News for today's 2018

FCC to wireless carriers: Unlock cellphones

5:52 PM Tukiyooo 2

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/streams%5C2012/August/120823%5C498766-reuters-logo.blocks_desktop_avatar.png" width="600"/> 17 minutes ago <img src="http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/streams/2013/November/131115/2D9692235-2013-11-14t234034z_1_cbre9ad1trt00_rtroptp_3_twitter-ipo.blocks_desktop_medium.jpg" width="600"/> WASHINGTON - The top telecommunications regulator on Thursday demanded that wireless providers voluntarily agree on the rights of consumers to unlock mobile devices once contracts end, or the Federal Communications Commission will make it a rule. At issue is whether cellphone buyers, who often get new devices at a heavily subsidized price in return for committing to long-term contracts, should be able to take their gadgets with them when they change carriers. The FCC and the wireless trade group CTIA have been working for eight months on developing a policy for the industry's Consumer Code that would address the rights of phone owners to unlock their devices. In a letter to CTIA President Steve Largent on Thursday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urged the industry to adopt the new unlocking policy within weeks, before the holiday shopping season. 'Enough time has passed, and it is now time for the industry to act voluntarily or for the FCC to regulate,' Wheeler said in the letter posted online. According to Wheeler's letter, the carriers agree that consumers should be able to unlock their devices once their contracts are fulfilled but have not agreed to a policy of notifying customers when their device is eligible for unlocking or automatically unlocking the device when it becomes eligible. 'Absent the consumer's right to be informed about eligibility, any voluntary program would be a hollow shell,' Wheeler said in his letter. The ban on unlocking originates in the U.S. copyright law overseen by the Library of Congress. The White House in March responded to an online petition protesting the law and sided with the thousands who signed it. Lawmakers have introduced bills for a legislative fix but consumer advocates have urged the FCC, the agency that regulates the wireless industry, to get involved. In a statement on Thursday, CTIA's vice president for regulatory affairs, Scott Bergmann, said the trade association would continue discussions with Wheeler and that consumers now can take advantage of a 'wide variety' of unlocked devices and 'liberal' unlocking policies. He added that not all devices can be switched from one provider to another because of their technological or engineering specifications. Opponents of unlocking have argued that the phones should be 'locked,' or prevented from moving freely across networks, because of the subsidies that carriers such as AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and Sprint provide to consumers when they buy the phones. Wheeler's push on Thursday was welcomed by smaller rural and regional carriers who hope it will help them access more advanced devices now not manufactured with their networks in mind; and by consumer interest groups like Public Knowledge, which has accused the wireless industry of foot-dragging. 'If we all agree that people should be able to use their devices on any network they choose, it's time for that to be a reality,' said Sherwin Siy, vice president of legal affairs for Washington-based Public Knowledge. CTIA, where Wheeler himself was once president, has advocated for the passage of a bill in Congress that would narrowly repeal the Library of Congress decision that sparked this year's unlocking policy debate. The Library of Congress is responsible for setting rules related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Last year it stopped exempting cellphone unlocking from the reach of the law, meaning customers now have to request their wireless company's permission to legally unlock a phone even after fulfilling the contract with that company. In response to the online petition that ensued, the White House said it would support a narrow legislative fix. Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. </div>

Technology FCC to wireless carriers: Unlock cellphones

17 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The top telecommunications regulator on Thursday demanded that wireless providers voluntarily agree on the right...

FCC releases Android app to test mobile broadband speeds

4:52 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Crowdsourced Android program will collect various information about data speeds and signal strength achieved on users' smartphones to present a performance comparison for consumers. <img src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/07/29/Steven_Musil2_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> <img src="http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/14/fccspeedapp_270x480.png" width="600"/> The Federal Communications Commission released an app on Thursday that the agency hopes will help it generate an accurate comparison of wireless carriers' mobile broadband speeds. The app, dubbed Speed Test App for Android, is designed to collect information about the performance of participating smartphone users' mobile broadband services nationwide. The four major US carriers have agreed to participate. The app will measure upload and download speeds, latency, and packet loss, as well signal strength and the manufacturer and model of the tested device. After a few months of data collection, the FCC plans to publish an interactive map early next year to help consumers determine whether they are getting the mobile data speeds they expect. 'Knowledge about how various mobile broadband providers compare, at specific locations in a geographic market, will aid them in choosing the provider that best suits their needs,' FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a statement. 'Transparent information about service performance does not just enable consumers to select among service offerings in a meaningful way. It also creates incentives for providers to improve those services.' The program will run periodically in the background and is designed to use no more than 100MB of data each month, the FCC said. Automated testing can be disabled, allowing the user to execute manual testing, but the FCC warns this could lead to biased results if testing occurs only at specific times or locations. The app is available for download at the Google Play store. The FCC said an iPhone version is currently in the works. </div>

Technology FCC releases Android app to test mobile broadband speeds

Crowdsourced Android program will collect various information about data speeds and signal strength achieved on users' smartphones to pr...

Amazon releases Kinesis service, promising data analysis at your fingertips

12:23 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/live_twitter_analysis_-_kinesis_contentfullwidth.jpg" width="600"/> Amazon has announced its newest service, Kinesis. The announcement came after a dramatic live demonstration during a keynote by chief technology officer and vice president of Amazon.com at the re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. Kinesis is 'a fully managed service for real-time processing of high-volume, streaming data,' and is available for limited preview today. According to Amazon, using its new Kinesis service, 'a customer can store and process terabytes of data an hour from hundreds of thousands of sources.' This makes it easier to 'write applications that take action on real-time data such as web site click-streams, marketing and financial transactions, social media feeds, logs and metering data and location-tracking events,' according to a statement by the web giant. <img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/keynote_crowd_fullwidth.jpg" width="600"/> Up until now, most big data processing has been done through batch-oriented approaches such as those used by Hadoop, or through database technologies such as data warehouses. But these have their problems. 'To build applications that rely on this 'fast-moving' data, many companies have developed their own systems or stitched together open source tools,' Amazon said. 'But these are often complex to build, difficult to operate, inelastic and hard to scale and can be unreliable or lose data.' Kinesis, the company claims, is a solution to these problems. According to Amazon, the service 'takes care of all the 'heavy-lifting' for developers, providing easy data ingestion and storage, high data durability and the ability to scale seamlessly from kilobytes to terabytes an hour,' and the online marketplace giant believes it can deliver this 'at a fraction of the cost and effort' of data warehouses. With just a few clicks, Amazon claims, 'customers can create a data 'stream' that reliably captures and stores data as it is submitted, making it available to applications, open source streaming tools, and data stores (e.g. Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB or Amazon Redshift).' Interested users can sign up for a limited preview from today. Make sure to follow our real-time coverage of the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, for more breaking news, photos and analysis.</div>

Technology Amazon releases Kinesis service, promising data analysis at your fingertips

Amazon has announced its newest service, Kinesis. The announcement came after a dramatic live demonstration during a keynote by chief techno...

