Apple, a recent target of Greenpeace for its reliance on coal energy to power its data centers, is making a push to bring renewable and environmentally friendly resources to its facilities.

Apple officials said on the company’s Website that by the end of the year, its 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C.—which powers the vendor’s iCloud service—will be powered entirely by renewable resources, including a combination of solar power and bio-gas-powered fuel cells.

Image Courtesy- Apple Inc

And the green IT effort will expand to Apple’s existing data center in Newark, Calif., and the one the company is building in Prineville, Ore., and builds off of what Apple already has done at other facilities around the world, officials said in the lengthy posting outlining their plans in North Carolina.

And none of the data centers will be powered by coal-generated energy, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer told several news outlets.

Apple’s announcement comes a month after Greenpeace, in a report entitled “How Green Is Your Cloud,” criticized Apple for lagging behind other tech giants, like Google and Facebook, due to its use of coal-generated power. In conjunction with the release of the report, Greenpeace also staged protests over the past few weeks at Apple sites around the world, including the company’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., and its European headquarters in Cork, Ireland.

Infosys, a world leader in consulting and technology services, has adopted the IEEE Computer Society’s Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) and Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) certifications. Infosys will use the two credentials to enhance software development standards within the company.

The IEEE Computer Society is also identifying and training Software Engineering Certified Instructors (SECI) to lead efforts to prepare Infosys employees to take these certifications. The certifications are aimed at enhancing the training levels of software engineers among Infosys’ 150,000 employees.

“We are very excited to be working together with Infosys on this very important initiative,” said Angela Burgess, executive director of the IEEE Computer Society. “More and more companies are realizing the benefits of certifications like the CSDA and CSDP and we applaud Infosys for taking a leadership position in India in this regard.”

Infosys is the first major Indian corporation to become an IEEE Computer Society Registered Education Provider. The IEEE Computer Society has more than a dozen REPs worldwide that offer its certification and professional education programs.

“Infosys has always aimed at providing world-class training, education, and research facilities to its employees and this partnership is a step in strengthening our efforts in this direction. This learning alliance provides our employees a unique opportunity to raise their levels of competence through access to a rich repository of content and references developed by the IEEE Computer Society in collaboration with leaders from industry and academia,” said Srikantan Moorthy, Senior Vice President and Group Head of Education & Research at Infosys.

The CSDA and the CSDP are the first two certifications that conform to the ISO/IEC 24773 standard, which stipulates methods of certifying software engineering professionals worldwide. The basis of both certifications is the Computer Society’s Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). For more information on the Computer Society’s certifications go to http://www.computer.org/getcertified

The CSDA credential, intended for graduating software engineers and early-career software professionals, serves to bridge the gap between educational experience and real-world work. The CSDP credential, intended for mid-career professionals, confirms professionals’ proficiency with established software development practices and demonstrates commitment and professionalism.

Via – IndiaPRWire

Pune, Maharashtra, May 16, 2012 /India PRwire/ — There are 55,000 new malware samples submitted by various organizations to AVtest.org every day. It has been really hard for Antivirus companies to keep up with sheer volume of malware variants. There is a lag between new malware comes out and Antivirus engine detect them. In this window when there are no signatures users are exposed to new viruses and Trojans (also known as Zero Days).

SurfCanister founder Sunil Shilimkar said “Instead of traditional reactive security approach, users need preventive security. SurfCanister has advanced malware protection mechanism which conventional Anti-virus softwares lack. SurfCanister runs viruses and Trojans in isolated environment and blocks malware from accessing to users confidential files and documents. SurfCanister does not need signature definitions or updates to protect users’ computer, hence users are protected 24X7.”

According to recent study published by Sophos, Web has become the biggest source for malware. More than 85% of malware comes from web. While browsing web, a lot of confidential information such as user’s credit card number, social security number, bank user name and password are stored inside web browser’s cache. Spyware can steal such valuable information stored in user’s browser other confidential locations on users’ computer.

