Verizon is upping the ante in protecting your hard earned funds from paying sudden “bill shocks”. It used to only be restricting voice and texting capabilities under their family plans.

The company announced that the telecommunications firm is bent on stopping erroneous and sudden spike in your monthly bill by saying that their Usage Controls service can now be used for data usage as well.

Verizon is also said that you can also restrict content purchases that include games, apps and ringtones. For an additional $4.99 per line a month, you can avail of this service to protect you from bill spikes.

Not only can this service provide security regarding your finances, it also gives you the ability to disallow texting, calling and using data in specified times of the day. This is a good idea knowing that your kids can focus more on their studies rather than their devices while in class.

Subscribers can also block unwanted calls from individuals by blocking their phone numbers. They also have the ability to set up a “trusted contacts” list. This list allows the user to contact those under that list regardless of the Usage Controls limitations.

DoNews claims that they have spoken to an Apple engineer who is currently developing the Chinese language version of Apple’s digital assistant. The unnamed source told the news site that testing has already began internally and if it continues to be successful, it will be released to the public by March.

Rumor also has it that Siri will now be able to provide local information and navigation that is only being enjoyed by iPhone users in the US. Currently, Siri can speak English, German and French. But Apple has promised that they will develop support for Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Korean and Spanish this year.

This isn’t really difficult to grasp since Apple has been focusing on the huge potential of the Asian market. Developing and making support for Siri in Asia will not be a risk since it will come as a major boost for their product.

Image source and image composite: Joe Aimonetti/CNET

Microsoft is set to release more of its Windows-centric apps on other platforms, particularly one of their big rivals, Google’s Android. The latest addition is OneNote for Android. OneNote is Microsoft’s clectoric note-taking product.

One-Note is now available for Android owners and is available in the Android Market app store. Microsoft launched it last February 7 and is now available on Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad and Androids.

OneNote for Android features:

• Bulleted lists
• Text formatting and images
• Clickable boxes
• To-do lists
• Quick access to recent notes
• Stores and can access multiple OneNote notebooks
• Has the ability to sync with your free SkyDrive account
• Offline access to your notes
• Spell checker
• External hyperlink support
• Table editing

OneNote Mobile for Android is free to use up to 500 notes. Exceeding the free notes would require you to pay $4.99 for unlimited use of the app.

According to Microsoft’s blog post, “If you choose not to upgrade to the unlimited version, you can still view, sync, and delete any of your existing notes even after you’ve reached the 500 notes limit. However, you will no longer be able to edit your notes or create new ones on your Android phone.”

Google as Internet service provider?

Well, the search engine giant is diving into the business of providing Internet connections to further expand their business. Google has announced that they are finally ready to start laying down fiber optic cables in Kansas City, Kansan and Kansas City, Missouri that will serve as the backbone of their much anticipated high speed Internet service.

The two Cities became the envy of the entire world when in March last year Google announced that they will be the lab rats for the company’s fiber urban infrastructure. Kansas City, Kansas was the first City included and later on Kansas City, Missouri was added to the list. The company is bragging that their fiber network will be a hundred times faster than that of their rivals.

According to Google’s blog post, the company is building out a sold fiber network, laying down miles and miles of cable across the Kansas City area. The cables are made up of thin fibers the width of which is distinct with the human hair. As it is weaved together, they will become the backbone of the Fiber service in Kansas City.

Further updates will come as the project materializes.

Image source: snsfox.com

Sony has been silent leading to the event. But a recent development considering a filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office may reveal clues as to what the company has in store for us. The company applied and asked for a trademark on the name “Xperia Sola” last January 31. As to what this device would be and what type of device would carry the name, sources don’t have a clue.

Sony has unveiled to devices at the Consumer Electronics Show last month. The Xperia Ion and the Xperia S. If this trend continues, at least a couple of devices from the company will be expected at the Mobile World Congress.

They are going to hold a press conference on the 26^th of February. This comes a day before the show in Barcelona, Spain. Tune in to Technewsgadget.com for updates on Sony’s revelation.

Image source: fusible.com

Viacom Inc., which owns movies and TV shows, partners with Amazon for its Prime Instant Video service. The latter has also teamed up with CBS Corp, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros, News Corp’s Fox, Sony Corp, Comcast Corp’s NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co to build one huge network to battle Netflix.

Amazon’s Prime Instant Video has been a feature to Amazon Prime members. Membership costs $79 per year for free shipping in the US for most of what they buy.

Amazon is planning to open its licensed library TV programs and movies as a stand-alone service and to increase Kindle Fire’s popularity. The company estimated that they have sold about 5 million Kindle Fire’s during last year’s fourth quarter.

The Viacom titles will slowly be introduced and which will include MTV shows like The Hard Times of RJ Berger, The Hills, The Real World and Jersey Shore.

Kids will also love this new partnership as beloved Nickelodeon programs like Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Yo Gabba Gabba and iCarly will also be included.

Comedy Central shows such as Chappelle’s Show and The Sarah Silverman Program will also be rolled out, as well as  TV Land favorite, Hot in Cleveland.

This market is currently being dominated by Netflix. But this combination can shake up the market and competitiveness will increase since Google Inc and Verizon Communication Inc have launched their over-top-services.

Image source: missingremote.com

Ladies and Gentlemen, the day has finally arrived. Google has released its browser, the Chrome, for their Android.

Here is a step by step guide in synchronizing Chrome Beta for your Android and Chrome for your desktop.