Apple rolls out iOS 7.0.4, includes new features, bug fixes

11:36 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Summary: The iPhone and iPad maker rolls out the latest version of its mobile platform, including fixes and updates to its Spotlight search engine and iCloud Keychain. <img src="http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/023222/touchidhero-v2-620x362-620x450.jpg?hash=BTMxAGxmBG&upscale=1" width="600"/>(Image: Apple; Screenshot: ZDNet) Apple has released a minor update to software running on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. iOS 7.0.4 includes bug fixes, security patches, and a slew of new features and software improvements. The update also fixes a major problem for some, which caused FaceTime video calls to fail. iPods that are not able to upgrade to iOS 7 have their own version to upgrade to, iOS 6.1.5. The new update improves iCloud Keychain, which was introduced in iOS 7.0.3, and the latest version of the desktop software, OS X Mavericks. The cloud-based technology keeps the Safari browser's passwords and credit card data in sync across all your Apple devices. Secondly, in Spotlight, the device's internal search engine, Apple has brought back the ability to search Google and Wikipedia from the results. The two services were removed when iOS 7 was first released in mid-September. The software update applies to the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and the two new smartphones, the iPhone 5c and 5s. It's also available for the iPad 2, the third and fourth generation iPads, iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad mini with Retina Display. Fourth and fifth generation iPod touch models also receive the update. Also on Thursday, Apple released a corresponding update to its Apple TV, updating the set-top box to version 6.0.2. Users can update to the latest version by accessing the device's Settings, selecting General, then Software Update. In spite of the relatively small size of the update, it's recommended that users use Wi-Fi when updating. </div>

Technology Apple rolls out iOS 7.0.4, includes new features, bug fixes

Summary: The iPhone and iPad maker rolls out the latest version of its mobile platform, including fixes and updates to its Spotlight search ...

Google prevails over authors in book

10:51 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/Google_AFP360.jpg" width="600"/> New York: Google Inc on Thursday won dismissal of a lawsuit by authors who accused the Web search and media group of digitally copying millions of books for an online library without permission. US Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan accepted Google's argument that its scanning of more than 20 million books, and making 'snippets' of text available for online searches, constituted 'fair use' under US copyright law. The judge said the massive library makes it easier for students, teachers, researchers and the public to find books, while maintaining 'respectful consideration' for authors' rights. He also said the digitization was 'transformative,' and could be expected to boost rather than reduce book sales. 'In my view, Google Books provide significant public benefits,' Chin wrote. 'Indeed, all society benefits.' The decision on Thursday is a turning point for litigation that began in 2005, when authors and publishers sued Google over its digital books plan. Google had estimated that it could owe more than $3 billion if the Authors Guild, an association of authors that demanded $750 for each scanned book, prevailed. Michael Boni, a partner at Boni & Zack, the law firm representing authors, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google did not immediately respond to a similar request. In March 2011, Chin rejected a $125 million settlement, saying it raised copyright and antitrust issues by giving Google a 'de facto monopoly' to copy books en masse. The publishers eventually settled in October 2012. In July, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals found that Chin had prematurely certified a class of authors without first evaluating the fair use defense. Chin oversaw the case as a trial judge, and kept jurisdiction after joining the 2nd Circuit. The case is Authors Guild Inc et al v. Google Inc, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 05-08136. </div>

Technology Google prevails over authors in book

New York: Google Inc on Thursday won dismissal of a lawsuit by authors who accused the Web search and media group of digitally copying milli...

Google defeats authors in US book

10:36 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131114&t=2&i=811838408&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9AD15RK00" width="600"/> Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith A photo of the Google Inc. logo is shown on a computer screen in San Francisco, California July 16, 2009. U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan accepted Google's argument that its scanning of more than 20 million books, and making 'snippets' of text available for online searches, constituted 'fair use' under U.S. copyright law. The judge said the massive library makes it easier for students, teachers, researchers and the public to find books, while maintaining 'respectful consideration' for authors' rights. He also said the digitization was 'transformative,' and could be expected to boost rather than reduce book sales. 'In my view, Google Books provide significant public benefits,' Chin wrote. 'Indeed, all society benefits.' The decision on Thursday is a turning point for litigation that began in 2005, when authors and publishers sued Google over its digital books plan. Google had estimated that it could owe more than $3 billion if the Authors Guild, an association of authors that demanded $750 for each scanned book, prevailed. Michael Boni, a partner at Boni & Zack, the law firm representing authors, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google did not immediately respond to a similar request. In March 2011, Chin rejected a $125 million settlement, saying it raised copyright and antitrust issues by giving Google a 'de facto monopoly' to copy books en masse. The publishers eventually settled in October 2012. In July, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Chin had prematurely certified a class of authors without first evaluating the fair use defense. Chin oversaw the case as a trial judge, and kept jurisdiction after joining the 2nd Circuit. The case is Authors Guild Inc et al v. Google Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 05-08136. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe) </div>

Technology Google defeats authors in US book

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith A photo of the Google Inc. logo is shown on a computer screen in San Francisco, California July 16, 2009. U...

