Technology Basement

Google Intoduced Virtual Reality tours for this holiday of White House

2015-12-20T00:43:00.000+05:00

Samsung is to spend $4.5 billion on R&D

2013-07-05T08:15:00.000+05:00

Research and development spending is absolutely crucial for leading technology companies that hope to stay on
top, and Samsung is a company that isn’t afraid to spend when it comes to R&D. The company has stated in the past that it planned to make some huge investments in marketing and R&D in an effort to keep rivals at bay, and now The Korea Timesreports that Samsung will spend roughly $4.5 billion over the next three years solely to build five new research and development centers in South Korea. “R&D is crucial to ensuring success in the rapidly-changing consumer electronics industry. Total investment will amount to 5 trillion won,” an unnamed Samsung executive told the paper. The exec said that one design center alone, which will be built in southern Seoul, will house nearly 10,000 Samsung designers, developers and other R&D workers. Samsung spent approximately $10.5 billion on R&D in 2012 alone, while top rival Apple spent about $3.4 billion.

A massive protest have planned over web NSA spying revelations

2013-07-04T03:20:00.001+05:00

The NSA's actions were revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden

Some of the web's biggest names have backed mass protests over internet surveillance carried out by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The Restore the Fourth movement - referring to the US constitution's fourth amendment - said it wants to end "unconstitutional surveillance".

Reddit, Mozilla and Wordpress are among the big web names backing the action, due to take place on Thursday.

Almost 100 events have been planned across the US.

An interactive map detailing their locations has been published.

The site quotes a line from the fourth amendment which pledges "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures".

As well as the "real-world" protests, many influential websites plan to display messages of protest on their homepages on Thursday, co-ordinated by a group called the Internet Defence League (IDL).

Petition

The action has taken inspiration from similar efforts that took place last year.

Wikipedia, Google and others went "dark", or put black boxes over parts of their pages, to show their disagreement with proposed anti-piracy measures being discussed by US lawmakers.

In reaction to the revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Mozilla, maker of the widely used Firefox browser, launched stopwatching.us - a petition calling for full disclosure of the US's "spying" programmers.

At the time of writing, the site had amassed 536,559 signatures. Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is listed as being among the petition's backers.

The demand comes at a time when one top US intelligence official was forced to apologise for telling Congress in March that the NSA did not have a policy of gathering data on millions of Americans.

National intelligence director James Clapper said in a letter to the Senate intelligence committee that his answer had been "clearly erroneous".

Source:BBC

Twitter is going to use cookies for ad targeting

2013-07-04T01:59:00.002+05:00

Twitter is only the latest Web company to use cookies, which have been deployed for years by firms like Google Inc, Facebook Inc, Amazon Inc and practically every other major website. These small files, placed on Web surfers' computers, contain bits of information about the user, such as what other sites they have visited or where they are logging in from.

In the case of Twitter, the company will further allow retailers to attach anonymous versions of their customers' email addresses, known as hashes, to Twitter's advertising engine to individually target their customer base.

Privately owned Twitter, valued at close to $10 billion by investors, has ramped up its advertising capabilities ahead of a widely expected initial public offering in 2014.

Twitter's new feature, which is expected to raise advertising rates and revenues for the company, arrives in the midst of heightened public debate over the erosion of online privacy.

In recent years both the European Union and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission have probed the extent of tracking technologies used by sites like Facebook. Last year, European authorities began requiring websites to inform visitors that cookies were being placed on their computers.

Twitter noted in a blog post Wednesday that its use of cookies was "how most other companies handle this practice, and we don't give advertisers any additional user information."

In a blog post on Wednesday, Twitter said it would give its users the option of disabling cookies by enabling a "Do Not Track" option in their browser. Many leading browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer contain such options. Twitter users can also wholly opt out of ads tailored by outside data by opening their account settings, the company said.

The efforts by authorities, particularly in Europe, to clamp down on tracking technologies have spurred a furious backlash from the media and technology industries, which argue that cookies are critical to practically the whole $100 billion internet advertising market.

Via: Reuters

Samsung blames Apple wouldn’t have sold a single iPhone without stealing our technology

2013-07-04T01:04:00.001+05:00

Another day, another Apple (AAPL) vs. Samsung (005930) trial. The two consumer electronics companies are preparing to do battle in San Jose, California next week, and now-public court documents shed light on the positions each firm is taking. On Tuesday, Apple told Samsung exactly what it thinks its technology patents are worth (spoiler: barely anything at all), and subsequent filings from Samsung reveal that the South Korea-based company has a few choice words for Apple as well.

As highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, Samsung’s trial brief pulls no punches in telling the court exactly where it stands regarding Apple’s repeated patent-related accusations. In short, Apple is the thief here, not Samsung. A few key excerpts (emphasis is ours):

Samsung has been researching and developing mobile telecommunications technology since at least as early as 1991 and invented much of the technology for today‘s smartphones.Indeed, Apple, which sold its first iPhone nearly twenty years after Samsung started developing mobile phone technology, could not have sold a single iPhone without the benefit of Samsung‘s patented technology.

For good measure, Apple seeks to exclude Samsung from the market, based on its complaints that Samsung has used the very same public domain design concepts that Apple borrowed from other competitors, including Sony, to develop the iPhone. Apple‘s own internal documents show this. In February 2006, before the claimed iPhone design was conceived of, Apple executive Tony Fadell circulated a news article that contained an interview of a Sony designer to Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive and others. In the article, the Sony designer discussed Sony portable electronic device designs that lacked “excessive ornamentation” such as buttons, fit in the hand, were “square with a screen” and had “corners [which] have been rounded out.”

Contrary to the image it has cultivated in the popular press, Apple has admitted in internal documents that its strength is not in developing new technologies first, but in successfully commercializing them. . . . Also contrary to Apple‘s accusations, Samsung does not need or want to copy; rather, it strives to best the competition by developing multiple, unique products. Samsung internal documents from 2006, well before the iPhone was announced, show rectangular phones with rounded corners, large displays, flat front faces, and graphic interfaces with icons with grid layouts.

Apple relied heavily on Samsung‘s technology to enter the telecommunications space, and it continues to use Samsung‘s technology to this day in its iPhone and iPad products. For example, Samsung supplies the flash memory, main memory, and application processor for the iPhone. . . . But Apple also uses patented Samsung technology that it has not paid for. This includes standards-essential technology required for Apple‘s products to interact with products from other manufacturers, and several device features that Samsung developed for use in its products.

It’s clear that we’re in for yet another action-packed adventure when the trial kicks off next week.

Via: Bgr

Samsung sell 20 million s4 units

2013-07-04T00:51:00.002+05:00

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is still selling extremely well, a new report out of Korea claims.

Samsung has sold 20 million Galaxy S4 units worldwide since that device's launch two months ago, Korea-based news outlet Yonhap News is reporting (Translate Page). That's roughly 1.7 times faster than sales of the Galaxy S3 (that's global channel sales, not sales to consumers) at the same point in that device's life cycle.

Samsung has yet to confirm that it has sold 20 million units. The company will hold its earnings call later this week, and could announce the sales milestone at that time.

(Source: Engadget)

Does Microsoft Helps NSA Hacker?

2013-07-03T23:11:00.000+05:00

Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.