The first thing you have to do is download and install Chrome Beta on your Android device. Also, bear in mind that you are running the latest version of Chrome installed on your desktop. Once both apps are up and running, sign in to each respective browser using your Google account (note that you have to sign in with the same username to be able to do this). To sign in to you Chrome desktop, you have to go to Preferences, Personal Stuff. Chrome Beta will ask for you to sign in once you launch the app for the first time.

Now that you’ve signed in, launch the desktop version of Chrome and open the Preferences tab. Once in the tab, click on Personal Stuff and then look for the Sign In tab and click on Advanced.

Under the Advanced menu, check the Open Tabs box. You don’t have to change anything when you have enabled Chrome to sync everything. But if you are manually managing what it syncs, you have to check the box next to open tabs.

There you have it. Syncing is as easy as sending a text message.

Ultrabooks are the thing of the future. Though there tablets have the niche in the market, the ever loyal and useful ultrabook will always have a place in the digital world. These super thin laptops come in very handy and the ease of use that comes when using it gives it a huge advantage against tablets.

Well, this news would surely give the fans of these ultrabooks a reason to jump for joy. Leading ultrabook developers are reportedly slashing down prices by as much as 25 percent. This price drop comes in preparation for the second generation models that will be launched anytime soon. This second gen models carry with them Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge processors.

Digitimes said that the price of first gen ultrabooks will drop during the second quarter of 2012. Pegged at $1000 on the average, the price will drop to $699 to $799.

Second gen models of these ultrabooks would obviously still cost more. The new HP Envy 14 Spectre, which by the way will be designed with glass and will carry a 1600×900 pixel display will be priced at $1400.

One thing that separates the new line of ultrabooks from the old is the Ivy Bridge processors. This new processor will have better graphics performance and a much improved battery life.

Screenshots of the new Windows 8 displays the “super bar” leaked over the weekend. ‘Lo and behold, there was no start button on the bottom left side of the window. The Build 8220 is going to be the final version before the beta debuts before the month’s end.

The Windows start button offers us the ability to open search, share, devices and settings panels. According to The Verge, Microsoft is reportedly replacing the start button. They will use the space, used to be reserved for the start button, turning it into a hot corner.

Though this development comes as a sad story to fans of the start button, the reality is that Microsoft has been toying with the idea for quite some time already. One good news is that the company will retain the functionality of the Windows 7 to pinned shortcuts for easy access to your favorite programs.

Windows 8 will debut the so-called “charms bar”. These are a collection of transparent icons that gives you access to key features. This sound like a replacement for the start button.

The mobile platform wars is just heating up and it looks like the winner might not be proclaimed sometime soon. Two of the most popular platforms, the iOS and the Android, continue to wage war against each other. Though each of them feels that they are the most coveted platform out there in the market today, there clearly is now way to know which of the two dominates the market.

But Crittercism, a mobile app statistic service, has created a study on the number of crashes per platform. Though not the data we needed, still this deserves some recognition as they were able to find out which platform has the most number of app crashes.

It turns out that Android is not the one leading the app crash race. The iOS crashes more often than the latter. According to Forbes, apps running on the iPhone, iPod and the iPads are not as stable as those running in Android.

The Crittercism report that Apple and Google continues to develop and release updates on their Operating Systems. App developers have to upgrade and develop newer versions of their apps to keep up with the platforms. The study was done last year. They tested 23 iOS versions and 33 Android versions from December 1 to 15. The iOS 5.0.1 was fairly new then. But older versions of iOS showed a huge number of crashes as well. The study also shows that not everyone updates their devices as soon as it is available.

Looks like its one-nil for the Android.

Careening controllably in a snowy mountain on your skis can be an exhilarating experience. The adrenalin rush that goes with the experience is one hell of a blast add to that the breathtaking scenery that you can’t see in the city is a picturesque view.

But if you’re an individual who can’t separate yourself from work but still wants to escape the hustle and bustle of the city life, there is a device for your that lets you do both at the same time.

Presenting, Buhel’s SpeakGoggle G33s. Imagine yourself sporting one. You ski down a snowy slope and being able to speak to your employees at the same time. This goggles connects to your smartphone over Bluetooth. This goggles can also act as a walkie talkie for your friends who sport the latter. The microphone is built into the frame. The microphone’s quality is great. Clear conversations is as easy as turning on the television.

The battery life is excellent. A single charge can give you 12 hours of talk time. You can carry this goggles anywhere as it is designed to last -45 degree Celsius. This is a great buy for ski-connoisseurs and mountain climbers.

Image source: Gizmodo.com

The “Gorilla Glass” is one creation that should be placed on all existing devices as this one of a kind invention helps to build your device into an indestructible toy.

Since not all gadgets are created with “Gorilla Glass”, we end up buying things that shield the latter from the harshness of the environment and at times our recklessness. Shielding your gadget from these troubling nuisances is of utmost priority to all of us. And if we can combine protection, style and functionality into one the better.

Introducing the iPad 2 Folio from Knomo London. Retailing at $80, this wonderful piece of creation combines soft nappa leather with tough molded plastic and perfectly matches form and function.

The leather-coated plastic frame firmly clamps onto the back of your device, while the leather front has a magnet to keep the flap closed.

Folding the flap backwards allows you to stand your iPad 2 in two different ways. First, it lets you angle your device slightly to let you browse easily. Next is you can let it stand up nearly 90 degrees to allow you to present to your guests or watch a movie.

The best feature of the folio is it has a tracker tag. This allows you to track or locate your device. Isn’t that fabulous?

So not exactly a big fan of Apple products but you want to get a hold of Apple’s latest digital assistant Siri? Look no further.