PlayStation 4: the hardcore gamer's console

9:23 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>With Sony's PlayStation 4 out in the United States this Friday, finally the next-generation of video game consoles is about to begin. It was back in February when Sony unveiled their new console, starting the hype train rolling as gamers looked forward to higher fidelity graphics, more connectivity and hopefully more creative endeavours from developers inspired and enabled by new technology. In a curious role reversal from the last-generation, Sony has positioned the PlayStation 4 as the hardcore gamer's console of choice, as opposed to Microsoft's all-in-one entertainment device the Xbox One. While the PlayStation 4 will also provide entertainment apps such as Netflix, it is games which have taken centre stage on Sony's road to market. Its approach has won the hearts and minds of a large part of the gaming community, developers singing its praises and gamers believing that 'this is the console made for us.' It is a smart move of Sony's part. In many respects the hardcore gaming community is the gateway to mainstream success, those day-one buyers informing the market in its early stages. But with Microsoft keen to court all types of entertainment consumers, is it not a risk that Sony may appear to fall short on services? 'I don't think I see that as a risk,' says the President of Sony Computer Entertainment Andrew House. 'We're doing our best to balance messaging. I think it's a question of positioning at the right point of a platform's lifecycle. We felt it was very important, based on, frankly, a lot of learning from the PS3 experience, to be crystal clear about targeting a principal market first and making sure that this product is seen to be exciting and relevant to them. That's not to the exclusion of other possibilities.' That Sony has learned lessons from the PlayStation 3 has been abundantly clear since the moment the PlayStation 4 was revealed. While the PS3 eventually became a huge success, its initial launch period was a torrid time for Sony. The positioning of the device as a multimedia device fell on deaf ears, despite actually being quite prescient, and a whopping price tag of £425 was deemed too expensive. The PS4, however, will launch at £349 in the UK, a full £80 cheaper than the Xbox One. <img src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02487/ps4-1_2487869c.jpg" width="600"/> The hotly-anticipated PlayStation 4 will retail for £349 Photo: Reuters This aggressive positioning is a clear gambit to steal a march on its competitors, an effort to mark the PlayStation 4 as an instant success, rather than repeating the slow start of its predecessor. 'I think that we would certainly want it to be an instant success. We certainly have confidence in our ability to do that,' says House. 'That's why I announced that our initial sales target for the fiscal year is 5 million units, which compares to 3.55m for the PlayStation 3. I think there are three very significant differences. One is price. One is the degree and variety of title support and developer engagement we've had, and I mean that to include the interest coming from indie developers aswell. And the third is that we are going into market at the same time as our nearest competitor, rather than significantly later.' Indeed, there seems to be a sense that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releasing at around the same time is of benefit to the industry as a whole; excitement over the next wave of games will spread across two new devices. While we will see the expected generational leap in graphics, physics and an advancement in controllers, possibly the most dominant change will be in connectivity. While online multiplayer and connected experiences were integral parts of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, they will be the key features for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. There will also be greater connection to smartphones and tablets, while the rise of smartphone gaming is seen by many as a reason for the console gaming industry shrinking year-on-year since 2008, Sony see the ubiquity of the devices as an opportunity. The PlayStation 4 will be able to connect to the 'PlayStation App' which will allow second screen gaming, the potential to extend your console gameplay n some way while you're out and about, or simply being able to message your PlayStation Network friends via the app. The PlayStation 4 will also be able to stream games to the PlayStation Vita, Sony's handheld games console. <img src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02684/fifa14_2684140c.jpg" width="600"/> EA's FIFA 14 shows a noticeable improvement in physics and AI on PS4 The concern for Sony is that, despite the positioning of the PlayStation 4 since its unveiling, the game lineup available at launch is arguably weaker than its nearest competitor. While Killzone Shadowfall looks like a beautiful and thrilling FPS and family-adventure Knack will provide a lighter side to the dawn of next-gen, the delay of social racer DriveClub leaves the library a little light. Sony however, are hoping that their open courting of the burgeoning independent scene will provide creative alternatives, pushing the frantic and visually stunning shoot-em-up Resogun as one of their key launch titles. Whether that kind of grass-roots approach will garner success remains to be seen, but Sony is taking a bet that the next generation of console players will look to break away from the established franchises and want to explore more diverse areas. House hopes that this is the case, but knows there are no guarantees, which makes the start of a new generation all the more exciting. 'With each successive generation it's very difficult to predict what will be the dominant game style that will really take off during that period,' he says. 'For the original PlayStation it was 'arcade game quality in the home.' Which was great and got us all terribly excited. Come PlayStation 2 I think most people would agree it was open-world gaming that opened up this sense of freedom that people had never had in play before. PlayStation 3, one would point to online multiplayer being the dominant genre. The excitement for me is 'what's going to be next?' There's just so much creativity out there among game developer right now that there will be something fantastic. The joy is almost of anticipation; not knowing exactly what it's going to be but knowing that potential is there.' </div>

Technology PlayStation 4: the hardcore gamer's console

With Sony's PlayStation 4 out in the United States this Friday, finally the next-generation of video game consoles is about to begin. It...