These programs, whose participants are known as trusted partners, extend far beyond what was revealed by Edward Snowden, a computer technician who did work for the National Security Agency. The role of private companies has come under intense scrutiny since his disclosure this month that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. residents’ telephone records and the computer communications of foreigners from Google Inc (GOOG). and other Internet companies under court order.

Many of these same Internet and telecommunications companies voluntarily provide U.S. intelligence organizations with additional data, such as equipment specifications, that don’t involve private communications of their customers, the four people said.

Makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies and many other companies also participate in the government programs. In some cases, the information gathered may be used not just to defend the nation but to help infiltrate computers of its adversaries.

Along with the NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency (0112917D), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and branches of the U.S. military have agreements with such companies to gather data that might seem innocuous but could be highly useful in the hands of U.S. intelligence or cyber warfare units, according to the people, who have either worked for the government or are in companies that have these accords.

Microsoft Bugs

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft (MSFT) and other software or Internet security companies have been aware that this type of early alert allowed the U.S. to exploit vulnerabilities in software sold to foreign governments, according to two U.S. officials. Microsoft doesn’t ask and can’t be told how the government uses such tip-offs, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.

Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft, said those releases occur in cooperation with multiple agencies and are designed to give government “an early start” on risk assessment and mitigation.

In an e-mailed statement, Shaw said there are “several programs” through which such information is passed to the government, and named two which are public, run by Microsoft and for defensive purposes.

Willing Cooperation

Some U.S. telecommunications companies willingly provide intelligence agencies with access to facilities and data offshore that would require a judge’s order if it were done in the U.S., one of the four people said.

In these cases, no oversight is necessary under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and companies are providing the information voluntarily.

The extensive cooperation between commercial companies and intelligence agencies is legal and reaches deeply into many aspects of everyday life, though little of it is scrutinized by more than a small number of lawyers, company leaders and spies. Company executives are motivated by a desire to help the national defense as well as to help their own companies, said the people, who are familiar with the agreements.

Most of the arrangements are so sensitive that only a handful of people in a company know of them, and they are sometimes brokered directly between chief executive officers and the heads of the U.S.’s major spy agencies, the people familiar with those programs said.

‘Thank Them’

Michael Hayden, who formerly directed the National Security Agency and the CIA, described the attention paid to important company partners: “If I were the director and had a relationship with a company who was doing things that were not just directed by law but were also valuable to the defense of the Republic, I would go out of my way to thank them and give them a sense as to why this is necessary and useful.”

“You would keep it closely held within the company and there would be very few cleared individuals,” Hayden said.

Cooperation between nine U.S. Internet companies and the NSA’s Special Source Operations unit came to light along with a secret program called Prism. According to a slide deck provided by Snowden, the program gathers e-mails, videos, and other private data of foreign surveillance targets through arrangements that vary by company, overseen by a secret panel of judges.

U.S. intelligence agencies have grown far more dependent on such arrangements as the flow of much of the world’s information has grown exponentially through switches, cables and othernetwork equipment maintained by U.S. companies.

Equipment Specs

In addition to private communications, information about equipment specifications and data needed for the Internet to work -- much of which isn’t subject to oversight because it doesn’t involve private communications -- is valuable to intelligence, U.S. law-enforcement officials and the military.

Typically, a key executive at a company and a small number of technical people cooperate with different agencies and sometimes multiple units within an agency, according to the four people who described the arrangements.

Committing Officer

If necessary, a company executive, known as a “committing officer,” is given documents that guarantee immunity from civil actions resulting from the transfer of data. The companies are provided with regular updates, which may include the broad parameters of how that information is used.

Intel Corp. (INTC)’s McAfee unit, which makes Internet security software, regularly cooperates with the NSA, FBI and the CIA, for example, and is a valuable partner because of its broad view of malicious Internet traffic, including espionage operations by foreign powers, according to one of the four people, who is familiar with the arrangement.

Such a relationship would start with an approach to McAfee’s chief executive, who would then clear specific individuals to work with investigators or provide the requested data, the person said. The public would be surprised at how much help the government seeks, the person said.

McAfee firewalls collect information on hackers who use legitimate servers to do their work, and the company data can be used to pinpoint where attacks begin. The company also has knowledge of the architecture of information networks worldwide, which may be useful to spy agencies who tap into them, the person said.

McAfee’s Data

McAfee (MFE)’s data and analysis doesn’t include information on individuals, said Michael Fey, the company’s worldwide chief technology officer.

“We do not share any type of personal information with our government agency partners,” Fey said in an e-mailed statement. “McAfee’s function is to provide security technology, education, and threat intelligence to governments. This threat intelligence includes trending data on emerging new threats, cyber-attack patterns and vector activity, as well as analysis on the integrity of software, system vulnerabilities, and hacker group activity.”

In exchange, leaders of companies are showered with attention and information by the agencies to help maintain the relationship, the person said.

In other cases, companies are given quick warnings about threats that could affect their bottom line, including serious Internet attacks and who is behind them.

China’s Military

Following an attack on his company by Chinese hackers in 2010, Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, was provided with highly sensitive government intelligence linking the attack to a specific unit of the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military, according to one of the people, who is familiar with the government’s investigation. Brin was given a temporary classified clearance to sit in on the briefing, the person said.

According to information provided by Snowden, Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, had at that point been a Prism participant for more than a year.

Google CEO Larry Page said in a blog posting June 7 that he hadn’t heard of a program called Prism until after Snowden’s disclosures and that the Mountain View, California-based company didn’t allow the U.S. government direct access to its servers or some back-door to its data centers. He said Google provides user data to governments “only in accordance with the law.”

Leslie Miller, a spokeswoman for Google, didn’t provide an immediate response June 13.

The information provided by Snowden also exposed a secret NSA program known as Blarney. As the program was described in the Washington Post (WPO), the agency gathers metadata on computers and devices that are used to send e-mails or browse the Internet through principal data routes, known as a backbone.

Metadata

That metadata includes which version of the operating system, browser and Java software are being used on millions of devices around the world, information that U.S. spy agencies could use to infiltrate those computers or phones and spy on their users.

“It’s highly offensive information,” said Glenn Chisholm, the former chief information officer for Telstra Corp (TLS)., one of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies, contrasting it to defensive information used to protect computers rather than infiltrate them.

According to Snowden’s information, Blarney’s purpose is “to gain access and exploit foreign intelligence,” the Post said.

It’s unclear whether U.S. Internet service providers gave information to the NSA as part of Blarney, and if so, whether the transfer of that data required a judge’s order.

Less Scrutiny

Stewart Baker, former general counsel for the NSA, said if metadata involved communications between two foreign computers that just happened to be crossing a U.S. fiber optic cable “then the likelihood is it would demand less legal scrutiny than when communications are being extracted one by one.”

Lawmakers who oversee U.S. intelligence agencies may not understand the significance of some of the metadata being collected, said Jacob Olcott, a former cybersecurity assistant for Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

“That’s what makes this issue of oversight so challenging,” said Olcott, now a principal at Good Harbor Security Risk Management in Washington. “You have a situation where the technology and technical policy is far outpacing the background and expertise of most elected members of Congress or their staffs.”