Android lovers can have a “Siri-like” app installed on their smartphones as an alternative to the iPhone 4S version. In fact, according to Taylor Wimberley of Android and Me, Google is developing their own version of Siri, it is called the Majel.

Well, here are some apps that you can install in your Android devices to imitate Siri’s likeness.

Iris – It’s Siri spelled backward. This was the first app created to compete with Siri. It has been downloaded about a million times since it was launched. The app has received fairly good reviews from users but it still has a lot of things to improve on.

Vlingo – This app has received critical acclaim from both Wall Street Journal and CNet. These reviews were written two years back. They say that this is “the original”. This app easily understands European accents way better than Siri which finds it rather difficult to understand other accents.

Skyvi – This app is advertising itself as “Siri for Android”. It has better reviews compared to Iris. One reviewer even commented that Skyvi “holds a conversation better than Siri.” Unfortunately, one down side of this app is that it does not allow you to send text messages or make phone calls using only your voice.

Having a portable Wi-Fi device with you is a big help. Being able to share you connection to your friends will make you popular. Unfortunately, carrying with you a portable device that lets you do this is a bit of hassle to some. While these devices are small, the idea of buying one could make you think twice.

Though there are now ways to configure Windows to enable you to create a Wi-Fi hotspot, the process involved could make you think otherwise.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the answer to your question is here. Connectify is here.

Using Connectify is as easy as 1, 2, and 3.

You first have to download the application on their site and install it in your laptop. Then open the application then set a password and SSID for your hotspot. Then choose the connection that you want to share and click on the large, friendly ‘Start Hotspot’ button and you’re good to go.

There are two versions of Connectify.

There is the free version. This type allows you to share your internet connections. It is a reliable application and does its job fairly well. What’s good is that it features no ads.

The other one is the paid version. This type allows you to rename your hotspot and automatically detects you Internet connection and has product support. You have to shell $29.95 for you to avail of the Pro version.

If you want flexibility, power and you have money to shell, then choose to buy the pro. But the free version is enough if you only want to share your connection to friends. Either way, you won’t be disappointed with this program.

Sophos reminded users that bogus Facebook stock was offered last year and yesterday’s development of an IPO announcement will likely bring forth in schemes similar to that of last year’s scam.

People should be aware of the possible methods that scammers will use. Naked Security sounded off with a warning that people are out there that could use this to their advantage. The potential of free Facebook stock being used as bait to entice people to click on links or join pages are highly likely.

Facebook even went public on these as they said that, “Investors might think they are getting in on the ground floor of innovative social media companies, but instead find that they may have handed over real money for nonexistent shares.”

People need to be vigilant to these types of modus to protect and shield themselves from these types of scams.

Image source: soxfirst.com

Well, ‘lo and behold that LodgeNet Interactive Corporation’s free mobile app. The company that is big in on-demand and other TV-based services in a number of hotel rooms in North America has released an app that allows their guests to use their smartphones or tablets as a TV controller.

According to Derek White, president of interactive and media networks for the company as told to msnbc.com, “We didn’t have germophobes in mind when came up with the app. But that does seem to be a very popular aspect of the system”.

The app will be available for download this Monday. An onscreen QR code is needed in order to download the app before checking in in a hotel lobby or in your room. In order to sync your mobile device to the TV system, a unique code will be received by the guest to enter into the app.

White added, “We can’t remove the remotes entirely form the rooms yet. Because you still use the remote to turn the TV on to do the initial sync up, but after that, there’s no need to use the remote or, for that matter, the in-room phone.”

This looks like a great app for Germophobes out there.

As we count the days that lead to the fateful event, federal authorities are tightening their grip on illegal sites streaming this spectacle. The latter announced last Thursday that they are cracking down websites that stream the event illegally after NE Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady told reporters that he watched last year’s match in an illegal website.

The Feds were able to bring down 16 sites and filed the necessary criminal charges against one man who hails from Michigan who owned nine of them.

According to US Attorney Preet Bharara, the NFL and broadcasters lose millions of dollars, thus forcing them to increase the prices of tickets and other customers due to piracy.

Tom Brady said, “Last year I was rehabbing my foot in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website. And now I’m actually playing in the game. So, it’s pretty cool.”

Yonjo Quiroa was charged last Wednesday with copyright infringement. He is popular in the web due to his involvement in distributing football, basketball, hockey games and wrestling matches.

This comes as a big blow to individuals who have no means of watching the game live on television and only rely on these live streaming sites to watch the game.

The long wait is over.

Web browsing giant Mozilla has officially released the much awaited upgrade of their baby, the Firefox 10. This latest version of the open source browser has seen a lot of facelifts, improvements and features. In particular, the built in tools for web developers has seen a big boost.

Developers of the company have decided a year ago to transitioning the release of the Firefox 10. This new strategy would ensure better performance improvements and support for new web standards. This browser is the first official extended support release.

One of the biggest changes in the browser is its navigation bar. There is no longer a forward arrow button visible in the default navigation toolbar. It only appears when the user navigates a back page.

The keyhole shape that is formed by the back and forward buttons in the navigation toolbar has been an integral factor in the browsers identity. On the Firefox 10, this keyhole shape can only be seen when the user navigates back a page.

The new developer tools have an integrated developer panel that has a richer DOM inspector and a tool for viewing, toggling and modifying CSS properties. Add to that, former tools like web console, a JavaScript scratchpad.

The Firefox 10 can be downloaded through Mozilla’s webpage.

The game entitled “Star Wars: The Old Republic” has seen big investments coming from EA. In fact, the company has poured in more dough in this game that any other title in the latter’s 30-year existence. The gamble sounds good for EA as its shares increased by 6 percent at the close of the market. The company could reel in huge amounts of earnings if this trend continues.

