Week on the Web: Kindle vs. Nook, AT&T vs. the FCC, IE10 vs. Windows 7

By Ars Staff | Published about 16 hours ago

US judge orders hundreds of sites "de-indexed" from Google, Facebook: Luxury goods maker Chanel has convinced a judge to order the seizure of hundreds of Internet domain names and to order the names blocked from "all" search engines and social media networks.

Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator: American immigration law makes it difficult for foreigners to found businesses in the United States. A new startup by the name of Blueseed hopes to solve the problem by parking a ship in international waters off the coast of Silicon Valley.

Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: which one should you buy?: Trying to decide between a Kindle Fire and a Nook Tablet? We're here to help.

Activision CEO: Star Wars: The Old Republic may not make EA any money: The head of World of Warcraft developer Activision Blizzard doesn't believe that the upcoming competitor Star Wars: The Old Republic will be profitable, due largely to the high licensing fees.

Researcher shows how to "friend" anyone on Facebook within 24 hours: Using a cloned account, social network data, and a little social engineering, a Brazilian security researcher demonstrated how he could get even the most security-conscious targets on Facebook to accept a fraudulent account's friend request. 

Seagate hybrid drive approaches solid-state speeds at hard-disk prices: The new 750GB Momentus XT hybrid drive can boot and open programs nearly as fast as an SSD, though it breaks down under significant stress.

Complaint: medical "copyright over your comments" contracts are illegal: The Center for Democracy & Technology wants the government to shut down a recent tactic in the online reputation wars: doctors demanding control over their patients' online reviews.

Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 4: Windows 7 users need not apply: Microsoft has released the fourth Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview. It offers important features for Web developers, but most of them probably won't be able to use it: though Internet Explorer 10 will eventually run on Windows 7, this preview release is restricted to users of the Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Google maps the indoors. Finding nearest bathroom has never been easier: Google has begun mapping indoor establishments like malls, airports and retail stores, and today added the first indoor maps to its application for Android. 

A doomed deal? AT&T withdraws T-Mobile bid at the FCC: The mega-merger with T-Mobile looks increasingly unlikely.

Photograph by myrrh ahn

 

Source : http://arstechnica.com

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U.S. Judge Denies Apple's Request to Ban Samsung Smartphones, Tablet

A U.S. judge on Friday denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against four Samsung products that Cupertino claims infringes upon its patents.

As a result, the Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G, Droid Charge, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 will remain on store shelves in the United States while the two companies continue their legal battle.

In making her decision, California district Judge Lucy Koh said that a preliminary injunction is an "extraordinary remedy." Apple had to prove that it would suffer irreparable harm unless the Samsung products were pulled from the market, but at this stage, Judge Koh wasn't convinced.
"It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed," she wrote. "Indeed, given the evidence Samsung presented, it seems likely that a major beneficiary of an injunction would be other smartphone manufacturers."

Recent stats from comScore found that 25.5 percent of U.S. smartphone users had a Samsung device while 10.8 percent had an iPhone.

The full case heads to court on July 30, 2012, at which time both companies will present their more complete arguments. At this point, though, Judge Koh was not completely sold on some of Apple's design complaints.

The court found "that a size that can be handheld, a screen that encompasses a large portion of the front face of the smartphone, and a speaker on the upper portion of the front face of the product are non-ornamental." In other words, Apple is not necessarily the only company that can release a device with those characteristics.

In a statement, Samsung said it "welcomes" Friday's ruling.
"This ruling confirms our long-held view that Apple's arguments lack merit," a Samsung spokesman said. "In particular, the court has recognized that Samsung has raised substantial questions about the validity of certain Apple design patents. We are confident that we can demonstrate the distinctiveness of Samsung's mobile devices when the case goes to trial next year. We will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple's claims to ensure our continued ability to provide innovative mobile products to consumers."

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Patent blogger Florian Mueller argued in a Saturday post that the ruling makes it clear that "design patents are not the answer to Apple's issues with Samsung."