Inside Coin's techie vision for the all

9:23 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>This hardware startup's ambitious device is a .84 mm thin card that stores an unlimited number of payment methods in its dynamic magnetic stripe. <img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/07/29/Nick_Statt2_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> <img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/12/coin_product_610x458.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Coin) In a compact San Francisco office suite equipped with soldering stations and swipe-testing machines, Coin's team of seven has been working furiously to perfect the final prototype of an unlimited credit card. No, not one that will let you charge with abandon. Rather, a device as slim as a standard piece of payment plastic that can hold countless credit, debit, and gift cards in its dynamic magnetic stripe. Kanishk Parashar, the CEO and founder of the Y Combinator-backed startup, embodies the effort-worn entrepreneur. 'I got to work out today,' he said, eyeing the limited set of weights in the waterfront suite's back room, a combination of a hangout and meeting room space adorned with a gigantic television and a beat-up original NES. It was why he admitted to feeling a bit winded. Running a hardware startup means he doesn't get much time for anything else. Yet he's more animated as he glances over to a table lined with what look like flattened Raspberry Pi's grafted to multicolored business cards. 'I built prototypes like this by hand,' Parashar said, holding out Coin's first iteration. 'It actually works. I was able to pay with this at restaurants.' <img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/12/Coin_Prototype_Image_1_610x306.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Coin) On Thursday, the team opened up its Web site for preorders as part of a crowdfunding campaign to raise $50,000. For $50, Coin is offering its fully finished card in black -- 'We call it midnight,' Parashar said -- that it projects will last two years on a single charge when the team is done prototyping in two months. After the funding round, the device will go for $100. The campaign will be Coin's first trial out in the wild and Parashar has been focusing wholly on making sure that goes over smoothly. 'We definitely want to make sure that the orders we get in we can actually satisfy,' he said on avoiding Kickstarter and all its reputation for ballooning hardware projects beyond their creators' capacities. Delivery time is slated for summer of 2014. That's important as Coin has been a project in the making for more than a year and half, subsisting on Y Combinator and K9 Venture funding as well as the backing of former Google Wallet head Osama Bedier. Parashar has spent that time not only learning the ins and outs of managing a hardware startup, but also trying to overcome massive technological hurdles of building a device that can sturdily slip inside one's wallet yet communicate with a smartphone through Bluetooth low energy, all while keeping sensitive financial data secure. 'The first six months that I started this company I spent learning hardware. I used textbooks, Google Youtube, classes, and I built prototypes,' he said. <img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/13/DSC_9097_610x405.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Nick Statt/CNET) The learning curve comes from his expertise in software. He's held gigs at eBay and PayPal, and he founded a mobile-based commerce company Smart Market that would pull up customers' pictures on an app and let people pay via smartphone, much in the same way Square Wallet works now. It did everything right, except offer an incentive to actually use it. 'We released the app and got a ton of downloads, but there were no payments going through our system,' he said. 'Soon enough, we realized there were no merchants using it and so there were no consumers using it.' A lack of adoption on one end killed its chances on the other. 'It was the chicken and the egg,' he added. So Parashar turned to hardware, where the incentive is built-in. With Coin, merchants do nothing. On the user end, you simply load a card into Coin's companion iOS or Android app by taking a photo of it, swiping it through Coin's headphone jack dongle, and then toggling it on and off as you see fit while on the go. Paying with Coin involves squeezing a button on the card itself to turn it on and cycle to the desired card with the help of a small rectangular screen. Coin can then be swiped like any other card. The Coin app can hold an unlimited number of cards, while the device itself can sync with up to eight for immediate use. Swapping cards in and out of Coin can be done in seconds on the go thanks to Bluetooth low energy connectivity, without needing the original piece of plastic. 'Coin eliminates one side of the fence,' Parashar said. 'Whatever user gets a Coin, they'll start using it everyday. The practical nature is massive.' On the security side, Coin uses 128-bit and 256-bit encryption on both its server and mobile app, as well as on the card itself. The app will also communicate with your smartphone in the event you leave the Coin behind, letting you know you've forgotten it. If it loses contact with your phone for a self-designated amount of time, Coin will deactivate itself. As for getting Coin into user's hands, it won't be as easy as calling overseas manufacturers and putting in an order. 'We're trying as much as possible to stay on-shore. We'd rather focus on delivery than lowering our cost,' Parashar said. That means maintaining a supply chain that -- while containing foreign suppliers for hard-to-find parts -- is mostly stateside and therefore more costly and the result of hard-earned contacts. 'You can't just Google it,' he added. 'We will directly use the crowdfunded campaign's money to do manufacturing to buy the parts and to get the production lines ready so we can start producing higher quantities,' Parashar said. <img src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/13/DSC_9102_610x405.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Nick Statt/CNET) Still, manufacturing at a hardware startup is only the first phase of the battle. The payments space is not a place one enters lightly, and has many hardware competitors already deeply embedded in the market. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is said to be prepping Square for an IPO next year, and has led the charge in business-side mobile payment hardware and software with a slew of Square products, from iPad registers and iPhone readers to online marketplaces and email money transfer. Countless others, from Dwolla to Clinkle, are vying for a slice of a ripe market that's continuously projected to explode over the course of the next decade. As for whether or not Coin will be part of the inevitable future in which payments are all consolidated and likely done so on our smartphones, Parashar is not so much short-sighted as he is focused. 'Right now the only thing I think about is delivering these and having them function,' he said. 'When it comes to the future, we'll make a decision based on where we lay in the land. But we pack all the technology inside Coin to generate next-generation experiences.' Coin is hoping to slide itself into the space between a disruption-oriented company like Square and the paper and plastic world still governed by ATMs, Visas, and MasterCards. The startup and its product looks, feels, and operates thin enough to make that squeeze. Now it's a matter of overcoming that chicken and the egg scenario that held Smart Market back, and getting users to actually begin swiping. 'That's what we're banking on,' Parashar said. 'Adoption.' <img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/html/news/clear.gif" width="600"/> </div>

Technology Inside Coin's techie vision for the all

This hardware startup's ambitious device is a .84 mm thin card that stores an unlimited number of payment methods in its dynamic magneti...

LinkedIn Adds Pulse For News

7:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/990/LinkedIn-original-screen_birthday-hat_01_tn.jpg" width="600"/>(click image for larger view and for slideshow) LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes LinkedIn this week took a major step toward becoming more than just a site to visit when you're in the market for a new job. It announced that it integrated social newsreader app Pulse into mobile and desktop versions of the site. Pulse, which was acquired by LinkedIn in April for $90 million, replaces LinkedIn Today, the social network's former news curation feature that the company launched in 2011. 'Pulse and LinkedIn technology have been fully integrated to offer a more relevant news experience with content tailored to your professional interests both on the Pulse app and on LinkedIn.com,' said Ankit Gupta, Pulse cofounder and product manager at LinkedIn. 'This is just the first step of many we will be taking to ensure you're getting a consistent and seamless content experience that is tailored to you.' More Software Insights Webcasts White Papers Reports Integrating Pulse with its mobile and desktop versions highlights the social network's drive to provide users with a mix of original and outside content. A year ago, LinkedIn introduced the ability to follow hand-picked thought leaders such as Richard Branson, Craig Newmark, and President Obama, who publish columns to LinkedIn on various business and leadership topics. LinkedIn's revision of the Pulse app adds to its content repository by surfacing personalized posts from external news sources. [ Learn how to keep your job search private. Read 5 LinkedIn Privacy Settings For Job Hunters. ] When you first open the Pulse app -- which is available to download for iOS and Android -- you'll be prompted to sign in using your LinkedIn profile. The app will then sync channels, influencers, and LinkedIn content you already follow, Gupta said. Pulse will also offer you personalized content recommendations that are customized based on your LinkedIn preferences and professional interests. Pulse also lets you comment on, like, or share news to your LinkedIn profile or Facebook and Twitter accounts from within the Pulse app. You'll find the sharing buttons at the top of your stream and at the top of articles you're browsing. Finally, LinkedIn revamped Pulse's search function, which now provides faster autocomplete suggestions, Gupta said. It's also made it easier for users to find 'What's New' across world events and to browse what's trending. Users can create lists in the 'My Lists' section for professional topics such as outsourcing, and browse suggested topics via recommendations or by scrolling to see the next article within a channel or publication. According to a LinkedIn spokesperson, Pulse will continue to stay the course with its own business goals by continuing to strike up content deals with third-party publishers. 'The relationships Pulse has will stay intact and a selection of these publishers will also be accessible now on LinkedIn.com,' she said. LinkedIn's Pulse integration is the latest in a number of improvements the social network has made to its user experience across desktop and mobile in the last year. Last month, the social network announced a number of changes to its mobile apps, which included a facelift for iOS 7 and new Pulse features, including swiping gestures. There's no single migration path to the next generation of enterprise communications and collaboration systems and services, and Enterprise Connect delivers what you need to evaluate all the options. Register today and learn about the full range of platforms, services and applications that comprise modern communications and collaboration systems. Register with code MPIWK and save $200 on the entire event and Tuesday-Thursday conference passes or for a Free Expo pass. It happens in Orlando, Fla., March 17-19. </div>

