Bloop-bloop: Facebook is Testing Notification Sounds

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Facebook hardly ever rolls out a new feature to all of its users at once. Even if the feature is a sure thing, the company usually rolls it out in stages. However, this goes double for features the company is just testing out. Apparently Facebook's most recent experiment involves audible notifications. That is, whenever that little red flag pops up on your Facebook page, it's going to make a noise.

Facebook confirmed that it was testing this new feature to VentureBeat's Sean Ludwig. Ludwig was apparently lucky enough to make it into the test group. He promptly figured out a way to turn off these notification sounds. Turning them off is relatively easy, provided you know your way around Facebook's settings. Ludwig writes that the off switch can be accessed via 'Notifications' under Account Settings. "Click 'View' on the top tab and then uncheck the box that says 'Play a sound when each new notification is received,'" he writes.

Though Facebook confirmed to VentureBeat that it's testing out the new feature, the company didn't elaborate on future plans for audio notifications.

Source: tomsguide.com

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Amount of Android Malware Surges in Q3 2012

China and Russia targeted due to its "less secure" third party app markets.

During the third quarter of 2012, Android’s malware issues escalated considerably, according to a mobile threat report from security firm F-Secure.

The company detected “a whopping 51,447 unique samples” during the quarter, representing an increase from 5,033 in the previous quarter and 3,063 in Q1.

F-Secure said the malware surge may be “a natural consequence of continued high growth”. It believes Android’s continued growth -- especially in countries such as China and Russia who have “less secure” third party app markets -- is a more likely explanation for the malware surge, as opposed to malware developers surpassing Google’s Play Store scanning system.

"The surge may better be attributed as a natural consequence of the continued high growth in Android smartphone adoption this quarter, particularly in regions such as China and Russia. In fact, in Q2, China officially surpassed the United States as the largest market for smartphones, with Android handsets accounting 81% of that market," it said.

The security firm added that the majority of the new Android malware found in Q3 are designed to “generate profit from SMS sending activities or by harvesting information found on the infected device."

Google's Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update, which will become available through the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 on November 13, will deliver an improved malware scanner that has integrated additional security measures.

Elsewhere, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread accounts for the most blocked malware attempts with 28 percent. "...in 48% of all cases victims of cybercriminals used Gingerbread, which was installed on 55% of all devices, while in 43% of all cases the victims had Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android OS, which is installed on 23.7% of all devices," said Securelist.

Source: tomsguide.com

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‘Halo 4′ Launch Day Sales Top $200 Million

Microsoft’s Halo 4 earned a whopping $220 million in opening day sales, smashing previous records set by the franchise.

The largest launch in the history of the franchise, Halo 4 has earned a total of $300 million in global sales since its launch last Tuesday. In contrast, Halo:Reach, the fourth game in the franchise, earned just $200 million in global sales on launch day.

“We’re thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios in press release announcing the milestone. “Thanks to the millions of fans worldwide who helped make this another record-breaking launch for the Halo franchise, Halo 4 is kicking off a strong holiday season and has become the must-have blockbuster experience of the year.”

Sales for Halo 4 put the franchise over $3.38 billion in lifetime sales, making the game one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world.

Source : mashable

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How social data is changing the way we do business

It's a familiar litany now, that the openness and transparency of social media will unleash a wide range of compelling outcomes for our organizations, if we'll only embrace it. While there is little doubt that social media is one of the great phenomenons of our age, there are certainly those that think the hype surrounding it is also a bit over-egged.

Yet a growing set of compelling examples is showing us unique and vitally useful outcomes that are only possible in social media.  For those just catching up with the story, part of the uniqueness and power of social media is that it generaly makes the information that's shared -- using social networks, blogs, and other forms -- public by default.

This is in contrast to earlier forms of analog and digital communication, where we were required to have perfect foreknowledge of who should be involved in a conversation, such as their phone number(s), e-mail address(es), or other contact  info. Everyone else was automatically excluded from the process and the contents of the discourse itself was largely invisible and left little behind. 

