Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc.’s Android operating system for mobile devices is more vulnerable to hackers and viruses than Apple Inc.’s iPhone platform, according to security-software maker Trend Micro Inc.

“Android is open-source, which means the hacker can also understand the underlying architecture and source code,” Steve Chang, chairman of Trend Micro, the world’s largest provider of security software for corporate servers, said in an interview in Taipei yesterday. “We have to give credit to Apple, because they are very careful about it. It’s impossible for certain types of viruses” to operate on the iPhone, he said.

Google, owner of the world’s most-popular online search engine, offers Android for free and allows developers access to its code for writing software. Apple, whose iOS software trails Android in smartphone market share, requires every application to be approved before being sold in its online store.

“On all computing devices, users necessarily entrust at least some of their information to the developer of the application they’re using,” Mountain View, California-based Google said in an e-mailed statement. “Android has taken steps to inform users of this trust relationship and to limit the amount of trust a user must grant to any given application developer.”

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, said yesterday it will begin selling Apple’s handset next month. Verizon’s iPhone may cannibalize about 2 million Android shipments a year, according to Dan Hays, partner at consulting firm PRTM.

‘The Next PC’

Chang said he’s betting Android users will start to buy more security software for mobile devices.

“Smartphones are the next PC, and once they’re adopted by enterprises, data loss will be a very key problem,” he said.

On Jan. 7, Tokyo-based Trend Micro released Mobile Security for Android, software that users can install on a mobile phone to block viruses, malicious programs and unwanted calls. Trend Micro aims for the $3.99 application to help it gain revenue from the more than 250 million phones Gartner Inc. expects will run on Android by 2014.

“Apple has a sandbox concept that isolates the platform, which prevents certain viruses that want to replicate themselves or decompose and recompose to avoid virus scanners,” Chang said.

Apple’s iOS isn’t fully immune to security threats and may be hit with so-called social-engineering attacks, which trick users into authorizing the download or installation of malicious software, Chang said. Trend Micro offers a security application for Apple’s iOS, he said.

Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Market Share

Phones using Android accounted for 26 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, behind Symbian, used in Nokia Oyj handsets, and ahead of iOS, which had a 17 percent share, researcher Gartner said Nov. 10.

In 2014, 259 million devices, or 29.6 percent of all smartphones, will use Android, trailing 30.2 percent share for Symbian and ahead of 15 percent share for iOS, Gartner predicted in September.

Trend Micro’s 2010 revenue is expected to have dropped 1.3 percent to 95 billion yen ($1.1 billion) and net income is forecast to be 22 percent lower, at 13.7 billion yen, according to the average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Sony has stepped up its fight over recent PS3 exploits by filing for a restraining order against George "Geohot" Hotz, the "hacking group" fail0verflow and numerous other individual

Alleging that those involved have violated the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the firm is seeking a restraining order asking that all PS3 circumvention tools be taken offline and related computers be impounded.

Engadget points out that this isn't yet a lawsuit in the traditional sense as Sony hasn't filed a copyright infringement claim. The firm, it appears, simply wants the PS3 jailbreak and any information about it to disappear from the web, but that would seem to be only a short-term solution to the problem.

Google Inc.’s Android Market, Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry App World and Nokia Oyj’s Ovi Store added mobile-phone software faster than Apple Inc.’s App Store in the U.S. last year, research company Distimo said.

Android Market had the highest rate of overall growth, reaching 130,000 applications in the U.S. by Dec. 31, or more than six times the number at the end of 2009, Utrecht, Netherlands-based Distimo said in a report. Nokia’s free applications surged 10-fold, helping its total U.S. applications more than triple to 25,000, the third-biggest app lineup after Apple and Android.

Nokia, Android and RIM have wooed software developers with instructional events and new tools in an effort to catch up to Apple, whose iPhone U.S. catalog includes almost 300,000 applications, according to Distimo. Apple’s fastest-growing category was business, while competitors added media and entertainment applications to counter the Cupertino, California- based company’s lead in music and books.

“The high download volumes of free applications appear to attract developers to switch to monetization methods other than paid,” analysts Hendrik Koekkoek and Gert Jan Spriensma wrote in the report.

BlackBerry’s store more than tripled last year to 18,000 apps, according to Distimo. Apple’s iPhone U.S. offerings doubled.

