It seems as if Apple may be preparing to ditch Samsung for TSMC

It seems as if Apple may be preparing to ditch Samsung for TSMC, as Cupertino will likely tap the latter company to build its next-gen A6 SoC in 2012.

As Chris Foresman of Ars Technica points out, Samsung is currently producing Apple A5 processors on a 45nm process, while TSMC is fabbing mobile SoCs for other smartphone and tablet makers on a 40nm process.  



 

"As we mentioned, Apple has reportedly been working with TSMC to move to a 28nm process. [This] may offer Apple a slight advantage, at least until its competitors migrate to the same process. For this reason, it seems more likely that Apple is making the change to cut some, if not all, Samsung-made components out of its supply chain," Foresman explained.



"[Remember], Apple [also recently] launched a massive legal attack against Samsung for allegedly copying the look and design of Apple's iPhone and iPad for its Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets... So Apple very likely sees moving production to a non-competitor as a strategic business move."



Meanwhile, tech guru Charlie Demerjian confirmed the situation was bound to "get ugly" if the new Apple Acer as07b41 battery hp dv6000 battery life chips are being fabbed at TSMC instead of Samsung. 


"Sources at TSMC tell SemiAccurate the volumes coming off the lines are far more than any possible test, and look like a large volume run. The chips themselves are still a bit of an open question, some say A5 variants, others say A6/new design, all say ARM CPU.

"[Now you may recall that] Samsung is in the process of building a fab that is more or less dedicated to Apple, or so insiders tell is. If this is true, and Apple just said, 'Nice of you to build that for us, but we are going over to TSMC' at this late stage, you can be pretty sure Samsung won't be pleased.

"Could TSMC making Apple CPUs be the underlying cause of the Samsung/Apple tiff of late? Possibly. Even if it isn't the sole cause, wherever the chips end up being made, we are very likely seeing a contributing factor to a very public shouting match. Strap in, this one is going to be a lot of fun, as long as you aren't paying the lawyers."

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iPhone 5 Review: Six Amazing Phone Technologies We Want in iPhone 5

What will Apple's next iPhone be like? If rumors are to believed, it's going to be a radical redesign from previous models, mining some of the best features from the current crop of mobile-phone technology.

But that's almost a given. With competitors offering things like OLED screens, NFC communication for mobile payments, and 4G connectivity, Apple has to be at least considering including those things for iPhone 5 (or the iPhone 4S, or whatever it's going to be called). But what about those wild cards, the things on the outskirts of current mobile tech, which could give the next iPhone an edge over all comers?
Apple's pulled high-tech rabbits out of its hat before. With the iPhone 4, it introduced two unexpectedly novel features: the so-called retina display and the external antenna. While the iPhone 4's retina screen still reigns as phone display on the market with the highest pixel density, the external antenna made headlines for all the wrong reasons, leading to “antennagate” after several users posted evidence of the phone's “death grip.”
Questionable antenna designs aside, there's no shortage of bleeding-edge phone technologies that could be game-changers. Some have already begun to appear in phones, while others have only been seen in prototypes or laboratories thus far. In either case, their benefits and abilities would give any phone that integrates them an boost in the rapidly evolving world of mobile.
There isn't a phone manufacturer on the planet right now that's making plans around NFC and 4G. But how many would introduce radically different screen or camera technologies, a new type of connector, or solar charging? We know almost certainly these features won't be in iPhone 5, but we can still dream… of iPhone 6.

Quantum-Dot LED Screen

Lots of phones on the market today sport OLED screens, which boast sharpness, brightness as well as low power consumption. What could be better? How about a quantum-dot display, which has many of the same qualities, but doesn't exhibit the same degradation problems of OLEDs and is possibly cheaper to make. Quantum dots are inorganic nanoparticles that emit a specific color of light when excited by an electrical current or light beam. Although an early prototype of a quantum-dot light-emitting diode (QLED) screen looks promising, commericalization is said to be three years out at the earliest, unless a heavy hitter fast-tracks the tech for its flagship phone...

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Liquid-Lens Camera

Camera phones are starting to have a decent number of megapixels, but they’re still limited by the need to be crammed into such a small space in an everything gadget. That means the complicated optics of D-SLR cameras or even point-and-shoots almost always need not apply. Enter the liquid-lens camera, which uses refractive fluid to achieve some of the effect of optics. Take this recently demonstrated model, which uses a few drops of fluid to create the effect of optical image stabilization and tilt control in camera the size of a fingertip. Best of all, it uses no moving parts, a key advantage in a phone, which can’t afford the energy lost in moving lenses with motors.

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Tactile Touch Screen

One of the chief complaints about the iPhone is that some people simply don’t like to type on touch screens and instead opt for a phone with a full keyboard. Until now, Apple’s had nothing to offer fans of tactile feedback, but sophisticated haptic technologies could change that. A new technique can actually create “sticky” areas on an otherwise smooth touch screen, vibrating certain parts so fast that they have different friction than others. The result is a touch screen that can feel like it has buttons when you want it to, which would do wonders to please both keyboard traditionalists and those who like the smooth feel an LCD beneath their fingers.

Transparent Display

We’ve seen transparent parts shown in phones like the LG GD900, but no one so far has created a phone with a transparent main display, apart from a couple of concepts. For it to be practical, the display would need to become opaque when playing video or showing photos, but the design would be a game-changer. It would also be a classic Apple move to debut something miles ahead of the curve in terms of sexiness. An iPhone with a transparent screen would only be hampered by the inconvenient fact that it’s borderline impossible today.

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Solar Charging

Will Apple be the first major player to free us from the inconvenience of needing to charge our phones every night? A Kindle needs to charge up only once a week or so, but to do the same for a smartphone would require a radical change—like making the it solar-powered. It sounds silly, since phones spend a lot of their existence in pockets, but technology like the recently demonstrated Wysips absorbs whatever light energy happens to be around, be it big (the sun) or small (room lighting). Best of all, it can be built into a layer on top of the screen itself, so that sexy design is unaffected.