            EA said that they have sold 2 million units of the game to date. And almost 1.7 million individuals have subscribed to it.

            When the game was released last December 20, those who bought the game had a difficult time connecting to the game’s servers. Eric Brown, Chief Financial Officer of EA, told Reuters that they have since improved since that inglorious day and have been able to reduce the wait times for players. He said that, “We were able to double the amount of people we could support per server and so the lines which appeared to be congested became uncongested due to great engineering. ‘Star Wars’ has been an incredibly successful launch.”

It seems OK as of now. Let’s just wait and see if EA can follow through with their improvements and if Star Wars can succeed against other online games out there.

Static and passive mannequins are a thing of the past in Japan, at least for one department store that is.

Though a lot of stores have been using real life models as their mannequins to attract buyers to their store, what separates this shop is that they use inanimate objects and make them move. Sounds creepy right? Well, at first we might say that but in this robotic country and where technology is being developed in a rapid rate, I certainly doubt it if people would be fazed with such an invention.

This real-life Android is the creation of Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro. He is the man behind Geminoid robots at the Osaka University Intelligent Robotics laboratory. Together with individuals from a department store in Tokyo, they designed to give a mannequin a lift that it truly deserves.

The team came up with a robotic mannequin that is eerily humanlike. It is displayed at the stores window. It can smile, nod and shuffle a bit in her chair. What’s good about it is that she can interact with people in her surroundings. She even yawns as she dutifully awaits shoppers to come close to her. It is capable of 60 facial expressions and can even have moods.

Well, this could be one excellent gimmickry that can boost the stores sales.

Image source: digitaltrends.com

Now, all your boyish hopes and dreams would surely come to fruition as the popular laser tag is coming to your Android, Windows Phone devices and iPhones.

Called the Xappr Gun, it is a new accessory that can be connected to your smartphone that enables you to play shooter and augmented-reality games. This new toy has a mount with a viewfinder area that you can attach to your gadget. An auxiliary cable connects to your smartphone’s headphone jack that registers your shot or trigger pull.

The Xappr is going to be on the shelves by June and is said to be compatible to a number of games in the market already. Games like, AR Invaders and Spray’Em are two of the titles that this gadget is compatible with.

The new laser tag game called ATK, which is still being beta-tested, enables players to engage in a shootout with you Xappr-equipped frenemies.

This new toy is pegged at $49.99. Remember; shoot in the same direction as your teammates.

Apple Inc. has reached a new milestone as they were able to eclipse Hewlett-Packard Co. as the world’s No. 1 maker of personal computers in the fourth quarter.

The data includes iPad sales during that same period.

Canalys released the data and said that the PC market worldwide has grew by 16 percent to 120 million in the final three months of 2011.

Image source: businessmodelinstitute.com

As the world’s leading PC company, Apple Inc. has reached another milestone. The company is known for their innovations and sleek and sexy designs.

The market actually dropped by 0.1 percent if we take out the iPad out of the equation. The research firm is the first organization that included the latter in their tally of computer sales.

They said that Apple sold 20.6 million units of iPad in the fourth quarter of 2011. This is up by 17.01 percent.

HP on the other hand sold 15.3 million units, growing by 12.7 percent.

Tim Coulling of Canalys said, “Currently, HP is pursuing a Windows strategy for it pad portfolio, producing enterprise-focused products, such as the recently launched Slate 2, until the launch of Windows 8.

However, questions remain over Microsoft’s entry into the consumer pad space. While early demonstrations of the Windows 8 operating system seem promising, Microsoft must focus its efforts on creating an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive.”

Email marketing nowadays are abound and plenty. What separates your marketing style to others could make or break your campaign. One such successful strategy is being run by Groupon. They basically turned this concept into a huge trend.

If you’re accessing deals through email, then it would make a lot of sense that an email provider, which basically earns through display ads, would deal ads. This seems to be Microsoft’s latest strategy to earn more income with their email service.

According to Greg Sterling of Marketing Land, the company is going for deal ads in their Hotmail service replacing the current display ads. Though only a few individuals would be granted access at first, as the program reaches its full stage, all users would have access and can see this deal ads posted on their Hotmail accounts.

The email service provider currently has about 45.5 million users in the United States. They are behind Gmail who has about 62.7 million subscribers.

Sterling also divulged that these deals that will be advertised in Hotmail will be coming from Microsoft itself, as well as their partners. Microsoft currently has deals for Bing and MSN offers.

Well, you’re one of the many who seem to always pledge this every year yet break this due to laziness and all other reasons that seemingly doesn’t end.

If you really are serious with your pledge, but just can’t seem to to follow through with your project of going to the gym, there is an app for you. Introducing the GymPact. And guess what? This app introduces money into the equation!

Isn’t money enough to motivate you to hit the gym and start to sweat and shave off those excess fats that you are harboring? Well, this app gives you money to go to the gym. At the same time, it also takes away money from you for not going.

Users begin by creating a weekly pact that states how many times he/she intends to go to the gym. To raise the stakes, users will also key in a desired amount of money to be taken away from them if they fail to live by to this pact.

After you go to the gym and stay there for at least 30 minutes, you will be able to receive a cash reward for living up to your end of the deal. This money comes from the funds that GymPact collects from people who fail to meet their fitness goals.

Pretty cool huh? At least people can now earn and at the same time loose those unwanted pounds. Want to start now? Head on over to the App Store and download the free GymPact App.

