Logging The Cyber World

Samsung accounts for 40%+ of Android phones sales

Xyber — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:37:44 +0000

Samsung (005930) Electronics Co. sold more than 40 percent of all Android mobile phones in the first quarter as the South Korean manufacturer became the world’s largest handset maker, research company Gartner Inc. said.

Global handset sales declined 2 percent to 419 million, dragged down by a drop in low-end handsets, Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner said today in a report. Smartphone sales rose 45 percent, the researcher said.

Samsung, which also makes screens and other hardware used in smartphones, has profited from its ability to offer devices running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software at a wide range of prices. Android is currently installed on 56 percent of new smartphones, more than twice Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s share. The prospect of even cheaper Android models led customers in Asia to postpone purchases, the researchers said.

Click here to read more.

Google offers cloud-based storage

Xyber — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:00:33 +0000

It only took Google six or so years to get its long-anticipated GDrive cloud storage service out the door and into general circulation, but it finally did happen on April 24.

What a relief. Now we can stop talking about the “planned” cloud service and just call it “Google’s cloud storage service.” To its credit, the company has a good sense of humor about this incredibly protracted project, publishing a blog post entitled “Introducing Google Drive… yes, really” to break the news earlier today.

Read at eWeek

A report says Google Drive to Launch Next Week

Xyber — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:38:30 +0000

Cloud storage tools have grown to become a huge selling point for anybody trying to choose between Apple’s iOS and Android. With Google’s upcoming Google Drive the balance will lean in favor of Android’s daddy. With everybody pumped about the free 5GB available on Google Drive, reports claim that the new cloud storage tool will launch next week.

It goes without saying: it pays to have access to your data regardless of the gadget you’re using or the location you’re in. Dropbox has been a viable solution but once Google Drive will launch, this cloud storage tool is going to go down fast. And the launch date for Google Drive might be closer than imagined.

The news that Google Drive will launch next week comes from thenextweb.com that writes it got a draft release from one of Google’s partners on the cloud storage solution. Apparently Google Drive launches next week on Tuesday and it is going to burry Dropbox with some 5GB of storage for free.

More here

Google fined for $25000, then cleared of Street View data misuse

Xyber — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:48:23 +0000

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $25,000 fine on Google Inc., accusing the search giant of deliberately obstructing an investigation into whether the company violated federal rules when its street-mapping service collected and stored data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks in 2010.

The agency proposed the fine late Friday night as it faced a deadline for taking action on the “Wi-Spy” case.

“We worked in good faith to answer the FCC’s questions throughout the inquiry, and we are pleased that they have concluded that we complied with the law,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement.

Here at Wall Street Journal

Intel Officially Announced 7-Inch Studybook Tablet

Xyber — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:25:52 +0000

Companies have been trying to transform education with computers for decades, with mixed results. But there is new enthusiasm for the possibilities represented by tablets, and Intel has a new entry.

The chip giant on Tuesday is introducing what it calls the studybook, a portable device with a seven-inch touchscreen that is encased in particularly rugged plastic. Like its prior entries in education, Intel designed the device but expects it to be branded, customized and sold by hardware companies to reach students in emerging and industrialized countries.

Pricing is expected to be established by those partners, and may depend on factors such as software and hardware add-ons. But the tablets should start at less than $200 each, says Kapil Wadhera, general manager of Intel’s education market platforms group.

Wall Street Journal

Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone available from AT&T today

Xyber — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:09:22 +0000

Happy Nokia Lumia 900 release day, Windows Phone 7 fans! Only, there should really be an asterisk by that title, because plenty of interested purchasers are going to find it difficult to actually get their hands on Nokia’s “flagship” device today.

Why’s that? “For reasons known only to AT&T executives,” writes VentureBeat’s Dylan Tweney, “the Nokia Lumia 900 launches in the U.S. today, Easter Sunday.”

In other words, plenty of AT&T stores and Microsoft stores aren’t going to be open today. Worse, there isn’t a blanket “We’re all closed on Easter Sunday” policy for either AT&T’s or Microsoft’s retail shops: If you’re interested in grabbing a Lumia 900, you’re going to have to put in some foot time and trudge over to all the various stores in your local area to see who’s open — unless you want to just start cold-calling every store within a 50-mile radius, that is.

Navy’s Robot Helicopters Will Automatically Spot Pirates

Xyber — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:14:30 +0000

Unmanned Navy aircraft will soon be able to distinguish small pirate boats from other vessels, says the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

It’s soon to start testing a new sensor with advanced automatic target recognition software.

The Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS) carries high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and laser-radar (LADAR) technology, and will be placed on a robotic helicopter called Fire Scout.

TgDaily

Twitter anti-spam lawsuit targets auto-tweeters

Xyber — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:27:11 +0000

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against “five of the most aggressive tool providers and spammers” in a federal court in San Francisco, opening a new front in its battle against spam, it said Thursday.

“With this suit, we’re going straight to the source,” Twitter said in a blog post. It hopes the civil suit will act as a deterrent to spammers. By shutting down tool providers, it expects to prevent other spammers from having the services at their disposal, the company said.

Twitter is the latest among Internet companies to use legal action against alleged spammers. In January, Facebook and the Washington state attorney general announced dual lawsuits against the co-owners of Adscend Media, an ad network that is alleged to develop and encourage others to spread spam, including through so-called “clickjacking.” Adscend denied the allegations, and instead said it would investigate for the malpractices the affiliates it hires to drive traffic to advertisers’ sites.

More here

Samsung Profit Tops Estimates

Xyber — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:26:03 +0000

Samsung Electronics, the world’s top technology company by revenue, posted record quarterly operating profit of 5.8 trillion won on booming sales of its Galaxy smartphones and of the Note, a mini-tablet and phone.

Samsung, which raced to the top of global smartphone rankings last year with close to a fifth of the market, from just 3 percent in 2009, is set to go head-to-head with Apple this quarter with the expected introduction of its revamped Galaxy S to take on Apple’s next iPhone.

“Samsung and Apple are expected to launch the new Galaxy S and iPhone in the second quarter, respectively, and they will engage in a full-fledged war,” said Lee Ka-keun, analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities.

Awesome iPad 3 concept video

Xyber — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 04:17:29 +0000

It isn’t too tricky to nail down near-term changes in smartphones and tablets. Faster processors, faster wireless, higher resolution displays, bigger batteries, updated software… there is a fairly short list of predictable upgrades. When you start looking at several years down the road, though, the advances get a bit trickier to nail down. We’ve grown accustomed to Apple’s multitouch devices looking mostly the same ever since the first iPhone. But will they look the same five years from now?

The above video bets that they won’t. Though it brands itself as a concept video for the iPad 3, this is more like an iPad 7 demo. Some of its features could be here within the next few years, but others would be more at home in a Star Wars prequel than in any actual product we’ll see in the next decade.

More here Geek.com