MHL Connector

The MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) connector combines both a USB and an HDMI jack, giving a phone data connectivity, power, and the ability to play 1080p HD video, all through one tiny plug. However, there's virtually zero chance Apple would replace its proprietary connector—and obsolete the entire ecosystem of iPhone accessories—by switching the iPhone to MHL, but we’d love at least an adapter.

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MacBook Air Review: Apple MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini rumor control

Hardly a week goes by without some widely disseminated rumor about an Apple product winding its way around the Internet. Typically it's about future versions of the iPhone or iPad, but with the impending release of Apple's OS X Lion operating system update, there's been a surge in rumors about the MacBook Air laptop, the small form factor Mac Mini, and even the full-size Mac Pro desktop.

As we've always cautioned, these rumors are usually based more on wishful thinking than on hard fact (although in recent years, supplier leaks have become an invaluable resource for insider info on upcoming Apple products). Case in point, you can almost do a daily counterpoint of blog posts about how the next iPhone is going be physically identical to the iPhone 4 versus equally strident blog posts about how the next iPhone will have a radically different design.

We've summed up some of the most prevalent current Apple computer rumors below, covering the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro (the MacBook Pro and iMac were updated in 2011 already, so they'll most likely remain as is for now) along with a quick gut check on each one.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

MacBook Air

With the late 2010 second-generation refresh, the thin MacBook Air has gone from niche curiosity to a fast-growing part of Apple's laptop mix, thanks especially to the handy 11-inch version and its reasonable $999 starting price.

The latest rumor making the rounds is that Apple has been working on a black version of the Air. These reports originate with a MacRumors.com post, which stated, "Over the past week, we've received several anonymous tips claiming that at least some models of the next-generation MacBook Air will be be available with a black finish." From that single source, the story quickly ricocheted around the Web, even making its way to outlets such as The Atlantic and the Huffington Post.


Of course, about 7 hours after that original black MacBook Air rumor surfaced, MacRumors ran the other way, publishing an e-mail from a purported Apple employee, which read in part, "We tried to powder coat the Air's [sic] (and Pro's [sic] for that matter) in black as a test run...The coating looks good and holds up well, but it also soaks up body oils, making the palm rest look pretty gross. Ultimately that is the reason that the top brass (Jobs) killed the idea...it was just too easy to make the computer look like crap."

Also in the "nay" category, this alleged leak from 9to5mac.com: "A reliable source has told us that they haven't seen any black in the new MacBook Air materials."

Beyond the new color options, or lack thereof, the other longstanding MacBook Air refresh rumors concern a CPU upgrade to Intel's second-generation Core i-series processors (sometimes called Sandy Bridge) and the inclusion of a Thunderbolt port, like the ones found on current MacBook Pros. These updates, which seem likely, if not guaranteed, may well come with the release of the OS X Lion update, which is coming sometime in July.
While the proposed hardware updates seem perfectly reasonable, keep in mind that the last MacBoor Air refresh was in October 2010, which would make this a nine-month life cycle for the current models, so an updated Air may come at some point after the OS X Lion update.

(Credit: CNET)

Mac Mini

The diminutive Mac Mini feels somewhat like the first-generation MacBook Air did: a niche product with a small but dedicated user base.

First spotted on micgadget.com, the latest Mac Mini rumors say the system will also get Intel's second-generation Core i-series processors and a Thunderbolt port. That means these systems would use Intel's decent-for-video integrated graphics, instead of the current Nvidia graphics (which may even make the $699 Mac Mini less expensive).

This seems as likely as not, but given that the Mac Mini isn't on a regular refresh/redesign cycle, a new version certainly isn't a sure thing for the OS X Lion release date. One wished-for upgrade we haven't even seen a rumor abut this time around is a Blu-ray drive, which would make the Mac Mini a much more useful home theater machine.

Mac Pro

Yes, Apple still makes traditional desktops. The Mac Pro is a throwback to the glory days of hulking desktop towers, with the highest-end models running twin six-core Intel Xeon processors.

Once again, micgadget.com is the lead source for update rumors. The site claims that the Mac Pro is getting a redesigned chassis, which may also include a version that is rackmountable, perhaps replacing the current $2,999 "Server" version of the Mac Pro.

A Thunderbolt port is also part of the speculation, but the most interesting rumor is that the new Mac Pro will have a previously unseen Intel processor (perhaps the not-yet-released Xeon E5), along the lines of the exclusive Intel CPU from the original first-generation MacBook Air. This presumes that none of the current Intel Sandy Bridge processors is suitable for the Mac Pro, at least at the higher-end configurations. In these rare cases, it's usually a timed exclusive on a particular new CPU, rather than a custom-made part, which would be cost-prohibitive.

One disturbing part of the Mac Pro rumor dump is that they will lose the handy ability to hot-swap hard drives without shutting the system down.

It's worth noting that nearly all these Mac Pro and Mac Mini rumors can be traced back to a single micgadget.com post, so no matter how many times they've reverberated through the online echo chamber, there's really no independent corroboration. That said, the Pro hasn't had a serious redesign in some time, and is considered a high-end specialty product at this point; most desktop-shopping consumers gravitate toward the all-in-one iMac.

As always, Apple's official position is that it won't comment "regarding rumors and future products," as we were told when inquiring about some of these rumors. Your best bet is to hang around until the still-unspecified July release date of OS X Lion to see which, if any, of these updates actually happen.

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imagine future computing - Concept tablet recharges via finger energy

Recently, Designboom offered a challenge to designers: imagine future computing. 


The results of the Fujitsu Design Award 2011 "A Life with Future Computing" competition are now in, and one of entries selected from among 3,000 submissions, the Ecopad, has been recognized with a  "judge's special award."


