Friday, February 25, 2011

Intel Unveils Next Gen Itanium Processor

This week, at ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) Intel unveiled its next-generation Itanium processor, codenamed Poulson. This new octal-core processor is easily the most significant update to Itanium Intel has ever built and could upset the current balance of power at the highest-end of the server / mainframe market. It may also be the Itanium that fully redeems the brand name and sheds the last vestiges of negativity that have dogged the chip since it launched ten years ago.

From Merced to Tukwila

Intel began work on what would become Itanium back in 1994 in a joint venture with HP. The two companies chose to pursue a design philosophy they termed EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing). As an EPIC processor, Itanium pursued a very different design philosophy compared to the Pentium Pro and the other out-of-order execution processors that followed it.

Instead of using specific CPU hardware to re-arrange and optimally schedule instructions for execution (defined as Out of Order Execution, or OoOE), Itanium relies on the compiler to optimize code at run-time. This allowed the designers of Merced (the first generation Itanium) to devote more die space to execution hardware, thus boosting theoretical performance. The weak link in the chain was the compiler itself. If it failed to detect and exploit thread-level parallelism at runtime only a fraction of the CPU's execution units were in use at any given time.
 
Read more from the source of this article: Intel Previews 32nm Itanium "Poulson" Processor

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Final Android 3.0 Platform and Updated SDK Tools

We are pleased to announce that the full SDK for Android 3.0 is now available to developers. The APIs are final, and you can now develop apps targeting this new platform and publish them to Android Market. The new API level is 11.
 
For an overview of the new user and developer features, see the Android 3.0 Platform Highlights.
 
Together with the new platform, we are releasing updates to our SDK Tools (r10) and ADT Plugin for Eclipse (10.0.0). Key features include:

  • UI Builder improvements in the ADT Plugin:
    • New Palette with categories and rendering previews. (details)
    • More accurate rendering of layouts to more faithfully reflect how the layout will look on devices, including rendering status and title bars to more accurately reflect screen space actually available to applications.
    • Selection-sensitive action bars to manipulate View properties.
    • Zoom improvements (fit to view, persistent scale, keyboard access) (details).
    • Improved support for layouts, as well as layouts with gesture overlays.

  • Traceview integration for easier profiling from ADT. (details)
  • Tools for using the Renderscript graphics engine: the SDK tools now compiles .rs files into Java Programming Language files and native bytecode.

To get started developing or testing applications on Android 3.0, visit the Android Developers site for information about the Android 3.0 platform, the SDK Tools, and the http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html.

Monday, February 21, 2011

HTML5 Games 0.2: Integers are Your Friends


Two weeks ago Bruce and I released JSGameBench version 0.1. Today marks the release of version 0.2, a much faster and cleaner version. We continue to learn both from tightening the code and from the strong HTML5 community. Version 0.2 reinforces our belief in HTML5 as a strong, horizontal platform for games and highly interactive applications across the web.

Benchmarking

In order to talk about browser performance, we needed to standardize. We now have two machines that will be our testing machines:

  • For OS X: a MacBook Pro laptop, currently OS X 10.6.6, 4GB of RAM, 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, and NVIDIA GT 330M with 512MB of RAM.
  • For Windows: a Lenovo T410s laptop, currently Windows 7 Enterprise, 4GB of RAM, 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5, and NVIDIA NVS 3100M with 512MB of RAM.
Both of these laptops are significantly less powerful than the Mac Pro the original tests were run on. In addition, the 3100M offers approximately half the performance of the 330M.

More is Better

Thanks to help from the HTML5 community, JSGameBench has roughly doubled performance in the most widely used browsers in only two weeks. This a very promising development for the future of HTML5 games and interactive apps. The two most significant changes are clamping positions to integer values and using the transform/transform3d style property.

 

PlayStation Phone The Xperia Play


PlayStation Phone: Innovator or Imitator?
Sony's new phone is aimed at avid gamers, but it's unlikely to challenge the iPhone.
After seeing the mobile gaming market invaded by smart-phone makers in recent years, Sony Ericsson has now launched the first "Playstation phone," called the Xperia Play. The device resembles a regular smart phone but has gaming buttons that slide out from beneath the screen.

The Xperia Play, launched this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is designed to fend off growing competition in the mobile gaming market while carving out a new niche among many other mobile devices.

Smart phones have encroached on the mobile gaming market in recent years—in 2009, revenue from iPhone games surpassed revenue from Sony's mobile PSP device, according to figures from research firm NPD and Flurry Analytics, a mobile analytics company.

