Windows Phone 7

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launches on Monday and the mobile operating system is likely to benefit from low expectations. When you first play with Windows Phone 7 you’re predisposed to be disappointed. We’re all conditioned to believe that Microsoft just can’t get this mobile thing right. And then you play with the tiles, touch and finish of Windows Phone 7 and you’re pleasantly surprised. And word is starting to get around. Silicon Alley Insider notes that Apple fan John Gruber of Daring Fireball gives Windows Phone 7 props. Maybe Gruber just finds Android excessively clunky. I’d actually buy one of these bad boys. The catch here is going to be distribution. Clearly, Microsoft can find a receptive audience because Windows Phone 7 does look unique. However, Microsoft has to entice consumers to buy a Windows Phone 7 device. That’s a little trickier given the flood of Android devices and the cool factor with the Apple iPhone. Microsoft’s task is also a bit more difficult because it doesn’t have Verizon Wireless on board at launch. AT&T is the primary carrier at first. Not the best idea.

Iphone 4 Problems

According to a report by Ryan Block of gdgt (guess who’s not on Steve Jobs’ Christmas card list this this?), the back of the iPhone 4 has a good chance of cracking when put into a case. Now, we all know why the front of the iPhone is made of glass. It’s so you can see and interact with the interface. But, apparently the designers at Apple also decided to make the back side of the iPhone out of glass. What kind of moron puts glass on both sides of a portable device? Anyway, complete disbelief aside, Block reports that Apple has refused to allow aftermarket case suppliers to sell cases where the phone slides in for protection. In an interesting bit of reportage, Block makes a case for why Apple wouldn’t normally do this. Apparently, Apple gets a cut (actually a double-cut) of cases that use the iPhone name and are distributed through Apple channels. So, Block reasons, Apple wouldn’t have an economic incentive to block distribution — in fact, it’s to Apple’s interest to let the aftermarket sell the cases. So, why is distribution blocked? Apparently, when sliding the iPhone 4 into the cases, microscopic particles scratch the back of the iPhone and, eventually, in a surprisingly large number of units, the glass scratches, cracks, or simply breaks open. Brave design isn’t necessarily good design. Brave design also isn’t necessarily smart design. Using glass for the back of the iPhone was brave, cutting edge design. Unfortunately, I’m guessing Apple didn’t want “cutting edge” to be meant literally.

Microsoft Testing A Twitter For Business

Microsoft is continuing to look into ways to make social computing services part of business users’ lives with a new pilot program for something called “OfficeTalk.”
Microsoft mentioned OfficeTalk in a March 19 posting on the Office Labs blog, calling it a vehicle that “applies the base capabilities of microblogging to a business environment, enabling employees to post their thoughts, activities, and potentially valuable information to anyone who might be interested.” (From that description, OfficeTalk could be more like the enterprise microblogging service Yammer than Twitter, as a few readers have noted. But there’s really not enough information on the Office Labs’ site to know for sure….) Office Labs officials described OfficeTalk as a research project, with no clear or definite commercialization path. (It is one of the team’s “Concept Tests,” like the recently introduced Ribbon Hero training game, Canvas for OneNote add-on, and pptPlex zoomable canvas.) Officials said OfficeTalk was “one of the most popular internal concept tests to date.” Microsoft isn’t offering any more details on what OfficeTalk looks like or what it will do. The Office Labs folks describe it as beeing “pretty bare bones.” They are allowing interested parties to fill out a brief survey to see if they qualify to test the service.

Google To Take Over Your Tube?

Google may be perched above your TV soon, according to a recent report. Word is, the search behemoth is teaming with Sony, Logitech and Intel to create a TV set-top box platform based on its Android operating system and designed to meld traditional TV with Internet content. Meanwhile, the FCC showed off its big plans, Microsoft bared a little more WinPho7, and Apple revealed a new way to deal with old batteries.
Apparently Google is teaming up with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI) to build a consumer set-top box platform for mixing TV with the Internet. That's Google's Android for the OS, Intel for the chips, Sony to put together the first model, and Logitech to make the peripherals. Right now, putting the Internet on your TV isn't exactly difficult -- just stick a VGA cable between your laptop and your flatscreen and voila. But that's not really the comfiest arrangement. What the Google TV platform would do -- reportedly -- would be to streamline the experience of watching regular TV, Internet video and various Web sites through the television. They could also put a development kit out there for anyone who wanted to put their content on Google TV, maybe sort of like making your own cable channel. If nothing else, the whole experience should be more like the familiar act of vegging out on the couch and flipping through channels, rather than lying there with a wireless keyboard and mouse on your lap.