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This vision of greener computing comes in the form of a tablet that recharges its own energy via piezoelectrics — i.e., by harvesting energy generated via the movement of human hands as they use the tablet's touchscreen.
According to Ecowizer, on average, people press their touch screens over 10,000 times a day; the Ecopad gets rid of the old AC adaptor simply by harvesting that energy via a nano piezoelectricity film located below the touchscreen display.

The design works with current touchscreen technology in use in commercialized tablet PCs and smart phones while working electricity generation directly into their use, overcoming the traditionally limited battery lives of such products.

In recognition of this forward-thinking green design, the designers of the Ecopad will receive  €1,000 ($1416 USD).

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Microsoft's Kinect, Coming to Windows 7, Browsers and Watching You!

Microsoft (news, site) is officially bringing its Xbox Kinect movement tracker/camera system to PCs, where it could soon watch what we browse and how we interact with the Web.

When Your Desktop Is Watching You

Microsoft's Kinect has been a massive hit with Xbox gamers, tracking their movements and translating them into game play. Unofficially, since its launch, coders have been hooking it up to PCs and doing all kinds of cool stuff with it.

All of that has just become official as Microsoft announced the SDK for Windows 7, allowing developers to patch in the various cameras, microphone and sensors to applications for all kinds of new tricks. You can check out coverage of the launch event here. What sort of tricks? Well, controlling robots, being watchdog and many others. But, for web marketers, the Holy Grail has always been to see what users look at when we browse the net.

Kinect, staring at you from a PC soon

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Taking Control of the Web

You can have that kind of monitoring in a research lab, with willing subjects, but it's a lot harder to get the general public involved. Imagine a browser patched into Kinect that looks at where your eyes are focused, calculates the angles and figures out exactly what parts of the page you look at most on a site.

Then, it might monitor your mood, are those frown lines on the face, are you annoyed or confused? A smart future browser could pop up an agent to help you out or offer assistance. Happy-looking users could be rewarded pop-up offers that they are more likely to take, over grumpy users who could see sites dynamically altered to try and improve their mood.

To benefit the user, sites and applications could become motion activated, with users enacting scenes resembling those from minority report — ideal for PowerPoint presentations or interactive meetings on digital whiteboards, the possibilities are massive.

The Kinect for Windows SDK comes with drivers, rich APIs for Raw Sensor Streams, natural user interfaces, installer documents and resource materials. The SDK provides Kinect capabilities to developers building applications with C++, C# or Visual Basic using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

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Review: Yahoo launches "app search" apps

If you're happy with the current methods of finding apps, Yahoo is throwing its hat into the ring.

The once dominant search company has launched new apps on the Android Market and the iTunes APP Store that allow users to search for apps on the respective platform.

 

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The company uses its own proprietary search algorithms and says results will be more personalized than the existing options available.

Of course, for both operating systems, there are already multiple ways to search for apps. Because every iPhone and iPad app is available on the Web version of iTunes, it's possible to search for apps through Google or any other search engine.

And with Android, because it's an open platform there are a multitude of third-party app sources, not the least of which is the Amazon Appstore, which has gained high marks for its organization and searchability of apps.
Nevertheless, Yahoo thinks it brings value to the plate with its own method of searching for apps, and it does have one edge - cross-platform searching, so you'll know if an app is available on both iOS and Android.

In addition, there's also a Web-based version of the new Yahoo app, so you can compare and contrast the availability between Android and iPhone before you decide which new smartphone to buy.
Yahoo's new apps, as always, are free and are available now.

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Splashtop Hits a Top Spot For Business Apps

A new iPad app has reached the top of the iTunes App Store's business section. No, it's not Angry Birds; this one's a little more

practical. Splashtop allows you to remotely link your PC to your iPad or smartphone, giving you the flexibility to access your data from whichever device you prefer.
Simply direct your work or home computer to Splashtop's home page, then download the free software and create an account. It works with Windows XP, 7, and Vista, or Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. Next, purchase the app from your iPad, iPhone, or Android handset. Once downloaded, Splashtop will automatically search for devices running its software on your network. Find yours, enter your password, and you're ready to go.

As of this writing, the app costs only $1.99 to download. By contrast, remote desktop tool Wyse PocketCloud Pro is $15. and LogMeIn Ignition costs $30. Undoubtedly, the low price has helped Splashtop secure the top spot in the Apple App Store. (Apple's iTunes rankings are based off of units downloaded, not gross sales. So it's in the interest of developers to keep their prices low to increase individual sales and hopefully get featured.)



More other business: hp 484170-001 battery  Hp pavilion dv9700 batterySplashtop enables you to control a PC from an iPad. Splashtop isn't the first computer-linking app available. But while its competitors allow you to share and transfer files between computers, Splashtop gives you the option of streaming video from your computer to your iPad or smartphone, including DVD movies, video files, or from online streaming services. It also gives you the option of streaming audio files, including MP3, WMA, and AAC formats.

One annoyance is that the app works best when synced with a computer running on the same Wi-Fi network--that is, within the same office or house. If you want to jump networks and access your work computer from home, for example, you'll have to do it through a feature that Splashtop still refers to as "experimental." This requires a Google Gmail login, and is currently only available for PCs. Given their recent success, however, chances are this functionality will be rolled out for Macs in the near future.

Splashtop does have a built-in keypad that mimics the buttons on your PC, and has also built out its own library of finger gestures to help you control your PC remotely. Still, accessing your PC on your smartphone may become tedious as you try to zoom way in and way out to navigate your PC. Overall, though, the app looks like a compelling solution for those wanting to get their devices synced.

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Review: Four Reasons Why You Don't Really Need a Tablet PC

Tablet PCs are the in thing right now. In fact, you'd be hard put to walk into any sort of electronics store today and not be bombarded with displays for the latest and greatest tablet. But are tablets all they're cracked up to be? Or has Apple and its uber popular iPad duped consumers into tablet envy, and its competitors into a mad scramble to develop their own "iPad rivals?"

