Technology First

Sony Ericsson Aino

2011-11-23T19:07:00.001+01:00

Sony Ericsson Aino

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 Aino (a) for Americas
	Announced	2009, May
	Status	Available. Released 2009, October

SIZE	Dimensions	104 x 50 x 15.5 mm
SIZE	Weight	134 g

DISPLAY	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	240 x 432 pixels, 3.0 inches (~165 ppi pixel density)
		- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate - Limited touchscreen functionality

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	No

MEMORY	Phonebook	1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
	Call records	30 received, dialed and missed calls
	Internal	55 MB
	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, 8GB included, buy memory

DATA	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	8.1 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, video stabilizer, videocalling
	Video	VGA@30fps
	Secondary	No

FEATURES	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email
	Browser	WAP 2.0/HTML (NetFront 3.5), RSS reader
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes, incl. motion-based + downloadable
	Colors	Obsidian Black, Luminous White
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support; Wayfinder Navigator
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- Remote play for Playstation 3 - MP3/AAC/MP4 player - Google Maps - Picture editor/blogging - YouTube & Facebook applications - Organizer - Voice memo - SensMe - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Po 1000 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 380 h (2G) / Up to 367 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G)
	Music play	Up to 31 h

MISC	SAR US	1.00 W/kg (head) 0.95 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.74 W/kg (head)

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

2011-11-23T19:02:00.001+01:00

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100 - LT18i
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 / 800 - LT18a
	Announced	2011, August
	Status	Available. Released 2011, September

SIZE	Dimensions	125 x 63 x 8.7 mm
SIZE	Weight	117 g

DISPLAY	Type	LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 854 pixels, 4.2 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
		- Scratch-resistant surface - Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate - Multi-touch input method - Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - Timescape UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Practically unlimited
	Internal	1 GB (320 MB user-available), 512 MB RAM
	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, 8 GB included

DATA	GPRS	Up to 86 kbps
	EDGE	Up to 237 kbps
	3G	HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Video calling, touch focus, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panorama, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, continuous autofocus, video light, video stabilizer, check quality
	Secondary	No

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), planned upgrade to v4.0
	CPU	1.4 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Pure White, Midnight Blue, Misty Silver, Gloss Black, Sakura Pink
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
		- Digital compass - HDMI port - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player - MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player - TrackID music recognition - NeoReader barcode scanner - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk - Facebook and Twitter integration - Document viewer - Adobe Flash 10.3 support - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 460 h (2G) / Up to 460 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 7 h 25 min (2G) / Up to 7 h 35 min (3G)
	Music play	Up to 37 h

Samsung S8530 Wave

2011-11-23T18:51:00.001+01:00

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
	Announced	2010, October
	Status	Available. Released 2010, November

SIZE	Dimensions	123.9 x 59.8 x 11.8 mm
SIZE	Weight	135 g

DISPLAY	Type	Super Clear LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches (~252 ppi pixel density)
		- Gorilla Glass display - Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate - Multi-touch input method - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - TouchWiz UI 3.0 - Handwriting recognition - Smart unlock

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes, check quality
		- DNSe (Digital Natural Sound Engine)

MEMORY	Phonebook	Yes, Photocall
	Call records	Yes
	Internal	2 GB storage
	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, 2GB card included, buy memory

DATA	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA 3.6 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, face, smile and blink detection, image stablilization, touch focus
	Video	Yes, 720p@30fps, video light, check quality
	Secondary	Yes

FEATURES	OS	bada OS, v1.2
	CPU	1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, Palringo IM
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Ebony Gray
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support, Samsung Mobile Navigator
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- Digital compass - TV-Out - MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player - MP4/MKV/H.263/H.264/WMV/Xvid/DivX video player - Organizer - Music recognition - Picsel document viewer - Image editor - Voice memo - Predictive text input (T9 Trace)

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 600 h (2G) / Up to 500 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 6 h (3G)

MISC	SAR US	0.41 W/kg (head) 0.44 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.39 W/kg (head)

Samsung C6712 Star II DUOS

2011-11-23T18:42:00.001+01:00

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1
		GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 2
	Announced	2011, April
	Status	Available. Released 2011, May

SIZE	Dimensions	109.5 x 56 x 12.2 mm
SIZE	Weight	100 g

DISPLAY	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
	Size	240 x 400 pixels, 3.2 inches (~146 ppi pixel density)
		- Accelerometer sensor - TouchWiz 3.0 UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Phonebook	Yes, Photocall
	Call records	30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls
	Internal	30 MB
	Card slot	microSD, up to 16GB, buy memory

