Safari 5.0.1 Released with Extensions Gallery, Bug Fixes

On the heels of an iMac refresh, Apple on Wednesday released the next version of its web browser. As promised, Safari 5.0.1 comes complete with extensions and a Safari Extensions Gallery. In June, Apple rolled out extensions support to help developers create extensions using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. The result is a growing gallery currently at 100 extensions.

The gallery lets Apple fans find extensions that add new features to the browser, such as toolbars that display live web feeds and sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 users can download and install extensions from the gallery or directly from a developer's web site.

"The Safari Extensions Gallery puts Safari right up there with Chrome or Firefox with its ability to add functionality to the browser," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group. "It looks like they've got a good collection of extensions already up in the gallery. What's interesting is that once again there is a Bing extension built in. Other than the extensions, this is a minor release."

Microsoft, Amazon and Twitter Agree ...

Apple is getting kudos from some of its heavy-hitting technology colleagues (and competitors), including Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon.com. Gianna Puerini, vice president of worldwide design and community at Amazon, pointed to how the browser helps its customers build wish lists.

"With Safari 5, we were able to quickly build the Add to Amazon Wish List extension that lets customers add items from any web site to their Amazon wish list with the click of a button," Puerini said.

Jeff Henshaw, general manager of Microsoft's Bing User Experience, said the software giant is excited about working closely with Apple to bring "visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari."

"The Bing Extension for Safari brings Bing search intelligence to everyday browsing with Safari," Henshaw said. "When a user selects text in Safari,...
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Good Virus Protection Doesn't Have To Be Expensive

They're out there on the Internet, waiting: viruses, worms, hackers and phishers. And these days, those who fail to protect their computers against them are rightly accused of negligence -- particularly because you don't even have to spend money to get decent protection.

Even so, not all free software is equal. You will sometimes have to install multiple free programs to be assured of reasonable protection.

"You can achieve reasonable security with free programs," says Matthais Gaertner from the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI). This was confirmed by a recent test by German computer magazine c't. Four of six no-cost programs delivered very good results.

All free scanners are capable of removing viruses, Trojans, or rootkits relatively effortlessly. "One of the two biggest problems with free virus scanners is the artificially inflated signature update intervals. Updates are not made every couple of hours, but rather just once a day. The other is the thoroughly underwhelming behavior identification systems," explains c't editor Christiane Ruetten.

The first disadvantage, the delayed update of signatures, isn't that serious an issue, the expert feels. After all, identifying the virus signatures, a bit like a fingerprint for malicious software, is just one of several ways that malware is detected. "There's also the heuristic approach, the statistic analysis, and behavior recognition," Ruetten explains.

The second disadvantage, the lack of behavior recognition systems, is a bigger problem. That functionality is one of the primary pillars for raising the alarm if a program acts in a suspicious way. Ruetten therefore recommends installing extra free software like Threatfire to identify suspicious behavior if your free virus scanner of choice lacks that function.

Another factor to consider: so-called drive-by infections. These come when malicious software is unintentionally downloaded while surfing the Internet. Programs that monitor the data flow on the web include Avast...
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iCampaigning? Political Candidates Turn to Phone Apps

Running for office? You can make an app for that.

Maintaining a Facebook page and Twitter feed has become standard practice for political candidates seeking to get their message out. And some are even creating iPhone applications so supporters can follow their campaigns and make contributions on the go.

The method has grown in popularity -- especially since President Barack Obama's widely chronicled and successful embrace of social media during the 2008 campaign. He even had a sophisticated iPhone app that let people get in touch with local organizers and find local events.

"The demand for it, to be able to do it, is going to grow a lot, particularly if it's shown that apps are an effective way to raise money for a political campaign," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California-based First Amendment Coalition.

Doug MacGinnitie, a Republican running to be Georgia's secretary of state, has an iPhone app that provides information about his campaign and helps supporters donate money. Friends approached him about making one for the campaign last year, and it's been downloaded roughly 200 times, he said.

"I don't think it's going to change the course of history, but I've gotten comments from people who think it's cool," MacGinnitie said. "It reinforces the notion that I come from the business world, which is generally quicker to embrace technology."

Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who's running to be the Democratic nominee for governor, has an app that lets people follow her calendar, read news releases, familiarize themselves with her background and make campaign contributions.

"It shows that our campaign is a modern campaign," said Kelliher spokesman Matt Swenson. "We're connecting with people where they are right now through the phones in the palms of their hands."

