Think talking on a cellphone in public is anti-social?

Just wait. Soon, folks might be staring at their phones as well as mumbling into them.

Video chat on mobile phones has arrived.

On Friday, the HTC Evo 4G — the first U.S. phone able to access the speed-enhanced 4G cell network — went on sale, with Sprint Nextel as its exclusive carrier.

Tapping the 4G network enables the Evo to do faster Web browsing and downloads, in addition to higher-quality video streams and the aforementioned video chat. Sprint is the first cell provider in the U.S. to roll out 4G service.

But the honor of having the sole, mainstream video-chat phone could be short-lived. On Monday, Apple Inc. is expected to unveil an updated iPhone that is rumored to also offer video calling (although some rumors about new products from the super-secretive company always turn out to be false).

Just how good can video chat be on a cellphone screen?

Surprisingly terrific, judging from a test of the Evo. That is, after a lot of fussing.

A couple of days before the phone went on sale, I did a video chat with Scott Steinmetz, Sprint’s project manager for the product, who was in his Overland Park, Kan., office.

It took much finagling to get the call to work, only partly because the system was not quite fully activated.

To make a call work, both participants have to have a Google Gmail account, which is no surprise because the Evo’s operating system is Google’s own Android 2.1. Then you have to configure the Qik video app, which took some time to get up and working.

Finally, after numerous attempts, Scott appeared on the screen of the Evo I was testing. His face was slightly elongated due to the lens on the phone’s camera. But the image was so clear that I could comment on the Southwest-themed painting on his wall and antique slot machine in the background.

Meanwhile, he could see the less interesting, blank wall behind me in my living room (I’m painting the interior).

Most important, we could easily see each other’s expressions, providing a reminder of how nice video chat can be. The small screen was not a major barrier.

But there are three major caveats, two of which might be temporary.

At this point, you can use video chat only with people who also have Evo phones. For a while, that probably won’t be a lot of folks — the Evo is not cheap to buy or own. It costs $200 if bought with a two-year Sprint agreement. The data plan, which is unlimited, is $70 a month. And finally, it costs $10 extra a month to use the 4G network (more on that in a bit).

Second caveat: Video chat works only at 4G speeds on cell networks, and Sprint has not rolled that out to all cities yet. One of the spots that does not have 4G is a little place called Los Angeles. It won’t be here until later this year — the company would not specify just when.

The Evo can also use Wi-Fi for calls, which is how I did them from home and the office.

Finally, just how badly do we want video chat? It’s handy on computers for business meetings, or for talking to loved ones far away. But in general, video calling has never much caught on. After the famed Picturephone was demonstrated at the 1964 World’s Fair, futurists — as we now call people who make wild guesses — predicted that it would one day be part of daily life.

It turns out that for most real-world calls, voice is just fine.

Enjoy your status, Evo, as the leader in mobile video chat. The iPhone could be striving to take that away from you soon.

By David Colker, Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com

AT&T’s all-you-can-eat data plan died Wednesday, and plenty of wireless customers mourned over their loss. But is it really a big deal? It depends on the type of data consumer you are.

The new tiered pricing structure gives AT&T customers the following options:

For some, these changes stink. For others, it won’t affect their lives much. Which plan is right for you? Let’s break down the options.

Current AT&T smartphone users

In a poll Wired.com conducted Wednesday, 73 percent of 11,000 survey takers reported data usage under 2 GB. A Consumer Reports study also found that the average iPhone user consumes 273 MB of data per month, while a measly 4 percent consume an average of 1 GB per month.

It’s safe to say that the majority of customers can confidently subscribe to the 2-GB plan. Keep in mind you have the option to jump between the two limited plans — so, if you find you’re using less than 200 MB, you can switch to that $15 plan instead.

If you haven’t checked out your average usage to determine where you stand, follow the steps laid out in our poll article Wednesday.

Data “hogs”

As for the remaining 27 percent of our survey takers who reported data usage exceeding 2 GB: If you’re already on AT&T, stick with your current unlimited plan. AT&T designed these plans to deal with data hogs, just as AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega warned last year.

If you opt for the 2-GB plan, you’re going to be paying at least $35 per month ($25 plus $10 for each extra GB), or possibly much more if your usage goes into many gigabytes.