DATA	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Yes
	3G	No
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels
	Features	Video-calling
	Video	Yes, QVGA@15fps
	Secondary	No

FEATURES	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, IM
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
	Radio	FM radio with RDS, FM recording
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Black
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- Dual SIM (dual stand-by) - Facebook, Twitter - MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player - H.263/H.264/MP4 player - Organizer - Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Voice memo - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 550 h
	Talk time	Up to 10 h

MISC	SAR EU	0.74 W/kg (head)

Browsers address the problem of the "Beast" Web Security

2011-09-30T21:23:00.000+01:00

Browser makers are finding ways to protect people with a weak security protocol that could allow an attacker to listen to or away from secure Internet sessions. Potential solutions include an option to disable Java in Mozilla Firefox.

The problem - considered theoretical until a demonstration by researchers and Juliano Rizzo Thai Duong at a security conference in Argentina last week - is a vulnerability in the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS encryption protocols (Transport Layer Security) 1.0, used to secure Web sites that are accessible by using HTTPS (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol).

The researchers created a software program called BEAST (Exploit Against browser SSL / TLS) that can decrypt parts of an encrypted data stream and can be used in what is known as a "man-in-the-middle" (MITM ) type of attack. BEAST uses JavaScript running in the browser and can allow an attacker to spy on traffic, and the identity of a user by compromising the data of the session cookie used to authenticate a user with a site. More details and a video of the demo are on the blog Duong.

Here are the answers of representatives of the major browsers:

Firefox

"We are currently evaluating the feasibility of disabling Java in Firefox universally install and update this post if we do," a position of Mozilla Security Blog said. "Firefox itself is not vulnerable to the attack. While Firefox does not use TLS 1.0 (the version of TLS with this weakness), the technical details of the attack requires the ability to completely control the content of the connections from the browser, which does not allow Firefox. The attackers, however, identified weaknesses in the Java plugins that allow this attack. We recommend that users disable Java from Firefox Add-ons manager as a precaution. "

Internet Explorer

"We see this as an issue for low-risk customers, but we released Security Advisory (2588513) to provide advice and protection for clients with concerns," Jerry Bryant, Group Head of Communications Response Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, said in an e-mail. To be clear, Internet Explorer depends on the implementation of these protocols in Windows, so that our mitigation and solutions applicable to the operating system and not the browser. We are looking at other ways to address the issue in both our products and within the industry and will update our guidance as it becomes available. "

Chrome

A representative of Google mentioned in a CNET blog post from late last week written by Adam Langley, a member of the Chrome team, which said the company was preparing and testing a workaround. "The attack is always a difficult question;. The attacker must have broadband access to the victim MITM This is typically achieved by being on the same wireless network as the victim," says the post. "Nevertheless, it is a much less serious than a problem that can be exploited by having the victim simply visit a Web page. (Incidentally, we pushed a fix to all users of Chrome for such a Flash bug only a few days ago.) "

Opera

Opera developed a fix and tried to send it in Opera 11.51 but found that changes in how the browser connects to the servers were "incomprehensible to thousands of servers around the world," Opera said in Sigbjørn Vik a blog. "This issue will be resolved by close cooperation between the browser vendors and webmasters. Since this can not be directly exploited in Opera, we decided to wait until we have an industry-wide agreement on how move forward. We test systems in place that can connect to secure millions of sites worldwide and to detect how these sites will react to changes in the protocol. We will share our results of these test s' performs with other browser vendors and interested parties, to give us a good basis for finding the best solution to the issue. "

Safari

Apple representatives did not respond to requests for e-mail or telephone for consultation on the Safari browser.

Just upgrade to TLS 1.1, which is not vulnerable to the threat, will not work because almost all SSL connections using TLS 1.0, according to a study reported by Dan Goodin Qualys Register, which broke the story BEAST. In addition, "the upgrade TLS is surprisingly difficult, mainly because almost all widely used applications break fix or technology," he writes.

Addendum, September 30, 11:50 PT: CNET called Mozilla and Firefox NoScript NoScript if the plug-in would protect against an animal-type of attack and did not hear back about noon Friday. However, researchers PhoneFactor, who published a white paper on how to mitigate the threat, said NoScript might help.

