Microsoft creates its own store within Google Play

To encourage users of Android -- which is by far the most popular mobile operating system in the world -- to use its apps, Microsoft has created its own store on Google Play. This store, which takes the form of an app, enables anyone to easily access and download any of Microsoft's apps that are Android-compatible, such as Office, Skype and Wunderlist.

Microsoft's idea is to have its apps on everyone's screen and to make them popular outside of the Windows universe. While its operating system is still dominant in the PC sphere, the same cannot be said for mobile phones, where Microsoft is still struggling to establish itself. In the third quarter of 2015, sales of smartphones running Windows Phone only accounted for 1.7 per cent of the total (down by 1.3 points), according to Gartner figures.

As a result, Microsoft has decided to launch its own store within Google Play in the form of an app. Microsoft Apps contains links to around 80 apps categorized by theme (communication, education, finance, photography, productivity, etc).

In addition to well-known apps such as the Office suite and Skype, Microsoft Apps enables you to discover other less familiar apps that it wants to bring to the fore. There are also apps bought by Microsoft such as the task manager Wunderlist and the calendar app Sunrise.

Microsoft Apps is free and can be downloaded from Google Play.

Microsoft creates its own store within Google Play

To encourage users of Android -- which is by far the most popular mobile operating system in the world -- to use its apps, Microsoft has created its own store on Google Play. This store, which takes the form of an app, enables anyone to easily access and download any of Microsoft's apps that are Android-compatible, such as Office, Skype and Wunderlist.

Microsoft's idea is to have its apps on everyone's screen and to make them popular outside of the Windows universe. While its operating system is still dominant in the PC sphere, the same cannot be said for mobile phones, where Microsoft is still struggling to establish itself. In the third quarter of 2015, sales of smartphones running Windows Phone only accounted for 1.7 per cent of the total (down by 1.3 points), according to Gartner figures.

As a result, Microsoft has decided to launch its own store within Google Play in the form of an app. Microsoft Apps contains links to around 80 apps categorized by theme (communication, education, finance, photography, productivity, etc).

In addition to well-known apps such as the Office suite and Skype, Microsoft Apps enables you to discover other less familiar apps that it wants to bring to the fore. There are also apps bought by Microsoft such as the task manager Wunderlist and the calendar app Sunrise.

Microsoft Apps is free and can be downloaded from Google Play.

Linux vulnerability lets anyone log-in into comp by tapping backspace 28 times

Linux vulnerability lets anyone log-in into comp by tapping backspace 28 times

Linux has serious vulnerability in its GRUB bootloader which could allow hackers to access a locked computer by just typing the backspace key 28 times.Linux has a serious vulnerability in its GRUB bootloader which could allow hackers to access a locked computer by just typing the backspace key 28 times.
The issue was first reported by two researchers Hector Marco and Ismael Ripoll from the Cybersecurity Group at the Universitat Politècnica de València, according to a report on PCWorld. The researchers have put up the full details of the potential flaw in the Linux systemhere.
According to the PCWorld report, GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is used by most Linux distributions, has a password feature that can restrict boot entries. The protection is important especially in organisations that are using Linux.
Dell admits security issues in its laptops makes them vulnerable to hackersThe researchers showed that by pressing the backspace key 28 times, hackers can bypass the need to put in a password or username and gain access.
According to the researchers, the bug is in the code of Grub since version 1.98 (December, 2009) affecting loader versions till December 2015.
Hackers who successfully exploit this can get access to a Grub rescue shell, a very powerful shell which can give them “full access to the grub’s console.”
Researchers also says hackers can load malware from a USB, copy the full disk or even launch a denial of service attack by destroying any data, including the grub. Attackers can overwrite the disk, causing denial of service.

Facebook

Facebook Inc said it erroneously disabled the personal account of a user named Isis Anchalee for about a day, an action the user claims was due to her name being spelt the same as the acronym used for the Islamic State extremist group.

Anchalee, a software developer in San Francisco, on Monday posted a screenshot of a Facebook log-in page that showed a message "Account disabled". She wrote to Facebook's Twitter page (@facebook), "why would you disable my personal account? MY REAL NAME IS ISIS ANCHALEE".

