Nokia unveils cheaper Windows smartphone

Nokia unveiled a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software on Monday, in an attempt to reverse its declining market share.

Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone to step up its fight against rivals such as Apple's iPhone, but the move has so far had limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.

Nokia said its new Lumia 610 model would carry a price tag of 189 euros ($250), excluding subsidies and taxes, when it goes on sale next quarter.

"The 610 takes Nokia's Lumia portfolio to an encouraging new price point in its pursuit of cheaper Android rivals," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Investors appeared skeptical that the new model and pricing would do the trick, pulling Nokia shares down 5 percent to 4.10 euros.

"I had hoped for a slightly lower price range. Maybe the markets were a bit disappointed with the price, which was quite high," Inderes analyst Mikael Rautanen said, though he noted the shares had spiked on Friday in anticipation of the event.

Nokia also announced a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

It also unveiled a new top-of-the range cameraphone 808, which comes with a 41 megapixel camera sensor, and three more basic models.

Microsoft's share of the smartphone market fell to just 2 percent last quarter, from 3 percent a year ago and 13 percent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics.

Wall Street and industry analysts say that though the latest Windows phones could be worthy competitors to Apple's iPhone and top-of-the-range Android handsets, the devices lack unique qualities to make their sales take off.

-Reuters

Social media: How safe you are

SAN FRANCISCO: Living in the world of social networking and mobile smartphones means trading away some of your personal information.


But assessing the price of admission to join the super-networked, digital class is not so simple; even experts on the issue admit that they don't have a full picture of the way personal information is collected and used on the Internet. But here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind.

What information do you have to give up to participate in social media?

Social networks such as Facebook and Google+ require at a minimum that you provide them with your name, gender and date of birth. Many people provide additional profile information, and the act of using the services - writing comments or uploading photos or "friending" people - creates additional information about you. Most of that information can be kept hidden from the public if you choose, though the companies themselves have access to it.

If you use your Facebook credentials to log-on to other Web sites, or if you use Facebook apps, you might be granting access to parts of your profile that would otherwise be hidden. Quora, for example, a popular online Q&A site, requires that Facebook users provide it access to their photos, their "Likes" and information that their friends share with them. TripAdvisor, by contrast, requires only access to "basic information" including gender and lists of friends.

Social media apps on smartphones, which have access to personal phone call information and physical location, put even more information at play.

On Apple Inc's iPhone, apps must get user permission to access GPS location coordinates, a procedure that will now be applied to address book access as well after companies includingTwitter were found to be downloading iPhone address book information. Beyond those two types of data, Apple locks away personal data stored in other applications, such as notepad and calendar apps, according to Michael Sutton, the vice president of security research at email security service ZScaler.

Google Inc's Android smartphone operating system allows third-party apps to tap into a bonanza of personal data, though only if they get permission. In order to download an app from the Android Market, users must click 'OK' on a pop-up list that catalogues the specific types of information that each particular app has access to.

With both mobile and Facebook apps, often the choice is to provide access to a personal information or not use the app at all.

Should I worry about how my information is being used?

Personal information is the basic currency of an Internet economy built around marketing and advertising. Hundreds of companies collect personal information about Web users, slice it up, combine it with other information, and then resell it.

Facebook doesn't provide personal information to outside marketers, but other websites, including sites that access Facebook profile data, may have different policies. Last year, a study by Stanford University graduate student found that profile information on an online dating site, including ethnicity, income and drug use frequency, was somehow being tramsitted to a third-party data firm.

The data that third-parties collect is used mainly by advertisers, but there are concerns that these profiles could be used by insurance companies or banks to help them make decisions about who to do business with.

Are there any restrictions on what information companies can collect from Internet users or what they can do with it?

In the United States, the federal law requires websites that know they are being visited by children under 13 to post a privacy policy, get parental approval before collecting personal information on children, and allow parents to bar the spread of that information or demand its deletion. The site operators are not allowed to require more information from the children than is "reasonably necessary" for participating in its activities.