Technology LinkedIn Adds Pulse For News

(click image for larger view and for slideshow) LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes LinkedIn this week took a major step toward becoming more tha...

Google: Govt Requests for User Data Up 100+ Percent Since 2010

7:22 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www4.pcmag.com/media/images/407321-google-transparency-report.jpg?thumb=y" width="600"/> Google today released its latest transparency report with details about government requests for user data, which the search giant said have increased by more than 100 percent since it started releasing these reports in 2010. 'This comes as usage of our services continues to grow, but also as more governments have made requests than ever before,' Google said in a blog post. 'And these numbers only include the requests we're allowed to publish.' Google and its rivals are not allowed to publish specific details about national security-related requests. In the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks, Google and others pushed the government for permission to publish this data. Thus far, the feds have only allowed for data to be published in ranges of 1,000 but Google today reiterated that it believes it should be able to publish more accurate data. <img src="http://www6.pcmag.com/media/images/407320-google-transparency-report.jpg?thumb=y" width="600"/> 'Our promise to you is to continue to make this report robust, to defend your information from overly broad government requests, and to push for greater transparency around the world,' Google said. Today's report, meanwhile, covers data requests made in the first six months of 2013. In total, Google fielded 25,879 requests for user data from law enforcement officials around the world. U.S. officials accounted for 10,918 of those requests, 83 percent of which were honored. This report - the search giant's eighth - includes additional information about legal process for U.S. criminal requests: breaking out emergency disclosures, wiretap orders, pen register orders, and other court orders. About 68 percent of U.S. requests were subpoenas, 22 percent were warrants, 6 percent were other court orders, 2 percent were pen register orders, and 1 percent were emergency disclosure requests. Coming in at No. 2 was India with 2,691 requests, followed by Germany with 2,311 and France with 2,011. The U.K. and Brazil also had about 1,200. </div>

Technology Google: Govt Requests for User Data Up 100+ Percent Since 2010

Google today released its latest transparency report with details about government requests for user data, which the search giant said have...

Apple iPad mini With Retina Display

5:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The new Apple iPad mini With Retina display ($399 to $829) is just a shrunken iPad Air. It's so similar to Apple's flagship tablet that your decision will pretty much be completely based on size and price. Like the Air, this is one of the slimmest and best-built tablets you'll find anywhere. It's an absolute pleasure to use. But unlike the large-screen Air, the iPad mini has many viable small-tablet competitors that are much less expensive, making it less of a must-buy and more of a luxury purchase. <img src="http://www.pcmag.com/img/compare_button.png" width="600"/> The mini is so similar to the Air, check out our iPad Air review for full details. Physical Design and Wireless The new mini is superficially identical to the old one. If you look really closely, you'll find that it's ever so slightly thicker (.01 inch) and ever so slightly heavier (by less than an ounce) to accommodate a larger battery for the new high-res screen. At 7.87 by 5.3 by .29 inches (HWD) and 11.68 ounces, it'll still fit in old iPad mini cases. The difference between the mini and the Air is really now about size and price, not weight. I just held both tablets in my hands, and now that the Air is only four ounces more, the weight difference between the two tablets doesn't feel meaningful. The mini still has the 4:3 aspect ratio which makes it compatible with iPad apps, but noticeably thicker-and less usable one-handed-than the competing Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7'. Its metal-and-glass construction is still tightly elegant, with a shiny chamfered edge around the corner. The narrow side bezel echoes the iPad Air's, and like the Air, it comes in silver and space gray. The 7.9-inch, 2,048-by-1,536-pixel IPS LCD touch screen is bright and sharp. It's the exact same resolution as the iPad Air, but in a higher pixel density-324ppi to the Air's 253, almost the same density as the iPhone 5S. All of the screen elements are slightly smaller than they are on the Air, something you notice in productivity apps with lots of tiny screen elements like iPhoto. They're still usable, but you need slightly sharper eyes and fingers than you do on the big iPad. The mini comes in a dual-band, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi version and a universal cellular version that works with all U.S. carriers. Every mini is unlocked, even if it comes with a SIM card installed, Apple told me. Wi-Fi performance was good, but not quite as good as the iPad Air. Testing against a Meraki MR16 router through a metal door, I saw 13-14Mbps down on the mini but 18-19Mbps down on the Air. Bluetooth 4.0 is also on board; the cellular version, but not the Wi-Fi-only version, has GPS. Battery life was 6 hours, 8 minutes playing video with the screen set to max brightness. That's better than the Kindle Fire, but not as good as the Nexus, and it's just about the same as the iPad Air. Performance and Multimedia The iPad mini has a 1.3GHz Apple A7 processor, the same speed as the iPhone 5s and slightly slower than the Air's 1.4GHz. It scored slightly slower on the Geekbench and Sunspider benchmarks than the Air did, but matched the Air's result on the Browsermark browser test and on the GFXBench graphics test. Both tablets are faster than the Nexus 7. Although Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX outpaces the iPads on graphics and processor tests, the iPads' Safari browser showed superior results on the browser tests. The slight slowdown didn't visibly affect app performance, and both of the new iPads are much faster than previous models. High-end, accelerometer-based games like Asphalt 8: Airborne and Need for Speed: Most Wanted are actually more playable here than on the Air, because it's easier to handle and tilt the smaller device. iPhoto and iMovie also work smoothly. The M7 motion coprocessor also makes an appearance here. Apple showed me how diary app Day One, for instance, can monitor how much you walk or travel with the iPad in your bag. iOS is still a simple grid of icons that is passionately focused on touch. Read our in-depth iOS 7 review if you want the full details. The mini's 5-megapixel main camera and 1.2-megapixel front camera are almost exactly the same as the big iPad's. I noticed that when shooting side by side, the big iPad sometimes selected slightly higher ISOs-64 as opposed to 50, 500 as opposed to 400-making the big iPad's photos a little brighter, but just a touch noisier. The HDR mode also still doesn't do much; a bright sky will blow out in any image. I'm really splitting hairs here, though. These are very good cameras, for a tablet. Like the Air, the Mini has a pair of bottom-ported speakers. While the speaker grilles are smaller than the Air's, they generated almost exactly the same volume: 86 or 87 decibels at six inches. Also like on other iPads, if you want to play your video on a TV you can use a $49 HDMI adapter cable or Apple's proprietary wireless streaming system, AirPlay. Also like the Air, the mini comes in 16, 32, 64, and 128GB models, starting at $399 and adding $100 each time you double your capacity. The 128GB tablet has 115GB free for your files. Comparisons and Conclusions If iPads were the only tablets, you'd be able to make your decision here completely based on size. I prefer the iPad Air to the mini because I think that once something isn't truly handheld or pocket-sized (in other words, wider than a Nexus 7 or a Kindle), a roomier view on the world and larger touch targets trump slightly better portability. But that's just a taste issue. The bigger concern is that the mini's small-tablet competitors all cost much less, and they're also great devices. The $199 Amazon Kindle Fire HDX is beautifully built, with a gorgeously sharp screen and a fast Web browser. The $229 Google Nexus 7 is even more portable than the mini and has a competitive app selection. The $359 Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with a pressure-sensitive stylus; an equivalent stylus for the iPad costs at least $80 extra. Yes, I made the same argument last year. It gets a little tougher this year because this year's mini is much nicer than last year's; the processor and screen are both much, much better. But the competition's gotten better, too. So you're paying $170 extra here (up from last year's $120 difference) to get iOS apps rather than Android apps. If you're an iPhone user, or you're attracted by unique iOS exclusives like the Infinity Blade series of games, Toca Boca kids' apps, or the iWork office suite, that investment will probably be worth it. But I think all of those apps play even better on the big iPad. If you're looking for cross-platform applications like Kindle book reading, comics reading, casual games, or Web browsing, you can get them on a great tablet that costs a lot less. That makes the iPad mini a very highly rated tablet, but still not quite our Editors' Choice. </div>