If you’re not yet an AT&T customer and you plan to gorge a ton of data, you have the option to adjust your behavior to avoid excessive fees by handling more of your data-heavy tasks over Wi-Fi rather than 3G. Or stick with your current carrier.

3G iPad owners

The changes in data plans are most frustrating for 3G iPad customers. The device launched in April with an option to buy unlimited data with no contract commitment for just $30 a month.

If you’ve already activated your account with unlimited data, you can continue using it, but here’s the kicker: If you choose not to use 3G data for a single month, you’re booted out of that unlimited plan forever. So essentially AT&T is bullying you into activating unlimited every month if you want to keep using it.

Still, as with smartphones, your course of action depends on your average data usage. The iPad is a tad too new to gather hard data for average usage, but currently we think the device is being used more in living rooms over Wi-Fi connections. So the 2-GB cap might not be too stifling for most iPad customers.

We recommend against the 200 MB plan for iPad customers. The apps and media you stream to the iPad will be bigger in file size than those of a smartphone, so 200 MB can be exceeded easily, even if you only use 3G lightly. Better to pay the $25 for 2 GB rather than $30 after exceeding the 200-MB cap.

If you’re a rebellious 3G iPad customer who also owns a smartphone, you have the option of paying nothing at all for iPad data. Jailbreaking the iPhone enables you to tether it to the iPad, and there are likely similar utilities for other AT&T smartphones, as well. However, keep in mind that jailbreaking an iPhone can void your warranty, and Apple has claimed hacking the handset results in security and performance issues.

Tethering customers

AT&T’s tethering option is indisputably a raw deal. After paying $25 for 2 GB of data, you have to drop an extra $20 each month just to activate tethering. What’s lame is that that extra $20 doesn’t give you an extra data plan; you’re pulling from the same data as your overall usage even when untethered. As GDGT’s Ryan Block said, it’s as if Comcast charged you an extra $20 a month to use your Wi-Fi router.

If you’re really eager to use your phone as a wireless modem, you’re going to be adding upward of $45 a month to your wireless bill. If you’re cringing at the idea, there are alternatives to tethering: Standalone devices such as Verizon’s Mi-Fi and Sprint’s Overdrive will give you a portable Wi-Fi hotspot you can take anywhere. But then you’re talking about a separate data contract with another carrier.

Going forward

The tech industry is making a big move into “cloud” computing, where data is stored on the internet instead of on your own devices. Apple is rumored to be planning a reboot of iTunes that involves streaming media.

Therefore, it’s conceivable that data usage will increase as more of our media is stored online, but it’s unclear just how much. For music, LA Times writer Mark Milian points out that you’d need to stream about four hours of Pandora every day to hit that 2-gig monthly limit. (That’s quite a lot of tunes over a month.)

But Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk on Wednesday noted that many cloud services, such as Rhapsody and Spotify, allow you to also store songs for offline listening.

Streaming video is poised to play a bigger role in the near future, with phones such as the HTC Evo 4G and the next-gen iPhone (if the final product is mostly the same as the prototype) sporting front-facing cameras.

And let’s not forget about already-popular services like Netflix streaming or YouTube. People who are especially interested in streaming video are going to be the biggest victims. (If you’re a current video-savvy customer with an unlimited plan, don’t ever leave it.)

Still, even as networks become faster and coverage increases, we think in the next five to 10 years people are going to prefer handling their media in a combination of offline and online environments — not only because networks are consistently imperfect, but also for reasons such as privacy and native performance.

Whenever a company takes something away from you, it inevitably amounts to outrage. But in the near term, we think most will enjoy the benefit of paying less for just the right amount of data, while heavier data users pay more.

By Brian X. Chen

www.wired.com

Online stores run by Apple Inc., Google Inc. and others now offer more than 250,000 applications such as games and financial tools. The apps have been a key selling point for devices like Apple’s iPhone. But concerns are growing among security researchers and government officials that efforts to keep out malicious software aren’t keeping up with the apps craze.

In one incident, Google pulled dozens of unauthorized mobile-banking apps from its Android Market in December. The apps, priced at $1.50, were made by a developer named “09Droid” and claimed to offer access to accounts at many of the world’s banks. Google said it pulled the apps because they violated its trademark policy.

