Ace Infosys

Acer Offers $449 Iconia Tab A500 Tablet at Best Buy

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:10:39 +0000

After losing its CEO, Acer is hoping it will find success with its latest mobile device. Acer made its first tablet equipped with Android 3.0 Honeycomb available for pre-order at Best Buy amid rumors that Apple was unhappy with Best Buy for holding back iPad 2s. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is a 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet. The only other tablet on the market running Honeycomb is the Motorola Xoom, which isn't putting a dent in Apple iPad sales. "The biggest problem with Honeycomb right now is the lack of tablet-specific apps," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "So having additional options on the market will hopefully increase the install base, and that should entice developers to either rewrite their apps for the large form factor or create entirely new apps specifically for the platform." Is it Magical? Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer America, didn't mention apps. Instead, he did his best to paint a picture to help the Iconia stack up against what Apple CEO Steve Jobs calls the "magical" device that is the iPad. Agnihotry used many more words, including performance-minded, sleek, stylish, intuitive and fluid. Spec-wise, the Iconia is up to par with what's on the market. The tablet offers a Nvidia Tegra 250 one-gigahertz dual-core processor and an integrated GeForce GPU that lets users do HD gaming, 1080p video, faster browsing, and run multiple applications and digital media playback at the same time. The Iconia weighs 1.69 pounds and measures 0.52 inches thick. It offers forward- and rear-facing cameras to capture videos and photos, and for video conferencing. It offers Wi-Fi connections and is exclusively available through Best Buy. The price, however, could be the most compelling feature at $449. Where's the Apps? But what good is a $449 tablet with a handful of apps? As Greengart sees...

iPad 2s Are Being Held Back at Best Buy for a Promotion

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:06:54 +0000

Best Buy is acknowledging reports that its employees are holding back inventories of Apple's fast-selling iPad 2. But the electronics retail chain said it was doing so for an upcoming promotion, and insists its relationship with Apple is fine.

A series of published reports citing Best Buy employees said Apple was upset that customers were being turned away from the stores that are famous for their oversized yellow price-tag signs.

The Richfield, Minn.-based chain has about 1,150 stores and has managed to weather the recession, unlike competitors like Circuit City, which closed its stores, in 2009 but still sells online.

CrunchGear said employees at some Best Buys were keeping sales quotas and telling customers the iPad 2, which went on sale last month, was sold out when those quotas were reached. As a result, the report said, Apple is holding off on shipping more of the devices to Best Buy.

Best Buy didn't respond to our requests for comment by phone and e-mail as of publication on Friday, and Apple didn't respond to e-mails seeking comment.

'Great Partnership'

But BoyGenius Report on Friday published a statement from the retail chain saying, "Best Buy continues to receive iPad 2 inventory from Apple on a regular basis. As we've said previously, we are fulfilling customer reservations first. Our stores have been asked to temporarily hold non-reserved iPad 2 inventory for an upcoming promotion ... Best Buy enjoys a great partnership with Apple and we're delighted by customer response to iPad 2."

The blog said it independently confirmed that employees at two outlets were told to sell no iPads other than pre-orders, and it published what it said was an internal communication about the hold saying, "Can't tell customers we're holding them, either."

Last month it was reported that Apple told employees at its own retail stores to hold arriving inventory...

Google’s ITA Flight Data Purchase OK’d — with Conditions

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:50:07 +0000

Google's $700 million acquisition of flight-data company ITA Software was approved by the Department of Justice on Friday. But the approval to buy the Cambridge, Mass.-based company comes with conditions.

Under an agreement with Justice, Google agreed to continue licensing ITA software to airline-ticket search and booking sites "on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." It also agreed to fund R&D at the same levels ITA has in recent years.

Travel Sites Opposed

In addition, Google agreed to develop and sell the next generation of ITA software to travel web sites, with internal firewalls in place to safeguard competitors' confidential information. ITA software currently provides the airline ticket and booking information for various travel sites, including the popular Kayak.com and Hotwire.com.

Some companies that provide travel information and booking, such as Hotwire, Expedia and Sabre Holdings, had asked Justice to prohibit the acquisition because of monopoly concerns.

One concern was that Google could make the software more expensive or less available to travel sites -- or deny access completely. A related concern was that Google could provide better information and deals to travelers through its highly popular search engine.

The approval follows an eight-month investigation, and must still be submitted to judicial review. Once finalized, the settlement would be in place for five years, after which Google is free to use ITA as it sees fit. However, the government will still be able to monitor Google's travel search operations. Google must also set up a formal reporting process for any complaints that it is acting improperly.

Type in 'Flights'

The search giant has big plans for travel services. On The Official Google Blog, Senior Vice President Jeff Huber posted Friday: "How cool would it be if you could type 'flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May?' into Google and get not just a set of links...

Time Warner, Viacom Take iPad App Feud To Court

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:19:08 +0000

Time Warner Cable Inc. and Viacom Inc. took their dispute over what content can be put on the cable company's iPad app to federal court on Thursday, asking a judge to decide the issue.

The companies filed lawsuits against each other after Time Warner agreed to drop a dozen cable channels from the popular tablet computer sold by Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc.