Image source: slashgear.com

Computer security developer Trend Micro has unveiled a new malware that could harm your PC’s. This new attack starts with a Facebook post on affected users walls inviting their friends to install a Valentines Day theme on their FB profiles.

Trend Micro said in a blog post, “Clicking the Install button on the page will prompt the download of the malicious file, FacebookChrome.crx which Trend Micro detects as TROJ_FOOKBACE.A. When
executed, TROJ_FOOKBACE.A executes a script that is capable of displaying ads from certain websites.”

These attacks only work when you Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox as your Internet browser.

This is not the first attack of this kind, “but considering that extension-capable browsers are coming to the forefront now, it serves as a waring to all of use that this may be continuing a trend that the malicious entities of the internet are going to follow in the foreseeable future,” the post writes.

These cybercriminals have been wrecking havoc on this popular social networking site and have used these types of tricks in their schemes.

So, to avoid being victimized by these unscrupulous individuals, you better look and study first before clicking any link that could potentially lead you to damaging your computers.

According to the company, the websites was found to have a redirect script written in PHP that has a ‘New Year’ written on its file name.

Paul Wood, senior intelligence analyst for Symantec said, “We also expect to see plenty of spam and malware taking advantage of some of the major upcoming sporting events this year. We are already seeing reference to the Summer Olympics in London as part of 419 or advance fee fraud messages.”

The report said that spammers are distributing spam emails to lure individuals to those sites that were affected. A social networking site was mentioned that was used by these unscrupulous individuals in their scheme.

Wood added that, “By relating their mails to widely-celebrated holidays and current events with global interest, spammers and malware authors can (at first glance, at least) make their messages more interesting, and increase the chance of recipients visiting spam websites or becoming infected.”

The report also stated that at least 1 in every 327 emails in Australia has been found as malicious and 1 in every 542 are phishing related.

TmoNews was able to get a copy of a document written by T-Mobile that indicates that the telecommunications network is set to make roaming changes to “continue providing competitive pricing options in the industry.”

They said that these changes will be made known to customer in February.

This said changes will be staggered: 50MB of data will be limited to the 2GB plan, while the 5GB plan will get 100MB and the 10GB plan will have a monthly limit of 200MB. T-Mobile is going to send text messages to customers when they have nearly consumed their monthly allotment, or when they go over their limit. The monthly allotment will be reset on a new billing cycle.

Business and government account, T-Mobile employee accounts, mobile broadband rate plans, voice domestic roaming, and text and picture messaging while roaming are exempted from the rationing.

According to the T-Mobile document, “Domestic data roaming allotments are currently used across the wireless industry and are quite common with other carriers.” Sprint is the only one who does this currently while Verizon and AT&T do not.

The days of throwing flashbangs, carrying MP4 rifles and evading sniper fire could be back in the fold.

One of the most popular first person shooter games of all time has been redeveloped to bring this cult game back to the limelight and into your Android phones. Though the game is still being played nowadays, but fans have been declining since a thousand and one games like it have popped up on the scene.

Counter-Strike has made every boy and every man’s dream come true. Now, fans who wish to keep the game alive is developing a version of the game for the said device. The game being a modified version of Half-Life has seen its up and downs in recent years and hopefully, the new generation of gamers will be able to appreciate the game.

The Android version will still have a team of counter terrorists pitting them against the bomb wielding terrorist team. The game used to be a Windows exclusive game. Now, it has evolved because newer versions can now be played on your web browsers. There are currently 2 Android versions for this game. One is for Android 2.0+ devices while the other is for Gingerbread and higher.

Let the war games begin!

Image source: jayceooi.com

Tech companies, including Facebook and Google are coming together to develop a system to combat scams also knows as phishing.

This scheme lures people and tricks them into giving their passwords and other personal information by sending emails that looks like legitimate. They use banks, retailers and other businesses as fronts of their dirty ways.

In order to deter such attack to their clients and members, 15 major tech and financial firms have organized a group to develop a system to authenticate emails from legit senders and blocking out fake ones. It is called the DMARC or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance.

DMARC is based on existing modes of combating spam. These techniques are designed to authenticate or verify that an email is coming from an illegitimate source.

This new system seeks to address this by asking email senders and the companies to provide an email service to share information about the communiques that they are sending and receiving. Companies can also receive alerts from email providers every time somebody not authorized is using their domain name is used for fake messages.

According to Google, at least 15 percent of non-spam messages in Gmail comes from domains that are under DMARC. Adam Dawes, product manager of Google said in a blog post that, users “don’t need to worry about spoofed messages from these senders.”

He also added that, “With DMARC, large email sender can ensure that the email they send is being recognized by mail providers like Gmail as legitimate, as well as set policies so that mail providers can reject messages that try to spoof the senders’ addresses.”

Image source: hoax-slayer.com

All we need is love. That four letter word comes in different faces, places, shapes and sizes. One such symbol comes this Valentines day in the form of one popular game.

You read it right. Because the popular game that blazed through your mobile phones and tabs is coming to Facebook this coming Feb 14. Make way, the Angry Birds is hitting the social networking scene.

A lot of individuals love this game and it’s quite fitting that Rovio is choosing the date to launch its popular game on Facebook. The company announced that the game has been downloaded more than half a billion times. Data was collated and ended last November.

The data also shows that the game is being played up to a total of 300 million minutes per day. If we convert it to playing years, that would be equal to 200,000 years.

Now, the ever so popular game is invading Facebook. Rovio is inviting Angry Birds fanatics and those who want to jump in the bandwagon in an event entitled, “Nothing says ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ like competitive pig-popping among friends!” Angry Birds can be found in Facebook here.