Technology Apple iPad mini With Retina Display

The new Apple iPad mini With Retina display ($399 to $829) is just a shrunken iPad Air. It's so similar to Apple's flagship tablet t...

Smartphones 55 percent of global mobile phone sales in third

3:53 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131114&t=2&i=811765576&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9AD0UCT00" width="600"/> Credit: Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi Syrian refugees look at photos of their missing and believed to have drowned compatriots on a smartphone, at the Hal Far open centre for migrants in Hal Far, outside Valletta, October 22, 2013. Worldwide smartphone sales rose nearly 46 percent from last year to 250.2 million units, it said, while overall mobile phone sales were up less than 6 percent at 455.6 million. 'Sales of feature phones (normal handsets) continued to decline and the decrease was more pronounced in markets where the average selling price (ASP) for feature phones was much closer to the ASP of affordable smartphones,' said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta. He said he expected smartphone sales of just below 1 billion devices for 2013. Samsung kept the top spot in the smartphone segment, with a 32.1 percent market share, selling 80.36 million smartphones, up from 55 million in the same quarter last year, helped by its Note 3 large display smartphone. Apple sold 23.2 percent more smartphones at 30.33 million, but its market share dropped to 12.1 percent from 14.3 percent. Sales of Apple's new iPhone 5S and its low-cost iPhone 5C model had a modest impact on sales as both phones went on sale in September, the last month of the quarter. Lenovo took the third spot with a 5.1 percent market share in the smartphone segment, just ahead of LG Electronics and Huawei, with market shares of 4.8 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. All the companies are in especially fierce competition in the Chinese market, where customers are still replacing their old models with smartphones. Of the smartphones sold, 81.9 percent were running on Google's mobile platform Android, while 12.1 percent used Apple's iOS and 3.6 percent were on Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Gartner said. Blackberry saw its user base drop to 1.8 percent from 5.2 percent from the third quarter last year, it added. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Gareth Jones) </div>

Technology Smartphones 55 percent of global mobile phone sales in third

Credit: Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi Syrian refugees look at photos of their missing and believed to have drowned compatriots on a smartphone,...

IBM making more powerful Watson supercomputer available for...

12:51 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9403815/5352430404_7587d7628c_b_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg" width="600"/> IBM's Watson supercomputer is taking a big step towards public use. Today, the company announced plans to open Watson up to developers in 2014, establishing an open platform and API that would let coders to build apps on top of the supercomputer's database and natural language skills. It's not the first time the project's been used by outside groups, but the new platform will give developers complete control of the front-end, and require only minimal input from the Watson team at IBM. Companies will still have to contract an instance of Watson from IBM, but once that's done, their programs will be able to pull questions and answers from the supercomputer in real time. IBM says the API itself is unusually simple, providing programs with a direct path to ask Watson natural language questions and get an answers back with links to the relevant content from Watson's database. The question is what the rest of the world might use it for. 'We believe that this is such a significant development in the future of computing that we want other people involved in it,' said IBM's chief technology officer Rob High. 'We want to let other partners to have a much deeper say in how cognitive computing evolves.' The program is launching with three partners, including a Fluid Retail deployment that plans to bring a Watson-powered personal-shopper feature to North Face's e-commerce shop in 2014. </div>

Technology IBM making more powerful Watson supercomputer available for...

IBM's Watson supercomputer is taking a big step towards public use. Today, the company announced plans to open Watson up to developers i...

