• Motorola Droid Goes Android 2.1 This Week

    The Motorola Droid will be upgraded to the Google Android 2.1 software this week, the company announced on its official Facebook page. The over-the-air software update will bring the Droid software on the par with the Google Nexus One, albeit with some features missing.

    "We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to Droid will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades later," Motorola teased on its Facebook page - without mentioning which features the Droid will get, or which other of its devices will be upgraded.

    Despite few details on features, Engadget quotes "trusted sources" saying the 2.1 software update for the Droid will bring multitouch capabilities to the built-in browser and for Google Maps 3.4, Google Googles visual search, and the news and weather widgets as seen on the Nexus One. Yet the similarities with the Nexus One end here.

    Some visual aspects introduced with Android 2.1 on the Nexus One won't make it onto the Motorola Droid though. These include the new home screen with active wallpapers and the new 3D app icons grid, instead of the pull-up drawer tab Android users got accustomed to by now.

    Multitouch is probably the most anticipated feature to soon grace the Motorola Droid. The Nexus One received last week a software update that added pinch-to-zoom functionality to the phone's stock browser, photo gallery and Google Maps. Android has been previously criticised for the lack of multitouch support and hackers even went on a campaign to enable the feature.

    While we patiently wait for the Android 2.1 software update for the Motorola Droid, it is still unknown when other of the company's Android devices (Cliq) will get up to speed with the latest release. HTC Android phones, (G1, MyTouch 3G, Hero) are still awaiting the 2.X upgrade, though some of these devices could be left behind due to hardware differences.

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  • 5 Hopes for a More Social Gmail

    Google on Tuesday is reportedly going to unveil a new social service that will incorporate a stream of "media and status updates" into Gmail. These streams would not be public, but would require you to connect with your fellow Google users and may eventually incorporate other Google services like YouTube and Picasa, according to The Wall Street Journal.

    While a Google-developed social media stream incorporated into Gmail sounds like an interesting concept, it also sounds like Google is trying to create a closed version of Twitter where your status updates are not public by default, but private. That's a mistake to my mind, and I certainly hope that rumors are wrong on that point.

    We will likely find out more soon. Google has sent invitations out to the media for a 10am (PT) press conference set for Tuesday.

    In the interim, here are five things Google should do to make Gmail's rumored social networking stream a winner.

    Play Nice With Others

    If this is going to work for Google then it's all about tapping into the application programming interfaces (APIs) of other services. If you don't know what an API is, it's basically how third-party twitter clients like Tweetdeck allow you to send and receive tweets, and it's what allows your Twitter account to automatically update your Facebook status.

    Google should build on already popular social networking tools (Facebook and Twitter) rather than trying to convince users to build a Google-centric network. I doubt many people want to start from scratch and build yet another group of friends around their Google account. If they did, wouldn't Google's own Orkut social network be the most popular Web site in the world?

    To win, Google should follow the path of third-party clients like Seesmic and Tweetdeck by incorporating everything they can think of like Flickr as well as Picasa, and updates to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. If Google really is interested in free-flowing information, then it's all about third-party APIs for Gmail's social features.

    Another Widget?

    The great thing about Gmail is the wide variety of widgets you can add to your interface, but you know what the the worst thing about Gmail is? The wide variety of widgets you can add to your interface. There seems to be a widget for everything from third-party interfaces for Remember the Milk and Twitter to Google Apps and search.

    The problem is these widgets can sometimes misbehave, take a little bit too long to load and sometimes they're not even that useful. If Gmail's social features could somehow integrate into my chat widget or find somewhere else to live--like the right side of the inbox--that might be a better solution.

    Don't Mention Orkut

    Orkut might be a popular social network in places like Brazil, but for the rest of us Orkut is just not that interesting. If Gmail's social features require an Orkut account, then you can count me out. My digital identity is already spread across way too many services as it is. A better alternative would be to encourage me to use my public Google Profile as a dashboard for all my social services, similar to the company's Dashboard for Google services. In some ways, my Google profile is already an index of my digital identity, and since I've already built it, why not give me a better reason to make more use of this profile?


    Drop the Google Friending Business

    Gmail's social features will reportedly only share your social information with people you're connected with. If that means I have to start connecting with people on Google, then this is an instant fail. Who wants to go through that, again? Google has been trying this with Google Reader, and from what I can tell it hasn't become a phenomenon. Gmail's social service would work better as a third-party social networking aggregator than a brand new service that's just adding more noise.

    Make it easy and useful

    Software developer and blogger, Dave Winer made an interesting point on his blog Scripting.com. Winer points out that its very easy to attach a sound file, image or document to an e-mail, but tweeting out a picture is not as simple. If Google makes it easy to share images and MP3s, as well as links, that would go a long way in making Google's social venture more useful to users. But again, if those tweets/status updates can't be sent out to my existing networks, there's very little incentive to use it.

