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Australian court bans sales of Samsung Galaxy tab (AP) : Technet |
- Australian court bans sales of Samsung Galaxy tab (AP)
- BlackBerry outages spread to North America (AP)
- PC market grows in 3Q, but sluggishly, firms say (AP)
- Sony detects attacks on its networks, over 90,000 customer accounts locked (Yahoo! News)
- Just Show Me: How to import photos on Windows 7 (Yahoo! News)
- PayPal Seeks to Become the Web Payment System to Rule Them All (Mashable)
- EBay to add image recognition to mobile offerings (AP)
- FCC unveils new broadband access program (Reuters)
- Fake Netflix app preys on eagerness of Android users (Digital Trends)
- Robert Galvin, long-time CEO of Motorola, dies (Reuters)
- Apple TV 4.4 update brings AirPlay mirroring, NHL and Photo Stream (Digital Trends)
- RIM issues BlackBerry update, warns of hoax message (Digital Trends)
- Conquer procrastination with the Conqu Android app (Appolicious)
- Britain's O2 tests Skype-style free VoIP calls (Reuters)
- iCloud explained: Things to consider before embracing the cloud (Digital Trends)
- Apple wins Samsung tablet ban in Australian court (Reuters)
- Fresh iPhone Apps for Oct. 12: The Warhol: Art, Waypoint, Forever Drive, Bounder’s World (Appolicious)
| Australian court bans sales of Samsung Galaxy tab (AP) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:13 PM PDT SYDNEY – An Australian court has temporarily banned Samsung from selling its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the country after rival Apple accused the company of copying the technology of its iPad tablet. Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett granted a temporary injunction on Thursday against sales of Samsung's new tablet in Australia. That means Samsung cannot sell the device in Australia in its current form until a pending patent lawsuit between the warring technology giants is resolved. The decision is a huge blow for Samsung. The company had hoped to launch the new product in time for Christmas sales. Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in an international legal battle over their rival tablets. |
| BlackBerry outages spread to North America (AP) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:13 PM PDT NEW YORK – BlackBerry users across the world were exasperated Wednesday as an outage of email, messaging and Internet services on the phones spread to the U.S. and Canada and stretched into the third day for Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. It was the biggest outage in years for BlackBerry users, and strained their relationship with an already tarnished brand. It came on the eve of the launch of a mighty competitor — a new iPhone model. Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the phones, said a crucial link in its European infrastructure failed Monday, and a backup didn't work either. The underlying problem has been fixed, but a backlog of emails and messages has built up that the company has yet to work down. Meanwhile, emails and messages from other regions to Europe were piling up in RIM's systems in the rest of the world, like letters clogging a mailbox. That caused the outages in the U.S. and Asia, said David Yach, RIM's chief technology officer for software. In a letter posted Wednesday on RIM's website Robin Bienfait, RIM's chief information officer, apologized for service interruptions and delays. She said email systems are operating around the world and they are continuing to clear any backlogged messages. "You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down," Bienfait said. "We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can." At Zenprise Inc., a Fremont, Calif., firm that helps companies manage BlackBerrys issued to employees, vice president Ahmed Datoo said emails started piling up on U.S. servers shortly after midnight. By morning, the congestion was heavy enough at a particular client company to delay all email for BlackBerrys. The pileup started to ease in the afternoon. RIM is already struggling with delays in getting new phones out, a tablet that's been a dud and shares that are approaching a five-year low. In the latest quarter, it sold 10.6 million phones, down from 12.1 million the same period last year. The duration of the latest outage could force large businesses to rethink their use of BlackBerrys, said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. Many of them have stuck with the phones because of the quality and efficiency of its email system, but that's now in question, she said. Consumers are having second thoughts too. Andrew Mills, a child abuse investigator for the state of Arkansas, said he'd been thinking of getting some other smartphone for a while, and the outage was the "nail in the coffin" for him. The 27-year-old has used BlackBerrys for five years, but friends and family have abandoned them, and he's set to do so in a few weeks. "From what I can see on their new phones they're not doing anything that's competing with Droid and iPhone," he said. In the United Arab Emirates, the two biggest phone companies said they would compensate their BlackBerry users for the mishap by giving them at least three days of free service. Matthew Willsher, chief marketing officer for Etisalat, the country's biggest telecom, said it was acting in response to the "exceptional and unprecedented circumstances." Unlike