News written by James Delahunty (July, 2010)

Consumer Reports has tested out a case sold by Apple Inc. and confirmed that it does fix antenna problems with the iPhone 4. The antenna problems affect signal levels when the iPhone handset is held in a certain way. The problem particularly affects lefties. Apple has called a press conference for Friday that is expected to address the issue.

The influential publication has refused to recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers until Apple comes up with a free fix for the antenna problem, even though it praised the handset for other features such as its high quality display and video camera. It tested a "Bumper" with the iPhone 4, which is sold by Apple for $29, and confirmed that it works.

"The Bumper solves the signal-strength problem," Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports said in a blog posting. "So does a piece of duct tape, as we reported earlier, or just being careful how you hold the phone. But these options all put the onus on consumers to solve or pay for a fix. We're still calling on Apple to provide an acceptable free solution to the iPhone 4's signal-loss problem."

Apple has announced that it will hold a surprise press conference on Friday to address antenna issues with the iPhone 4 handset. The issue has plagued the iPhone 4 launch, which originally looked like a complete success. Whilst features like its display and video recording quality have received considerable praise, the antenna issue has been a thorn in Apple's side and a threat to its sales.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling made the announcement late on Wednesday. The press conference will be held at 10am on Friday at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino. He declined to give any details about how Apple plans to address the problem. The company is facing at least three lawsuits related to the issue, which causes signal loss when the device is held in a certain way.

After appearing to dismiss or ignore the problem, the company has only caused itself more public relations damage, turning a possibly minor issue into global headline news. Analysts don't expect Apple to announce a full recall, but urge the company to at least offer free iPhone cases that will fix the antenna issues or find another way to make the problem go away for end users.

The NPD Group has conducted research that shows a significant amount of interest in a cloud-based music subscription service using the iTunes platform in the United States. It surveyed users of iTunes, iPod and iPhone models about various music subscription model concepts.

The "iTunes usage report" showed that more than a qaurter of respondents expressed "strong interest" in a free cloud-based music option, while "many others were willing to pay to access their music libraries from multiple devices or platforms."

"Between 7 million and 8 million iTunes users in the U.S. would have strong interest in one of the paid subscription options," NPD concluded. "These consumers indicated a willingness to pay a minimum monthly fee of $10--either for streaming music or access to their personal music libraries on multiple devices."

Apple is rumored to be working on a music subscription service and had already spoken to several executives from the four major record companies in January. Meanwhile, Apple's growing arch-rival Google Inc. is also working on its own music services.

Google Inc. has announced on one of its blogs that it is testing mutliple accounts sign-ins using a single browser. The post admits that it has big limitations for now, such as only being available for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Code, but said it is likely more services and support will be added in the future.

If you use a service that doesn't support multiple sign-in, it will default to the first account that you signed in using your browser. Another limitation is that Gmail's offline mode is disabled if you turn on multiple sign-in.

After being shown to an audience at E3 2009, the virtual character "Milo", who can be interacted with using Microsoft's Kinect, was not seen again until now. At the TED Global conference in Oxford, Microsoft showed off the virtual boy and how he reacts to a person's emotions, body movements and voice.

"I want to introduce a new revolution in storytelling," games designer Peter Molyneux told the audience. He declared that films, television and books were rubbish to him because they do not involve the audience, adding that he wanted to make a character that seemed alive, and that would "look me in the eyes and feel real."

An assistance conducted a demo showing Milo exploring a garden. "We're changing the mind of Milo constantly," he said. "No two people's Milos can be the same - you are actually sculpting a human being. Some of the things you are doing will change the course of his life."

He said Milo was built using artificial intelligence technology developed by his firm, as well as technology "hidden away in the dusty vaults of Microsoft." Milo exploits psychological techniques to make a person feel that he is real. "Most of it is just a trick - but it is a trick that actually works," Molyneux said.

Microsoft's latest "Patch Tuesday" updates will be the last offered for Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2000 as had been previously announced. The Redmond-based giant issued four security-related advisories addressing several security bugs. One of the patched vulnerabilities was controversially described by a Google engineer, Tavis Ormandy, before Microsoft has a chance to push out a fix for the issue.

That particular bug, which was exploited quickly by criminals, affected the Windows Help and Support Center. Another two updates cover laws in the Microsoft Access ActiveX component and the CDD display driver foe Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. Overall, the Patch Tuesday load was about the norm.