SurfCanister isolates browser and operating system resources and gives one click option to the user to clean up isolated browsing data or operating system resources to get rid of malware foot prints as well as protects the user’s identity by cleaning the critical information such as credit card number, social security number, bank user name and passwords.

SurfCanister’s advanced protection mechanism automatically secures user’s valuable data reside inside My Documents, My Pictures, My Music folders and other personal folders while browsing. SurfCanister also allows users to select any folder(s) which has user’s valuable or confidential data.

There is a one year free trial version of SurfCanister is available for users to protect against latest threats. SurfCanister is also offering 25% discount on their final release to all its beta users. Visit https://www.surfcanister.com/download to download the beta product.

New Delhi- 16^th May, 2012: Spice, India’s leading Mobile Internet company today announced that they will be coming up with India’s first ‘Secure Android’ which offers pre- embedded security solutions to its users in their upcoming range of MI (Mobile Internet) Smart phones. The initiative will reinforce c’s efforts in making its devices safe and secure as users are becoming wary of the potential threat data in their smart phones face in the current scenario; as the world converges towards mobile internet and m-commerce.

An average smartphone user is exposed to various threats when he uses his phone that can disrupt the operation of the smartphone, and transmit or modify the user data. Industry estimates suggest there are approximately six hundred varieties of mobile phone viruses and they exist only in smartphones. It is estimated that the number of global smartphone users will exceed 1 billion by 2013. While a study predicts that 26 out of every 100 phones sold globally this year will be smartphones, by 2015, smartphones will make up 40% of the total handsets sold across the world. The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher growth at 63.4% from 2011-15 and may achieve a shipment of 77.5 million by 2015 in the Indian market.

For these reasons, the applications deployed there must guarantee privacy and integrity of the information they handle. In addition, since some apps could themselves be malware, their functionality and activities should be limited.

The solutions offered by Spice will include an Antivirus that will provide real time protection from malicious Internet threats and also offers flexibility for the user to set a schedule for regular scans of data in the device as well as SD card. Also in the security stable is a Network Manager giving access to data like Traffic, setting monthly data transfer limit. Other features include Anti-Theft and Vault- privacy lock for following apps like, Photos, Videos, SMS and Call Logs & Secret Contacts.

Speaking on this Mr. Kunal Ahooja, Global Head – Devices, S Mobility said, “Only a fraction of smartphones and tablets are protected by security software, despite a rise in the amount of malware targeted at mobile devices. With a visible upward trend in Mobile payments and m-commerce in India we at Spice are sensitive to the situation and hence are offering security solutions to all our users. In the future we hope to constantly innovate and offer value added solutions to all our users.”

“Our marketing support for these top of the line handsets is going to be very strong given our vast distribution network. Spice will also support this with an aggressive marketing campaign via online medium”, he added.

The latest range of handsets will be available across India through more than 50,000 retail points including the 750+ Spice HotSpot retail network and www.saholic.com

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday that it is aiming to launch flat-panel TVs using new screen technology called OLED during the second half of this year in the domestic market.

Samsung said the 55-inch TV using the ultra-thin display will be retailed at over 10 million won, or more than $9,000. This TV costs more than twice of high-end 55-inch TVs available in the market.

Kim Hyun-suk, head of Samsung’s TV business, told reporters that it will take another two to three years for the new screen technology to go mainstream in the TV market.

OLED, short for organic light emitting diode, provides an improved picture quality with deeply saturated colors and high contrast.

It also allows a TV design that is thinner and lighter than the products made of LCD or plasma, but due to the challenges in mass production with consistent results, only some high-end smartphones have adopted the OLED screen.

Social networking firm Facebook has launched its own application store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network. The store will be accessible on the Web and on Facebook’s iOS and Android apps, and will be available “in the coming weeks.

Facebook will allow developers  to charge a fee for apps sold in the store in the near future.