other cellphone makers, RIM handles email and messaging traffic to and from its phones. That allows it to provide services that other phones don't have, optimize data service and provide top-class security. But when it encounters a problem, a large share of the 70 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide can be affected all at once. BlackBerry outages tend to occur several times a year, but they usually last for less than a day. One of the BlackBerry's big attractions is the BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, which works like text messaging but doesn't incur extra fees. That service was affected by the outage, and to make matters worse for RIM, Apple Inc. is releasing software Wednesday for its iPhones that works like BBM. The iPhone 4S will be released on Friday. Competition from Apple is one of the chief causes of RIM's diminishing fortunes. RIM shares fell 53 cents, or 2.2 percent, to close New York trading at $23.88 as major indexes rose. The shares hit $19.29 a week ago, the lowest level since 2006. ___ AP writers Rob Gillies in Toronto and Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report. |
| PC market grows in 3Q, but sluggishly, firms say (AP) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 05:40 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – Personal computer shipments continued to grow in the third quarter but at a sluggish pace, intensifying concerns about the industry's dimming prospects going into the all-important holiday shopping season. New numbers reported Wednesday by market research firms IDC and Gartner Inc. are likely to dampen expectations for upcoming quarterly results from PC makers and their suppliers. The biggest maker of PC processors, Intel Corp., is scheduled to report its third-quarter numbers on Tuesday. The prospects already weren't bright. PC sales have been in a prolonged funk as anemic demand and rival technologies such as tablets and smartphones have dragged down demand in the U.S. and Europe. Growth in Asian economies isn't enough to offset sluggishness elsewhere. A notable dynamic of the third quarter was that Hewlett-Packard Co. increased its PC shipments faster than the industry average. That's despite that company's attempts to sell or spin off its PC business, which many analysts said has irreparably damaged the brand. IDC and Gartner both reported market share gains for H-P. H-P retained its spot as the world's No. 1 PC seller. But the No. 2 spot was up for grabs. Lenovo Group, which is based in China, overtook Dell Inc. and claimed the No. 2 spot for the first time, IDC and Gartner reported. Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments were 91.8 million units in the quarter, a 3.2 percent increase over last year, and slightly lower than its earlier projection for 5.1 percent. Western Europe in particular was weak. IDC said that PC shipments increased to 91.9 million, a 3.6 percent increase over last year, but lower than the firm's expectations for 4.5 percent growth. Gartner and IDC use slightly different measurements. The numbers are aggregated from many places, typically including shipments to distributors, making them imprecise measurements but valuable for gauging the overall direction of the markets. |
| Sony detects attacks on its networks, over 90,000 customer accounts locked (Yahoo! News) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:22 PM PDT |
| Just Show Me: How to import photos on Windows 7 (Yahoo! News) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:17 PM PDT |
| PayPal Seeks to Become the Web Payment System to Rule Them All (Mashable) Posted: 11 Oct 2011 04:23 PM PDT eBay is set to unveil PayPal Access, a service for letting users use their PayPal accounts on other websites without the need to register an account or a credit card. The service, which will make its debut Wednesday at eBay's X.Commerce developers conference in San Francisco, essentially eliminates the need to register an account at other retail websites, decreasing the steps needed to make a purchase and lowering the risk that a hacked ecommerce website will be able to steal credit card information. [More from Mashable: WePay Makes Opening an Online Store Simple & Embeddable] "What's different about PayPal Access is that it provides everything consumers and merchants need to create an account and transaction - from shipping to payment details," a PayPal spokesperson told Mashable. "We're helping retailers simplify login and account creation to help increase conversion and loyalty on merchants' websites." To implement the product, PayPal has turned to Gigya and Janrain as partners. Gigya will be offering the PayPal Access API to its nearly 500 enterprise clients through its Social Login product, while Janrain will offer the API through its social checkin platform. [More from Mashable: PayPal on Android To Start Hassle-Free NFC Payments] "Identity is going to play a huge part of how users interact on the web outside of their core social networks, and PayPal Access helps bring that vision to life," a Gigya spokesperson told Mashable. "For retailers, we think it could have a major impact on reducing shopping cart abandonment because shoppers will only need to login once in order to go through the checkout flow." The product has a few big hurdles to overcome, though. Its biggest challenge will be convincing retailers that