Illinois state Sen. Dan Rutherford, who's the Republican candidate for state treasurer, said his campaign has...
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Rambus Patent Battle with Nvidia Grinds On

Chipmaker Rambus Inc. said Monday that The U.S. International Trade Commission plans to stop competitors from bringing products into U.S. that contain its patented technology. In April, the trade commission decided that Nvidia Corp.'s technology infringes on several of Rambus' patents.

Rambus had filed a complaint against Nvidia, which makes computer graphics chips and other technology, plus device manufacturers including PC makers Hewlett-Packard Co. and Asus Computer International Inc., in 2008. Rambus argued that Nvidia chips infringe on its patents related to the workings of memory systems in computers, gaming consoles and mobile devices.

Rambus said in a statement Monday that the trade commission intends to issue a limited exclusion order, which bars Nvidia and the device makers from importing and selling products that contain the technology in question.

The companies could import and sell the products during a 60-day review period, Rambus said, if they post a bond of 2.65 percent of the value of the products.

The trade commission's final determination has not yet been published.

Nvidia spokesman Hector Marinez said in a statement that the ruling will not affect the company's customers or business, because the chipmaker plans to use a license the European Commission required Rambus to make available as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation there.

The license will prevent the trade commission's order from being enforced, Marinez said.

Nvidia said it plans to appeal the case and press its arguments before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Shares of Los Altos, Calif.-based Rambus jumped $1.47, or 7.5 percent, to $21.06 in after-hours trading, while Nvidia's stock dipped 15 cents to $10.40.
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Free Tools Can Fix Windows Shortcut Vulnerability

Security firms G Data Software and Sophos have released free tools that eliminate a vulnerability in an operating-system component called the Windows Shell for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. According to Microsoft, the vulnerability exists because Windows incorrectly parses shortcuts in such a way that malicious code may be executed whenever the icon of a specially crafted shortcut is displayed.

Microsoft introduced an automated tool of its own on July 21 that will block any attempts to exploit the vulnerability of .LNK shortcut files. However, the software giant's homegrown fix replaces the graphics-based icons on the PC's Task and Start menu bars with generic white icons.

The free tool downloads from G Data and Sophos likewise block the automatic execution of malicious code but display the PC icons in their usual graphic form. "Microsoft's current workaround leaves systems almost unworkable with broken-looking icons," noted Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos.

Warning Users

Microsoft warned earlier this month that the shortcut vulnerability in Windows can be exploited locally through a malicious USB drive, or remotely via network shares and WebDAV. Moreover, an exploit can be included in specific document types that support embedded shortcuts, the software giant's security team said.

The free third-party tools from Sophos and G Data, which run alongside existing antivirus software, will intercept any shortcut files that contain the exploit and even warn users about the executable code that attempted to run. For example, the G Data tool displays safe desktop symbols in their usual form but activates a red warning icon if a malicious mechanism is detected.

Fixing the problem is important because the vulnerability gives cybercriminals a wide range of possibilities for infecting a PC, noted Ralf Benzmueller, head of G Data SecurityLabs. "They only need to make sure that a .LNK...
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Ask.com Reverts To Origins and Answers Questions

Asking Ask.com may now result in answers, not just links. On Tuesday, the search engine launched a new version that it described as "the first step in a multi-pronged strategy" to provide answers to users' questions, either from content on the web or from "previously unpublished knowledge shared by any of the millions of Ask.com users."

The company, an operating business of the IAC network of sites, said this functionality allows it to combine its proprietary search technology with the Ask.com community.

'Largest Q&A Database on the Web'

Ask.com President Doug Leeds said that, "with 87 million monthly users and more than a decade of Q&A experience, Ask.com is uniquely positioned to answer the long tail of questions that are impossible for search engines alone to address."

The new answer service was formerly an invitation-only beta. The company said "subjective and complex questions" that stump traditional search engines are directed to the Ask user community, utilizing Q&A matching technology which routes questions to appropriate possible answerers, based on interests and expertise. Each question will be returned with any possible answers from web content as well as Ask.com member responses.

The newest version of Ask.com includes proprietary semantic search technologies that display the most relevant answers at the top of the page, so no click-through is required to read a short answer. The search engine also includes what Ask.com described as the "largest Q&A database on the web," with more than 500 million questions and answers indexed, and the ability to mine hundreds of thousands of sources for specific question-and-answer pairs.

