The Corliss Technology Review Group, Tech Review: Be winter-ready with these apps

Last week's snow, freezing rain and frigid temperatures were just a warm-up for winter, which doesn't start officially until Saturday. These apps will get you ready for the season by helping you track a dangerous storm or record a delightful day on the slopes.

Winter Survival Kit

(iOS, Android, free)

In the frightening scenario where you're stranded in your car because of severe weather or a breakdown, Winter Survival Kit goes into action. It tells you how long you can keep your engine running to stay warm before you run out of gas and sends an intermittent alarm to keep you alert. It stores contact numbers and insurance company policy numbers, making it easier when you call roadside assistance service. Just make sure you input the information during the calm before the storm.

NOAA Snow Forecast

(iOS, Android, $1.99)

This app uses information from the government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to tailor a neighborhood snow forecast by ZIP codes. The app updates NOAA information hourly and displays projected snowfall amounts over the next 48 hours on an animated map. If NOAA issues a winter-weather alert, the app shows it in a warning box.

mPing

(iOS, Android, free)

Stuck at home with cabin fever? Become a "citizen scientist." mPing, an abbreviation of the Precipitation Identification near the Ground project by the University of Oklahoma and National Severe Storms Laboratory, wants you to report on the conditions outside your window. Upload the type of precipitation -- snow, ice pellets, freezing rain or other winter weather -- and the data will be compiled by researchers. You can see the results on interactive map.

Ski Track

(iOS, Android; $0.99)

There are two groups of people who love an impending snowstorm: kids and skiers. If you're in the latter category, this app is for you. Ski Tracks won't tell you where to ski, but it will tell you how well you are skiing. Using GPS, it tracks your progress down the slopes and produces graphs and statistics. It doesn't use data or need a phone signal to work. The app makes it easy to share your day of schussing and half-piping with Facebook friends.

The Corliss Technology Review Group, REVIEW: Will 3D tech take Lytro mainstream?

When the world’s first light-field camera, Lytro, launched in Australia last year it was immediately greeted with a slew of scathing reviews.

Review, after review warned consumers about replacing their regular camera with this device; some went as far as to embed this point in the very first sentence of their critique. For many, the product’s price tag didn’t justify its features. Being able to refocus a shot after the fact is a cool little trick but it wasn’t worth the $499 price tag.

It’s been over a year since Lytro's trial-by-fire and despite the criticism it's still alive and kicking, thanks to a pocket of enthusiasts within the global photography community. As seen on Lytro’s own online gallery, in the hands of a pro, you can do some incredible work with this nifty tool.

Niche appeal not enough

But Lytro isn’t satisfied with its niche appeal. The mass market beckons, and the company is pulling out all the tricks in the technology playbook to stand out from the rest of the pack.

While the core product - that funny-looking, eye-catching rectangular camera - hasn’t changed, the software surrounding the device has undergone numerous upgrades in the past year. The latest rendition of the Lytro operating system allows you to display images in 3D. It’s an obvious attempt to broaden the devices appeal beyond its fan-base. But will it work?

In short, no. It won’t. The 3D perk is another cool add-on, but it's not a reason to buy the camera. The devil you see is in the detail.

For this little trick to work you need three things: a pricey 3D-enabled TV, a PC and a means to display that PC on your TV. For our trial, we used an old MacBook Pro, a Samsung 3D TV and a Apple TV. Since we used an older MacBook, we also loaded an app called Air Parrot to enable screen mirroring between the TV and the PC.

Assuming you have all of this, and the time to fiddle around with it, the 3D effect is kind of cool. But it sadly pales in comparison to what you would see on a 3D enabled Blu-ray. Stereoscopic 3D simply looks better with moving images. It’s such a difference that it’s almost unfair to compare the two.

When you look at the rest of Lytro’s offering, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify the camera as a mainstream device. The good news is, the device still has that (possibly intended) side-effect of making its wielder the center of attention at any given function or party. If you whip it out to take some photos, be prepared to explain why you're carrying around a camera shaped like an oversize lipstick case; particularly if you're sporting the red model.

When you're running around taking photos with the Lytro, it feels as if you're using a spy camera from the Bond series. In this sense, it's a joy to use. Its touch-screen options menu is easy to navigate and it takes good selfies too.

There’s nothing wrong with the use ability of the actual device.

Picture manager pain

But the real pain comes when you plug the camera into a PC and boot-up Lytro’s desktop picture manager. And it’s a shame, given that this camera sells itself on its post-shot prowess.

This software should be fluid, easy to use and quick. But it’s not. Uploading around 20 photos from the camera was painless, but converting them so you could slightly shift the perspective of the shot - another key feature of the Lytro camera - takes a good five minutes per shot. Try to do too many things at once on the Mac version of the Lytro Desktop manager, and it will simply crash, taking your photo editing progress with it.