they should implement PayPal Access in addition (or instead of) a traditional user registration system. While PayPal Access reduces the friction towards a purchase, retailers won't have as much access or control over those user accounts. It's an issue many online retailers will have to ponder as PayPal gains steam as the web's most prominent payment solution. This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| EBay to add image recognition to mobile offerings (AP) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 06:23 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – EBay plans to add image-recognition technology to its mobile offerings, allowing shoppers to snap photos of items they covet — such as a cute dress a friend is wearing — that an eBay app will match up with similar items for sale on eBay.com. Speaking on the sidelines of eBay Inc.'s X.commerce conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, CEO John Donahoe said eBay plans to roll out the feature by the end of the year. The San Jose, Calif.-based online marketplace operator has not yet decided which of eBay's apps will get the feature; besides eBay Mobile the company offers a fashion app and several others. It's also not clear if the feature would work just for items like clothing and accessories or if it would eventually find any products on eBay. The fashion section of eBay.com already has a somewhat similar feature that lets users click to see clothing and bags that resemble what they're checking out on the site. EBay's image-recognition plan also sounds somewhat like Google Inc.'s Google Goggles smartphone app, which lets users photograph text or certain types of objects that Google then searches the Web for. |
| FCC unveils new broadband access program (Reuters) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 05:20 PM PDT |
| Fake Netflix app preys on eagerness of Android users (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:54 PM PDT
Researchers from the Semantec computer security firm published a warning about the fake Netflix app in a blog post on Wednesday. The Trojan, named Android.Fakeneflic, is pretty straight forward. The Fake app is mainly just a splash screen and a login screen. The user is fooled into using the fake app, and at the login screen the account information is stolen and sent to a server. Once the user hits the 'Sign in' button, a screen pops up indicating incompatibility with the device's hardware. The window recommends an installation of another version of the app. Once the user hits the "Cancel" button, the app attempts to uninstall. It’s unclear how much information the Trojan can access. The good news, the blog post points out, is that the server receiving the stolen data appears to be offline. The reason why the malware has been so effective is due to the Android Platform's "Hardware Fragmentation" issues, according to Semantec. Netflix released the app earlier in the year, but only for five Android using handsets; which led to pirated versions. Only recently has official support been expanded to more devices. "A gap in availability, combined with the large interest of users attempting to get the popular service running on their Android device, created the perfect cover for Android.Fakeneflic to exploit." Symantec wrote. The official app finally made its way to compatibility with Android 2.2 and 2.3 devices last month. Netflix has mainly been in the news recently over its indecision on whether to split its service between streaming and a separate DVD brand handled by its Qwikster brand. |
| Robert Galvin, long-time CEO of Motorola, dies (Reuters) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 02:54 PM PDT (Reuters) – Robert Galvin, 89 -- a long-time chief executive of Motorola, the telecommunications company that created the first cellphone -- has died. Galvin, who was CEO of Motorola for almost three decades, passed away during the night of Oct 11, according to a statement from his family on Wednesday. Robert Galvin took the reins of the company in 1959 after the death of his father, Motorola founder Paul Galvin. At that point Motorola had annual revenue of about $290 million, which it derived primarily from North America. By the time Galvin stepped down as Motorola's chairman in 1990, the company's annual sales had grown to $10.8 billion. He had relinquished the post of CEO in 1986. It was under his leadership that Motorola expanded in overseas markets and in 1973 unveiled the first prototype cellphone. Robert's son Chris Galvin became Motorola CEO in 1997, but Robert stayed on the Motorola board until 2001. Motorola Inc, was split in two in January this year under pressure from investors including Carl Icahn as the company's storied cellphone division had been losing ground to rivals for years. The split formed Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, which is being sold to Google Inc. Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown said Robert Galvin was the CEO that made the biggest impact on Motorola's history. "He was a global thinker. He saw around corners. He put an extraordinary emphasis on innovation," Brown told Reuters. Galvin was also a very personable leader and "remembered people's names." "He knew about their families. He knew what they did," Brown said. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) |
