Tech Roundup: Mar 3, 2013
Samsung symbolically teases the much awaited Android super-smartphone:
This is definitely an interesting turn of events. The South Korean electronics giant which was at one time struggling to get a foothold in the mobile phone market has now managed to rise above its peers to become the only manufacturer to give Apple sleepless nights. Dramatic isn't? All this thanks to Android and the company's genuine interest in offering a distinct user experience even if it comes at the cost of a feature set overkill. And particularly it has been the Galaxy lineup (SI, SII and SIII) that has been instrumental in propelling Samsung to the meteoric heights it has reached today. Hence it's no wonder that its upcoming Galaxy S IV super-smartphone is being eagerly anticipated by legions of Android fans to see how it betters its predecessors (as wells as its competitors) this time.
With HTC just unveiling its One smartphone and scores of others announcing their flagship phones (or phablets) at MWC, all eyes will be on Samsung on the 14th of this month as it gears up to officially take the wraps off its marquee handset, of which surprisingly no big details have been revealed so far. Kudos to Sammy for creating an Apple like hype (Oh the irony!) surrounding its Galaxy; now if only they could do away with that TouchWiz in favour of stock... (I know it's not going to happen.. still...!)
Evernote users - time to change your passwords:
Popular cross-platform note-taking service Evernote has become the latest victim in the recent wave of hack attacks plaguing the USA. In a blog post on its website, it has mentioned about a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service and that the perpetrators behind the attack were able to successfully gain access to user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords.
While Evernote has emphasized that no content was accessed, changed or lost, the California-based company has initiated a service-wide password reset prompting users to create a new password when they log-in the next time. It has also sent an email with the subject line 'Evernote Security Notice: Service-wide Password Reset' explaining the situation and asking users to choose a strong password. Lesson: Go change your other passwords now as an extra precautionary measure (particularly if you have reused them for sign-in elsewhere)! Evernote should seriously think about having an option to delete an account; a deactivation simply won't suffice.
Highlights of Mobile World Congress, Barcelona:
While there were no high profile announcements at the MWC this time around (and Samsung managed to steal some thunder by teasing the S IV), some of them were noteworthy. Take a look:
- HP ditches its webOS to offer a 7-inch Android tablet.
- webOS gets a new lease of life for the third time as LG buys its key assets from HP to power its next-gen smart TV's.
- Mozilla demos Firefox OS; Sony to release a Firefox OS based smartphone in 2014.
- Samsung's Bada OS to be integrated with Tizen; phones to be available later this year.
- Nokia unveils the cheapest Windows Phone based Lumia 520.
Google worried by Samsung's rise? Nah, says its CFO:
According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Google is reportedly concerned about Samsung's ever-growing Android market share especially considering the fact that the rest of OEM's like Sony, HTC, LG and Motorola haven't been able to replicate the former's runaway success. Given the huge lead, Samsung is in an emboldened position to do whatever it feels like with respect to Google's Android, and can possibly even fork the open-sourced mobile operating system like Amazon.
However, Google's CFO Patrick Pichette has strongly denied any such rift with its Android partner and stated that "journalists love big headlines that sell newspapers." He also took the opportunity to play down rumors of the upcoming Motorola X Phone and hoped Chrome OS too becomes as successful as Android. After having made a pricey gamble with the Chromebook Pixel, let's hope it gives the platform a much needed lift.
Another day, another Java 0-day vulnerability:
Java and vulnerabilities never cease to part ways! As per a report from FireEye, a new zero-day vulnerability in Java versions 6 and 7 is being exploited in the wild to infect PC's with malware. While I don't want to bore you with the technical details, you fairly know the drill. Yes, disable the Java plug-in once again in your browsers (or better disable it permanently or uninstall Java altogether) hoping Oracle issues a patch soon enough. It may be noted that the company just took care of a host of Java security flaws as part of its 4-month Critical Patch Update cycle last week and has promised to accelerate the same by cutting it short to two months. However, it remains to be seen if Oracle will issue an emergency fix to patch this flaw or address it in the next scheduled update on April 16.