And while your shots look impressive on that small 1.5 inch Lytro camera screen, unless you know what you're doing, they become pretty ugly on a 13-inch Mac - let alone a 50-inch Samsung TV. This further reinforces that this is not a point-and-click camera. Unless you’re willing to invest time into studying Lytro’s extensive set of video tutorials on how to use the device, then you may be better off snapping away with a regular camera.

This is Lytro’s major hurdle as a consumer-focused device, given that SLRs these days start at the same price as Lytro’s most basic camera.

It does however; give some smartphones a run for their money. To illustrate this point, I took two photos of the same bridge in Southbank, one with the Lytro and another with my 8-megapixel Samsung S4 Active. You can compare the pair below.

Lytro

Perhaps the most painful point for Lytro is that as a device, with all the bells and whistles attached, it does have mainstream appeal. Consumers would more likely be willing to accept the camera’s quirks and its learning curve if it was cheaper.

Interestingly, Apple recently filed a patent for the similar line of technology to what’s seen in Lytro’s cameras. It even referenced Lytro’s solution in its patent application.

If Lytro can’t perfect its product for the mass market, I think we can all guess who will.

The Corliss Technology Review Group, Avoid Christmas fraud

Online retailers are wishing themselves a Snappy Christmas, with predictions this will be their best year yet.

However, with the online boom comes the threat of internet scams.

More Australians shop on their mobile phones than any other market place and this Sunday our online shopping is tipped to have its biggest day ever.

Credit cards that won't ruin Christmas

EBay reckon they will see almost two-and-a-half million people come into their site to source Christmas gifts – and over half of those people will be on their mobile phone. That figure is up to 30 per cent on last year’s total.

While there remains worries over online shopping – such as the worry of not receiving your gift in time – for the time poor and those wishing to avoid trudging through shops, it can be more than welcome.

The online boom has prompted a warning, though.

While many business websites look professional and trustworthy, they are not always what they seem.

Rod Stowe of fair trading said: “Web sites that show bad English, grammatical errors - often that is a good indication of a scam-type site."

For the disorganized, surveys show a quarter of people buy their gifts on Christmas Eve - four per cent of them at a service station on Christmas day and eight per cent regift last year’s present.

Whatever you decide, remember there are only 21 days left.

Avoid fraud

A black mark on your credit file can follow you around for as long as seven years and can stop you getting credit.

7News finance expert Scott Pape has three tips to keeping a clean credit file.

1: Don’t apply for too many loans.

2: Pay your bills on time.

3: Get a copy of your credit file.

To find out your credit rating for free writes to:

Veda Advantage

PO Box 964 North Sydney NSW 2059

The Corliss Technology Review Group, Rare material shortages could put gadgets at risk

Modern technology is too reliant on rare materials whose scarcity could drastically set back innovation, a new report has warned.

It suggested that as more and more devices are manufactured, supplies of key elements, particularly metals, will be strained.

Potential substitute materials are either inadequate or non-existent, researchers said.

One scientist called the findings "an important wake-up call".

Andrea Sella, of University College London - who was unconnected to the study - told website The Conversation that it was the first time the issue had been explored in such detail.

Researchers at Yale University, led by Prof Thomas Graedel, analyzed the use of 62 metals or metalloids commonly found in popular technology, such as smartphones.

Troubling

It found that none of the 62 had alternatives that performed equally well. Twelve had no alternative, Prof Graedal found.

The scope for serious disruption because of material shortages is increasingly troubling technology companies.

Rare materials are expensive to extract, and their processing comes with considerable environmental concerns.

In April 2012, the BBC's Ian Hardy discovered the effect that mass flooding in Thailand had on the technology supply chain

Political factors also play a part: in 2010, China restricted the export of some materials, known as rare earth elements.

It said this was because of environmental issues, but some observers noted that the restrictions had two distinct effects - the price of the elements increased fivefold, and Chinese companies were simultaneously given the upper hand in using the precious materials at lower cost.

Disrupted

Natural disasters bring another unpredictable risk.

In 2011, serious flooding in Thailand disrupted global supply chains as the country is a hub for hardware manufacture.

Shortages of storage devices extended well into 2012, according to research company IHS iSuppli, with hard-drive supplies the hardest hit.

The Corliss technology review group, Microsoft disrupts online fraud botnet Zero Access

London: Microsoft and law enforcement agencies have reportedly disrupted one of the world's largest botnets, ZeroAccess that triggered online fraud.

The botnet is a network of computers infected with malware that hijacks web search results and redirects users to potentially dangerous sites to steal their details.