Smart phones are now more powerful than many mobile gaming devices—the Samsung Galaxy S, for example, has three times the video processing of the Nintendo 3DS. Multitouch, motion-sensing interfaces have led to simple types of games that appeal to casual gamers. And smart-phone games sell for a few dollars, compared to around $30 for PSP games.

The Xperia Play's hardware matches that of any high-end smart phone. It has a one-gigahertz Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 205 graphics processor (both made by Qualcomm), and uses Google's Android operating system. It has a 10-centimeter, 854-by-480-pixel multitouch LCD screen, an eight-megapixel camera, and has eight gigabytes of SD memory, expandable to 32 gigabytes. Games can be downloaded via the Android Market.

In a time when many phones are focused on multitouch and motion control, the Xperia Play's slide-out keypad, featuring Sony's trademark gaming controls, may seem slightly retro. "It's almost like a step backward," says Daniel Ashdown, a mobile gaming research analyst with Juniper Research. But for the serious gamer, the buttons make sense, Ashdown says: "Sometimes you can't get such a good interaction without a keypad."

"If you are playing a driving game, you can use the accelerometers to steer, but it's quite hard to do braking and acceleration," adds Dan Hays, a mobile technology analyst and director of the consulting firm PRTM in Washington, D.C.

EA Games, which released its first games for the Android platform last October, has released two new titles for the Xperia Play: Fifa 10 and The Sims 3. According to Travis Boatman, VP of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile, the company has been working with Sony Ericsson to ensure that the device's keypad gives players more control in the Xperia Play versions of its games.

Making PlayStation games available through the Android Market could help broaden the appeal of the platform, says Hays. Accessories could allow other Android handsets to play those games. But Xperia Play is unlikely to compete with the iPhone, says Hays. He believes the popularity of Apple and Android devices has both helped and hindered existing players in the mobile gaming market. It has drawn some customers away from dedicated consoles, but it has also drawn in fresh new users who may not have previously considered buying games, he says.

The trick, for Sony Ericsson, will be persuading some of these new players, as well as dedicated gamers, to buy the Xperia Play.
By: Duncan Graham-Rowe

Friday, February 18, 2011

80% of Browsers Found To Be At Risk of Attack

CWmike writes “About eight out of every 10 Web browsers run by consumers are vulnerable to attack by exploits of already-patched bugs, a security expert said Thursday. The poor state of browser patching stunned Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, which presented data from the company’s free BrowserCheck service Wednesday at RSA. ‘I really thought it would be lower,’ Kandek said.

BrowserCheck scans Windows, Mac and Linux machines for vulnerable browsers, as well as up to 18 browser plug-ins, from Adobe’s Flash to Windows Media Player. When browsers and plug-ins are tabulated together, between 90% and 65% of all consumer systems scanned with BrowserCheck since June 2010 reported at least one out-of-date component. In January 2011, about 80% of the machines were vulnerable. The most likely plug-in to require a patch: same as last year, Oracle’s Java.”



Source: 80% of Browsers Found To Be At Risk of Attack

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Analysis: Nokia and Microsoft Embrace in Smartphone Alliance

The smart money was right. Nokia has jumped into bed with Microsoft and will produce phones running Windows Phone 7.

The cynics would say that, here, we have two lumbering dinosaurs of the technology world clinging to each other hoping that the other gives them a future. Optimists would point to two global super-giants that need each other, both bringing vital components to the alliance.

The big winner is Microsoft. Windows Phone 7, while reasonably well received by commentators, has not set the world on fire. An alliance with Nokia gives it access to the world’s largest phone maker and its huge mindshare—in many developing nations a mobile phone is known as a Nokia. Microsoft’s mobile strategy has been lackluster and tardy. The news that smartphones have outsold PCs for the first time last quarter, has put Microsoft’s core business—selling software for PCs—under threat. It desperately needs a stake in the future.

Microsoft’s “embrace and extend” strategy appears to be alive an well. In an open letter published on Nokia’s website, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote “Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia.” It is clear who is wearing the trousers in this partnership.

Google must be smarting a bit today. Not only did Nokia spurn the Android operating system - a recent survey suggests each phone delivers $9.85 a year to Google - but Nokia phones will have Bing as their default search engine. An Android tie-up for Nokia made little sense; the last place Nokia wanted to be was slugging it out with the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola, trying to differentiate themselves by cutting content deals and making better user interface tweaks.

But the biggest loser is MeeGo, the ugly, unloved step child of operating systems. The press release says: “MeeGo becomes an open-source, mobile operating system project. MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year.”

