anniversary this Thursday the 19th. Here’s what we’ve been told:

There’s an overnight shift planned for around 10-15 individuals at each Apple Store to work from late Saturday all the way through mid-Sunday.
During the overnight shift, it’s going to be required that employees lock cell phones in the main office. They will also have to sign an NDA with Apple.
There are a wide variety of roles, we’re told, for the overnight shift. This includes all visuals staff, a manager, a business team member, a few Genius team members, one back-of-house employee, and a few generic Apple specialists.
Apple stores have apparently already received hardware to install, and are expecting more hardware to come on Friday or Saturday. All materials that Apple stores have received have been instructed to be under lock and key until after close on Saturday night.
Apple employees will be putting up black curtains at all stores so that people walking outside cannot see inside.
Employees have had to download gigabytes of data from Apple corporate labeled, “training” in a password-protected zipped folder that won’t accessible to managers or anyone else until Saturday afternoon.
Lastly, all Apple retail stores have mandatory meetings on Sunday, May 22nd. Most meeting are scheduled for the morning, but there are evening meetings as well.

The question is, what is Apple planning?

Apple offering free repairs for iPod touches, iPhones, and Macs damaged in the Japan quake and tsunami

2011-05-17T00:53:00.005+08:00

Apple is offering free service and repair to those Mac users who were affected by the Japan tsunami and earthquake in March. As stated in a Support & Information Services note [Japanese version/ Google-translated English version] on Apple's Japanese website, the company is offering free repairs of any Macs, Cinema Displays, iPhones, iPads or iPod touches damaged in the disaster. Apple's offer applies to those directly affected by the earthquake who primarily live in municipalities covered by the Disaster Relief Act of 2011.

This isn't the first time Apple has offered to help those who suffered in the Japan disaster earlier this year. Local Apple Retail managers opened up Apple Stores as sorts of communication centers that allowed people to use the Internet on the store's machines to email, FaceTime and Skype their loved ones. Additionally, several Mac developers came to the aid of the disaster victims offering donations from the proceeds of their apps. Apple and all member of the Mac community who have helped and continue to help those in need deserve props and recognition for their support and humanity.

Originally posted in March, Apple's announcement joins Softbank's offer to replace lost iPhones registered to its network, and free calls to Japan from U.S. carriers, among others. Considering water and other accidental damage typically voids a device's warranty, you'll want to give AppleCare a call soon -- the acceptance period only runs through June 30th.

Make Your Facebook Account More Secure With ‘Login Approvals’

2011-05-16T23:36:00.003+08:00

Security is high on everyone’s list of priorities these days, especially with Sony still battling to bring its PlayStation network and Qriocity services back online after a security breach potentially leaked millions of users’ personal information. Now Facebook is offering a new tool to try and prevent unauthorized access to your account.

The new system uses two-factor authentication and offers an extra level of security over the basic settings. What the new option does is send an SMS message to a chosen mobile phone number each time a new and unauthorized computer tries to sign into your account. If the attempt is legitimate you can choose to allow access, but if not then you’ve just been alerted to a potential security breach.

As more individuals and businesses turn to Facebook to share and connect with others, people are looking to take more control over protecting their account from unauthorized access. Login approvals is a Two Factor Authentication system that requires you to enter a code we send to your mobile phone via text message whenever you log into Facebook from a new or unrecognized computer. Once you have entered this security code, you’ll have the option to save the device to your account so that you don’t see this challenge on future logins.

If you are unfortunate enough to lose your registered mobile phone then fear not, for you will still be able to change your settings so long as you use a previously authenticated system.

You can turn on Facebook ‘Login Approvals’ feature under: Account Settings –> Account Security. Make sure you have your mobile phone on hand so that you can receive a code via SMS which is required to authenticate your computer.

The Ten Nations Where Facebook Rules The Internet

2011-05-16T22:19:00.005+08:00

24/7 Wall St. looked at the ten countries in which Facebook has tremendous dominance of the online market. Most are concentrated in Latin America or Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia. There is no obvious explanation for this except that some of these markets are among the first where Facebook introduced its service.

24/7 used data from comScore, Inside Facebook, New Media Trend Watch, and ZDNet to do its analysis.