I've spent my fair share of time with many of the most popular tablets on the market today, including the iPad, BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola's Xoom, and I've come to a clear conclusion: The hype exceeds the reality.

I'm not saying that tablets aren't well suited for some select industry segments or specific types of user. They are. Nor am I trying to imply that tablets will never evolve into truly valuable business tools. In some cases, I think they will.

For an "average" tablet user that has no specific business-related purpose for employing such a device, the sheen on the popular form factor is rapidly wearing thin. When that happens, all you're left with beneath that shiny exterior is just another boring old piece of hardware. Here's why.

1) Tablets Really Aren't Particularly Portable

My number one issue with tablet PCs: They really aren't as portable as we're led to believe. In other words, I need to carry some sort of awkward case or bag to carry my tablet; I can't just put it in my pocket and forget it, like a smartphone. Sure, I could tote my tablet in hand, like a book, but that's even more awkward, and it makes me more likely to forget the thing somewhere after I set it down. Or even worse, accidentally drop and/or break it. The way I see it, if I have to carry a bag, I may as well just take my laptop with me, since it's not all that much bigger than the average tablet, and it has significantly fewer usage constraints.

Smaller, 7-inch tablets are much more portable than the iPad or other popular tablets like the Motorola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. For example, I can fit my BlackBerry PlayBook in my back pocket--yes, my jeans have big pockets--and this alone makes it one of my favorite tablets. But I still can't sit down somewhere with a seven-inch tablet like the PlayBook or the smaller Galaxy Tab without pulling the thing out and resting it somewhere for all to see.

I've been using various tablets for quite some time now, and at first I would grab one as I headed out to the bar or to dinner, simply because I wanted to spend more time with it, show it to interested friends or read on a large display. But now that the novelty has worn off, I rarely reach for my tablets when going out, because the value I get from my smartphone's portability simply outweighs any advantages of having a better browser and larger screen size. In fact, I carry at least two smartphones in a pocket at a time, and I never have to remove them if I don't want to.

 

2) Tablet is Just One More Piece of Hardware to Carry

I've mostly come to think of my tablet PC as just an extra piece of hardware I have to lug along with me; the tablet has not replaced any single gadget for me; I still use my laptop and desktop PCs as often as I did before I started using tablets, and the same thing applies to my various smartphones.
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That's not to say that tablets don't do some things better than laptops, desktop computers and smartphones. For example, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is great to use while lounging on the couch and surfing the Web, while listening to some music; it's much more flexible than a laptop in that you can hold it pretty much anyway you want while hopping from website to website. And that larger display makes surfing on a tablet a much more positive experience than surfing on a smartphone's tiny display.

But if I had to pick one device to use while on the go, it would still be my smartphone, because it's so much more portable, and in addition to being able to comfortably place phone calls it does just about everything else that a tablet can do, just with a smaller display.

If I had to select just one gadget to work on while seated somewhere for an extended period of time, I'd pick my laptop because of the larger, easier-to-use keyboard, bigger display and better selection of applications.
That largely leaves my tablet in the lurch...outside of Web surfing on the couch. But, after spending time with a variety of tablets, it's clear to me that I don't really NEED another piece or hardware that makes browsing on my couch more comfortable. The laptop works just fine for me. Again, I know tablets can be particularly well suited for some specific work environments, but not so much for the average user over time.

3) Tablet Browser Limitations

Despite many tablet-makers' claims to the contrary, the current array of modern tablet PCs still do not offer true desktop-PC-like Web browsing, and as such, I'd rather use my laptop computer for leisurely Web surfing. If I need to look something up or check out a Website while on the go, it makes more sense to use one of my many smartphones for the task, again, they're much more portable and the majority of them offer a similar mobile Web browsing experience to tablets.

Everyone knows the iPad doesn't do Flash. The lack of Flash support alone makes the iPad a less suitable browsing alternative to my laptop, especially when you consider the fact that comparable tablets, including the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the BlackBerry PlayBook, offer full Flash support.

But even tablets that support Flash still have limitations since many popular sites identify their browsers as mobile browsers or don't fully support the specific mobile operating systems. For example, even though both the BlackBerry Tablet OS's Webkit browser and the Android 3.1 Chrome browser fully support Flash and they should be able to seamlessly play Hulu.com videos, that site has blocked playback on BlackBerry and Android tablets.

So while I can watch Hulu.com videos on my laptop to my heart's content, I cannot watch the movies or clips on any of my tablets. The same thing goes for Netflix.com streaming media. And without Hulu or Netflix, my online media experience is vastly diminished. Sure, there are Netflix apps for the iPad and some Android devices that enable Netflix streaming--though they don't appear to be compatible with any of my Android devices, tablets and smartphones, or at least it's not available via the Android Market. And such an app could be in the works for the PlayBook and/or other tablets. But these are just two examples of how tablet browsers simply do not currently offer the same browser experience as a laptop or desktop PC.

 

4) Tablets (Mostly) Aren't Built to Last

M experience with tablets tells me that they're not particularly durable, and they could break during everyday use. Apple's iPad, the epitome of the modern tablet, is practically a work of art; it's shiny, sleek and stunning, and that's just the hardware. The iPad's software is even better looking.
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But the iPad is very fragile.

I can practically feel all of you iPad lovers rolling your eyes right now as you read this, but it's true. Your precious iPad's display will shatter if you drop it on its edge just right, just once. The same can be said about many of the most popular tablets right now; it's not just an iPad thing. Even the BlackBerry PlayBook, certainly one of the more durable tablets on the market right now, has a display that will shatter if dropped a couple of times.