"The most interesting vulnerability for the enterprise is MS10-045, which lets an attacker use a specially-crafted UNC path in an Outlook attachment to bypass Outlook’s warning about opening potentially malicious attachments," Tyler Reguly, senior security engineer at security firm nCircle, said.

Intel Corp announced its anticipated quarterly results this week with analysts hoping to sample the pulse of the technology sector amidst recovery. The infamous chipmaker did not disappoint, with chief executive Paul Otellini celebrating what he called the "best quarter in the company's 42-year history," and providing figures that fueled hopes that enterprise recovery has arrived.

While the consensus in the financial world was that Intel would report revenues of $10.25 billion and 43 cents per share, Intel announced that revenue for the quarter amounted to $10.8 billion and 51 cents per share. Net income for the quarter was $2.9 billion, up by $445 million from the first quarter and a noteable $3.3 billion from the same period of 2009.

"The PC and server segments are healthy," said Otellini, "and the demand for leading-edge technology will continue to increase for the foreseeable future." While revenue from the PC Client Group jumped 2 percent, revenue from the Data Center Group jumped 13 percent. The second quarter also witnessed record mobile and server processor revenues.

Social networking giant Facebook has hit yet another milestone, this time with its mobile phone users. According to Eric Tseng, head of mobile products at Facebook, the service now has 150 million mobile users, up from 100 million in April 2010. Tseng said Facebook is now focusing on mobile phones as the key platform for Facebook services in the future.

"Mobile is fast becoming our growth lever," Tseng told attendees at the MobileBeat 2010 conference in San Francisco. Overall, Facebook claims to have about 500 million users across all platforms, and over the next six months, it predicts its mobile platforms will catch up with traditional web browser users.

In developing countries, Facebook sees mobile phones as the first route to the Internet for many potential users, and it hopes to attract new users that may never have even turned on a PC in their lives. It is working with Airtel in India on a Facebook mobile-only experience, allowing subscribers to join Facebook by phone. Even without data plans, the company is experimenting offering access to Facebook's text-only service for free.

Larry Page, co-founder of search giant Google has accused Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs of attempting to re-write history, and asserted that Google did not "follow" Apple into the mobile phone market. Page is referring to comments made by Jobs in February at an Apple town hall meeting, in which he blasted Google's "don't be evil" mantra as "bullshit" and accused the company of trying to kill the iPhone.

In a videotaped conference in June, Jobs echoed the same comments. However, Page has told Reuters that Jobs words are a "little bit of re-writing history."

"We had been working on Android a very long time, with the notion of producing phones that are Internet enabled and have good browsers and all that because that did not exist in the marketplace," Page said. "I think that characterization of us entering after is not really reasonable."

Google acquired Android Inc., a mobile startup, in 2005 and announced its Android mobile operating system in November 2007. The iPhone had debuted in January of that year. After the Android OS was announced and handsets rolled out that featured the operating system, relations between the two tech giants soured increasingly.

Microsoft Corp. and Fujitsu have announced a partnership in global cloud computing services. The Japan-based hardware and IT services company will deploy the Windows Azure platform at its data centers. Cloud computing allows the storing and use of data and programs on servers that can be accessed globally, and is increasingly used by clients to avoid having to pay for expensive software or more powerful computers to run the latest applications.

The first Fujitsu data center to use the Azure platform will be the Tatebayashi centre near Tokyo by the end of 2010, with data centers around the world following suit. "Through this alliance, we are providing our customers with a new array of possibilities in cloud computing," said Kazuo Ishida, corporate senior executive vice president for Fujitsu's ICT Services Business.

"Our partnership with Microsoft truly reflects Fujitsu's cloud strategy and will no doubt break new ground in contributing to the creation of an IT-networked society."

Fujitsu has made cloud computing services a cornerstone of its strategy, aiming to generate 1.5 trillion yen ($17 billion) by March 2016. It will invest 100 billion yen this year in cloud-related businesses, and will train 5,000 engineers by 2012.

Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office in China, reportedly called for a system that would reduce Internet users' anonymity even further in China, according to a human rights group. Human Rights in China retrieved the text of a speech given by Chen to the national legislature in April, which it says was reported only briefly at the time.

Additionally, the transcript of the speech was also removed from the legislature website quickly. Wang said that holes needed to be plugged, such as the ability for people to post comments or access information anonymously.

"We will make the Internet real name system a reality as soon as possible, implement a nationwide cell phone real name system, and gradually apply the real name registration system to online interactive processes," Wang is quoted as saying.