For those who are 13 or older, the United States has no overarching restrictions. Websites are free to collect personal information including real names and addresses, credit card numbers, Internet addresses, the type of software installed, and even what other websites people have visited. Sites can keep the information indefinitely and share most of what they get with just about anyone.

Websites are not required to have privacy policies. Companies have most often been tripped up by saying things in their privacy policies - such as promising that data is kept secure - and then not living up to them. That can get them in trouble under the federal laws against unfair and deceptive practices.

Sites that accept payment card information have to follow industry standards for encrypting and protecting that data. Medical records and some financial information, such as that compiled by rating agencies, are subject to stricter rules.

European privacy laws are more stringent and the European Union is moving to establish a universal right to have personal data removed from a company's database-informally known as the "right to be forgotten." That approach is fervently opposed by companies dependent on internet advertising.

Is there likely to be new privacy legislation in the United States?

The year 2011 saw a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill as US lawmakers introduced a handful of do-not-track bills with even the Obama White House calling for a "privacy bill of rights."

Leading the charge on do-not-track legislation are the unlikely pair of Reps. Edward J. Markey, a Massachussetts Democrat, and Joseph Barton, a Republican from Texas, who have jointly led a "Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus."

Still, with half a dozen privacy laws meandering through Congress, most observers expect it could take a long time before any are passed-and not before they are significantly watered down in the legislative process.

-Reuters

Facebook launches verified accounts for celebrities

Facebook has launched verified accounts, in a similar vein to Twitter, which will allow high profile users of the social network to have their identities authenticated.

The social network has begun testing the new authenticated account system with accounts which have a large number of subscribers.

In order to have a profile verified, celebrities and high profile accounts will need to contact Facebook and supply some form of official documentation to prove their identity.

Just as on Twitter, where high profile tweeters have a small blue tick next to their profile picture to denote their identity, Facebook will offer a few profile and name display options for famous users.

"Once verified, they'll also have the option to more prominently display an alternate name (nickname, maiden name, byline, etc.) on their timelines in addition to their real name," a Facebook spokesperson said. "This update makes it even easier for subscribers to find and keep up with journalists, celebrities and other public figures they want to connect to."

It is becoming increasingly important for social networks to properly verify their high profile users’ accounts. Twitter’s verification system came under scrutiny last month after it wrongly verified a fake Wendi Deng (the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch) account as real. Twitter admitted the error after News Corporation pointed out the mistake. However, the microblogging company failed to elaborate on how its identity verification service works.

-Telegraph

It's time for video resumes

WASHINGTON: Two young Indian-American entrepreneurs are attempting to make the traditional paper resume a thing of the past by connecting the job seeker and the employer through video resumes. 

The Palo Alto Mayor, Yiaway Yeh, and several other top corporate leaders of the city - which is known as the heart of the Silicon Valley -- lined up last Thursday in its downtown to inaugurate the new office of GetHired.Com, which currently has just 14 employees. 

Less than three weeks ago, on January 30, the duo Suki Shah and Naresh Patel announced having raised $1.75 million in an oversubscribed round of seed funding for their GetHired. Com; which is said to be the most comprehensive video-based social recruiting platform and job board. 

Shah argues that GetHired.com is the first job board to embed video capabilities directly into its social recruiting platform so that job seekers can record and submit personal, dynamic responses to an employer's most pressing pre-screening questions at the start of the hiring process. 

As a result, employers are able to quickly find top candidates with good communication skills who are a culturally fit for their organisation, he notes. 

"Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, businesses in Palo Alto have always been at the forefront of innovation when facing today's most challenging problems," Yeh said. 

"It is exciting that a local company has reinvented how employers and job seekers connect in today's digital world," he added. 

"Palo Alto is an incubator of leading growth companies," said Suki Shah, co-founder and CEO at GetHired. com. "We're honoured to launch in the same office that Intuit started out in - and in the same town that Facebook, Google, Sun Microsystems and PayPal got their start. 

