The Surface - Microsoft's Tablet

The company unveiled tablets running Windows 8 and Windows RT at a press conference in L.A. 

Microsoft took a bold step into the tablet market on Monday with the unveiling of a computer aimed squarely at bettering Apple's market-leading iPad.

The computer, called Surface, will be available in two versions. One will run the Windows 8 Pro operating system and the other will be based on Windows RT, a new version of Windows designed to run on the ARM family of processors that are predominant in the tablet market.

"It's something new, something different, a whole new family of computing devices from Microsoft," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, at a Los Angeles news conference.

The machine has a 10.6-inch, widescreen, high-definition display and comes with a 3-millimeter-thick, pressure-sensitive cover that doubles as a keyboard.

Current specifications call for the Windows RT version to be slightly thinner but slightly heavier than Apple's latest iPad, although Microsoft notes the size and weight of the device could change once mass production begins.

The Windows 8 Pro version will be thicker and heavier and appears designed to compete with ultra-thin notebook computers. It should be able to run all the same software as those computers.

Microsoft revealed a few basic specifications for the tablets. The RT version will come with 32 or 64 gigabytes of storage, while the Windows 8 Pro version will have 64 or 128GBs.

Microsoft didn't provide exact prices or launch dates for the tablets but said the RT version would be priced comparable with competing ARM-based tablets and be available around the time of the launch of Windows 8. The Windows 8 Pro will follow about three months later and cost around the same as ultrabook notebook computers.

By producing its own hardware, Microsoft will be navigating a tricky course as the computers will be in direct competition with companies such as Asus, Lenovo and Samsung, with whom it maintains strong partnerships for development of tablets and laptops.

"With Surface, Microsoft has just made it even harder for every ODM [original design manufacturer) out there to compete in the tablet market -- aside from Apple, that is," said Carolina Milanesi, research VP at Gartner.

The device was unveiled at a Los Angeles news conference that saw Microsoft apparently copying a page from Apple's product launch playbook. Gambling that its status and the promise of "major" news would be enough, Microsoft managed to attract around 300 reporters to the event despite providing no advance details of the nature of the news and not even disclosing the location of the announcement until Monday morning.

The tactics worked as business and tech media spent the weekend and much of Monday engaged in speculation on what Microsoft would be announcing and the term "MSMajorAnnouncement" entered Twitter's global list of trending topics an hour before the announcement.

Microsoft has had mixed success marketing its own hardware. While devices like the Zune music player and Kin smartphone received similar high-profile launches and were ultimately discontinued, the company has had considerable success with the Xbox gaming platform.

The global tablet market, which includes devices such as the iPad, Amazon Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook, is expected to roughly double this year to 119 million units, according to an estimate from Gartner. Next year will see a further 63 million units shipped to take the worldwide market to $182 million, Gartner said.

Announcement of the device comes 12 years after Microsoft first started pushing the concept of tablet computing. Then-chairman Bill Gates showed off a prototype tablet PC at the Comdex 2000 trade show but it wasn't until Apple launched the iPad in 2010 that the market began to take off.

Amazing Alex as Angry Birds follow-up

Rovio announces Amazing Alex as Angry Birds follow-up

Rovio could probably keep launching Angry Birds updates forever and live handsomely off the proceeds.
However, determined not to rely on the golden goose (pig) to keep laying (stealing) the eggs, the company has announced a successor.

The new title is called Amazing Alex, will launch in two-months time and will be based upon the Casey's Contraption game, recently acquired by the Finnish developer.
Casey's Contraption, which you can see in the video below, is another physics-based game for iOS. Think Cut the Rope, but designed by Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone movies.
According to Rovio CEO Mikael Hed, Alex is a 'curious young boy who likes to build things,' but little more is known.
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Hed told the Yle website that Rovio definitely feels the weight of expectation after Angry Birds' unprecedented success. "The quality pressure is high. We want to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy," he added. Angry Birds recently racked-up it's one billionth download.

Tips for a Malware-Free Smartphone

Following are five quick tips to help you keep your Android handset free of malware.

1. Always research the publisher of the app. What other apps does it offer? Do any of them look a bit shady? If so, you should probably stay away.
2. Read online reviews. Android Market reviews may not always be truthful. Check around to see what reputable Websites are saying about the app before you hit the download button.
3. Always check app permissions. Whenever you download or update an app, you get a list of permissions for it. An alarm clock app, for instance, probably shouldn't need to look through your contacts. The general rule of thumb: If an app is asking for more than what it needs to do its job, you should skip it.
4. Avoid directly installing Android Package files (APKs). When Angry Birds first came to Android, you could get it only through a third party. This is called "sideloading," or installing apps using an .APK file. Although Angry Birds wasn't malware, in general it is highly advisable not to download and install .APK files that you randomly come across. Most of the time you won't know what the file contains until you install it--and by then it's too late.
5. Put a malware and antivirus scanner on your phone. Although many people still think that antivirus scanners on phones are useless, maybe outbreaks such as this one will change minds. Several different big-name security companies already offer mobile-security options, many of them free. I myself had downloaded "Spider Man," which is on a bad-apps list. My Lookout software identified it as a Trojan horse.