Under the "real name" system, anonymous quotes on news articles would not be allowed. Wang's comments come amid growing international attention on Internet censorship. China recently renewed Google's license to operate after the company shut its Chinese search engine earlier this year in a row over censorship and hacking.

An Israeli developer is crying foul after Apple reportedly rejected an application that warns users of radiation levels. Tawkon, the developer of the software, says it measures radiation levels in real time, which is something a lot of users might like. "It doesn't use Flash, and it's not porn, so why the ban?" asks Scott Piro, a spokesman for Tawkon.

It is already available for BlackBerry however, and an Android version of the application is also set to be released. Tawkon is hosting a petition on its website, hoping to pressure Apple into changing its mind.

At the same time however, the company also says that it was informed by Apple execs that all it needs to do is make a few minor API modifications, so the petition is probably aimed more at generating publicity for the company.

The Register questions exactly what the application even does. The company claims that: "RRI ~(real-time radiation indication) leverages unique smart phones capabilities such as GPS, accelerometer, proximity sensors and more to help minimize radiation exposure during mobile phone usage."

According to data from Chart-Track, ELSPA and ISFE, sales of video game hardware in the United Kingdom were down 32 percvent to £256 million in the first half of 2010. The total hardware sales for the same period of 2009 added up to £378 million. Additionally, video game software sales fell 10 percent from last year's £592 million to £533 million, according to the data.

Total sales generated in the UK from the first 26 weeks of the year hit £963 million, down 16 percent from £1.143 billion last year. "UK consumers are still facing economic uncertainty and everyone is looking to how they can make savings, which has naturally impacted on the entertainment industry as a whole," commented Michael Rawlinson, director general of ELSPA.

It is worth noting that the figures do not include sales made for console or PC games by way of digital distribution services. "UK consumers are getting their gaming entertainment now in a variety ways," said Rawlinson.

"Consumers are increasingly downloading videogames from websites, and are also increasingly playing games not only on consoles, but also on their mobiles or through social networking sites, such as Facebook. This is proof that interactive entertainment is expanding way beyond its traditional boundaries."

Consumer Reports has revealed that it cannot recommend Apple's iPhone 4 handset following tests on the model's reported signal problems, adding that AT&T Inc. is not the main culprit. The respected nonprofit organization publishes guides on all kinds of products and makes recommendations to consumers.

The publication tested the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and other handsets too and said none of them experienced the same kind of signal problems as the iPhone 4. "Consumer reports is a respected publication. This could have an impact on iPhone sales," Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu said.

Apple has been sued by customers in at least three complaints related to the antenna problems with the handheld. "When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left side -- an easy thing, especially for lefties -- the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak signal," contributor Mike Gikas said in a post on the Consumer Reports website.

A new report from security firm Secunia has listed Apple on top of the list of companies whose software for PCs has the most security vulnerabilities in H1 2010. The report claims that the number of security vulnerabilities overall in the first half of 2010 was close to the number recorded for the entire of 2009.

During the first 6 months of 2010, Secunia recorded 380 vulnerabilities within the top 50 prevalent packages on end-user PCs. While Apple topped the list, it was followed by Oracle and then Microsoft.

The report says the threat landscape has shifted from operating system bugs to third-party applications in recent times, stating that a typical end-user PC with the 50 applications would face 3.5 more times bugs in 24 of those applications which are third-party, than the 26 Microsoft programs installed.

The firm expects the ratio to rise to 4.4 this year. The report also highlighted complications with patching, with its typical end-user PC example having 13 different software update mechanisms.

NVIDIA's latest DirectX 11 GPU, the GeForce GTX 460, has debuted to considerable praise among game developers and tech reviewers for its performance and more importantly, its price. The GeForce GTX 460 contains 336 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 56 texture units, and is available in two flavors; 768MB with a 192-bit memory interface for $199 and 1GB with a 256-bit memory interface for $229.

NVIDIA's release declared the $199 as the "sweet spot for gamers". The new GPU has full support for NVIDIA 3D Vision technology for 3D Blu-ray and video game titles. "With the GeForce GTX 460, NVIDIA is really upping the ante with an amazingly fast DirectX 11 GPU available at a great, mainstream-friendly price. Its new hardware tessellation support will enable games to reach an entirely new caliber of graphics." -- Tim Sweeney, Founder of Epic Games, said.

The GeForce GTX 460 768MB version is available currently from NVIDIA's add-in card partners, including ASL, ASUS, Colorful, ECS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, Jetway, KFA2, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, Point of View, PNY, Sparkle, Zotac and others. The GeForce GTX 460 1GB is expected by July 26, 2010.