"Samsung doesn't have be 'Samesung,'" Mueller continued. "As long as it's allowed to build products that consumers view as equally attractive as Apple's, and that are distinct enough to comply with the law but still similar enough in the eyes of actual and prospective buyers, Samsung will be just fine."
Mueller suggested that Apple should focus its efforts on "solid technical patents," while also pointing out that most of the 300+ patents assigned to the late Steve Jobs are design-related.
Mueller also pointed out that the judge was not swayed by statements of support from T-Mobile and Verizon, which argued that their businesses would be harmed if Samsung's products were removed from the market.

"If Samsung is infringing upon Apple's patents, it is no more acceptable for third parties to benefit from Samsung's unlawful actions than it is for Samsung itself to benefit," Judge Koh said.
The case, meanwhile, dates back to April when Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad in its flagship Galaxy S line of devices; a suit that was later expanded to include 13 more products, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Nexus S 4G, and the Droid Charge.
The fight has since expanded to encompass more than two dozen cases throughout the world, with Samsung also trying to get Apple products pulled from the shelves.

Apple has been successful in getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 temporarily banned in Germany and Australia, though a judge just overturned the Australia ruling. In August, meanwhile, a Dutch court imposed an EU-wide preliminary injunction against Samsung Galaxy smartphones based on a photo-scrolling patent but threw out design-related claims on the Galaxy Tab.

Samsung has tried to get around the German ban by introducing a slightly modified Galaxy Tab 10.1N. Apple is also going after that device, but Mueller speculated that it will "likely take Samsung only one more iteration to come up with a non-infringing design."

As a result, "the outcome of the main proceeding in the U.S. will probably be somewhere in between the Dutch and German results, and therefore not be of much (if any) strategic use to Apple," Mueller concluded.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.Source : http://www.pcmag.com

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New Android App Finds Carrier IQ Fast, Free, and Easy

Whether you believe Carrier IQ or not that its software, embedded on certain smartphones, is a malicious, keylogging entity or a tool that helps operators improve the smartphone user experience, you have a choice. Namely, there are ways to eliminate this question from the equation by detecting and removing Carrier IQ from your device, if you really want.

And Lookout Mobile Security – makers of the "Lookout" security app for both IPhones and Android smartphones – have given you an easy way to do just that. Detect, we should specify, and only for Android devices.
Why Android only? Carrier IQ is no longer supported as of iOS 5 (Apple insists its customers have to opt-in before any information about their smartphones is shipped off to Apple HQ), and blocking its effects on your iOS 5-based iPhone is super-easy: Click on your Settings button, then General, About, Diagnostics & Usage, and select " Don't Send."

However, Carrier IQ is a bit more integrated within the Android OS – so much so, that you'll need to root your device prior to attempting any removal efforts. But the first step in the process is finding out whether your smartphone has Carrier IQ installed to begin with. And Lookout's new app makes this a one-touch affair.

Install Carrier IQ Detector from the Android Market and fire up the app. That's it; you're done. Carrier IQ Detector immediately tells you whether Carrier IQ is installed on your phone, and you're welcome to hit the "More Info" button to receive more details about what that could mean for you.

While useful for detecting whether any manual removal efforts have succeeded, Lookout's Carrier IQ Detector doesn't actually perform any of the removal process for you. For that, you'll have to either flash your Android device with a custom ROM that doesn't contain Carrier IQ or you can try grabbing the app "Logging TestApp Pro," contributing a dollar for the registration key, and using the app's full version to remove Carrier IQ in a more automated method.

As Extreme Tech's Sebastian Anthony notes, "this doesn't always work, though." But with Lookout's new easy-to-use detection app, at least you'll be able to find out whether your dollar was successful in helping you to strip this buried software off your device.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.Source : http://www.pcmag.com

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Browser wars: Chrome takes the number two spot, but ET readers still love Firefox

By Sal Cangeloso on December 2, 2011 at 5:20 pm

The browser horse race is something that every internet user, especially those of us that work on the web, can follow with all the glee of a presidential run, the console wars, or a good, old fashioned distro battle. At the start of each month we get the numbers from organizations that analyze huge tracts of data and tell us how much market share Internet Explorer has lost, how much Firefox and Chrome have gained, and how much mobile browsing has exploded. These numbers might not have a great effect on us at the end of the day, but they sure are fun to track.