So MeeGo to No Go. Will that device ever see the light of day? Perhaps, but it will be hard to persuade developers and manufacturers to get behind an OS that clearly has been put on the shelf. WP7 will be at the centre of the company. MeeGo may yet end up in other devices; it is after all yet another flavor of Linux, the very popular open-source operating system. MeeGo’s road map always talked about it being embedded in other devices.

That may yet happen, but the omens don’t look good. Alberto Torres, who until today was Executive Vice President, MeeGo Computers, Mobile Solutions, has carried the can. According to the press release he is to “pursue other interests outside the company.”

Along with the eye-grabbing headline, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop also announced the much expected re-organization. Inauspiciously commencing on April Fool’s Day (were the PR team asleep during that bit of the planning?) the company will have two business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. The former will be the new Windows Phone 7 branch. The Mobile Phones unit will continue to develop phones for Nokia’s mass market.

Neither of these two units can expect an easy time. Nokia’s core business - mass feature phones for the mass market - is under severe threat from cheap, mass produced Chinese phones. As Mr. Elop said in his famous “burning platform” memo:

“At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, “the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation.” They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.”
And life is going to be no easier down the line. Smart Devices have to go into battle against the massed ranks of Android backers, BlackBerry and of course Apple and the iOS, armed with only Windows Phone 7. A giant killer it isn’t.

What is worrying is the time frame. Mr. Elop said “Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years”. Two years is an eternity in the mobile phone world. Moore’s Law, which roughly translates to the power of chips doubling every 18 months, means phones will be more than twice as powerful. If Nokia is going to be worrying about who gets what office for the next two years, the company is going to emerge into an unrecognisable world.

The market reaction to Mr. Elop’s announcement was as swift as it was brutal. Nokia immediately fell 11 per cent. The markets are going to take some convincing that the company can pull itself out of a hole. But it is the general public who are the real judges in this final dance of the dinosaurs. The deal with Microsoft gives both Nokia and Microsoft a route to the future.

It is a very dark road ahead, and they are starting their uncertain journey right at the back of the pack. At least now they appear to have bought a map.

Source : http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/02/11/nokia-and-microsoft/

Friday, February 11, 2011

Nokia E7 The New Stylist Communicator

Overview

A beautiful, innovative design with everything you need to stay in sync. 4” AMOLED touch screen and QWERTY

  • Real-time work and personal emails
  • Maps with free GPS navigation
  • 8 MP camera and HD video
  • Fully integrated social networks

Features

Your mobile office

  • Real-time emails with Mail for Exchange.
  • Easy access to your work and private email accounts from the same view.
  • Create, edit and share office docs and view PDF files with Adobe Reader.
  • Get fast, secure intranet access with the built-in VPN.
  • Easily set up your calendar and sync it with Microsoft Outlook.
Seamless personal communication
  • Get emails direct from Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail, Ovi Mail and others.
  • Chat through many IM services – Windows Messenger, Ovi Chat and more.
  • Live updates from Facebook and Twitter on the home screen.
  • Update your status across all your social networks at the same time.
  • Follow your conversations easily with threaded SMS chats.
Full-touch display and QWERTY
  • Constructed from anodised aluminium with an AMOLED real glass display.
  • Everything looks crystal clear on the high-quality 4" touch screen.
  • The tilting full-touch display sits at a natural angle for optimal viewing.
  • Pinch your fingers to zoom in or flick to scroll on any web page.
  • Slide the screen to reveal a QWERTY keyboard – ideal for fast typing.
    Apps for business, security and travel

    • Ovi Maps with free lifetime GPS navigation and voice guidance.
    • Keep important data protected with F-Secure Anti-Theft for Mobile.
    • Tell your phone what to do with Vlingo, the voice recognition app.
    • Track flights and be notified of changes with the World Traveler app.
    • Many apps at Ovi Store – business, messaging, entertainment and more.


    High-quality photos and entertainment

    • Capture high-resolution photos and HD video using the 8 MP camera.
    • Use an HDMI* cable to view HD videos and images on your compatible TV.
    • Watch and upload videos straight to YouTube.
    • National Geographic, CNN and many more channels with on-demand Web TV.**
    • Scroll through album art and make playlists of your favourite songs.
    • Available separately at all good electronics stores. **Content may vary by region.



