The Essential Mobile App Trends to Watch in 2019

The field of Android and iOS mobile app development is constantly changing. Providing
users with optimal experiences requires staying up-to-date with new trends.

The following will be some of the most noteworthy in 2019. If you’re a developer, or simply someone with an interest in this field, be sure to pay attention to them this year.

Artificial Intelligence’s Role Grows

AI innovations such as machine learning allow apps to provide users with personalized experiences by analyzing their behavior. This is important, as surveys indicate customers want personalized service from businesses. Machine learning solutions let businesses provide it.

Chatbots Take Over

Chatbots can also improve the user experience in various ways. For example, they can help users search for key features within an app. They can also take over basic customer service tasks that human employees otherwise would have handled. Chatbots can even reach out to users directly to alert them to new features or promotions. Thanks to improvements in natural language processing, voice-based chatbots will be just as feasible as text-based chatbots in 2019.

Augmented Reality Becomes Even More Popular

Pokemon Go! was no fluke. Although the media craze may be over, the game still earns nearly a billion dollars in annual revenue.

Users clearly enjoy the dynamic experiences AR provides. Businesses will take notice, leveraging AR to improve everything from marketing campaigns to ecommerce shops.

More Customers Embrace Wearables

Wearable devices aren’t just fitness trackers anymore. Major organizations such as Uber have developed apps for wearable devices to offer users a greater degree of convenience. It’s highly likely other businesses will also explore the potential of this technology in 2019.

The Rise of Accelerated Mobile Pages & Instant Apps

Mobile browsing is now more popular than desktop browsing. Thus, it’s important for mobile sites to perform reliably. Developers will meet this need by creating accelerated mobile pages for businesses and organizations. AMPs are streamlined pages that are designed to load quickly, encouraging users to stay on your site.

Instant apps will serve a similar purpose. Unlike traditional apps, users don’t need to download them to access them. They’re also smaller than typical mobile apps. This will help businesses offer mobile experiences to users who may not be inclined to download another app to their devices.

Increased Focus on Security

Security is always important when developing a mobile app. However, users will prioritize it to an even greater degree in 2019 due to recent data breaches.

The rise of fintech will also contribute to an increased emphasis on security. Since fintech apps use and store sensitive financial information, customers need to be certain they’re safe. Making a point to develop security measures will help clients feel comfortable trusting and interacting with your brand.

Beacons Will Be Everywhere

Beacon tech isn’t new. Macy’s recently used it to attract guests during the busy holiday shopping season. However, beacons will soon be commonplace in many public spots, from airports to shopping malls. Developers will do their part by focusing on creating effective beacon-based apps.

Even More On-Demand Apps

There’s no turning back from the on-demand revolution. Now that consumers know they can request services via convenient mobile apps, they’ll want that type of convenience whenever, and wherever, possible.

Developers who pay attention to these trends in 2019 will be more likely to create products that offer unbeatable user experiences. Again, success in this field involves staying on top of new developments. The ones listed here are poised to have a major impact on the industry this year.

Does the iPhone 5 come with Laser Keyboard, Holographic Display

So does the iPhone 5 come with a laser keyboard and holographic images. Fox 5 New York news apparently got something wrong when their reporter, went down to the Apple store on 5th avenue -- lovingly called 'The Cube'. The iPhone 5 comes out only on Friday and while interviewing people waiting in line, said something that was totally not true. That the iPhone 5 will come with a laser keyboard and holographic images. Promoting many users to called the iPhone 5 laser keyboard, fake. As it is not real real, the same goes with Holographic display which is not real. While doing the interview she says the new phone is sleeker and a laser keyboard and holographic images. While saying this a concept video found on YouTube which is more than a year old is played. The video shows the phone with laser keyboard and holographic display.This however was a concept video and the real iPhone 5 does not come with laser keyboard and holographic display. Check the videos below and spot the blunder for yourself.