These are the Ten Nations Where Facebook Rules The Internet:

10. Venezuela
> Facebook: 86.2%
> Twitter: 21.0%
> LinkedIn: 3.2%
> Internet Use: 37.7%

Venezuela has the third highest rate of Twitter use among Internet users. According to research firm comScore, 21% of Venezuela’s Internet users have Twitter accounts. The only countries with higher percentages are Indonesia and Brazil. America, by comparison, has a usage rate of 12%, the eleventh highest. Social media also plays a large role in Venezuelan politics. Hugo Chavez, the country’s president, has 1.5 million Twitter followers. He is the second-most followed political figure, behind only Barack Obama.

9. Colombia
> Facebook: 86.9%
> Twitter: 14.6%
> LinkedIn: 3.3%
> Internet Use: 48.7%

More than 86% of Colombians visited a social networking site in September, with Facebook leading the category. Visitors averaged 4.6 hours on the site during the month. Nearly 7 out of 10 Colombians visited a photo sharing site in September 2010 led by Facebook.com. Colombia is the fastest-growing Internet market in Latin America, growing 31% in the past year to reach 11.8 million unique visitors in September 2010, according to comScore. Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site in the country, with visitors having spent an average of 4.6 hours on the site during one month, of a total 20.4 hours spent online.

8. Peru
> Facebook: 87.2%
> Twitter: 12.5%
> LinkedIn: 4.6%
> Internet Use: 27%

Although a large portion of Peru’s Internet users are involved with social networking websites, it has a relatively small minority of people who use the Internet at all. As of January 2011, only 27% of Peruvians were online, one of the lowest rates among the Latin American countries. Peru also had the second slowest growth among Latin American countries of Internet users in 2010, according to Inside Facebook. The only country to have slower growth was Brazil.

7. Indonesia
> Facebook: 87.5%
> Twitter: 22.0%
> LinkedIn: 1.3%
> Internet Use: 12.3%

Social network penetration in Indonesia is the third greatest in Southeast Asia as of the beginning of 2011, at 90% of those people online. According to comScore, the country’s high adoption rates are due “almost exclusively” to Facebook. In January 2011, 22% of Indonesian Internet users visited Twitter, the fourth-greatest share among all countries. Indonesia, however, has the smallest percentage of Internet users among the countries on this list — 12.3%.

6. Malaysia
> Facebook: 88.4%
> Twitter: 10.8%
> LinkedIn: 2.9%
> Internet Use: 64.6%

Malaysia has the second-highest social network penetration in Southeast Asia, with 91%. One of the most increasingly popular social-networking activities in the country is photo-sharing on sites such as Facebook. From 2009 to 2010, the popularity of online photo-sharing increased by 57% in Malaysia. This is the second greatest percentage among Southeast Asian countries.

5. Argentina
> Facebook: 89.2%
> Twitter: 18.0%
> LinkedIn: 6.4%
> Internet Use: 64.4%

Facebook has become extremely popular in Argentina recently. As of May 2011, Argentina’s penetration rate was 89.2%. 27.8% of minutes spent online in Argentina are spent on social networks, making the category the second most popular online destination. The first is portals.

4. Chile
> Facebook: 90.2%
> Twitter: 14.3%
> LinkedIn: 5.9%
> Internet Use: 50%

Chile has among the highest rates of Internet use among Latin American countries, with 50% of Chileans online. According to comScore, 28.5% of all minutes spent online in Chile are spent on social networking sites, up 8.9 percentage points from the previous year. This makes it the most popular activity online based on “minutes used.”

3.Turkey
> Facebook: 90.9%
> Twitter: 16.6%
> LinkedIn: 3.4%
> Internet Use: 45%

Turkey has the highest Facebook penetration among all the Eurasian countries, with a rate of 90.9%. The second highest is the UK, with 81.7%. Internet users in Turkey also spend the third greatest amount of time on social networking sites among all nations, behind only Russia and Israel. The average Turkish social network visitor spends 7.6 hours a month on social networking sites.

2. Israel
> Facebook: 91.0%
> Twitter: 5.0%
> LinkedIn: 6.4%
> Internet Use: 71.6%

Israel has the highest rate of Internet use among the countries on this list, with 71.6% of the country’s population being “plugged in.” It is also very involved with Facebook. Besides having the second highest rate of Facebook usage among Internet users, Israelis spend the second most amount of time on social networking sites, behind only Russia. Israel’s social network users spend an average of 9.2 hours on social network sites a month.