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  • Microsoft E-health Research Taps Xbox, Mobile Phones

    Microsoft is researching how gadgets like the company's Xbox game machine, surface computers and accelerometers in mobile phones could be used to improve health care.

    Some of the applications from Microsoft Research, the software giant's lab branch, plug into existing Microsoft products like HealthVault, a Web service for patients to track their own health records.

    One of those projects, an application called MyLife for Windows Mobile phones, could help a user log health metrics like blood pressure and weight, and monitor daily activities including exercise, walking and eating. Ongoing work on the application could allow it to help personal logs using built-in devices on a phone like its camera, its accelerometer and its microphone.

    The "dream" is that a user could photograph each meal with their phone to have the application return data such as caloric content, food group and allergy information for each item on a plate, said Eric Chang, director of technology strategy at Microsoft Research Asia, in an interview. To make that easier, a phone could also get the information by scanning a tag attached to a meal, he said.

    Accelerometers, which are increasingly built into phones to sense how they tilt, can detect how people sway while they walk, which lets MyLife count the steps a user takes each day, Chang said. The app does not yet use the microphones found in all mobile phones but could do so to gain additional information about a user's activities and surroundings, he said.

    One challenge for such an app is keeping the demands on a user low. Taking a picture of each meal could be cumbersome, but where possible the app could minimize active user input by using information that the phone already has, such as a user's day calendar or data from linked-up wireless sensors, Chang said. Data from the app can be uploaded to Microsoft's HealthVault for the user to store and track.

    MyLife plays into a larger goal of putting more personal medical data into the hands of patients, a flip from how most of that data today is stored in hospitals, Chang said.

    "I think that's really going to allow us to have personalized medicine," he said.

    Microsoft is one of many companies working on mobile health tools, said Christine Chang, an analyst at Ovum. The data will be extremely useful for physicians and researchers, but obstacles include cost, since smartphones and their data plans cost more, and making sure the data is correct, she said.

    HealthVault could have a positive effect on health care too, but it faces a rival in Google Health and the two companies may have to work together to make the market work, Ovum's Chang said.

    Other Microsoft researchers are looking at how the company's Xbox 360 could be used in hospital rooms. Xbox units, which are cheaper than other hospital equipment but still have powerful hardware, are currently favored in a project on how to feed information from electronic medical records onto in-room display screens for patients, said Desney Tan, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research.

    Researchers are also looking at how to automate the data transfer from complex records and choose or filter displayed information according to conditions such as whether the doctor or family members are in the room, which could be detected by sensors, Tan said. Xbox units could be used for those purposes, to present other health information and to let patients play games or access certain Internet services, including through body gestures enabled by Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal control system, he said.

    Tan was speaking during a Microsoft forum on health-care technology in Beijing, where other Microsoft research projects discussed included the use of computers built into tabletops to instruct patients on how to care for themselves away from the hospital.

    The computers could be used to pull content like X-ray images from personal records, or other pictures from the Internet, and to save them for the patient to view later, said Michael Gillam, head of the Microsoft Medical Media Lab.

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  • Nokia to cut up to 285 jobs in Finnish plant changes

    Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, said Monday it would restructure operations at its plant in Salo, Finland, to focus production on smartphones and could cut up to 285 jobs as a result.

    "Salo is a crucial part of Nokia's global manufacturing network ... our aim is to ensure the plant's future competitiveness and its special role as one best suited to the production of high value mobile devices," Juha Putkiranta, a Nokia senior vice president, said in a statement.

    The Salo plant in western Finland currently employs around 2,200 people and the company said a "maximum of 285 employees" could be affected by the changes.

    "Nokia will support alternative solutions, such as finding new positions at Nokia for as many employees as possible," it said in a statement on its website. Current rotational temporary lay-offs at the Salo plant would be halted by the end of June, it added.

    Last month, Nokia cheered markets with news that in the fourth quarter new products had helped it win ground in the global smartphone market where it has faced tough competition from the likes of Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

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  • Google warns Chinese copycat website

    Google has warned a copycat Chinese website to stop using a logo that resembles the US Internet giant's or face possible legal action, state media reported Monday.

    The warning issued to the "Goojje" website comes as Google is contemplating its future in China after saying it would no longer obey government censorship rules and could pull out entirely over alleged cyberattacks.

    Google accused Goojje of infringing on its trademark rights, saying the logo of the Chinese website could make users believe it was authorised by or linked to the US company, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

    In a letter sent to Goojje by Google's lawyers, the US Internet firm demanded the Chinese site stop using the logo by Monday, the report said.