The Video from Fox saying the iPhone 5 comes with a laser keyboard and holographic display

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6668cxupH98

 

The fan video of the concept iPhone 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsBwnv_dAg

How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes Legally and their justification

Image Credit: Techreport

There is a really interesting report by the NYTimes about how Apple keeps taxes low on $35b in profit. The basic strategy is that they set up small offices around the world to collect and invest the companies profits. The places they choose to do this are countries or states where corporate tax is not as heavy as in other places. A good example would be an office in Reno, Nevada where the corporate tax rate is zero. California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Whereas Nevada’s? Zero. Places like these are where Apple creates offices to sidestep taxes legally. Similarly Apple has offices in other countries which are tax heavens like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands. All have low tax rates. The finding by the newspaper actually show how Apple has been industrious and have done it all legally.


Apple has responded to this criticism and this is what they have to say. They say that they have created a vast number of jobs over the years and a majority of those jobs have remained in the united states. And that by focusing on innovation they have created entire new industries and products. They also spoke about Apps and how US app creators have benefited vastly from the opportunity provided by Apple. They also admit that they do pay a huge amount of taxes locally and they they have contributed to many charitable causes without going public about it. 


So when the NY Times accused them of avoiding taxes the company responded about job creation and innovation. Apple also said they they have conducted all their business with the highest ethical standards. Please sound us off in the comments section below with what you think. 
NY Times report and Apple's response

An original post by

Sociolatte

Video: iPhone 4 and it's Tech Specifications.

iPhone 4 Technical Specifications

Size and weight
Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)

Cellular and wireless
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology
Location
Assisted GPS
Digital compass
Wi-Fi
Cellular
Power and battery2
Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter

Talk time:
Up to 7 hours on 3G
Up to 14 hours on 2G
Standby time: Up to 300 hours

Internet use:
Up to 6 hours on 3G
Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi

Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours
Mac system requirements
Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later
iTunes 9.2 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
iTunes Store account
Internet access

Windows system requirements
PC with USB 2.0 port
Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
iTunes 9.2 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
iTunes Store account
Internet access

Environmental requirements
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

Capacity
16GB or 32GB flash drive
Color
White or black

Display

Retina display
3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back
Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Audio playback

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
User-configurable maximum volume limit
TV and video
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
Support for 1024 by 768 pixels with Dock Connector to VGA Adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)

Camera, photos, and video

Video recording
HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
5-megapixel still camera
VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera
Tap to focus video or still images
LED flash
Photo and video geotagging
External buttons and controls

Sensors
Three-axis gyro
Accelerometer
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Connectors and input/output

Headphones
Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Impedance: 32 ohms

In the box
iPhone 4
Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic
Dock Connector to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation


[Source Apple]

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to search for Music, Movies and Games on Bing

Bing has just launched a new vertical 'Entertainment'.  Using this new search arm of Bing you can now search for Music, Movies, TV Shows, Games and Video Games. Both PC and Console games. Bing has now got all the entertainment in one place. 


All this would not be possible without partners and Bing has quiet a few of them. TMS, Dailymotion, Zune, MSN Movies, IGN, G4TV. To Name a few, results are also pulled up from iTunes.


This represents a new push for Bing direct into the entertainment arena. The thing is it had to be done through a separate channel.

To access and search bing now please go to bing.com/entertainment. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Yahoo Pulse the latest on the sign-up between Yahoo and Facebook

Yahoo Facebook integration just got deeper. Yahoo pulse will soon be available to all member Yahoo sites across their networks. The integration beings Yahoo and Facebook closer building ties and Yahoo will in more ways that one prevent their existing members from defecting to Facebook.


With Yahoo pulse users will be able to updated their Facebook status from one place and pollinate both the streams at once. This deal also means that users of Flickr, Yahoo Answers and the sites video and music services can pipe out media or data their create to their Facebook friends.


Yahoo profiles will be renamed Yahoo Pulse and users will get enhanced privacy controls.


This deal comes close on the heels of the Yahoo Zynga partnership where popular Zynga games like FarmVille, PetVille and Mafia Wars will be available on Yahoo.

An original post by

Sociolatte

D8 Video: Steve Jobs on Flash 2010

Steve Jobs insists that he isn't out to crush Adobe (ADBE). But at the opening session of the D8 conference, the Apple CEO (AAPL) explained at length why he's done with Adobe's Flash.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google ditches Windows citing security concerns

It started after Google's Chinese operation were hacked and from early January Google has been working to phase out Windows operating systems internally. It has been reported that Google is moving all of it's 20,000 employees worldwide either onto  Apple Mac OS, Linux or it's own Chrome operating system.


