Latest news

Latvian firm fined £50,000.

It had added knock-off copies of games such as Angry Birds to the Android Market. While they were eventually rooted out and removed from the service, they had already been downloaded by many people, who then discovered that they were being charged £5 a pop for premium SMS messages.

PhonepayPlus, an industry watchdog, said that these kinds of scams are a growing threat.

In addition to the £50,000 fine, the Latvian company must also refund another £28,000 to mobile users. "It is hectic," Nitin Lachani, researcher at PhonepayPlus, said to the BBC. "These guys are coming up with more and more sophisticated malware."

"There is a wider issue here. There is malware out there which can gain total access to your phone. A cyber criminal could then deliver apps to your phone which could tap into your phone calls, your messages. You've got to be think that phones are like computers and there is a massive link to your phone bill or potentially your credit card."

Generally speaking, the biggest threat to Android users is installing applications from untrusted sources, but in this case, the malicious apps had actually gotten to the Android Market. They were removed along with others back in November.

LG vows to develop "the most advanced commercial OLED TV."

The company showed off the world's largest and slimmest 55-inch OLED TV in Monaco, in front of an audience of 400 dealers, journalists and special guest F1 champion Sebastian Vettel. Officials promised that the company would develop the most advanced commercial OLED TV in the market

They also said LG would be the first company to bring these TVs to European consumers in the second half of 2012.

"In the history of television, there have been very few innovations as impactful as the coming of OLED TV," said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG's Home Entertainment Company.

"We say THE ULTIMATE DISPLAY because LG OLED TV is truly above all expectations and beyond everyone's imagination with uncompromising picture quality and beautiful design. This year, we plan to make OLED synonymous with LG."

LG's OLED TVs are based on its WRGB technology, a 4-colour pixel technology that relies on a white sub-pixel to perfect the colour output. A Colour Refiner enhances the image, resulting in pictures that are the most vibrant, natural and comfortable to the human eye.

The screen also delivers a perfect viewing experience without distortion or loss of contrast regardless of ambient brightness or viewing angle.

Third party sites hacked.

Telstra has revealed that as many as 35,000 users of its GameArena and Games Shop services have had their passwords reset, after the sites were hacked. The websites in question were operated by a third party company.

Telstra has stressed that no financial details of any of its customers were affected. Additionally, users' broadband passwords had not been affected either.

"Information that might have been obtained was limited to BigPond Games usernames, the email address used to join the site and the encrypted GameArena and Games Shop passwords of up to 35,000 customers," a statement from Telstra said.

It is not the first time that the Australian firm has been targeted in this way, having been hit by two cases of data breach just last year.

Google hopes to warn 500,000 within a week.

DNSChanger is malware that infected millions of computers around the world. As its name suggests, it changed the DNS settings on a users' computer to use malicious DNS servers instead of what they'd normally use. It also could change the DNS settings of a router or wireless access point if it was using the default user and password as a login to the web interface.

There have been several websites setup to detect if DNSChanger has modified either the DNS settings of a computer or a router, and now Google has decided to participate.

If you search Google and it detects that your DNS settings have possibly been modified by DNSChanger, it will show the following warning:

Investors angry about information disclosed before the IPO.

A writ filed in a Manhattan court alleges that Facebook and the banks that lead its recent floatation did not inform all investors of its revised growth figures.

Morgan Stanley has already been brought up by U.S. financial regulators, who say the firm may have questions to answer about the highly-publicized Facebook IPO. The bank however, said that it fully complied with all the rules.

The lawsuit alleges that the banks and Facebook concealed a "a severe and pronounced reduction" in growth forecast during the flotation marketing process.

The floatation did not get off to the right start on Friday, when it was affected by technical glitches on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Since then, the value of Facebook shares dropped from the $38 float price.

It is also being reported that the Senate banking committee may take a look at the issues surrounding the Facebook IPO.

Sony and Samsung have both started blocking retailers from offering discounts on their HDTVs.

The move is said to protect the "manufacturers' margins and the retailers' profits by preventing "showrooming," where customers check out models in person before buying them for less online."