The market share of free applications rose while the price of paid applications fell, the analysts said. Among the top 100 applications, prices declined by an average 9 percent at Android and by 61 percent at Ovi Store. The proportion of applications costing more than $5 fell to 15 percent as of Dec. 31 from 21 percent a year earlier, Distimo said.

Motorola is expecting strong sales of its XOOM tablet, and has ordered as many as 800,000 units for Q1 2011 alone, according to the latest supply chain leaks. According to DigiTimes, four color options make up the 700,000 to 800,000 unit orders Motorola has placed, with suppliers expecting total orders this quarter to near one million. Meanwhile, the WiFi-only version of the XOOM is now expected to arrive in April.

According to Latin America Motorola exec Maurizio Angelone, the XOOM will arrive in Argentina in WiFi-only form come April 2011, with the 3G version following on a month later. It’s not clear if the same WiFi timescale will hold for the US or other regions where the XOOM is expected to be released; Verizon has promised the 3G XOOM sometime in Q1 2011.

One of the few countries where Facebook is really struggling is Japan. The Times has a good rundown of the company's struggles there.

The main culprit? Privacy.

The Japanese are avid users of social networking, even mobile social networking, but always with usernames and avatars. Meanwhile Facebook in Japan, like everywhere else, favors real names, real pictures and real connections.

In a survey, 89 percent (!) of Japanese internet users have said they are wary of using their internet names online. Japanese social networks like Mixi and Gree (and, adding insult to injury, American rival Twitter) are huge there but Facebook is barely growing.

Facebook is really sticking to its strategy of emphasizing real names though, which is maybe the best strategy long-term. Facebook does have extensive privacy controls, although it seems the market isn't yet educated on that (heck, social networking users everywhere seem to be uneducated about privacy settings). In India, after struggling for years, Facebook has become dominant thanks to exchange students and other returning travelers who got hooked to the site overseas, and the same thing might happen there.

Google's popular search engine service now warns users about possibly hacked or otherwise dangerous websites that make it into its search results.
The new warning system was announced on Google's Official Blog on Friday. If Google's system detects any signs that a website has been compromised by hackers, spammed or defaced in some way that may make it a threat to the searcher, it will add a small message reading, "This site may be compromised" directly under the search result.

"We use a variety of automated tools to detect common signs of hacking as quickly as possible," wrote Google director of product management Mike Cassidy. "In addition to protecting users, these notices will also help webmasters more quickly discover when someone is abusing their sites."

Once the problem has been fixed at the suspicious website, the warning message will be automatically removed from the search results, according to Google. The company also announced the addition of new languages and domains to its Instant search feature, and made several upgrades to the Google Translate system.

All the Web and My Blog Log are also reported to be on the list of Yahoo "sunset" products being considered for elimination.

Before there was Google, there was AltaVista and, according to a leaked slide from Yahoo that surfaced this week, AltaVista is expected to fade from view soon.

The pioneering search service, begun in the early 1990s by researchers at the Digital Equipment, is included in a photo of Yahoo "sunset" products that apparently are under consideration for elimination by Yahoo. Other Yahoo "sunset" products include its popular Delicious bookmarking solution, news aggregator Yahoo! Buzz, and another search feature, AlltheWeb.

According to media reports, the "sunset" information was leaked by Eric Marcoullier, founder of MyBlogLog, yet another Yahoo property that also is listed in the "sunset" slide.

Yahoo, which recently announced another round of layoffs, didn't announce the closing of the sites, but the firm did state: "Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond. We continuously evaluate and prioritize our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months such as Yahoo! Buzz, our Traffic APIs, and others. We will communicate specific plans when appropriate."

The DEC researchers at the firm's Western Research Lab created AltaVista in an effort to find files on the rapidly-growing Internet. "We could have been Google," said Paul Cormier, who was quoted in a 2007 article in InformationWeek. "We should have been Google."

Full-page Internet searches in subsecond response times were established by the Digital Equipment team as well as other pathfinding search features. DEC tried to take the company public in the mid-1900s, but the company was dealing with business turmoil and management upheaval at the time. A later owner, CMGI, also tried and failed to launch an AltaVista IPO, leaving a wide open field for newcomer Google.

Naughty Dog have released the first set of screenshots from actual gameplay of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and they look outstanding.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will have our favourite heroes Drake and Sully scour the world for the trail of TE Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, and the Atlantis of the Sands.

The screenshots show both Drake and Sully traversing and fighting their way out of a burning building. From lush green vines to red hot flames, Uncharted 3 is already looking fantastic considering there's still another year before its release.