Google believes that the vulnerability of Windows was the reason why the Chinese hack was possible in the first place. 


The move however is a nice boost for Linux but is unlikely to cause any worry to Microsoft too much. 9 out of every 10 computers in the world run on the Windows Operating System.


According to the Financial Times if an employee would like to get a Windows machine he would need to get CIO (Chief Information Office) approval first.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Chinese hacking of India's secure data causes alarm

Canadian and U.S researches at the university of Toronto monitoring the hacking of a shadow spy network over the period of eight months have tracked it to servers based in China and specifically individuals based in Chengdu in central China. 

The report titled "Shadow in the Clouds" had launched an attack on Indian computers which transfered their control to Chinese control centers. Sensitive information from the Indian National Security and about 1.500 email from the Dalia Lama have already been stolen.

China of course denied their role and as of now there is no real hard evidence that the espionage was backed by the Chinese government.

"I do not know what evidence these people have or what their motives are," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. "We resolutely oppose all forms of cyber crime, including hacking."

The authors of the report, entitled "Shadows in the Cloud" and involving the Information Warfare Monitor and Shadowserver Foundation groups, said they weren't surprised by China's reaction, but added that the evidence speaks for itself.

The report describes a world in which governments are racing to militarize cyberspace, creating an environment ripe for crime and espionage.

Among the compromised systems subject to a massive data breach is the Shakti, the Indian Army's artillery combat and control system, as well as India's mobile missile defense system known as Iron Dome, according to Indianexpress.com.

The eight-month investigation -- which researchers said is ongoing -- found that the Dalai Lama's office was targeted in the attacks between January and November 2009.

The malware used to compromise victims typically involved an element of social engineering, to convince recipients to open infected files. The attackers used PDF, PPT, and DOC files to exploit old and recent vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2003.

The report concludes by warning that the selling points of cloud computing -- reliability, distribution, and redundancy -- are the very properties that make cloud services attractive to cybercriminals.

"Clouds provide criminals and espionage networks with convenient cover, tiered defenses, redundancy, cheap hosting and conveniently distributed command and control architectures," the report says. "They also provide a stealthy and very powerful mode of infiltrating targets who have become accustomed to clicking on links and opening PDFs and other documents as naturally as opening an office door. What is required now is a much greater refection on what it will take, in terms of personal computing, corporate responsibility and government policy, to acculturate a greater sensibility around cloud security."

An original post by

Sociolatte

Is your website Apple iPad ready?

Apple has made it's stance very clear. They believe Flash is an outdated standard. And have been urging web developers to use HTML5 rather than flash for video playback.


Apple have launched their list of iPad ready websites which include CNN, Reuters and the New York Times. Web site developers are also urged by Apple to get their websites iPad ready. 



CBS and ABC are reportedly preparing television episodes to be viewed on the iPad -- CBS shows through HTML5 in the browser and ABC shows through a native iPad app. Hulu, a video site own by NBC Universal, News Corporation, and Walt Disney Company, is said to be preparing an iPad application.
And Netflix, the video rental service, appears to be preparing an iPad app that will allow subscribers to stream a limited selection of movies on Apple's eagerly anticipated device.
A company spokesperson declined to confirm this report and said, "Let's wait and see what Saturday brings."
YouTube, the most popular online video site, is not among those cited by Apple as iPad-ready, despite the fact that it does offer an HTML5 video player that works in Apple's Safari browser.
It's possible that YouTube wasn't mentioned because it's owned by Google, a company that has aggravated Apple by moving into the mobile phone business. But it could also be that YouTube's HTML5 player remains an experiment and that the bulk of its videos continue to be served in a Flash player.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Gmail users get new Suspicious Activity Alert

Google has officially announced via a blog post that Gmail users will not have suspicious activity alert in the account. So if there is someone trying to hack into your account or maybe even hacked into your account. You will be notified and asked to change your password immediately. 


Now, if it looks like something unusual is going on with your account, we’ll also alert you by posting a warning message saying, "Warning: We believe your account was last accessed from…" along with the geographic region that we can best associate with the access. 


So if someone is trying to remotely trying to access your account or gained entry into your account you will be notified along with the geographic location of the hack.