These companies have been game-changers in their respective industries, and I am confident that GetHired. com will make a significant mark, as well," he said. 

A serial entrepreneur who co-founded his first company in 2008, Shah, 28, explained that open positions on job boards like Monster.com or Craigslist is time-consuming and expensive - and may elicit hundreds of email inquiries per post. 

Employers must then spend time sifting through these resumes to find the best candidates, sometimes with no insight into who is really best for an open position, he observed.

-PTI

Pak military builds $200 Android tablet - PACPAD

PAC builds the PACPAD with a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership that also builds high-tech parts for the warplanes. - File photo

KAMRA: Inside a high-security air force complex that builds jet fighters and weapons systems, Pakistan’s military is working on the latest addition to its sprawling commercial empire: a homegrown version of the iPad.

It’s a venture that bundles together Pakistani engineering and Chinese hardware, and shines a light on the military’s controversial foothold in the consumer market. Supporters say it will boost the economy as well as the nation’s self-esteem.

It all comes together at an air force base in Kamra, where avionics engineers – when they’re not working on defence projects – assemble the PACPAD 1.

“The original is the iPad, the copy is the PACPAD,” said Mohammad Imran, who stocks the product at his small computer and cellphone shop in a mall in Rawalpindi.

The device runs on Android 2.3, an operating system made by Google and given away for free. At around $200, it’s less than half the price of Apple or Samsung devices and cheaper than other low-end Chinese tablets on the market, with the bonus of a local, one-year guarantee.The PAC in the name stands for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where it is made.

The PAC also makes an e-reader and small laptop.

But the other side of the affair produces a different reaction.

“I just can’t figure it out,” said Jehan Ara, head of Pakistan’s Software Houses Association, said of the PACPAD. “Even if they could sell a billion units, I can’t see the point. The air force is supposed to be protecting the air space and borders of the country.”

Supporters say the foray into information technology is a boost to national pride for a country vastly overshadowed by arch rival India in the high-tech field. Tech websites in the country have shown curiosity or cautious enthusiasm, but say it’s too early to predict how the device will perform. Sceptics claim it’s a vanity project that will never see mass production.

Only a few hundred of each products has been made so far, though a new batch will be completed in the next three months.

“The defence industry is trying to justify its presence by doing more than just produce weapons,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, author of Military Inc., a critical study of military businesses.

“Some smart aleck must have thought we can make some money here.”

PAC’s website at http://www.cpmc.pk says the goal is “strengthening the national economy through commercialisation” and lauds the collaboration with China – something that likely resonates among nationalists.

China is regarded as a firm ally by Pakistan’s security establishment.

PAC officials suggested the programme that produces the PACPAD was modelled in part on the Chinese military’s entry into commercial industry, which lasted two decades until it was ordered to cut back lest it become corrupted and lose sight of its core mission.

The tablet and other devices are made in a low-slung facility, daubed in camouflage paint, near, a factory that produces J-17 Thunder fighter jets with Chinese help.

“It’s about using spare capacity. There are 24 hours in a day, do we waste them or use them to make something?” said Sohail Kalim, PAC’s sales director. “The profits go to the welfare of the people here. There are lots of auditors. They don’t let us do any hanky-panky here.”

PAC builds the PACPAD with a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership that also builds high-tech parts for the warplanes.

But basic questions go unanswered. Maqsood Arshad, a retired air force officer who is one of the directors, couldn’t say how much money had been invested, how many units the venture hoped to sell and what the profit from each sale was likely to be.

The market for low-cost Android tablets is expanding quickly around the world, with factories in China filling most of the demand. Last year, an Indian company produced the ‘Aakash’ tablet, priced at $50, and sold largely to schoolchildren and students.

Mr Arshad said a second-generation PACPAD would be launched in the next three months, able to connect to the Internet via cellphone networks and other improved features. He said the Kamra facility could produce up to 1,000 devices a day.

-AP

Now, type on phone without looking at it!