The App Center is expected to be rolled out globally in “the coming weeks”, said Facebook’s Aaron Brady in a post on the network’s developer blog.

“All developers should start preparing today to make sure their app is included for the launch,” he wrote.

However, Mr Brady said the store was not designed to compete head-on with the likes of Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

“The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook – whether they’re on iOS, Android or the mobile web,” he wrote.

“From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play.”

One of the most awaited Android phone of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been announced. Sales will start later this month. Will Samsung Galaxy S3 beat current market leader Apple iPhone 4S?. Here is the technical comparison between the Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S3.

Assumedly after successfully selling a red version of the PS3 in the UK earlier this year, Sony has decided to further expand the availability of the bold-looking version of its console. Unfortunately for those in the United States, that expansion is still not making its way to the 50 states. Instead, Sony thought it be a good idea to peddle the special edition PS3 in the land down under. It’s going to Australia.

Sony earlier offered to launch the red version of its flagship gaming console in English-speaking markets. The U.K and now Australia have thus received the device. However, the Japanese entertainment giant has been selling the gadget in the domestic market since last year. Sony releases the first version of most of its products in the home market. Anyway, since the Australian version of the red PS3 comes within a month after the U.K. release, there is chance that Sony will soon surface the device in the United States also. Here we make a look into the notable feature of the red version of PlayStation 3.

Sony PS 3 Red Features-
The red PS3 has the same features of its black version including the 320GB of on-board memory. The console comes with tons of exclusive games with a great graphics card. Pristine image clarity, HD Blu-ray player, built-in Wi-Fi and other features make the PS3 an incredible device. Here we bring you the entire features of the gaming device.

Processor: The red PS3 is powered by a Core 3.2GHz processor, which features one VMX vector unit per core, 512KB L2 cache and 256KB SRAM for SPE and so on.

GPU: The gaming console mounts RSX @550MHz GPU with 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance and full HD (up to 1080p). The device also features a multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines and has Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc.

Memory: The Sony gaming device features 256MB XDR Main RAM and 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz.

Storage: The red version of PS3 touts 2.5-inch detachable HDD slot, which offers 320GB of storage.

Connectivity: The PlayStation 3 features almost all connectivity options. The list includes Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x3 (input x 1 + output x 2), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR) and four front and two rear USB2.0 ports.

Controller: The gaming machine is rich with various controller options that are Bluetooth (up to 7), USB 2.0 (wired), Wi-Fi (PSP®) and Network (over IP).

AV-output: The gaming machine has two HDMIs-outs to stream the game to large displays. It supports screen sizes of 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. For analogue controlling, it has a single AV Multi and one digital.

Known for providing wallet friendly phones T-Mobile will launch an Android Smart Phone called “Prism” for $19.99!. This phone will have a 2 year contract (after a $50 mail-in rebate). If you are not interested in sticking to T-Mobile for two years, you can also get contract free version of Prism for $149.99.

Huawei made phone Prism will run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and have an 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Prism will be powered by a 600MHz processor,2GB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. The handset will run on T-Mobile’s 3G network. There is no news about 4G LTE support yet.

Aside from the handsets technical specification it will feature support for Microsoft Exchange which, will allow users to check there business email accounts, and it will have support for Google calendar.

Prism will be available at Best Buy on May 6th , Walmart May 9th and at T-Mobile stores and online on May 23rd.

Former AT&T employee Susann Bashir has won a $5million discrimination lawsuit against AT&T for what she called was repeated harassment of her religious beliefs. She was working as  Fiber optics network builder at AT&T’s office in Kansas City for 10 years.

Abuse at her job began after she converted to Islam in 2005, and that it boiled over in 2008 when her boss snatched her head scarf and exposed her hair.

A Jackson County jury on Thursday awarded Susann Bashir $5 million in punitive damages in her discrimination lawsuit, along with $120,000 in lost wages and other actual damages.