According to the BBC, the botnet, also generates fraudulent ad clicks on infected computers then claims payouts from duped advertisers and has infected about two million computers.

Also called Sirefef botnet, Zero Access targets search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines and is estimated to cost online advertisers 2.7million dollars per month.

Microsoft said that it had been authorized by US regulators to block incoming and outgoing communications between computers located in the US and the 18 identified Internet Protocol (IP) addresses being used to commit the fraudulent schemes.

Executive director of Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, David Finn said that the disruption will stop victims' computers from being used for fraud and help in identifying the computers that need to be cleaned of the infection.

Microsoft said that due to its botnet architecture, Zero Access is one of the most robust and durable botnets in operation today and was built to be resilient to disruption efforts, but the latest action is expected to significantly disrupt the botnet's operation, the report added.

The Corliss Technology Review Group, Bitcoin price tumbles after warning from Chinese central bank

The People's Bank of China has issued a warning that the currency is not legally protected and has no 'real meaning'.

The Chinese central bank has warned the country's financial institutions not to trade in bitcoin, saying that the digital currency doesn't have "real meaning" and lacks legal protections.

However, no explicit risk to China's financial system was identified by the bank, and it reiterated that individual citizens were free to use bitcoin provided they were aware that they were taking the risk on themselves.

The bank also identified money laundering and other illegal uses of the currency as areas of concern.

Bitcoin has recently achieved a measure of popularity in China, with FiatLeak and other

bitcoin trading information sites showing large inflows of the currency through Chinese exchanges.

China Telecom, the largest mobile phone provider in the country, launched a promotion allowing a Samsung phone to be bought with bitcoins, and Baidu, the Chinese Google, is accepting payments for its firewall service in the currency.

But there's also suspicion that a large measure of the bitcoin's Chinese popularity is the result of fringe-legal uses. The currency is perfect for getting around the country's tight capital controls, which prevent rich Chinese citizens from moving too much money overseas.

While bitcoin remains unregulated, it is easy for users to buy a large sum in Chinese yuan and sell it in US dollars, evading those regulations.

The potential of bitcoin in China is seen as a large part of the reason for the currency's seven-fold increase in price over November, and the news that the Chinese central bank is taking a less-than-welcoming stance to it has sent markets tumbling.

The value of one bitcoin fell by 28% over two hours on Thursday morning, before settling into its more normal pattern of rapid large price swings in both directions.

The warning follows a similar cautionary tone from the Dutch central bank, which noted that there is no central issuer which can held liable for bitcoin, and no deposit guarantee scheme in the event of bitcoin banks failing.

The former head of the Dutch bank even compared the bitcoin bubble to the Netherlands' tulip mania in the 17th century – but pointed out that at least when that bubble burst, investors were left with tulips at the end.

The Corliss Technology Review Group: Protect yourself from online fraud this festive season

A new report by the European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net) takes a look at the scams faced by consumers when shopping online.

The report focuses on fraud in cross-border e-commerce and what consumers can do to protect themselves from online fraud. It has been prepared based on the complaints reported by consumers to ECC-Net in 2012.

The EU Commissioner for Consumer Policy, Neven Mimica said: "On-line shopping is booming as consumers take advantage of the digital single market. But the risk of fraud is rising too. The ECC report is a timely reminder to consumers that they need to 'shop smart' and avoid the fraudsters' traps“.

It has been estimated that savings from online shopping amount to €11.7 billion equivalent to 0.12% of the EU’s GDP However many consumers are missing out. Studies show that 62% of consumers cite fear of fraud as the reason why they do not go online to shop.

According to the results of the Euro barometer on Cyber Security, the highest figures of internet users that say they have experienced online fraud are in Poland (18%), Hungary (17%), Malta (16%) and UK (16%), while respondents in Greece (3%), Slovenia (6%) and Spain (7%) are least likely to have experienced online fraud.

The report highlights a number of tips and tricks to avoid being scammed online. For example always use a secure payment method and never transfer cash. The tips also include advice on how to screen unfamiliar online traders and what to do if you happen to fall victim to a fraudulent site.

The most common kind of fraud highlighted by the participating ECCs (70%) were scams involving fraudulent sites which require a bank transfer purchase and never deliver the products offered. The second highest type of online fraud, mentioned by 45% of participating centres, involves second hand cars sold online, followed by sale of counterfeit goods and fraudulent ticket sales. The report also analyses emerging issues in online fraud with malicious software targeting mobile phones, and scams involving gaming and online dating sites.

The Corliss Review Group: When emoji just isn’t enough, ubertxt

Who is not fond of cute little stuff that appears on your text messages, it somewhat adds excitement on the conversation. It feels like your texts lack a little something, maybe twirly bits and spangles and animation. Something more that emoji then welcome to ubertxt.