1. Philippines
> Facebook: 93.9%
> Twitter: 16.1%
> LinkedIn: 1.9%
> Internet Use: 29.7%

Social network penetration is incredibly high in the Philippines, reaching 95%. Facebook is the country’s most popular website, more so than Google, and has a penetration rate of 93.9%. The Philippines is also the eighth most popular country for Twitter use on a global scale, with a penetration rate of 16.1%. The popularity of photo sharing has increased by 46% in the country in one year, largely due to Facebook. Social networking is so popular among Filipinos, the country has been nicknamed “The Social Networking Capital of the World."

Apple’s Next iPhone To Be Called iPhone 4S – Sprint/T-Mobile Support, A5, Similar External Design

2011-05-15T10:11:00.001+08:00

A new report claims Apple’s next iPhone will be called the iPhone 4S, and it will feature ‘minor cosmetic changes’.

Business Insider reports that Jefferies analyst Peter Misek has put out a note on the next iPhone, claiming Apple will go for the ‘iPhone 4S’ moniker rather than go straight to iPhone 5.

Misek also lifts the lid on specifications: the iPhone 4S will include the dual-core A5 CPU just like the iPad 2, as well as improved cameras front and back. HSPA+ support will also be present this time around, while cosmetically not much will change, though ‘minor’ alterations are expected.

Of particular note are Misek’s remarks that the iPhone 4S will incorporate radios that make the handset compatible with Sprint and T-Mobile in the United States as well as bringing the handset to China Mobile. A T-Mobile version had been rumored before and Sprint support is a new one on us, though not entirely surprising.

Misek also reports Apple did intend to go for the 4G jugular with the iPhone 4S but the hardware was deemed to not be ready just yet, meaning the company opted to go for a more modest model update this year. Reports of multiple prototypes being tested have been doing the rounds for a while now, and it’s possible Apple has been testing a 4G iPhone but ultimately decided against it.

Analysts have been wrong before of course, and there are no reasons to believe this particular one is spot on with all his information, though equally there is no reason to distrust him either. The only fact we find ourselves not sure of is the claim Apple wanted 4G in the next iPhone, despite ‘real’ 4G not being rolled out by carriers properly just yet. Remember, this is the same Apple that brought the first iPhone to market with no 3G radio because they deemed it too early.

Why Nokia chose WP7 over Android?

2011-02-14T20:05:00.002+08:00

While some people are excited about the adoption of Windows Phone 7 into the Nokia family, others are also disappointed why Android wasn’t picked by the Finnish company.

Android is obviously the more mature mobile platform compared to Windows Phone and the number of apps available in the Android Market are also miles away compared to the Zune Store.

So the questions remains, why WP7 and not Android? Here are some of my thoughts.

Elop’s career background played a huge role with the decision to go WP7 – he used to be a top Microsoft guy and may still have a lot of allies and friends inside the Redmond complex (including Steve Ballmer himself). His bias towards Windows Phone 7 is expected and being the new gung-ho CEO of Nokia hasn’t diminished that.

Second, the shift in direction isn’t solely leveraged on WP7 alone. Nokia will still make Symbian phones in their entry-level to mid-range handsets while WP7 will be installed on flagship and high-end phones (partly due to the high hardware requirements).

With Microsoft, Nokia has very little to no significant conflicts of interest and products unlike Google. Had Nokia chosen Android, Ovi Maps will be replaced by Google Maps and the Ovi Store will be totally scrapped in favor of the Android Market. These are huge investments that Nokia made recently and won’t still be willing to let go just to embrace Android.

The Nokia and Microsoft partnership looks like an equitable (dare I say win-win) arrangement — neither one of the parties is too dominant over the other. Microsoft has a little bit of edge in terms of how far its WP7 platform will move forward while Nokia will benefit a lot from all the marketing budget that Microsoft will infuse into the pool as well as support for enterprise clients (MS Exchange, Outlook and Bing).

Let’s not also discount the fact that Android has a lot of patent problems plaguing it (primarily from Apple) and that might be something Nokia does not want to inherit.

Nokia will not be getting any premium or special treatment from Google unlike what it’s getting from Microsoft. Nokia already got the nod of MS to customize the UI of WP7, a feature Microsoft did not extend to other previous handset manufacturers. Speaks “volumes” of favoritism.