| Apple TV 4.4 update brings AirPlay mirroring, NHL and Photo Stream (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:40 PM PDT
On the heels of the iOS 5 update for Apple's lineup of mobile devices, Apple also quietly rolled out an update for the Apple TV. Version 4.4 of the Apple TV operating system offers AirPlay mirroring, the ability to wirelessly mirror content displayed on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S and view the images or other type of media on a high definition television. Users will also be able to view other applications on the big screen including games like Angry Birds, social media apps like Facebook and general Web browsing through Safari. The update also includes compatibility with the iCloud and owners of the Apple TV can browse through photos on the television via the new Photo Stream application. Beyond content, Apple has included a barrage of security updates for the media streaming device. One improvement halts the ability to intercept user credentials or other sensitive information over the network and another fix makes sure a maliciously crafted TIFF image doesn't crash the Apple TV. Other changes includes more security against remote attackers and halting the ability to decrypt part of a SSL connection. This update brings more new content than the previous update which simply added access to Vimeo. |
| RIM issues BlackBerry update, warns of hoax message (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:37 PM PDT
Bienfait said in the statement that RIM was sorry for the service interruptions which have affected not only BlackBerry users' email, but also the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service and Internet browsing. "You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation," Bienfait said in the statement. For all countries that have been affected by RIM's service outages, Bienfait said email should now be working, though RIM are now working to clear backlogged messages. BBM and Internet browsing services are also now working, apart from a few glitches in Canada and Latin America. The outages are believed to have been caused by server problems at one or more of RIM's data centers, though clearing the backlog of data which has been piling up all week appears to be as tricky an exercise as fixing the initial problem. Conscious of criticism which came following RIM's lack of communication with BlackBerry users in the first half of the week, Bienfait ends the statement with these words: "We will provide regular updates on BlackBerry.com, RIM.com and via our social channels. We are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us." Posts on the BlackBerry Twitter feed have been more regular than at the start of the week, though for many users the increase in communication is a case of too little, too late. RIM's service update page, however, is the best place to go for the latest information. In another development, RIM has also warned users to ignore a hoax chain message that has been doing the rounds among some BBM users. The message tells users to re-send the message, warning that if they don’t, their account would remain disabled and all contacts would be erased. RIM told users to ignore the message and not to forward it. |
| Conquer procrastination with the Conqu Android app (Appolicious) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:25 PM PDT |
| Britain's O2 tests Skype-style free VoIP calls (Reuters) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) – British mobile operator O2 is testing free voice and text services on wi-fi networks, going head to head with services like Skype that offer free calls, which many operators have sought to block. The service, called O2 Connect, will initially be available on Apple and Google's Android smartphones to 1,000 customers, with a view to launching a commercial service next year, Telefonica-owned O2 said on Wednesday. "This trial will allow us to explore the potential of delivering VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services to customers," said Richard Porter, O2's head of consumer products. The company said that in a commercial product, some parts of the O2 Connect service would be included within existing pricing, while others would be sold as extras. Internet protocol services, typified by Skype, which Microsoft is buying for $8.5 billion, offer free voice and video calls routed over Internet networks. O2 said the service would not need any additional log-ins and would not require the receiver of the call to be signed up, both of which were key advantages over existing VoIP services. Analysts at Fitch said the plan highlighted a challenge for network operators: overcoming the commoditization of voice calls -- a process that was being facilitated by declines in the rates mobile operators charge one another for connecting calls. Damien Chew, senior director in Fitch's TMT team, said: "A key barrier to free voice at present is mobile termination rates, which remain high compared to landline rates." "However, regulatory pressure has and will continue to drive these rates down. The lower they go, the more attractive free voice as a loss leader becomes to a variety of market players, beyond just Internet call companies. This will translate into more downward pressure on voice prices." Fitch said the product could be a brand differentiator, and any negative price implications would be further mitigated by the practice of bundling voice, SMS and data for the UK's post-paid customers. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford) |