This week we learned from web analytics company Statscounter that global usage of Google’s Chrome browser beat out that of Firefox for the first time. Chrome did this with just over a quarter of the browser market, 25.69% to be precise, while Firefox had 25.23%. Internet Explorer still managed a dominant plurality with a 40.63% share. Statscounter’s sample size is tremendous — it was over 16.3 billion hits in May 2010 — so we’ll take their word for it.

A huge survey of web users is great for getting representative numbers, but what if you want to know about browser market share among a smaller group… say technology enthusiasts. In fact, let’s narrow that down even further and look at people who specifically want to “answer the unanswerable questions of technology“. What browsers do ExtremeTech readers use?

The November 2011 numbers are as follows:

1. Firefox – 33.95%
2. Chrome – 32.09%
3. Internet Explorer – 14.43%
4. Safari – 10.35%
5. Android – 4.32%

By browser and operating system:

1. Firefox / Windows – 26.37%
2. Chrome / Windows – 23.98%
3. Internet Explorer / Windows – 14.34%
4. Chrome / Macintosh – 5.47%
5. Safari / Macintosh – %5.32%

And finally by browser version:

1. Firefox 8.0 – 13.50%
2. Chrome 15.0.874.106 – 11.13%
3. Firefix 7.0.1 – 11.02%
4. Chrome 15.0.874.121 – 10.09%
5. Internet Explorer 8 – 6.54%

So what are the quick takeaways from these numbers? Obviously ExtremeTech’s readers are not representative of internet users at large. The site’s readers are making a conscious decision about their browser, not simply using the one that comes pre-installed. They (you!) also keep their browsers updated, which is always usually a sign of someone who is thinking about their tools, though some people do have to use what their place of work makes available to them.

Interestingly, IE9 was number six on the list, trailing just behind IE8. About a quarter of our Windows readers are still on XP so that could easily account for that though.Want to know the refreshing fact of the day? Only 0.26% of ET’s readers are on IE6.


source : http://www.extremetech.com

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Need a new bone? 3D printers could jumpstart the healing process

• By Ray Walters on December 2, 2011 at 6:30 pm

While 3D printing is not a new technology, it’s still one that every geek in the world wants to get their hands on. The possibilities within those magic boxes are limited only be one’s imagination. Want to print another 3D printer out of your current one? No problem! Funds tight for Christmas and your kids want some sort of toy? No problem, just print it!


Have a broken a bone or osteoporosis? Believe it or not, medical researchers have been working to re-purpose a commercial 3D printer to be able to print humans bones, in a matter of speaking. A team from Washington State University has been tackling the issue of how to correct bone defects and the loss of mass caused by the disease. Using a printer provided by ProMetal, the group set out on a year process to customize the machine for use in printing plastics. 
  
While the device doesn’t print actual full bones, it does create “bone bridges.” These are implants that act like a wire frame for new bone mass to grow on.For example, if a person has a bad hip bone due to fracture, surgeons can go in and place one of the bridges. Within a week new bone mass will start to grow around it. This is an optimal process because instead of doing an artificial replacement, doctors can foster the growth of the real thing.The bridges are made up of a fine ceramic powder that is coated with plastic one layer at a time by the printer. Directed by a CAD program, an “inkjet” of sorts sprays the plastic layers onto the powder, creating the different implant styles. The process has been tested in rats and rabbits so far, with very positive results. With continued research, human trials for bone regrowth could begin in as little as ten years.

The possibilities of the implementation of these advances in the future are very exciting. 3D printed bones could one day make things many of today’s problems a thing of the past.
The video embedded below, from Susmita Bose, a member of the development team on this project, explains the process.

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Android, Samsung Smartphones Popular, iPhone 4S Boosts Apple

Of the 3,000 people surveyed by comScore, 25.5 percent of smartphone users in the U.S. had a Samsung device, and 46.3 percent of smartphones were running the Android OS in the three-month period ending Oct. 31. An Android-based Samsung smartphone is the device to beat, according to Friday stats from comScore.