By clicking on the details link next to the message you will be able to see account activity along with the latest geographical points of access.


Now if it is legal in the sense that you were travelling or maybe or your husband/wife is also travelling you can click on dismiss to stop the alert.


So the next time you are traveling and see the alert there is no need to panic as Google says they are doing this to ensure users get the best possible privacy details.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Van Natta Resigns as MySpace CEO.

Owen Van Natta is stepping down as CEO of struggling Internet social networking site MySpace, effective immediately.

MySpace's parent, News Corp. made the announcement late Wednesday. The former Facebook executive will be replaced by co-presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn.

All three men joined MySpace last April.

Jon Miller, the chairman of digital media for News Corp., said he and Van Natta agreed to his resignation after discussing his personal and professional priorities.

A major shake up at MySpace, where Owen Van Natta is out after less than a year. Stepping up to run the social network are the other two members of the troika brought in by Jon Miller, chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), last year to run the company: Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who are now co-presidents reporting directly to Miller. (Miller’s memo below, as is the release.) More to come.

Miller’s Memo
——————————————————————————
Everyone,

Today we announced that Owen Van Natta is stepping down as MySpace’s CEO.  Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who have each done a great job from both an operational and product perspective, are being elevated to co-Presidents and will assume Owen’s responsibilities.  While this may be a surprising turn of events for some of you, I am absolutely confident that this change is best for all parties involved and – most importantly – the MySpace business.  Owen took on an incredible challenge in assuming leadership of MySpace during a difficult period.  He has worked to refocus and revitalize the company, and I believe MySpace is pointed in the right direction and gaining valuable momentum – we added over 1.5 million users and grew significantly in time spent last month – as a result of many of his efforts.  However, in discussing with Owen his priorities for the future both personally and professionally, we both agreed that it was best that he step down at this time.  I am grateful to Owen for his hard work, and I ask that you join me in wishing him well in the future.  His departure is effective immediately, as are the appointments of both Mike and Jason.

I will leave it to Mike and Jason to communicate to all of you their excitement about the future and their priorities for the business going forward, but I would like to express my confidence in their ability to lead MySpace into this new and promising chapter.  Since joining in April, their efforts on both the operational and product development fronts have been vital to our recent progress.

Thank you all for your continued hard work, and please join me in congratulating Mike and Jason on their new roles, and in wishing Owen all the best in the future.

Best,

Jon  

Office of Jonathan Miller
Chairman & CEO, News Corp. Digital Media Group
Chief Digital Officer, News Corporation

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google to bring social networking to Gmail, will challenge Facebook and Twitter

Google will hold a press conference in their Mountain View Calif, headquarters today to show of the new features they have incorporated into Gmail. That's right folks Google would like to add social sharing utilities to Gmail. As on Facebook who encourages members to share pics. videos and social updates via their site. Gmail will now allow you to do the same.

Once a user adds their profile information on Gmail, they can there share their pictures and videos right from Gmail and they will also be allowed to add status updates. The Idea is that you can share information with your contacts right from your mail account. Since all you friends are already on your contact list.

You can share your videos fro YouTube and pics from Picasa.

Just a week after Facebook announced their new design Google has announced the adding of social utilities to Gmail. Gmail will now bring the competition to Facebook and Twitter.

So are you ready to join the email social networking revolution?
Let us know in the comments below.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google hack 'Aurora' Now leaked on the internet. How To protect yourself.

The code that was used to hack Gmail accounts in China is now publicly available on the internet. And till a patch can be developed internet users across the world need to be vigilant. The hack targetted users of IE6 and till Microsoft can develop a patch users need to be aware of this threat.


The guys who posted it on the net did it for good reasons so that people involved in security can download it to test their security vulnerabilities. This code however can be downloaded by anyone from the net and there comes the problem. 


So what do you need to do to protect yourself.


This program runs like this. You know those e-mails you get that looks like a forward. You see it and it looks suspicious. Well that is the one do not open it. Because that is how this program works you get a mail with a catchy heading and a link for you to open. Once you open that link this malicious program can begin to work. So if you get an e-mail with a link that sounds to good to be true. it probably is. You need to be cautious when opening e-mail attachments. 