The reason for this: All tablets, practically by definition, are partially composed of a thin slab of glass or delicate glass-like substance. And glass breaks easily. Sure, smartphones and laptops can break, too. But the average laptop is built to take some degree of abuse--and it closes when not in use, to protect that display--as is the average smartphone, except perhaps, for handhelds that were built to look good first and foremost, and for which function is a secondary concern--again, I'm looking at you, Apple.

Every tablet has a different build quality, and a number of well-built cases exist to help protect your tablet, whatever the make and model. But the fact is that modern tablets are extremely susceptible to damage, and that doesn't really make them worthy tools for on the go work or play.

Why Tablets Aren't for Everyone: Conclusions

Bottom line: Though unquestionably fun to use and valuable in some specific situations and environments, tablets are still just a luxury item for most people; nobody really needs them, because they don't truly offer anything that some form of smartphone/laptop combination doesn't offer.

In the future, I believe tablets will definitely find a home in some industries, such as healthcare, field-service work and for general on-the-go inventory management, etc. But I really don't see your average field-service worker toting an iPad or PlayBook around, as much as they might like to. Tablets are just too unwieldy for folks who aren't already toting a bag or other carrying solution. And they aren't as cheap as smartphones, which can offer much of the same functionality.

Tablet PCs, and the iPad in particular, are getting so much hype on TV, in your favorite magazines and in films, etc., right now, it's easy to forget that though they aren't new, they've certainly become newly popular. Apple seems to have successfully convinced the masses that iPads are near-necessities, but I'm still skeptical.
As the tablet market matures, some of the concerns mentioned in this post will no doubt be addressed to some degree. But I honestly don't see tablets "replacing" laptops or smartphones in the foreseeable future. And that's just fine with me.

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Fake Antivirus Targets Firefox | www.batterylaptoppower.com

Firefox users have targeted by a new scam that tries to load a user's PC with fake antivirus software using a passably convincing version of the Windows Update page.

Fake antivirus scams are legion, and ones using bogus update pages of one sort of another are also an established trick. The oddity of the latest incarnation of the attack, discovered by Sophos, is that it triggers only when encountering Windows users of Firefox pushed to it through a page redirect.



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Artwork: Chip TaylorThe first big giveaway? Windows Update can only be started as a background activity in Windows or through Internet Explorer.
 The page itself is a copy of the Windows Update page offering an "urgent" 2.8MB download which will turn out to start a useless security scan plugging fake antivirus software. The technique is clever. Users who agree to the update without being entirely sure that it is genuine will be more easily convinced that a PC has been infected with the non-existent malware later detected by the bogus program.

"Users need to be more vigilant than ever before as bogus security alerts pop-up in their browsers," said Graham Cluley of Sophos. "Fake anti-virus attacks are big business for cybercriminals and they are investing time and effort into making them as convincing as possible."

"Malicious hackers are using smart social engineering tricks more and more often, and the risk is that users will be scared by a phoney warning into handing over money to fix problems that never existed in the first place," he said.
Attacks targetting Mozilla Firefox users seem to be a mini-fashion right now. Last week, the company reported a separate scam that throws up bogus security warnings that ape the browser's security alerts as yet another method of pushing the same useless scareware products.

Neither are entirely convincing to an experienced user but they probably don't need to be to satisfy a business model that delivers decent rewards simply for tricking a handful people into installing a fake antivirus system.

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Google.com's popular Les Paul playable guitar doodle

Attention, procrastinators: There's little chance of getting caught up with the tasks you avoided yesterday, now that Google.com's popular Les Paul playable guitar doodle has been extended for another day.

"Due to popular demand, we're leaving the Les Paul doodle up in the U.S. through Friday for an encore. Thanks for jamming with us!" wrote Google designer Alexander Chen in an update on the company's blog Friday morning.

The interactive doodle rearranges a few guitar strings in the shape of the Google logo, and the strings can be plucked or strummed by moving the cursor across. There's also a button to record and play back your musical creations. The whole thing is in honor of Les Paul, commonly held as the father of the electric guitar, who would have been 96 years old Thursday. He died in 2009.

The musical doodle rivals 2010's playable Pac-man offering celebrating the game's 30th anniversary in terms of the amount of buzz generated online. (See also 20 Notable Google Doodles" for some other favorites.) According to Trendistic, at its height of popularity around midday Thursday, about 0.15 percent of all tweets included the hashtag #googledoodle. That's about one-tenth the popularity that the word "Apple" saw on Twitter on the day of Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote earlier this week, which is still quite significant for a doodle.

According to Chen, " The doodle was made with a combination of JavaScript, HTML5 Canvas (used in modern browsers to draw the guitar strings), CSS, Flash (for sound) and tools like the Google Font API, goo.gl and App Engine."

In the past 24 hours, recordings created using the doodle have begun to show up on places like YouTube, where riffs from Michael Jackson, the Star-Spangled Banner, and my favorite, the theme to Tetris are plucked out on the Google logo.

Apparently not everyone was thrilled though -- one engineer is reported to have complained that the doodle wasted ten megawatts of energy worldwide. I think it's worth checking the calculations on that one. In the meantime, I've got some songs to write.

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Review - OS X Lion vs. Windows 8

Last October at an event on the Apple Cupertino campus called "Back to the Mac," the world got its first peek at the stylish tech firm's next desktop operating system, dubbed "OS X Lion." CEO Steve Jobs explained that the success of the company's iPad tablet was a major driver in adding features to Lion. More details were demonstrated at this year's WWDC. And just last week at D9, the world got its first peek at what the company has code-named "Windows 8," in a demo by Microsoft's Windows President, Steve Sinofsky. That operating system, too, it turns out, was heavily influenced by a smaller-form-factor OS—Windows Phone 7.

