AfterDawn: Tech news

Latest news

AfterDawn: News

Instagram finally headed to Android

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 2:47

Instagram finally headed to Android Instagram, the massively popular iOS photo-filter and sharing app is finally headed to Android.

The company has said this weekend that the Android version is almost ready, and co-founder Kevin Systrom even demoed the app at SXSW. The Android app is in private beta currently, notes the exec.

Says Systrom (via Mash): "In some ways, it's better than our iOS app. It's crazy."

The app will give Android owners a chance to share their filtered photos on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and other social networks in addition to email and messaging.

When asked why it took so long to make an Android app, Systrom says: "I don't think it took us so long. We just had priorities. Had we tried to be both on Android and iPhone at the same time, it would've been tough to innovate in the way that we have."




AfterDawn: News

Samsung starts Android 4.0 rollout process for Galaxy S II

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 2:03

Samsung starts Android 4.0 rollout process for Galaxy S II Samsung has begun rolling out Android 4.0 to its Galaxy S II owners around the globe.

For starters, the update is now available to users in Korea, Hungary, Poland and Sweden.

The company will continue its "gradual roll out" in the coming weeks and months: "Samsung Electronics announced the availability of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) software upgrade for GALAXY SII. The upgrade will begin in European countries including Poland, Hungary, Sweden, as well as Korea today and gradually roll out to other markets."

In the update, users will receive features like Face Unlock, a completely re-done UI and new widgets and homescreen updates.

Galaxy Note 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 10.1 owners will be receiving the update soon, as well, says Crunch.




AfterDawn: News

Dell purchases security firm SonicWall

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 1:36

Dell purchases security firm SonicWall Dell has announced this morning that it will purchase the security vendor SonicWall.

The company specializes in corporate firewalls, anti-spam tech and network security.

Although terms were not disclosed, Dell is expected to be paying between $1.2 and $1.5 billion.

SonicWall has 300,000 customers across the world, but more importantly Dell will add 130 registered and pending patents for its ever-expanding enterprise security portfolio. SonicWall also has a channel program with 15,000 resellers which will be integrated into Dell's existing PartnerDirect network.

Dell says that all of Sonic's 950 employees will move to Dell and the company will continue to invest in Sonic's current security products.




AfterDawn: News

Barnes & Noble releases Nook Simple firmware update to fix issues

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 1:18

Barnes & Noble releases Nook Simple firmware update to fix issues Barnes & Noble has released another software update for the Nook Touch Simple, one that should fix any Wi-Fi issues.

Owners of the popular touch e-reader device have complained of some Wi-Fi connectivity issues since the recent 1.1 firmware update.

The new update, 1.1.2, officially provides "minor system enhancements," but the company has also confirmed the Wi-Fi fix will be part of the update.

B&N says the update will be rolling out as OTA update over the coming weeks, or you can download it manually.

Find the update and change log here: Nook Simple 1.1.2




AfterDawn: News

Rovio: Five 'Angry Birds' games this year

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 1:00

Rovio: Five 'Angry Birds' games this year During an interview with BI, Rovio CMO Peter Vesterbacka has noted that the company will launch five new Angry Birds titles in 2012.

The first of those titles will be the highly anticipated "Angry Birds Space" and the other four games have already been planned.

Angry Birds Space will introduce zero-gravity gameplay and the levels will include floating rocks, planets, birds with new powers and gravity fields that are ever-changing.

Additionally, Space will launch with a full line of merchandise, helping the company become an "entertainment" company, rather than just a game company.

Finally, the company is set to introduce its first non-Angry Birds game since 2009 by the end of the year, as well.




AfterDawn: News

Tag Heuer launches carbon fiber Android phone with huge price tag

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2012 12:14

Tag Heuer launches carbon fiber Android phone with huge price tag Popular Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer has announced the launch of their $3600 "The Racer" Android smartphone.

The phone's design is inspired by Formula 1 and GT racing, and has "unparalleled torsional strength."

Racer handsets will be built with carbon fiber and titanium elements and have a shockproof rubber chassis.

Tag did not provide any specs on the device but does say it will run on the "latest Android software," implying Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The device will hit luxury stores in July.

More info here: Racer Heuer collection




AfterDawn: News

Thunderbolt optical cables this year: Intel

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 2:09

Thunderbolt optical cables this year: Intel Optical cables will help with cable length, data bandwidth.

Intel said on Monday that optical cables for Thunderbolt ports will be made available later this year. It had always intended to use optical cables, but because of the high cost of fibre optics, only copper cables are available for now.

Copper cables are good for a few meters in length, but a switch to optical cables will be required for tens of meters. Thunderbolt ports are built into some Macs, and Lenovo and other PC manufacturers will include it in Windows notebooks later this year.

It was co-developed with Apple to provide high-speed data transmission to rival existing standards and eventually consolidate many different types of data connections into one. Thunderbolt promises transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps.

Switching to optical cables will eventually help with data transfer rates and the distance between devices, but it also means that external devices will definitely need their own power source, as copper cables offer up to 10 watts of power that can be used by them.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Abortion site hacker confesses

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 2:01

Abortion site hacker confesses Records of approximately 10,000 people were compromised.

Last week, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) was made aware of a website breach that potentially exposed some data on users. While it stressed it did not keep records of women who received termination services, it did have records of people who requested information on abortion, contraception, pregnancy, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and sterilisation.

The Metropolitan Police's e-Crime Unit took up the case and quickly arrested 27-year-old James Jeffery, of Wednesbury in the British West Midlands. According to reports, he had bragged on Twitter about the breach, and threatened to release information to the public.

Over the weekend, Jeffery told a Westminster Magistrate's Court hearing that he decided against releasing the details because he thought doing so would be wrong. He targeted the website (including defacing it with an anti-abortion message) because two women he knew he knew had decided to get abortions.