Found on Foxnews

Gregg calls it spearphishing: "They target the user with an e-mail  that would appeal to them, one that leads to a site that launches malicious code onto your system." And the IE 6 exploit makes it particularly easy to slip that code on your computer.

Staying on top of current security patches, using firewalls, updating Web browsers and running intrusion detection software is the first part of staying safe. But since most attacks rely upon spearphishing or some similar end-user exploit, Gregg suggests a training program that would warn users that if an e-mail link looks too good to be true, it probably is -- don't click on it.

On Thursday, the code that was used to hack Gmail accounts in China and led Google to threaten to close shop there was posted to malware-analysis Web site Wepawet. By Friday, security site Metasploit had posted a demonstration of just how easily the exploit can be used to gain complete control over a computer.

Metasploit is intended to let security professionals test out security threats. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Facebook's Building a new $180 Million Custom Data Center.

Facebook announced via Jonathan Heiliger that Facebook is building a new custom built data center, at the cost price of $180 million.

"When Facebook first began with a small group of people using it and no photos or videos to display, the entire service could run on a single server. However, as the site expanded to different colleges around the U.S., we needed to add more servers and data center capacity to keep up with the increasing number of people who were joining every day.

Initially, as most Internet startups do, we leased data center space alongside other companies in the same building. As our user base continued to grow and we developed Facebook into a much richer service, we reached the point where it was more efficient to lease entire buildings on our own. We are now ready to build our own."

Jonathan also spoke about energy efficient technologies that would be used

"Energy-Efficient Technologies
Along with making sure Facebook operates quickly for you, we wanted to minimize the environmental impact of our new facility and its energy costs. To best achieve those goals, we will use several energy-efficiency technologies, including:

• Evaporative cooling system: This system evaporates water to cool the incoming air, as opposed to traditional chiller systems that require more energy intensive equipment. This process is highly energy efficient and minimizes water consumption by using outside air.
• Airside economizer: The facility will be cooled by simply bringing in colder air from the outside. This feature will operate for between 60 percent and 70 percent of the year. The remainder of the year requires the use of the evaporative cooling system to meet temperature and humidity requirements.
• Re-use of server heat: A portion of the excess heat created by the computer servers will be captured and used to heat office space in the facility during the colder months.
• Proprietary Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) technology: All data centers must have an uninterruptible power supply to continuously provide power to servers. The Prineville data center will use a new, patent-pending UPS system that reduces electricity usage by as much as 12 percent."

Facebook is definitely taking a tighter control of all their users data and would like to handel everything in-house. The New Data Center will also allow them to better protect their servers and therefore better protect their users. Facebook was a small websites without any videos and photos, users by a few people. Now it has more than 350 million users woprld wide and shows no signs or letting up in it's growth. People are shoring photos, videos, openions, playing games and helping each other. This means that the are tons of data on FB servers. All of this data is what is converting the website into gold and this needs to be protected.

Facebook looks like it is taking everything seriously. They are also cutting out Ads from Microsoft as they would like to handel their Ads by themselves. As you will know FB ads are very different and creative. Soemthing not to be seen on other sites.

Facebook has a lot of creativity and technology to come up with and implement. All for the good of it's users. They have been active all the time better trying to understand their users and implem,ent such things as are relevent.

Here's a link the their new Data Center Page


Prineville Data Center - architectural rendering

An original post by

Sociolatte

There is urgency in Microsoft to issue an IE patch to fix Flaw

With all the recent news of Google threatening to pull out of China due to security attacks and censorship. Microsoft has responded. The cyber attacks happened due to a flow in IE which allows attackers a vulnerable are or a hole by which to gain entry into people's personal mail accounts. Microsoft has asked people to shift to IE 8. 

George Stathakopoulos, general manager of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), stated "We continue to see limited and targeted attacks against Internet Explorer 6 and encourage customers to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. We also recommend customers consider deploying the workarounds and mitigations provided in Security Advisory 979352 until the security update is ready for broad distribution."


Signaling high urgency, Microsoft will not wait until it's next Patch Tuesday -- Feb. 9 -- the next scheduled date for issuing security updates.