But the similarities don't end at the two future desktop OS's mobile influencers. Both Lion and Window 8 will make heavy use of touch interfaces, but with a big difference, as you'll see in the slideshow below. Both will have an App Store, both have full screen app views, and both offer new ways to switch among and navigate within apps.
There are, of course, important differences between Microsoft and Apple's overall OS strategies, as outlined by Peter Pachal in "Mac OS X Lion vs. Windows 8: Who Will Win the Post-PC World?" It all hinges on tablet support. Pachal points out that Apple is aligning its tablet and phone OSes, and keeping the desktop OS separate, though mobile-influenced. Microsoft, on the other hand, is creating one OS for tablets and desktops, while keeping the phone OS separate—for now, anyway. Microsoft may even have its ideas for a grand unified OS for all devices. Keep in mind that Lion, which is due for release next month, is much further along in the development process. Windows 8, on the other hand, isn't coming out until next year, so we haven't gotten as full a picture of the latter.

Clearly, the tablet and mobile worlds have begun to impact the desktop OS in a major way. This begs the question: Can the desktop survive? Once you see all the powerful goodies these new system software heavyweights bring to the table, however, you'd be hard pressed to make a case for the irrelevance of the desktop computer. Click through the slideshow to see whether you disagree, and to see which looks better to you: Windows 8 or Apple's OS X Lion.

Lion's Mobile-like User Interface

OS X Lion's interface won't take on its iPad/iPhone-inspired guise until you run Launchpad. This gives the desktop a view that's nearly identical to the home screen of an iPad or iPhone, with pages of square app icons that you can swipe through. And just as on iOS, you can create folders of related apps by dragging one icon on top of another. And, of course, you can drag the apps around Launchpad's pages to place them wherever you want—doing so is actually easier on the Mac than on an iDevice.

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Windows 8's Mobile-like User Interface

Windows 8's overall interface shows more influence from Windows Phone 7 than OS X Lion does from iOS. It uses the Metro interface found on Windows Phone 7, with "live tiles" that give quick access to and display info from your apps. But we've also seen a legacy desktop interface, in which Windows 8 looks exactly like Windows 7. This showed up when Windows President Steve Sinofsky showed Windows 8 running Office at the D9 tech gathering. This brings us back to the point about Windows 8 doing double duty for desktops and tablets, in contrast to Apple's strategy of using the phone OS for its iPad tablet. The reason Microsoft is taking this route: It cares more about business users than Apple does. And business users use desktops primarily, and will want desktop capabilities on their tablets.

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Windows 8's Touch and Gesture Support

Both OS X Lion and Windows 8 have claimed greater multitouch and gesture support, but Windows 8 will actually support touch screens, whereas Lion won't let you use your screen as an input device, instead relying on touchpads that support multitouch and gestures. The OS will go so far as including a thumb-able on-screen keyboard for tablets without keyboards. Apple, in contrast, is adding a similar feature to its upcoming mobile OS release, iOS 5.

Lion's Touch Gesture Support

Mac OS X Snow Leopard already includes a good deal of touch and gesture support on touchpads, and these are very well illustrated with video demos in the Mac's System Preferences' Trackpad section. For Lion, Apple claims that the touch experience with be even more direct and natural, featuring rubber-band scrolling, page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping. You'll be able to call up Mission Control , tap to zoom, and switch between full-screen apps.

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Switching Among Apps

For OS X Lion, Apple has revamped the Spaces virtual desktop feature, wrapping it into the Mission Control app switcher. But Spaces will likely be more frequently used in its new guise, since you'll be able to switch VDs through simple swipe gesture. Windows 8, too, has switching by swipe, but Microsoft's version is just app switching versus virtual desktop switching.

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the iOS 5 debut: Microsoft will deliver Windows Phone 7 Mango in Q4

Sure, Lion and iCloud are big news, but, for the millions of iPhone users out there, the real news at the center of the Apple's WWDC conference was iOS 5, equipped with cutting-edge (though, in some cases, strangely familiar) notifications, messaging, and cable-free connectivity. These goodies—and hundreds of other (unspecified) features—now available in developer release, won't appear until the fall, perhaps at the same time as a new iPhone. It seems like just about all the competition –Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry—will be releasing new versions between now and then, too.

Using Apple's release as the baseline, I've pulled out 13 of the most exciting new features of iOS 5. The iPhone—and iOS 5—will face three popular challengers this fall. Each of these contenders will a bit sprier by the iOS 5 debut: Microsoft will deliver Windows Phone 7 Mango in Q4; Blackberry OS 7 also ought to be available; and Android 2.3 Gingerbread will be ubiquitous, with Android 3.1 Ice Cream should be served up for the holidays. How will iOS stack up?

Below I've charted the results as simply as I can, but be advised there are nuances to particular comparisons. For example, in call cases there are plenty of third-party apps that may fill in gaps. Furthermore, when it comes to Android, OEMs tend to skin the phones (albeit with mixed results), often adding additional functionality to the stock version of Android. In order for any sort of comparison to work, I'm looking at what you get out of the box on stock versions of each mobile OS. Check out the table first, and then take a look at my explanations of each category and the caveats that go with it.



Notifications

When it comes to unified notification systems, Apple's newly-minted Notification Center bares quite a resemblance to that of Android. As with Android, you can both access notifications from the lock screen or, when using the phone, pull down a tray of notifications from the top of the screen. Blackberry simply pins updates to the home screen. Finally, Windows 7 Mango uses live tiles, which is a bit less unified, but considerably more flexible (I gave it the "check" on account of said flexibility).

Phone-to-Phone Messaging

Apple is clearly watching its competitors. The iOS phone-to-phone messaging system, iMessage, looks a lot like Blackberry Messenger. So much for that iOS app.

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Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions

Apple is leading the way into the print subscription market, though it remains to be seen how much users will appreciate reading the New Yorker on the iPhone, as opposed to an iPad.

Advanced Reminder System

All four mobile platforms allow users to set basic reminders, but no one can touch the iOS Reminders tool on account of its geo-fencing location-based notifications.