The so-called "showrooming" has become common place nowadays, as most retailers cannot match the price of their online counterparts, many of whom do not have the overhead costs of actual brick-and-mortar stores.

Apple has used similar tactics in the past, very successfully, but it is unclear if Sony and Samsung will fare the same. In the TV world, Samsung is undoubtedly the king, but will people pay for a Sony set with a higher price tag than other similar sets from rivals like LG or Panasonic? Probably not.

In the last month, alone, Sony has raised the price of their high-end sets by $1000, and Samsung is expected to make a similar move soon. Samsung also says it will begin charging a premium for its laptops.

Amazon's new store boasts 2,000 titles.

It has launched a "Never Before on DVD" store accessible from Amazon.com's "Movies and TV" homepage, where fans can easily browse and locate more than 2,000 titles available on DVD for the first time via Amazon's CreateSpace DVD on Demand service.

The service literally makes DVDs and packaging after you have ordered them. Among its 2,000 titles initially offered are movies from the vaults of Disney, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The Never Before on DVD store also features more current content from other studios and networks including CBS Networks, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, MTV Networks, Nickelodeon and Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

"The Never Before on DVD store is a great place for fans to discover thousands of films and television series they've been waiting for on DVD," said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon.

"In addition to being available on DVD, many titles are available digitally to enjoy right away through Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video. We will continue working to bring our customers even more great video content on DVD as well as digitally."

Take-Two's financial figures appear to anticipate major launch.

The publishers' figures show that it anticipates between $1.75-$1.85 billion for the year ending March 31, 2013. According to analysts, this figure hints heavily that Rockstar's anticipated next instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series will launch sometime before then.

Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter had already said that the delay of the upcoming BioShock title hinted that GTA V will launch, and now he agrees with other analysts that Take-Two's revenue projections make the case even stronger.

Pachter believes that the guidance is "unattainable" without a major Rockstar title. He believes the developer will provide $1.1 billion to Take-Two's bottom line, with $300 million coming from Max Payne 3 and its DLC, and a further $150 million from Rockstar's existing catalog. That leaves a void of $650 million, which Pachter believes could easily be accounted for by GTA V.

There were also reports that Microsoft's Xbox Support Twitter feed had accidentally revealed that GTA V will launch in 2012, but that it removed the tweet later on. Adding to fuel to the speculation, the support team later Tweeted, "There is no official release date for [GTAV], and we are not aware of what date it comes out."

EFF, Public Knowledge get Aereo's back in dispute with TV networks.

Aereo is a New York-based service that allows a customer to literally rent a tiny remote TV antenna which will be used to deliver broadcast television to them wherever they are connected to the Internet. Predictably, major U.S. broadcasters are crying foul and have dragged the start-up to court.

Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge filed an amicus brief in federal court urging it to block a preliminary injunction that could prevent Aereo Inc. from establishing a customer base in New York City, saying that shutting the service sends a dangerous message to other start-ups.

"The threat of lengthy litigation would discourage any business from working to add value to the television viewing experience, leaving the market in the hands of a few established players," said EFF Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz.

"Remember, these are the same folks who tried to keep VCRs off the market years ago, and more recently fought viciously against remote DVRs, which allow cable subscribers access to content they've already bought but is stored elsewhere. This is yet another attempt by TV networks to profit from, control, or stop new technology they didn't think of first."

Google says proposals would be a "mistake."

It took part in a debate in Hertfordshire over whether ISPs should do what mobile networks do with Internet porn; filter it automatically and require that a subscriber opt in to view porn (and prove their age). The UK government is currently consulting with ISPs about the proposal.

TalkTalk, a UK ISP, already offers a porn filter on its network, but subscribers have to opt in to switch it on. The filter is being marketed mostly toward parents, who would rather a network-level blockade of pornographic content to an application they install locally. Symantec maintains the list of "inappropriate" websites for TalkTalk.

"We believe that children shouldn't be seeing pornography online. We disagree on the mechanisms. It's not that easy," Sarah Hunter, Google's head of public policy, said. "There is a problem about the extent to which we deskill parents by giving them simple solutions. We should be making more effort than we've done in the past to make sure parents really do know the risks children face online."