While companies are offered powerful inducements to cooperate with U.S. intelligence, many executives are motivated by patriotism or a sense they are defending national security, the people familiar with the trusted partner programs said.

Einstein 3

U.S telecommunications, Internet, power companies and others provide U.S. intelligence agencies with details of their systems’ architecture or equipment schematics so the agencies can analyze potential vulnerabilities.

“It’s natural behavior for governments to want to know about the country’s critical infrastructure,” said Chisholm, chief security officer at Irvine, California-based Cylance Inc.

Even strictly defensive systems can have unintended consequences for privacy. Einstein 3, a costly program originally developed by the NSA, is meant to protect government systems from hackers. The program, which has been made public and is being installed, will closely analyze the billions of e-mails sent to government computers every year to see if they contain spy tools or malicious software.

Einstein 3 could also expose the private content of the e-mails under certain circumstances, according to a person familiar with the system, who asked not to be named because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter.

AT&T, Verizon

Before they agreed to install the system on their networks, some of the five major Internet companies -- AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc (VZ)., Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), Level 3 Communications Inc (LVLT). and CenturyLink Inc (CTL). -- asked for guarantees that they wouldn’t be held liable under U.S. wiretap laws. Those companies that asked received a letter signed by the U.S. attorney general indicating such exposure didn’t meet the legal definition of a wiretap and granting them immunity from civil lawsuits, the person said.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Dallas-based AT&T, the nation’s biggest phone carrier, declined to comment. Edward McFadden, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon, the second-largest phone company, declined to comment.

Scott Sloat, a spokesman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, and Monica Martinez, a spokeswoman for Broomfield, Colorado-based Level 3, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Linda Johnson, a spokeswoman for Centurylink, formerly Qwest Corp., said her Monroe, Louisiana-based company participates in the Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program and the Intrusion Prevention Security Services program, which includes Einstein 3. Both programs are managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Beyond that, she said, “CenturyLink does not comment on matters pertaining to national security.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Riley in Washington at

Source: Bloomberg

The biggest data breach on Facebook, 6 million user’s contact info exposed

2013-07-03T22:06:00.000+05:00

Facebook accidentally shared 6 million users' email addresses or telephone numbers due to a software bug, the company announced Friday.

The breach was caused by an unfortunate combination of Facebook's "People You May Know" and "Download Your Information" features. "People You May Know" offers friend suggestions based in part on other users' uploaded contact lists or address books; "Download Your Information" offers a downloadable version of your Facebook Timeline archive.

When some users downloaded their Facebook archives with "Download Your Information," the archive included contact information for second-tier connections with whom Facebook thought those users might want to connect but who hadn't yet received or approved a friend request from that user. Translation: Data breach.

Facebook says for every email address or phone number lost in the breach, each individual piece of information was included in an archive download "only once or twice." Facebook has no evidence there was any malicious exploitation of the bug before it was found and the service was deactivated.

A security researcher found the bug and reported it to Facebook, which shared details about it on its Facebook Security page, posted in full below. Facebook says it's notifying government regulators to the problem.

All affected Facebook users will be notified via email. Have you received an e-mail about the data breach from Facebook? Are you concerned about the breach? Tell us in the comments.

At Facebook, we take people’s privacy seriously, and we strive to protect people’s information to the very best of our ability. We implement many safeguards, hire the brightest engineers and train them to ensure we have only high-quality code behind the scenes of your Facebook experiences. We even have teams that focus exclusively on preventing and fixing privacy-related technical issues before they affect you.

Even with a strong team, no company can ensure 100% prevention of bugs, and in rare cases we don’t discover a problem until it has already affected a person’s account. This is one of the reasons we also have a White Hat program to collaborate with external security researchers and help us ensure that we maintain the highest security standards for our users.

We recently received a report to our White Hat program regarding a bug that may have allowed some of a person’s contact information (email or phone number) to be accessed by people who either had some contact information about that person or some connection to them.

Describing what caused the bug can get pretty technical, but we want to explain how it happened. When people upload their contact lists or address books to Facebook, we try to match that data with the contact information of other people on Facebook in order to generate friend recommendations. For example, we don’t want to recommend that people invite contacts to join Facebook if those contacts are already on Facebook; instead, we want to recommend that they invite those contacts to be their friends on Facebook.

Because of the bug, some of the information used to make friend recommendations and reduce the number of invitations we send was inadvertently stored in association with people’s contact information as part of their account on Facebook. As a result, if a person went to download an archive of their Facebook account through our Download Your Information (DYI) tool, they may have been provided with additional email addresses or telephone numbers for their contacts or people with whom they have some connection. This contact information was provided by other people on Facebook and was not necessarily accurate, but was inadvertently included with the contacts of the person using the DYI tool.

After review and confirmation of the bug by our security team, we immediately disabled the DYI tool to fix the problem and were able to turn the tool back on the next day once we were satisfied that the problem had been fixed.

We've concluded that approximately 6 million Facebook users had email addresses or telephone numbers shared. There were other email addresses or telephone numbers included in the downloads, but they were not connected to any Facebook users or even names of individuals. For almost all of the email addresses or telephone numbers impacted, each individual email address or telephone number was only included in a download once or twice. This means, in almost all cases, an email address or telephone number was only exposed to one person. Additionally, no other types of personal or financial information were included and only people on Facebook – not developers or advertisers – have access to the DYI tool.

We currently have no evidence that this bug has been exploited maliciously and we have not received complaints from users or seen anomalous behavior on the tool or site to suggest wrongdoing. Although the practical impact of this bug is likely to be minimal since any email address or phone number that was shared was shared with people who already had some of that contact information anyway, or who had some connection to one another, it's still something we're upset and embarrassed by, and we'll work doubly hard to make sure nothing like this happens again. Your trust is the most important asset we have, and we are committed to improving our safety procedures and keeping your information safe and secure.

We have already notified our regulators in the US, Canada and Europe, and we are in the process of notifying affected users via email.

We appreciate the security researcher's report to our White Hat program, and have paid out a bug bounty to thank him for his efforts.

Courtesy: Mashable

$25 Million Superyacht Will Come With Complimentary Matching Supercar

2010-06-14T00:14:00.001+05:00

Beating the Bugatti Veyron hands down for exclusivity, the supercar has 880bhp from its twin-turbo V12 engine and a claimed top speed of 234mph. Only six will be built, each capable of hitting 60mph from rest in 3.2 seconds.

But what about the design, yo?!

Designer, Sweden-based 33-year-old Eduard Gray, told CNN that he took inspiration from the lines and curves of sports car, the Ferrari Testa Rossa.
"We have really tried to achieve a strong harmony in our design -- so that the car looks like it was literally born inside the hull of the yacht," he said.
But ultimately, he said, he wanted to design "something you want to be seen in -- the sexiest damn boat in the harbor!"

Sorry Eduard, but I think we can all agree the sexiest damn boat in the harbor is my dinghy. Just sayin: seats one comfortably, comes half-mast. Ooh -- did I mention the pirate flag? There's a pirate flag. Plus a compass.
Hit the jump for a bunch more pictures of the yacht you'll never own (unless you really are rich in which case I wasn't joking about the HJ).

