conference in Las Vegas, telehealth vendor Consult A Doctor will introduce new cloud-based virtual exam models that hospitals and clinics can implement and customize to suit their requirements. Telehealth provider Consult A Doctor plans to debut two new additions to its remote-care platform at the HIMSS12 health care IT conference from Feb. 20-24 in Las Vegas to allow hospitals and clinics to customize subscriptions for cloud-based virtual visits. Consult A Doctor is a cloud-based platform that allows patients to consult with a doctor or health plan at any hour. “It goes through the Internet, so when you call, you’re actually calling into the cloud platform,” Wolf Shlagman, founder and CEO of Consult A Doctor, told eWEEK. The company’s two new platforms are called MyHospital 24/7 and MyClinic 24/7. The service operates over VOIP, email or video.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/Consult-A-Doctor-to-License-Its-Telehealth-Platform-to-Hospitals-Clinics-725638/?kc=rss

Windows Phone 8 will integrate in many ways with Windows 8, among other features such as BitLocker encryption, according to two new reports. Windows Phone 8 will support multicore processors and native BitLocker encryption, and integrate in many ways with the upcoming Windows 8. Those are just a few of the features mentioned in a Pocketnow.com report Feb. 2, many of which were subsequently confirmed by Paul Thurrott in a posting on his Supersite for Windows. Pocketnow claimed its information came from a Microsoft-produced video meant for Nokia executives and hosted by Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore. Pocketnow paraphrases Belfiore as saying that Windows Phone 8 will “use many of the same components of Windows 8” and that areas of heavy overlap include “kernel, networking stacks, security and multimedia support.” Developers will apparently have the ability to reuse massive chunks of code when “porting an app from desktop to phone.”

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Windows-Phone-8-Will-Integrate-with-Windows-8-Reports-619487/?kc=rss

Campaigners say they were motivated to act by media reports about supply workers’ conditions. An online petition, signed by 155,000 people, has called on Apple to do more to ensure its Chinese factory workers are treated better. The campaign, on Change.org, follows reports of poor working conditions in factories that make Apple products. A separate SumOfUs petition, with more than 43,000 signatories, calls for the iPhone 5 to be made “ethically”. Apple acknowledged the demands. Its chief executive earlier said it cared about every worker in its supply chain. The Change petition was organised by Washington-based communications worker Mark Shields.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16832106

If Apple’s incredibly strong iPad sales during the fourth quarter told industry observers anything, it’s that the company’s tablet was far and away the most-desired slate of 2011. Part of that might be due to the fact that the tablet didn’t face much serious competition. But it’s also due to the quality consumers and even some enterprise users found in the device. But 2012 is a new year with a host of opportunities for every tablet maker. Every major firm, from Apple and Samsung to RIM and Amazon, has a chance at becoming the top tablet maker of the year. However, they’ll need to achieve that by delivering all the features that consumers and enterprise customers are looking for in their tablets. They’ll also need to promote the products effectively to make sure the world knows about the features and components that can make their models real contenders.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Tablet-King-for-2012-10-Factors-That-Will-Determine-the-Leader-167869/?kc=rss

Google’s Android OS finished 2011 with 47.3 percent U.S. smartphone market share, according to comScore. No. 2 Apple iOS garnered 29.6 percent share, thanks to the iPhone 4S. Google’s Android smartphone market share topped 47.3 percent, closing 2011 nearly 18 percentage points higher than No. 2 Apple’s iOS in the United States, according to comScore. While Android’s share rose from 46.9 percent in November, it is iOS that finished the year on a strong note. The platform topped 29.6 percent through December, up nearly a full percentage point from 28.8 percent in November. Apple reported that it sold 37 million iPhones during the holiday quarter, up from 17 million the quarter before, as the company continued to wage a market and legal battle with Samsung. The top Android OEM shipped 36 million smartphone units, up from 28 million the quarter before, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Android-Smartphone-Share-Totaled-47-For-2011-comScorecomScore-269916/?kc=rss

Cyber-crooks on Facebook are creating fake profiles on the social networking site to launch their scams, according to data released by Barracuda Networks. The fake profiles are overwhelmingly women. About 97 percent of the fake profiles collected by Barracuda Networks turned out to be of women, Paul Judge, chief research officer at Barracuda said in his “FakeBook” presentation at the Kaspesky Lab Security Analyst Summit Feb. 2. Female users account for about 40 percent of real people on Facebook, Judge said. Many of the profiles are automatically generated, using similar photos, and randomly selecting metropolitan cities, a high school or college near the city, and random interests, Judge said. The profiles are aimed at spreading spam or tricking users into joining affiliate programs, all of which translate into real-world money for the scammers. “Fake users can take over your account, spam your wall and feeds,” Judge said.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Facebook-Scammers-Create-Fake-Profiles-to-Spam-Users-Clickjacking-159241/?kc=rss

By the time next year’s Super Bowl rolls around, advertisers—poring over social media analytics of their ads—are likely to replace less-liked versions of ads with better-rated ones as the game goes on. “Advertisers will be looking for immediate feedback to change [advertising] copy rotations later in the game,” says Kate Sirkin, the global research director of Starcom MediaVest Group, an ad agency in New York. Even social media feedback on things happening in the game could cause an adjustment. “You make a couple of versions of the ad, and different versions can run either depending on feedback by viewers to the ad, or real-time feedback to the game itself,” she says. “It speaks to the culture of the nation—it’s saying, ‘We’re listening to you, America, and giving you the stuff that you want.’ ”

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/39590/

Rumor has it Apple is about to start making the the world’s favorite gadget. In a note sent to clients earlier this week, Piper Jaffray analyst (and longtime Apple TV enthusiast) Gene Munster, said he’d spoken to a major television component maker that has been contacted by Apple about the capabilities of its display components. Some people wonder whether Apple would really choose to enter a market that’s so crowded, and that offers such slim margins for manufacturers. But similar doubts were raised before Apple launched the iPhone and, of course, it went on to take over that market, primarily by delivering a remarkably simple and intuitive user interface and experience.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27548/

A Goliath has now become a David. Gigantism, it turns out, is relative. It wasn’t so long ago that Barnes & Noble was considered a Goliath, some sort of massive, heartless chain that was squashing the quaint neighborhood independent bookstores–legions of squirming Davids fumbling hopelessly for their slingshots–under its massive foot. My, how times have changed. Barnes & Noble’s CEO, William J. Lynch Jr., is the subject of a recent profile in the Times, and you might be surprised to hear the language used to describe him: “he is playing David to Mr. Bezos’s Goliath,” writes Julie Bosman. B&N’s stock is about $12, its value in the hundreds of millions. The stock price of Jeff Bezos’s company, Amazon, is around $195. Its value? $88 billion. Among the revelations in the Times piece is that a fifth e-reading device, presumably some iteration of the Nook, is to be released this spring:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27540/

Adobe’s new cloud initiative aimed at creative professionals, known as Adobe Creative Cloud, will go live this spring. Adobe announced the Adobe Creative Cloud at its MAX 2011 conference last October. In an interview, Heidi Voltmer, director of product marketing for Web and interactive solutions at Adobe, told eWEEK the Creative Cloud would go live to customers this spring along with Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) and other applications. At MAX Adobe officials said Adobe Creative Cloud would become the focal point for creativity, where millions can access desktop and tablet applications, essential creative services, and share their best work.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Adobe-Creative-Cloud-to-Launch-This-Spring-566208/?kc=rss