    Powered by Symbian

Facebook and Google wanted to acquire Twitter, at $10 billion

Both Facebook and Google wanted to acquire Twitter sometime last year and even held talks with the social network. Naturally, all three companies have declined to comment on this news. While acquisition propositions for early successful companies are perfectly normal in the technology industry, it is quite shocking to learn that the service was valued by these and other companies at anywhere between $8 billion and $10 billion. This is all according to sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal:

Executives at both Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., among other companies, have held low-level talks with those at Twitter Inc. in recent months to explore the prospect of an acquisition of the messaging service, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks have so far gone nowhere, these people say. But what's remarkable is the money that people familiar with the matter say frames the discussions with at least some potential suitors: an estimated valuation in the neighborhood of $8 billion to $10 billion. This for a company that, people familiar with the matter said, had 2010 revenue of $45 million—but lost money as it spent on hiring and data centers—and estimates its revenue this year at between $100 million and $110 million.

Less than three months ago, Facebook was valued at $50 billion on SecondMarket. This was pretty unofficial, but last month, the company raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of approximately $50 billion. The fact that Twitter could be purchased at a price of up to one fifth of Facebook is simply mind-blowing.

 

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate in 40 languages. You can download version 9.0.8080.16412 now for: Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit.

The new RC build includes a Tracking Protection feature, which gives users the option to control what third-party site content can track them when they’re online, as well as a new ActiveX filtering option, which allows users to turn on/off ActiveX plug-ins. Best of all, Microsoft has addressed what was arguably the biggest complaint with the new version (the company has gone through over 17,000 pieces of feedback): if you want your tabs on a separate line from the address box, there's now an option to turn that on from the right click menu at the top of the browser.

At the same time, IE9 RC is significantly faster than the beta version. Furthermore, many site rendering issues have been fixed, although we can't say that it's working perfectly. Last but not least, the new build includes hundreds of bug fixes.

Microsoft released the IE9 beta five months ago. The software giant also took the opportunity to announce that the beta surpassed 25 million downloads, making it the most downloaded beta release of Internet Explorer ever. Redmond is likely to release the final version of IE9 at its Mix11 event (April 12 to April 14, 2011).


"IE9 RC supports additional emerging Web standards including CSS3 2D Transforms, HTML5 Geolocation and a set of HTML5 semantic elements," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "We've added support for the HTML5 canvas global­Composite­Operation property and improved the performance of canvas’s Canvas­Pixel­Array. We've updated IE9 RC to reflect changes to the DOM events and added accessibility to the HTML5 audio and video controls. These additions reflect our pattern of implementing site ready HTML5 while ensuring developers can experiment with new and emerging specifications through our HTML5 Labs. As these specifications become stable, you can expect we will implement them in IE as we have throughout the development of IE9."

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking Part 1

Introduction
In 2009 alone, Middle Eastern countries are expected to channel 1.5 trillion US dollar into their investment funds, ready to be supplied to investment destinations around the world.
Background

Naturally, many countries quickly responded to the profusion of investment funds by developing Islamic-based financing and banking in the hope of enticing these funds to invest in their countries. As a result, Islamic banking and other Islamic financial products quickly became a global trend, even in countries where Moslems do not make up a majority.

The increasing enthusiasm in developing Islamic banking system has led to the adaption of a dual banking system and driven the huge growth in Islamic Banking assets. By adopting a dual banking system, Islamic banking can be developed alongside existing service and providing a broader range of banking services for public and investors

Worldwide growth in Islamic banking assets is estimated to be 27% in 2008, much higher than the 19% growth in conventional banking.

A number of countries in Asia have developed and positioned themselves as Global or Regional Islamic financial hubs links global regions.

To compete with UK, which was first recognized by the world’s banking community as an Islamic financial hub, Malaysia has worked hard to become one of the Southeast Asia’s financial hub by positioning itself as the world’s largest issuer of global bonds (sukuk). By the end 2007, Malaysia accounted for a staggering 65% of the world’s sukuk issuance.

Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking Part 2

Islamic Financial Hub of Asia

Singapore as a country that has positioned itself as the gate to Southeast Asia commerce, is not far behind. Even though Moslems only make up a fraction of Singapore’s citizens, the country offered various Islamic banking products and services, as well as, Islamic-based investment instruments. The tiny island is well-known as a potential hub for Middle East investors eager to invest in Southeast Asia.

So where does this leave Indonesia? Since its inception in 1992, Islamic banking industry in Indonesia has shown an impressive growth rate, with average growth of 60% per year! With that tremendous growth rate and Indonesia demographic condition as the world’s most populous Moslem nation, plus its abundant natural resources, Indonesia has great potentials to become major provider of Islamic banking products and services, as well as Islamic Banking Invesment instruments, Indonesia can become important player in the international Islamic finance community.