| iCloud explained: Things to consider before embracing the cloud (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 01:50 PM PDT
Apple is rolling out its new, much-touted iCloud service, promising to take all the pain out of keeping computers, phones, and tablets synchronized. Unlike most existing cloud-driven services and apps — which are basically add-ons — Apple has built iCloud support right into iOS 5 (available today!), OS X 10.7 Lion, and other major Apple apps. Sign in, and iCloud transparently takes care of syncing music, video, pictures, email, calendars, contacts, and more between devices. iCloud marks a paradigm shift, turning the usual way people manage multiple devices upside down. Instead of using a notebook or a desktop PC as a central hub for media, contacts, email, and the like, iCloud shifts all that data to Apple's Internet-based "cloud" servers. In part, this is just an evolution of Apple's previous MobileMe service (formerly .Mac, and before that iTools), but it's also an acknowledgement that many of the millions of iOS device users rarely or never connect their devices to a Mac or PC to sync up their data or receive software updates. In short, iCloud is an adaption to a digital world that's no longer centered on PCs. Under iCloud, Macs and PCs are just another device like an iPhone or iPad. Just sign in, and they're all kept synced with the master data in iCloud's hands. In turn, everything talks to iCloud, and the service transparently makes sure all devices have the latest and greatest. Apple has gone to great lengths to make iCloud seamless — for most users, iCloud services should just be there: Basic iCloud services require almost no effort or configuration. That said, iCloud, or aspects of iCloud, may not be for everybody, and even enthusiastic Apple users may have to be careful how they use iCloud.
iCloud featuresThe basic iCloud service is available for free to users of iOS 5 and OS X Lion; iTunes for Windows will also support it, and some Web-based features will be available from essentially any system with a modern Web browser. All iCloud services are tied to users' Apple IDs — the same IDs people use to buy music and apps, and register their devices with Apple. Sign into iCloud with an Apple ID, and iCloud services just start working on iCloud-enabled devices.iCloud users will likely first notice email, calendar, and contact synchronization: Once a device is registered with iCloud, the service will automatically keep calendar entries, contacts, and email synchronized between devices, at least, if you use Apple's email, contact, and calendar services. When users sign up for iCloud, they automatically get a "me.com" email account, and that's the account iCloud keeps in sync. iCloud transparently handles appointments and contacts as well. Events set on an iPhone automatically show up on a desktop Mac, and a contact set up on desktop Mac appears on an iPad: no muss, no fuss. The syncing service also covers notes, reminders, and even browser bookmarks. iCloud is also extending Apple's "Find my iPhone" feature with a new Find my Friends service, which enables users to selectively share their location with other iCloud users. It's a bit like Google Latitude. Find My Friends is automatically integrated with iOS's Maps app and contact list. Apple also enables a range of privacy features: Users can immediately turn off their own location sharing, the feature can be managed by Parental Controls, and users can choose to temporarily share their location. Need someone to be able to find where you are for the rest of the day? No problem: Share your location for a few hours, and the privilege is automatically revoked when the time expires. Oh, and that Find My iPhone capability now works with Macs, not just iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches: Just sign in at icloud.com, or use the the Find My iPhone app. iCloud will also soon offer support for iTunes Match, an optional add-on service available for $24.99 a year. iTunes Match will enable users to store their entire digital music collections — including material they imported from their own CDs or obtained from places other than iTunes — and stream it to any of their iCloud devices. iTunes Match looks at every song in a users' collection, and compares it to iTunes' own library of over 20 million tracks. If there's a match — Apple is very confident most tracks will match — Apple just lets users stream the 256-bit, DRM-free, AAC version in Apple's library. Otherwise, users can upload their unique tracks and stream them to any iCloud device. iTunes Match has been criticized as "legitimizing" piracy, with Apple collecting $24.99 per year to potentially enable customers to stream music they downloaded or imported illegally. However, iTunes Match also enables customers to have streaming access to their music even if their tastes (and music collections) fall outside the prescribed bounds of commercial music, or if they use iTunes to manage recordings that aren't commercial at all, like interviews, lectures, or that spontaneous living room jam session. iCloud also offers Photo Stream, which makes 1,000 of your most recent photos available on the Photos app of a user's iOS devices, with intelligent management