The apps were more useless than malicious, but could have been updated to capture customers’ banking credentials, said John Hering, chief executive of Lookout, a mobile security provider. “It is becoming easier for the bad guys to use the app stores,” Mr. Hering said.

Unlike Apple or BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Google doesn’t have employees dedicated to vetting applications submitted to its Android store. Google said it removes apps that violate its policies, but largely relies on users to alert it to bad software. “We check reactively,” said a Google spokesman. “There is no manual bottleneck.”

As more companies, governments and consumers use wireless gadgets to conduct commerce and share private information, computer bad guys are beginning to target them, according to government officials and security researchers.

“Mobile phones are a huge source of vulnerability,” said Gordon Snow, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division. “We are definitely seeing an increase in criminal activity.”

The FBI’s Cyber Division recently began working on a number of cases based on tips about malicious programs in app stores, Mr. Snow said. The cases involve apps designed to compromise banking on cellphones, as well as mobile “malware” used for espionage by foreign nations, said a person familiar with the matter. To protect its own operations, the FBI bars its employees from downloading apps on FBI-issued smartphones.

The vulnerability of mobile computing is also a concern for the U.S. Air Force, which worries about theft of military information or the use of personal details to scam or extort airmen and women.

In March, the Air Force barred users of all service-issued BlackBerrys from downloading apps. Research In Motion said its technology allows customers to enforce such group-wide security measures.

The move followed a sharp rise in questionable activity aimed at Air Force smartphones, including attacks that tried to exploit mobile Web browsers, said a military official who helps oversee the defense of the Air Force’s networks.

About a year ago, the Air Force saw fewer than a dozen attacks targeting its phones each month. In May, the Air Force saw more than 500, the official said, though none of the probes was successful.

“We all see this tipping point coming,” said Peter Tippett, who oversees an investigative-response team that studies computer crime at Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications Inc. that serves corporations. “There is a lot of activity to figure out how to make it less likely that a financial transaction would be exploited” on a mobile phone, he said.

The financial services industry says it is working with app-store operators to ensure mobile-banking apps are authentic. “Customers should be able to know who they are dealing with,” said Leigh Williams, president of BITS, an arm of the Financial Services Roundtable, a banking industry advocacy group

Some security experts believe Google’s Android Market is more vulnerable than other app stores since Google doesn’t examine all apps before they are available for users to download.

A Google spokesman said the company has put in place security measures, such as remotely disabling apps found to be malicious and requiring developers to register with its Checkout payment service, and argued there’s no evidence for claims that its store poses a greater risk than others.

.Apple vets applications before they appear in its App Store, but risks still exist. In July 2008, Apple pulled a popular game called Aurora Feint from its store after it was discovered to be uploading users’ contact lists to the game maker’s servers. More recently, it yanked hundreds of apps it said violated its policies, some out of security concerns.

“Consumers should be aware that iPhone security is far from perfect and that a piece of software downloaded from the App Store may still be harmful,” wrote software engineer Nicolas Seriot in a research paper detailing iPhone security holes that he presented at a computer security conference in February.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, speaking at the All Things D conference this week, said his company’s employees carefully curate the store. “We have a few rules: has to do what it’s advertised to do, it has to not crash, it can’t use private APIs,” or application programming interfaces, he said, adding that 95% of submissions are approved.

“Apple takes security very seriously,” a spokeswoman said. “We have a very thorough approval process and review every app. We also check the identities of every developer.”

Apple’s iPhone itself isn’t immune to mobile threats, either. Since 2008, security experts have identified at least 36 security holes in the phone’s software, according to a review of the National Vulnerability Database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. One, identified in September 2009, could have allowed hackers to learn someone’s username and password from messages sent to servers when browsing the Web.

Some victims are now more cautious. Sara Dellabella, a car saleswoman in Cuba City, Wisc., said she doesn’t download as many apps on her Motorola Inc. Droid phone, which uses Google’s Android software, after a malicious game her son downloaded from the Android Market wiped out all of her text messages and personal notes. “It just rips your heart out,” she said. “I am being more vigilant now.”

By SPENCER E. ANTE

online.wsj.com

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–When Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) launches the Evo smartphone Friday, the handset’s maker, HTC Corp. (2498.TW), will enjoy the enviable position of having its name emblazoned on three of the four national wireless carriers’ flagship handsets.