Just as the screenshots show, Drake will be able to take on more than one bad guy at a time!

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is due November 1, 2011! Here's a direct feed clip to the gameplay debut previously aired on the Jimmy Fallon show.

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Bank of America was quoted as saying late on Friday that it was joining other financial institutions in declining to process payments to WikiLeaks, which has angered U.S. authorities with the mass release of U.S. diplomatic cables.

"Bank of America joins in the actions previously announced by MasterCard, PayPal, Visa Europe and others and will not process transactions of any type that we have reason to believe are intended for WikiLeaks," the bank said in a statement, quoted by McClatchy Newspapers.

No one at Bank of America was immediately available to comment.

WikiLeaks has said it will release documents early next year that will point to "unethical practices" at a major U.S. bank, widely thought to be Bank of America.

Several companies have ended services to WikiLeaks after the website teamed up with major newspapers to publish thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that have caused tension between Washington and some of its allies.

"This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments," the Bank of America statement added.

WikiLeaks later issued a message on Twitter urging its supporters to leave the bank.

"We ask that all people who love freedom close out their accounts at Bank of America," it said on the social networking medium.

"Does your business do business with Bank of America? Our advice is to place your funds somewhere safer," WikiLeaks said in a subsequent tweet.

In a backlash against organizations that have cut off WikiLeaks, cyber activists have been targeting companies seen as foes of the website.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail this week from a jail in Britain, where he is fighting extradition to Sweden over alleged sexual offenses.

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, said on Friday that he was the target of an aggressive U.S. investigation and feared extradition to the United States was "increasingly likely."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said his government was considering using the U.S. Espionage Act, under which it is illegal to obtain national defense information for the purpose of harming the United States, as well as other laws to prosecute the release of sensitive government information by WikiLeaks.

Google Dec. 16 launched Ngram Viewer, an experiment to let lay users and researchers search and study the waxing and waning of phrase instances over the last 500 years.

As Google is trying to gain traction selling books, a free software tool that helps scholars analyze what words and phrases were popular several centuries is wowing researchers and media.

Google Dec. 16 launched Google Books Ngram Viewer, a data visualization tool that crawls 500 billion words culled from 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008 that Google has indexed in its cloud computing system.

Users may access the tool here and type up to 5 words to see a typical Google graph that counts the words' and phrases' use each year over the last several hundred years. The words come from books published in Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish.

Google in one example shows how the tool can compare instances of musical instruments in English literature from 1750 to 2008. Note how the drum and trumpet, in particular, seemed to trade places in popularity over the last two hundred years.

While any bystander with a computer may access the tool it is largely geared to help scholars and researchers studying philosophy, pop culture, religion, politics, art and language to conduct their research. Google said it is also making the datasets supporting the Ngram Viewer freely downloadable so that scholars can replicate the work.

The datasets were used in research project led by Harvard University's Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden, along with several Googlers, said Jon Orwant, Google Books engineering manager.

"Their work provides several examples of how quantitative methods can provide insights into topics as diverse as the spread of innovations, the effects of youth and profession on fame, and trends in censorship," Orwant said.

Unlike most Google Labs projects, media curiosity has been piqued by Ngram viewer.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal spotlighted it, while top tech blogs such as ReadWriteWeb dedicated not one but two positive posts to it here andhere.

The datasets in Ngram viewer constitute merely a third of the 15 million works Google has scanned online since 2004 as part of its Google Books project.

High-octane math and algorithms aside, the work has been complicated thanks to contentious battles over copyright, particularly related to orphan works, where rightholders are deceased or cannot be found.

The court system is still sussing this matter out, though Google this month went ahead and launched its eBookstore to compete with Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble in selling books online.

MasterImage 3D Introduces MI-2100S, Digital 3D Cinema System for India and China, at CineAsia

Designed With Small Form Factor to Address Theatres with Low-Window Projection Rooms -
At the CineAsia Conference in Hong Kong this week, 3D technology company MasterImage 3D introduced a new digital 3D cinema system, the MI-2100S, designed with a small form-factor to meet the needs of theatres with low projection windows.

The system will be available in India and China, and is being showcased at booth 511, Hall 5 of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibit Center.