In sharp contrast to this model, as we've learned through a decade of global online experimentation, is that it's often best when we don't overly call-out the precise identities of those we wish to converse with. Instead, we've discovered that it's better for us to let those who find value in what we're saying to find us by what we say (typically via search or recommendation by friend or technology.) This enables us both embrace and enable serendipity, emergence, and open innovation and this -- as MIT's Andrew McAfee recently pointed out for the business world --- lets us bring enough of the right people together dynamically to create the most interesting and useful results possible. 

The result is a rich tapestry of conversations and information that everyone can join in on if they desire, or benefit from later on.

It's also turned out that the default public mode of social media, though it can also cause no end of headaches for companies in industries where information tends to be very private and controlled, allows us to realize certain very significant new scenarios that older communications technologies simply couldn't (or sometimes, just wouldn't.) What scenarios you ask? The most important and broadest one is letting us perceive virtually all global conversation across social media in real-time and then analyze it. While observing such conversations has been possible for a while, the timeliness hasn't been easy to achieve. The same for effective and meaningful analysis.

Scale is the first part of the problem with such timely analysis of social media, especially when it must be thorough and accurate. As I pointed out in my last post, that there are hundreds of large social networks, millions of blogs, and countless online communities and forums to look at and engage with. Important and business relevant conversations can be found in far-flung corners that must be examined, or we potentially pay the consequences. As Douglas Merrill observed last week in the Harvard Business Review blogs, adding new signals is one of the single most valuable ways to improve data analysis.

Thus, forging an integrated picture that truly conveys the constant and endless stream activities and insights within social media conversation is a relatively new phenomenon, enabled by a growing raft of so-called "big data" technologies like Hadoop and Mahout.

Isolating relevant meaning from the noise is the second part of the problem, because the form and content of social media is relatively unstructured and informal. It's also filled with rich media, particularly pictures, as well as video and audio. Given the vast diversity inherent in the nearly 1.5 billion worldwide participants, including their language, cultures, customs, and idioms and it's clear that even if we can actualy process all of this conversation quickly enough, making sense of it all is as big -- and probably much more substantial -- a challenge.

Yet perhaps it really doesn't have to be all that hard, depending on what we're trying to accomplish. In collecting compelling examples of what we can do by simply by listening to and analyzing social media, it quickly becomes pretty obvious that we don't necessarily have to boil the entire ocean of scale and semantics when it comes to making social media strategically useful. In fact, some of the best examples often take relatively simple data sets and infer the meaning by combining them together with straightforward geographic visualizations, for instance. That said, the more signal and analysis we apply, the more accurate and useful the insights will be.

While it's clear that we're still in the early, formative stages of social media analysis, it's equally clear that there is a great deal of business and civic utility in applying its techniques to our lives and work today. I've collected 10 good instances of what's possible, with thanks to Tom Raftery of Greenmonk for identifying some of the stellar examples in this gallery.

Note: The stream graph in the visual above was generating using Twitter StreamGraphs. A stream graph is a common technique employed to visualize the shape of the conversations over time. This graph shows the most recent 1,000 tweets involving ZDNet on the afternoon of November 7th. It shows that conversations about 'Microsoft', 'Skype', and 'mobile' were the most interesting -- or at least the largest -- public conversations of that time period about ZDNet.

Source : zdnet

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iOS 6.0.1 jailbreak update without untethered released

We wish we had news of an untethered iOS 6 jailbreak to bring you, but unfortunately we do not for the moment. However, there has been some new developments in the underground iOS 6 community, with the release of a new version of Sn0wbreeze which can jailbreak pre A5 devices running either iOS 6 or iOS 6.0.1.

As you may have guessed, this isn’t a new iPhone 5 jailbreak on iOS 6, nor is it an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6, which everyone badly wants and desires. Still though, if you haven’t yet installed the redsn0w software to jailbreak iOS 6 on the iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4th generation, you may be interested in giving the new sn0wbreeze 2.9.7 software a go.

Just like redsn0w though, this is another tethered software, meaning that you will have to reload the jailbreak software each time you reboot or turn off your phone, which is obviously not what you want to be doing every time. If you still want to install this now, you will be able to find the download links and a detailed step by step guide over at RedmondPie, the reliable source for your jailbreak needs.