"NoScript mitigate BEAST if both:

A. The site is to serve all securely via HTTPS. Namely, any "mixed content warning" on the page.

B. The user knows he should not be mixed content secure / insecure and refused to run any case the evil that is offered to him, "

said Ray Marsh, senior software engineer PhoneFactor.

"It's a lot to ask of any user. I run NoScript all the time and I do not know that I would pass the test myself, "he said in an e-mail." But in practice, users are still with NoScript will be miles ahead of users without malice when the applet comes around. It will take the attacker to have planned ahead for that specific target users, likely saving the user an attack on Iran network-style mass. "

Samsung unveils Android-based Galaxy Tab 7.0 PLUS

2011-09-30T21:15:00.001+01:00

amsung has taken the somewhat surprising to unveil yet another tablet to strengthen its lineNicknamed the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, the Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) based tablet with a 7 inch screen and 1.2GHz dual-core processor.In addition to 802.11n wireless support, the owners may also connect to HSPA + from the device. Storage on the side, customers will be able to choose from 16GB and 32GB versions, and a microSD slot provides the option of adding up to 32GB of additional storage for the tablet. The decision by Samsung to announce a new tab Galaxy 7-inch comes as a bit of a surprise, since the company already has a 7-inch tablet that launched last year. Earlier this month, the company unveiled a 7.7-inch tablet, along with an option of 8.9 inches.Samsung also sells a tablet of 10.1 inches. Whereas it was almost all form factors covered, who would have thought that amsung would need a fourth option to offer customers

Samsung's announcement comes just days after Amazon announced its own, highly anticipated, the market participant tablet.This device, called Kindle Fire (full coverage), it lacks many bells and whistles in the Galaxy Tab Plus 7.0, including connectivity with wireless networks and mobile front and behind the cameras, butcompensates for this with a price tag of only $ 199

Kindle the fire, which also runs on Android, is scheduled for launch in November As for Samsung 7.0 Plus, the company says it will begin deploying the tablet to Indonesia and Austria in late October, followed by a gradual launch throughout Asia, the United States, Europe and around the world. Price was not disclosed, and Samsung did not immediately respond to the request of CNET for comments on this detail

Plus when the 7.0 is finally released, we do not know if it will face patent problems other tablets Samsung have encountered. From Australia to Europe, Samsung and Apple are locked in a bitter patent battle that saw the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 held in Australia and has blocked the sale in Germany. Samsung smartphones were also attacked.

Rumor on the iPhone 64GB re-emerges

2011-09-30T20:46:00.001+01:00

Can sports next Apple iPhone doubling the storage of current models of the company? It's the latest rumor, or at least the last revival of such statements.Citing the same anonymous source model numbers assumed for iPhones and iPods, which entered the new system of Apple retail inventory earlier this week said 9to5mac refresh the Apple iPhone will make three different models with capacities storage. This is in contrast to the current range of Apple, which has a 16GB model and 32GB model.The decision suggests that the third model will have 64GB of storage, the storage options available on the corresponding iPad since the first generation model.There have been some signs of Apple iPhone models tested higher capacity that the sequence never made it to market. For example, in March, China's technology-based MIC Gadget blog said it had obtained a "prototype designed" iPhone 4 with 64 GB of storage on board. Taking pictures displayed on the device andsaid its production information suggested it was produced in early 2010, in advance of the iPhone was announced 4.Adding to this was what appeared to be a development version of the iPhone 4 white, sporting 64 GB of storage and what looked like an early version of IOS 4. This device appeared on the site Tinhte Vietnam in April and is the same outlet that got ahold of the iPhone ahead of its four official announcement.One thing that remains clear is that Apple can fit 64 GB of storage in the amount of space, as is done on his iPod Touch since the third-generation model in 2009. The interesting thing is now to the extent local storage plays a role in the future of the iPhone. With the launch of the next probable along icloud iPhone, Apple is to help users get away with less storage, file storage and application information on its servers, and allows users to remove and re-download songs and videos when space is needed. This is far from a "cloud iPhone" where there is no storage at all, but it is the building block for such a possibility.All that being said, more storage is certainly an interesting feature for some people, especially those who like to keep a lot of media on their device and install large applications.Apple is holding its "iPhone Talk" event next Tuesday, where the company should take the veil on its next iPhone.

Satellite Smart Phone

2010-11-27T11:53:00.003+01:00

Courtesy of AT&T

During the 1990s, many believed satellite phones were the future of mobile communications. Rapidly expanding terrestrial cellular networks gobbled up most of the market instead. Still, satellite phones retained some technical advantages over cellular ones, principally in remote or rugged areas that are difficult to cover economically with cell towers. Now the TerreStar Genus smart phone is combining the best of both worlds, using a cellular connection when available and tapping into a satellite feed when people wander out of range of a cell tower.