The new MI-2100S is a smaller version of the company’s popular MI-2100 digital 3D cinema system, and delivers the same high image clarity and compelling, ownership-based business model as the original product. While it was designed smaller, to sit lower, the new MI-2100S includes an optional stand; a fast, programmable up/down electric lift actuator that enables it to be used in either low-window or standard projection rooms. The new system also includes improved automation interfaces and programming options for Ethernet and 3D, and a new filter for its circular polarizing wheel that improves overall brightness, which is available for both the MI-2100 and MI-2100S systems.

MasterImage 3D Chairman and CEO, Younghoon Lee, said, “We heard from theatres in India and China that they wanted to convert to 3D, but that their projection rooms didn’t accommodate the size of most 3D cinema systems. We were able to engineer a smaller version of the MI-2100 to meet their projection room dimensions and update it with new capabilities at the same time.”

SATHYAM CINEMAS and ESCAPE CINEMAS (SPI Cinemas Pvt Ltd) in Tamil Nadu, India was an early adopter of the MasterImage 3D MI-2100S system. “Having a small projection room has not stopped us from bringing the excitement of 3D to audiences,” said D. Teddy Joshua, Manager, at SPI Cinemas Pvt Ltd. “The new MasterImage system is designed for small spaces and has been perfectly stable and reliable.”

About MasterImage 3D LLC
MasterImage 3D LLC is a 3D technology company that provides pioneering solutions for theaters, mobile devices and gaming. With digital 3D cinema systems installed in 42 countries, MasterImage 3D is a fast-growing digital 3D cinema system supplier, offering audiences the clearest, sharpest 3D experience while providing exhibitors with a compelling ownership-based pricing model. The company’s auto-stereoscopic display technology enabled one of the world’s first glasses-free 3D mobile phones and its 3D camera ASIC empowers users to create and share 3D content. Founded in 2004, the company is privately held and headquartered in Hollywood, with offices in the UK, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing.

Launched in 2008 and having all specifications and functions as the original Z8 cell phone Motorola Z8 Ferrari Limited Edition comes in a red and color layout and a Ferrari logo. In addition to special design Z8 Ferrari comes bundled with two Ferrari video clips, pre-registration to the official Ferrari website, Ferrari mobile content and direct links to the popular online magazines like Top Gear, Auto Express, GQ, Esquire and Autosport.

The name Porsche stands for exclusivity and stylish design. In collaboration with Sagem Porsche Design launched two luxury phones of different form factors. The first model P9521 is a clam shel phone selling at around 1200 euro. Their second phone P9522 is a full touch screen in candy bar form factor selling at around 600 euro, half of its first phone. Perhaps, these phones aren’t full of latest innovations but their main feature is exceptionally stylish design.

In 2008 Nissan announced the development of the world’s first Mobile Phone with built-in Intelligent Key. Nissan’s Intelligent Key system employs two-way wireless communications technology to automatically unlock/lock the car door and start/stop the engine. Nissan and Sharp has now integrated these electronic intelligent-key, wireless communications and electromagnetic technologies into the new handset. The Mobile Phone with Built-in Intelligent Key is still in prototype. Models available only in Japan.

In 2008 Nissan announced the development of the world’s first Mobile Phone with built-in Intelligent Key. Nissan’s Intelligent Key system employs two-way wireless communications technology to automatically unlock/lock the car door and start/stop the engine. Nissan and Sharp has now integrated these electronic intelligent-key, wireless communications and electromagnetic technologies into the new handset. The Mobile Phone with Built-in Intelligent Key is still in prototype. Models available only in Japan.

This luxury phone were announced by TAG Heuer at the end of 2009 and comes with Lamborghini model that looks elegant as a phone. The TAG Heuer Meridiist Lamborghini mobile phone features a case made from a combination of hand brushed stainless steel, calfskin leather, and 60.5 carats of sapphire crystal glass on its dual display screens. It’s available in a limited edition of 1963 – as tribute to the year Lamborghini was founded – and costs £5,750.

In 2006 Aston Martin and Nokia have announced the Nokia 8800 Aston Martin Edition. This esclusive iteration of the Nokia 8800 were manufactured in strictly limited numbers and featured laser-etched "Aston Martin" logo on the stainless steel casing.

We’ve been already written about this cell phone from Acer and Ferrari based on Liquid E – Liquid E Ferrari Special Edition. Special edition features a bright red corp with the familiar shield of Ferrari, surrounded by a strip of carbon fiber; a microphone, designed in the style of the air intake of "Formula 1" car, as well as special screensavers, wallpapers and ringtones