So there we have it – another new jailbreak software for iOS 6 and iOS 6.0.1, but sadly not the untethered iOS 6 jailbreak or iPhone 5 jailbreak that everyone is looking for. There doesn’t appear to be any imminent hints from the iPhone Dev Team either on when we can expect to see some kind of breakthrough.

Can you remember waiting this long for a new untethered jailbreak? Apple must have really patched up their security good as for now they are keeping their iPhone 5 security firmly in tact. Let us know how badly you need an untethered jailbreak for your device.

Are you willing to wait as long as it takes, or are you now starting to believe that the respective jailbreak teams won’t be able to find an exploit this time?

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Source: product-reviews.net

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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 vs. S3 battery extenders (Video)

If you are in possession of either the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Samsung Galaxy S3 and are looking for some external battery packs, we have a few selections for you to consider. The Galaxy S3 battery life isn’t poor by any means, but we’ve found that with the right battery extender, you can increase the phone’s battery length on the S3 by as much as double.


The downside to going down this route of course though, is the extra bulk that these battery extenders usually add to the overall look of the device. On this occasion, the final look on the Galaxy S3 when using a Mugen battery extender isn’t too bad we feel, but some of you may still be unhappy that it isn’t quite top notch.

Right now, you can pick up the HLI-I9300XL battery extender from Mugen for the Galaxy S3, priced at $87.95 and available for free worldwide shipping when ordering online at Mugen’s official website. The Galaxy S3 ships with a 2100mAh battery out of the box, but equipping this battery pack will give you the benefit of a juiced up 4600mAh battery instead.



That is an instant improvement of over double the capacity, with a Mugen statistic confirming that the extra power will provide a 2.16 times increase compared to using the original battery. You will have to contemplate using a different back casing cover though, as you’ll see in the image above showing the added fat that the device gains.

It’s not the best back case we’ve seen for an external battery pack, but it’s definitely not the worst either. There is even a handy kickstand included on the case as well, which is ideal when viewing media from a distance. The question is though, are you willing to accept double the battery life for a larger looking Galaxy S3 which is going to add some weight when placed in the pocket?

Mugen are also selling a battery extender for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, priced at $44.95. Unfortunately though, the increase in battery life compared to the S3 extender is far less, with the Mugen Note 2 battery only offering an extra 3% battery life. With this in mind, you may want to consider an alternative Note 2 external battery pack, such as the Extended Battery from BatteryBay – build quality looks a bit questionable though.

Are you using a battery pack for the Galaxy S3 or Note 2 already, or are you satisfied with what Samsung provides out of the box? If you are, let us know what you are using and whether you would recommend it for other users.

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Source: product-reviews.net

 

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iOS 6.0.1 jailbreak impersonators target iPhone 5

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a number of smartphone websites warning users about those that claim to have an iOS 6.0.1 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 5, or in fact any iOS 6 jailbreak for a number of iDevices, and this warning had been given thanks to news websites wanting to make it clear that there’s no iOS 6 jailbreak just yet. This fact hasn’t stopped certain websites from claiming to hold the ability to provide an iPhone 5 jailbreak among other things, but in just about all cases they ask for money, which is one of the first signals pointing to a lie.

We’ve explained previously that donations are not accepted by any Dev Team member, and this news has made its way to some jailbreaking newbies, but this just made the scammers try a little harder and come out with more inventive ideas. These ideas include trying to build a social profile that makes them look like they hold an iOS 6 jailbreak for iPhone 5 and 4S, which has been seen on Twitter when those that really are in the “closed-circle” start to warn others about fakers. This can lead to a tweet war, but if you know the members of the Dev Team then it makes it easier to spot fakers.

You might remember the tweet below that talks about the so-called closed-circle of people that have access to the current failbreak, which we spoke about in our earlier article, and also pointed out the silence seen with well-known Twitter user pod2g. More proof there’s no iOS 6.0.1 untethered jailbreak right now comes after looking again at the @pod2g profile, which has still remained silent since the message below from almost 3 weeks ago. If there had been a release of a working iOS 6.0.1 jailbreak for iPhone 5, then you can bet that pod2g would have tweeted about it.