of available storage. Although users can't edit or delete photos from Photo Stream (the inability to delete, in particular, could be, um, awkward), users can grab a copy of an image to their local Camera Roll to edit or do touch-ups. Photo Stream will store up to 1,000 photos for 30 days, so users have up to a month to connect their iOS devices to the Internet and have their most recent photos automatically synced. Apple's iPhoto and Aperture applications for OS X Lion also work as Photo Stream clients, uploading new images to Photo Steam automatically. However, iPhoto and Aperture also download Photo Stream images to create a master photo library: Not only do the apps automatically keep the photos after Photo Stream's 30-day expiry period, but users can edit and delete them just like any other local photo. Apple TV set-top boxes can also be Photo Stream clients, showing up to 1,000 of your most recent images. Finally, the quiet, killer app of iCloud might be iOS device backups. When an iOS device is plugged in and has a Wi-Fi Internet connection, iCloud can automatically back up important data on the device, including photos and video, purchased media, ringtones, app data, messages, device settings, and even a user's home screen an app organization. Drop your iPhone all the way down that concrete stairwell at work? iCloud backup might have you covered.
When it rains, it poursThere's no question iCloud marks a very ambitious launch for Apple. When Apple initially announced iCloud last June it rather proudly showed off the massive data center it has built in North Carolina to support the service. However, there are some important points to consider when — or if — deciding to use iCloud. Of course, the peril of all cloud-based services is that they create points of failure that are completely outside customers' control: Ask former Sidekick users how they feel about trusting their email and contacts to remote data centers, or Amazon Web Services customers how they feel about the stability of the cloud, or — heck — BlackBerry users about trusting email and messaging to a single service. These cases aren't exact parallels, but the concept is the same: the Internet is a complicated thing, and any failure along the way cuts off access to sites and services. That said, Apple has a great deal of expertise in operating massive online services, and its iTunes Store continues to set an industry standard for consistency and reliability. And iCloud does hedge its bets by pushing data — including mail, calendar items, media, and photos — to users' local devices transparently, rather than waiting for users to remember to sync up on their own. Thus, even if iCloud goes down for a while, the odds are good that users' data will be up-to-date until the time of failure. Apple IDs: One hurdle users may face signing up for iCloud is figuring out what Apple ID to use: Apple first started creating online IDs for consumers all the way back in 2000 with the launch of iTools. Since then, many users have created and abandoned numerous Apple IDs thanks to lost passwords, lost devices, or simple forgetfulness. Similarly, lots of people have multiple Apple IDs: perhaps one for work, one for home, or they might share a single Apple ID amongst all members of a family. Right now, iCloud only works with a single Apple ID per user in a 90-day period. Apple has gone to a great deal of trouble to try to merge Apple IDs for use with iCloud, but the multiplicity of Apple IDs is likely to bite existing MobileMe users and iTunes in the Cloud users hardest. Similarly, Apple IDs aren't without their own problems. For instance, my Apple ID dates to within minutes of Apple's launch of iTools back in 2000. Virtually every time I try to sign into it, Apple informs me the account has been disabled for security reasons, and I must jump through hoops to reset the account password. (Likely, this is because of automated attacks trying to guess the password: the account name is blindingly obvious.) The result: even if I want to log in to my Apple ID, I usually can't, so I usually don't bother. It's an Apple-only world: Users signing up for iCloud get a free me.com email address, and that's the address that iCloud uses for email syncing. If you use other email services — Gmail, Yahoo Mail, your ISP, etc. — you'll still be using old-school, non-iCloud techniques to make sure your messages stay synced (or not) across devices. iCloud won't help. Similarly, if you use Google Calendar, Outlook, or other calendar and contact services — and there are a ton — those don't get synced either. Storage: Depending what you do with your Mac — and iOS devices — storage may also be an issue. iCloud accounts come with 5GB of free storage. That 5GB goes farther than you might think, since the 1,000 photos in Photo Stream don't count against it, and neither does music streaming and storage associated with iTunes Match (but, then again, customers will be paying a separate $24.99 a year for iTunes Match). But if you move large documents, images, or things like video around between your computer and iOS devices, 5GB can be consumed very quickly. Apple does offer 10, 20, and 50 GB of additional iCloud storage for $20, $40, and $100 per year, respectively, but users looking to sync or back up large amounts of data between their devices might be better off with other services — or managing the data locally.