Apple finally serious about India:
With Samsung's and Android's huge success in India, Apple is now seriously considering expanding its operations in the country, reports the Wall Street Journal. Though the tech giant recently expanded its iTunes Music and Movies offerings to the Indian market, Apple's iDevices are still sold through franchisee-owned premium retailers and considering their premium price tags, they are out of reach of most Indian consumers. Rumors are abound that Apple plans to launch a low-cost iPhone in its attempt to capture emerging markets and if it really turns out to be true, they may have a winner in their hands.
Well Google has also done something to cheer about. The Google Play Store has now been given a facelift to accommodate a new 'Books' section in addition to the already existing Apps category. So Google, when are the music and movies going to come? Bad that for a bookworm like me this has come a tad too late. Not that I am complaining as I have already invested myself in the Amazon ecosystem. And many would have doubtless done the same!
Has Facebook lost its cool quotient?
As a disclaimer, let me tell you that I am no longer on Facebook. Though I was hooked to it at one point in time, browsing the social network, which was meant to be a relaxing activity, instead became increasingly tiresome and began to feel like work. While agreeing that Facebook still remains the best way to connect with your near and dears, scrolling through endless status updates about dinners, parties, vacations, likes and dislikes of your friends can sometimes unnerve you. Thankfully I am not the only one who finds them boring. The current teens too think that it's stupid to post so much stuff about their lives and have now turned their attention towards Tumblr and Instagram to communicate and connect. I now get the reason why Facebook called Instagram a 'formidable' foe!
In other news:
This is definitely an interesting turn of events. The South Korean electronics giant which was at one time struggling to get a foothold in the mobile phone market has now managed to rise above its peers to become the only manufacturer to give Apple sleepless nights. Dramatic isn't? All this thanks to Android and the company's genuine interest in offering a distinct user experience even if it comes at the cost of a feature set overkill. And particularly it has been the Galaxy lineup (SI, SII and SIII) that has been instrumental in propelling Samsung to the meteoric heights it has reached today. Hence it's no wonder that its upcoming Galaxy S IV super-smartphone is being eagerly anticipated by legions of Android fans to see how it betters its predecessors (as wells as its competitors) this time.
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| Ready for the Galaxy S4? |
Evernote users - time to change your passwords:
Popular cross-platform note-taking service Evernote has become the latest victim in the recent wave of hack attacks plaguing the USA. In a blog post on its website, it has mentioned about a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service and that the perpetrators behind the attack were able to successfully gain access to user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords.
While Evernote has emphasized that no content was accessed, changed or lost, the California-based company has initiated a service-wide password reset prompting users to create a new password when they log-in the next time. It has also sent an email with the subject line 'Evernote Security Notice: Service-wide Password Reset' explaining the situation and asking users to choose a strong password. Lesson: Go change your other passwords now as an extra precautionary measure (particularly if you have reused them for sign-in elsewhere)! Evernote should seriously think about having an option to delete an account; a deactivation simply won't suffice.
Highlights of Mobile World Congress, Barcelona:
While there were no high profile announcements at the MWC this time around (and Samsung managed to steal some thunder by teasing the S IV), some of them were noteworthy. Take a look:
- HP ditches its webOS to offer a 7-inch Android tablet.
- webOS gets a new lease of life for the third time as LG buys its key assets from HP to power its next-gen smart TV's.
- Mozilla demos Firefox OS; Sony to release a Firefox OS based smartphone in 2014.
- Samsung's Bada OS to be integrated with Tizen; phones to be available later this year.
- Nokia unveils the cheapest Windows Phone based Lumia 520.
Google worried by Samsung's rise? Nah, says its CFO:
According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Google is reportedly concerned about Samsung's ever-growing Android market share especially considering the fact that the rest of OEM's like Sony, HTC, LG and Motorola haven't been able to replicate the former's runaway success. Given the huge lead, Samsung is in an emboldened position to do whatever it feels like with respect to Google's Android, and can possibly even fork the open-sourced mobile operating system like Amazon.
However, Google's CFO Patrick Pichette has strongly denied any such rift with its Android partner and stated that "journalists love big headlines that sell newspapers." He also took the opportunity to play down rumors of the upcoming Motorola X Phone and hoped Chrome OS too becomes as successful as Android. After having made a pricey gamble with the Chromebook Pixel, let's hope it gives the platform a much needed lift.