How internet flow comes to your PC

2010-04-24T13:05:00.000+05:00

Gizmodo paid $10,000 for “lost” iPhone 4G

2010-04-20T21:05:00.000+05:00

The Internet is abuzz today with Gizmodo’s hands on preview of what appears to be Apple’s next-gen iPhone. In case you missed the build-up to the story, someone found a cased iPhone on the floor of a bar in Redwood City. From the outside, the device appeared to be an iPhone 3GS, but upon removing the device from its specially designed case, it was clear that this was no ordinary iPhone. Rather, it appeared to be Apple’s next-gen iPhone. Found. In the wild. A solid two months before anyone expected to see pictures of it.
In other words, this was the motherload of all Apple scoops.
The individual who found the iPhone sent pictures of the device to Engadget, but it was Gizmodo who scored big by actually obtaining the iPhone itself. It’s been reported by in-the-know Apple blogger John Gruber that Apple considered said iPhone “stolen”, and was keen on getting it back.
But with Gizmodo’s report blowing up the Internet today, the cat is out of the bag. At the time of this writing, Gizmodo’s story alone is bordering on 2.5 million page views [Edit: it's now pushing 4 million pageviews as of early Tuesday morning].
Now word is leaking out that Gizmodo paid a cool 10 grand for the iPhone prototype, which all things considered, seems like a bargain given Apple’s typically tight rein on product leaks.
Update: Apple Legal sends letter to Gizmodo asking them to return iPhone 4G
$10,000 has undeniably diverted a ton of eyeballs to Gizmodo’s site, and the surge in web traffic probably has Gizmodo editors jumping for joy. But you have to wonder if Gizmodo, in the grand scheme of things, tarnished their “relationship” with Apple for a short term spike in pageviews.
Think about it - Steve Jobs is probably livid right now, and what are the odds that Gizmodo, going forward, gets invited to Apple’s always popular “special events.” And what are the odds now that Gizmodo will get a review unit of the upcoming iPhone 4G? Though, to be fair, they apparently already have one.
On another note, there has been talk about Apple legal going after Gizmodo, but that doesn’t seem plausible for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the damage has already been done. The pictures and information gleaned from Gizmodo’s hands-on have already been dispersed into the ether of the Internet. If Apple demanded Gimzodo remove its detailed post, it would a) confirm that the device is, in fact, the next-gen iPhone and b) ultimately have no effect whatsoever given that hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites have already copied and pasted the pertinent information.
Second, it’s hard to see how exactly Apple could go after Gizmodo from a legal standpoint. Word is that Gizmodo purchased the device last week, but it’s unclear if Apple was aware of the exchange, and if so, if Apple sent a legal warning to Gizmodo not to publicize the device. But even if Apple did deliver a legal warning, Gizmodo ostensibly didn’t coerce an Apple employee into handing over a top secret prototype. Rather, Giz simply paid top dollar to a guy who found a different looking iPhone on the floor of a bar. From that vantage point, there’s not much illegality involved.
Matt in the comments directs us to this entry on lost/stolen property from Wikipedia:

Property is generally deemed to have been mislaid or misplaced if it is found in a place where the true owner likely did intend to set it, but then simply forgot to pick it up again. For example, a wallet found in a shop lying on a counter near a cash register will likely be deemed misplaced rather than lost. Under common law principles, the finder of a misplaced object has a duty to turn it over to the owner of the premises, on the theory that the true owner is likely to return to that location to search for his misplaced item. If the true owner does not return within a reasonable time (which varies considerably depending on the circumstances), the property becomes that of the owner of the premises

That said, it would seem that Apple’s legal beef lies more so with individual who sold the device than Gizmodo. Either way, going after Giz or the dude who’s now $10,000 richer would attract a wave of bad publicity that Apple would, we would guess, much rather do without.
Update: A comment from Hacker News directs us to this section of the California Penal Code:

One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

The question, then, is if the legal responsibility of the original “finder” is transferred over to the party who acquires said property. We’re guessing that it does. Also, remember that Gawker was previously served with a cease and desist letter from Apple back in early January for offering $50,000 for pre-release photos or videos of the iPad and $100,000 for actual hands-on time with the device.
And if that weren’t enough to chew on, Gawker managing editor Nick Denton sent out the following tweet earlier this afternoon:

For people who want to know the backstory to Gizmodo’s iPhone exclusive, it’s coming. And it’s a corker.

Update x2: Gizmodo exposes identity of Apple engineer who lost the iPhone at the bar
Update x3: Gawker editor Nick Denton said that the company paid $5,000 for the device, with some reports claiming that additional fees were to be paid if certain traffic goals were met.

Via:Edibleapple

iPhone OS 4.0 Features Explose-Like Multitasking

2010-04-02T11:19:00.000+05:00

Word on the Web is that the next iPhone OS update -- version 4.0 -- will finally deliver multitasking support via an Expose-like interface. That means users will be able to launch multiple apps, including third party ones, in the background and switch between them, a feature Android and Windows Mobile users take for granted.

"Those familiar with the design of iPhone 4.0 said that the user interface will resemble Apple's desktop Expose feature, in that a key combination -- reportedly hitting the Home button twice -- will trigger an expose-like interface that brings up a series of icons representing the currently running apps, allowing users to quickly select the one they want to switch to directly," AppleInsider reports. "When a selection is made, the iPhone OS zooms out of the Expose task manager and transitions to that app."

Sounds groovy, and there will be more to iPhone 4.0 than just multitasking. Pre-release builds have shown that a global mailbox view has been added, as well as the ability to add individual contacts to the iPhone's home screen.

Via: Appleinsider

Magellan Introduces RoadMate App For iPhone

2010-03-28T22:03:00.000+05:00

iPhone users now have another GPS option for their phones. Magellan GPS recently announced the Magellan RoadMate App for iPhone for the United States and Puerto Rico. The app uses the same interface as the company's dedicated personal navigation devices.

Feature highlights include:

Spoken street name guidance
Highway lane assist
In-app music control
iPhone address book integration
Pedestrian Mode
Most current maps provided by NAVTEQ

The Magellan RoadMate App does not have any recurring subscription fees and is available for use on the iPod touch (2nd generation) with the Magellan Premium Car Kit (sold separately). The app is available at an introductory price of $39.99.

Source:Hothardware

Google introduces warnings on suspicious Gmail use 'Last accessed from China, you say?'

2010-03-26T14:29:00.000+05:00

Gmail warnings

Google has introduced a warning system for Gmail that will tell you if your account is being used suspiciously.

The company is keen to show people when it appears that their details are being compromised, and will now put a high visibility bar in your account if it appears to be being accessed by someone other than you.

"Now, if it looks like something unusual is going on with your account, we'll also alert you by posting a warning message saying, "Warning: We believe your account was last accessed from…" along with the geographic region that we can best associate with the access," explains the official Google blog.

Broad geographical location

"To determine when to display this message, our automated system matches the relevant IP address, logged per the Gmail privacy policy, to a broad geographical location," it added.

"While we don't have the capability to determine the specific location from which an account is accessed, a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert.

"By clicking on the 'Details' link next to the message, you'll see the last account activity window that you're used to, along with the most recent access points."

Common sense prevails

Google did add that it was important users did not rely entirely on the new safeguards, but continue to apply the normal common sense procedures for their accounts.