Islamic Banking in Indonesia


Recognizing Indonesia's enormous potential to become a global Islamic financial hub, the Government of Indonesia has stepped up efforts to attract Islamic-banking-oriented investors and actively participate in the global trend of Islamic banking growth.

Now is the time! Now is the right time to work together and raise awareness that Indonesia’s Islamic banking system is capable of becoming a global player and serving Indonesian people’s financial needs with much wider financial products and services.

To that end, visionary measures are needed to accelerate the development of Islamic banking market so it can eventually serve the needs of Indonesian people with an international standard of quality.


Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking Part 3

Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking
 
The Blue Print of Islamic Banking Developmnet in Indonesia is formulated by Bank Indonesia as a long term road map for developing Indonesia’s Islamic banking industry through 2015.


The Grand Strategy of Islamic Banking Market Development, also formulated by Bank Indonesia, outlines a comprehensive strategy to develop Islamic banking market and covers many strategic aspects, such as: setting a 2010 vision to become a leading Islamic banking industry in ASEAN region, creating a new image of Islamic banking in Indonesia that is more inclusive and universal, drawing a more accurate mapping of the market segment , developing more diverse products, improving services, and creating a new communication strategy that positions Islamic banking as beyond banking.

Sovereign Sukuk Act & Islamic Banking Act

In the meantime, the government has also taken several visionary measures, such as revision of tax regulations and Sovereign sukuk act issuance (UU SBSN). The passage of this law would enable Islamic-based investment instruments to become more competitive and ready to be offered to both domestic and foreign investors. In turn, this will further drive the development of Islamic banking in Indonesia.

Besides the Sovereign Sukuk Act, Indonesia has also enacted the Islamic Banking Law. By referring to the international standards of banking and Islamic banking, the newly enacted Islamic Banking Act will support national Islamic banking industry in diversifying its products and improving the quality of its services to all segments of Indonesia’s society.

The passing of these two acts has boosted the optimism of Islamic banking industry and added significant and timely support of Islamic banking. It is hoped that the laws can help pushing the industry to close the gap and attain its market development vision to become the most attractive and leading Islamic banking in ASEAN region.

Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking Part 4

Islamic Banking Industry’s New Image

Obviously, these goals can be accomplished only with the support and participation of everyone in the national Islamic banking industry to implement strategic programs recommended in The Grand Strategy of Islamic Banking Market Development.

Communication program to educate the public would be focused on developing a new image for the national Islamic banking: “Beyond Banking”.

This new image would show the new face of Islamic banking in Indonesia:
  • Positioning Islamic bank as a banking system that will mutually benefit both parties, the bank and its customers bank .
  • Differentiating Islamic bank as a banking system that offers diverse products with various schemes,
  • conducts its business transparently and fairly, and also supported by the latest information system and experts in the field of investment, finance, ethics, and Islamic practices on financial transactions.
Together, these new positioning and differentiation would be the foundation that forms the new image of Islamic banking, “beyond banking”.

To strengthen Islamic banking’s new image and help the public recognize the presence of Islamic banks and Islamic banking services, on 2 July 2007, Bank Indonesia formally began the use of iB (ai-Bi) logo as an official sign for the Islamic banking industry in Indonesia.

The new Identity’s sign of Indonesia’s Islamic Banking

Through the iB (ai-Bi) logo, Islamic banks will be more easily recognized as they expand throughout Indonesia. The iB (ai-Bi) logo presents the Islamic banks as part of a banking industry that is large, solid, strong, well-managed, and integrated within the framework of dual banking system in Indonesian Banking Architecture (API).

The iB (ai-Bi) logo is the essence of such values as balance, order, and perfection, signifying the identity of Islamic banking industry in Indonesia and conveying an alternative banking system that is modern, service-oriented, fair, transparent, ethical, and beneficial for the entire Indonesian people.
 

