ComScore: Android widens its lead on iOS in the US

comScore have tallied the numbers and have come up with a report on phone usage in the US for the three month period that ends in August. They surveyed 30,000 people for the report of the 234 million American phone users over the age of 13.

Let's start with the smartphone OSes. According to comScore, Android is the leading platform by a wide margin. A margin that keeps growing no less. Apple's iOS is a solid second and is the only other OS that saw its share grow in the US.

An old time favorite, BlackBerry OS saw a 5% drop over the three month period. Microsoft's mobiles OSes combined mustered up only 5.7% and the barely there Symbian OS fell to 1.8%.

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	May-11	Aug-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	38.1%	43.7%	5.6
Apple	26.6%	27.3%	0.7
RIM	24.7%	19.7%	-5.0
Microsoft	5.8%	5.7%	-0.1
Symbian	2.1%	1.8%	-0.3

Apple is fourth by number of phones in the US market, counting feature phones and smartphones. They jumped from 8.7% to 9.9% over just three months. Samsung is holding fast to the first place and saw a 0.5% increase in market share.

All others lost market share. Motorola for one will soon be in danger of losing its third place to Apple, as the buffer between the two shrunk with 2.2%.

Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	May-11	Aug-11	Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Samsung	24.8%	25.3%	0.5
LG	21.1%	21.0%	-0.1
Motorola	15.1%	14.0%	-1.1
Apple	8.7%	9.8%	1.1
RIM	8.1%	7.1%	-1.0

comScore also studied how people in the US use their phones. Changes were pretty small, but it's interesting to note that all categories grew - which suggests that Americans are spending more and more time on their phones.

Mobile Content Usage 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	May-11	Aug-11	Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Sent text message to another phone	69.5%	70.5%	1.0
Used browser	39.8%	42.1%	2.3
Used downloaded apps	38.6%	41.6%	3.0
Accessed social networking site or blog	28.6%	30.9%	2.3
Played Games	26.9%	28.5%	1.6
Listened to music on mobile phone	18.6%	20.7%	2.1

You can read comScores full report for some more details on their study.

Source

CyanogenMod 7.1 finally gets released

After a long wait, the CyanogenMod 7.1 has finally been released. Although originally planned to release last weekend but some issues with their automated build system prevented that from happening.

The latest version adds a host of improvements that can be found here and is now supported on 68 devices. Quite a few of these are from Sony Ericsson, something that was possible because the company reached out to CyanogenMod developers and provided them with devices, technical assistance and drivers. Samsung did something similar a while back.

Click here to see if your Android device is supported and then start the download. Support for more devices, such as the HP Touchpad and the LG Optimus 3D will be added soon.

To View Souce Link Click Here : Source

Dual-core CPUs and LTE coming to Windows Phone in the future

Windows Phone just recently reached a major milestone with the 7.5 update, commonly known as Mango, by adding multitasking and other big improvements to the OS. Check out what we thought of it here. Anyway, now there are two other major milestones in the works too - dual-core CPUs and LTE connectivity.

Andy Lees, head of the Windows Phone division, spoke to AllThingsD giving some detail on Microsoft's plans for Windows Phone. He thinks they're in a good position to take the role of the third player in the mobile OS world as an alternative to Android and iOS, with Mango helping to boost sales volumes.

As for dual-core CPUs, those are something that's being worked on but Lees didn’t give a time frame for when they might make it to market. Current top end WP phones run on 1.5GHz single-core CPUs and Lees thinks they'll stack up well enough against dual-core smartphones.

Microsoft wanted to wait until the software can make good use of the extra core. Seeing how Windows Phone only recently got multitasking support and not all apps support it yet, it will be a while until the OS is ready for two cores.

The decision not to include 4G for now was made because early generation LTE chipsets are quite power hungry. The technology will be included in future devices, when it's ready - but again, Lees gave no dates for when that will happen.

Microsoft is already looking forward to the next major update for the OS, but whether there will be a minor update first (like NoDo hit before Mango) hasn’t been decided yet.

Lees also commented on the patent-licensing deal between Microsoft and Samsung, saying that part of the deal includes stronger support for Windows Phone from Samsung. He likened the Samsung deal to the Nokia one, but allowed that it's "not quite as deep a dependence".

HTC Sensation XL hands-on: First look

Introduction

Today HTC introduced the second member of its Beats droid family, making both geeks and audiophiles tremble with excitement. The HTC Sensation XL is one multimedia beast with its Dr. Dre-inspired audio, impressively spec'd camera and huge display and it's also keen to give users the proper smartphone experience with the tried and tested Gingerbread and Sense combo.