So get your fingers ready and join the event.

Image source: angrybirds360.com

The Kinect is mostly seen as an add-on for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Now PC users can enjoy this technology as the Microsoft is set to deliver on its promise to bring Kinect to this popular device.

Not only are they bringing it to the PC but they’re bringing it with all the official support. Not only will Microsoft bring it to PC owners but they are also giving it to portable systems.

A prototype of this was unveiled to the public as two notebooks from Asus had built in Kinect sensors and it ran on the new Windows 8. The daily speculates that this motion sensor will make sense for gaming and switching applications or as a replacement for media controls.

Kinect seems inept on smaller screen PC’s. While it is visually atractive on a 27 inch all in one PC. But this technology would rather be useful in a laptop than a multi-touch interface.

Unfortunately, the popular newspaper wasn’t able to get any comment from a representative from the company.

This could possibly be a new tablet. It can also be an affordable e-ink e-reader that can retail to about $50. Or it could even be an e-reader that has a Qualcomm power-efficient Mirasol color display that is now being used by e-readers in Korea and China.

Can this new e-reader be a part of the Nook’s launch outside US? Barnes & Noble is rumored to making this gamble and the Times article said that it is “expected to be a Waterstones bookstores in Britain.” Though they haven’t revealed any date as of yet but at least there is some glimmer of hope that its release could have this new feature.

It’s good to note that Barnes & Noble will continue to redesign their stores. This according to CEO William Lynch. They will investing in smaller stores and eliminate DVD and music sections while not completely removing them from their line-up as they will only move it to other stores.

Want to have a pet but is afraid to own one due to the fear of losing them? Don’t fret. There are several devices out there that could help you forget about this nudging concern.

Meet the Tagg GPS tracker. It is a low profile solution for your naughty pets that just can’t seem to stay at one spot. It has a GPS equipped collar that looks like any other collar out there in the market. Isn’t it great? Having your pet don a GPS collar that is discreet.

Tagg also comes with a handful of features that can help alleviate tense individuals from the stress that pet owning brings with it. It can definitely give you some peace of mind.

One feature of this GPS collar is the ability to create a virtual barrier. What this does is it creates a virtual boundary for your pets to roam around. Once he/she goes out of the barrier, it automatically notifies the owner by sending him/her a text message informing the latter that his/her pet has just stepped out of the set boundary.

They can also track their pets in real time using apps for Android phones, iOS devices and internet browsers. It is also waterproof. The device is battery operated and if the battery is also drained, it alerts the owners so that they can recharge the device.

It costs around $99. It is inclusive of a tracker, docking station and one month service fee. Owners will be charged a monthly fee amounting to $7.95 for one animal after the first month. An additional 95 cents will be charged for additional animals (and of course, another $99 collar).

Image source: dog-milk.com

With the G-Shock name synonymous to toughness and with a solid name backing it, are you willing to entrust you mobile phone to a company like them?

Casio has designed a new and quite interesting G-Shock watch. The company has developed a watch that is also a smartphone. Built for users who usually find themselves in rough situations, this new breed of smartphones surely trumps any like it out there. Aesthetically, it is similar to that of it predecessor, the G-Shock watch. It features a rubberized bumper around the edges and can survive a fall as high as 10 feet. It is also water resistant up to 10 meters and is capable of taking a full ton of weight. Now that is tough!

It runs on the Android and it was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Shows in Vegas. Though we are not sure if they would place this in the production line or is just a conceptg, but at any rate, if this is going to be available on the shelves, I bet that people would flock stores just to get their hands on this.

So what country does mobile phone usage constitute as a war crime? North Korea.

In a seemingly comedic story, The Telegraph is reporting that in North Korea, anybody who is caught using his/her cell phone or attempting to escape to china during the 100-day mourning period for Kim Jong-il is subject to punishment as it is considered as a war crime.

North Korea was grieving and mourning as their “Great Leader” died due to heart attack last December 17. The Telegraph reported that increasing poverty and oppression and diminishing food supplies, tens of thousand of people are trying to escape to neighboring countries.

The ban on cell phone use came from the North Korean government wanting to keep the information flow in and out of the country to a minimum. Stifling cell phone usage isn’t new to this country as they did it in 1998.

last November, Reuters reported that at least a million North Koreans are going to have cell phones by the end of 2011. This was encouraging news as just a few years ago, people were incarcerated or executed just by owning one. The one million is only a tiny percent of the population.

Ovum Research has unveilied its annual developer survey. And the results are quite surprising.

The results showed that Android appears to be closing in on Apple as the platform of choice by developers. It also said that majority of the developers preferred to support both the iOS and the Android platforms.

Another unexpected result that came about in the survey is the positive interest of developers in Microsoft’s Windows mobile device. Can this be the result of the hype that is being generated by the upcoming release of the Windows 8.

Though Apple is not losing ground and Android getting the lost market, it seems like the developers are deciding to create apps that can be used on both platforms.

One good news is that developments seems to be going out of the way of propriety platforms (Java, Flash, WAP). This is in facvor of HTML 5 based apps.

Unfortunately, the report does not state the profits of the developers from making these apps. This is supposed to be important since it would be clear if developers are creating apps due to the popularity of the device or is it because the app is suitable for the device. The iOS seems to be more profitable over Android.

Image source: junauza.com

The world’s largest mobile phone maker, when we speak about volume, disclosed a new scheme in their attempt to dent Apple and Google. Unfortunately, the scheme has not been successful as Apple still is the more popular brand. Since the launch of Nokia’s Windows phone last November, they’ve only sold at least one million of these phones. While Apple on the other hand has sold 37 million iPhones during that quarter.