Islamic Banking, Beyond Banking Part 5

Vision and Strategy for Market Development

It is hoped that the new inclusive and universal image of Islamic banking, the use of iB (ai-Bi) logo, and comprehensive market development strategy would spur the Islamic banking industry and investors to work together and realize the development of Indonesia’s Islamic banking market within the next three years outlined in these three phases, which are:

  • First Phase (2008): “To build understanding of Islamic Banking as “Beyond Banking”
During the first phase, total accumulated assets are targeted to exceed 50 trillion Rupiah with the Islamic banking industry growing by 40%
  • Second Phase (2009): “to make Islamic Banking as the Most Attractive Islamic Banking in ASEAN”
At this phase, total assets are targeted to reach 87 trillion Rupiah with the industry growing by 75%

  • Third Phase (2010): “to make Indonesia’s Islamic Banking as a leading Islamic Banking in ASEAN”
In 2010, Indonesia’s Islamic banking industry is expected to reach total assets of 124 trillionrupiah and growth of 81%

Closing
 
These initiatives, and optimism with full support from government, provide participants in the national Islamic banking industry with the vision of transforming Indonesian Islamic banking industry to become a reputable industry in the global financial community.

By: iB Syariah - Bank Indonesia

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

CherryPad for The Sub iPad Market

Cherrypal Launches Powerful 7-Inch $188 Android 2.1 3D Tablet Computer for the Sub-iPad(C) Market Cherrypal Enters Into Exclusive Deal With Green Shopping Site Zecozi
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cherrypal, a California-based manufacturer of high quality, low-energy consuming and affordable personal computers, today announced the availability of its new sub $200 tablet computer, the CherryPad America.

The CherryPad was designed for consumers who are looking for an affordable, powerful, high quality, and low energy-consuming tablet computer with the ability to run the Android operating system. CherryPad is powered by the fast Samsung ARM11, (CPU + GPU + DSP, OpenGL 2.0) 800 MHz processor and runs Android 2.1 and all Android applications. An upgrade option to 2.2 is planned for the fourth quarter 2010.

The CherryPad America features a 7-inch resistive touch widescreen display (no stylus needed) at 800x480 resolution with built-in gravity sensor. Memory, storage and wireless functions include 256 MBs of DDRII RAM; 2 GB NAND Flash; Micro SD (1x) reader, and WiFi 802.11 b/g.

Standard I/O ports include USB 2.0 supported by an external adapter; 3.5 mm headphone jack, built-in speakers and microphone, DC port, optional external 3G modem. The CherryPad America's Polymer 3200 MAH battery has a run time of 6-8 hours. The device weighs just 1.1 pounds and is housed in a sturdy aluminum case. MSRP of the CherryPad America is $188.

"The CherryPad America does not compete against the Apple(C) iPad. The CherryPad addresses the sub-iPad market," said Cherrypal CTO Max Seybold.

According to Seybold, CherryPad has been designed for consumers who seek a lower cost, more compact tablet PC with the ability to run Android.

"The CherryPad is neither an iPad killer nor an iPad clone, it's a completely different product designed for a different market," Seybold said. "The screen of the CherryPad is only 7-inches big, the processor is slightly less powerful, and the CherryPad comes with Android 2.1 and not Apple's iOS." At a MSRP of $188, the price for a CherryPad is also less than half of the iPad.

"Early user tests confirmed the CherryPad user experience has been extremely positive. Users appreciate full access to the Android Market, its powerful processor, battery run time, and high quality," Seybold said.

Cherrypal Partners With Zecozi Cherrypal also announced a strategic partnership with Zecozi , a new online shopping site for conscious consumers. All Cherrypal products will be exclusively sold through Zecozi in the United States, with the exception of volume buyers. Every Cherrypal comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, as well as a 1-year replacement warranty.

"We are a hardware manufacturer first and need to focus on our core competence in order to drive down costs and offer quality products that consumers can afford. We can offer our products for such a low price because we are frugal with non-product related costs. When we looked for a strong partner who shares our green, open and fair corporate value system, Zecozi was the obvious choice," said Cherrypal CEO John Collier.

Honeycomb or Android 3.0 Oficially Released by Google

Google officially launched Honeycomb or Android 3.0. They have shown a preview of the OS in Motorola Xoom tablet. Honeycomb was mentioned to beat the dominance of Apple in the realm of tablets.

Honeycomb is specifically intended for tablet devices that use a large screen and higher computing capability. But some analysts assess the presence of Honeycomb will not change the map market.
"Honeycomb does little shorten the gap. But there is nothing in it that would make me queue in a line to get it," said analyst Colin Gilis of BCG, with references from the queues that occur when launching the iPad.
Quoted by Reuters on Friday (04/02/2011), Apple still straddling Android in the realm of the tablet. But Apple is not able to pursue Android in the smartphone market, which had just overthrown the most popular Symbian OS in the world.

Google's ambition to beat iPad tablet market will depend on support from the manufacture of Honeycomb, communication providers and application software developers. Google currently has more than 100 thousand applications for Android, still less with about 300 thousand applications for Apple's.