A device that enjoys flagship status receives more attention and advertising money.

HTC’s rare trifecta–the fourth, AT&T Inc. (T), will remain committed to Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone for a while–illustrates how the Taiwanese company has built a reputation as a top-tier handset maker in just 13 years.

“Where there used to be nothing, now they’re a force to be reckoned with,” said Lois Fagan, who manages Sprint Nextel Corp.’s (S) phone selection.

HTC has separated itself from a crowded pack of phones using Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android operating system through more intuitive user interfaces and closer relationships with carriers and retailers. HTC, though, still needs to improve its recognition with consumers.

Nonetheless, rivals know about HTC, as proven by Apple’s recently filed patent-infringement suit against the company in an attempt to slow down the expansion of Android phones.

The lawsuit hasn’t hindered carrier support. Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdams, speaking about the success of HTC’s Incredible phone, told investors last month that if the carrier had enough handsets, “we could sell twice as many as we have.” Component shortages have limited the supply, making it a highly coveted device.

HTC’s closest partner remains T-Mobile USA. The carrier was the first to take a chance on an Android phone with the G1 from HTC in 2008, and it calls the HTC HD2, which runs Windows Phone software, its current flagship product. In addition, on Wednesday, T-Mobile released an update to its myTouch line of Android phones, HTC’s myTouch 3G Slide.

HTC “has done more with Android than any other manufacturer in the world,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology officer for T-Mobile.

To be sure, HTC will still need to invest heavily before becoming a household name in the U.S. While the “Quietly Brilliant” campaign has been well-received, HTC remains far behind well-known brands such as Motorola Inc. (MOT), or Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.SE), both of which are rolling out new Android devices. Industry executives warn that it’s difficult developing a strong brand identity while working so closely with carriers to create devices.

“It’s a totally different ballgame,” said Ari Virtanen, a wireless executive for Elektrobit Corp., which comes up with reference designs for companies such as Nokia Corp. (NOK). “Building a brand takes time and money.”

The launch of the Evo, the nation’s first fourth-generation smartphone, will help as will the boost from electronics retailing giant Best Buy Co. Inc (BBY). Last week, the two companies agreed to have Best Buy carve out a dedicated spot to promote HTC phones.

“It’s no big secret to say that HTC has quickly moved into a top position with Best Buy Mobile,” said Scott Anderson, senior director of the retailer’s wireless arm.

CEO Peter Chou said he is starting to see a change.

“I was traveling last week and in immigration, they asked me where I work, and then the immigration officer said, ‘Oh, I have an HTC phone,’” Chou said during a keynote address at the All Things Digital conference.

HTC’s first attempt to create an eye-catching device came with the 2008 launch of the Touch Diamond, which featured a prism backing and customized user interface that ran on top of Windows Mobile. Much of the influence came from consulting firm One & Co., which it acquired at the end of 2008.

The company worked to create a different user interface for Windows Mobile, which laid the foundation for its Sense interface for Android devices. The customized look and collection of HTC widgets give its devices a different feel from the standard Android phone.

“HTC tries to add value on top of the Android and Windows platforms,” Chou said.

Drew Bamford, who runs the HTC innovation office in its Seattle facilities, said that a few years ago, the design group was moved up and reports directly to the CEO.

“We had a lot of support from Peter to do something new,” he said.

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires

(Jeanette Borzo contributed to this article).

online.wsj.com

Yahoo News quotes Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai as saying, “We are working on bringing the device later this fall.” He continues stating, “It’s something which we are very excited by … We expect it to reach millions of users on day one.”

Reuters quotes Pichai saying, “Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work. You don’t need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome.”

Google has been offering its cloud-based productivity applications for a while now to businesses and end users with offerings like Google Docs that are compatible with Microsoft Office file types.

Google talked more about its coming operating system at Computex in Taiwan this week. Google reports that it intends to launch its operating system, dubbed Chrome OS, in the late fall of 2010. We already know a lot of what there is to know about Chrome with the OS having been officially announced back in November of 2009. Google also offered some information on its cloud printing scheme for the OS in April 2010.

