Microsoft signs Android licensing deal with Samsung

Microsoft has signed a cross-license patent agreement with Samsung Electronics that grants Microsoft royalties from Samsung's Android-based smartphones and tablets, Microsoft said in a statement on Wednesday.

Microsoft didn't disclose details on how much money Samsung will have to pay Microsoft for every Android-based device it sells. Last year, HTC, which together with Samsung dominate the market for Android-based smartphones, also signed a licensing deal with Microsoft.

The Amazon store is the real iPad killer

Amazon undercuts the iPad by charging $200 for its Kindle Fire tablet and reveals its strategy: Lose money on hardware, make it up at the store

HP Expands Enterprise Security Solutions

HP has expanded its enterprise security solutions portfolio by introducing HP ArcSight Express 3.0, HP Reputation Security Monitor, HP Fortify Software Security Center suite, and HP TippingPoint Web Application Digital Vaccine 2.0 service.

HP ArcSight Express 3.0 delivers correlation, log management, and user-activity monitoring. HP Reputation Security Monitor provides HP ArcSight clients with a real-time list of known bad IP and DNS addresses to combat attacks that exploit web application vulnerabilities. HP Fortify Software Security Center suite is an application security testing solution available on-premises or on-demand. HP TippingPoint Web Application Digital Vaccine (WebAppDV) 2.0 service offers real-time identification of vulnerabilities in Web applications, and delivery of virtual patches.

“Organizations are realizing the importance of a comprehensive risk management strategy to securing assets across their corporate infrastructures and protecting corporate reputation,” said Colin Png, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, HP Asia Pacific and Japan. “HP’s extended security portfolio provides the protection that enterprises require, while providing customers, employees, partners, and consumers with access to the right enterprise assets.”

HP released the HP Digital Vaccine Labs’ Cyber Security Risks Report, which offers clients a detailed look at vulnerability, threat and attack data for the first half of 2011. This semi-annual report helps enterprises to understand the threat landscape.

HP also introduced new enterprise services: HP Information Security Management (ISM) services that comprehensively manage security policies and processes. HP Enterprise Cloud Service (ECS) - end point threat management protects desktop and notebook PCs and servers against viruses, malware, spyware and intrusions by blocking unauthorized communication and preventing installation of unwanted programs. HP Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) services collect and log security-relevant events to provide a unified view of the security activity across an enterprise as well as generating predefined reports to demonstrate compliance with policies and regulations. HP Application Security testing-as-a-service identifies and closes security vulnerabilities in the application layer with code scanning and Web penetration services.

Business Intelligence heads to the iPad

September appears to be the month for mobile business intelligence (BI). Just last week, IBM, SAP, RoamBI, and Pivot announced updates or new products around mobile BI capabilities. RoamBI released its version of BI for the iPad, focusing on creating an editorial environment to present data. SAP released version 4.0 of its Business Objects Edge BI software, which boasts mobile updates and geolocation enhancements.

Although there was diversity in these releases, there still seems to be one common denominator: iPad support. And today, open-source BI software provider Jaspersoft is jumping into the fray with a new SDK to bring more BI options to the mobile landscape.

Apple comprises 69 percent of the tablet market, as reported by Fortune, so iPad business users stand to benefit from the growing competition among BI vendors as well as other technical areas that are heading toward a consumerization of IT.

Combine this high market share with Deloitte's predictions that estimate more mobile devices will be purchased than PCs in 2012 and that the iOS market becomes a key strategic play for any BI company.

I discussed this trend with Jaspersoft CMO Jim Bell with regards to the mobile BI market and how Jaspersoft planned to throw its hat in ring with today's release of Jaspersoft 4.2 Business Intelligence Suite.

According to Bell, Jaspersoft is the first BI company to offer "any way you want it mobile BI for Apple" with a plan to deliver separate solutions for developers and executives.

Jaspersoft 4.2 introduces the BI industry's first open-source mobile iOS SDK for developers and comes with a "sample app"--which should be available on the Apple App Store this week--to help jumpstart new custom applications for developers that want to embed BI into iPhone and iPad applications.

The new SDK was sparked not only by the activeness of Apple's app developers but also by demand from Jaspersoft's open-source community who wanted to take their web applications mobile.

For executives who need to take advantage of BI such as business analysts or marketing professionals, Jaspersoft 4.2 includes a full-featured HTML5, touch-screen BI environment that needs no customization, can readily be taken on-the-go, and can actually make new reports directly from the device. This feature pushes the mobile BI market to a new level of information creation and not just information consumption.

Time will tell if there is going to be one single leader in this space, but there is no question that the iPad BI market is sure to see more competition and a race to find which feature set and integration strategy will hold.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-20111970-62/business-intelligence-heads-to-the-ipad/#ixzz1Z9tPXtJA

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Intel next-gen chip to support key Apple tech...

Intel's next-generation processor is expected to add support for a key OS X technology that accelerates gaming and financial applications. That potentially means a more powerful MacBook Air in the future.

The MacBook Air could get a boost from the upcoming Intel processor that supports improved graphics performance.

(Credit: Apple)

Listed as a "core" OS X technology, OpenCL "dramatically accelerates" applications by tapping into the special processing power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), according to Apple. It taps into what an Apple developer page states as the "the amazing parallel computing power of the GPU."

GPU-centric acceleration can be used for financial modeling, accounting applications, analysis on large media files, games, and media applications. In general, the GPU is much better than the CPU (central processing unit) at certain types of computations--thus the necessity of GPUs in games.

In fact, much of the performance boost in Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processor (up to 60 percent faster than Intel's current Sandy Bridge chip) is due to more graphics circuits. Of the several hundred million additional transistors in Ivy Bridge (compared to Sandy Bridge), many are dedicated to boosting graphics performance.