Impersonators target newbies with an iPhone 5 – we’ve had a few emails from our readers claiming some websites state there’s an iOS 6 jailbreak available right now for iPhone 5, which the people making these claims are reportedly impersonating well-known members of the closed-cicle with access to the failbreak. You don’t need to look far to find some hoax websites that look pretty authentic, and some are even trying to pass-off as people like Pod2g and other DEV-TEAM members, which is another reason why we’d love to see the official Twitter account of Pod2g post a simple update about this situation. Have you seen any websites claiming to have an untethered iOS 6.0.1 jailbreak, and if so what made you realize it had been a fake?

Knowing when a working iOS 6.0.1 untethered jailbreak has released – our recommendation to you is to simply keep an eye on a couple of Twitter accounts, which include @iphone_dev and @pod2g. We’d always point out to PR readers that jailbreaking is at the users risk, but at the same time if anyone asks for money to deliver an iOS 6 jailbreak just don’t do it. The chances are you’ll run into problems, and you can even see on the official DEV-TEAM website it states donations are not allowed and any counterclaim is “lying“. It is also worth looking at the list of Twitter users on the DEV-TEAM website, which are certainly worth following for updates as they work towards an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.0.1.

Jumping ship – yesterday we touched on a growing number of people that are thinking about moving to Android, which is thanks to the openness they seek and how long it is taking to release an iOS 6 jailbreak for the iPhone 5/4S. This even included people that have a number of Apple products and have been fans for years, and while our article noted people that shared this feeling of desertion, it is also worth pointing out that the majority of users have patience.

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Source:  product-reviews.net

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Facebook tests conversation threading in comments

Facebook is experimenting with a way to help its members branch off in multiple conversation threads, the social network confirmed to VentureBeat.

“We are testing a new way to add comments to a post on Facebook. With this test you will be able to reply to another comment as well as the original post,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “This is just a small test at this stage.”

Specifically, Facebook’s testing a “Reply” button that sits to the right of the “Like” button on comments posted to a member’s update (as pictured). The reply button allows commenters to start indented conversation threads off of comments. Facebook notifies members when another person replies to their comments, and also indicates how many comments are in the branched-off reply threads.

The threading feature is limited to one additional branch, meaning that members can comment on the new reply threads but they can’t reply again to branch off into even more threads.

VentureBeat first got wind of the test after a tipster emailed us a screenshot and link to the reply button in the wild, along with a link to a Thai blog that spotted the new button. Though Facebook says the test is small, the feature appears to be available to members in multiple countries.

Source : venturebeat

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Nokia Lumia 920 takes on new leader

In the midst of Samsung’s apparent Android domination right now, have you ever considered picking up an alternative device that can match the leader of the Android pack in the Samsung Galaxy S3? The Nokia Lumia 920 has been available for a while now and despite the fact that it runs Windows Phone 8, it is a very impressive device indeed and definitely holds its own against the S3.


Right now, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is considered the cream of the crop. It is a handset that is in the hands of a lot of happy consumers right now, cemented in the fact that the Galaxy S3 is now the official best selling phone in the world, beating the mighty iPhone 4S in the process – a feat which Apple are not going to be too happy with.

That means it’s an extra headache for companies like Nokia, as they have to convince consumers that new flagship handsets like the Lumia 920 are pretty capable devices in its own right, compiled on top of Samsung’s superior brand awareness. If consumers were to take a look at the Nokia Lumia 920 specs vs the Samsung Galaxy S3 though, they’ll find that Nokia’s device actually beats the S3 in a number of categories.



While Samsung may have the edge in processor speed with a quad-core based Exynos chip compared to a dual-core Qualcomm effort in the Lumia 920, Nokia’s device beats Samsung in display quality, with the Lumia 920 providing a much crisper display in all conditions – notably when using the device in direct sunlight thanks to a combination of ClearBlack technology and PureMotion HD+.

It’s no secret that the Lumia 920 has arguably the best camera on any smartphone period as well. The built in PureView optical stabilisation ensures that photos and videos produced are of the highest quality, eliminating any sign of camera blur if a user’s hand happens to shake before shooting. This is something the Samsung Galaxy S3 can’t match, although for the average consumer, picture quality on the S3 is still more than adequate.

