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Posts with tag smart phone

Smart Phones a Bigger Security Risk Than Laptops, Survey Says

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 3rd 2008 at 12:32PMBreaking News

Smart Phones a Security Risk
Laptops have long been a top concern for Information Technology (IT) security experts, but recent surveys have shown that the newest top priority is securing smart phones, such as BlackBerrys and even iPhones.

According to the survey conducted by data protection supplier Credant Technologies, a whopping 94-percent of senior IT staff fear that smart phones and PDAs present a security risk. That is more than the 88 percent that considers portable storage devices like flash drives a threat, and the almost 80 percent who think laptops pose a security problem. IT executives are bothered by the fact that most handsets are not password protected, yet still given full access to company networks.

Experts say it is essential for companies to get the phones and PDAs under control, before they lead to massive compromises of sensitive data. How about you, smart phone owners -- do you password protect your BlackBerry or handheld device?[Source: Computer World]
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Google Announces gPhone? Not Quite.

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 5th 2007 at 1:28PM

Google Announces Android Mobile OS
Well after months, -- nay, years of rumors the Google Phone (or gPhone) is upon us... almost. On a conference call this afternoon, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google; Andy Rubin founder of Danger, the company behind the Sidekick and founder of Android, a mobile software company gobbled up by Google; and representatives of Motorola, HTC, T-Mobile, and many others revealed an open-source mobile platform that may actually, finally, live up to the title "iPhone Killer."

Today's announcement was not the unveiling of an actual gPhone, but the announcement of a mobile platform, called Android, to be used by the 33 companies that make up what is called the Open Handset Alliance.

The Android mobile OS is built on Linux and comes packaged with a user friendly interface and applications. In addition, the open nature of Android means plenty of powerful third-party applications will follow.

The software will be made freely available within a week and we can expect to see phones sporting the OS in the second half of 2008. Part of the draw of Android is a "very robust HTML web browser," according to Eric Schmidt, likely based on Firefox.

Google Announces Android Mobile OSSchmidt also left the door open on the question of whether Google is still planning on developing its own branded cell phone. "We're not announcing anything, but this is THE (perfect) platform for building a gPhone."

Oh Google, will you ever stop playing coy?

Contrary to speculation, the platform will not be completely ad-driven (note the "completely"). Instead we expect Google is hoping that by giving away a full-featured OS with a "very robust" browser they can draw more users to their web services where they will be served advertisements.

Using Android will save handset makers money that would normally be used on purchasing licenses for Symbian or Windows Mobile, or for developing their own platform. We can only hope that this will allow them to spend more on phone hardware or cut the price of the handsets.

Android sounds promising, but only time will tell if Google has another Gmail on its hands, or a failure like its lagging social network Orkut.

From Engadget

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Daylight Savings Wreaks Havoc On Gadgets, or Does It?

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 30th 2007 at 2:29PM

Prep Your Gadgets for Daylight Savings End
Don't forget that this coming Sunday, Daylight Savings Time ends. Hopefully, you got your software fixes back in February or March before the clocks changed last Spring.

Some predicted the Daylight Savings changes signed into law in 2005 by President Bush would result in a mini-Y2K. And they were right, just as when the the year changed from 1999 to 2000, nothing of much note occurred. There was some anecdotal evidence of issues with BlackBerrys, and one kid went to jail for 12 days due to a computer glitch, but otherwise the clock change went without notice among the gadget owning public.

That said, some owners of older gadgets and cell phones, as well as people who just forgot to manually install updates (and some parking meters in Baltimore), have already experienced an early time change that messed with their schedules.

In case you were caught last time with your electronic pants down, here's a quick run down of how to make sure you're prepared this time around. Sadly, there's no simple fix for your confused biological clock.
  • Windows Mobile 5 Smart Phones: Microsoft released the update for Windows Mobile 5 in February that fixes the Daylight Savings issue. If your handset runs WinMo 6 then you're already set.
  • BlackBerrys: RIM also released the necessary update for the Blackberry software in February. Simply download and install and you're good to go.
  • Palm OS Treos: Palm was a little behind others but still had its fix out in time for March's clock change.
Microsoft Windows, TiVo, and Mac OS X all had their patches pushed to them automatically in February,
so you should be set.

If you've got a cell phone that's older than four years, you might consider calling the manufacturer to make sure you're set for the time change.

From USA Today

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Handy List of Cell Phone-Friendly Web Sites

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 11th 2007 at 1:33PM

Helpful List of Mobile Web Sites

Finding Web sites that look good on the substandard Web browsers and screens of most PDAs and PDA phones (read: Treos, Windows Mobile devices, and BlackBerrys) is a challenge. Thankfully, mobile-obsessed blogger Brian Cantoni has produced a quick and easy list of Web sites specially designed for the small screen. He even breaks them down into simple categories. And, of course, the list itself is smart phone friendly as well.

The list has become quite a hit for Cantoni, even garnering a mention in the New York Times as a good starting point for exploring the mobile Web. Just add www.cantoni.org/palm to your bookmarks on your cell phone. These pages will be nice and quick to load over that slow EDGE connection.

And don't forget to check up on us while you're out and about as well m.switched.com -- Switched.com's cell-phone-optimized address is, sadly, left off the list.

From Shiny Shiny

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Sprint Getting Updated Palm 800w Handset

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 11th 2007 at 5:05PM

Sprint Getting Updated Palm Handset - 800w
Gizmodo is reporting that Sprint will be getting an updated Windows Mobile based handset, the Palm 800w. There is no indication whether the new phone will be an improvement, form-factor-wise, on the clunky 700wx (pictured, right), form factor will be receiving any improvements, but the 800w's leaked specs appear to be impressive.

As is to be expected, the handset will feature Windows Mobile 6, plus a doubling of memory, a resolution increase to 320x320, Wi-Fi, GPS, and EVDO Rev. A, a 3.5G cellular technology that boosts download speeds to 3.1 Megabits per-second, and upload speeds to 1.8 Megabits per-second (similar to basic wired broadband).

Sprint will supposedly be releasing the phone in the fourth quarter of 2007.

From Gizmodo

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Mo Rocca Unveils iFido

by Tim Stevens, posted May 31st 2007 at 1:13PM



TV personality Mo Rocca has announced the release of a new tech product, iFido. It wirelessly sends and receives messages, provides audible meeting reminders and loves its owner unconditionally. Watch the video to see why your PDA/smart phone might soon be history.

From News Bloggers

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