This is all part of the fast-developing security ramifications of Google threatening to pull out of China. Last Tuesday, Google said it may well  leave China because of cyberattacks and censorship. On Thursday, McAfee disclosed that Google and some 30 other companies were targeted by a spear phishing campaign, dubbed Operation Aurora. The attackers tricked specific employees to click on a bad link, accessing a heretofore unknown security hole in IE6, an older version of Microsoft's popular Web browser,  to take over control of the PC.



Update: Olso, Norway-based Opera is reporting that downloads of its rival Web browser have doubled in Germany and risen 35 percent in Australia. That comes after the governments of France, Germany and Australia issued warnings to stop using Internet Explorer in view of the revelations following Google's threat to leave China.


Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to deliver a speech Thursday morning in Washington D.C. about "Internet freedom," at which she's expected to discuss the Google-China brouhaha.



Microsoft are putting all their mussel to issue the patch as early as possible. The German government had also asked their citizens to use other web browsers instead of Internet Explorer as it had vulnerabilities. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Apple officially announces it's Jan. 27 event. 'Come see our latest creation'

With all the rumors flying around it is finally good that Apple has announced a Jan 27 date to announce their new device. 'Come see our latest creation' the invite said.


The invitation-only event that will be held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater read “Come see our latest creation."

Fox News had this to say

Reports suggest that this device has been years in the making (just take a look at this enthusiast-generated gallery of Apple table concepts, originally posted to Gizmodo two years ago), and I'm as excited to see it as you are.  

I spoke to a source at Apple this morning, before the invite hit my inbox, who said the event would likely focus on three projects: The tablet device, iPhone 4, and a new round of iLife 2010 software. While we won't see new iPhone hardware just yet, we will see the next-generation software.

Apple is known to pull a last-minute rabbit out of a hat, however ... and just as likely to stuff it back in again. Last September, the company surprised fans by suddenly removing the camera from latest generation iPod Touch just before the Fall iPod event. As a result, the big stories from the September keynote were Steve Jobs back on stage after liver surgery and a Nano with a camera -- not a powerful new Touch.

Today's Apple invitation is vague as usual, but people love to look for clues in the message. The invite features spray-painted blobs amid vibrant color swatches, which could point to a device that captures "creative" activities. A tablet, perhaps? You bet your bottom dollar. Of course, it could also be a new Apple spray paint can that holds MP3s and unicorn tears. My money remains on the tablet, however.

Found on cnet

With the invite teasing people to "Come see our latest creation," no one knows for sure exactly what Apple has up its sleeve. But the rumor mill has been busy speculating on some type of tablet device that would let people surf the Net, watch movies, read e-books, and probably perform other tricks conjured up by the mind of Steve Jobs.

Sources have reportedly told The Wall Street Journal that the device would be a 10- or 11-inch touch-screen tablet offering wireless access and sporting a price tag of $1,000. The rumored device of the day, however, is a reported 22-inch tablet PC.

On Wired

In the past month, multiple independent reports have claimed Apple in late January will launch its highly anticipated tablet, which the company has reportedly been developing for several years. Many rumor reports have described Apple’s tablet as a 10-inch version of the iPhone with a strong focus on reading capability.

Whatever be the latest creation we hope Apple pulls a rabbit out of the bag and amazes all of us. Will fill you in with all the details on Jan. 27

An original post by

Sociolatte

Apple's complaint against Nokia in the ongoing Apple Nokia War

Nokia had files a complaint against Apple claiming it infringed on it's copyrights. Apple not to be outdone hit back at them saying that Nokia also infringed on Apple's copyrights. Thus ensuring a way between the cell phone giants. 


Found on cnet


Apple made its request in a complaint filed with the International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency that examines issues including unfair trade practices involving patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.

In December, Nokia filed its own complaint with the USITC in Washington. In it, the Finnish company alleged that Apple infringes seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers" and sought to ban imports of Apple's iPhone, iPod, and MacBook products.

Responding to Apple's latest move, Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant told Bloomberg that "Nokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously. However this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia's innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007."

Apple filed the new ITC complaint on Friday.

"Nokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously," said a company spokesman.

"However, this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia's innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007," he said.

In late December Nokia also filed a claim with the ITC, alleging Apple infringed seven of its patents in "virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers" sold.

"The fact that two such prominent companies have now filed complaints will likely mean the ITC will seek to deal with this as a matter of urgency," said Ben Wood, head of research at British consultancy CCS Insight.