System-Wide Twitter Integration

The one third-party software with which iOS consistently integrates is Twitter. Because it's built into the system, once you sign-in, you ought to be able to Tweet from just about anywhere on your phone. The forthcoming release of Window Phone 7 does this and a step better—it includes deep Facebook integration. Finally, while Twitter can appear in the Android Gallery, you must install the app first—so it's not integrated out of the box.

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Quick-Camera Access

If you're using your mobile phone as your camera—as more and more people are beginning to do, for better or worse—quick access counts. Both Windows 7 Mango and iOS 5 let users jump directly into camera mode from the lock screen. iOS 5 goes a step further and lets you snap photos without entering a passcode (if you have one). Blackberry does allow users to map a side button to launch a camera, but unfortunately you'll still need to unlock your device.

Photo Editing ToolsWhen it comes to photo editing on the go, iOS 5 is a clear winner out of the box. While Android allows some editing (crop and rotate), iOS goes a step further (crop, edit, red eye reduction, composition controls, and auto-enhance). Tabbed Browsing

Considering how many great browsers are available for Android, it continues to baffle the mind as to why Google hasn't added tabs into its stock browser through an incremental update. Now that Safari has tabs, Android remains the odd-man out.

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Reader View

Because Apple has essentially rolled Instapaper into Safari Mobile, iOS has a clear edge over the competition when it comes to clutter-free web reading. Add the cloud-based Reading List and it looks even better.

Rich Text Email

When it comes to composing HTML email all mobile OSes except Android rise to the occasion. That said, Android does allow users to receive formatted mail.

PC-Free Setup, Updates

Desktop-free setup and updates is one area where Apple played serious catch up with iOS 5. It now joins all the other platforms in the (sort of) post-PC world. One caveat: remember how Apple used to make you download 400-megabyte files for an incremental update? Now that Apple is rolling out delta updates, all that you'll need to download is what has changed from one version of iOS to the next. Now that you're wireless—and probably on a tiered plan—that could spare you a significant cellular bill.

Wi-Fi Sync

Wireless synchronization is another area where iOS has lagged behind the competiton—except for Google. That said, what Apple has finally delivered is quite powerful: Everything in your iTunes library—including photos and video—can sync over the area. In this respect, iOS Wi-Fi sync tops Blackberry, which handles music, but not video.


Online Gaming Community

Game Center already looked great, but it's even better now that you can download and review games without leaving. The only service that rivals game center is Microsoft's Xbox Live. However, when it comes to actually finding games to play, Apple has the liveliest marketplacee, for the time being.
The Best Smartphone OS?

Any judgement will have to wait until we actually get our hands on the OSes in question and test them out on real-live phones. And it's also worth noting that our feature set for this comparison is pretty heavily influenced by Apple's WWDC presentation. Still, judging by what we know so far, it's clear that Apple's iOS 5 looks to be the smartphone OS to beat this fall.
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Five Ways Apple Rips-Off Android with iOS 5

Apple unveiled a host of new features in iOS 5 due out this fall including revamped notifications, over-the-air updates, and cloud data storage. You might even call these new features magical or revolutionary, unless you're an Android user, then you'd call them "stuff I've been using for years." The latest additions to Apple's mobile OS are probably a welcome relief for iPhone and iPad fans, but it's hard to call iOS "the world's most advanced mobile operating system" when Apple is playing catch up to Android. Here's a look at the five biggest Android rip-offs in iOS 5.

Notification Center

Apple's Notification Center. (Click to zoom)In iOS 5, iPhone and iPad users no longer have to worry about annoying pop-ups from other apps intruding on their gaming or reading sessions. Instead, a notification will slide down from the top of the screen and disappear as quickly as it came. You can also view all your notifications in one place called Notification Center available from the lock screen or by just swiping downward from the top of the device screen. It's a great way to handle notifications, and Android users have loved it since at least 2009, when Google introduced Android OS 2.0.

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Apple ID reload

With Apple's new iCloud feature, you can back up your iDevice's data including apps, e-books, calendar and so on. Then if you buy a new iOS device, you just type in your Apple ID and password and your new device gets populated with all the content backed up to iCloud. It's part of Apple's new PC free push, and Android users first got a taste of this feature in 2008.

Social networking integration

Apple is building deep Twitter integration into iOS 5 that will let you tweet content from a variety of apps including Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps. Granted, Android doesn't have Twitter-specific integration, but it does have a developer feature called Intents. This feature means Android devices can send content between apps on the phone, including social networking services. Sure, it's not the one-touch offering you get with Twitter in iOS 5, but Android allows you quick access to more than just Twitter.

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Over-the-air updates

Image courtesy of Macworld.Apple is finally catching up with Android by offering over-the-air updates that let you update your phone's software without syncing with iTunes. Android has been offering such updates from day one, but Android devices are also notorious for getting update rollouts very slowly. This problem had more to do with device makers and carriers than Google, but it will be interesting to see how well Apple can execute a feature that has proven problematic for Android.

Camera volume snap

Many Android devices and camera apps have included a hardware shutter button control for a long time, a new feature available in iOS 5 that lets you snap a picture with the iPhone 4's volume button. But maybe it's not Android that should be surprised to see this feature but Camera+, an iPhone app that tried several times to include this feature in their app.

So that's how Apple has copied Android, or did Apple copy Windows Phone 7? Microsoft's Phone 7 chief Joe Belfiore recently said on Twitter he was "flattered" to see so many Phone 7 features headed to iOS 5. Shocking isn't it? Who knew they were still selling Windows Phone 7 devices?

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E3 Preview:The things We Want to See

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is coming up next week. Here's what we're expecting to see on the show floor.

E3 starts this Tuesday (June 7), and if the rumors are any indication, this year's show will be one for the gaming history books. Read on to see what PCWorld's E3 Away Team is anticipating, and don't forget to follow PCWorld's Game On blog for up-to-the-minute E3 updates.
Patrick Miller covers HDTVs and how-tos for PCWorld, and he has a particular weakness for fighting games and StarCraft 2.