-Yuga

Fedora 14 now available for download, complete with MeeGo trimmings

2010-11-03T19:11:00.005+08:00

Ubuntu may be the Linux distribution of choice for many these days, but it's hardly the only game in town, and one of the other big players has now gotten an update that might just sway some folks back to its team. That comes in the form of the Red Hat sponsored Fedora 14, which is aimed specifically at "developers, system administrators and open source enthusiasts." If that includes you, you can expect to get a slew of mostly behind-the-scenes updates, including a new software framework for Spice desktop virtualization, a range of new debugging features, an updated tech preview of the GNOME shell environment that will be part of the upcoming GNOME 3.0 release and, of particular note, some software from the MeeGo community that promises an "enhanced experience on netbooks and small devices." As with previous Fedora releases, it's also available in a number of different "spins" to suit your tastes and needs and it's, of course, completely free. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the link below to download the OS.

-engadgets

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Android 2.1 Eclair Update : 720p HD Video Out! How to Get The Update?

2010-11-02T20:36:00.001+08:00

Sony Ericsson has just rolled out the 1.6 Eclair update kit for Xperia X10's Android OS.

Nordic countries will be the first to get it today while more kits will come tomorrow for other territories. The roll-out will continue throughout November.

Android 2.1 Eclair update kit for Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will bring these key changes to the device:

• HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
• New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
• 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
• Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online

How to get the Android 2.1 update on you SE Xperia X10?

1. Go to Settings
2. Scroll down to About The Phone
3. Click on System Software Updates
4. Download Update if Available
5. Restart the Phone

Android : Leading Mobile Operating System in the United States, Says Canalys

2010-11-02T20:30:00.001+08:00

Based on Q3 2010 mobile market sales data released by Canalys - a research company that specialises in delivering high quality market data, analysis and advice to the world’s leading technology vendors - Android is now the leading handset OS in the United States.

A wide gamut of smart phones running the (Google initiative) Open Handset Alliance's (OHA's) Android operating system had given the platform the top position in the US market for mobile OS with a 43.6% share;

"With Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world," shares Pete Cunningham, Canalys Senior Analyst.

"Android has been well received by the market and in some geographies it is becoming a sought-after consumer brand. It has rapidly become the platform to watch, and its growing volumes will help to entice developers, ensuring consumers have access to an increasingly rich and vibrant mobile content and application ecosystem. Vendors are now delivering Android devices across a broad range of price points, from high-end products such as the Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire, to aggressively priced devices such as the LG GT540 Optimus or the Huawei built Vodafone 845, ensuring that Android devices are available and affordable to consumers on almost any budget."

Amazing.

Seesmic Desktop 2: (Another) All-in-One Social Client

2010-11-01T13:04:00.005+08:00

The only social media client I have installed in my laptop is TweetDeck (the same one I used in my iPhone and iPad) but it looks like Seesmic Desktop 2 is going to replace it already.

Seesmic D2 allows you to manage over two dozen social media accounts and web services — from Facebook and Twitter to FourSquare, LinkedIn and MySpace or Ping.fm — just one social client to rule them all.

And that’s on top of the iPhone and Android clients already available.

Best part of it is that developers can create their own plugins to extend compatibility to other services or sites.

Seesmic runs on Adobe Air so make sure you have it installed before downloading the desktop client {download}.

ARM announces 2.5GHz Cortex-A15 MPCore (Dual Core Chip)

2010-11-01T13:04:00.003+08:00

If you’re familiar with the 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 that powers the Samsung Wave, Galaxy S and iPhone 4 including the new Archos Android tablets, then it’s going to be easy to imagine what a dual Cortex-A15 running up to 2.5GHz would look like.

Samsung also announced a few days ago that they’re shipping their new dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 1GHz starting 4th quarter of this year.

The Cortex A15 MPCore processor can deliver up to 5 times the performance of current smartphone processors.

ARM’s dual-core Cortex-A15 MPCore can reach clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz and should be available by 2012. For the meantime, expect a lot of new smartphones and tablet to run the top-of-the-line ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz and possibly new Android smartphones from Samsung running their dual-core Cortex-A9 that’s capable of full HD 1080p playback.