Youngsters may find the world twisted, it may seem turned upside down for these 12 years olds.

We may not be aware of this but there are some good reasons for why this has been happening, maybe one reason is, adults are constantly proving that adulthood is incompetence basking in the rays of power.

So as a replacement for making mental progress, we disappear into our phones and express ourselves with words and smiley faces.

Now and again, while, plain texts aren’t enough, simple emoji seem not to provide us the excitement that they used to.

So there is a solution for that, presenting the ubertxt. We know you’ve been waiting for something like this for at least 15 days — something that makes your new iPhone 5C an even happier place to live.

Ubertxt present the skill to make your texts seem as warm and sincere as how you would really want the person you sent the message feel like they are close to your soul.

Its creator, Teresa Rucinski, told me that there’s nothing quite like it. Creators tend to believe that.

She said: “The closest competition would be color text messaging apps on App Store such as Color Text, Pimp My Text. However, they only offer standard/generic wallpaper animated backgrounds at best.”

Come to think about it, if you’re going to make your texts exciting, it’s personally shameful to use generic wallpaper, isn’t it? What does that say about you? That you’re sad and that you’re prepared to use an app with “pimp” in its name.

Try to imagine, with ubertxt your “OMG” SMS can seem like it came out of the palette of Picasso or, at least, from the needle of your local tattoo artist.

Rucinski told me: “ubertxt is the only app to offer animated/MOVING text, professionally designed animated templates/backgrounds, and custom photo & GIF functionality.”

Note the caps used for “MOVING.” And you can even insert your emoji into ubertxt.

Ubertxt is already racing up the App Store charts in the appropriate categories.

Rucinski went to Harvard and used to work for Google but you will be wondering whether is 17 years old and this is her high school art project.

Without a doubt, she has a belief in — and an understanding of — your inner child. You know the one that, with the help of technology, has become your outer child.

Corliss Tech Review Group: LG utmanar Samsung med G Flex böjd skärm smartphone

Det ser ut som LG och Samsung är på det igen. Båda företagen tävlar om uppmärksamheten på CES 2013 med samtidig "världens första" böjda OLED TV-meddelanden. LG ledde konsekvent i loppet till konsumenten utrymme, och såg ut att vara första flytta skärmformatet på smartphones med tillkännagivande tidigare denna månad av sina planer på att mass producera flexibel OLED telefonen visar. Samsung hade andra idéer, dock och Galaxy runda lanserades bara några dagar senare. LG har nu ikapp med den kommande lanseringen av sin något större Flex smartphone, med en böjd skärm som följer konturen av ansiktet.

Överslag G Flex Smartphonens skärm vertikalt ger mikrofonen närmare användarens mun när hålls mot örat, som, enligt LG, ökar volymen på mikrofonen med 3 dB (i jämförelse med typiska platt-screening telefoner). Företaget gör även liknande IMAX-liknande uppslukande landskap video visning påståenden som tillsammans frisläppandet av de böjda TV-apparater.

G Flex sport en 6-tum, 1280 x 720 upplösning P-OLED visar, som ser den display och panel byggt på plast substrat i stället för glas. Riktig RGB-teknik har införlivats – där röda, gröna och blå sub-pixlarna är alla inneslutna i en pixel – för en ljusare och mer exakt på skärmen bild.

En 2,26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor körs showen, med en 450 MHz Adreno 330 GPU, 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM och 32 GB eMMC-lagring (med en micro SD-kortplats för utbyggnad) att göra upp den stöttande gjutna. Enheten tips skalorna på 6,2 oz. (177 g) och dess 3500 mAh böjda batteri, som har utvecklats av syster företag LG Chem, rapporteras att tillhandahålla mer än en hel dags användning.

6.3 x 3,2 x 0,31-0,34 i (160.5 x 81,6 x 7,9 – 8.7 mm) enheten har en 13 megapixelkamera med LED-blixt på baksidan och framsidan 2,1 MP webbkamera. LED pulser att ange ansikte identifiering eller timer nedräkning. Bak-nyckel design i G2 har också inkluderats, med en strömbrytare i en volym rocker, och företaget har tillämpat en speciell reptålig beläggning på baksidan för att hålla enheten ser ut som nya längre.

Den senaste medlemmen i LG: s G smartphone familjen kör Android 4.2.2 och har en fräsch UX som har en funktion som kallas Q teater som ger användare tillgång till innehåll direkt från låsskärmen, och möjliggör visning delas i två separata fönster för multi-tasking.

Smartphone är LTE-kapabel, förpackningar Bluetooth 4.0 och 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, och använder NFC-tekniken. Det är också skicklig av Hi-Fi-kvalitet 24-bit/192 kHz ljud-uppspelning.