If plenty of storage is important to you, then the Galaxy S3 is definitely more favorable between the two, with a choice of either 16, 32 or 64GB to play with – extendable with MicroSD cards to increase total storage space even more. Unfortunately, the Nokia Lumia 920 only has support for 32GB, so this is a factor you’ll have to consider if you are planning to pick one up during the holiday season.

The Nokia Lumia 920 also matches what the Nexus 4 can do, with support for wireless charging for those that require it – how many people knew the device supported this feature? Overall though, despite the very impressive hardware specs, it’s a device that ships with Windows Phone as its OS – a platform that consumers are still skeptical about.

It’s clear that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the new leader on top of the Android spectrum right now, but does the Nokia Lumia 920 deserve a little more praise than it is currently getting perhaps? Let us know if you have been keeping an eye on the Lumia 920 and whether Windows Phone 8 is one factor that is putting you off from buying one.

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Source: product-reviews.net

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iPad 4 vs. Nexus 10 and Apple ecosystem

It is true that a lot of people pay more for Apple not only for the better build materials but also for Apple’s ecosystem. Today we wanted to look at the iPad 4 vs. Nexus 10 in terms of specs, and also taking into account the system behind Apple that a lot of people are buying into. It is fair that over the years some people have built up a number of Apple products that work well together, and the iPad 4 would integrate nicely with your Apple TV, MacBook, iPhone, and other products that use iOS or Mac OS X.

Dedicated Apple fans say that new tablet shoppers need to look past the specs, when looking at the iPad 4 vs. Nexus 10, and to ignore hardware and display resolution. They point to the whole Apple ecosystem and App Store, which a large number of iOS users believe is ahead of the competitors, and some parents state “if you’re trying to find something for your kids, I wouldn’t recommended anything but iTunes“.

Apple iPad 4 and Google Nexus 10 features important to you – I can speak from personal experience that our son has preferred using the Apple iPad, now iPad mini, over our Nexus 7 but this doesn’t mean it is a better option for everyone. The fact is that certain functions are better for one person and then to another they will be totally irrelevant, so this is why you’ll always see one person trying to convince another that certain features are better, but they won’t always agree considering not all functions are important to another person.

What’s better for you, Apple iPad 4 or Google Nexus 10? We wanted to present the main differences between the 4th generation iPad and Nexus 10, which can be seen in the chart below that shows the differences in specs. Take a look at the difference when it comes to specs, and let us know which is better on paper in your opinion?



Apple ecosystem with iPad 4 and other iPads – It is fair to say that the 4th generation iPad has a better display than the iPad mini, which is due to the Retina display on the larger iPad, but the screen ratio has been kept the same and simplifies things for iOS app developers. The Apple ecosystem makes it easier for developers to support the iPad with dedicated apps, which is also helped by the fact that there’s a lot less variety than seen with Android tablets. The downside is that Apple seem to charge a lot more money for their products, which might be due to the fact that people are paying the money, so until that changes it seems Apple will always cost more.

Google Nexus 10 is the best of the bunch – you won’t be disappointed with your new Nexus 10 tablet, and while you’ll find a massive range of Android tablets to choose from that offer a nice choice for all budgets, this choice also causes problems when it comes to supporting these Android tablets with dedicated apps for a better experience. The Android SDK makes it easy to write apps that work on all screen sizes, but the problem is this isn’t happening right now, and instead you’ll find most Android apps are scaled up smartphone apps that lack the dedicated design for a tablet as seen with made-for-iPad apps.

Google’s developer resources certainly make it easy for devs to create dedicated Android tablet apps, but in reality there aren’t many apps built for the Nexus 10 display, or in fact most Android tablet displays. In time we hope more devs will care to make apps for Android tablets, rather than smartphone apps with the same layout.

We’ve included a couple of videos below that compare the iPad 4 and Nexus 10, so take a look and then hit the comments with your thoughts. You can also see a visual review of the Google Nexus 10 and LG Nexus 4 here, or some iPad 4 benchmarks in an article from earlier this week.

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Source: product-reviews.net

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