   
The HTC Sensation XL announcement event

The versatility of Android and the sexiness of Beats will be the Sensation XL's key selling point, but if you look carefully you will notice that there's so much more to it than that. Just check out that specs sheet:

HTC Sensation XL at a glance:

• General: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm, 162.5 g
• Display: 4.7" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) S-LCD capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla glass
• Platform: 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8255 Snapdragon chipset
• RAM: 768MB
• OS: Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
• Memory: 16 GB storage (12.64GB user-accessible)
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, dual LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera; 28mm f/2.2 lens
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio
• Misc: Sense 3.5 UI, Beats audio enhancements and headphones in the package, 1600mAh battery, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, ultra-fast boot times

Granted, the single-core CPU won't give you boasting rights with your geeky friends and screen density could be pushed a bit higher. But with this one it's not so much about having the best specs on the market - it's about having specs that make sense. It's a statement that the company values user experience over PR material.

 
The HTC Sensation XL live shots

The Sensation XL processing power should be enough to handle 99% of the Android market apps seamlessly and even if it's not the best of multi-tasker around only a small portion of the users will actually feel the difference. So why not put something in there that everyone will see and appreciate - like a larger screen, for example.

And if you happen to be among those in need of the ultimate processor, boy does HTC have the phone for you. But now we'd be focusing on the Sensation XL multimedia beast. Join us on the next page for our hands-on impressions, garnished with a load of live shots.

Windows 8 security: Stronger but gentler

The Metro GUI is the most visible representation of Microsoft's coming operating system. While the release of the tentatively named Windows 8 is still a year away, the company has not been shy about putting the multicolor tiled interface front and center.

Windows 8's security improvements will be much less visible, and that's just the way Microsoft wants it. The company has added a number of protection features to Windows 8 to better protect the system, all the while making the security less intrusive by limiting the number of notifications a user may receive.

For example, the company's SmartScreen technology for detecting potentially malicious sites -- introduced with Internet Explorer 8 -- will be built right into the OS to allow any file downloaded to a Windows 8 computer to be checked out by the system, yet the protection should not alert the average user more than twice a year, Microsoft says.

The higher signal-to-noise ratio will likely make users pay more attention to the truly dangerous incidents, Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division, writes in a blog post on Microsoft's Developer Network.

"When they do see (a notice), it will signify a higher risk scenario," he says in a description of the feature.

Using its telemetry data, Microsoft has found that 95 percent of Internet Explorer 9 users do not run malicious software when they receive a SmartScreen warning. Once a user receives a SmartScreen warning, their chance of getting malware if they run the suspect program varies from 25 to 70 percent, according to Microsoft. Some 92 percent of applications downloaded by users already have an established reputation, so SmartScreen does not issue a notification.

Allowing SmartScreen to check applications downloaded by other browsers and applications is not the only feature Microsoft has added. Here are the ones currently announced.

Improving Windows Defender
Microsoft noticed a disturbing trend among Windows 7 users: While almost all users had antivirus protection following the purchase of Windows 7 -- due, most likely, to trial subscriptions shipped with new PCs -- almost a quarter of them let those subscriptions lapse in the ensuing months.

The company plans to make Windows Defender a baseline security solution, which will block all commonly used malware, worms, Trojan horses, and other attacks. Microsoft plans to use a file system filter to better protect critical files.

Making Windows 8 harder to exploit
Like Apple did with its security improvements to Mac OS X Lion, Microsoft plans to harden the operating system to attack. With each release, both Apple and Microsoft have bolstered a key anti-exploit technology known as ASLR (address space layout randomization). Windows 8 is no different: More components of Windows will use ASLR, and the memory randomization will be 

UK film rentals from YouTube

ouTube have launched a new service which offers film rentals in the UK. This makes us the third country to benefit from this service after the US and Canada.

Approx. a 1000 films are available so far including new releases and classics.

New releases will cost £3.49 to rent and library titles £2.49. Users have 30 days to begin watching a film, and 48 hours to finish it once they start.

Check out the options at; http://www.youtube.com/movies?feature=mh

3D Pico Projectors Grow at Double Digits

As sizes shrink down to palm-size pico projectors, and with a new injection of interest from 3D, double-digit market growth in projectors offers a beacon of hope that global economic uncertainty cannot dim.

