Latest news

The Android smartphone OS has become a hotbed of malware, says Juniper Networks.

Since July, malware apps have increased 472 percent and that number is expected to continue growing.

Notes Juniper (via Fire):

The majority of malicious applications target communications, location, or other personal identifying information. Of the known Android malware samples, 55 percent, acts in one way or another as spyware. The other major type of attack, which make up 44%, are SMS Trojans, which send SMS messages to premium rate numbers owned by the attacker in the background of a legitimate application, without the person's knowledge. Once these messages are sent, the money is not recoverable, and the owners of these premium rate numbers are generally anonymous.

The normally reliable iLounge has posted a few tidbits of info from their "top source" on next year's iPad 3 and iPhone 5.

Additionally, the site has some info on updated MacBook Pros.

Reads the report:

(1) The third-generation iPad will become modestly thicker (0.7mm) in order to accommodate the twin light bar system needed for its higher-resolution display. It's currently on track for a March timeframe release, and according to our source could be publicly shown as early as January, depending on conditions.

(2) Our source says that the next-generation iPhone will not look like the teardrop-shaped version that was widely rumored for release in 2011. We've been told that the device will have a 4-inch display and will be 8mm longer than before, with a metal casing (probably aluminum). It is on track to be introduced in summer of 2012, and is still in the engineering phase, not early production. We suspect that poor battery life doomed the prior prototype version, and that this one is being built with LTE-ready battery drain in mind.

Nintendo has shown off two custom made real-life Mario Karts, built by West Coast Customs of "Pimp My Ride" fame.

The karts are the ones driven by Mario and Luigi in the upcoming Mario Kart 7 for 3DS game.

West Coast Customs says the electric cars can actually be driven and Nintendo will be giving both away next month as part of its GameStop PowerUp Rewards promotion.

Both companies have kept quiet on how the cars were built and how much they cost but the project will be showcased in a special in February on TV.

Says West Coast (via PCM):

We've played Mario Kart games for years, so it's a dream come true to bring these karts to life. We think people will be blown away by seeing these cool video game vehicles in person.

Asus has denied that it is considering dropping out of the tablet market next year, refuting a recent DigiTimes article.

The PC maker says: "As usual, the rumors and reports from DigiTimes are incorrect. ASUS is not exiting the Android Tablet business."

Digitimes had claimed that major PC vendors like Asus, Acer, Dell and HP would be bowing out of the tablet market due to poor sales performance.

The report cited component supplier sources.

Asus, maker of the extremely popular Transformer tablet, is said to be selling 400,000 per month, surely not "poor" by most measures.

As of midnight, Best Buy is selling the high-capacity 64GB RIM BlackBerry Tablet for just $230, down from its $700 list price.

The move is seen as an effort to dump unwanted inventory into the busy holiday.

RIM's PlayBook features the standard 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM but its real differentiating factor is its Internet experience. The browser has support for Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, and HMTL 5.

Additionally, the PlayBook has a 7-inch screen, 1024x600 resolution, dual cameras, a microHDMI port and the BlackBerry App World, which has thousands of apps.

The main reason the tablet has been universally hated is the fact that RIM botched the software launch so badly there was not even a native email client.

Get the tablet here: BlackBerry - PlayBook Tablet with 64GB Memory

First it was November 7th, then it was November 10th, then it was November 17th and then it was Black Friday but now it's possibly December 8th.

The U.S. launch of the Galaxy Nexus has been delayed from its original early November date to a possible December 8th launch, suggests a leaked internal document.

Says the memo: "The Samsung Nexus is now scheduled to launch in all locations on Thursday, 12/8."

The Android 4.0 ICS device will have a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED screen with 1280x768 resolution and dual cameras 1.3/5 MP. The phone has a curved design, is thin and has an impressive no-shutter lag camera.

Sprint has introduced the Express smartphone this weekend, a $20 device created by Huawei.

Running on Android 2.3, the device has a small 2.6-inch display and 320x240 resolution to accompany its full non-slideout QWERTY keypad.

Furthermore, the device has 512MB RAM, a 3.2MP camera, a microSD slot and a 1600mAh battery.

The device has 3G capability but no 4G WiMax or LTE support.