LG G Flex börjar sin resa i rygg fickorna på konsumenterna i Sydkorea nästa månad, innan att rullas ut till andra marknader.

Corliss Tech Review Group: Nokia lanserar första Windows tablet, nya Windows-telefoner

Nokia är att införa ett större sortiment av Windows-telefoner och avtäcka dess första Tablet PC: n, alla idrottsliga kraftfull kamera tekniken finns i dess flaggskepp Lumia 1020 smartphone.

Den under tryck cellphone maker att förlita sig till kameran för att göra en skillnad för andra telefon rivaler. Fyrtio one-megapixel kamera för Lumia 1020 med teknik som utformats för att ha bättre svagt ljus skott och erbjuda större manuella kontroller än de flesta smartphones.

Microsoft Windows system kommer att använda i den senaste enheter och den kommer att lanseras som Microsoft syftar till att slutföra sin 5.44 miljarder euro (7,4 miljarder dollar) affär för att köpa Nokias telefon företag och patenträttigheter. Affären väntas stänga tidigt nästa år.

Nokia är ett finskt företag. Man har sett sin mobiltelefon verksamhet fick i allvarlig nedgång i marknaden sedan Apple helt förändrat hur människor använder telefoner med 2007 införandet av iPhone, vilket gör Microsoft kamp snabb nedgång i försäljningen av traditionella persondatorer för smartphones och tabletter.

Dragen av Nokias nya Lumia 1520 blir en större skärm med 6 inches diagonalt jämfört med 4,5 inches på 1020. Nokia sa nya telefonens kamera kommer att ha endast 20 megapixlar för att hålla kameran sensor mindre och telefonen tunnare. Men det är fortfarande mer upplösning än de flesta andra telefoner.

Vad är mer intressant är 1520 kommer även med nya apps för att ordna foton baserat på var du tar skott och ger dig mer flexibilitet vid fastställandet av i vilka där bilden bör inriktas. Mobiloperatörer förväntas erbjuda det billigare med två-år tjänstekontrakt men telefonen kommer att kosta $740.

Det blir också en billigare version, Nokia Lumia 1320, för ett kontrakt-fri pris på $339. Dess funktioner är 5-megapixel kamera och en långsammare processor än 1520. Men både köra den senaste versionen av Windows Phone 8, som har nya funktioner för att rymma större skärmstorlekar.

Nokias första tabletten kommer att köra Windows 8.1 RT, det kommer Lumia 2520. Detta innebär att den delar kakel-baserade gränssnittet av telefonens programvara, ändå det kan köra olika apps för Windows tabletter. Och det finns även RT, den en lätt version av Windows, så det kommer att köras endast apps särskilt utformad för det. Vanliga versioner av Windows 8.1 kan köra apps för äldre versioner av Windows.

Varje version av 2520 måste funktionen av en inbyggd 4G LTE mobil åtkomst. Tvärtom, gör iPads och de flesta andra tabletter cellulära tillgång bas från vad du önskar, med deras billigaste modeller kan använda Wi-Fi endast för Internet-åtkomst.

Alla tre enheter förväntas vara tillgängliga på marknaden i slutet av året. Alla telefoner kommer i flera färger med en hård, plast tillbaka gjuten till enheten.

Corliss Tech Review Group: Revenue down in Q2 2013 while Worldwide Server Shipments Up

IBM leads the worldwide server market in Q2 2013, claiming a 25.6 percent share with a revenue of $3.156 billion USD, Gartner reports. As per the same quarter in 2012, that number is actually down 9.7 percent from a 27.2 percent market share and revenue of $3.496 billion USD. Both HP and Oracle saw a decline year-over-year while Dell, Cisco, and another of others saw growth.

Whereas the general server market revenue drops to 3.8% in the second quarter, worldwide server shipments actually elevated 4 percent year-over-year. Inspur Electronics saw the most shipments, up 211.8 percent with 20,960 shipments in 2012 and 65,350 shipments in 2013. Only with distant second, Cisco came next with a 58.5 percent increase year-over-year then followed by “others” (14.4 percent) and Dell (1.7 percent). IBM shipments fell 8 percent year-over-year and HP dropped 13.6 percent.

Despite HP’s drop in server shipments, the company remained the worldwide market leader in Q2 2013 with a 23.9 percent market share and 586,857 shipments. Dell with a 22.4 market share came in at a close second followed by IBM (8.5 percent), Cisco (3.2), and Inspur Electronics (2.7 percent). According to Gartner reports that Inspurentered the top five thanks to a significant High-performance Computing (HPC) deal that it won in its native China during the quarter.