The real question for the Chrome OS is will hardware manufacturers support the OS. The OS will be open source and might woo some hardware makers to offer it on their netbooks, which is the market where Chrome OS is aimed.

by Shane McGlaun

www.dailytech.com

The Apple App Store police are now rejecting iPhone and iPad applications for behaving like “widgets” and “creating their own desktops,” according to one developer who’s busy eating his previous claims that Apple isn’t evil.

In late April, an unnamed Australian — one of a small team of cross-platform developers known as Shifty Jelly — made a point of telling the world that the Apple App Store is a mighty wonderful place. “I love the app store and the amazing hassle-free distribution it provides and I only really have a few niggling concerns with how Apple has dealt with us, as developers,” he wrote in a blog post entitled “Sorry Media, But Apple Isn’t Evil.”

But little more than a month later, this outspoken Aussie has accused himself of talking nonsense after the Jobsian cult said it was booting his company’s photo-centric iPad application, My Frame, from the App Store. “A month ago I wrote a blog post about how Apple were not actually evil, because I was getting sick of all the media hype and bashing that was going on,” he now says. “Little did I know that a month later that blog post would come back and smack me in the face.”

MyFrame, from Groundhog Software, layers various data and tools atop digital photos as you view them on the iPad, and three successive versions of the app were previously approved by the App Store police. But on Monday, the police called to say they’d changed their minds, accusing the app of being too widgety. The app is still available from the store, but Apple has apparently told GroundHog it’s coming down.

“They refused to be pinned down to an exact reason, simply stating that they were doing a cull of any applications that presented widgets to the user,” reads the Aussie’s blog post. “All the guy on the phone would say is how much he liked our application, and how sorry he was, but there was nothing he could do. All we got out of him was that Apple no longer liked ‘widgets’ and wanted all widget apps removed.”

Previously, this coder had scoffed at media claims that Apple’s approval process was “murky.” But he now says that dealing with the company is like falling down a Carrollian rabbit hole. “Our application is being removed for a very murky reason, one which is nowhere to be found in any documentation that Apple give us developers, even worse one which Apple themselves refuse to explain, or put in writing. Reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland: ‘I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.’”

But he couldn’t help but appeal to the App Store’s Queen of Hearts. Embracing the web parlour game of the moment, he sent an email to Steve Jobs (sjob@apple.com – feel free to have a go):

Hi Steve,

Just got a phone call from Apple letting us know that our iPad app ‘My Frame’ is being removed from the store. Apparently Apple is cracking down on ‘widgety’ type apps. Our app is a beautiful photo frame with a few nice things you can put over your photos. It’s not ugly, or even widgety.

What gives? I’ve always defended you guys in the past, but it seems like you’ve crossed an invisible line here, even the guy on the phone was saying how much he likes our application but that there’s nothing he can do?

The cult leader responded with typical brevity:

We are not allowing apps that create their own desktops. Sorry.

Sent from my iPad

The coder wrote back, claiming it all made sense before pointing out that it didn’t”

Understand, but don’t agree…besides all of which our application (My Frame) is a photo frame, not a desktop environment. Your people won’t even tell us what we need to remove to get approved, they are just kicking us out. Put yourself in our shoes.

We would argue that the he doesn’t understand at all — which is completely understandable. Per usual, the Jobsian logic is rather muddled. If you take a peek at MyFrame, you’ll notice that in layering tools atop a photo, it does look a bit like a desktop:

But you get much the same impression when you load up Microsoft’s Bing or Adobe Ideas or Major League Baseball’s iPad app. What is a desktop but a user interface, and all apps have a UI. A ban on widgets is somewhat understandable — given Apple’s existing ban on multitasking. But MyFrame isn’t exactly widgety.

The App Store police have been known to reject applications for “duplicating Apple functionality,” and this would seem to be the rational for barring at least one effort to add a widgety dashboard interface to the iPad. But this provides little solace to our favorite Lewis Carroll-quoting Australian application developer, who — like so many others — has woken up to the fact that Apple maintains its own reality.

“How can a company be prepared to invest into a platform that can change at any time, cutting you off and kicking you out, with no course of action but to whine on some no-name blog,” he writes. “There is no alternative platform, despite what others may say about Android, it’s immature and their app store(s) are a wild west nightmare. It really is Apple’s way or the highway, and that really stinks. Badly. Very badly. Apple is the angry queen from Alice in Wonderland, screaming ‘Off with her head!’ and we have little recourse but to watch their pack of card minions execute those orders.”

