Smartphones

Gaming enthusiasts who gobble up every tidbit of news they can about consoles, gadgets and titles didn't have a lot to digest Thursday when Apple revealed that the new iPhone OS 4 would include Game Center, a social gaming network. The news was just one feature mentioned in the overall update for th...

Three security experts tore into three Web browsers on Wednesday, the first day of the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, exposing flaws on a MacBook, iPhone and Windows PC, and winning cash and hardware in the process. Network security provider TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative organized...

Research In Motion released details about several anticipated new offerings for its BlackBerry device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They include a new WebKit-based browser, a free version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, and an assortment of new apps. RIM executives at the trade...

THIS WEEK IN TECH

Google and the Freedom Business

We're now in week two of Google's high-profile battle with China, and the stakes have risen high enough to catch the attention of no less than the U.S. Secretary of State herself, Hillary Rodham Clinton. She cheered on Google's stance in a speech Thursday, saying, "Censorship should not be in any wa...

Each of the last five decades in technology was defined largely by the decisions of one of the major vendors: the 1970s by AT&T; the 80s by IBM; the 90s by Microsoft; and the 2000s by Apple. Google is the favorite for defining the 2010s, or teen decade -- and that's a good focus for discussion a...

OPINION

Do You Really Want a Smart-Tablet?

This is the question that is floating around this year. What is strange is that people act like the anticipated Apple device is made of fairy gold and powered by gnome breath. It will do everything and anything you want because we all know it is surrounded and protected by Steve Jobs' now-famous rea...

Does it really matter whether Operation Chokehold shuts down AT&T's network today? Even if every iPhone user in the country dials up video highlights of "Pirates of Silicon Valley" exactly at noon Pacific time -- and somehow the bits keep flowing and the phones keep ringing -- it'll be too late:...

THIS WEEK IN TECH

Facebook’s Bossy, Cagey Privacy Maneuvers

In making a move meant to enhance user privacy, Facebook went about things in a kind of intrusive way this week. As you know, the site started out as a college-kids-only social network, and the content you'd find on Facebook at that time reflected the demographic in all its boozy glory. But now Face...

THIS WEEK IN TECH

Droid Lurches to Life

Today is the day of the Droid. The Motorola smartphone touches down today in what's shaping up to be one of the biggest handset launches in recent memory. Of course Verizon is going all-in as far as advertising is concerned, but there's more to the Droid's story than a marketing campaign. First, the...

THIS WEEK IN TECH

Sidekick Snafu: The Data Saved and the Damage Done

T-Mobile's Sidekick users had a pretty rough time this week thanks to a mistake that first looked enormous but eventually was pretty much fixed, though with no small amount of worry and strife in between. An unfortunate series of events caused a major inconvenience for users of the smartphone, and i...

Adobe on Monday released new details about its forthcoming Flash Player 10.1 application, designed for for smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks, PCs and other devices connected to the Internet. A public developer beta of the browser-based runtime is scheduled to be released later this year. It will cov...

The European Union has updated volume standards for portable devices that play music, such as MP3 players and mobile phones. Going forward, new products will be required to maintain their default setting at 80 decibels. The new rules upgrade EU directives CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, which require that wa...

THIS WEEK IN TECH

A Last Call for Snarkers Anonymous?

The old saying used to be, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all." Then the Internet came along, and the saying changed to, "If you can't say anything nice, then invent a fake user name and go to town." The Web has allowed us to get away with saying some pretty awful things...

OPINION

Apple and Google on Brain Vacation

Summer is a time to relax, a time to take a vacation, a time to do things you can't do during the work year. However, I'm not sure any time is a good time to send your brain on vacation, and I'm starting to wonder if the leaders at Google and Apple have done just that. Granted, Steve Jobs has a goo...

Could something as simple as an SMS text message turn your own smartphone against you, allowing a hacker to listen in on your private conversations or direct you to a malicious Web site? It can be done, according to security experts presenting their findings Thursday at the Black Hat security confer...

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