Is iCloud a winner?iCloud's immediate impact will depend on how smoothly Apple can launch the service. Although there will undoubtedly be a few glitches and hiccups as Apple brings iCloud online and scales it up to millions of customers, the company absolutely must do better launching iCloud than it did with MobileMe.If iCloud can get past any initial stumbles, it's fair to say the service has a chance of setting the standard for what mobile technology users expect from a service. iCloud has a great deal of depth, but it's not fiddly or complicated. For most users, it's simply going to work, and they'll be delighted to have their photos and messages automatically synced across devices. Looking forward, mobile devices that don't offer similar syncing services will probably start to look pale in comparison. Then the question becomes whether anyone — like Google or Microsoft — can beat Apple at its own game. |
| Apple wins Samsung tablet ban in Australian court (Reuters) Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:15 PM PDT SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian court slapped a temporary ban on the sale of Samsung Electronics' latest computer tablet in Australia on Thursday, handing rival Apple another legal victory in the two firms' global patent war. A final resolution of the case could take months and ruin the viability in the Australian market of the new Galaxy tablet -- the hottest competitor for Apple's iPad, which dominates global tablet sales. The two technology firms have been locked in an acrimonious battle in 10 countries involving smartphone and tablet patents since April, with the Australian dispute centering on touch-screen technology used in Samsung's new Galaxy tablet. The Federal Court, in granting the temporary ban, ruled Samsung had a case to answer on at least two of Apple's patents. The ban applies on sales of Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablet until the same court rules on the core patent issue. "I am satisfied that it is appropriate to grant an interim injunction, however I propose again the opportunity of an early final hearing on the issues presented in this application," judge Annabelle Bennett told the court. The Australian ruling follows Apple's successful legal move to block Samsung from selling its tablets in Germany and some smartphone models in the Netherlands. It comes ahead of important hearings in the United States and South Korea. "The ruling could further extend Apple's dominance in the tablet market as it widens a sales ban of Samsung's latest product," said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul. "But it's difficult to predict that other jurisdictions all take similarly negative rulings on Samsung and the firm does have the capacity to make a resilient rebound as it showed in the smartphone market with its Galaxy S model." APPEAL OPTION Samsung left open the option of appealing against the ruling and pointed out that it would continue to pursue its own patent claim against Apple involving Samsung's wireless technology. "We are disappointed with this ruling and Samsung will be seeking legal advice on its options," it said in a statement. "Samsung will continue its legal proceeding against Apple's claim in order to ensure our innovative products remain available to consumers," it added. The Australian court's hearing of the patent issue could take months and force Samsung to miss the Christmas gift-giving season there. In her ruling, judge Bennett offered Samsung the opportunity of a quick final ruling on the patent dispute. But Samsung has so far been reluctant to agree to an expedited Australian hearing, despite the risk of missing out on Christmas sales, because it says it needs time to prepare a proper defense against Apple's case. In short, Samsung has indicated that missing Christmas in Australia could be less of a problem for the company than rushing its defense and risking defeat on a key patent ruling. Samsung can appeal against the decision on the temporary ban within 14 days of the release of the written judgment, due on Friday. (Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Alex Richardson) |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2011 05:36 AM PDT |
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