Formerly AskJeeves.com

There is also a revamped user interface, which features highlights of the most popular questions, as well as auto-suggestion of questions when users start typing into the search field.

The company is reverting to its origins as AskJeeves.com, in which conversational questions were the promoted...
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Yahoo Japan Rejects Microsoft's Bing, Selects Google

Score another win for Google. Despite Yahoo's intimate relationship with Microsoft's Bing search engine, Yahoo Japan has snubbed Bing in favor of the world search leader.

Yahoo Japan on Tuesday said it will tap Google's technology to power both its search engine and search ad-delivery system. But the decision may not have rested fully on Yahoo's shoulders.

Yahoo only owns 34.8 percent of Yahoo Japan. SoftBank, Japan's largest distributor of computer, software, peripherals and systems, as well as Japan's largest publisher of computer-related computer magazines and books, owns 38.6 percent, giving it majority control. Financial terms of the four-year, non-exclusive partnership were not disclosed.

"At the present time, we feel there are quite a few areas where Microsoft is not yet ready," said Yahoo Japan CEO Masahiro Inoue at a Tuesday press conference in Tokyo. "Google is one step ahead in Japanese-language services."

Google: The Better Choice?

Yahoo Japan has long partnered with Google. In 2001, Google announced its first alliance with Yahoo Japan to give Japanese users access to Google's search results. Yahoo Japan was then, and is now, one of the most visited web sites in Asia, and the partnership opens the door to more opportunity for Google.

Google owns 37.3 percent of Japan's search market, according to Net Ratings. But Yahoo Japan leads with 53.2 percent. Microsoft's MSN and Bing have grabbed a collective 2.6 percent. That's somewhat of a role reversal from the U.S. market, where Google has a dominant 85 percent, compared with only 6.2 percent for Yahoo.

"From the outside it's a surprise, but when you consider that Yahoo only owns a minority stake in the entity, it's less so. Its majority owned by SoftBank," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. SoftBank also owns shares in Alibaba Group, which runs Yahoo's China portal.

"Yahoo Japan...
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IBM Faces European Union Antitrust Probes

The European Union opened two antitrust investigations against IBM Corp. Monday, accusing the American technology giant of abusing its dominant position in the mainframe computer market.

One investigation stems from complaints by emulator software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules, which accuse IBM of tying the sale of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system, the European Commission said.

The other, begun at the EU executive's own initiative, accuses IBM of "discriminatory behavior toward competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services."

The opening of EU antitrust investigations does not mean the European Commission has proof of any wrongdoing, only that it sees cause for a deeper look into corporate behavior.

The European Commission said T3 and Turbo Hercules complain that IBM, by tying its hardware and operating systems together, "shuts out providers of emulation technology which could enable the users to run critical applications on non-IBM hardware."

Its own complaint addresses the concern that IBM "may have engaged in anticompetitive practices" by keeping competitors in maintenance services at bay, "by restricting or delaying access to spare parts for which IBM is the only source."

Mainframes are powerful computers used by large corporations and governments to store and process critical business information. It is estimated the vast majority of corporate data worldwide resides on mainframes.

The European Commission estimated worldwide sales of mainframe computers and operating systems in 2009 at euro8.5 billion. It put sales in Europe at about euro3 billion that year.

T3 and Turbo Hercules make "emulators" software that acts as if it is running on an IBM mainframe whereas it is actually running on cheaper servers.
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HTC Switches To Sony Screens To Ease Phone Shortage

HTC is working to end the summer of the smartphone shortage. After assuring Android-based smartphone users that Samsung was its screen manufacturer of choice, the handset maker is switching to Sony products.

On Monday, HTC announced it will begin using Super LCD display technology in a variety of smartphones, including the HTC Desire and the global Nexus One set to launch later this summer. HTC seems to be shifting from the Samsung AMOLED screens that are in short supply and hindering the manufacture of popular smartphones. Sony makes the Super LCD displays.

"HTC is experiencing high demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7-inch displays. The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high demand," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. "The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC's current 3.7-inch displays with some additional benefits, including battery performance."

Widespread Shortages

HTC's decision is no surprise. Widespread shortages of the Droid Incredible at Verizon Wireless and the HTC EVO 4G at Sprint Nextel are robbing the company of opportunities to gain market share in a competitive smartphone landscape.