Google Gives a First Look at the Chrome OS

2010-11-27T11:50:00.000+01:00

Google gave the first demonstration of its Chrome operating system today, at the same time opening the source code to the public. The company highlighted features that have grown out of what vice president of product management Sundar Pichai called "a fundamentally different model of computing." Unlike other operating systems, which merely incorporate the Internet, Chrome is completely focused on it.

The Chrome OS is based so aggressively on the Internet that devices running it will not even have hard drives, Pichai said, emphasizing that "every app is a Web app." All data will be stored in the cloud, and every application will be accessed through the Chrome browser. Because of this, he added, users will never have to install software or manage updates on the device.

The user interface closely resembles the Chrome browser. When the user opens applications, they appear as tabbed windows across the top of the screen. Users can stick their favorite applications to the desktop with one click, creating permanent tabs for them.

Pichai coyly demonstrated the way the Chrome OS can deal with competitors' file formats. He inserted a USB drive into a laptop running Chrome OS, launching a window that showed that the device contained several Microsoft Excel files. When he clicked on one of the files, the system automatically pulled up the Windows Live Web-based version of Excel, opening the file inside.

"It turns out that Microsoft launched a killer app for Chrome OS," Pichai said, adding that anyone who writes a Web application is writing an application for Chrome by default.

The effect, Pichai hopes, is "speed, simplicity, and security." Today's version of the operating system can boot up in seven seconds and open a Web application in an additional three, he said. Google engineers are working to make those times shorter.

The implications of the Web-focused design were spelled out more fully by Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Chrome OS. Part of the security scheme for Chrome is that it's hard to make any unauthorized changes to the system, he explained. The root filesystem, which stores the core files needed to make software run, is stored in a read-only format. On top of that, every time the user boots the machine, Chrome OS verifies cryptographic signatures that ensure that the operating system software is properly updated, and matches the build Google has approved.

If the system fails any of these checks, the operating system automatically launches into a recovery procedure and reinstalls the correct version of Chrome, Papakipos said. Normally, reinstalling an operating system is a painful process because of the effect that has on the user's data, settings, and applications. In the case of Chrome, he noted, all of that information will remain unaffected in the cloud.

Some data, such as Wi-Fi settings, is cached on the machine, but Papakipos said this is only to make the system work faster. The data is always synced back to the cloud. The vision, he added, is that a user could eventually get a new device, log in, and find everything running just as it had before, with all the settings still in place.

Scrutinizing Facebook Spam

2010-11-27T11:48:00.000+01:00

A study that involved downloading more than three million Facebook profiles has provided the largest-ever snapshot of the methods used by spammers on the world's biggest online social network.

The study, led by researchers at Northwestern University, turned up hundreds of thousands of spam messages, most of which were sent by compromised user accounts in coordinated campaigns similar to those carried out by e-mail spammers.

"For normal users, it mostly remains a myth," says Yan Chen of Northwestern, whose team led the study, "but spam has been a big problem to Facebook."

Reports of user credentials being sold online also motivated the researchers, says Ben Zhao at University of California, Santa Barbara, who with a colleague also contributed to the study, which will be presented at the Internet Measurement Conference in Melbourne, Australia, next month.

Zhao's group had previously collected a dataset of around 11 million Facebook profiles by exploiting the now-discontinued Facebook feature that caused people belonging to regional "networks" to share their profile information with other users by default. Three months worth of data, collected in mid-2009 and representing around 3.5 million people, were used in the study.

The researchers searched for spam in 190 million wall posts--messages posted on one user's profile page by another user--by hunting for Web addresses, even if those addresses were deliberately obscured. Wall posts were grouped into clusters containing the same Web addresses before the malicious clusters were separated from those not sharing spam links by screening the addresses using Web security services.

Altogether 200,000 spam posts from 57,000 different user accounts were picked out from 2.08 million posts containing Web links. These spam posts were generated by 23 million users in total. The study is the first to examine spam activity and features at scale, says Zhao, and it shows Facebook is now a major platform for such activity. "The results are quite surprising to me -- that even last year there was so much activity," he says. "I think this is the harbinger of things to come, as Facebook attracts more of the wrong kind of attention."