Twitter Reveals Scam Details

Twitter has revealed the back story on why it reset passwords this week for many of its users. The phishing attacks that forced Twitter to change account passwords stemmed from discovery of a scam being run by a torrent Web site creator, explained Del Harvey, Twitter's director of trust and safety, in a blog post Tuesday evening. Twitter had found that someone for the past few years had been building torrent sites and forums requiring a log-in and password. This person then sold these Web sites and forums to people interested in starting their own torrent download sites. Unknown to the buyers, these sites actually contained security holes that allowed the cybercrook to gain access to the buyers' log-in information for sites like Twitter. This was done by grabbing log-in attempts to the forums and redirecting them to third-party Web sites where the criminals could capture a user's credentials. "These sites came with a little extra--security exploits and backdoors throughout the system," Harvey said. "This person then waited for the forums and sites to get popular and then used those exploits to get access to the username, email address, and password of every person who had signed up." A red flag was first raised on Twitter's end when it noticed an abnormally high number of followers for certain accounts. This prompted the company to investigate and eventually reset the passwords for anyone following those suspicious accounts. Twitter noted that although torrent sites have been around a while, this is the first time it's seen an attack using this angle. "While not all users who were sent a password reset request fall into this category, we felt that it was important to put this knowledge out there so that users would know of the possibility of compromise of their data by a third party unrelated to their Twitter account," Harvey said. Twitter advises people who have signed up for third-party torrent accounts to change their passwords at those sites and to refrain from using the same password at multiple sites. More tips on safe tweeting can be found on Twitter's help pages.

Toyota Sued For Fatal Crash

A lawsuit filed in California on Thursday alleges that a fatal crash in which a Toyota Camry accelerated out of control was caused by faulty electronics. The lawsuit is centered on Toyota's "drive by wire" system, which is the technology underlying the electronic throttle control, the alleged cause of the uncontrolled acceleration cited in the lawsuit. That is a separate issue from the mechanical accelerator pedal problems that Toyota is addressing with its massive recall. The suit claims that the crash killed Upland, Calif., resident Noriko Uno, 66, when her Camry suddenly accelerated to 100 miles per hour. After weaving to avoid hitting other drivers, the car hit a curb, sending it into the air, and then, finally, into a tree, according to a Reuters report. Drive by wire replaces traditional mechanical and hydraulic control systems with electronic control systems. While drive by wire allows for a more refined, computer-controlled acceleration, it has also introduced a new set of hard-to-trace problems. Toyota would not comment on the suit. More generally, the company is saying, at least publicly, that it has found no evidence of electronic problems. John Hanson, national manager of environmental safety and quality in Toyota's communications group, when contacted Friday, stood by a statement he made earlier this week to CNET. "We have not found any evidence of an electronic problem that would have led to unwanted acceleration. That doesn't mean that we've written it off. We are aggressively investigating any claims," he said. The case is similar to a longstanding allegation made by Jordan Ziprin of Phoenix. In a well-documented case detailed in a petition to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ziprin claims that, in 2005, when backing out of a driveway near his home, his 2002 Toyota Camry XLE suddenly accelerated and slammed into a utility box. He has also claimed this was due to a faulty electronic throttle system. Toyota has recalled approximately 8 million vehicles worldwide, including more than 2 million in the U.S., because of mechanical glitches with its accelerator pedals. Uno's family members said that they hope their lawsuit will force Toyota to widen its recall to include all models equipped with an electronic throttle and "to retrofit those automobiles with a brake override system," according to Reuters. Garo Mardirossian, a lawyer for the Uno family, said Toyota's recall should cover model years 2002 through 2006, according to the Reuters report. He added that Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had knowledge of 389 complaints of out-of-control acceleration in those model years.

