Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

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To stream music, Steve Jobs likely needs licenses and he doesn't have them yet. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

A story about how Apple planned to “soon” launch a cloud service featuring music and movies stirred a great deal of speculation on Thursday.

The blog Boy Genius Report, citing an anonymous source, wrote that Apple will offer “streaming music and movies from Apple’s servers to your computers,” and will also sync iTunes with devices as well as stream content from a home computer to other Web-enable gadgets.

While some of of this has previously been reported in other publications, including CNET, there’s still question about the timing of the launch. While it’s hard to say what Boy Genius’ source meant by “soon” it’s worth noting that Apple has yet to obtain necessary licenses from the top four recording companies, according to multiple music industry insiders. They added that Apple has indeed engaged in discussions with the music labels but the record execs haven’t even seen all of the details yet.

The way some at the major labels see the situation, Apple could enable iTunes users to stream songs from a home computer to other gadgets without requiring new negotiation, but for Apple to stream music from the company’s servers to computers and other gadgets, the labels would require CEO Steve Jobs to cut a new deal, the sources said. Read the rest of this entry »

The more Apple customers pelt Steve Jobs’ in-box, the more he seems to respond. But unlike the last flurry of e-mails that were made public on iPhone and iPad issues, this time Jobs is apparently expounding on why Blu-ray won’t be coming to Macs.

According to the MacRumors fan site, which posted an e-mail exchange, one of its readers e-mailed the Apple CEO to ask why a Blu-ray drive didn’t make its way to the company’s newly updated Mac Mini.

In Jobs’ apparent response, he seemed nonplussed by the value of Blu-ray. He supposedly said it doesn’t make much sense to include it in the company’s computers.

“Blu-ray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD,” MacRumors reported Jobs as saying. “It will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats.” Read the rest of this entry »

As members of this popular network- Facebook, do we know all we should know about the site and whether or not our information is private? Do we really care? When we decide to leave and delete our information how long does it take for facebook to really delete it? The questions go on and on, but here is an interesting article that was written by Elinor Mills of CNet News that may shed some light on concerns you may have about this issue:

Are you confused by the myriad changes Facebook keeps making to its privacy settings? Are you angry about your data being exposed without your express consent? Are you just fed up and not going to take it anymore?

You’re not alone. A recent poll from Sophos found that 60 percent of users are considering quitting Facebook over privacy issues. More than 11,000 people have committed to ditching the social-networking site on May 31, according to QuitFacebookDay.com. And more people are searching Google for ways to delete their Facebook accounts than ever, according to the Search Engine Land blog.

But leaving Facebook can be almost as confusing as navigating the privacy backwaters on the site. This New York Times graphic shows that there are 50 settings and more than 170 options to managing the privacy of a Facebook account. Here are some tips on deleting your account and answers to questions about what that means for your data, and more.

What’s the difference between deleting and deactivating a Facebook account?
Deactivation means the profile information and content are hidden from view of others but are saved on Facebook servers in case you want to reactivate the profile. Messages you’ve sent and Wall posts remain, but your name appears in black text that is not clickable since your profile is now hidden. Read the rest of this entry »

by: Elinor Mills

Qualys is set to launch on Monday a free service for Web site operators that will scan their sites for malware.

As part of the service, QualysGuard Malware Detection crawls the pages of customer sites and looks for invisible iFrames, malicious JavaScript code, and other indications of a stealth threat to visitors and provides automated alerts and reports to Web site owners.

The company has profiled Internet Explorer 6 and Adobe’s Acrobat, Reader, and Flash Player to understand exactly what happens under normal conditions so it can quickly detect deviations that occur when malware is present, said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer at Qualys.

Profiles and testing on additional apps will be forthcoming, he said. “We think (those apps) are what attackers typically have in their sights right now, but we will not stop there,” he said.

Google spinoff Dasient offers a free service that alerts Web sites when they appear on malware blacklists and a paid service that detects and quarantines malware on sites.

CNet

As the four biggest record companies wait to hear more about a proposed iTunes cloud music service, word comes now that Google has kicked the tires on a start-up specializing in cloud media.

Google has showed interest in possibly acquiring Los Angeles-based Catch Media, a company that intends to help make it simple for consumers to enjoy their digital movies, music, and books across numerous different hardware and service platforms, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations. It’s unclear whether talks between Google and Catch have gone beyond informal discussions.

If Google did acquire the company, it could help the search giant keep pace with Apple’s expected efforts to take iTunes to cloud computing. Last month, CNET reported that Apple has spoken to the top labels about plans to offer a streaming music service free of charge to consumers. Before agreeing to any new licensing deals, the labels are waiting for Apple to supply more information.

A Google spokesman responded to a request for comment by writing: “While we’re always talking to various people about various things, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.” A representative from Catch declined to comment.

Catch doesn’t offer or store content. The company wants to be to digital media what Plus, Cirrus, and ATM networks are to the banking industry. Catch has developed a technology that helps hardware companies and service providers register, track, route and clear digital media as it moves across different platforms.

If Catch has its way, consumers will one day access media from different vendors and devices as easily as people withdraw money from any available ATM.

More at CNET

The list of BlackBerry Storm features goes on with DataViz documents as standard, giving access to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files whilst on the move, plus a comprehensive address book and calender.

The BlackBerry Storm has both SureType and QWERTY keyboard options, via a clickable soft-touch screen and with auto-screen rotation, dictated by how the phone is held. The RIM BlackBerry 9500 Storm has one of the fastest smartphone processor’s on the market (624Mhz), along with 128MB of RAM and internal storage of 1GB, plus Micro-SD expansion up to 32GB. Read the rest of this entry »

For the last 4 years I have been using my current cell phone which has given very good service especially for the purpose it was bought for – to receive and send calls and messages. But it has dawned on me that there are many other purposes a cell phone services. In these growing ages of technology I think I will have to get with it and finally I see and has fallen in love with the Window Phone 7 series.

Microsoft has finally made the official announcement about the next version of Windows Mobile – Windows Phone 7 Series – but there’s a long list of questions that Microsoft says it won’t answer until the MIX conference in March. In the meantime, here’s what we do know about the phones that will be on sale for ‘the holiday season’ (which to US companies starts in October or November). Read the rest of this entry »

BARCELONA, Spain (MarketWatch) — Nokia Corp. and Intel Corp. on Monday announced the merger of their Linux operating systems to create a new mobile platform called Meego tailored to work across a range of devices including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and connected TVs.

This is the latest step in cooperation between Nokia /quotes/comstock/13*!nok/quotes/nls/nok (NOK 12.94, -0.15, -1.15%) , the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, and Intel /quotes/comstock/15*!intc/quotes/nls/intc (INTC 20.43, +0.37, +1.84%) , the No. 1 chip maker, and will likely make them more competitive against the rapid rise of Google’s /quotes/comstock/15*!goog/quotes/nls/goog (GOOG 533.12, -3.28, -0.61%) Android.

It’s also a significant development in an industry that is finding it harder and harder to cope with the fast-growing number of mobile operating systems. On top of Android, there are the iPhone system from Apple /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 200.38, +1.71, +0.86%) , Palm’s /quotes/comstock/15*!palm/quotes/nls/palm (PALM 9.99, +0.37, +3.85%) WebOS, Symbian, Microsoft’s /quotes/comstock/15*!msft/quotes/nls/msft (MSFT 27.93, -0.19, -0.68%) system and Samsung’s Bada.

The fragmentation has had a serious impact on the industry, making the design of new phones and the writing of application a long and costly process. Read the rest of this entry »