BrailleTouch brings 'eyes-free' texting to the visually impaired/ Georgia Tech

Researchers have built a prototype application for touch-screen mobile devices that is vying to be a complete solution for texting without the need to look at a mobile gadget’s screen.

The free open-source app, being developed by researchers at Georgia Tech, called BrailleTouch, incorporates the Braille writing system used by the visually impaired. It has been conceived as a texting tool for any of the millions of smartphone phone users worldwide.

“Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them,” Mario Romero, the principal investigator of the project, said.

Early studies with visually impaired participants proficient in Braille typing have demonstrated that users can input at least six times the number of words per minute when compared to other research prototypes for eyes-free texting on a touch screen.

Users reach up to 32 words per minute with 92 percent accuracy with the prototype app for the iPhone.

“We are currently designing a study to formally evaluate BrailleTouch through both quantitative and qualitative methods,” Caleb Southern, an IC graduate student, said.

“We will measure the typing speed and accuracy of visually impaired users and capture the feedback from study participants in areas such as comfort, ease of use and perceived value,” Southern said.

For sighted users, the research team is exploring how BrailleTouch could be a universal eyes-free mobile texting app that replaces soft QWERTY keyboards and other texting technologies.

“BrailleTouch is an out-of-the-box solution that will work with smartphones and tablets and allow users to start learning the Braille alphabet in a few minutes,” Romero said.

“It also reduces the need for expensive proprietary Braille keyboard devices, which typically cost thousands of dollars,” he said.

The researchers have designed BrailleTouch to address the limitations of soft keyboards, which do not provide tactile feedback, as well as physical keyboards, which often use small and numerous fixed buttons.

BrailleTouch is the only iPhone app in existence that uses a six-finger chording process that replicates the traditional Braille keyboard.

The app uses a gesture-based solution by turning the iPhone’s touchscreen into a soft-touch keyboard programmed for Braille and requiring only six keys, making it a practical solution for the limited screen real estate on smartphones.

The key feature of the BrailleTouch technology is the use of the six-key configuration so that the keyboard fits on the screen and users keep their fingers in a relatively fixed position while texting.

This design allows users to hold their device with the screen facing away from them, cradling the device with their palms or pinkies and thumbs, and to type with a majority of their fingers, identical to typing Braille on a standard keyboard.

BrailleTouch will be demonstrated at the Abilities Expo-Atlanta 2012, which will take place from Feb. 17-19 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

-ANI

Meet Canon PowerShot D20 point-and-shoot camera

Remember the Canon PowerShot D10? The company's first ruggedized underwater cam was a solid snapper, but its bulky submarine-like design made it impractical for most surface-based shoots. ThePowerShot D20 offers a drastic improvement over its predecessor in the appearance department, more closely resembling a compact point-and-shoot than a subaqueous vessel. We can't speak to the cam's image quality just yet, but assuming its on-par with the D10, we'd say the latest D model is worth some serious consideration as an upgrade, even for a reduction in footprint alone. The D20 includes a 12.1-megapixel HS (high-sensitivity) CMOS sensor, a bright 3-inch LCD and a 5x 28mm optically stabilized zoom lens. It's waterproof to depths of 10 meters (33 feet), can survive drops from a height of 1.5 meters (5 feet) and can operate in temperatures ranging from 14 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. There's also a top sensitivity of ISO 3200, and a built-in GPS.

We spent a few minutes with the D20 at Canon's booth at CP+ 2012 in Yokohama, Japan, and were quite impressed with the improved design. Naturally, it's a solid-feeling point-and-shoot, with protected components and airtight port covers. Company reps didn't bat an eye when we unintentionally tested the camera's durability with a mild drop. There's a standard-issue PowerShot interface, with a fairly straightforward menu structure, and the camera felt plenty snappy, focusing and firing off an image almost instantaneously. It's noticeably larger than the company's more compact land-limited models, but there's no reason you wouldn't feel just as comfortable using this to shoot your child's first birthday party as you would their first scuba lesson. The $349 PowerShot D20 won't be hitting stores until May, but you can jump past the break for a quick look in the meantime.

-Engadget