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.