Many messages tempted users with offers of free swag such as ringtones, or used a social trap like announcing that someone had a "crush" on them. Around 70 percent of the messages were "phishing attacks," meaning they directed users to websites that attempt to trick them into divulging personal information. But most were attempts to gain Facebook account details, a strategy that could help send out more spam.

"We expected that attackers would mostly create new accounts to send spam attacks, but in fact, most are sent via compromised accounts," says Chen. "That may be harder than creating new accounts, but it is more effective to send spams to real friends."

Different accounts often sent the same spam, sometimes in simultaneous bursts of activity. "These are coordinated spam campaigns, as we see in e-mail spam," says Zhao.

Thinking Outside the In-box

2010-11-27T11:45:00.000+01:00

Search the Internet, and you'll find hundreds of applications designed to help you collaborate with other people more effectively. But examine your own habits, and you'll most likely find that you use just one piece of software for that purpose: an e-mail client.

You're not alone. A recent Forrester Research study found that 83 percent of business users typically send e-mail attachments to colleagues rather than using collaboration software. According to a recent survey by technology consulting company People-OnTheGo, the average information worker spends 3.3 hours a day dealing with e-mail, and 65 percent of such workers have their e-mail client open all the time.

Even Facebook, which once seemed like a likely replacement for e-mail, at least for the young and plugged-in, has acknowledged that e-mail isn't going anywhere. On Monday, the company announced a new messaging service that integrates external e-mail with its own internal messaging system—an admission of the staying power of e-mail, and an attempt to enhance its functionality.

Other software makers seem to have accepted that they'll never pull people's attention away from their e-mail in-boxes. Instead, they're looking to add new collaborative and social capabilities to e-mail.

"It's clear that e-mail is being used and even abused," says Yaacov Cohen, CEO of Mainsoft, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, that sells a plug-in called Harmon.ie. The plug-in links an e-mail application to a collaboration platform such as Google Docs, and to a person's social networking profiles, calendar applications, voice over Internet protocol software, and so on. To share a document using Harmon.ie, a user drags it from a sidebar to the body of a message, where it becomes a link. When the recipient clicks on the link, she is taken to the document stored in the chosen collaboration software. Using e-mail alone for collaboration creates confusion and overloads in-boxes, Cohen says.

Bendable Memory Made from Nanowire Transistors

2010-11-27T11:42:00.000+01:00

Memory flexing: Nanowire transistors that switch between four different conductance states can be made on plastic substrates.
Credit: Junginn Sohn, Cambridge Nanoscience Center

Computing

Bendable Memory Made from Nanowire Transistors

A new type of device could ultimately hold more data than flash memory.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010
By Prachi Patel

Researchers in the U.K. have made a new kind of nanoscale memory component that could someday be used to pack more data into gadgets. The device stores bits of information using the conductance of nanoscale transistors made from zinc oxide.

The researchers published a paper about a prototype memory device fabricated on a rigid silicon substrate last week in the online version of the journal Nano Letters. They are now testing flexible memory devices in the laboratory, says Junginn Sohn, a researcher at the University of Cambridge Nanoscience Center and lead author of the Nano Letters paper.

The nanowire device stores data electrically and is nonvolatile, meaning it retains data when the power is turned off, like the silicon-based flash memory found in smart phones and memory cards. The new memory cannot hold data for as long as flash, and it is slower and has fewer rewrite cycles, but it could potentially be made smaller and packed together more densely. And its main advantage, says Sohn, is that it is made using simple processes at room temperature, which means it can be deposited on top of flexible plastic materials. Nanowire memory could, for instance, be built into a flexible display and could be packed into smaller spaces inside cell phones, MP3 players, plastic RFID tags, and credit cards.

Flash memory elements contain transistors that store bits of data (a 1 or 0) using the presence or absence of charge on a gate electrode. However, like other silicon-based electronic devices, flash faces physical limits in terms of how much it can be miniaturized. Memory elements are already at 25 nanometers, translating to data densities of one terabit per square inch, and are projected to reach their minimum size limit of about 20 nanometers by late 2011. Companies are increasing flash memory densities by packing twice the amount of data by storing two bits, or four values, in each cell: 00, 01, 10, and 11.

The nanowire device can also store four values, as different levels of conductance. It is based on a zinc-oxide nanowire transistor, which the researchers make by placing a nanowire on a silicon substrate and depositing source and drain electrodes at either end of the wire. They coat the wire with barium-titanate nanoparticles and deposit an aluminum gate electrode layer on top.