"Keep in mind that these notifications are meant to alert you of suspicious activity but are not a replacement for account security best practices," added the blog.

"If you'd like more information on account security, read these tips on keeping your information secure or visit the Google Online Security Blog."

Source: Techradar

Google May Leave China on April 10

2010-03-19T19:07:00.000+05:00

Google’s decision to cease its operation in China is edging closer to reality after months of negotiations. China Business News reports that Google plans to leave China on April 10.

The report cites an unidentified Google China employee, but this information has not been confirmed by Google. Allegedly, Google gave its China employees the option of moving to the company’s U.S. headquarters or working for its Asia-Pacific operations.
If this is true, it once again raises the question of what, exactly, is Google pulling out from China: its entire operations or just the search engine, which it has declined to censor? The latter now seems more likely.
In any case, if Google does pull out, it may be a long, long time before it returns. Peter Lui, who was formerly Google’s financial controller for the Asia Pacific region, said that Google’s public announcement to leave had “burnt bridges… There is no way Google can ever come back.”
Via:Mashable

Windows Phone 7 Series won't have copy and paste

2010-03-17T19:14:00.000+05:00

Ready for another long, drawn-out copy and paste controversy to overtake your every waking moment for a year or two? Good: Microsoft just mentioned in a Q&A session here at MIX10 in no uncertain terms that clipboard operations won't be supported on Windows Phone 7 Series... so that's that. Kind of ironic considering that the WinMo of old has been enjoying the functionality since time immemorial, isn't it? Of course, anything is possible going forward -- they've said on several occasions in different talks and sessions this week that they're already looking at a number of enhancements that were scoped out of the initial release of the platform -- but for the phones you buy this holiday season, don't expect to be copying anything between apps.

Update: We just super-double-ultra-plus-confirmed this with Microsoft -- Windows Phone 7 Series will not have copy and paste functionality. There is a data-detection service built into the text-handling API that will recognize phone numbers and addresses, but Microsoft says most users, including Office users, don't really need clipboard functionality. We... respectfully disagree? Sure, let's leave it at that.

Via: Engagdet

Internet Explorer 9 Is Looking Positively Sexy

2010-03-17T19:07:00.001+05:00

Microsoft browser—we'd have beaten you with a stack of TPS reports. This week, well, it's a different story. The actual IE9 browser isn't available for download yet, but Microsoft has made what it calls the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview available for download. Internet Explorer 9 offers a bevy of new features compared to IE8 (or anything else), but the most exciting feature is the browser's built-in GPU hardware acceleration.

As it turns out, there's quite a bit Microsoft can do, even with a modest integrated GPU. AMD's Robin Maffeo has put together a blog post that summarizes several key differences between IE9 and its predecessors.

The MSHTML rendering layer has been enhanced to use Direct2D and DirectWrite instead of GDI. Direct2D enables GPU accelerated 2D graphics and text, and allows sub-pixel positioning. In addition, the GPU is used for scaling (bitmaps are mapped to textures), which is ideal for zooming and moving images around the screen. This GPU support translates directly into improved readability of pages, more precise placement of text and images, and smooth scrolling and zooming.
JavaScript performance is greatly improved from older versions of Internet Explorer, and should be competitive if not better than competing browsers. In the past, JavaScript in IE was interpreted and not compiled into native processor instructions. The JavaScript engine now includes a JIT compiler which emits x86 instructions and compiles the code before it runs, resulting in a dramatic performance uplift. Instruction generation can also be tailored to the underlying processor to take full advantage of the underlying platform.
IE9 is more standards compliant than previous versions, with new support for HTML5 elements such as and
The Javascript performance improvement is still a bit murky; let's unpack it with some help from the official IE9 blog. "To improve JavaScript performance even more, Chakra [IE9's Javascript engine] does something quite different from other script engines today. It has a separate background thread for compiling JavaScript. Windows runs that thread in parallel on a separate core when one is available. Compiling in the background enables users to keep interacting with webpages while IE generates even faster code. By running separately in the background, this process can take advantage of today’s multi-core machines – so, users with a Core2Duo or QuadCore or i7 can apply that power to making webpages faster without any additional effort. "

Still shots don't do the rendering engine justice. Picture 256 icons spinning at 60 frames a second, without slowing anything else down.

IE9 isn't expected to drop until 2011 and its GPU-accelerated rendering engine isn't compatible with Windows XP due to fundamental differences between Windows XP's software rendering style and the Desktop Window Manager that ships with both Windows 7 and Windows Vista; it's not clear if Microsoft will release IE9 for XP or simply continue to maintain IE8's security patches. It's hard to capture some of the coolest things the IE9 Platform can do in a static screenshot; head over to Microsoft's website and take a look yourself if you're curious. When you consider how much of our time is spent within a browser, this is the sort of innovation that could genuinely be called a game-changer. We'll undoubtedly see announcements and demonstrations from Chrome, Firefox, and Opera in the days ahead—the sooner this tech hits the desktop (without being buggy) the better.

Via:IE Blog

Google partners call for clarity on China plans

2010-03-17T18:56:00.000+05:00

(Reuters) - Chinese firms selling advertising space on Google's search pages have demanded clarity about the search giant's plans in China, as speculation increases over Google's future in the world's largest Internet market.

Their demand comes amid signs that Google Inc may soon move to close Google.cn, more than two months after it hit back against sophisticated hacking attacks from inside China and said it was no longer willing to offer a censored search engine.
Google and China have been tight-lipped since then about any talks to reconcile their differences.
A letter purportedly from 27 Google-authorized sales representative companies says the wait has gone on for too long, eroding their business, scaring off employees and putting big investments in jeopardy.
"We see a constant stream of information but cannot predict the future, we see business sliding, but there is nothing we can do," says the letter, which was also posted on a website affiliated with China's central television. "We are waiting now in incomparable pain and disquiet."
Google has received the letter and is reviewing it, spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said.
Many of the signatories, contacted by Reuters, would not comment on the letter, or said they were unaware of it.
Some said that neither their affiliation with Google.cn nor the fight between Google and the government had hurt their business, although others acknowledged hesitancy by customers unsure of Google's future in China.
"We don't want Google to pull out. We believe Google will give us a proper explanation," said a customer service manager, surnamed Sheng, at Suzhou Universal Internet Media, adding she was not familiar with the contents of the letter.
The Wall Street Journal quoted one anonymous source who confirmed the contents of the letter, but added that not all the signatories had been involved in drafting the letter.
The companies sell advertising spots on Google search-result pages tied to certain searches.
COMPENSATION
The letter spells out demands for redress -- for investors, employees and clients -- that could add to the economic and political pressures on Google if it shuts down Google.cn and perhaps withdraws other operations from China.
The letter demands that Google develop a plan spelling out when customers' pre-payments for advertising will be returned to them, how employees of the advertising agents thrown out of work will be compensated, and how the companies themselves will be compensated for investments.
Addressed to Google's top executive for China, John Liu, it demands negotiations with the company.
A commerce ministry spokesman on Tuesday warned Google to obey Chinese laws and rules, including alerting the ministry to any exit plans.
Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said last week he hoped to have an outcome soon from talks with Chinese officials on offering an uncensored search engine in the country of 384 million Internet users.
Many experts doubt China's ruling Communist Party would compromise on censorship. The Financial Times reported at the weekend the talks had reached an impasse and Google was "99.9 percent" certain to shut Google.cn.
A Google spokesperson said on Monday that talks with Chinese authorities had not ended, but added that the company was adamant about not accepting self-censorship.
China requires Internet operators to block words and images the ruling Communist Party deems unacceptable. Google.cn has not yet lifted that filter.
Internationally popular websites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are entirely blocked in China, which uses a filtering "firewall" to block Internet users from overseas content banned by authorities.
Via: Reuters

Google Buzz Now Available as an iPhone App

2010-03-05T15:13:00.000+05:00

Here it is folks, the first ever third-party application for Google Buzz, now available through the iTunes App Store. It's called Buzzie, and for the next few days, you can snag it for 33 percent off as part of a special introductory price.