News Corp.'s Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery Communications Inc. had asked Time Warner to pull their programming from its iPad app, which was launched last month. They said putting the programs on it was violating their programming contracts.

The media companies say Time Warner should pay more money to distribute on devices other than television sets. Time Warner says existing contracts already provide it with the rights.

Viacom said in its lawsuit that it cannot let Time Warner "unilaterally change the terms of its contractual relationship." It acknowledged that the cable company had taken the cable channels off the tablet computer by April, but it said a court order would be necessary to keep the company from putting the channels back on. It also asked for $2 million for each violation of the contract between the companies, along with unspecified additional damages.

Time Warner said in a release that the court should rule that it is permitted to provide the programming over its cable systems for viewing on devices of its customers' choosing, including iPads.

"We have steadfastly maintained that we have the rights to allow our customers to view this programming in their homes, over our cable systems, without artificial limits on the screens they can use to do so, and we are asking the court to confirm our view," Times Warner Cable executive vice president and general counsel Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum said in a statement.

Facebook Will Share Energy Tips from New Data Center

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:31:06 +0000

Facebook is promoting energy efficiency in data centers. The social-networking giant announced Friday that it has launched the Open Compute Project, which will share the custom-engineered, energy-saving technology at its new data center.

The company said the data center in Prineville, Ore., features a 38 percent increase in energy efficiency and cost 24 percent less to build. As befits the leading social-networking site, Facebook said the Open Compute Project will share designs and "collaborate with anyone interested in highly efficient server and data-center designs."

'Most Efficient Computing Infrastructure'

Jonathan Heiliger, Facebook's vice president of technical operations, said the company and its development partners "have invested tens of millions of dollars over the past two years to build upon industry specifications to create the most efficient computing infrastructure possible." Its partners are Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel.

He added that the Open Compute project will include a user-led forum to share the designs and collaborate with others on energy efficiency. Heiliger said "it's time to demystify the biggest capital expense of an online business -- the infrastructure."

Dell's Data Center Solutions business will design and build servers based on the Open Compute Project specs, and Synnex will provide integrated solutions using the servers.

Facebook said that, "inspired by the success of open-source software," it's publishing technical specifications and mechanical CAD files for the Prineville data center's servers, power supplies, server racks, battery backup systems, and building design. The designs are being released as open hardware.

'When You're a Hammer ...'

The design and technology will, according to the company, enable an initial power-usage effectiveness or PUE ratio of 1.07, compared to its current facility's 1.5. This is within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "best practices" category. PUE indicates data-center energy efficiency.

The company said that, if only a quarter of all data centers in the U.S. used the...

Record Patch Tuesday Addresses 64 Vulnerabilities

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:15:55 +0000

It's no belated April Fool's joke. Microsoft is planning a record Patch Tuesday next week that may give IT admins a migraine. The software giant will patch 64 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Visual Studio, .NET Framework, and GDI+.

At 17 bulletins, the package equals last December's record for the number of security bulletins. April's Patch Tuesday outpaces last October's record by 15. Nine are rated critical, the highest rating on Microsoft's scale. Eight are rated important.

Clean Up

"This month we'll be closing some issues that Microsoft has already previously spoken to, including the SMB browser issue publicly disclosed Feb. 15," said Pete Voss, a senior response communications manager at Microsoft.

"Microsoft assessed the situation and reported that although the vulnerability could theoretically allow remote code execution, that was extremely unlikely," he added. "To this day, we have seen no evidence of attacks."

According to Voss, Microsoft is also planning a fix for the MHTML vulnerability in Windows, which is rated important. Microsoft alerted users to this issue with Security Advisory 2501696 -- including a Fix-It that fully protected customers once downloaded -- in late January. In March, Microsoft updated the advisory to let users know the company was aware of limited, targeted attacks.

Microsoft will release the security bulletins at about 1 p.m. EDT on April 12.

Ugly from Every Angle

"No matter how you look at it, it's ugly. There are 17 bulletins this month and over half of them, nine, are critical. All but two provide for remote code execution. We're well into a new year and things have not improved," said Paul Henry, forensic and security analyst at Lumension.

In fact, Henry said, things have gotten worse. As a case in point, Henry noted the recent revelation by RSA that the exploit of its tokens began with an Adobe Flash...

Toyota, Microsoft Hook Up on Electric Car Energy Use

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:34:16 +0000

Microsoft and Toyota announced on Wednesday a joint venture to create a system for energy management of plug-in cars for now, and perhaps to oversee energy use in the home in the future.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held a joint webcast to announce creation of Toyota Media Service, a Toyota subsidiary that will provide the data service to drivers. The two companies will invest about $12 million in the venture.

The first application of the system -- which will be based on the Windows Azure cloud-computing platform -- will be to manage energy use for the plug-in version of the Prius due in the first half next year. That Prius, with a full charge from the power grid, will be able to go about 13 miles on electric power only.