Teen favourite Snapchat rejected $3bn Facebook bid, says newspaper

6:09 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://cdn3.independent.ie/incoming/article29752471.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/snapchattt.PNG" width="600"/> Snapchat is popular with teens MOBILE messaging startup Snapchat rejected an acquisition offer from Facebook that would have valued the company at $3 billion or more, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Facebook representatives reached out to Snapchat in recent weeks to discuss the all-cash deal, which would have been Facebook's largest acquisition ever, the report said, citing anonymous sources. Facebook declined to comment. Snapchat could not immediately be reached for comment. Snapchat, which allows consumers to send smartphone photos which automatically disappear after a few seconds, has proven popular among teenage users. The report of Facebook's interest in Snapchat comes a couple of weeks after Facebook, the world's No. 1 Internet social network, acknowledged that it was seeing a decline in daily use by young teenagers in the U.S., although it said overall use by teenagers was stable. Shares of Facebook were up 3.1 percent at $48.05 in afternoon trading today. <img src="http://www.independent.ie/editorial/images/logo-itunes.jpg" width="600"/> <img src="http://www.independent.ie/editorial/images/playstore.png" width="600"/></div>

Technology Teen favourite Snapchat rejected $3bn Facebook bid, says newspaper

Snapchat is popular with teens MOBILE messaging startup Snapchat rejected an acquisition offer from Facebook that would have valued the com...

Best Buy yanks HP Chromebook 11 from store shelves

1:52 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The laptop is no longer available at Best Buy or directly through Amazon. <img src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/12/05/Donna_Tam_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> <img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/10/08/HP_Chromebook_11_35828599_09_610x407.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) The retailers tasked with selling the HP Chromebook 11 have stopped carrying the laptops without explanation. A scan of Best Buy's Web site and Amazon.com Wednesday showed the product is no longer available. What's more is Best Buy is urgently removing the HP Chromebook 11 from its stores, according to The Verge. Store managers have been ordered through an internal memo to stop selling the $279 laptop 'immediately' and to remove any stock from its shelves, unnamed Best Buy sources told The Verge. It's not clear why either retailer is no longer selling the HP Chromebook 11. HP and Google introduced the laptop in October and forged a partnership with Best Buy and Amazon to sell it in the US. While Best Buy has removed the listing from its online store completely, Amazon has only stopped selling it directly. Amazon's third-party sellers still have some listings. We've contacted the companies for comment and will update when we hear back. <img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/html/news/clear.gif" width="600"/> <img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/12/35618167_140x100.jpg" width="600"/><img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tron/overlays/video-overlay-med.png" width="600"/></div>

Technology Best Buy yanks HP Chromebook 11 from store shelves

The laptop is no longer available at Best Buy or directly through Amazon. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) The retailers tasked with selling the HP...

Snapchat rejected $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook: report

11:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131113&t=2&i=811568140&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9AC1H4100" width="600"/> Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sits for audience questions in an onstage interview for the Atlantic Magazine in Washington, September 18, 2013. Facebook representatives reached out to Snapchat in recent weeks to discuss the all-cash deal, which would have been Facebook's largest acquisition ever, the report said, citing anonymous sources. Facebook declined to comment. Snapchat could not immediately be reached for comment. Snapchat, which allows consumers to send smartphone photos which automatically disappear after a few seconds, has proven popular among teenage users. The report of Facebook's interest in Snapchat comes a couple of weeks after Facebook, the world's No. 1 Internet social network, acknowledged that it was seeing a decline in daily use by young teenagers in the U.S., although it said overall use by teenagers was stable. Shares of Facebook were up 3.1 percent at $48.05 in afternoon trading on Wednesday. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) </div>

Technology Snapchat rejected $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook: report

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sits for audience questions in an onstage interview for the Atlantic Magazine in...

Sprint says 'all phones' next year will be triband, get HD voice

8:22 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The exception, of course, is the iPhone, in which Sprint declined to comment on. <img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/12/05/Roger_Cheng_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> <img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/10/30/Sprint_Spark_phone-9_610x406.jpg" width="600"/> (Credit: Lynn La/CNET) Every Sprint smartphone released next year will be able to pick up the three different spectrum frequencies the carrier runs, allowing for a much speedier connection and high-definition voice. Well, almost every phone. That's according to Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer, who was speaking at an investor conference on Wednesday. The exception, which Euteneuer was sure to point out, was Apple. He only noted that he doesn't know what Apple is doing with the next iPhone, or whether it will jam in compatibility with all three frequencies. The triband capability is critical to improving the speeds on Sprint's network, which has been a knock on the carrier with the company slow to upgrade to 4G LTE. The triband capability is key to Sprint Spark, its brand for even faster LTE service. Even as smaller T-Mobile surpasses Sprint in markets and people covered and Verizon and AT&T press their LTE advantage, Sprint has been slow to respond and losing customers. Euteneuer said he sees the customer turnover rate falling as the company works to improve network coverage. The company is also working off Nextel business customers who waited until the last day before the network shut down before canceling their lines, which also included associated Sprint accounts as well. Down the line, Sprint plans to stand out through a higher speed network, Euteneuer said. The different frequencies and their higher capacities allow for a faster connection, he added. Verizon Wireless, for instance, said it is targeting speeds of 8 megabits to 12 megabits a second once it expands its network with new spectrum. Euteneuer said he would plan to top those speeds. 'The goal is to go faster,' he said. 'You'll be pretty happy with the experience.' Euteneuer also teased different pricing plans or features to come in the fourth quarter that would 'demonstrate our creativeness and refocus our sales.' Sprint has long pegged its core service to unlimited data, recently going further and offering a lifetime guarantee for unlimited data. But Euteneuer hinted unlimited could come to an end, and said it would stop if it no longer became viable. 'We're trying to protect unlimited for as long as possible,' he said. 'We believe we have a long runway with it.' Euteneuer also disclosed that Sprint was not going to bid for additional spectrum in the upcoming H-block auction. Sprint had been seen as a lead bidder for the spectrum, but Euteneuer said the company was deterred by the government restrictions and said it would focus on lower band spectrum. There was already limited interest in the spectrum because it was separated from a potentially larger swath of auction for further down the line. </div>

Technology Sprint says 'all phones' next year will be triband, get HD voice

The exception, of course, is the iPhone, in which Sprint declined to comment on. (Credit: Lynn La/CNET) Every Sprint smartphone released ne...