Nokia is not expecting any big growth during the first quarter of 2012. Although analysts had a high forecast for the Windows Phone, sales have been poor and seldom.

According to Michael Schroder of FIM Securities, “The report highlights that the start of the Windows strategy is slow, and we have very little concrete data to predict its success at this point. There are a lot of uncertainties. These are critical times for the future of the whole company. The next months will be extremely important.”

Image source: lidinno.com

]]> http://technewsgadget.net/2012/01/29/nokia-sales-decline-by-74-in-4q-of-2011/feed/ 0 http://technewsgadget.net/2012/01/29/twitter-to-begin-restricting-tweets-in-some-countries/ http://technewsgadget.net/2012/01/29/twitter-to-begin-restricting-tweets-in-some-countries/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:15:57 +0000 Ahleen Guzman http://technewsgadget.net/?p=2635

Twitter announced last Thursday that they are going to begin restricting Tweets in some countries. This comes as a huge surprise since Twitter has helped public upheavals against governments. This was more pronounced in the Middle East.

According to a blog post by the company, “As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there.”

This decision by Twitter to censor content in their website comes as a surprise as the social networking site was very helpful in anti government protest in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries. As the revolutions spread throughout other countries, Twitter said in a blog post that they are not going to censor content and even said, “The Tweets Must Flow.”

The blog post said, “We do not remove Tweets on the basis of their content. Our position on freedom of expression carries with it a mandate to protect our users’ right to speak freely and preserve their ability to context having their private information revealed.”

But according to iPhonefaq, the jailbreak that is being used by Apple can be used for Windows too. This jailbreak has been unethered and can be installed on any Apple device using its latest iOS – iOS 5.0.1. Those who use their Windows PCs have to back-up their device first and then update their device to the latest OS.

Here is a short list of what you need to do after backing up your device:

1. Download Absinthe for Windows
2. Unzip the file
3. Run the Absinthe.exe file after extracting it
4. Tether the iPhone 4S or iPad 2 to the Windows PC using the sync cable
5. Click Jailbreak

The iPhone screen will show a message saying Restore in Progress, similar to that of the Mac. This process may take time to finish and after the device restarts, an Absinthe widget will appear on the gadget. Click or tap the widget and let the device do the needful. Once this is done, the device will again reboot with the Cydia Icon appearing on the screen. This suggests a successful jailbroken device.

Hacktivist group Anonymous is letting you join their attack just by clicking at their tweets. Users may unwittingly know that they are allowing Anonymous to do this to them.

Senior technology consultant of Sophos, Graham Cluley, reported the new “tactical attack technique”. This was used to attack the US justice department website a week ago.

These links posted in Twitter and other sites pointed to a page on the pastehtml.com website. When you visit the webpage it executes JavaScript that uses the visitors computer to flood a website chosen by Anonymous.

To avoid being a victim of this new technique, users have to disable JavaScript on their computers.

Anonymous wanted people to support their cause by installing a program called LOIC or Low Orbit Canon. If you have installed the program, you’d b able to join a DDoS attack. The new technique tricks people into becoming participants. VP of products at network security vendor Radware Carl Herberger said, “This can of course be used on Facebook and Twitter and other sites to lure unsuspecting users.”

This latest method escalates the hactivist war and adds a new effective technique to Anonymous tricks.

Image source: hyperboreanvibrations.blogspot.com

Well, scientists from the University of Bristol in UK have found a way to minimize the effect of oil spill in the ocean. They have created a magnetic soap that has the potential to clean oil spills.

According to the Angewandte Chemie chemistry journal, the researchers discovered this soap by dissolving iron atoms. This gives the soap particles a metallic center, into a chlorine and bromine solution that is similar to the once we see in mouthwashes and fabric softeners.

The group tested the magnetic properties by inserting a magnet into a test tube that contains a soap solution, water, and oil. They found out that the soap was able to rise through the water and oil to reach the magnet.

Professor Julian Eastoe and his team say that the soap’s magnetic properties enables it to easier absorb and remove from a system and it has less effect on the environment.

According to Eastoe, “From a commercial point of view, though these exact liquids aren’t yet ready to appear in any household product, by proving that magnetic soaps can be developed, future work can reproduce the same phenomenon in more commercially viable liquids for a range of applications from a treatment to industrial cleaning products.”

Image source: en.wikipedia.org

Apple said last Tuesday that they were able to sell 37 million units of iPhones in the past 3 months of 2011. This feat by the iPhone exceeded the estimates of some analysts and it propelled Apple to hit record quarterly sales.

The 37 million units account to 53 percent of Apple’s revenue during that quarter. Other Apple products such as the iPad and MacBooks can’t keep up with the spike in the sales of the iPhone.

They have edged out rivals Samsung Electronics Co., which announced that they sold 35 million units in that same time, and Nokia Corp..

According to ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall, “It was a pristine quarter. The investment community has never seen a company like this, inside or outside technology.”

The magnificent performance by Apple places them at the top of the world’ most valued company. They are being trailed by Exxon Mobil Corp. The two have been exchanging the top spot since last summer.

Looking to brandish a new smartphone that screams “I’m rich and can afford anything”? Or you just want to prove that you belong to the elite class? Well, if you have $2,400 to spare you don’t have to look any further.

BlackBerry is launching its BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981. The smartphone’s mere price makes the iPhone 4S, or any smartphone for that matter, a cheap buy.