SLCD is the latest generation of LCD technology. HTC said it offers improved performance from earlier LCD panels, including approximately five times better power management. HTC also said SLCDs offer an enhanced viewing experience with wider viewing angles from Sony's new VSPEC III technology.

Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, said HTC has assured him that the Super LCD screens are almost identical to the AMOLED displays the company has been using in its popular Android handsets. But he can't speak from firsthand experience.

"I have also been promised a review unit as soon as possible. I have an original Incredible, so once they do send in the new version...
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Twitter To Open Huge Data Center in Utah

Twitter Inc. has announced -- in a tweet, of course -- that it will build a huge data center in Utah, making it the latest company to set up computer-intensive operations in a state with cheap electricity and a business-friendly reputation.

The San Francisco-based company's engineering program manager, Jean-Paul Cozzatti, announced Wednesday that Twitter's technical operations would move to the Salt Lake City area.

Cozzatti said the move was necessary for the microblogging Web site to keep up with demand for a service with about 100 million users worldwide.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said the state's tech-savvy work force makes it perfect for companies like Twitter.

Twitter will "contribute to the development of critical mass in our software and technology economic cluster, which has already attracted companies such as Oracle and eBay and has enabled Omniture and others to prosper," Herbert said Thursday.

Orem-based Omniture Inc., now owned by software maker Adobe Systems Inc., analyzes traffic for other companies' Web sites.

The state's utility, Rocky Mountain Power, was reluctant because of confidentiality reasons to confirm arrangements it would have to make for yet another data center in its service territory.

"Typically when a customer wants to locate here, they talk to us -- there are certain infrastructure requirements which they must pay," said utility spokesman Dave Eskelsen, who avoided any mention of Twitter.

"We have seen these facilities look to our service area because our prices are low -- we're in the lower fifth nationwide for electricity prices. It's only understandable that people with largest electricity needs would look to Utah," he said.

Most of Utah's power comes from coal-fired plants that export a lot of the electricity to other states.

Salt Lake City and its suburbs also are becoming a hub for large data centers because of the region's high-speed communications networks, which can process large volumes of data...
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The Internet Is Running Out of Addresses Under IPv4

To the list of dwindling worldwide resources add Internet addresses. According to experts, the nearly 4.5 billion current addresses aren't enough, only six percent of available addresses are left, and the Internet will run out of addresses by sometime late next year.

Three main factors are behind the upcoming shortage. One is the explosion in web access from multiple devices for each user, primarily in developed countries. Each of those smartphones, laptops, tablets, desktops and other devices that access the web require a different IP, or Internet protocol, address. And the demand for device addresses is increasing rapidly, with TVs, game consoles, even automobiles offering web-browsing capability.

Trillions of Addresses for Each Person

A second factor is a rapidly growing user base in developing countries, such as Brazil, India or China. Many of users there access the web through mobile devices, which means the device-per-user ratio in those countries is also likely to increase rapidly.

And, third, the Internet is becoming the communications network for non-user-based equipment, such as smart electricity grids, sensors, RFIDs and smart houses.

But all is not lost. The current Net uses Internet protocol version four (IPv4), which dates back to 1980 and a time when 4.5 billion addresses seemed like a lot. A newer technology, IPv6, utilizes 128-bit addresses, instead of IPv4's 32-bit, and IPv6 proponents say the new technology could offer -- if needed -- a vast number of addresses that should keep humanity happy until the sun burns out.

Some experts say IPv6 could provide four billion addresses for each person on Earth. But Dave Evans, Cisco's chief technologist for its Internet business solutions group, has said the actual number is closer to "50 thousand trillion trillion addresses per person."

In addition to zillions of new addresses, IPv6 brings other improvements, including in routing, network auto-configuration,...
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Tablet Computer for $35 or Less Developed in India

A tablet computer for $35. That's the estimated retail price of a prototype basic touchscreen tablet developed by the government of India.

The device, which uses the open-source Linux operating system, was unveiled Thursday by Kapil Sibal, India's human-resource development minister. "This is our answer to M.I.T.'s $100 computer," he told the Economic Times.

$10, Eventually

His reference is to the $100 laptop that M.I.T. Media Lab cofounder Nicholas Negroponte set as a goal when he founded One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in 2005. The main idea was to build an innovative, inexpensive computer to be used by children in developing countries.

But the Indian government thought that even $100 was too expensive, so it started developing its own. In the meantime, OLPC's laptop was developed and released, but at an eventual price of about $200. OLPC announced in the spring that it would develop and launch a basic tablet computer for $99.