With the introduction of Honeycomb, the big vendors are expected to release the latest tablet-based OS 'beehive' soon in mid-2011. Motorola Xoom for example, will start shipping in the first quarter of this year.


Hold Out for Honeycomb: Five Android Tablets Born Too Soon


When you look at the Apple iPad's sales figures, it's not hard to see why every technology company on the planet is jumping on the tablet bandwagon. The thing is, even despite its wild popularity, not everyone can afford the $500 minimum required to get into the iPad game, and not everyone wants an Apple tablet.

With scores of hardware manufacturers aiming to snag a slice of the big, fat Apple pie, the Android tablet army is growing fast. Too fast, in fact: The truth is, a lot of these tablets just aren't very good.

In some of the tablets we've tested, we've encountered flimsy hardware, low-quality resistive touch screens, serious display resolution issues, and poorly skinned or old Android versions with limited or non-existent access to apps. None of this makes for a very enjoyable tablet experience.

That's not to say that every Android tablet is a disaster. Take the Samsung Galaxy Tab, for example, it's fast, well-designed, and comes with a decent Android implementation. Overall, the Tab is a solid tablet, but for the price ($250 to $550, depending on the carrier you choose), it should do more than an Android smartphone can. One of the reasons the iPad has been so successful is that it provides a rich tablet-specific experience that you just can't get on an iPhone.

Google, this week, unveiled Honeycomb, its tablet-specific Android OS, which is sure to usher in an era of higher-quality, more-capable Android devices and better apps to run on them. And from what we've experienced with the forthcoming Motorola Xoom, it's definitely worth waiting for. So unless you need an Android tablet today, you should pass on the models below, and hold out for the next round of Android tablets with Honeycomb.

Tablets in this Roundup:

Read the full reviews linked below, or compare these Android tablets side by side.

Cherrypal CherryPad
$188 direct
The Cherrypal CherryPad has flaws aplenty, including a finicky resistive touch screen. The rock-bottom $188 price is tough to beat, but there are definitely better ways to spend your money.


Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet
$199 list
The $200 Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet uses a limited version of Android, doesn't hook into the full Android Market, and lacks the grace and abilities of more advanced (and expensive) tablets.

$199.99

The first Tegra 2 tablet shows the promise of Nvidia's speedy mobile processor, but the Dell Streak 7 still struggles on several fronts. And fundamental problems, like a low-quality, low-resolution display won't be helped by a future OS upgrade.

$249.99 to $549.99 with contract (price depends on carrier)
With solid, well-designed hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Tab for Sprint is the first viable Android-based competitor to the iPad. Don't get us wrong, the Tab, in all five carrier iterations, is a perfectly fine tablet. But you're paying a hefty price for a device with a old version of Android, and it's unclear if the OS will be upgradeable.

Viewsonic Viewpad 7
$599 direct
On paper, the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 has a long and impressive feature list, but its flaws, including a sky-high price, outnumber its features.

Author: Wendy Sheehan Donnell
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379345,00.asp
It's a bad time to buy an Android tablet. Skip these five models, save your cash, and wait for tablets with Google's Honeycomb operating system.

New Android Market web store could open backdoor for phone hackers

If you follow the Google Android operating system scene, you will probably have heard about the new, web-based Android Market store which was launched a few days ago.

The Android Market website allows the user to browse, search and install Android apps using an alternative to the standard device Android Market app that comes on smartphones.

The user is simply required to sign in with their standard Google credentials and the application will retrieve the details of Android devices registered in your name as well as the details of all the Market applications you have already installed.

Once the user signs in to Android Market the application install is available at the click of a button.



I wanted to see what happens on the device when a request to install a new app is submitted from the web-based store.

I logged into the Android Market and found an application suitable for testing: a popular game that made me waste some time last year when I first played it on an iPhone. This seemed a good opportunity to test its usability on the Android OS too. :)

The most important security aspect of the installation process on Android are the permissions an app requires on a device after the installation. Android users should particularly carefully read the required permissions before they install any applications, from the official Android Market or any other source.

For example, a game which requests unusual permissions such as SEND_SMS or RECEIVE_SMS should be considered highly suspicious and installed only if the user is certain about its functionality.



As expected, the web-based Android Market displays the required permissions so that the user can make an informed decision about whether to install the application.

However, the next step in the installation is where a big red security flag is raised. Once the user clicks on the install button on the website, the mobile device will automatically start downloading the application in the background.