What I Want: First, I want Nintendo's new console to excite me. The Wii might have been excellent for getting video game consoles into houses that had never seen them before, but not that many Wii games could hold my interest for longer than an hour or so. Although Nintendo may have scored big with the casual-friendly Wii, I don't think the company will be able to make that magic happen again. At the very minimum, the new system needs to be substantially more powerful--at least two Wiis duct-taped together, this time.



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Other than that, this year's E3 is all about follow-through. Microsoft's Kinect and Nintendo's 3DS are cool, but now I want to see games designed for the Kinect and 3DS that I'll actually pick up and play by myself for more than 20 minutes. I want to see Sony show off its new NGP portable console with some games (or even half-baked game concepts) that make me think, "Wow, that could be done only on the NGP." And I really want to see a full suite of blockbuster titles and low-budget independent games that show off everything the PC can bring to the gaming world, because we're due for a resurgence.

What I Expect: Sequels are big business in video games, and for a good reason--it's easier to sell a prospective game buyer on another iteration of a game they were convinced to purchase once before, as they're already interested in the characters and the gameplay. I hate the incessant sequelitis as much as everyone else does, but I suspect we'll see a few good sequels and spinoffs tactically employed to build enthusiasm for a new platform. For example, the Nintendo 3DS version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater mixes arguably the best game from the series with some 3DS-exclusive features such as the accelerometer and the forward-facing camera. If I have to be stuck with the same old stories, at least use the Kinect or something to switch things up a bit.

What I Don't Want: I'm fully convinced that iOS/Android games and social games have incredible amounts of potential, and I can't wait to see what kinds of addictive gems pop out from the woodwork at this year's E3. That said, if any game is described as being in the vein of FarmVille or Angry Birds, my brain is going to reboot. Game makers won't do justice to the mobile and social categories simply by name-dropping two banal (if wildly popular) games that don't need to be rehashed yet again.

Alex Wawro is PCWorld's eternally optimistic editorial assistant, and he's already on the ground in L.A. to prepare for E3 2011.

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Deus Ex 3: Human RevolutionWhat I Want: The short answer is simple--I want to see great games. Thankfully, E3 2011 seems well equipped to meet or exceed my expectations with blockbuster titles such as Deus Ex 3, Battlefield 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim available for play on the show floor.

The longer, more complicated answer is that I'd like to see games developed to satisfy the varying needs of a growing audience without snubbing any particular breed of player. I want to see great long-form single-player games like Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim, but I also want to see equally excellent titles designed to offer a unique and compelling multiplayer experience (Star Wars: The Old Republic or Battlefield 3, for example). And although Apple won't have a booth at E3, I hope that the company's stupendous success in facilitating mobile gaming positively influences how Nintendo and Sony market their respective portable gaming devices; the 3DS and NGP need to offer terrific games that are equally fun to play for a few hours on the couch or a few minutes on the bus.



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BioShock InfiniteWhat I Expect: I suspect that E3 2011 will herald a banner year for gaming hardware. We already know that we'll be seeing Nintendo's new console next Tuesday, and I expect Microsoft and Sony to respond proactively by teasing us with hints of new hardware in development during their respective press conferences. Game developers are pushing the limits of what contemporary consoles can do, and that means it's time to start talking about the next generation of hardware.

And since developers are learning to tap the full technical potential of modern consoles, I expect to see a slew of titles next week that take advantage of that knowledge and experience to deliver some of the best games we've seen this generation. (On that note, we've set aside plenty of time to play promising titles such as BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3, so check back next week for our full report on the biggest games of E3.)
What I Don't Want: No more peripheral devices. No more motion-control wands, vitality sensors, or weird touchscreen controllers; let's focus on making games that master the controllers we already own.
A new Power Glove would be pretty sweet, though.

Nate Ralph is PCWorld's desktops guru. He likes MMOs, punching trees to find goodies, and megalomaniacal AIs.



Read more other business: Hp pavilion dv9700 battery What I Want: If we've learned one important lesson from the success of the Wii (or Apple's iOS juggernaut), it's that specs are largely irrelevant. The success of Nintendo's next platform (and Microsoft's and Sony's, for that matter) will depend largely on offering fresh, groundbreaking gameplay.

I doubt Nintendo will see the error of its ways and kill off those onerous Friend Codes once and for all. But accessible, robust online connectivity is pretty much mandatory--for gaming with friends, and (more important) downloading new content.

Nintendo's bread and butter will always be the die-hard fans and the casual gaming segment, but the company needs to offer something to get game developers on board with their big-budget franchises--instead of allowing them to resort to disposable, waggle-heavy minigame collections. That said, don't expect the Wii's successor to be a number-crunching powerhouse. Do expect an internal hard drive, wireless connectivity, a native 1080p resolution, and a launch date sometime early in 2012--if Nintendo shows us anything at all, naturally.

Also: I'd like a reboot for the Harvest Moon series that pulls it back to its SNES roots, and a Pokémon MMO. Please.


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What I Expect: Game developers still have a way to go before they wring out all of the potential of the current console generation. This is great news for PC gamers. Our platform of choice remains versatile and open--and leaps and bounds ahead of its living-room-bound siblings where raw power is concerned.
But no more tired, shoddy ports for us: Minecraft and Terraria are just the tip of the indie-gaming iceberg, and titles such as Frozen Synapse and Magicka show that spirited developers with a great idea can find an audience with alarming speed. And that's to say nothing of the proverbial big kids--CD Projekt's The Witcher 2 and Valve's Portal 2 being a couple of examples.

I'm expecting to see lots of PC-centric gems as I trawl the show floor, with developers large and small taking advantage of what a platform this accessible has to offer.

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