By Cade Metz in San Francisco

www.theregister.co.uk

The Financial Times said in a report over the holiday weekend that Google will ditch Windows due to security concerns. The reaction by those in the security community is that the FT.com report is FUD, promoting catchy headlines for clicks.

The Financial Times reported that, “Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.”

The report says that the switch started full swing in January, shortly after the Aurora incident, and that it could “effectively end the use of Windows at Google.” The alternative to Windows, according to two unnamed employees cited in the story, is either a computer running a variation of the Linux Kernel or one running OS X. If one were to request a Windows-based system, CIO level approval is needed.

“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” one employee told the Financial Times. Another added that, “particularly since the China scare, a lot of people here are using Macs for security”

A Google spokesperson told The Tech Herald that, “We’re always working to improve the efficiency of our business, but we don’t comment on specific operational matters.”

Google develops applications and tools for Windows systems, on both the desktop level and snap-in products like those for Outlook. That business aspect alone is enough to keep Windows running on their enterprise network. However, while the big ‘G’ may offer an option in operating system choice, a fact some Googlers have confirmed, it is highly unlikely that Google will ditch Windows completely.

However, limiting the access of Windows to certain parts of the network makes sense, if there is a viable way to do so affordably and without compromise to productivity and bottom line. At the same time, those reasons are also why mixed networks are almost impossible to find. You may see a developer running Ubuntu or Slackware, and a marketing master running OS X, but the rest of the network is Windows.

Another reason the Financial Times article is seen as a traffic-play-only item comes from the quote that employees were moving to Macintosh due to their security.

The Windows box hit in the Aurora attacks ran outdated software, and had an end user assigned with administrative rights who clicked on a malicious link during an IM session. How exactly is OS X or any flavor of the Linux Kernel more secure in this scenario?

Switching to Snow Leopard or Ubuntu from Windows would exclude attacks aiming at Internet Explorer sure, but they will not prevent social engineering attacks, nor would they stop attacks aimed at the system through third-party software.

If the attacker knows that the user is on OS X, how hard would it be for them to go after any of the software that Apple has not patched and gain additional user permissions or run code? There are plenty of flaws for OS X, and Apple has a history for issuing patches long after the vendor has pushed them to users on other platforms.

One serious example would be the DNS flaw from 2008. BIND was patched by ISC three months before Apple pushed it to users on OS X. Even then, the patch did not fix the problem. Yet, other systems using the patch form ISC were protected.

For that matter, would systems used at Google, running Ubuntu for example, have all the proper package updates? If not, they can be attacked too. As with OS X, if an attacker knows the victim, then developing attacks aimed at the third-party software isn’t out of reach. Neither is using simple social engineering.

If an Enterprise is using Windows, then it is worth the time and money spent to deploy hardened images and restrict user permissions. Updating to the newest Windows version, as mentioned in more than one article based on the Financial Times report, will only fix some of the problem. It does no good to deploy a new OS if it isn’t managed.

Again, it is possible that Google will push alternatives over Windows. Even still, Windows is the platform with the largest user base on the planet. Google still develops for that platform, and until that changes, they will need to let some of their 20,621 employees use it on a regular basis.

Switching out operating systems is not the answer, isolation is. If there is a resource that needs protected, then it should be isolated, while only allowing the most essential systems and users access to them. Google knows this, and they know that the ball was dropped during the whole Aurora incident.

So if the Financial Times story is legit, even though general consensus says otherwise, then Google is seriously overreacting. Otherwise, you can mark the Google ditching Windows story as click campaigning.

Tell us, if the story is true, is Google making the right call? Does it make sense to simply walk away from Windows in an Enterprise environment and replace it with something like OS X or any given flavor of Linux?

by Steve Ragan

www.thetechherald.com

AsusTek Computer has unveiled a portable tablet computer that runs on Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system and is among several Taiwanese computer makers to display tablet PCs at the five-day show in Taipei that opens on Tuesday.

MSI also announced a Windows-based tablet PC at the show. The Wind Pad device will feature a 10-inch screen, built-in 3G and Wi-Fi, GPS and HDMI high-definition video output.

Acer, the world’s second largest PC vendor, unveiled last week a 7-inch touchscreen tablet that like many other coming models runs on Android, the operating system that Google is distributing for free for mobile devices.

