Anonymous attacks US security company
The loose hacker collective Anonymous says it has taken revenge on a US security company whose principal claimed to have penetrated the group and identified some of its key people. They hacked the Twitter account of Aaron Barr, the chief executive of HBGary, and sent out a series of angry tweets while many Americans were watching the Super Bowl match on Sunday night, allegedly including Barr's social security number and address, and his mobile phone number.
Sony Ericsson debuts PlayStation phone ad
Xperia Play is real, and advertised expensively during the Super Bowl.This phone must be one of the most anticipated and leaked of all time, and now Sony has officially previewed it with a longish and quite weird ad.Xperia Play looks like an Xperia until the keypad slides out to reveal PlayStation controller buttons. It runs Android Gingerbread.It will be formally unveiled next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Google does fractals in HTML5
According to a blog post from Google software engineer Daniel Wolf, the fractal renderer is coded in HTML5 using the Google Maps API to allow you to zoom in and out on a fractal image and pan around the image as well. "Generating these images requires heavy computation resources," explains Wolf in his blog post. "Modern browsers have optimized JavaScript execution up to the point where it is now possible to render in a browser fractals like Julia sets almost instantly."
Nokia 'planning executive shakeup'
Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop is preparing a major shakeout of the company's executive board and the recruitment of a new head of its research and development division and of its operating systems division, according to reports. The company's stock has already risen by around 10% in the past week on the expectation that a tieup between Nokia and Microsoft, Elop's former employer until last September, will be announced later this week which would see the US software giant providing the operating system for high-end smartphones in some parts of the world.
Vodafone to Offer Nexus S
Vodafone says that Google’s Nexus S handset, the first running the latest version of the Android platform, Gingerbread, will be available in its stores worldwide “soon”. The phone, made by Samsung, features built-in NFC (Near Field Communciations), rear- and front-facing cameras, and a 4-inch contoured screen. “It’s great news that our customers will very soon be able to get Google’s Nexus S direct through our stores,” says Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s group director of terminals. “We work closely with our partners across the industry to offer our customers a leading smartphone range that includes the latest innovations in product and user experience.”
Augmented Reality Comes to the Super Bowl
When the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers take the field at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas for this year's Super Bowl later today, fans will be able to enrich their experience with Augmented Reality (AR) extras, courtesy of USA TODAY and the junaio AR browser. The Friday, 4 February edition of USA TODAY came with a 360-degree tour of the Dallas Cowboys stadium, presented by Jerry Jones, stadium and Cowboys owner, along with interior and exterior highlights. The Monday, 7 February edition will give readers a 3D view of the ‘Play of the Game’ in an animated sequence, with an option to receive player stats. Both AR experiences are being sponsored by Pepsi and Papa John's. The Stadium Tour gives the user a 360-degree view of the stadium as he/she moves the camera around his own position. By clicking on the screen, the user can jump to the players’ entrance or the changing rooms.
One-atom-thick sheets could change computing
Scientists claim that a new method for creating materials in sheets that are just one-atom-thick could lead to breakthroughs in data and energy storage technologies, meaning bigger storage devices and longer-lasting batteries. According to coverage of the discovery over on Reuters, quoting a report published in journal Science, the technique makes it significantly easier to create one-atom-thick sheets of different materials, including graphene sheets made from carbon. Work has been done in the past on creating graphene, but the material - which is just one-atom-thick and around a hundred times stronger than steel - remains expensive and difficult to produce; something the researchers believe they may have solved.
Data usage overtakes messaging at Vodafone
Mobile operator Vodafone reported a significant rise in data revenues during the final quarter of 2010, with data actually exceeding messaging revenues for the first time ever. The proliferation of smartphones and growing use of mobile broadband dongles among enterprises was largely responsible for the growth, Vodafone said. Data revenues increased 27.2 per cent year on year during the fourth quarter to hit £1.327bn, just edging out messaging revenues at £1.319bn. Overall group revenues increased by 3 per cent year on year to £11.894bn, while service revenues increased by 2.1 per cent to £10.9bn.
French carriers form micropayment venture
French carriers Orange, SFR and Bouygues have joined forces with IT services firm Atos Origin to form a new joint venture dedicated to exploring a mobile payments initiative. The platform, Buyster, will be available to users for fixed and mobile internet purchases in France from mid-2011 and is backed by major local online retailers including Aquarelle, Brandalley, Darty and Rue du Commerce. Buyster will be targeting the payment platform at online merchants. “Over the next five years, we are counting on a share of the mcommerce market representing 10 per cent of the turnover for ecommerce with an estimated amount of just over €6bn,” said Eric Gontier, CEO of Buyster.
LG outlines NFC payment plans
Mobile payments look set to get significantly easier over the next few years, with several big names putting their weight behind Near Field Communications technology - including, most recently, LG Electronics. The hardware giant has announced its intentions to equip its mobiles with NFC hardware, which allows them to send and receive data with a simple wireless swipe and is generally considered to be the future of on-the-go payment technology, by 2012. During an interview with Reuters, LG's vice president Jin-Yong Kim claimed: "The point-of-sale technology, which will be targeted at small and medium-sized businesses and will involve NFC or near field communications and cloud computing, is currently in beta testing, [and] the plan is to launch it in Europe in 2012."
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