To be fair, Nvidia's and Advanced Micro Devices' GPUs already support OpenCL but since neither of those GPUs are in the third-generation MacBook Air, the popular Apple MacBook would likely need an updated Intel processor to get that support.

That's where Ivy Bridge comes in. That Intel chip is due for volume production in the first quarter of next year potentially putting it in a refreshed MacBook Air sometime after that.

Indeed, that's a question that may dog the MacBook faithful in the coming months. When, in fact, will MacBooks get the Ivy Bridge processor?

Which leads to another intriguing question. Ivy Bridge also supports USB 3.0--a faster version of aging USB 2.0. Will Apple also equip MacBooks with USB 3.0 ports next to the existing Thunderbolt port?

iBall Launches Slide Tablet

iBall has entered the tablet space with iBall Slide.

iBall Slide is powered with 1 GHz ARM Cortex–A8 processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. It provides 8GB built-in memory with 32GB expandable memory, has Wi-fi, Bluetooth and 3G on dongle support.

A keyboard or a mouse can also be attached through the USB port and the product can also be attached to the PC. It comes with 4400 mAh lithium-ion-battery supporting up to 6.5 hours of music and five hours of video. It has 2.0 megapixel front camera and HDMI output for HD quality video and 3D games.

The product is available for Rs 13,995 and comes with a 1-year warranty. The company has roped in Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador.

IBM Commits $1 Billion To SMB Financing

IBM has developed a line of cloud computing, security and business analytics packages and it's committing $1 billion in financing over the next 18 months to help SMBs purchase them.

The new system offerings and financing will be delivered through channel partners, which IBM now exclusively relies on to service SMB customers.

“We recognize the contribution the growth of these small and mid-size businesses can make to the economic recovery," said Ed Abrams, Vice President, Marketing, IBM Midmarket Business. In addition to the financing, Abrams said that adopting the new cloud and business analytics technologies also should boost SMBs' growth prospects.

Sixty-five percent of global GDP is generated by SMBs, he said.

The packages, more than 30 altogether, are built around IBM's Cognos and SPSS business analytics software, Netezza data warehouse appliance, Cast Iron cloud integration software, and BigFix security management tools, among other products. Those will be bundled with IBM server hardware, system software such as IBM WebSphere, and services, Abrams said.

IBM will offer flexible lease and loan packages, some as low as zero-percent financing for 12 months. Abrams said IBM's Rapid Online Financing tools would help partners quickly generate sales proposals and get credit approvals for customer prospects.

AMD FX CPU Achieves Guinness World Record

AMD has grabbed Guinness World Record for the highest frequency of a computer processor by overclocking the upcoming 8-core AMD FX desktop processor.

The AMD FX CPU, set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2011, achieved a speed of 8.429 GHz, surpassing the previous record of 8.308 GHz.

“The processor speed that resides in the AMD FX CPU demonstrates performance gains for the new AMD Bulldozer multi-core architecture, which will provide x86 computing power for this CPU and future AMD accelerated processing units,” said Chris Cloran, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Client Group, AMD.

According to the company, all FX branded products, including the upcoming AMD FX CPU, will offer unlocked processor clock multipliers to enable an unlocked experience, and include AMD software through the AMD Vision Engine to fine-tune system performance.

India faces new security threat from cyber world ..

Bangalore, Feb 11 (IANS) India is facing new security threat from cyber world as increasing use of convergence technologies has changed the rules of engagements, a top defence official said Friday.”Cyber security is a major challenge for us as all our operations are going to be on the network centric system, which is dependent on information and communication technologies,” scientific adviser to defence minister V.K. Saraswat told reporters.

Admitting that securing the network centric system would be a major problem, Saraswat said the country would have to build robust systems and platforms with proprietary software to make sure the networks were safe and almost invincible.

“As far as the security threat is concerned, it is not rigid or static but always evolving. Beyond the conventional threat from land, air or sea, the new threats are economic and cyber, where we have to become more vigilant,” Saraswat said on the margins of the Aero India military-cum-civil aviation trade expo here.

As a missile technologist, Saraswat is also the director-general of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation, which designs and develops a range of technologies and products for the Indian Air Force, Army and Navy spanning aircraft, choppers, radars, weapons, missiles, battle tanks, submarines and a host of support systems.

BlackBerry begins porn ban in Indonesia

Toronto, Jan 22 (IANS) BlackBerry Friday stopped access to pornography on its smart phones in Indonesia.It is the first time that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has agreed to filter pornographic content under pressure from any country.

The decision follows after the world’s biggest Muslim nation of 237 million people gave RIM the deadline of Jan 21 to shut down BlackBerry services and revoke its licence if it didn’t stop access to pornography. Reports from Jakarta said porn websites, including Playboy, couldn’t be accessed by users.

Those who tried to access porn sites met with the response: “This website can’t be accessed via this network,” Bernama news agency said.

However, pornography materials can still be accessed via websites using other addresses, the news agency said.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post, “This shows that the concerns raised by me were not absurd demands but realistic ones based on existing regulations, which RIM was supposed to heed.

“Therefore, the ministry appreciates RIM’s Canadian management for fulfilling its commitment to filter pornographic content before the deadline.”

Since some porn content still may slip through the filter, the minister said his ministry “realizes that in the cyber world there is a lot of pornography that is easily accessible. Therefore, the ministry asks RIM to continue filtering as best it can.”

When RIM was served with the notice last year, it had said that it is “fully committed to working with Indonesia’s carriers to put in place a prompt, compliant filtering solution for Blackberry subscribers in Indonesia as soon as possible.”

Indonesia currently has about three million BlackBerry users and generates about $250 million for RIM. Indonesia was among many countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, which last year demanded access to RIM encrypted data for security reasons.