Despite worldwide economic volatility, the growing markets for pico-size projectors as well as growing interest in 3D will enable double-digit growth for front projectors from 2011 to 2015, according to Pacific Media Associates.

PMA predicts that front projectors will grow 22 percent compared to 2010, topping 10.4 million unit shipments in 2011, and by 2015 are predicted to exceed 39.4 million units. PMA claims to have uncovered the technological features and product segments that are causing this market's fast growth rate in its recent biennial survey of U.S. front-projector users.

The thumb-size pico-projector's micro mirror is fabricated in the center of a thumbnail-size MEMS chip (Source: Microvision) 

According to PMA, the factors affecting growth were different among users of three different categories of projectors, based on their size and output power.

In the "New Era" category, the biggest draw was the small size of the pico-size projectors enabled by micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) chips that have downsized the micron-size mirrors for palm-size projectors. Pico projectors are also going 3D, with the latest announcement coming from Microvision, which now offers a dual-lens laser-based unit that projects 3D in a manner similar to the digital cinema projectors, requiring only inexpensive, passive polarized glasses.

Among users of pico projectors (under 500 lumens), the biggest difference was between enterprises versus individual consumers, according to the PMA. Presentations were cited as the most frequent application 75 percent of the time by organizations. For individual consumers, on the other hand, only 35 percent cited the use of pico projectors for presentations. For individuals, viewing photos was cited as the more frequent application 58 percent of the time, as opposed to organizational users who only viewed photos 45 percent of the time.

The second highest use of pico projectors by both groups was watching videos, where 60 percent of organizations and 55 percent of individual consumers used them to project videos. As a result, many models of video cameras, camcorders and even some digital still cameras are now including a built-in pico projector. Pico projectors are also being built into high-end smartphones, according to PMA, which is proving to be popular in developing countries where a user's phone is their main computing device.

In the "Mainstream" category of 500-to-4,999 lumens at PMA, front projectors were used mainly in classrooms, corporate meeting rooms, and in home theater settings, where nearly 8 million units will be sold in 2011. PMA predicts that mainstream projectors will grow by 50 percent over the next five years to top 12 million units by 2015.

Education continues to be a main driver for mainstream projectors, despite austere government budgets worldwide, but technology is also driving acceptance at corporations. For instance, PC-free presentations are driving corporate users to favor newer devices that include WiFi so that the projector is wirelessly controlled from the presenter’s handheld unit, such as a touch-screen tablet or smartphone.

The High-End projectors with 5,000 lumens of output or more are mostly used for digital cinema, auditoriums and in science for simulation and visualization apps. PMA predicts that double-digit grow rates will more than double the sales of high-end projectors, up from 200,000 units in 2011 to over 430,000 units by 2015, a compound annual growth rate of about 21 percent. In this market, new high-end widescreen models are driving a modernization of existing theaters and auditoriums as well as pioneering emerging markets in developing countries.

Mcafee To Launch Two New Products This Quarter

VRJAS Network, October 5, 2011, 1645 hrs

Mcafee is launching two new products this quarter. The first product would be based on the DeepSafe technology the second product would be the ‘Mcafee SMB Endpoint Protection Essential Suite’.

Mcafee SMB Endpoint Protection Essential Suite’ will be introduced as a pilot in India and Australia. This hybrid solution enables partners and customers to deploy it as a software as a service, or on-premise (client-server) architecture. It includes security features to protect endpoints from viruses, malwares, spyware and harmful Websites. The approximate price of the product is slated to be $30.

Apart from this it also plans to launch its first product based on DeepSafe technology at Mcafee Focus 11 conference held from October 18-20 in Las Vegas.

DeepSafe is a technology—the first hardware-assisted security with Intel to eliminate sub-operating system threats. This is the first technology developed by Intel and Mcafee post Mcafee’s acquisition by Intel in February 2011.

Aakash, a Made in India sub-$50 Tablet

For a long time, the $35 tablet - Sakshat - looked like a myth. However, after multiple delays and grumbles from several quarters (some mocking in the international blogs too), Minister of Communications and IT, Kapil Sibal, under whose aegis the project has been nurtured, finally unveiled the$35 
tablet device.

With a new name - Aakash - the device overshoots the earlier widely quoted $35 price tag, but has the potential to reach out to masses and is worth the latest price. The manufacturing cost of the device is $37.98, while adding up transportation, warranty, and other costs, the price bumps up to $49.98. That's just Rs.2276! Add to it the Government subsidy that would let institutes to offer their students these tablets at half that price.