“In terms of server form factors, x86 blade servers declined by 3 percent in shipments and 4.5 percent in revenue for the quarter,” the firm said. “The x86 rack-optimized form factor climbed 3.9 percent in shipments and 2.4 percent in revenue for the second quarter.“

Server shipments decline 5.9 percent in Q2 2013 weigh against to Q2 2012, with server shipments reaching 550,537 units particularly in the European, Middle Eastern, and African regions (EMEA). HP led the server market in this region, shipping 222,016 units and owning 40.30 percent of the market. Dell followed with 114,057 shipments as well as IBM (47,550), Fujitsu (24,325) and Cisco (14,484).

Regarding the revenue during the same quarter, HP is still leading the pack with $1.045 billion USD, then IBM with the raking in $834.8 million USD followed by Dell ($434.9 million), Oracle ($193.5 million), and Fujitsu ($175.8 million) — revenue for all others combined was $426.5 million USD. From the top five to show revenue growth, Dell and Fujitsu remained the only two vendors. The EMEA market lacks the hyper scale segment growth that other regions benefit from, Gartner said.

“In the second quarter of 2013, x86 server revenue decreased 4.7 percent in EMEA, while RISC/Itanium UNIX revenue fell 22.6 percent,” the firm said. “Revenue for the ‘other’ CPU segment grew 44.3 percent. The RISC/Itanium UNIX segment continued to suffer from migrations to alternative platforms as users sought lower cost alternatives and more flexibility. The ‘other’ CPU category, which is primarily driven by mainframes, saw a double-digit increase thanks to platform refreshes. “

Adrian O’Connell, research director at Gartner, said that weak enterprise demand, combined with consolidation and platform migration, continued to dampen theEMEA server market during Q2 2013. Recognized vendors like HP, Dell, and IBMwere also gradually more challenged. These challenges are relatively-new vendors such as Cisco and local OEMs like Huawei and the current worldwide PC market leader Lenovo. ODMs selling directly to large end-users also posed as a problem for the larger companies.

Corliss Tech Review Group: Samsung strävar efter 20nm-klass DDR4 på datacentret

Denna månad september, sade Samsung är det nu mass producera DDR4 minne baserat på 20nm-klass förlopp teknologien, detta innebär att noden processen tech är någonstans mellan 20 och 30nm. Syftet med dessa hög densitet moduler är enterprise-servrar i nästa generation, storskaliga datacenter och andra program. Denna enterprise service bygger på högre prestanda och lägre kostnader som härrör från lägre strömförbrukning.

"Antagandet av höghastighetsinternet DDR4 i nästa generations serversystem i år kommer att inleda en push in mot avancerade premium minne hela företaget," sade Young-Hyun Jun, Executive Vice President, minne försäljning & marknadsvaror, Samsung Elektronik.

Samsung sade tidigt marknaden tillgängligheten av 4 GB (512 MB) DDR4 20 nm-klass marker kommer att underlätta efterfrågan på 16 GB och 32 GB memory modules/pinnar. För en ytterligare analys av dess synvinkel, det ska ta 64 av dessa nya 4 Gb marker att producera en 32 GB pinne DDR4 RAM — 32 marker för 16 GB moduler.

Enligt företaget är dess nya 4 GB chip den minsta och högsta utför enhet ännu, ge överföringshastigheter upp till 2.667 Mbps. Det är en ökning med 25% över toppfarten på en motsvarande DDR3 modell för närvarande erbjuds på marknaden.

Företaget sagt, den nya DDR4 enheten också förbrukar 30 procent mindre ström thanDDR3, vilket gör det till den idealiska lösningen för den snabbt växande sektorn data center. Således, genom att anta DDR4 minnesteknik tidigt, OEM-tillverkare kan minimera operativa kostnader och maximera prestanda för att ge mer gynnsam avkastning på investeringar.

2012 Är DDR4 standard från DDR3 som sagt, i stället för att använda en multi drop buss de tillstånd som flera minnen för att sitta i samma minne kanal. Denna nya tech använder en Point-to-Point-buss till den registeransvarige, begränsa en pinne till en RAM-kanal. En dual-channel setup bör därför endast fysiskt tillåta twoDDR4 moduler, en i varje kanal.

"Efter ger topprestanda med våra tidsanpassat tillhandahålla 16 GB DDR3earlier i år, vi fortsätter att utöka premium servermarknaden 2013 och kommer nu att fokusera på högre densitet och mer prestanda med 32 GB DDR4, och bidra till ännu större tillväxt i den gröna IT-marknaden 2014," Jun läggas till.