Jawbone releases UP24 band and UP 3.0 iOS software

6:38 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Summary: Jawbone announced their third version of their UP band, the UP24, along with the new iOS 3.0 software. Wireless syncing and real-time notifications are designed to help improve life. I am a fan of wearable technology and as I wrote back in April the Jawbone UP is my preferred life activity tracker. Today, Jawbone announced the 3.0 software update and UP24 band. Jawbone UP24 band <img src="http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/023127/up24jawbone1-200x267.jpg?hash=MwAvLGV4Mw&upscale=1" width="600"/> The new UP24 band brings wireless Bluetooth Smart syncing capability while maintaining nearly the same form factor and battery life as the existing UP band. I have one under evaluation and will post my full review next week after more of the new notifications and software enhancements can be experienced. The new UP 3.0 software takes about 4-7 days to collect data and then use their Insights Engine to provide real-time information and prompts to help you reach your goals. The UP24 has a slightly different texture on the skin, but the same wrap around design with two ends. The button end is improved with a softer and more rounded piece of metal. The indicator lights (moon and star) appear the same as on the UP. The UP24 connects to your phone only via Bluetooth and the previous 3.5mm connector has been replaced by a 2.5mm connector. This is only used for charging the UP24 and a new short USB to 2.5mm cable is provided to charge your band. <img src="http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/023127/up24jawbone2-600x450.jpg?hash=ZTD3ZGOwAJ&upscale=1" width="600"/> Battery life continues to be about seven days with 24/7 usage. I have only had it four days so far and will continue to test out the battery. The UP24 comes in two colors, Onyx (black) and Persimmon (burnt orange) for $149. It will be sold at Jawbone.com starting today and Best Buy and Apple next week. The current UP remains priced at $129 and works with the 3.0 software on iOS devices. Jawbone UP 3.0 software <img src="http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/023127/up24jawbone3-200x355.jpg?hash=LzLlA2H1BQ&upscale=1" width="600"/> The Jawbone 3.0 software launches for iOS with work being done to bring it to Android soon. One of the reasons I purchased my new iPhone 5S is to use the new 3.0 software and UP24 band. Inconsistencies with Bluetooth in Android makes it difficult for accessory companies to launch across a wide range of phones. For example, the Fitbit only works via Bluetooth on the latest Samsung Galaxy devices. The 3.0 software works with the UP and UP24. It is intended to provide more real-time data and information to help motivate you to achieve your goals. You will see 'Today I Will' prompts related to sleep, movement, and drinking water. Live notifications are provided on the UP24 so you will get push notifications when you get close to your goal. A new activity log gives you a snapshot of your day and when you last synced. One new feature I love is the ability to recover sleep data when you forget to put your UP band into sleep mode. I have done this a number of times and so far the recovery utility seems to work great and is exactly the kind of function that smart devices like this should provide. Initial thoughts: 4 days on my wrist <img src="http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/023127/up24jawbone4-200x355.jpg?hash=ZQVlBTSyMz&upscale=1" width="600"/> It is great to have Bluetooth Smart on the UP24 and in addition to the syncing, I enjoy the ability to set and manage sleep mode, stopwatch, sleep alarms, and power nap wirelessly from the software on my iPhone. The split menus with focused content are great. The right menu lets you customize and manage the band while the left menu is used to customize the application. Application options include viewing goals, your lifeline, trends, team members, 3rd party connected apps, and settings. I am pleased to see Bluetooth wireless functionality in the UP24. I was hoping to see a display on the band, similar to the new Fitbit Force. However, I also understand Jawbone's position that you have a fantastic display experience on your smartphone already so it makes sense to optimize for that experience. I will continue to use the UP24 band over the next week and post my review next week. If there is anything in particular you have a question about, feel free to leave a comment and I will address it in my review. Related stories</div>

Technology Jawbone releases UP24 band and UP 3.0 iOS software

Summary: Jawbone announced their third version of their UP band, the UP24, along with the new iOS 3.0 software. Wireless syncing and real-ti...

IE11 bumped to version 11.0.1 afte...

3:52 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www.reddit.com/static/spreddit1.gif" width="600"/> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/1_snag-0022.jpg" width="600"/><img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/7_snag-0001.jpg" width="600"/> Before and after the update. Internet Explorer 11 has seen its first major post-RTM update, bumping it up from version 11.0 to 11.0.1 with the installation of 'MS13-088: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer'. The update, which was delivered along with the Patch Tuesday offerings, included 17 bug fixes as well as separate general security updates, such as a patch for Adobe Flash Player. Just a few of the changes include an 'Update that disables Enhanced Protected Mode by default in Internet Explorer 11' which we covered yesterday, and 'Internet Explorer loses HTTP connections when you close a webpage before you receive an XHR response' which is clearly a bug fix and not a security update. The full list can be seen here which also includes bug fixes for IE10 as well. The update applies to the Windows 7 version as well as the Windows 8.1 Preview - which can still be used - and of course the shipped versions of Windows 8.1, and Windows Server variants where IE11 can be installed. Thanks for the tip SHoTTa35! </div>

Technology IE11 bumped to version 11.0.1 afte...

Before and after the update. Internet Explorer 11 has seen its first major post-RTM update, bumping it up from version 11.0 to 11.0.1 with ...

Sony opens PSN game sales to Amazon, other etailers said to be joining up

3:37 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/games/PS3/Amazon_PlayStation_Network_Store-578-80.jpg" width="600"/>PS3, Vita digital games come to Amazon As the fourth-generation PlayStation's launch looms, Sony is making sure that its console and portable gamers will have the freedom of choice to shop around for virtual products to play on their hardware. Word out today is that US residents can now purchase digital versions of their favorite PlayStation-branded games from etailers other than Sony. The place to launch the new service is Amazon's PlayStation Network Store, which is now open for business and stocked with titles for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. PlayStation 4 titles are a no-show at the moment, but will presumably make their way to Amazon's digital storefront soon enough, given that the console arrives this Friday in the US before making its way to Europe on November 29. Five for free As a little extra incentive for buying digital versions, Amazon is offering a $5 credit for a limited time, good toward a future PSN purchase through the end of 2014. The only catch is prospective buyers will only have 10 PS3 titles to choose from, thought it includes favorites such as Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham Origins and Battlefield 4. Amazon reportedly won't be the only etailer offering digital games for the PlayStation Network, although no others have popped up on the radar at this writing. Amazon's PlayStation Network Store offers a glimmer of hope that Sony gamers will be able to shop around for the best virtual deal, thus eliminating one key advantage once held by packaged software. Via Engadget </div>

Technology Sony opens PSN game sales to Amazon, other etailers said to be joining up

PS3, Vita digital games come to Amazon As the fourth-generation PlayStation's launch looms, Sony is making sure that its console and por...