Even TalkTalk is opposed to the concept of an automatic filter on all subscribers. According to Andrew Heaney, TalkTalk's executive director of strategy and regulation, such an automatic filter would be a "slippery slope."

Freeview head calls on government to do more.

Next generation 4G mobile services are expected to roll out in the UK over the next year. The head of Freeview in the UK has warned that millions of homes are likely to experience interference with their TV reception as a result, since the spectrum used for 4G will sit right next to that of Freeview.

"They are butted up against each other. As 4G services are launched next year there will be interference," said Ilse Howling, head of Freeview. Over 24 million households in the UK watch Freeview television, with half using Freeview as their sole TV platform.

Homes within 2km of a 4G base station are likely to experience reception issues, and will require filters or may even need to switch to cable or satellite. The cost of tackling the issue will largely be paid by mobile operators who take over the spectrum vacated by analog TV.

Howling thinks that the estimates of the cost are far too low, and called the on the government to make more funds available. "It has set aside £180m - but we think it will actually cost £400m," she said. "It isn't fair. These people have bought into Freeview in good faith and are suddenly being asked to pay out around £100. For many Freeview viewers it is their only way of watching TV and we want to make sure their interests are looked after."

July deals patent blow to Oracle.

The California jury found that Google had not violated patents held by Oracle in elements of its Android mobile operating system. The same jury had previously found that Google was guilty of copyright infringement for parts of Java, but could not unanimously agree whether Google had a fair use rights to the material they used.

Google had denied all of Oracle's allegations, and questioned whether Oracle could even copyright certain parts of Java, an open source language.

Wednesday's verdict has put an indefinite hold on Oracle's pursuit of damages in the case. U.S. District Judge William Alsup is still to decide on several legal issues which will determine whether a potential retrial on copyright could unfold.

Jury foreman Greg Thompson told reporters that while the Jury had previously failed to reach a unanimous agreement on the fair use question, the Jury was heavily leaning toward Google, with a final vote 9-3 in favor of the search giant.

Apple comes out swinging at DoJ.

It is rejecting U.S. government charges that it colluded with several publishers to thwart Amazon.com's influence in the emerging e-book market, and to raise the prices of content.

Apple defended itself in a filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday. It argues that its entry into the market was good for competition, and that the actions of the Justice Department are fundamentally flawed and pose a danger to the market.

"Apple's entry into e-book distribution is classic procompetitive conduct," the court filing read. "For Apple to be subject to hindsight legal attack for a business strategy well-recognized as perfectly proper sends the wrong message to the market. The government's complaint against Apple is fundamentally flawed as a matter of fact and law."

Amazon has been selling e-books for some time now, priced around $9.99. The Justice Department has quoted the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as saying he wanted to give publishers the ability to boost prices and "create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99."

Pandora has strong quarter, raises outlook.

The service benefited from growth in listeners since the start of the year. It reported on Wednesday that total revenue for the first quarter was $80.8 million, ahead of analysts anticipated revenue of $74.3 million.

It raised its full-year revenue outlook to $420-$427 million, up from $410-$420 million. "It was a good quarter and a very good start to the year," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams.

The service is yet to turn a profit, and is in an increasingly competitive business.

"We are making excellent progress on all fronts - consumer adoption continues at an extraordinary pace," Pandora Chief Executive Joe Kennedy told Reuters.

Pandora is supported mainly by advertising, competing with traditional radio services such a ClearChannel, satellite radio provider Sirius XM and also with Internet streaming services like Spotify. It recommends different songs based on a users' playlists.

Microsoft getting calls over infinite update loop.

The problem seems to be with updates KB2633880, KB2518864 and KB2572073 on Windows XP. Some users report that the three updates download and install successfully, but then Windows Update insists on downloading them again repeatedly.

The updates were pushed out this month as part of Microsoft's regular update cycle. Microsoft's help desk service confirmed that it was getting plenty of calls about the issue and was waiting on a proper fix.

Users are being directed to a Microsoft Support page that details what to do when "Windows Update or Microsoft Update repeatedly offers the same update."

The page is located at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910339