Though feature-wise, the P’9981 isn’t as impressive as other cheap smartphones in the market. What you get for that price is a 2.8 inch screen,640 x 480 touch screen (the iPhone 4S bags a better screen and resolution), a 5 megapixel camera and 720p HD video recording (the iPhone 4S has 8 megapixels and 1080p) and 768MB of RAM.

The BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981 really isn’t that impressive. Its features aren’t top of the line and are not up to par with high end Androids or the iPhone line.

But if you prefer to have a smartphone that differentiates you from the others, then pick this phone and show it off! For that price you really have to.

The P’9981 as of present, is only being sold in UK and in the Middle East.

This change will take effect this coming March 1^st.

Google said that these changes will give the people much better search results and will enable advertisers find customers. This comes as a good development since Google have faced criticisms over user data sharing previously.

According to Alma Whitten, director of privacy of Google’s product and engineering, “We’re rolling out a new main privacy policy that covers the majority of our products and explains what information we collect, and how we use it in a more readable way.”

The main change will be felt by those who have Google accounts. “If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries, or tailor your search results, based on the interest you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail and YouTube,” Google said.

A year ago, Google and the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement to disable Google form feigning how they use personal information and from sharing the data of users without their consent.

Now, a YouTube user, who claims to be an emissary of Anonymous, is telling viewers that the group is planning to shut down the popular social networking site. Though this isn’t new to them, due to the Guy Fawkes day, were they claimed that they are going to shut down Facebook but did not occur. They announced this over YouTube as well.

This latest video gives attention to the SOPA and PIPA problems. The video asks viewers to download Low Orbit Ion Canon, the same method they used to take down the DOJ website. This floods the servers of the target site with numbers of packets of information leading to a server crash.

Facebook is not an easy target to beat. They have servers around the globe. The video claims, “While it is true that Facebook has at least 60,000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down.” The video tends to elicit help from its viewers as it cannot work without their help and support.

Well, let’s just sit around and wait if this come to materialize.

That is a huge number considering that that feat is equal to at least an hour of video uploaded per second. According to a blog post by YouTube, “In 2007 we started at six hours, then in 2010 we were at 24 hour, then 35, then 48. And now… 60 hours of video every minute, an increase of more than 30 percent in the last eight months. In other words, you’re uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second.”

Their latest stats which boasts of 4 billion views per day, is an increase of 25 percent in the past 8 months.

YouTube was bought by Google back in 2006 for a whopping amount of $1.65 billion.

The site is currently adding content including full length TV shows and movies to attract potential investors and advertisers.

This small image sensors is going to be used in developing cameras of higher quality for cameras and as well as smartphones. According to a statement by Sony, “The popularization of smartphones and other devices in recent years has been accompanied by an increasingly diverse use of camera functionality. This has brought heightened demand for more sophisticated camera, to ensure adaptability to a wider range of scenes, and Sony developed this stacked CMOS image sensor to meet such demand.”

The new image sensor has no supporting substrates between the pixel layer and chip circuitry. The pixel section, which contains the back illuminated structure pixels, and the circuit section can now be manufactured independently.

This technology has built-in signal processing and uses large scale signal processing circuits than is possible with current image sensors. This new technology gives a better image quality, better speed, low power consumption and more features for the camera.

If we base it to data 3 months ago, their memberships have more than doubled signifying an influx of members. Google CEO Larry Page was “super excited” with the development.

Page said in a statement, “I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail, and Google+, which now has 90 million users globally – well over double what I announced just three months ago. By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+ we will create amazing experiences across our services.”

Page also added that he is very excited about what the year 2012 would bring them. He sees a ton of opportunities and growth for their business. He I also optimistic since the company ended 2011 with a very strong 4^th quarter. According to reports their revenue was up by 29%.

As for Gmail, Google released its earnings for their email service last Thursday and said that Gmail now has 350 million users.

According to their October 2011 report, they only had 260 million users. In a span of only a few months, Gmail has upped its membership by 90 million members.

With the strong signs of Google, they blew past the $10 billion mark for the first time.

Among those who are happy with the development of this technology are those who deal with perishable goods. ThinFilm and partner company PST Sensors are eying to create a prototype of a disposable sensor that monitors the temperature of goods.

The Smart Tag will display the temperature of the food or drug that people are purchasing. This method is cheaper compared to placing sensors in shipping containers, the company said.

This technology is a device that keeps the zeros and ones of digital information by replacing the orientation of polymer chains when a voltage is applied.

ThinFilm CEO Davor Sutija said, “For the first time, you have a smart device that is fully printed, which means you don’t have the upfront cost that you have with traditional electronics. This allows for 33 cents a tag.”

The company is planning to add a wireless networking module to its smart tag. This will enable goods to send communications to cell phones. This is planned to be released by 2013 or 2014.

Larry Page of Google announced that the search giant is amassing at least 5,000 new enterprise clients a day.

Page was on an earnings call with analysts when he revealed that the enterprise business is not just a toy project or a sideshow for the company.

According to Page, “Enterprise is doing great, with over 5000 new customers signing up every day. In fact, last week, we signed our biggest ever deal, about 110,000 users to BBVAm one of the world’s leading banks.”

5,000new customers a day is a high mark and is a solid representation of a very performance by any company. Though if we compare it to Android activations per day, the number clearly is but a chunk to the the latter’s statistics.

Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said the Enterprise’s wins with customers like CostCo and a number of Universities.

Google is trying to focus on their small market business. Arora said, “We are seeing great traction in our enterprise business – large partner who tend to be early adopters – many small businesses who see Google Apps as a comprehensive and quick solution. In Q4, we signed government deals for the state of Maryland, Utah and five top universities, including Berkeley, Howard and Michigan.”