News written by James Delahunty (July, 2011)

Japanese firm will not exit LCD joint venture with Samsung.

Sony Corp. has moved to squash rumors that it will exit an LCD joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics. The rumors surfaced as Sony is heading for an eight straight year of losses in its televisions division.

Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, first reported the rumor. It said that Samsung was in talks with Sony on how the joint venture, S-LCD, would be broken up. It quoted an unidentified industry source close to the situation in its report.

In April this year, both companies were reported to have cut capital in S-LCD by over $500 million, as Sony looked to cut its TV losses and Samsung put more focus into next generation display technology.

Chinese hackers blamed for web breaches.

South Korea is blaming hackers located in China for stealing data from 35 million accounts on a popular social networking site in the country. Hackers are said to have stolen e-mail addresses, phone numbers, names and some encrypted information from the Cyworld website and the Nate web portable. Both are run by SK Telecom.

The details of the large data breach were revealed by the Korean Communications Commission, which claims it traced the incursion back to sources located in China.

The Nate web portal provided e-mail access and other features, while the Cyworld social site let users share images and updates with friends.

South Korea has experienced a spate of hacking incidents in recent times. A government-backed bank was targeted in April in one incident, and in May, data on more than 1.8 million customers was stolen from Hyundai Capital. Other attacks have targeted government ministries, the National Assembly and U.S. Forces located in Korea.

British broadcaster to put bespoke content behind pay wall.

ITV will conduct a trial which will charge online viewers for access to some video content. The proposal is to charge for access to content such as the channel's back catalogue of drama, and also for webisodes of soaps like Coronation Street.

Viewers who use ITV Player to catch up on weekly shows will not be subject to the new charge however. Adam Crozier, ITV chief executive, said the move is part of ITV's attempts to diversify its revenue stream.

ITV said its advertising revenue fell 6 percent in the three months to June 30, after rising 12 percent in the previous quarter, but it has reported a rise in pre-tax profits to £181 million (from £97 million) for the first six months of 2011.

At present, ITV is trying to establish what kind of content that users would be willing to pay for, and to work out the details on how to charge for the access (subscription fees, one-off-payments, pay per view etc.) The trial of a new system will start privately.

Researcher identifies offenders among batch of 10,000 Android applications.

Security researcher Neil Daswani, of security firm Dasient, has revealed that around 8 percent of apps on the Android market are leaking private information. He said that the firm studied the behaviour of 10,000 applications for Android and found 800 of them were leaking data.

Eleven of the applications were found to be sending unwanted SMS messages, while the majority of the rest would connect to servers to send data. Daswani will present the findings of the firm at the Black Hat Conference due to start this weekend in Las Vegas.

Because of its growing usage, Android is becoming a target of malware authors. Google is trying to keep up and has removed many suspicious applications from the Android market in the past.

While Apple extensively probes applications before it approves them for addition to the App Store, Android applications are not subject to the same level of regulation, which is seen mostly as a good thing but also comes with the side effect of malware.

In the case of Android apps leaking personal data, the vast majority of them can be avoided if users read the permission requirements of the applications.

Hollywood claims victory that will see Usenet-indexing site blocked.

BT has been ordered by a High Court judge to block access to Newzbin2, a website that indexes contents of Usenet binary newsgroups, and makes it possible to download NZB files that combine with newsreader software to download binary files.

A previous version of Newzbin has been ordered to clean up its indexing, but it was sold off to a new group outside UK jurisdiction. The member-only website which charges a very low fee for access does not host any illegal material itself, but can used in a way similar to a torrent site to gain access to such material.

"In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin 2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes," Justice Arnold wrote in his ruling.

"It knows that the users of Newzbin 2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin 2."

Windows 7 flaw found to miscalculate available capacity on blank Blu-ray media.

If you have tried to burn data to a blank Blu-ray media and received a bizarre error instructing you to keep your BD writer's firmware up to date, then you are not the only one. Microsoft has acknowledged that a flaw in the Windows 7 operating system causes it to miscalculate available capacity on blank Blu-ray media.

The problem arises when users try to burn more than 23GB or data to a single layer BD-R(E) disc, or 46GB to a dual layer disc. The burning process fails and the user is presented with an error message.