A positive gate voltage builds up positive charges on each nanowire and puts the device in a high conductance state. A negative voltage switches it to a low conductance state. The researchers used four different voltages to create four conductance states.

iOS 4.2 Pours iPad a Strong, Smooth Shot of New Features

2010-11-27T11:31:00.000+01:00

With iOS 4.2, iPads get a new Folders feature that lets users group app icons together.

Change can stoke conflicted emotions in a computer user. There's the thrill of the new. Then there's the dread of problems that may erupt when the old meets the new. Admittedly, I felt those qualms when I prepared to upgrade my iPad to the latest version of its operating system, iOS 4.2. As it turns out, my fears were unnecessary.
At first I was hesitant to upgrade on the first day the new version was available. Typically, the pent-up demand for something that's received the volume of ink and electrons that this edition of iOS has garnered swamps a company's servers, so I was surprised with how smoothly and effortlessly the upgrade occurred. There was narry a hiccup, except for an annoying message that kept telling me I was going to lose some purchased programs if I didn't backup my iPad. Problem was, the message kept popping up even after I backed up my iPad.
When I booted up my iPad for the first time under 4.2, I noticed that the wallpaper had changed -- it was simulated drops of water on a gray background. The simulation was so good, that I tried to wipe the drops from the screen a few times before realizing they weren't real.
Other than the new wallpaper, the iPad appeared to be unchanged. That was comforting -- familiarity always is -- but disquieting, too, because I was anxious to take the new features for a spin. After fumbling around with my apps for a bit, I decided to accelerate the discovery process and downloaded the iPad user's guide from Apple's website, which has been recently revised to accommodate the changes brought to the tablet by iOS 4.2.

Better Organization With Folders

Since my app library has grown to three screens of programs, one of the first new features I tried was Folders. Creating new folders was incredibly simple. You simply touch and hold any app's icon until all the icons on the screen start jiggling. Then you drag one icon onto another and a folder is created.
To edit a folder, you touch and hold its icon. A palette will appear containing flashing icons of the apps in the folder. From that view, you can remove apps from the folder or give it a new name.
Folders is just what the doctor ordered for organizing apps on the iPad. It cuts down on swiping from screen to screen, and it makes it easier to associate apps with groups where they can be more easily found.
Another feature 4.2 brings to the iPad is multitasking. That's activated by double pushing the the tablet's home button. When that's done, the screen of the iPad will gray out and a bar appears on its bottom displaying the apps that are active.
Whenever you use an app, it's automatically added to the multitasking bar. That means if you want to shut the app down, you'll have to touch and hold its icon on the bar, wait for the jiggling to start and close it. It's a bit inconvenient.

Become a Multitasker

Multitasking really speeds up moving from app to app on the iPad, and so far, true to Apple's claims, I haven't seen a hit on the tablet's performance. However, it's still early in the game, and I am obsessive about closing apps that I've finished using and not letting them linger on the multitasking bar where they can sap processing power.
Another benefit of mulitasking is the ability to run a music service like Pandora or play cuts from iTunes in the background while working with another app in the foreground.
When you right swipe the multitasking bar, controls appear for launching iTunes, controlling the tablet's volume and brightness, playing and jumping between songs and locking the screen orientation.
The slider button on the side of the iPad that was originally the orientation lock is now a mute button. This change has upset some souls in iPadland, but personally, I always had trouble locating that button when I wanted to lock the screen orientation and find the change more convenient.

Text Search on Web Pages

With 4.2, Apple has made it easier to print from the iPad. It's really easy if you have a printer that supports AirPrint; less so if you don't.
AirPlay support has also been added to the tablet's capabilities. Coupled with multitasking, that feature allows you to do things like beam video from the iPad to Apple TV while surfing the Web.
For gamers, Game Center, Apple's online gaming service, has been added to the iPad mix. With one Game Center ID, you can pick up your game activities from any iOS powered device.
The iPad's mail program has also been improved. It now has a unified mailbox where messages from all email accounts are aggregated. It also supports conversation threading. What's more, you can reply to invitations directly through the iPad's calendar app.
A small but productive feature has been added to Safari. It allows you to search for text on a Web page. When you type a search term into the search field at the top of the browser, not only will a list of Web search suggestions appear, but also an option for searching for the term on the page.
This latest version of iOS 4.2 is an iPad owner's dream. It adds powerful features that can increase productivity without disrupting the old look and feel of the device.