If you're a fan of Google's newest social networking tool and can't imagine owning a smartphone other than the iPhone, then this is probably the best news ever. But you don't have to be a Buzz user to check it out. Non-Gmail users who want to see what all the fuss is about can play the part of mobile voyeur and read through local Buzz conversations without ever logging into the service. Should you decide to log in or sign up, you can then jump into the discussion.

Buzzie is a pretty straightforward app that's so far been well received, according to the user reviews. The app also taps into the iPhone GPS feature, but also gives you the option of marking your Buzz as private or public depending on whether or not you want your location out there for all to see.

You can snag the app here, and if you do, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Source: Hothardware

iPhone Banned in the USA

2010-02-20T23:33:00.001+05:00

Eastman Kodak is after your iPhone AND they want to take away your BlackBerry.
They won't come and pry the device out of your hand, but they definitely want to halt the phones from being imported until they get their piece of the pie.
Eastman Kodak claims that Apple Computers and Research in Motion are guilty of infringement of patents. Kodak has taken the step to request the U.S. International Trade Commission prevent both companies from importing their smart phones into the United States. Nokia filed a similar complaint in December 2009.

Kodak says both companies have infringed on patents regarding digital imaging, Apple for its iPhone and Research in Motion for its BlackBerry phone. The companies had been negotiating with Kodak to settle the potential compensation matter, but those talks broke down after neither side could break the impasse.
Kodak wants to ban devices with touch screens, like the Apple iPhone, the BlackBerry Storm and other camera phones such as the Tour, Bold, Curve and Pearl. The main issue is the built-in cameras. Kodak has more than 1,000 patents involving digital imaging.
Kodak's complaint says the iPhone and BlackBerry infringe on the patent approved in 2001 regarding the ability to preview images. Kodak made more than $622 million on intellectual property last year and expects to receive more than $450 million in royalty this year from Samsung. It is seeking a similar agreement with Apple and Research in Motion.
The ITC has 45 days to decide whether it will consider the complaint and would hold a hearing about the matter within the next year. Kodak has filed a similar suit against Samsung and LG and currently has licensing agreements with both companies, as well as Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia.
This is just another round in the smartphone war. Apple filed a complaint against Nokia with the USITC last month that was designed to block the import of Nokia's Oyj phone into the United States. The ITC has agreed to consider the complaint. Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, filed its own complaint to ban imports of the iPhone, iPod and MacBook. The USITC said it would review that complaint, too.

Source: Better Trades

Top 10 Google Settings You Should Know About

2010-02-15T20:00:00.000+05:00

As the outcry over Google Buzz's privacy has shown us, it's smart to explore settings in Gmail, along with other places you're sharing data with the search giant. Let's take a look at 10 privacy, convenience, and annoyance fixers you should know.

10. Turn off auto-displayed pictures from Gmail contacts

By default, Gmail hides images embedded into emails from chain letters and unknown sources—and that's a smart move, given spammers' tracking tactics and malware tendencies. But it still shows images from contacts you've previously sent mail to, which can be a pain if you've got relatives who just love hi-larious forwards. Head to your Settings page, and look for the "external content" setting, which you can switch off to always ask you to confirm showing images in any email. If you've got just a handful of offenders, open up one of the egregious emails, hit the "Show details" link near the bottom of the to/from/subject details, and click the "don't display from now on" link. (Original post)

9. Fine-tune Google Apps for your domain

Google Apps, formerly know as Apps for Your Domain, has a lot of goodies tucked inside it for anyone who owns their own site, runs a family name domain, or operates a small business. Unlike Gmail, however, the new features and disabled offerings aren't as apparent (or blogged about). Gina gave us a great tour of Google Apps, showing how you can control privacy and access, choose which Labs features make it into your domain's email, and otherwise set up your site to your liking.

8. Prevent Android from automatically signing into Gchat

Simple and easy, but also easy to miss: If you've got an Android phone and have launched Google Talk from it just once, you might notice that you seem to catch any and all chats throughout the day. That's because Talk can sit in the background upon launching, ready to pick up messages. That's fine if that's what you want, but if you want a choice in the matter, head to the Google Talk app, hit your Menu key, and choose Settings. Un-check the "Automatically sign in" option, hit your back button, and then hit Menu and sign out of Google Talk. You'll need to sign back in if you're downloading apps from the Market (odd pairing, indeed), but you're otherwise free to chat when you want to. (Original post)

7. Turn off Buzz, Chat, and Labs in Gmail

Not big on Buzz? Chat more distracting than useful? Gmail Labs making your inbox feel lag-ish? You can kill all of them, if you'd like, and get back just a plain vanilla inbox. Scroll all the way to the bottom of any page inside Gmail, and at the bottom, you'll see two links to turn Gmail's chat sidebar and Buzz inbox on or off. Actually, you don't really "turn off Buzz" so much as remove it from your inbox, so be sure and check your Buzz settings at your Google Profile, if you have a Google Profile. If Labs features seem to be slowing down, or even breaking, your Gmail experience, you can turn them off entirely by loading Gmail from this URL: https://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=0#. Bookmark it as your main Gmail link, or title it "Gmail (Safe Mode)" if you'd like to still venture into all the goodies on occasion.

6. Disable SafeSearch (or lock it in semi-permanently)

Google's SafeSearch isn't an entirely comprehensive solution to preventing impressionable eyes from the worst realms of the internet. It is, however, a good stopgap until they learn to grow up and install other browsers, wipe out cookies, and customize user scripts. Whether you don't have any young ones in the house and want to turn SafeSearch off altogether or you want a complete SafeSearch lockdown on your computer, head to your search preferences, scroll down to the SafeSearch section, and find the setting that fits you. (In Google Image Search, they've helpfully placed the control right under the search box on your first result.) If you want to permanently enable SafeSearch, click the "Lock SafeSearch" link—and repeat for any browsers the little ones use. Now when they're performing a Google search, you should see some giant Google-colored balls in the upper-right corner—or else they've gotten too smart.

5. Set your default SMS location

For those without web-connected smartphones, or at least a decent data connection, Google's SMS service is seriously helpful—it's how I (used to) get by with just an iPod touch and a standard phone. To make it even more helpful, text set location, followed by the city and state or ZIP code where you spend the most time. Now you can just text "weather" or "pet store" to get the skinny on what's happening. (Original post)

4. Link and integrate your apps

Taking off the privacy and preference hat for a moment, Google's apps have a lot of neat settings just beneath their surface that make using them all together a tight experience. You can turn emails into tasks, and then map those tasks on your calendar. You can send voice messages and SMS from Google Voice to Gmail, and mark them as read when you open them there. Gina previously ran down seven easy ways to integrate your Google apps, and even more seem to come along every week.