"The disc wasn't burned successfully. Make sure that you have the latest firmware for your CD or DVD burner installed, and then try again," it reads.

Officials act on bogus Apple stores following exposure by blogger.

Chinese officials in Kunming City have moved to shut down a number of retail stores that were designed to look exactly like Apple stores. The BirdAbroad blog (edited by an American woman living in China) exposed the elaborate fake stores in the city, prompting trade officials to investigate.

In total, five stores were found to be posing as Apple retail outlets. Of the five, two have so far been shut down because their owners lacked a business license. The blogger interviewed staff at one of the stores, who were utterly convinced that they worked for Apple Inc.

The stores were described by the blogger as the "best ripoff stores we had ever seen," copying key elements from Apple's chain, including a winding staircase, upstairs seating areas and even similar t-shirts on the staff along with the ID lanyards.

What exposed the phony nature of the stores however was the shoddy construction on closer inspection, and the fact that the shop front had the words "Apple Store" on them. "Apple never writes 'Apple Store' on its signs - it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit," wrote BirdAbroad.

Hackers releasing 8GB of data allegedly stolen from Italy's CNAIPIC.

CNAIPIC (National Computer Crime Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection) oversees the country's critical IT infrastructure. Anonymous claims to have gotten the 8GB data dump from a source, and alleges that the files were taken from evidence-storing servers of the CNAIPIC group.

Among the documents being leaked is information about government offices in different countries, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Australia's Ministry of Defence. Data related to private firms such as Russia's Gazprom and Exxon Mobil is also being leaked.

Information about CNAIPIC staff and management is also among the 8GB dump.

The release of the data is believed to be retaliation for the arrest of several people alleged to be part of Anonymous in Italy earlier this month.

Boot to Gecko project draws on some parts of Google's Android.

Gecko is the rendering engine that is used by the Firefox browser to display content from the web. Mozilla is looking to expand its capabilities to be at the core of a web-centred operating system that will be developed in the open with all code shared as soon as it is written.

The OS will draw on some parts of Google's Android operating system, but most of the code will be freshly written. If successful, it could become a competitor for Android itself, Apple's iOS, webOS, Chrome OS and Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.

The Mozilla team said the project is only now in its infancy, but has made it public to attract interested experts in the Mozilla community and elsewhere, whom it encourages to join the effort.

Communications Consumer Panel says action must be taken for rural communities.

The group is urging Ofcom to oblige operators to extend services to rural areas, estimating that as many as 1,400 new base stations are required to address the problem. It identified the forth-coming 4G spectrum auction as an opportunity to force through a solution.

An estimated three million people live in areas of the UK that are under-covered, so called mobile not-spots. The consumer panel said it is concerned that the new 4G services might not extend the existing coverage at all. The 4G auction begins next year, with networks using next-generation technology expected to launch in 2013.

The 800MHz band, now available due to the transition to digital TV, will provide better in-building coverage, necessary for people intending to use 4G networks for home broadband.

"This is a critical moment, and we have a unique opportunity to resolve the persistent problem of inadequate mobile coverage," said panel chair Bob Warner. "Most places that were mobile coverage notspots 10 years ago are still notspots today, and the spectrum auction represents perhaps the only chance we have in the next decade to improve coverage in the nations and for rural communities."

Xbox 360's official Twitter account urges fans to buy album to remember star.

Microsoft has apologized for a tweet that encouraged fans of deceased artist Amy Winehouse to buy one of her albums from the Zune Marketplace. The tweet, which stated, "remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking 'Back to Black' over at Zune," was immediately met with a backlash from fans, who called it crass and vile.

"Talk about cashing in on someone's death!" a response from Simacco read. Soon after, an apology was posted by the account. "Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse download tweet seemed purely commercially motivated," it read. "Far from the case we assure you."

A further tweet posted later declared that the world had lost a huge talent, and that, "our thoughts and prayers are with Amy's family and friends at this very sad time."

Of course, we all expect to see Amy Winehouse' albums being pushed more aggressively now by music retailers, as is the case when there is any death of a star within the music industry. The tweet though, did seem distasteful, badly timed and exploitative of the situation.

Display maker bets on large-sized OLED.