Another day, another Java 0-day vulnerability:
Java and vulnerabilities never cease to part ways! As per a report from FireEye, a new zero-day vulnerability in Java versions 6 and 7 is being exploited in the wild to infect PC's with malware. While I don't want to bore you with the technical details, you fairly know the drill. Yes, disable the Java plug-in once again in your browsers (or better disable it permanently or uninstall Java altogether) hoping Oracle issues a patch soon enough. It may be noted that the company just took care of a host of Java security flaws as part of its 4-month Critical Patch Update cycle last week and has promised to accelerate the same by cutting it short to two months. However, it remains to be seen if Oracle will issue an emergency fix to patch this flaw or address it in the next scheduled update on April 16.
Apple finally serious about India:
With Samsung's and Android's huge success in India, Apple is now seriously considering expanding its operations in the country, reports the Wall Street Journal. Though the tech giant recently expanded its iTunes Music and Movies offerings to the Indian market, Apple's iDevices are still sold through franchisee-owned premium retailers and considering their premium price tags, they are out of reach of most Indian consumers. Rumors are abound that Apple plans to launch a low-cost iPhone in its attempt to capture emerging markets and if it really turns out to be true, they may have a winner in their hands.
Well Google has also done something to cheer about. The Google Play Store has now been given a facelift to accommodate a new 'Books' section in addition to the already existing Apps category. So Google, when are the music and movies going to come? Bad that for a bookworm like me this has come a tad too late. Not that I am complaining as I have already invested myself in the Amazon ecosystem. And many would have doubtless done the same!
Has Facebook lost its cool quotient?
As a disclaimer, let me tell you that I am no longer on Facebook. Though I was hooked to it at one point in time, browsing the social network, which was meant to be a relaxing activity, instead became increasingly tiresome and began to feel like work. While agreeing that Facebook still remains the best way to connect with your near and dears, scrolling through endless status updates about dinners, parties, vacations, likes and dislikes of your friends can sometimes unnerve you. Thankfully I am not the only one who finds them boring. The current teens too think that it's stupid to post so much stuff about their lives and have now turned their attention towards Tumblr and Instagram to communicate and connect. I now get the reason why Facebook called Instagram a 'formidable' foe!
In other news:
- Lack of proper sleep can dramatically alter your internal bodily functions, find UK researchers.
- Lost micro-continent Mauritia discovered beneath Indian Ocean.
- Black hole spins at 84% the speed of light, says a new study.
- Millionaire and first tourist to space Dennis Tito unveils plan to send a couple for a round trip to Mars in 2018.
- Facebook testing an updated Timeline news feed.
- Nokia Lumia 620 up for pre-order in India for Rs. 15,199.
- Yahoo! to shut down 7 apps, including its mobile app for BlackBerry smartphones, in an attempt to regain lost focus starting April 1.
- BlackBerry pushes its first over-the-air update for BB10 smartphones with improvements to camera, general performance and battery life; launches Z10 in India for a hefty Rs. 43,490.
- Instagram crosses 100 million monthly active users.
- Nokia releases its mapping and navigation apps for all Windows Phones.
- Microsoft officially launches Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7.
- Samsung launches Wallet app (think Apple's Passbook) at MWC that lets users to store tickets, boarding passes and coupons all in one place.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook shares shareholders' disappointment over company's sliding stock price at its Annual Shareholder meeting.
- Adobe debuts Photoshop Touch for Android (versions 4.0 and above) and iOS (versions 6.0 and above) for Rs. 270.
- Google takes on Facebook Connect with Google+ Sign-In for third-party website logins.
- Cloud service Dropbox touts 1 billion file uploads to its servers each day.
- U.S. District Court upholds $368.2 million verdict in VirnetX vs. Apple for violating its networking patents used in FaceTime video chat service.
- Google expands its Gmail field trial; adds Calendar events to search results.
- Bing Maps adds 13 million square km of new satellite imagery.
- Judge Lucy Koh reduces patent infringement award in the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit from $1.05 billion USD to $598.9 million USD.
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