AsusTek’s touchscreen tablet, with the name of Eee Pad, comes in 10- and 12-inch sizes and is set to go on sale in Australia late this year or in the first quarter of next year, the company confirmed.

In addition to full Windows support, company chairman Jonney Shih said Eee Pad was equipped with a Web camera and runs Flash by Adobe Systems which will allow users to view YouTube and other video programs on the internet.

The 10-inch Eee Pad will sell for $US399 to $US449, and the MCI Wind Pad is expected to cost around $US499 according the Engadget blog.

By contrast, Apple’s iPads cost betwen $A629 and $A1049 depending on the data storage capacity. iPads use the HTML5 standard and its lack of Flash support has alienated some users.

Although both devices already showcased at Computex are based on the Windows 7 operating system, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told PC World at the conference that hardware makers would unite behind Google’s Android.

“Windows is too big and it’s too full featured for smartbooks and tablets.

“The good news is that we finally have an operating system to unite behind. Android is an operating system that has gained a tremendous amount of momentum all over the world,” Huang said.

AsusTek also unveiled on Monday an e-notepad that serves as both an electronic-reader and note-taking device, with a built-in camera that will let the user grab screenshots of lecture slides.

Shih said the notepad - with a price tag of $US199 to $US299 - turns pages at a faster speed and does not cause as much eye-fatigue during lengthy reading as other e-readers.

AP with smh.com.au

 Well, that didn’t take long. Apple has announced that the company has sold its two-millionth iPad, bolstered in part by the launch of the handheld device in Asia and Europe this past Friday.

And the Apple train isn’t slowing down in that regard: The company plans to launch the iPad in nine more countries come July, with even more countries scheduled out as the year rolls on.

Just to put this into perspective, Apple began selling the iPad in the United States on April 3 of this year. By May 3–just 28 days after the device’s release–the company was already touting that it had reached its one millionth sale. As we reported back then, it took the company’s first iPhone a (seemingly) whopping 74 days to reach that plateau.

It doesn’t seem as if iPad sales have begun to slow down just yet. After all, it’s only been 28 days since the million mark was hit, and Apple’s already pushed into two-million territory.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a company statement. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

In fact, Apple itself had previously pushed back the international sale date for the iPad by a month, citing unexpected U.S. demand for the device since selling 500,000 units during the product’s first week of existence.

It remains to be seen just how many apps from Apple’s App Store have been downloaded by the millions of iPad users thus far–around the one-million-sold mark, Apple announced that iPad owners had been busy nabbing more than 12 million apps and 1.5 million eBooks.

By: David Murphy

www.pcmag.com

With the release of Skype 2.0 for the iPhone, users are no longer restricted to WiFi only calling. Skype-to-Skype calls over a 3G connection are free—for now, at least. The company has indicated that it plans to begin charging users for these kinds of calls beginning in September, but the service won’t come in the form of a “buy a chunk of minutes” option akin to the company’s Skype-to-landline or Skype-to-mobile calling services.

Instead, users will pay an undisclosed monthly fee for the ability to fire up Skype on their iPhones and call out to other Skype users. That’s in addition to whatever fees or prices they already pay as part of their various calling plans with AT&T.

Skype-to-Skype calls over a WiFi connection will remain free, and it’s unclear whether users will pay a fee in addition to paying for Skype minutes or unlimited calling plans when trying to make Skype calls to landline or mobile phones over the iPhone’s 3G connection.

Currently, Skype users on Verizon smartphones can make all the calls they want for free—save for the standard rates that apply when using Skype to dial up a landline or mobile phone. The application works on Verizon’s 3G service and doesn’t cost a single penny extra to reach another Skype user, even though it only allows for Skype-to-Skype calls, instant messaging, and discounted international calling (you can’t make calls out to U.S.-based numbers via the Skype app).

Of course, Skype and Verizon partnered up in February of this year to release the application across the carrier’s various smartphones. It’s been suggested that the fee for iPhone users is a way for Skype to maintain this partnership and still tap into the iPhone/AT&T market in some capacity—however, it’s unclear whether Skype will be forking over a fraction of its to-be-determined monthly subscription costs to AT&T itself.

By: David Murphy

www.pcmag.com