He admitted to two offences on the Computer Misuse Act, was released on bail and will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a later date.




AfterDawn: News

US, EU regulators team up on e-book price fixing

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 1:52

US, EU regulators team up on e-book price fixing European Commission and Department of Justice (DoJ) collaborating.

Both the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) are investigating whether Apple Inc. and a group of e-book publishers collaborated to raise prices across the industry. The European Commission is open to settling that antitrust complaint but only after the allegations are fully dealt with.

Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, has told the media that the EC is working with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on another similar case involving the e-book market.

"Because the e-books market is growing very fast, we are worried about the development of practices that do not exist for physical books, such as collusion between publishers on prices," Almunia said. "This possibility of a settlement is only open in the case the publishers will be ready to remove all our objections."

In the EU, Apple and several publishers will have the option to offer concessions in order to avoid fines or being forced to admit wrongdoing in the market, but Almunia said there are no settlement talks right now, and appears determined to get an answer on whether or not the companies did conspire to fix prices.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Apple, Motorola in cross-licensing talks, EU docs show

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 1:42

Apple, Motorola in cross-licensing talks, EU docs show EU documents spill beans on cross-licensing talks.

Documents related to the European Commission's review of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility show that Apple Inc. and Motorola held cross-licensing talks in 2011. The two firms even discussed the "scope of any potential settlement," following Motorola's sale to Google.

Had such talks been successful - or if any further negotiations are - it could potentially benefit all manufacturers of smartphones running an Android operating system.

Apple is currently entangled in litigation worldwide with manufacturers of Android-powered smartphones, which Apple has long argued copies extensively from its own iPhone software.




AfterDawn: News

Finland delays approving ACTA

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 1:35

Finland delays approving ACTA Finland decides to wait on European Union.

The Finnish government has said it is postponing the approval of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the country until the European Union clearly backs the treaty.

Last month, the European Commission referred the controversial treaty to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to be examined. The court will probe whether provisions in ACTA infringe on freedom of speech, or any fundamental rights afforded to citizens of all states in the European Union.

The decision to send ACTA to the ECJ actually came after the European Council (consisting of the head of state/government of each of the 27 member states of the European Union) unanimously backed it at a summit in December.

The referral to the ECJ was in response to protests and opposition to ACTA in EU member states.




AfterDawn: News

Twitter acquires microblogging service Posterous

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 1:28

Twitter acquires microblogging service Posterous Twitter buys microblogging site.

Founded in 2008, the Posterous platform is popular due to its slick, simple interface. Twitter decided to bring some of that engineering, innovative and design talent onboard, announcing its acquisition via the company blog.

"Today we are welcoming a very talented group from Posterous to Twitter. This team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the web and mobile devices simple?a goal we share. Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better," a blog post reads.

It also said that the service will will remain up and running without disruption and that users will be given ample notice if Twitter makes any changes.

Users looking to backup their content or move it to another service will be given clear instructions for doing that in the coming weeks.




AfterDawn: News

Apple sued over 'deceptive' Siri ads

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 1:23

Apple sued over 'deceptive' Siri ads Disappointed iPhone 4S owner sues Apple.

A New York man has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the advertisement's for Siri are deceptive and misleading. Frank Fazio bought his iPhone 4S in November last year after seeing advertisements showing Siri being used.

"Defendant's advertisements regarding the Siri feature are fundamentally and designedly false and misleading," the complaint reads. "Plaintiff would not have paid the price he did for the iPhone 4S had he not seen these representations."

The suit specifically mentioned ads showing Siri helping users to locate restaurants, make appointments, tie a tie and even learn guitar chords. Fazio found that Siri just didn't work as advertised in his own experience, and so the lawsuit describes the iPhone 4S as "merely a more expensive iPhone 4."

"When Plaintiff asked Siri for directions to a certain place, or to locate a store, Siri either did not understand what Plaintiff was asking, or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer," the lawsuit states, though it does acknowledge that Siri is still in beta.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Minnesota school district sued for Facebook search

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 12:21

Minnesota school district sued for Facebook search Sixth grade student sues for unlawful search of Facebook account.

She has the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and is identified in court documents only as "R.S." According to the complaint, the girl was punished on two occasions by the school for comments she had made on her Facebook profile.

She was pressured into handing over the account details by school officials. "R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room" as she watched a counselor, a deputy, and another school employee pore over her private communications.

It started when the girl felt that a school hall monitor was picking on her, and she used her Facebook profile to remark that she hated the monitor. She did not use school computers to make the post, according to the lawsuit.

When the school principal was made aware of the message, the girl received detention and was forced to apologize to the hall monitor. When she took to Facebook again to ask who turned her in, she was punished with suspension and missed a class ski trip, according to the complaint.

But the real problem came in a third incident when a guardian of another student complained that R.S. had had a conversation about sex through Facebook. She was then forced to give up her Facebook and e-mail account login details in a meeting with a deputy sheriff, school counselor and an unidentified school employee.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Porn site hack exposes subscriber data

Written by James Delahunty @ 13 Mar 2012 12:09

Porn site hack exposes subscriber data Data on over 73,000 subscribers exposed.

A hacker group called The Consortium has claimed responsibility for the hack, which includes details on over 73,000 subscribers. The data includes user names, e-mail addresses and passwords. The group also said it took data of 40,000 credit cards.

The site has been taken offline while an investigation is being carried out by Manwin, a Luxembourg-based firm that maintains the Digital Playground website.

"This company has security, that if we didn't know it was a real business, we would have thought to be a joke - a joke that we found much more amusing than they will," wrote The Consortium in a log posted on the web.

Subscribers to the site were contacted and notified of the data breach.





  Newer entries Older entries  

News archive