3. Turn off Search History, logged in or not

If you're logged into Google for Gmail or any other service, there's a good chance Google's keeping tabs on all your searches, months after you made them. If you aren't logged in, Google's probably still tracking and personalizing your searches based on what you previously typed in. This one-stop solution should work for most users, but if it doesn't, log into Google and head to google.com/history. A notice at the top will tell you if you've "paused" or otherwise stopped your search history, or else you'll see your recent searches listed with dates and times. You can clear out this history by hitting the "Remove items" link on the left. If you aren't logged in, look for the "Web History" link in the upper-right corner. From there, you can choose whether Google tracks your searches via cookie and IP address and customizes your results.

2. Back up Google apps' data

For all you've heard about Buzz, privacy, and Google this week, you still can't fault them too much for their efforts to let you take your data with you if you decide to leave their app ecosystem. The Data Liberation Front site, a pet project from Google's engineers, explains how you can pull your information, documents, and other data out of nearly any Google product. Gina's also covered some of Google's apps in a cloud backup feature, and Adam tackled the best-at-that-time tools for Google backups in 2007. (Original Data Liberation Front post)

1. Control what Buzz says about you on the web

Google's new social service Buzz showed up suddenly in everyone's Gmail accounts this week, and right away it wanted to get you connected with the people you contact over email and chat the most. Before you let it turn you loose, though, consider whether you want the world to see exactly who you "follow." Google has since improved the on/off visibility, but if you want to make sure you're not broadcasting your inbox to the web at large, we suggest visiting your profile and checking your follower counts. If you don't see a profile at all, or don't see the followed/following numbers, you're likely in the clear, but as with many aspects of Buzz in this early stage, you can't be too careful. And when you actually start using the thing, be careful not to broadcast private email addresses yourself. (Original posts: Buzz update, private emails).

Bonus item: Open search results in new tabs

Lifehacker copy consigliere Dustin Luck mentions yet another reason to hit up your search preferences from time to time. With a single click, you can choose to open the results you click on in new windows. If you've set up your browser the right way, those new windows become new tabs, and little research projects on Google just became far more convenient.

Source:lifehacker

iTunes Nears 10 Billion Music Downloads And Prize To Downloader

2010-02-14T20:22:00.000+05:00

The 10 billionth iTunes download is fast approaching, and Apple's offering up a $10,000 iTunes gift card prize to one lucky winner. That winner will either be the downloader of the 10 billionth song, or the person who submits the first non-purchase online entry form immediately following the download of the 9,999,999,999th song.

Based on those rules, considering there are still over 100 million songs to go, it makes no sense to try to enter at the time of this writing. It's totally based on when you enter, not some random drawing of entries, unless you happen to tie for the 10 billionth entry.

Last year, Apple had a similar promotion for the 1 billionth App Store download. However, they must value App Store downloads much more than iTunes downloads, as that promotion included a lot more than just the $10,000 iTunes gift card: the lucky winner collected an iPod Touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro, as well.

Apple calls it "one huge milestone for music," and it is, but Apple hit a bigger milestone much earlier. In 2008, iTunes became the number one U.S. music retailer.
Source:Apple

Real Time Voice Translation is On the Way, Thanks to Google.

2010-02-08T22:54:00.000+05:00

Real time voice translation is on the way and Google aims to pioneer it.

The Internet giant wants to develop its smartphone technology to translate speech in real time.
The company would combine its advanced voice recognition know-how with its text translation service to create a mobile phone that acts as an instant interpreter.
Head of translation services Franz Och said: “We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years’ time.“Clearly, for it to work smoothly, you need a combination of high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition, and that’s what we’re working on.”
‘Everyone has a different voice, accent and pitch,’ said Mr Och. ‘But recognition should be effective with mobile phones because by nature they are personal to you.’
Google has already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which is being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents.
However Google admits speech will be an even tougher challenge than text but says a customer’s phone would adapt to its user by ‘learning’ their style of talking.
Source: The next web

Belkin TuneCast Auto LIVE Makes FM Transmission Easy For iPhone 3G/3GS

2010-01-26T22:31:00.000+05:00

Belkin has been doing quite well in the iPod and iPhone accessory market, and today's announcement should be music to the ears of those who don't feel like installing any kind of sophisticated iPod adapter into their automobile. Sure, many new vehicles have iPod support from the factory, but older models were never designed to handle Steve's most popular products ever.

The TuneCase Auto LIVE is one of the most elegant FM Transmitter solutions that we've seen to date for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, as it actually uses the phone's GPS module in order to locate where you are and track down the most open radio frequency available to you. Anyone who has used an FM Transmitter will know that finding a good, clean open frequency is difficult, and this device basically takes the hard guesswork out of it.

The integrated ClearScan technology finds the best station to broadcast on, and if you need to manually change it, the app allows you to do so right on the iPhone's screen. It's available now in North America for $79.99. Europe, Asia and Australia will have it by late-Spring.

Quickly find the best FM station with the help of your iPhone GPS system and location-based user feedback.

ClearScan LIVE iPhone App conveniently recommends the best FM frequencies based on your GPS coordinates.

Control your FM transmission easily from your iPhone screen.

Now available in North America

Available March 2010 in Europe

Available April 2010 in Asia and Australia
TuneCast Auto Live (F8Z498) - $79.99

ClearScan LIVE Application available for free download at the iTunes store

ClearScan technology scans for the clearest frequency and best audio quality at the push of a button

