It will go down in the security industry’s chronicles as the “Here You have” virus. That’s the subject line of an e-mail carrying a worm that wreaked havoc on corporate America on Thursday.
The e-mail offered a link to documents the malware author hoped recipients would click on. But the URL doesn’t lead to a document or a movie — it downloads a worm on to the victim’s computer.
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It seems an eternity ago when T-Mobile launched the first Google phone. Now, the company has released the successor to the G1, appropriately named the G2 with Google — and there is a world of difference between the first and second generation devices.
Perhaps the biggest difference is speed. T-Mobile claims the G2 offers downloads at 4G speeds. But analysts are skeptical about that claim because T-Mobile still uses 3G technology. The G2 is equipped with a Snapdragon MSM7230 mobile processor. The processor combines Qualcomm’s HSPA+ capabilities and second generation applications processor. The Snapdragon offers an 800 MHz CPU, making it among the fastest smartphones on the market, and a pre-installed 8GB microSD memory card with support for up to 32 GB. But analysts still aren’t convinced that the G3 offers 4G download speeds.
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Three years ago, a new kind of memory card went on sale promising to reduce the hassle of transferring photos and video from a camera to your PC or the Web.
The Eye-Fi card has built-in Wi-Fi networking to instantly upload your work. It’s still a niche product, although Eye-Fi is getting closer to its dream of enabling wireless uploads as easily as they’re performed on smartphones.
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Google has reinvented search, at least its own search platform. On Wednesday, Google unveiled Instant, a new search-as-you-type approach that works to serve up results on the fly with each keystroke.
Google developed Instant based on the idea of searching for partial queries and providing some interactive feedback while searching. Google built demos over the years, but had never cracked the code, or the algorithm as it were, to deliver search-before-you-type results. Google’s approach offers results for the most likely search given what has already been entered into the search box. You might call it predictive search.
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Apple’s sales of iPads could reach 28 million units next year, according to one analyst’s report this week. As the iPad wave continues, there are indications that the popular tablet is beginning to make entries into enterprises at a rate faster than other Apple products.
UBS Investment Research’s Mayard Um said in a note to investors that his sales estimate could be “conservative,” adding that the popularity of the device is expected to begin affecting sales of low-end notebooks. At the same time, he added, there is no evidence that it is affecting the sales of Macs.
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Blackberry-maker Research In Motion has acquired the assets of DataViz for an undisclosed sum. The firm’s most popular app, known as Documents To Go, comes pre-loaded on some BlackBerry models, but RIM has not disclosed the fate of the app for other platforms.
Documents To Go is an all-in-one application with support for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, as well as Adobe PDF, Apple iWork and other files and attachments. Documents To Go also offers a desktop application that makes possible two-way file synchronization, and a version that supports Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, iDisk and SugarSync.
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Adding to a growing chorus of good news for Google, Inc. about its mobile operating system, a new study by the Research firm IDC sees Android shooting past Research in Motion’s BlackBerry to seize second place in the global smartphone market by 2014.
IDC sees Android’s share growing by more than 50 percent from 16.3 to 24.6 in the next four years, leaving it trailing only Nokia’s Symbian in activations on mobile devices. But the firm said Symbian will continue slipping, losing 18 percent of its base with a drop from 40.1 to 32.9 percent.
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Symantec launched the 2011 editions of Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security Wednesday, as the security software maker indicated that 65 percent of consumers worldwide — and almost three-quarters of U.S. Web surfers — have already fallen victim to cybercrimes. This makes comprehensive online security protection more important than ever, Symantec executives said.
Available for purchase in the United States through various retailers and Symantec’s online store, Symantec’s Norton 2011 products feature reputation-based security technology that instantly checks when and where programs originated. The new software offerings also verify that every file users download is safe before allowing it to run on a laptop, netbook or desktop PC.
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Now that the 3Par bidding wars between Dell and HP are over, HP has a new drama to play out: a lawsuit with Oracle over the hire of its former president and CEO Mark Hurd. But Oracle’s appointment may bring a different brand of drama to the company in the form of poor employee morale as Hurd sets out to make the Sun acquisition pay dividends for the tech giant.
HP filed a lawsuit seeking to block Hurd from joining Oracle’s executive ranks after the PC-maker forced his resignation in August in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. HP claims Hurd’s hire breaches an exit agreement and puts the company’s trade secrets at risk. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison rapidly fired back at HP with what may sound to some like a threat.
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Have the antenna problems with the iPhone 4 affected Apple’s sales? According to at least one highly visible analyst, the answer is yes.
On Wednesday, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster released the results of a survey his firm conducted of 258 cell phone users in Minneapolis. The survey found that about 69 percent had been aware of quality issues with the iPhone 4, and, of those aware, 20 percent said their purchase decision had been impacted. Muster did not specify what “impacted” means.
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Samsung Electronics unveiled a new dual-core processor in Taipei, Taiwan Tuesday that promises to bring full-blown high definition and 3D video capabilities to next-generation smartphones and tablets. Code-named Orion, the new 1GHz chip is slated to begin sampling before the end of this year and attain mass market availability in the first half of 2011.
Though mobile device rivals will be able to deploy the new chip, Orion is also expected to help the company to build Samsung-branded gadgets while potentially avoiding critical component shortages similar to those that have plagued smartphone makers over the past several months. Just last week, Samsung predicted that it would sell 20 million to 25 million smartphones this year, and is targeting 50 million unit shipments for 2011.
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Verizon Wireless is beefing up its Android stock with the pending launch of a Samsung Galaxy S phone. Dubbed Fascinate, the smartphone will launch on Verizon’s network this week.
The Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate runs the Android 2.1 operating system with support for Google mobile services, including Gmail, YouTube and the Android market. The phone boasts a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor and a four-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display.
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Steve Jobs called it the iPhone without the phone. And it seems to be giving the iPhone a run for its money.
On the scale of Apple device sales, the iPod touch is seeing its stock rise, with one estimate finding that the digital music player and portable gaming device makes up nearly 40 percent of units running Apple’s mobile operating system.
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Google, the company that seems intent on becoming a force in anything that uses electrons, said Tuesday that it expects to expand its Web TV service across the globe. CEO Eric Schmidt said at the big IFA consumer electronics show now in Berlin that he expects other TV set manufacturers to join Sony, which is scheduled to launch Web TV in the U.S. beginning this fall. Samsung has recently said it is considering releasing TV sets with the Google software.
Schmidt said that the Android-based software, which allows the Web to be viewed on a TV, is available free. “You should expect that other TV manufacturers would love to have this product,” he told reporters. The U.S. launch is designed for a Sony high-definition TV, a Sony Blu-ray high-definition DVD player, and a Logitech set-top box.
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In what amounts to an “in your face” move toward HP, Mark Hurd has been named president of Oracle. In August, HP forced Hurd’s resignation as CEO and president after an investigation into his relationship with a former actress named Jodie Fisher, who accused him of sexual harassment.
Hurd, who has also been named to Oracle’s Board of Directors, will report to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Ellison blasted HP in a letter to the New York Times, arguing that the tech giant handled the situation in a “cowardly” way.” At the time, Ellison said HP made the “worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
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