    Google China did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

    Reports have said Goojje was launched last month by a 20-strong team led by a college student identified only by the surname Wen, after Google issued its threat to pull out from China.

    The operators of Goojje have posted vague statements on the website construed by some media as offering support for Google.

    Goojje's homepage imitates Google's design and its Chinese name ends with a character that means "big sister". Google's Chinese name, meanwhile, ends with a character that is a homonym for "big brother".

    Google said last month it would no longer abide by Chinese government censorship and was mulling leaving the country with the world's largest number of online users, citing cyberattacks on it and more than 20 other companies.

    The Chinese government has denied any involvement in the cyberattacks.

    The Google row has added to tensions between Beijing and Washington on a range of other issues including trade, US

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  • Chinese police shut down hacker training business

    Police in central China have shut down a hacker training operation that openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyberattack lessons and malicious software, state media said Monday.

    The crackdown comes amid growing concern that China is a center for Internet crime and industrial espionage. Search giant Google said last month its e-mail accounts were hacked from China in an assault that also hit at least 20 other companies.

    Police in Hubei province arrested three people suspected of running the hacker site known as the Black Hawk Safety Net that disseminated Web site hacking techniques and Trojan software, the China Daily newspaper said. Trojans, which can allow outside access to a computer when implanted, are used by hackers to illegally control computers. The report did not say exactly when the arrests took place.

    Black Hawk Safety Net recruited more than 12,000 paying subscribers and collected more than 7 million yuan ($1 million) in membership fees, while another 170,000 people had signed up for free membership, the paper said.

    The report said police seized nine servers, five computers and a car, and shut down all Web sites involved in the case. Authorities also froze 1.7 million yuan ($250,000) in assets.

    The shutdown of the site followed an investigation involving 50 police officers in three other provinces, the local d iang Times newspaper said.

    The case can be traced to a hacking attack in 2007 on an Internet cafe in Macheng city in Hubei that caused Web services for dozens to be disrupted for more than 60 hours, the paper said. A few of the suspects caught in April said they were members of the Black Hawk Safety Net.

    Black Hawk's Web site 3800hk.com could not be accessed, but a notice purportedly from Black Hawk circulating on online forums said that a backup site had been set up. The notice also sought to reassure members of its continued operations and said its reputation was being smeared by some Internet users.

    "At this time, there are Internet users with evil intentions who have deliberately destroyed Black Hawk's reputation, deceived our members and stole material," the notice addressed to members said. "We must join forces and attack these Web sites."

    A customer service officer contacted by phone, who refused to give his name, said the backup site provides content for its paying members to download course material to allow them to continue their computer lessons — though not in hacking.

    The Hubei government refused to comment Monday while officials at the provincial public security bureau did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

    Google threatened last month to pull out of China unless the government relented on censorship, an ultimatum that came after the search giant said it had uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

    Government officials have defended China's online censorship and denied involvement in Internet attacks, saying the country is the biggest victim of Web attacks. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said hackers tampered with more than 42,000 Web sites last year.

    Meanwhile, scrutiny of Chinese Internet security grows following a rash of attacks traced to China and aimed at a wide array of U.S. and European targets, including military contractors, banks and technology companies.

    Security consultants say it is hard to know what proportion of hacking from China is the work of individuals and whether the government is involved. But some say the high skill level of some attacks suggests China's military or other agencies might have trained or directed the hackers.

    "The scale, operation and logistics of conducting these attacks — against the government, commercial and private sectors — indicates that they're state-sponsored," security firm Mandiant Corp. said in a report last month. "The Chinese government may authorize this activity, but there's no way to determine the extent of its involvement."

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  • Facebook marks sixth birthday with new home page

    Facebook marked its sixth birthday by simplifying its home page and holding an all-night "hackathon" to craft new software for the social networking website.

    Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said the online community is hitting another milestone with membership climbing to 400 million this week.

    "So to celebrate six years of Facebook and the 400 million people on the service, we're doing what we like doing most -- building and launching products for people," Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Thursday.

    "It's rewarding to see that as Facebook has grown, people around the world are using the service to share information about events big and small and to stay connected to everyone they care about."

    The new home page began rolling out worldwide late Thursday.

    Changes include modifying the Top Menu to make it easier to find new messages, notifications, and requests.

    An Applications Dashboard will let members see the latest programs used by themselves or friends, and a Games Dashboard is dedicated for playing.

    "Whether in times of tragedy or joy, people want to share and help one another," Zuckerberg said as he looked back at the six years since he and Harvard University classmates created the social networking service.

    "This human need is what inspires us to continue to innovate and build things that allow people to connect easily and share their lives with one another."

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