Control FM transmission and music from your iPhone screen

Also compatible with iPod touch, nano, and classic

High-contrast LCD display for easy viewing

Two programmable preset buttons

Charges through car's 12-volt lighter outlet

1-Year Limited Warranty

Via Hothardware

Want really secure Gmail? Try GPG encryption

2010-01-17T23:08:00.001+05:00

Perhaps Google's announcement that Chinese cyber attackers went after human rights activists' Gmail accounts has made you skittish about just how private your own messages are on the Google e-mail service.
Well, if you want to take a significant step in keeping prying eyes away from your electronic correspondence, one good encryption technology that predates Google altogether is worth looking at. It's called public key encryption, and I'm sharing some instructions on how to get it working if you want try it.
Unfortunately, better security typically goes hand in hand with increased inconvenience. But some human rights activists who used Gmail right now likely wish they'd put up with a little hardship to help keep hackers at bay. I'm not going so far as to recommend you use e-mail encryption, but I think this is a good time to take a close look at it.
Specifically, I'll show here how to use a collection of free or open-source software packages: GPG, or GNU Privacy Guard, Mozilla Messaging's Thunderbird e-mail software, and its Enigmail plug-in. CNET Download.com also hosts Thunderbird for Windows and Mac and Enigmail for all platforms.
But first, some background about how it works.
Public key cryptography
Encryption scrambles messages so that only someone with a key (or a tremendous amount of computing horsepower, or knowledge of how to exploit an encryption weakness) can decode them. One form is called, curiously, public key encryption, and this is what GPG and Enigmail use.
Here's the quick version of how it works. You get a private key known only to yourself and a public key that's available for anyone else to use. The person you're corresponding with also has such a pair of keys. Although the public and private keys are mathematically related, you can't derive one from the other.
To send a private message, someone encrypts it with your public key; you then decrypt it with your private key. When it's time to reply, you encrypt your message with the recipient's public key and the recipient decodes it with his or her private key.
Messages in transit from one machine to another are a bunch of textual gobbledygook until decoded. If you're being cautious enough to encrypt your e-mail, you should be aware that there's still some information that leaks out to the outside world. The subject line isn't encrypted, and somebody might take interest in the identity of your active e-mail contacts and the timing and frequency of communications.
So how do you find out what your correspondent's public key is? You can either fetch the key firsthand from the correspondent, or you search for it on public computers on the Net called key servers--mine is stored at pool.sks-keyservers.net.
This form of encryption has another advantage: you can sign your e-mail electronically so the recipient knows it really is from you. This time the process works in reverse: you sign your e-mail with your private key, then your recipient verifies it's from you using your public key.
Drawbacks aplenty
Weighed against the encryption advantages of privacy and message signing is the fact that you'll lose access to service you may like or depend on.
When you see an encrypted e-mail in the Web-based Gmail, it's gibberish. Google doesn't index it, so Gmail search doesn't work. And the strong points of cloud computing--reading your e-mail from your mobile phone, your friend's computer, a computer kiosk on the airport--isn't possible. You're once again anchored to your PC with the encryption software installed.

Gmail won't be able to make heads or tails of your encrypted e-mail.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Another doozy is that the technology, while conceptually manageable in my opinion, quickly gets complicated. It's the kind of thing where you benefit from some hand-holding from your technologically sophisticated pal. Encryption is chiefly used by the expert crowd, so the documentation quickly gets technical, the options quickly go beyond most people's comprehension, and the help quickly can shift from Spartan manuals to grasping at straws on a search engine results page.
Given time and experience, intractable technology can be beaten into submission, though. The bigger problem with encrypted mail is convincing others to install the software and use it. Until then, you'll be like the proverbial owner of the world's single fax machine: nice technology, but there's nothing you can do with it until someone else gets one.
My personal hope is that encrypted e-mail will become more common and that wider use will encourage some flavor of it that will work more transparently with existing systems, perhaps through local plug-ins on a computer such as FireGPG, though there appears to be challenges getting it to work with Gmail.
Meanwhile, here's one collection of software that's available today for public key e-mail encryption.

Install the software
First, install Thunderbird e-mail software, if you haven't already. I recommend the new version 3.0, which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. One particularly nice feature is that the software will ask you for your e-mail address and password on its first launch, and Gmail users will find the software automatically handles the tangle of configuration details that previously had to be manually set.

Next up is GPG, the command-line software that handles the actual encryption, decryption, and key management behind the scenes. Fetch the appropriate copy for your operating system from the "binaries" links at the GPG downloads page. Technophiles will like using this actual software from the command line, but don't worry--you don't have to.
Last is installing the Enigmail plug-in for Thunderbird. Fetch the appropriate version from the Enigmail download site and make a note of where you save the file.
Enigmail isn't the kind of file you double-click to install. Instead, go to Thunderbird, open the Tools menu and click Add-ons. In the lower-left corner of the dialog box that appears, click "Install..." When prompted for a location, point to where you saved the plug-in; the filename should be "enigmail-1.0-tb-win.xpi" or some other operating system-appropriate variation.
Set up the software
Next, it's time to get started. Enigmail offers useful instructions that generally are up to date, though they don't mention Thunderbird 3.0 and some other matters.
You'll likely get a setup Wizard from Enigmail, which is fine. My advice: set it to sign encrypted messages by default but not to encrypt messages by default unless you're confident you're going to use it a lot.
The first task is generate your public and private keys--your "keypair." Enigmail can handle this chore. In Thunderbird, click the OpenGPG menu, then the "Key Management" option. A new window will pop up with its own set of menus. Click the rightmost one, "Generate."
The default options are pretty good, though setting the key not to expire might be preferable for some people. That can be changed later, if you have second thoughts. For your passphrase, the usual password rules apply: the longer it is and the farther away from anything in a dictionary it is, the harder it is to crack.
Now comes the best part of the whole thing: helping out the random number generator while the keys are being generated. It doesn't take long, but doing something else while it happens--browsing a Web page or loading a word processing file, for example--creates events that actually inject a little helpful unpredictability into the algorithm. It's one of those wacky computer science moments.
Once the keys are generated, upload yours to a key server so your pals can find your key. It's easy: click the "Keyserver" menu, "Upload Public Keys," and go with the default pool.sks-keyservers.net server.
Try it out

Now it's time to get viral. You have to find somebody to experiment on. Go through your list of nerdy, security-minded, perhaps somewhat paranoid friends and start recruiting. A tinfoil hat isn't a prerequisite for using e-mail encryption, but there's a connection.
Once you've got a companion--or set up a second keypair with another e-mail account--start a new e-mail message and type in a subject line and some text. In the OpenPGP menu, select "sign message," "encrypt message," and if your message recipient is using Enigmail, "Use PGP/MIME for this message." (The latter option has some advantages, but isn't supported universally.)
When you send the message, you'll need to use your recipient's public key to encrypt the message and your own passphrase to sign the message with your private key.
When it's time to read, you'll need the public key of your correspondent to verify the signature and your own passphrase to decrypt it.
Sending and receiving is where those public key servers come in handy. Seek, and if ye don't find, ask your friend to e-mail you the public key.
There's a whole new world of encryption out there--the web of trust, key signing, fingerprints and such--that I won't get into here. I recommend a look at the Enigmail configuration manual and the Enigmail Handbook.
If you're a command-line nut, I recommend Brendan Kidwell's practical introduction and, with my usual reservations about the utter lack of informative examples, the GPG man page. History buffs can check the Wikipedia pages (the saga of Phil Zimmermann vs. the U.S. government concerning GPG's precursor, PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, is particularly notable), and one 10th-anniversary GPG retrospective from founder Werner Koch.
In closing: backup your key
There is one last task you should attend to: export your keypair. Enigmail can handle this fine: In the search field, type your name until your key appears, click it to select it, then click "File" and "Export Keys to File."
This backup will be useful for decrypting your mail on a new computer, installing software from scratch, or otherwise managing the inevitable digital transitions in your life. But be warned: that private key is what somebody needs to crack your encryption, so don't leave it where somebody can find it.
I'm not convinced that GPG will rule the world. Indeed, I'm concerned that so much documentation I encountered for this article was written before Windows Vista arrived.
But I am convinced there are serious holes with our current security and privacy arrangements. A 2,048-bit encryption key won't thwart phishing scams or other social engineering attacks that appear to have been employed in the Google-China case, but it's a good place to start.
And using encryption sends a message to the technology world: perhaps it's time to start taking our security more seriously. Google opted for encrypted Gmail network connections, even though it will tax their servers with more processing, which is a good start. Better security can be inconvenient and expensive, but don't forget to consider the drawbacks of poor security.
Via:Cnet