LG Display chief executive Kwon Young-soo revealed that the company does not want to concentrate completely on small to medium sized AMOLED displays intended for use with mobile handsets or tablet PCs, and instead will look to bring large-sized OLED TVs to the market.

"Instead of investing in OLED displays for mobile applications, the company will now put all its efforts into large screen sizes for TVs," Kwon said. "LG-Display will launch a 55-inch OLED TV by the second half next year."

Initial volume will only be in the tens of thousands of units due to limitations of production facilities, with mass production expansion eyed shortly afterwards.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, LG Display showed off a 31-inch OLED 3D display that gained considerable attention. OLED promises sublime picture quality and low-power consumption.

Biggest Xbox 360 game of the year in major, and very early leak.

A development copy of Epic's Gears of War 3 has leaked onto the Internet and is available on torrent sites, file lockers and Usenet. The copy is a raw dump that can only be played on a modified Xbox 360 console that has undergone a JTAG hack.

Gears of War 3 is the conclusion to one of the most memorable series in the current video game generation. It is due to be released on September 20, in about 11 weeks time from now.

The leak will undoubtedly anger Epic because of the time between now and the release, and as the game is reportedly unfinished in parts. However, since it can only be played on JTAG-hacked Xbox 360 consoles, that really cuts down the number of people who will be able to pirate and play it.

The 7.5GB dump is in English and was posted to an Xbox 360 group on Usenet yesterday.

"This is a developer copy (Not completly final) of the game with achievements, Single Player/Coop Campaign and System Link Multiplayer (See you online on XLink Kai ^^).
Some missions at the end of the campaign seam to be missing - so decide for yourself if you want to wait for the retail or not!"

Acer Inc. adds new colorful netbooks to its line-up.

With unique names such as "Banana Cream," "Blueberry Shake," "Papaya Milk," and "Strawberry Yogurt," the Acer Aspire One Happy 2 netbooks bring a new sense of fun and style to the ultra-light, mobile PC experience. the Aspire One Happy 2 netbook's cover features a bright and shiny finish with a textured liquid water ripple pattern.

The 10.1-inch netbooks are light and portable enough to tote anywhere, and provide a battery life of up to eight hours. Featuring a 10.1-inch CrystalBrite LED-backlit display helps to save 22.2 percent power compared to other netbook displays.

The netbooks are powered by an Intel Atom Processor N570, come with 1GB of DDR3 memory and a large 250GB internal hard drive to store plenty of digital albums, music and documents. The netbooks run Windows 7 Starter Edition, and feature Microsoft Office Starter 2010.

They also feature 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity, a 0.3 megapixel webcam and use Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 integrated graphics.

   
   

European Commission to present plans for further reductions in mobile roaming tariffs in EU next week.

The EC has set a goal through its digital agenda to almost completely eliminate the difference between national and roaming tariffs by 2015. It will present a proposal to realize that goal on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said.

The Commission introduced caps that operators could charge for customers making calls abroad in 2007 (see: Eurotariff) and adopted revised rules in 2009 that reduced the roaming prices within the EU even further.

At present, the maximum charge for making calls abroad is 35 cents (per min), and 11 cents for receiving. By 2014, the EU plans to reduce the cap further to 24 cents, and to effectively abolish higher roaming charges by 2016. Text messages will be capped at 10 cents each until July 2016.

Some telecommunications operators have attempted to challenge the Euro regulations through the European Court of Justice, but lost their case. They had argued that EU regulations were robbing them of revenues. Others disagreed, saying that lowing the cost of calls and texts while roaming would encourage people to use their mobile phones more often than they do now.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security calls for global action on cyber-warfare.

Janet Napolitano was speaking at a security conference in Vienna when she called for action internationally to being legal systems up to date to address the threat of cyber attacks.

Her comments come after a flurry of high-profile attacks against big targets, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States, the U.S. Senate, Defense contractor Lockheed Martin and more.

"Most countries don't even have a legal framework that really governs cyber. It is such a new phenomenon in that regard so the legal systems -- both domestic and international -- have not kept pace with the technological advances we have seen," Napolitano said.

"The threats are real. They demand our vigilance, including vigilance in protection of the values we cherish, and they demand continued cooperation," Napolitano said.

On investigation into the high-profile incidents of the past several months, Napolitano stressed there needs to be more cooperation in international investigations of their nature, saying that right now there is no comprehensive international framework in response to the growing threat.