Android "drive-by" malware

Researchers have noticed one of the first examples of Android "drive-by" malware from an ordinary website, a dangerous type of automatic attack more commonly used to infect Windows PCs. 

Discovered by security company Lookout Mobile Security on a number of webistes, the decidedly odd "NotCompatible" Trojan is distributed using a web page containing a hidden iFrame.

Any Android browser visiting an affected page (the attack ignores PC browsers) will automatically start downloading the malware without the user being aware that this has happened. This isn't quite a PC drive-by attack because the user still needs to install the app, at which point it relies on the user having ticked the "Unknown Sources" box (in most cases this box would be unticked) that allows non-market apps to be installed.

The rough equivalent of this layer on a Vista or Windows 7 PC would be the User Access Control (UAC) which is usually circumvented using social engineering or by misrepresenting the nature of the application.

NotCompatible eschews such tricks beyond simply claiming to be a security update. It's not sophisticated but it might fool some users, some of the time.

Malware's Mission Unclear

The purpose of the infection is a bit of a mystery. "This specific sample, while relatively well constructed, does not appear to go to great lengths to hide its intended purpose: it can be used to access private networks," said Lookout's blog. "This feature in itself could be significant for system IT administrators: a device infected with NotCompatible could potentially be used to gain access to normally protected information or systems, such as those maintained by enterprise or government." 

The affected sites appeared to have low volumes of traffic but the company believed the exploit iFrame was being served on other sites it had yet to identify, it said. The warning is stark; mobile malware creators are experimenting with what is possible for this class of malware and have found a way to get mobile malware on to devices without them having to visit third-party app sites as has been the case up to now.

Microsoft Bing goes social in search war with Google

  Teaming up with Facebook and Twitter, Microsoft moves to intensify Bing-vs.-Google search battle

Microsoft's move to boost Bing's social networking feaures could finally give it an opportunity to truly take on Google's dominant search engine, analysts say. The updated Bing search engine, unveiled on Thursday, can now include the user comments, likes and activities posted in popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, agreed with Microsoft's contention that the redesign is "the most significant since Microsoft launched Bing three years ago." "The Bing redesign really is a search revolution and the biggest change I have seen from them in years," Moorhead said.

"Bing could revolutionize social search by tapping into Facebook's and Twitter's capabilities. Unlike Google, Bing and Microsoft aren't vying to create their own social media destination, so they can access the best-of-breed social media sites like Facebook and Twitter," Moorhead added.

Bing's new interface, which is expected to move from a private to a public beta test period soon, offers users a sidebar that focuses on people in the user's social networks and their opinions and search queries, Microsoft said.

For instance, a user might search for a local bike shop. Along with the usual search results, there will be a "people you know who may know" social sidebar that offers up bike shops that friends have "liked" or commented on. The social sidebar also is designed to let users ask their friends questions about their query topic, and those friends can respond either through Bing or Facebook, Microsoft said.

"Contrary to their history of unnecessarily overcomplicating software, Microsoft has shown a knack with Bing for boiling down functionality to a useful level," said Brad Shimmin, an analyst at CurrentAnalysis. "I think if anything, it will entice consumers to try Microsoft Bing." Since Microsoft first launched Bing in the summer of 2009, the company faced a daunting task in taking on Google's dominant search engine.

And Google has remained dominant. Despite all of Microsoft's efforts, including an upgrade in 2011, Bing simply hasn't been able to take a significant bite out of Google's market share.

Now, Microsoft is hoping that its social search capabilities can become the game-changer the company needs in the battle against Google. Because it has its own growing social network, Google+, Google is at a disadvantage when trying to work with widely used offerings like Facebook and Twitter, analysts noted.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has strong relationships with both companies. "Google needs to play more openly with Facebook as well as other social networking destinations, like Pinterest, Quora, Twitter and FourSquare," said Shimmin. "Google cannot afford to close its borders in defense of in-house solutions."

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research, said Microsoft advancing the social context of its search engine is a good move for the company right now.

"Bing needed to redesign itself. It was the Dr. Pepper of the search market, and if it was ever going to make a move, it needed to do something different," he added. "I think the social search wars will be a great battlefront over the next few years. Bing has made their play, and now it's back to Google to respond."