Corliss Tech Review Group: Samsung Fined for Paying People to Criticize HTC’s Products

 If you are planning to buy a new smartphone or laptop, you look up internet reviews and customer ratings to check out what device is best for you. But remember not to always believe everything you read on the internet. Samsung was fined $340,300 by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission for paying people to post messages online those attacked HTC products at the same time as they flattered Samsung’s.

The site lists almost 4,000 examples of these kinds of assaults, with a lot of instigating on the Chinese message forum Mobile 01. People on Mobile 01 are permitted to state their love of Samsung or detest of HTC, but Samsung openly paid them to make these types of posts, in spite of. This approach is also known as astroturfing because it emulates a grass-roots campaign, but is completely fake and unnatural.

Sun Lih-chyun, a spokesman for the Taiwan FTC, said that Samsung’s astroturfing was the first case of its kind in the country. “The deceitful behavior has negative impacts on market order and violated the fair trade law,” he said, as reported by the wire news service AFP.

“We are disappointed that the Taiwan FTC has decided that we have violated the Fair Trade Act based on online marketing activities,” said a spokesman for Samsung. “Samsung Electronics Taiwan is carefully reviewing the decision and will take all necessary steps to protect our reputation as a company which values its customers.”

Astroturfing doesn’t only take place with companies overseas. Lately, the online reviews site Yelpsued the McMillan Law Group in San Diego for astroturfing when it shaped fake positive reviews from nonexistent clients.

Sinan Aral, an associate professor of IT and marketing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the effects of those fake reviews might be felt long after they’re removed. His research found that positive reviews, regardless of whether they’re fake or genuine, snowball into more positive reviews. “It has this kind of insidious effect,” he told ABC News. “Yelp might go and pluck those fake reviews out, but all of the subsequent reviews are influenced to be more positive.”

If a business in the states gets caught astroturfing while Yelp instituted its own policies, customers can also choose to report it to the Better Business Bureau.

“Online reviews may represent a new medium, but the principles of honest advertising are longstanding,” said Katherine Hutt, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau. “The Federal Trade Commission has had guidelines in place for nearly 40 years that make it clear that astroturfing is an unacceptable business practice. Ultimately, only businesses that meet our standards can remain accredited by the Better Business Bureau.”

While Aral’s research also says that fake negative reviews don’t spiral into more negative reviews because of an online community’s tendency to neutralize negative feedback, he says that it’s important for all reviewers to be honest. “The bottom line is that ratings and consumer feedback is a centerpiece of e-commerce,” he said. “We have to be really attuned and sensitive to detecting fraud. “

Corliss Tech Review Group: Harmon.ie Intros Secure Android App for Office 365, SharePoint

Harmon.ie has partnered with five leading mobile device management vendors to provide a secure, cross-platform, easy to use, consistent Office 365/SharePoint experience for enterprise IT mobile Android users, they announced this September. For businesses looking to eliminate Drop box, Google Drive and other unsecure document sharing/storing services that employees typically use, and tighten those pesky “leaks” associated with unsecured storage services; this news is kind of a big deal for them.

Currently the company offers a full-featured, enterprise-grade Android app that permits device owners to access SharePoint and Office 365 documents securely on a subscription basis, with pricing starting at $4 per month. A free version for simply reading Office 365 and SharePoint documents and a full-featured Premium version for individuals to read, write, and upload files for a flat $19.99 fee is also being provided by the company.

Aside from Apple’s iOS platform and BlackBerry, the Android client is also part of Harmon.ie’s Mobile Suite. Supporting the suite are Citrix Ready Worx Verification, the Good Dynamics Secure mobility Platform, AirWatch, MobileIron, and Samsung KNOX. The three clients provide apps for editing and sharing Office 365 and SharePoint documents, and for reaching out to colleagues by means of Office 365/SharePoint social capabilities.

“Harmon.ie also provides real-time updates when colleagues edit important documents; colleagues can then be contacted with a single click,” the company said. “Workers can expand their social networks by adding colleagues from the mobile device’s contact list and keep up to date with harmon.ie’s unified activity stream of collaboration updates.“

Harmon.ie backs Office 365 (SharePoint Online) and also hosted solutions for SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2010, Office SharePoint Server (MOSS 2007), and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0. Pricing consists of email only for $4 per user per month with a yearly commitment, mobile only for $4 per user per month, and $6 per user per month for both email and mobile access. As you would expect it will be cheaper if you buy more licenses. Orders for more than 200 licenses will necessitate a quote.

“We are extremely proud to round out our mobile offering with today’s Android release, and to add such an illustrious set of leading MDM vendors as trusted partners,” said David Lavenda, VP Product Strategy at harmon.ie. “These new additions insure that customers now have secure and scalable mobile access to the document storage systems in which their organization already has a significant investment; Office 365 and SharePoint, no matter what mobile devices they use.”