Judge refuses to dismiss claim that Google violated federal wiretap laws.

Google had requested that the lawsuit be dismissed, but U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Francisco paved the way for the lawsuit to proceed. Individuals from various states in the U.S. say that Google intentionally intercepted data from their personal wireless networks.

The data was intercepted by Google's Street View cans. The search giant admitted last year that it had unintentionally collected payload data from unsecured wireless networks while its vans were taking panoramic pictures of locations all around the world.

Judge Ware did throw out some claims made by the plaintiffs however, which alleged violations of state wiretap statutes and a claim under California's unfair competition stature. The lawsuit against Google is seeking class-action status.

"We believe these claims are without merit and that the court should have dismissed the wiretap claim just as it dismissed the plaintiffs' other claims," Google said in a statement. "We're still evaluating our options at this preliminary stage."

Internet entrepreneur Kevin Ryan estimates a quarter of Facebook revenue will come from social gaming.

Research firm eMartketer estimated that Facebook Inc. would make about $4 billion in 2011, more than double the levels of 2010. Kevin Ryan, former CEO of advertising giant DoubleClick, estimates that over $1 billion of that will be due to social gaming through Facebook.

The chunk also includes revenue from Facebook Credits, which users of the social network can use to buy items for games and other activities. Facebook's ever increasing user-base is attracting more and more advertisers to the website.

"Assuming Facebook is on track to produce $4 billion in ad revenue this year, $1 billion of that coming from social gaming is not outlandish," said Paul Verna, a senior analyst at eMarketer.

Facebook doesn't disclose financial information and wouldn't comment on Kevin Ryan's prediction. It is backed up by Zynga Inc's Friday filing for a $1 billion initial public offering. The developer, which admits it makes the vast majority of its revenue through the Facebook platform, revealed that it generated $235 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2011.

Finnish mobile giant to shut remaining services in Japan.

Nokia stopped supplying mobile phones to Japanese carriers in 2008, but was still operating a phone service and some high-end Vertu mobile phone stores in Tokyo. The Nikkei paper reported that the company close the stores, located in Tokyo's Shibuya and Ginza districts by July's end.

Additionally, Nokia's phone service in Japan will be discontinued at the end of August as a contract with NTT DoCoMo Inc. (from which it leased the network infrastructure) ends. Nokia's Tokyo office will remain upon until the end of the year to handle fee returns and other matters.

Nokia sold Vertu high-end mobile phones in Japan for years. Manufactured by hand in the UK, Vertu handsets use precious metals in their design, such as gold, sapphire (used for screen) and rubies.

The luxury handsets sold for between ¥600,000 ($7,450) and ¥20,000,000 ($248,354) each.

Wii-maker to push up spending on research and development.

Nintendo announced plans to build a new research and development facility in 2009, located near Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. It originally was reported to be spending ¥12 billion ($148 million) on the compound, but that figure has now jumped to ¥16.5 billion ($204 million).

The seven story building will be built on a 40,000-square-meter lot in Kyoto's Minami Ward. Construction on the new R&D compound is expected to commence in January 2012, with an eye to have it operational by the end of the following year.

The move will also allow the 1,500 employees to be much closer to Nintendo's headquarters, which is in the same district. The current R&D facility is located in Higashiyama Ward, which is some distance away.

Apple fires latest shot in patent war with South Korean consumer electronics giant.

Earlier this week, Samsung filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking a ban on the import of iPads, iPods and iPhones that it says infringe several of its patents. Apple fired the next shot on Friday when it asked a U.S. court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent Samsung from infringing three Apple patents.

It all started in April when Apple sued Samsung in a California federal court, alleging that the firm "slavishly" clones its mobile products. Samsung quickly countersued Samsung in California. Apple then sued Samsung in South Korea and Samsung went to the ITC.

Patent rows have been flaring in recent years between tech giants who are looking for their slice of the smartphone and tablet PC market. After this latest action from Apple, Samsung responded with defiance.

"We're going to actively protect and defend our intellectual property and our ability to provide consumers with innovative technology," Samsung spokesman Kim Titus said. Apple also asked for a trial in the case to be fast-tracked so the intellectual property disputes may be cleared up.