The Indian tablet was developed by researchers and students at the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science at Sibal's urging. He has told news media that the goal is to eventually get the price closer to $10. The Indian government, which is undertaking a major educational technology initiative, will subsidize the tablet, bringing the near-term price down to $20.

The prototype has no hard drive but uses a memory card, can run on solar power, and incorporates open-source software. The government said it supports web browsing, word processing, video conferencing, and other applications.

A previous effort by the Indian government, announced last year, to develop a $10 laptop ended with a prototype handheld device that has apparently been abandoned.

'Have a Few on Hand'

The government has said that at least one Taiwanese manufacturer, in addition to other computer makers, is interested in building the device, although no arrangements have been made....
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When Will Wi-Fi in the Sky Truly Take Off?

Travelers used to getting a free wireless Internet connection on land are not willing to pay for one at 30,000 feet (9,000 meters).

Wireless Internet service on airlines has not caught on, mostly because of the price. Travelers already paying $25 to check a bag and $20 for a roomier seat do not want to fork over $5 or more for Wi-Fi unless it is a necessity. They're saving their Web surfing for solid ground, where "hot spots" offer the service without charge.

Airlines have offered promotions, including some free service, to draw attention to their Wi-Fi. But experts say only about 10 percent of passengers on Web-enabled flights have taken advantage.

Airline technology consultant Michael Planey thinks Wi-Fi will be free as early as mid-2011. But if airlines want to go that route, there is a catch: They still have to compensate the service provider, such as Aircell, whose Gogo Inflight Internet serves every major airline except Southwest.

Planey thinks the airlines have a few options to cover the costs:

_Getting big companies like Google or Verizon to sponsor free Internet service. Those providers would make money through advertisements.

_Pay for some part of the service themselves, and then use it to cut costs. For example, a flight attendant could use the inflight Wi-Fi to connect with reservations at the terminal and make new arrangements for passengers who missed a connecting flight.

_Airlines could arrange ways to get a commission when travelers buy things online.

Planey predicts that discount carriers like JetBlue, AirTran and Southwest will stop charging first, promoting free Wi-Fi to win passengers away from bigger airlines.

The major airlines have equipped most of their planes with Wi-Fi and promoted the service. Prices of $4.95 to $12.95 aren't exactly exorbitant, but passengers will not shell out money for something they don't see as a necessity after...
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New Computer Memory Boosted By Poplar Tree Protein

Is there any connection between poplar tree and computers? Yes.

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in showing how it is possible to greatly expand the memory capacity of future computers through the use of memory units based on silica nanoparticles combined with protein molecules obtained from the poplar tree.

In doing so, they have developed an alternative avenue to miniaturize memory elements while increasing the number and capacity of memory and functional logic elements in computers, according to a news release published on Wednesday.

This approach could replace standard fabrication techniques in use until now for increasing computer memory capacity, a process which involves ever-increasing manufacturing costs.

The project involves the genetic engineering of poplar protein to enable its hybridization with a silicon nanoparticle. In this process, the nanoparticles are attached to the inner pore of a stable, ring-like protein (the poplar derivative), and these hybrids are arranged in a large network, or array, of very close, molecular memory elements.

The practical result of the research, carried out by Professor Danny Porath and his colleagues, is a cost-effective system that greatly increases existing memory capacity while significantly reducing the space required to carry out this volume of activity.

A related article has been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
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Hynix Swings to 2Q Net Profit Amid Record Sales

Hynix Semiconductor turned a net profit in the second quarter after a loss the year before as sales rose to a record and prices for its mainstay computer memory chips increased.

Hynix, the world's second-largest manufacturer of computer memory chips, earned 664.8 billion won ($550.2 million) in the three months ended June 30, it said Thursday in a regulatory filing. The company reported a net loss of 58 billion won a year earlier.

Sales nearly doubled to an all-time high of 3.28 trillion won from 1.68 trillion won the year before, Hynix said. Operating profit -- seen as a direct indicator of business performance before taxes, dividends, asset sales and other items figured into net profit or loss -- rose to a record high of 1.05 trillion won.

The net profit result was Hynix Semiconductor Inc.'s fourth straight quarter in the black. The company recorded its first net profit in two years in the third quarter of last year as prices for memory chips rose amid a rapid recovery in the market.

