Dual-mode LTE/WiMAX devices on the way
Sequans, the 4G chipset maker, is working with Malaysian operator Packet One and networking provider Greenpacket to develop reference designs for dual-mode LTE/WiMAX devices. The intention is to create a complete eco-system of 4G networking solutions and devices by the end of 2011. “We are testing Sequans’ system-on-chip technology to develop LTE reference designs, including a dual-mode WiMAX/LTE reference design for our operator customers primarily in Asia, CALA and Middle East,” said, James Wang, senior vice president of innovation, strategies and development at Greenpacket. “We intend to offer our solutions to early adopters of LTE such as P1 in support of its LTE/WiMAX coexistence strategy.” The move is part of the recently announced 4Sight program, which is aimed at Sequans creating technologies enabling operators to smoothly transition from WiMAX to LTE.
Android passwords are stored in plain text
Security on the Android operating system has been dismissed as a joke after a hacker found that it was listing user passwords in plain text. Hacker News has reported that Android user passwords are stored in plain text on the phone's harddrive, if you know where to look. An Android user noticed that a password for email accounts is stored into the SQLite DB which in turn stores it on the phone's file system in plain text. He suggested that this was daft and Google should be encrypting or at least transforming the password.
Google Maps mashup explores flight paths' hidden treasures
The Royal Geographical Society has created online guides to different flight paths, allowing passengers to learn about the parts of the world that they fly over when travelling on commercial airlines. The Hidden Journeys Project is a Google Maps mashup that aims to transform the "moving-map" that often features on in-flight entertainment systems. These are currently very sparsely populated, with just a few stats relating to the distance travelled, wind speed and time spent in the air. Hidden Journeys adds reference points of interest along the flight path as part of the Society's public engagement programme to turn the international flying experience into an exploration of people, places and the environments below.
SapientNitro Launches AR Anti-smoking App
SapientNitro has released an Augmented Reality (AR) app called AR Lungs that is designed to help people stop smoking. The app employs a smartphone camera or computer webcam to superimpose digital lungs over the user’s image. By using on-screen sliders, the user can input the number of years they have smoked and the number of cigarettes smoked per day to see a “medically correct” representation of their lungs. A non-smoker would see healthy, pink lungs, while someone who has smoked 15 cigarettes a day for 17 years would see a visual representation of the damage and discoloration their smoking has caused. The app featured in the Channel 4 series Embarrassing Bodies: Teen Special on Monday, 11 July, and is available free-of-charge at http://www.arlungs.com.
Tablet market explodes in Q2
Recent figures from market researcher Strategy Analytics reveal it was not just Apple that had a great quarter for tablet sales. While reviews of Android tablets have generally been lukewarm at best, that didn't stop them shipping 4.6 million units in the second quarter of this year. It should be noted, however, that this is a sell-in figure, and that some of that stock may not have actually been bought by an end-user. The table below refers to the platform on which the tablets are based, and QNX is the new BlackBerry platform. RIM will presumably be disappointed that even Windows 7-based tablets outsold its PlayBook in Q2, but it's still early days for that product, and only today the PlayBook was revealed to be the first tablet to be approved for use within US federal government.
Motorola urged to consider selling patents
Carl Icahn - the billionaire activist investor and largest single owner of shares in Motorola Mobility - made an SEC filing suggesting Moto explore options for its patent portfolio, adding there may be "multiple ways to realize such value," according to Dow Jones Newswires. Short of just using the patents as they are, the other obvious way to realize value is to flog them. The catalyst for such investor agitation is thought to have been the huge amount of money Apple and its new chums paid for the Nortel patents at a recent auction. If they were worth $4.5 billion than what are Moto's thousands of patents worth? Bear in mind Moto's market cap isn't much more than that at $7.5 billion.
Google Spent Over $2 Million On Lobbying In Q2
Search engine giant Google spent $2.06 million on lobbying during the second quarter of 2011, as the Federal Trade Commission investigates its internet search and advertising activities. According to an article on the National Journal, the company increased its funding by nearly $600,000 in the second quarter. It had invested $1.48 million in the previous quarter. Google said in a lobbying disclosure form that it was lobbying Congress, the FTC and the US Justice Department. Meanwhile, even as Google ups its lobbying budget, US wireless carrier AT&T reduced its spending on lobbying efforts even as the regulators scrutinise its proposed acquisition of rival and the fourth largest US mobile phone operator, T-Mobile.
Virgin Showcases 1.5Gbps Cable Broadband
UK ISP Virgin Media has announced that its three month trial of the world's fastest cable broadband at the London-based tech business centre, Techhub, also known as the Silicon Roundabout, has been successful. Back in April, the company had started trials at four start-ups using the same cable infrastructure and technology that is behind the broadband service for millions of Virgin Media customers in the UK. At 1.5Gbps, the broadband service offered is 240 times faster than the UK's average and 15 times faster than Virgin Media's own fastest commercial service (which incidentally is available to around a quarter of UK households. It is also capable of a 150Mbps upload, which is again 15 times faster than Virgin Media's 10Mbps offer.
Google Acquires Face-Recognition Technology Firm PittPatt
Search engine giant Google has moved to acquire face recognition software maker PittPatt to enhance some of its consumer products, giving rise to privacy concerns from some quarters. Start-up PittPatt, which stands for Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, makes facial recognition software that is capable of recognising and tracking human faces across photos and videos among other media. The company, which has its roots in the Carnegie Mellon University, has developed an API that helps it track the motion of human faces in a video, Tech Crunch reports. Google already has a bunch of image related services like Google Image search, Google Goggles, YouTube and Picasa. It even recently launched a social networking platform, Google+.
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