This probably happens using the INSTALL_ASSET intent discovered last year by Jon Oberheide when Google used the Android's GTalkService mechanism to remotely remove a test Trojan application created by the researcher.

In summary - if someone managed to steal your Google password they could trick your Android smartphone into installing software, without you having to grant permission on the device itself.

The result of all this is that a Google password suddenly becomes even more valuable for potential attackers, and I would not be surprised to see even more Gmail phishing attacks as a consequence.

In future, however, the phishers' intention may not be to use stolen account credentials for the purposes of sending spam but to install malware on the user's Android devices instead.

Google should make changes to the remote installation mechanism as soon as possible. As a minimum, a dialog should be displayed on the receiving device so that the user must personally accept the application that is being installed.

Let us hope that the update will come in time to prevent cybercriminals abusing the Android Market for the automatic installation of malicious software.

In the meantime, users should choose a strong password for their Google applications account.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Microsoft makes Chrome play H.264 video

Users of the Chrome browser will be able to play H.264 video - thanks to Microsoft.

Google ditched HTML5 support for H.264 video last month, citing the codec's licensing requirements. Instead, Google said the HTML video tag should favour the freely available WebM.

Today, Microsoft revealed the Windows Media Player HTML5 Extension for Chrome, which will let users of the Google browser play H.264 video.

"At Microsoft we respect that Windows customers want the best experience of the web including the ability to enjoy the widest range of content available on the internet in H.264 format," said Claudio Caldato, interoperability program manager, in a Microsoft blog post.

He noted that Internet Explorer 9 will support H.264 as well as Google-sponsored WebM video - as long as users have installed the codec - and that Microsoft had already created a Firefox extension. "We also recently provided an add-on for Windows 7 customers who choose Firefox to play H.264 video so as to enable interoperability across IE, Firefox and Chrome using HTML5 video on Windows."

The move hasn't convinced everyone. One comment on the post read: "H.264 isn't an open standard and isn't supported by Firefox or Opera, so in what way is this in support of interoperability? Commercial interests absolutely, but interoperability certainly not."

Hacker Steals $12 Million Worth of Zynga Poker Chips

Gamasutra reports that a 29-year-old British man has been convicted of hacking into Zynga's game servers and helping himself to 400 billion virtual poker chips.

"The defendant sold around one third of the 400 billion poker chips, and looking at the auction history where one can purchase such items, he was selling them for around £430 ($695) per billion,' said prosecutor Gareth Evans, according to a report from local newspaper Herald Express. Sold legitimately through Zynga, the full amount of chips would have brought in some $12 million. The prosecutor estimated that if Mitchell sold all of the virtual chips on the black market, he would have made a fraction of that, around £184,000 ($297,000). Evans admitted that valuing virtual currency can be difficult and that the company was not actually deprived of tangible goods, but he said that the theft could still affect the developer by indirectly causing legitimate online gamers to stop playing Zynga Poker or its other games."

29-year-old IT businessman Ashley Mitchell plead guilty to stealing $12 million worth of Zynga Poker chips in a British court yesterday, and is now facing a substantial jail term.

Mitchell appeared at Exeter Crown Court in Devon, England and admitted to accessing the developer's servers some time between June 30, 2009 and September 7, 2009, stealing 400 billion virtual chips for Zynga Poker, then selling a portion of them for £53,000 ($86,000).

"The defendant sold around one third of the 400 billion poker chips, and looking at the auction history where one can purchase such items, he was selling them for around £430 ($695) per billion," said prosecutor Gareth Evans, according to a report from local newspaper Herald Express.
Sold legitimately through Zynga, the full amount of chips would have brought in some $12 million. The prosecutor estimated that if Mitchell sold all of the virtual chips on the black market, he would have made a fraction of that, around £184,000 ($297,000).

Evans admitted that valuing virtual currency can be difficult and that the company was not actually deprived of tangible goods, but he said that the theft could still affect the developer by indirectly causing legitimate online gamers to stop playing Zynga Poker or its other games.

Mitchell plead guilty to four charges of converting criminal property and a fifth charge for violating the Computer Misuse Act ("unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offenses").

He was previously convicted in 2008 for hacking into his former employer's website and changing his personal information to receive £3,498 ($5,600). Mitchell was given a 40-week suspended sentence by the court then -- which he is in breach of with these Zynga charges.

The hacker was remanded in custody and now faces a substantial jail term for the latest offenses. Defense solicitor Ben Derby argued that Mitchell committed the crimes during a time when he was "wrestling with a gambling addiction", having spent £3,000 ($4,800) on online games .