Twitter, Google & China Concerns

DAVOS, Switzerland - Twitter's co-founder and the head of Google on Friday addressed concerns about Internet censorship in China, speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Google's chief told the meeting that censorship in China has to change but that the internet search giant wanted to stay in the Asian giant despite being the target of cyber attacks from inside China. When asked about reports of China's attempts to block Twitter, the co-founder of the microblogging phenomenon, Evan Williams said he had been told about them but the company had no confirmation. "That's what I've been told," he told AFP. "I have heard reports on that," he added on the sidelines of the Davos forum, but said the company did not have direct confirmation. Williams said China can use a firewall to block the microblogging service used by millions around the world, but that Twitter was not "actively" looking for ways to get around any block. "There are ways for users to get around it, but I'm not an expert on that." When asked about media reports that Twitter was developing ways to get around the firewall, Williams said he had been "misquoted." "We're not actively developing any way to get around it," he said, although he stressed that "we're for the free exchange of information." Asked if his company had noticed cyber attacks, such as those launched against Google from inside China, he said none had been detected. Google has threatened to pull out of China over the attacks as well as over censorship in China which it opposed.

Apple Fixes Alot Of Holes ln Mac OS X

Apple fixes a dozen vulnerabilities affecting Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 in its first security update for the year released on Wednesday. The security update addresses several issues with the Flash Player plug-in, including one that could allow an attacker to take control of the computer if the user visits a malicious Web site. Also patched were holes in CoreAudio, ImageIO, and Image RAW that could lead to arbitrary code execution and allow an attacker to take control of the computer if a malicious MP4 audio file were played, or malicious TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) or DNG (Digital Negative) images were viewed. The release also affects OpenSSL, fixing a man-in-the-middle vulnerability that exists in the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols used to secure communications over the Internet. The vulnerability, discovered by researchers at PhoneFactor in August 2009, could allow someone to capture data or modify operations performed in protected sessions. In addition, a hole in the CUPS printing service was plugged that could allow an attacker to cause a remote denial-of-service by issuing a malicious get-printer-jobs request. What happened to "secured"?

Intel : PC Industry Recovering

Intel's fourth-quarter earnings breezed past Wall Street's expectations, and its rosy profit outlook for 2010 was another sign that a lasting recovery for the recession-battered personal computer market is under way. As the first major technology company to report its results for the last quarter, Intel is seen as a barometer for the PC market and for technology spending in general. Its revenue beat the Street, as did its gross margin, which can measure how well Intel managed costs. Investors were restrained in their enthusiasm. Shares of the No. 1 maker of computer microprocessors edged up less than one percent in after-hours trading. Earlier, the stock had gained 2.5 percent to end the regular session at $21.48. PC shipments grew more sharply than expected in the fourth quarter, a promising sign after a brutal year for the industry during the recession. Intel, which supplies the vast majority of the "brains" inside computers, rode the resurgence of consumer PC shopping to a profit of $2.3 billion, or 40 cents per share. That was more than nine times as much as it earned in the year-ago quarter, when profit totaled $234 million, or 4 cents per share. Intel also posted its highest gross profit margin in history, at 64.7 percent. A higher gross margin number means the chipmaker was able to turn more revenue into profit. It's a key measure for a manufacturing-intensive company such as Intel because it reflects how well costs are held in check. Revenue climbed 29 percent to $10.6 billion, as Intel sold more chips, many at higher prices than in the past. Analysts expected a profit of 30 cents per share and $10.2 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. It's never clear whether chip sales line up with demand for new computers. PC makers might be buying more than they need to replenish low supplies or fewer than they need to preserve cash. But Intel clearly sees the fourth quarter as more than a holiday shopping-induced blip.

Zune HD to get XviD

We're getting word that Zune HD users will soon have some good news to shout about. Come Spring, the Zune HD should receive a firmware update providing support for MPEG-4 part 2 Advanced Simple Profile videos, including the torrent junkie's format of choice, XviD. When pressed on whether DivX support would also be added, contacts explained it was unlikely, because of proprietary restrictions. Also unclear is what range of resolutions will be supported, although we did confirm that the new format support will maintain compatibility with the HD AV dock accessory. The firmware update will also bring over a Smart DJ feature, which currently is found only in the Zune's client software. The addition of Smart DJ playlists brings the Zune HD in line with the on-the-fly Genius playlist capabilities of the iPod Touch. Better yet, Zune Pass users within Wi-Fi range will have the ability to create Smart DJ playlists that incorporate streaming content from Zune Marketplace, in addition to songs already stored on the device. Microsoft representatives were also quick to remind us that its mythical Facebook app is on track for early this year. With the Zune HD Twitter app seeing the light of day last month, there's reason for users to keep the faith.