"That said, a lengthy legal battle is almost inevitable irrespective of a decision from the trade commission," he said.

The ITC can ban selling products in the United States -- a market crucial for Apple, but Nokia makes only a fraction of its sales there.

Analysts say it could take years to solve the legal battle.

NOKIA OCTOBER ATTACK

Nokia filed a suit in the United States in October, saying Apple iPhone had infringed 10 patents in technologies including wireless data transfer, a key factor in the success of iPhone. The suit accused Apple of trying to hitch a "free ride" on Nokia's technology investment. [ID:nLM664007]

APPLE COUNTERATTACK

Apple filed a countersuit on Dec. 11 claiming that Nokia is infringing 13 Apple patents. [ID:nN11260646]

"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," Bruce Sewell, Apple's General Counsel, said in a statement.

Nokia has until Feb. 8 to reply to the countersuit.

NOKIA GOES TO ITC

On Dec. 29 Nokia said it had filed a complaint with the ITC alleging that Apple infringes seven Nokia patents in "virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers" sold. [ID:nLDE5BS173]

At the same time Nokia also filed a case at a Delaware court seeking damages for infringement of these patents. [ID:nLDE6040E9]

APPLE GOES TO ITC

Apple filed on Jan. 15 a complaint against Nokia with the ITC. Nokia said it would defend itself vigorously.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Microsoft to Stay in China, will also look into the fixing any vulnerabilities in IE

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said that they will stay in China. To see Steve Ballmer talk about it please click the video link here.


However, his hopes for China to produce growing revenue for the company seem to hinge on a thorny issue: a reduction of piracy and intellectual-property theft.
"China ought to be a source of growth," Ballmer said. "Intellectual-property protection in China is very, very bad. Abysmal. ... We're buying a lot of goods from China but the things that U.S. companies can sell -- pharmaceutical products, media, software -- it's all intellectual property and design, and that stuff's not getting paid for in China. It's got to change."



http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" >

CEO Steve Ballmer told CNBC that his company will look into a report that a flaw in Microsoft's Internet software allowed China to launch a cyber attack on Google's operations in that country.

Ballmer was responding to a report by the Internet security company McAfee that Microsoft's Internet Explorer allowed China to allegedly hack into Google email in an attempt to spy on Chinese dissidents. The alleged attack prompted Google to threaten to pull out of the country entirely. "The cyber attacks and occasional vulnerabilities are a way of life and if the issue is with us, of course we will work through it with all the important parties," Ballmer said in a live interview. "We need to take a all cyber attacks, not just this one seriously and we have a whole team of people that responds very real-time to any report that may have something to do with our software, which we don't yet."

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google Doc's get storage for any file in the Cloud.

Google Docs announced it's new cloud storage facility for all your files. Instead of emailing you large files to yourself which could be cumbersome. You can now upload your Google Docs to your own cloud space. This is particularly good in storing your information and accessing it from anywhere. You would not be worried if something happens suddenly to your laptop etc. You files can be easily accessible with an internet connection.


It’s already a crowded field, with all of the usual suspects: Microsoft’s cloud-based platform, Azure, is already available in a fully a la carte pricing scheme geared toward their core enterprise customers, and it offers a25-GB online Skydrive for home users through its Microsoft Live services. Apple’s Mobile Me (once known as iDisk) has a 20-GB floor for $100 a year and a family plan in keeping with their mainly consumer focus.




Found on the Google Doc's Blog


Instead of emailing files to yourself, which is particularly difficult with large files, you can upload to Google Docs any file up to 250 MB. You'll have 1 GB of free storage for files you don't convert into one of the Google Docs formats (i.e. Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), and if you need more space, you can buy additional storage for $0.25 per GB per year. This makes it easy to backup more of your key files online, from large graphics and raw photos to unedited home videos taken on your smartphone. You might even be able to replace the USB drive you reserved for those files that are too big to send over email.


This maybe the start of Google's hard disk in the sky. especially good for Netbooks that do not have large internal data memory and rely on external drives. So don't worry about forgetting and leaving a file on your work computer. 


If you are new to Google Doc's and would like online video help, follow Google Doc's YouTube Community Channel  here. 

An original post by

Sociolatte