Available here, the phone is just $20 with contract compared to $200 for most high-end Android devices.

The Marketplace continues to see strong developer interest.

In just over a year, the Marketplace seen on Windows Phone 7 devices (and the Zune HD) has moved to 40,000 apps, a strong number for the operating system that has yet to see much traction in the industry.

Of course, compared to the more established iOS App Store and the Android Market, the number is minuscule but both stores had modest growth at the onset.

Microsoft has pushed very hard to attract developers even going as far as giving away 2500 high-end phones and creating interactive tutorials on coding for the platform.

At the current rate, the Marketplace should start the new year with 50,000 available apps.

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation has donated $500,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation, the company behind Wikipedia.

Wikimedia began its annual fundraiser on November 16th.

Wikipedia is viewed by 477 million unique visitors each month, making it the fifth most-trafficked site in the world.

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation, which was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife (and 23andMe co-founder) Anne Wojcicki, has donated money to the Michael J. Fox Foundation among other notable organizations.

Adds Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation:

This grant is an important endorsement of the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, and I hope it will send a signal as we kick off our annual fundraising campaign this week. This is how Wikipedia works: people use it, they like it, and so they help pay for it, to keep it freely available for themselves and for everyone around the world. I am very grateful to Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki for supporting what we do.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's organized crime unit has joined the ongoing investigation into accounting fraud at Olympus, implying the company had some ties to gangsters such as the Yakuza.

Olympus, the camera company, admitted to hiding billions of dollars in losses for a decade through fraudulent accounting and it still remains unclear what the total writedowns will amount to.

Currently, the investigation is being led by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission and the Tokyo prosecutors office.

One source says "Olympus made payouts amounting to many times the losses it sought to hide, and investigators suspect much of the additional money went to crime groups." Reports have Olympus' hidden payouts at a staggering $4.9 billion.

The company's president, vice-president and internal auditor have all been fired or resigned in the past two months.

Netflix announced yesterday that it had signed a deal with Fox to develop new episodes of the cult classic show "Arrested Development."

The new episodes of the show, which was cancelled in 2006, will be available on the streaming service in the Q2 2013.

Fox and Imagine Television will co-produce the episodes and Netflix will back "some" of the production costs.

There are likely to be 9 new episodes, one for each of the main characters, before the long-awaited Arrested Development movie is released in theaters.

The move is in-line with Netflix's move towards original content. The service paid top-dollar to exclusively air the upcoming drama series "House of Cards" with Kevin Spacey.

Over the past week we have posted a few articles on the disaster that is the proposed SOPA bill.

The bill will usher an era of Internet censorship in the United States and will create a huge innovation roadblock.

Americancensorship.org has posted a fantastic infrographic that explains the proposal, one that is criticized by all the major tech firms and the public.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Staples and other major retailers are preparing to fire sale the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet this holiday season in an effort to clear out remaining inventory of the unpopular tablet.

Starting this afternoon, Staples in Canada will slash $300 off the price, bringing the base 16GB model to just $199, in line with the Kindle Fire. The 32GB and 64GB models will sell for $299 and $399, respectively.

The sale will run from today until December 1st.

While the Canadian fire sale is first, American fans are expected to get a similar deal starting on Black Friday, next week, in Staples and potentially other retailers like Office Depot.

The underwhelming tablet saw just 200,000 units sold last quarter, about 50 percent lower than analyst expectations.

HP has introduced its first business-oriented ultrabook, the HP Folio 13.

The computer will have a 13.3-inch HD BrightView display, is just 0.71-inches thick, and weighs 3.3 pounds.

Says the company:

This category of product breaks new ground and will be a likely choice for businesses to offer to employees looking for a more consumer-centric experience. We expect Ultrabooks will re-ignite interest in the small form factor PC category, and by 2015 expect 95 million Ultrabooks will be shipping worldwide annually.

Google has announced that 200 million Android devices have now been activated.

In just 3 years, the operating system has been sold on 200 million devices and Google says there are 550,000 new activations every day.

Google noted in May that activations were running at 400,000 a day.

In the last six months, total devices have jumped from 100 million to 200 million.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the company's biggest software update, to date, was just released with the launch of the Galaxy Nexus.