 

Google's Android OS saw a 4.4 percent increase in the U.S., though, jumping from 41.9 percent to 46.3 percent between July and October. Apple's iOS came in second with a 1 percent increase to 28.1 percent. Samsung's share, however, doesn't represent any sort of increase. It had 25.5 percent back in July, too. The only handset maker to see an increase was Apple, which came in at number four with 10.8 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, up 1.3 percent. Apple's latest smartphone, the iPhone 4S, hit store shelves on Oct. 14. RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian made the top five, but all three saw a market share drop, the largest of which went to RIM with a 4.5 percent decline to 17.2 percent.
LG was in second place with 20.6 percent, followed by Motorola with 13.6 percent. RIM rounded out the top five with 6.6 percent, a 1 percent drop.About 90 million people in the U.S. had smartphones between July and October, a 10 percent increase from the previous three months.

What were they doing with those devices? Texting was the most popular activity, with 71.8 percent people participating. That was followed by using the browser (44 percent), using downloaded apps (43.8 percent), accessing a social networking site or blog (32.3 percent), playing games (29.2 percent), and listening to music (21.2 percent).

By Chloe AlbanesiusFor more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.source: http://www.pcmag.com

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Thai flooding finally hits Apple with 2TB drive shortage

By Chris Foresman | Published about 14 hours ago

The massive flooding in Thailand, which put a worldwide squeeze on hard drive supplies, is now affecting shipment of certain build-to-order iMac models. While most Mac models are shipping without a hitch, adding a 2TB drive to your iMac can add five to seven weeks to the expected ship date.

Apple hasn't commented specifically on its vulnerability to the global hard drive shortage caused by the floods. At its most recent earnings call on October 18, just days after the flooding occurred, CEO Tim Cook told analysts that the extent of the damage was still unknown. "We source many components from Thailand," Cook said. "There are several factories that are currently not operable and the recovery timeline is not known at this point."

While Apple has begun transitioning its notebooks to use fast and compact solid state drives, it is still heavily reliant on hard drives. However, only BTO iMacs with 2TB drives are currently affected by the shortage: iMacs ordered with 1TB or smaller drives still ship within a few days, as do MacBook Pros, Mac minis, and Mac Pros.

AppleInsider noted that Mac Pros can still be outfitted with as many as four 2TB drives without adding and shipping delay, suggesting that what stock of 2TB drives Apple has on hand is being allocated to the Mac Pro for now. 

The effects of October's flooding are expected to carry over until at least the end of the first quarter of 2012. Over half of the hard drives made in the world are manufactured in Thailand, and the flooding there has knocked many HDD factories offline for several weeks now. Western Digital announced on Friday that production had finally resumed at one of its factories, but warned that it own production output will be short for the next quarter or so. Analysts predict that hard drive shortages could pull PC production down as much as 10 percent through the first quarter of 2012.

from :  http://arstechnica.com

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Report: Droid-Branded 4G Motorola Tablets Coming to Verizon

Motorola's 10-inch Xoom 2 and 8-inch Xoom 2 Media Edition tablets are getting slapped with a new brand name, Droid Xyboard, and will be available through Verizon Wireless in December, according to CNET. Pricing for the two new 4G-LTE tablets wasn't immediately available, the tech site reported Thursday.

"As we've previously mentioned, we're planning to bring several new LTE devices to market including two tablets," Motorola told CNET. "We haven't made any official announcements in the U.S. but we look forward to sharing more details soon."

The Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition were shown in the U.K. early last month (promotional video below). If the Droid-branded versions reportedly being sold by Verizon match up to those models, this rundown of the Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition specs provided by phoneArena.com gives us an idea of what to expect:

PhoneArena.com is also tipping a $529 retail price for the 10-inch Droid Xyboard, but didn't guess at a price for the smaller model. That earlier report suggested a Dec. 8 release date for the two new tablets by Verizon. The new tablets have a thinner profile than their original Xoom predecessor, according to CNET. They're also more angular, in keeping with the design of Verizon's flagship Droid Razr smartphone, with sharp corners as opposed to the rounded edges of the first Xoom.

The Droid Xyboard devices will run Google's Android Honeycomb mobile operating system out of the gate (the original Xoom was the first tablet to run the first iteration of Honeycomb). As with the Asus Transformer Prime, it's likely an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be readily available—possibly very soon after these tablets are made available, if CNET's reporting is accurate.

 from : http://www.pcmag.com

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