Since 2008, the company has also closed its U.S. factory, cut costs, slashed executive pay and positions and encouraged early retirements. It also received an infusion of fresh capital via bank loans and a share offering.

Hynix manufactures DRAM chips, used mostly in personal computers and ranks No. 2 behind South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. It also ranks No. 4 in the world in NAND flash memory chips, used in products such as digital cameras, music players and smartphones.

Hynix supplies NAND chips to Apple Inc. for its iPod and iPhone products and mobile DRAM chips for the iPad, according to Hynix.

Besides Samsung, Icheon, South Korea-based Hynix also competes with Japan's Toshiba Corp., Micron Technology Inc. of the United States and others.

Hynix said in a release that the average selling price for its...
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IBM Calls zEnterprise the 'Most Powerful' Mainframe Ever

IBM announced Thursday its zEnterprise mainframe server, which it described as "the most powerful and energy-efficient mainframe ever." The Armonk, N.Y.-based company called the new zEnterprise "the most significant design change in 20 years for the IBM mainframe." At the same time, the company unveiled a new systems design that allows mainframe, POWER7 and System x servers to be managed as one virtual system.

IBM said its new systems design is the result of an R&D investment of more than $1.5 billion, combining the new zEnterprise mainframe with a new zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension and Unified Resource Manager. The resulting system, IBM said, can reduce cost of ownership by 55 percent and lower acquisition costs by 40 percent.

'Jumble of Disparate Technologies'

The zEnterprise System is intended to address what the company described as "the jumble of disparate technologies" that can develop in data centers, sometimes operating with separate staffs and management tools. But the new system allows a financial-services firm, for instance, to both manage credit-card transactions and analyze the information, all within seconds instead of hours. Also being introduced is the Smart Analytics Optimizer, intended to speed up complex analyses while reducing the cost for each transaction.

Complex database queries can see as much as a ten-fold improvement in performance with the new system, IBM said, and the mainframe's capabilities can be extended to customer-service applications running on IBM blade servers.

The core server, called the zEnterprise 196, has 96 microprocessors running at 5.2 GHz and is able to handle 50 billion instructions per second. New software developed for this microprocessor technology can lead to a 60 percent improvement in data-intensive and Java workloads, according to IBM.

Although the new system has 60 percent more capacity than System z10, its predecessor, it consumes about the same amount of electricity. IBM said it costs 74...
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Barnes & Noble Launches Android E-Reader App

Barnes & Noble is spreading its wings into the Android Marketplace with an e-reader app for Android devices. Nook for Android hopes to encourage consumers to buy books from the Amazon.com competitor.

Nook for Android is more than an e-reading app. It also lets Android-powered smartphone users shop Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, which has more than one million digital books, including new releases, bestsellers and free classics. The app also syncs with a consumer's personal e-book library on the nook e-reader, online or other Barnes & Noble e-reader-enabled devices.

The B&N Advantage

Why not start with an iPhone app? Douglas Gottlieb, vice president of digital products for BN.com, said the Android app was the "most requested." With so many Android-powered smartphones, Barnes & Noble decided to go with the numbers. Playing catch-up to Amazon.com's Kindle, Barnes & Noble also plans to release e-reader apps for the iPhone, iPad and others in the months ahead.

Nook for Android lets users customize text with various font styles and sizes, a navigation bar, reading in landscape and portrait modes, and graphical page turns. Nook for Android hopes to hook Android smartphone users by making it easy to see the cover art and sort and filter e-books by author, title and recent reads. The app also lets users get in-depth product details for e-books, including the synopsis and more books from that author.

Nothing unusual about those features, but Nook for Android does offer something competing Android apps don't: Digital lending. Barnes & Noble has developed what it calls LendMe technology to let customers share eligible e-books with friends for up to 14 days.

E-Reader Viability

While Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-reader manufacturers rush to leverage the e-book craze, the long-term mainstream success of e-readers remains questionable. E-books are clearly finding their niche, but dedicated e-readers aren't necessarily needed...
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Wireless Broadband Network To Launch Next Year

U.S. consumers and businesses may get more options in wireless service starting next year, with the launch of a new wireless broadband network that aims to provide competition to the incumbent phone companies.

Private-equity firm Harbinger Capital Partners on Tuesday revealed details of the launch of its wireless network, LightSquared, which should cover 92 percent of the population by 2015.

