1
| |
 |
|
3
Sept 2010 |
|
Google said Sept. 1 Gmail users made more than 10 million calls through its new Call Phones from Gmail feature since it launched a week ago. Launched Aug. 25, Call Phones from Gmail lets users place calls to contacts directly from Gmail. Calls placed from Gmail in the United States and Canada are free and start at 2 cents per minute outside those countries. The tool, which requires Google's voice and video plug-in, lets users click a Call Phone link. This opens a window with a dialer keypad. Users may |
| |
|
|
25
Aug 2010 |
|
Google could be ready to turn Gmail into a communications hub by adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface. CNET has learned that Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their in-boxes. It's launched from the Google Chat window on the lower left-hand side of a Gmail page and allows users to place and receive calls from within their contacts through a user interface that strongly resembles the one used in Google Voice. |
| |
|
|
22
Aug 2010 |
|
Whether Google is liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open WiFi routers across the United States is to be aired out in a Silicon Valley federal court. Eight proposed class-actions from across the country that seek unspecified monetary damages from Google were consolidated this week and transferred to US District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California. Another five cases are likely to join. The lawsuits allege Google violated federal and state privacy laws in collecting fragments of data |
| |
|
|
11
Aug 2010 |
|
While LTE starts rolling out from major U.S. carriers in 2011, the WiMAX Forum is hoping to have the so-called WiMAX 2 standard up and ready to go by the start of 2012. Declan Byrne, the marketing director for the WiMAX Forum industry group, says the WiMAX 2 standard, formally known as 802.16m, will be finalized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) this November, with an eye toward certifying devices based on the standard throughout 2011. From there, he expects ISPs to start |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
Despite signing up its 500 millionth member last month, the average amount of time spent on Facebook by a Briton has decreased from 30 minutes in December 2009, to 27.36 minutes during June and July 2010. The figures, collated by web-analytics firm Hitwise, show that Facebook is still the second most visited site in the UK, after Google, and that it accounts for one in every six web pages accessed in Britain. However, Robin Goad, Hitwises research director, believes that the figures show that Facebook is |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
South Korean police raided Google's offices Tuesday to see whether the company broke local laws by collecting user data in kicking off its Street View service in the country. The Korean National Police Agency confirmed the probe of the search giant in a statement sent to Reuters and other news sources. "[The police] have been investigating Google Korea LLC on suspicion of unauthorized collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from Wi-Fi networks," the agency said in the statement. "We |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, announces that the first malicious program classified as a Trojan-SMS has been detected for smartphones running on Google's Android operating system. Named Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, it has already infected a number of mobile devices. The new malicious program penetrates smartphones running Android in the guise of a harmless media player application. Users are prompted to install a file of just over 13 KB with the standard |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
A reporter at the BBC has created a smartphone application which spies on the owner of the device, in an attempt to prove how straightforward it is to create malicious software for mobiles. Reporter Mark Ward designed a simple noughts and crosses game using a popular smartphone application toolkit. However, the crude game was a cover for a piece of malware, which hid under the hood gathering contacts, copying text messages, logging the phones location and sending it to a specially set up email address. |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
Mobile satellite company Inmarsat has announced more details of a plan to expand its mobile broadband network delivered by satellite. In a statement this week, the company said it had agreed to purchase three 702HP Ka-band satellites from Boeing. The new satellites will be used to create the Inmarsat-5 constellation of satellites, which the company says will provide a worldwide high-speed mobile broadband service called Global Xpress. The new service is expected to be up and running by 2014 and will provide |
| |
|
|
10
Aug 2010 |
|
The German government has advised ministers not to use BlackBerry and iPhone devices due to "a dramatic increase of attacks against" its networks. A general ban on the use of smartphones in certain German ministries is also being considered, Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizire confirmed to the countrys business daily newspaper Handelsblatt yesterday. He said that ministers and senior civil servants had been told to instead use Simko2 gadgets offered by T-Systems, following advice from the German |
| |
|
|
6
Aug 2010 |
|
Employees who fritter time away on Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites are costing British businesses billions, new research suggests. British employment website MyJobGroup.co.uk said it polled 1 000 British workers and found that nearly six percent, or 2 million, of Britain's 34 million-strong workforce spent over an hour per day on social media while at work, amounting to more than one eighth of their entire working day. "Our results clearly show that UK workers are spending increased time |
| |
|
|
6
Aug 2010 |
|
Voice-over-IP provider Vonage is giving Facebook a voice, announcing on 4 August the availability of an application that lets owners of iPhones, iPod Touches and Android-running smartphones place free calls to Facebook "friends." Free to use and download - it's available in the Android Market in 48 countries and in Apple's iTunes store in 87 countries - the Vonage Mobile App for Facebook works over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G networks. To get started, download the application from either store or at vonage.com/talkfree |
| |
|
|
6
Aug 2010 |
|
A Google-backed satellite network operator, O3b, has signed a long-term agreement with Europe Media Port to provide gigabit IP network connectivity and bandwidth services to clients located in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The teleport in Nemea, Greece is the first of multiple teleport sites to be located worldwide that will allow O3b to provide global, low-latency, high-speed network and connectivity services to compete with optical fibre networks. O3b aims to attract mobile backhaul operator |
| |
|
|
5
Aug 2010 |
|
Smartphones running Google's Android software were the top seller among consumers in the United States in the second quarter, industry tracker NPD said on Wednesday. Android accounted for one-third of all smartphones purchased in the April-June period, with Research in Motion's BlackBerry sliding to second place for the first time since 2007. BlackBerry lost nine percentage points of market share, falling to 28 percent. On Tuesday, RIM unveiled a new touchscreen device as the company tries to reinvigorate |
| |
|
|
5
Aug 2010 |
|
Microsoft has released what it says is the final preview of Internet Explorer 9, promising a number of performance improvements and interoperability tweaks. The IE9 preview is the fourth to be released by Microsoft, and is aimed at developers. General users will not see another IE release candidate until the beta is published in September. The company offered some third-party test results to support its performance gain claims, saying that WebKit.org's SunSpider rated IE9 11 times faster than IE8 thanks |
|