Aakash has been designed, developed, and manufactured by DataWind, a British company, in collaboration with IIT Rajasthan under the HRD Ministry's National Mission on Education through Information & Communication Technology (NME-ICT). The HRD Ministry is buying 100,000 tablets from DataWind for Rs 2250 per unit inclusive of taxes and freight charges.

The Android 2.2 based device features a 7-inch resistive touchscreen and only one face button. There are no volume or back buttons. The device has support for two USB ports and a micro SD card slot along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and the DC in port. Under the hood, Aakash runs on a 366MHz Connexant processor and 256MB RAM with a dedicated HD video processor and 2GB on board flash storage. The device runs full HD videos at 1080p smoothly. The battery life of the device is a bit of a let-down and at 2100mAh; it would last for a maximum 3 hours.The overall build quality is good and there is a rubberized finish to it.

Aakash comes bundled with DataWind's UbiSurfer browser and Nimbuzz app for social networking and instant messaging. For installing other Android apps, the tablet is GetJar enabled but does not support the Android Marketplace. Also, the National Programme of Technology Enabled Learning (NPTEL) has already put up an ecosystem of web-enabled course content and all the video lectures, animations, simulations, notes, and tests are available to students free of cost at http://nptel.iitm.ac.in.

A Review to it 

Features

• Unbeatable Price:
  • Only Rs.2,999 for the UbiSlate
  • Monthly internet charges: Rs.98 / 2GB
• High Quality Web Anytime & Anywhere:
  • Connect via GPRS or WiFi
  • GPRS: Embedded modem eliminates the need for external dongles and allows Internet access everywhere
  • WiFi: Allows fast Youtube videos at hotspots
  • Fast web access even on GPRS networks, across the country using DataWind’s patented acceleration technology
  • Web, Email, Facebook, Twitter and much much more!
• Multimedia Powerhouse:
  • HD Quality Video
• Watching movies in the palm of your hand on a 7” screen
  • Audio library software helps manage your full collection of songs
• Applications Galore with Android 2.2:
  • Games
  • Productivity software: Office suite
  • Educational software
  • Over 150,000 apps!
• Full sized-USB port & Micro-SD slot:
  • Expand memory to 32GB
  • Use any ordinary pen-drive
  • Even plug-in a 3G dongle
• And It’s a Phone!

Configuration

• Hardware:
  • Processor: Connexant with Graphics accelerator and HD Video processor
  • Memory (RAM): 256MB RAM / Storage (Internal): 2GB Flash
  • Storage (External): 2GB to 32GB Supported
  • Peripherals (USB2.0 ports, number): 1 Standard USB port
  • Audio out: 3.5mm jack / Audio in: 3.5mm jack
  • Display and Resolution: 7” display with 800x480 pixel resolution
  • Input Devices: Resistive touch screen
  • Connectivity and Networking: GPRS and WiFi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g
  • Power and Battery: Up to 180 minutes on battery. AC adapter 200-240 volt range.
• Software:
  • OS: Android 2.2
  • Document Rendering
• Supported Document formats: DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP
• PDF viewer, Text editor

• Multimedia and Image Display
  • Image viewer supported formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF
  • Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA
  • Supported video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV
• Communication and Internet
  • Web browser - Standards Compliance: xHTML 1.1 compliant, JavaScript 1.8 compliant
  • Separate application for online YouTube video
  • Safety and other standards compliance
• CE certification / RoHS certification
  • Other: Additional Web Browser: UbiSurfer-Browser with compression/acceleration and IE8 rendering.

Accessories

• Full set of accessory options:
  • Car charger
  • External antenna
  • Keyboard case
• Convert it into a laptop!

Like Never Before!

• There is no other touch-pad tablet or computing device anywhere near the price of the UbiSlate
• At only Rs.2,999, you get:
  • A 7” Android 2.2 tablet
  • With an embedded GPRS modem and WiFi
  • Unlimited Mobile Internet at only Rs.98/month
  • HD Quality Video and Multimedia
• 150,000 Android Apps

To know more visit : Click here

Steve Jobs. 1955-2011

Apple genius loses cancer battle ...

Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56.

The visionary genius who masterminded Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes passed away yesterday surrounded by family members.

A statement by Apple's board of directors read;

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today, Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Apple's homepage has a full page image and the text Steve Jobs, 1955-2011.

A link leads to additional text by Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, in a memo written to Apple staff. The text reads;

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being."

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Story Source: http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/