But there are financial and regulatory hurdles to overcome. And in another wrinkle, LightSquared won't initially be offering conventional cell phone service, just data. It's possible to send phone calls over data connections, but that technology is not fully mature or standardized.

Still, LightSquared represents a rare new entrant in the wireless market. Only two other companies, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., have firm plans to build nationwide networks using the same, fourth-generation network technology that LightSquared will use. Sprint Nextel Corp., through its Clearwire Corp. subsidiary, is building a third one with a different 4G technology that's likely to get less support from equipment makers.

Consumers won't buy service directly from LightSquared. Instead, it will sell access wholesale to other companies that can resell it to consumers. LightSquared hopes to attract cable TV providers, phone companies that don't have wireless networks of their own and retailers that want to provide wireless service under their own brand.

Dan Hays, who focuses on telecommunications with consulting firm PRTM, said LightSquared "could provide a renewed opportunity for retailers and major brands such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Office Depot to enter the wireless market as service providers to consumers."

LightSquared plans to start providing service in the second half of 2011 in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and Baltimore.

LightSquared said Nokia Siemens Networks will build, maintain and operate the network under a $7 billion, eight-year contract. Nokia Siemens is a joint venture of Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG...
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EMC's Net More Than Doubles as Sales Rise

EMC Corp.'s net income more than doubled in the second quarter as corporations opened the spigot on spending for more data storage.

But economic worries because of the European debt crisis and fears of a possible "double-dip" recession in the U.S. have eclipsed encouraging signs from the technology sector. Some investors fear a spike in computer spending may just be a relief valve for pent-up demand that won't stay open long.

Shares slid 3 percent in early trading.

Other technology heavyweights such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. have reported higher second-quarter profits but have failed to impress investors.

Joe Tucci, EMC's CEO, called the recovery "choppy" and said EMC is "definitely seeing a slowdown" in southern Europe. He added that information technology spending throughout all of Europe is growing, however, and that the U.S. market is "good with good prospects" and he called Asia "robust."

Analyst Daniel Ives with FBR Capital Markets said that "very healthy demand" for EMC's Symmetrix brand of networked storage products helped during the latest quarter, but that that must continue for the company to be successful in the second half of the year.

EMC's numbers illustrate that information technology spending overall is recovering, a trend that should "disproportionally benefit tech bellwethers such as EMC over the coming quarters," Ives wrote.

Still, some analysts simply don't believe that companies will be able to hit their optimistic targets given the turmoil in world markets, stoked by fears that the governments of Greece, Portugal and Spain might default on perilously high debts and that the U.S. economic rebound is losing strength.

Technology hardware companies are particularly vulnerable. Corporations that are tight on cash can postpone hardware acquisitions such as computers, and that could mean an economic lag for companies that supply them.

Tucci said that EMC hasn't seen a "material or abnormal" number...
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Software Aims To Block Texting While Driving

Technology is emerging that could solve a growing menace on the nation's highways: texting while driving.

A Georgia company [has announced] a partnership with an Irving, Texas, firm to provide software to government agencies and businesses that disables the texting, e-mailing and Web-browsing functions of a wireless phone in moving vehicles. Manage Mobility, an Alpharetta-based management and logistics firm, will provide technology developed by WebSafety Inc.

"We are being asked by our customers what to do on this sort of thing, especially since October ... when President Obama issued the federal order banning federal employees from texting while operating government-owned vehicles," says Stacy Chisum, Manage Mobility's vice president of sales.

Thirty states and the District of Columbia have banned the practice, but the laws are difficult to enforce. The national movement to discourage it -- aimed mostly at young drivers -- is spreading to corporate employees and the U.S. government.

Several applications disable cell phones when a vehicle is moving, preventing texting or surfing the Web. These apps, including iZup, tXtBlocker, ZoomSafer and CellSafety, use a phone's GPS to determine when a vehicle is moving, and block the ability to text when the car is going faster than 5 or 10 mph. Some apps have opt-out features for passengers. The apps do not work on the iPhone.

WebSafety developed CellSafety in response to the concern over teens texting, and the industry-based software grew out of that, CEO Rowland Day says. "We believe that employers are becoming fully aware of the extension of liability" for crashes caused by employees texting while driving, he says.

Ford recently announced that some of its 2011 vehicles will be equipped with a "Do Not Disturb" button to block incoming calls and text messages.

Some road safety advocates are encouraged. "One thing we don't know is how broadly accepted this technology will be...
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