Eventually, Toyoda said, the system could link you with your car, your home appliances and climate control, and your utility company's "smart grid" to minimize energy use, to schedule use for times when rates are lowest, and to have your car ready when you are with its temperature preset and your most efficient route already dialed up in the navigation system. The link could dial down the energy use of your home while you're away and ramp up the heating or air conditioning as you approach, so the house is just right.

"Our cars will play a big role in the global expansion of what we call 'smart centers'... on-board systems capable of better managing overall energy consumption of cars ... driving trips ... and homes," said Toyoda. "For example, this new system will include advanced car telematics like virtual operators with voice recognition ... management of vehicle charging to reduce stress on energy supply ...and remote control of appliances, heating and lighting at home."

For Toyota, which is trying...

Security Firm Learns About Data Breaches the Hard Way

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:34:01 +0000

Top-level data breaches often start at the bottom of the ladder. That's a lesson RSA, one of the world's premier computer security firms, learned the hard way.

The company is best known for its small security "tokens" that generate secondary passwords for accessing sensitive networks. Three weeks ago, the company disclosed that hackers had infiltrated RSA's own network in an "extremely sophisticated" attack, and made off with data that RSA still has yet to specify.

The break-in was alarming because of the breadth of RSA's business, and because it's rare to hear of a severe breach at a key security firm.

Speculation is mounting about what was stolen. One possibility is that the attackers made off with the codes for how the tokens' passwords are generated, which would be serious for the military and banks and other institutions that use them.

Meanwhile, RSA has revealed a few details about how the attack happened.

The explanation is a reminder of how vulnerable a company can be when workers are hoodwinked, never mind that they're surrounded by cutting-edge hacking protections.

RSA, a division of data-storage leader EMC Corp., says the intruders got in by exploiting a flaw in the ubiquitous Adobe Flash software, and the gullibility of a worker who opened an infected spreadsheet inside an e-mail that carried the subject line "2011 Recruitment plan."

The Flash vulnerability was a so-called "zero day" flaw that hackers found before the software maker, so it had no chance to fix it with an update. RSA says the flaw is now fixed.

"In our case the attacker sent two different phishing emails over a two-day period," RSA said in a blog post. "These emails were sent to two small groups of employees. When you look at the list of users that were targeted, you don't see any glaring insights; nothing that spells high...

Facebook Questions Pose Problems for Private Users

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:33:33 +0000

Feeling inquisitive? Facebook's newest feature has users getting poll-happy with a quick way to survey users. But what about privacy options? There's only one answer: None.

The feature is called Questions, and the link to create one can be found near the status bar. Facebook said it launched the tool as an easier way to gauge opinion by opening up polls to every user. All questions, answers and comments are available for anyone to see, regardless of personal privacy settings.

Obviously that's a risk for those who care about their online image. If you're wary of sharing personal information, avoid posting questions revealing details that can be used against you by malicious users, such as the city you live in, the school you attend or your kids' names.

The Questions feature was designed to be viral. Votes are shared with friends on news feeds, and then shared by other friends, and so forth. One question posted last week by a guy in Orange, Calif., came my way after it received more than 2.2 million votes and 50,000 comments. The query was simple: Mac or PC?

The poll from a stranger showed on my news feed after a handful of my friends answered, so it's quite easy to cast a wide net. As for setting up a question the way you want, well, that's not exactly intuitive. Here are a few tips:

_ After typing your question, click "Add Poll Options." This is where you type choices for others to answer.

_ If you check the box marked "Allow anyone to add options," it does two things: Users will be able to vote on more than one option, and they can type in their own option to vote on.

_ If you don't check the box, users can only vote on one item in the list and cannot...

Review: Hasbro My3D Turns iPhone into 3-D Cinema

News — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:33:05 +0000

Nintendo just launched the 3DS, a handheld game device with a 3-D screen. But you don't need to spend $249 for 3-D gaming on the go: $35 will do. That's the price of an attachment Hasbro is selling that adds depth to the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Unfortunately, the Hasbro My3D isn't a slim pair of glasses. It looks more like a weird set of toy binoculars. You snap the Apple device into a holder on one end and look through the other.

It's a fun diversion aimed mostly at kids. It can wow grown-ups too, but I'm not sure anyone will use this much in the long run. It's hardly $35 worth of plastic, but it might be $35 worth of entertainment.

The roots of the My3D go way back: it's basically a slight update of the stereoscope, which was first demonstrated in 1851. This two-lens device delighted Victorians with still 3-D photos of landscapes. The View-Master is another later-day successor to the stereoscope.

The View-Master, of course, never worked with applications and movies, but the My3D does. It's used with specially written apps like as "Sharks," which immerses users in a shark-filled underwater scene, and "Sector 17," an outer-space shooter. These are all free to download for now from the iTunes Store, though Hasbro does plan to start charging for some of them later this spring. Until June, the viewers are only available from Target stores.

To start, I downloaded a free app called My3Dpresents, which serves as a sort of introduction. The app includes trailers for My3D games and six current and upcoming 3-D movies, including "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Megamind" and "Smurf'd." (However, Hasbro Inc. hasn't promised that full 3-D movies will be available.)

To reach the iPhone's touch screen, you insert your thumbs into two holes at the...