Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your iPhone … Antennagate may be over, but complaints are now rolling in from iPhone 3G users who downloaded the latest Apple mobile operating system.
There are reports that upgrading the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to iOS 4 causes the phone to drag and the battery to run out more quickly. Apple has said it is investigating the issue, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
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Mobile apps on Android-powered smartphones and Apple’s iPhone can disclose more personal data than most users realize, security vendor Lookout revealed Wednesday at the Black Hat USA 2010 conference in Las Vegas. Rather than being malicious, users often give the apps permission to access data when they are installed.
Lookout CEO John Hering and CTO Kevin Mahaffey told a session titled App Attack: Surviving the Mobile Application Explosion that a popular Android wallpaper app from Jackeey Wallpaper sent users’ data, including phone numbers and SIM card numbers, to a server in Shenzhen, China. The wallpapers included My Little Pony and Star Wars.
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Hewlett-Packard has confirmed it plans separate tablet computers running Microsoft’s Windows and Palm’s webOS. HP says it will use Windows for a business device and webOS for a consumer-oriented machine.
No release dates, product specs, or prices have been named, but HP spokesperson Marlene Somsak told us in an e-mail that a Slate-type computer is coming soon.
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Motorola said it shipped 8.3 million cellular handsets in the second quarter — including 2.7 million smartphones, or 400,000 more units than the company shipped in the prior quarter. Overall, the company said it earned $162 million — up from $26 million in the same period last year.
However, Motorola said its mobile-device shipments declined from 8.5 million in the first quarter and mobile-device sales were $1.7 billion, down six percent year over year. Additionally, the company reported an operating loss of $109 million for its mobile-device business.
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In a move to compete with Apple’s iPad and emerging e-reader alternatives, Amazon.com on Wednesday unveiled the next-generation Kindle. The new-look Kindle comes equipped with a new electronic-ink screen that offers better contrast in a 21 percent smaller body that holds fast to its six-inch reading area. The new Kindle is also 15 percent lighter than its predecessor.
The made-over Kindle promises to turn pages 20 percent faster, offers up to one month of battery life, pulls content in Wi-Fi and free 3G, and doubles storage to accommodate 3,500 books. The price is $189. If you don’t need the 3G capability, a Wi-Fi-only Kindle is expected Aug. 27 for $139.
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Though the Dell Streak took its inaugural bows on Telefonica’s O2 network in the United Kingdom early last month, U.S. consumers are still waiting to get their hands on the hybrid tablet-smartphone. Despite a large volume of pre-orders on the company’s web site, Dell has yet to announce pricing or provide a firm U.S. launch date.
The reason for the delay is that the Streak is the most successful pre-sale device that the computer maker has ever offered, according to Dell blogger Lionel Menchaca. “There are many pieces that need to fall into place to release a product like this, and the reality is that we need more time to work out some things,” Menchaca wrote Monday.
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On the heels of an iMac refresh, Apple on Wednesday released the next version of its web browser. As promised, Safari 5.0.1 comes complete with extensions and a Safari Extensions Gallery. In June, Apple rolled out extensions support to help developers create extensions using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. The result is a growing gallery currently at 100 extensions.
The gallery lets Apple fans find extensions that add new features to the browser, such as toolbars that display live web feeds and sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 users can download and install extensions from the gallery or directly from a developer’s web site.
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The leading e-commerce site and the leading social network just shook hands on a tie-up that could lead to social shopping. Amazon.com launched a new beta feature Tuesday that lets shoppers connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts. The feature serves up gift recommendations for users and their friends based on the information stored in Facebook profiles.
Privacy advocates haven’t launched any missives yet, but Amazon was nonetheless quick to stress that it will not share any user account information or purchase history with Facebook. Amazon also promised not to try to contact anyone’s friends on the social network.
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With Verizon Wireless estimated to have sold roughly 300,000 Droid X smartphones, the powerful handset is fast becoming the best-selling Android-powered device.
But new adopters will have to wait until at least Aug. 4 to get one. Analyst Mark McKechnie of Gleacher and Company has found that the phones are out of stock at Verizon stores everywhere, and Motorola, riding high as it’s about to release quarterly figures, is expected to ramp up production of the Droid X.
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With Verizon Wireless estimated to have sold 300,000 Droid X smartphones, the powerful handset is fast becoming the best-selling Android-powered smartphone.
But new adopters will have to wait until at least Aug. 4 to get one. Analyst Mark McKechnie of Gleacher and Company has found that the phones are out of stock at Verizon stores everywhere, and Motorola, riding high as it’s about to release quarterly figures, is expected to ramp up production of the Droid X.
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Forget about mobile devices for a moment. Apple on Tuesday updated its iMac lineup just in time for the back-to-school rush. A new 21.5-inch 3.06-GHz Intel Core i3 iMac has a suggested retail price of $1,199.
The latest iMacs come with dual-core Intel Core i3 and i5, and quad-core Core i5 and i7 processors. The processors are equipped with an integrated memory controller to access system memory directly, Apple said.
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Security firms G Data Software and Sophos have released free tools that eliminate a vulnerability in an operating-system component called the Windows Shell for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. According to Microsoft, the vulnerability exists because Windows incorrectly parses shortcuts in such a way that malicious code may be executed whenever the icon of a specially crafted shortcut is displayed.
Microsoft introduced an automated tool of its own on July 21 that will block any attempts to exploit the vulnerability of .LNK shortcut files. However, the software giant’s homegrown fix replaces the graphics-based icons on the PC’s Task and Start menu bars with generic white icons.
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Asking Ask.com may now result in answers, not just links. On Tuesday, the search engine launched a new version that it described as “the first step in a multi-pronged strategy” to provide answers to users’ questions, either from content on the web or from “previously unpublished knowledge shared by any of the millions of Ask.com users.”
The company, an operating business of the IAC network of sites, said this functionality allows it to combine its proprietary search technology with the Ask.com community.
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On Monday, Google introduced a new version of its Google Apps suite specifically designed for use by federal, state and local government agencies in the U.S. Google Apps for Government provides the same applications that are otherwise available, but with Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification, as well as other support for governmental regulations. The apps include Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, and video sharing.
Among government customers, Google Apps is being used by the U.S. Navy to coordinate disaster relief operations and by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
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Score another win for Google. Despite Yahoo’s intimate relationship with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Yahoo Japan has snubbed Bing in favor of the world search leader.
Yahoo Japan on Tuesday said it will tap Google’s technology to power both its search engine and search ad-delivery system. But the decision may not have rested fully on Yahoo’s shoulders.
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