Corliss Tech Review Group: Over 10 mn BBM downloads on rival phones in 24 hrs. of launch

According to Canadian handset maker BlackBerry, its popular chat application BBM for rival Android-based handsets and iPhones has witnessed over 10 million downloads in the first 24 hours of its re-launch.

On Tuesday, the under pressure smartphone maker had begun again the rollout of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

“It’s been 24 hours since we resumed the launch of BBM for Android and iPhone. And what a day it’s been! We’ve already had more than 10 million downloads of BBM,” BlackBerry EVP (BBM) Andrew Bocking said in a post on the company’s official Blog.

In September, BlackBerry had stopped the global rollout of its instant messaging service BBM on rival phones, holding responsible the delay on issues caused by an unreleased old version of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger).

“When we saw almost one million people install an unreleased version of the Android version, another million use workarounds to download BBM onto their iPhones and another six million people pre-register to know when BBM became available for iPhone and Android, we knew we were on to something huge,” he noted.

The application has also seen ‘overwhelmingly positive reviews’ on Google Play and the App Store. BBM has earned 60,000 five-star reviews on Google Play from about 87,000 reviews, he added.

On Apple’s App Store, BBM rose quickly in the free app rankings in the first 24 hours, taking the number one slot in more than 75 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Indonesia and most of the Middle East, Bocking said.

BlackBerry said it will add more new features to BBM to promote it as the private social network.

“While we’re excited to bring BBM to iPhone and Android – we aren’t stopping there. Work isn’t slowing down at all. We committed to delivering a BBM experience on iPhone and Android that was equal to that on BlackBerry 10. That means bringing BBM Video, BBM Voice and BBM Channels…

“My team is still committed to bringing those features to BBM on Android and iPhone in the near future. And we are not stopping there – we have some great new features planned that will build on BBM as the private social network you count on for immediate conversations you can control and trust,” Bocking said.

THE CORLISS REVIEW GROUP: SECURITY

Amazon revealed late September this year, aside from their announcement of the new Kindle Fire HDX tablets, Fire OS 3.0 and a revised 7 inch Kindle Fire HD tablet, they also announced that its new operating system introduces new enterprise and productivity features to the Kindle Fire platform. As a result, the 7 inch Kindle Fire HDX, the 8.9 inch Kindle Fire HDX, and the 7 inch Kindle Fire HD 2013 model will be enterprise-ready when they begin shipping next month.

“Kindle Fire is already the second most popular tablet at work in the U.S.,” said Raghu Murthi, Vice President of Enterprise and Education, Amazon. “As employees increasingly bring their own devices to work, the new Kindle Fire tablets can be easily integrated into the workplace with the new enterprise features, including encryption, secure Wi-Fi, a native VPN client, integration with leading MDMsolutions, and Kerberos support for Intranet access.”

A native VPN client for instant access to corporate networks is being provided by fireOS 3.0 even as you’re on the road or at home, secure hardware data encryption (HDXmodels only), Kerberos verification for single sign-on and the capability to browse secure Intranet websites from the Silk browser on Kindle Fire. A native Simple Certificate Exchange Protocol or SCEP client is used to retrieve digital certificates for secure resources.

To make it more user friendly for IT departments to manage Kindle Fire, this latest platform furthermore provides Kindle-specific device management APls that integrate with existing Mobile Device Management (MDM) systems. According to the company,Kindle Fire supports a wide range of MDM solutions including Amazon’s Whispercast service as well as third-party vendors like AirWatch, Citrix, Fiberlink, Good Technology, and SOTI.

In addition to make it more consumer-friendly, the latest OS supports Wi-Fi networks with the use of WPA2 security, printing documents and emails directly to a wireless printer, and a built-in OfficeSuite solution for reading documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Business customers can make use of Android enterprise and productivity apps available in the Amazon Appstore like GoToMeeting, Evernote,Cisco AnyConnect, and Documents To Go.

The company said, some of these features will be delivered as part of the free, over-the-air Fire OS 3.1 update in mid-November. The Kindle Fire HDX models will also include a “Mayday” button, the company’s on-device tech support that’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Users simply tap “Mayday” to be connected to an Amazon expert who can co-pilot users through any features. Blind and visually impaired customers can leverage new and improved accessibility tools such as Screen Reader, Explore by Touch, and Screen Magnifier, the company further added.

As of today the 7 inch Kindle Fire HDX can be pre-purchased although not until October 18, the Wi-Fi version doesn’t shipped while startingNovember 14, the 4G LTE models will ship. The customers can pre-purchase Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 tablet here while the Wi-Fi only model ships November 7 and the 4G LTE model ships on December 10.