Anchalee said she sent Facebook her personal information three times to resolve the issue.

"Facebook thinks I'm a terrorist. Apparently sending them a screenshot of my passport is not good enough for them to reopen my account," Anchalee wrote on Twitter.

A researcher at Facebook responded on Twitter on Tuesday that her account was activated again.

"This was an error made as part of a fake account reporting process and we're sorry for the trouble it caused. It was not connected to the individual's name and her account has already been restored," a Facebook spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Many people with the name Isis - an Ancient Egyptian goddess of health, marriage and wisdom, have expressed concerns about the use of the acronym ISIS to refer to Islamic State, the group which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

An online petition on the issue calling for media to "stop calling terrorists (Islamic State) by our name" closed on 24 August with more than 56,800 signatures

Apple iPhone 6S, 6S Plus shipments surge after slow start in India

The smartphone maker shipped more than 413,500 of the latest iPhones in the first month of its launch to November 15, which is close to what Apple sold in the entire October-December quarter last year in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market.

Shipments of the new iPhones made up nearly 74% of Apple's total in the month and a half that began October 1, according to shipment data from Cybex Exim. Apple imported 562,500 iPhones between October 1 and November 15. That compares with 500,000 units it sold in the October-December period last year, its best quarter thus far.

"The initial momentum was not that strong, so Apple went in for a change and offered discounts on the new phones," said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. "But the overall demand for Apple iPhone still remains strong, thanks to the strong aspirational value attached to the brand." Research agencies estimate that sales for the quarter ending December may exceed 700,000 units.

Apple launched the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India on October 16 at Rs 62,000-Rs 92,000 depending on the memory and model, about Rs 14,000-16,000 more than in markets such as the US, Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong. Apple admitted that the high prices may have discouraged buyers.

"We've adjusted some prices around the world for the launch of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus... Obviously when we increase prices around the world, it's normal to see some impact on sales rates," Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri said late last month on an earnings call about the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations in parts of the world including India.

The weak debut prompted a rethink by Apple and the announcement of a buyback programme offering discounts of as much as Rs 34,000 in early November, just before Diwali. That strategy seems to have paid off, said retailers and those in the trade.

"Our iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales were very good primarily due to the buyback offer, which started a week before Diwali," said the chief executive of a leading retail chain in south India. "It started out slow but because of that offer, which we marketed very well too, we had a very good sale for Apple phones." The 413,500 iPhones shipped in the first month represents a trebling of the monthly average that Apple clocked for its fiscal year ended September.

During the fiscal year, the company shipped a record 1.7 million iPhones, or 142,000 units a month, to India.

"Apple has more reach now compared to last year, so they (Apple) would make sure that their partners have a level of inventory to manage demand," Counterpoint's Pathak said.

In line with the growing importance of India -- among the few growing markets in the world and that too at a scorching pace -- Apple has expanded distributors to five from two since the beginning of the year.

"Apple's strategy is simple," said Pathak. "They want to get as many people as possible onto their ecosystem in India and ensure deeper distribution reach within India. The platform stickiness of the Apple ecosystem will ensure that Apple's existing user base is going to be more robust in the coming one year." This includes the launch of Apple Music in India at a price of Rs 120 a month for individuals and Rs 180 for families (up to 6 users).

On an analyst conference call last month chief executive officer Tim Cook was positive about India's potential in the long run. Also, recent relaxations in retail policy could see the company opening directly owned stores in India.

the Finnish pocket computer that wants to take over the world

Three ambitious engineers from Finland are bidding to change personal computing with a new portable computer and operating system

 Solu is four inches wide and has an edge-to-edge touchscreen, but it’s not intended to be a mobile phone replacement.

computers, says entrepreneur Kristoffer Lawson, haven’t changed much in 20 years. It’s still a box, a screen and, if you’re using a desktop, a keyboardBut Lawson thinks that the era of cloud computing deserves its own kind of computing device. Portable, but more powerful than a mobile, designed to be plugged into any desktop screen and with a new kind of operating system that connects more fluidly to your contacts. And at a launch in San Francisco on 15 October, that’s what Lawson and the rest of the Solu team unveilSolu might look like a drinks coaster but don’t put your coffee on it; this is a four-inch wide block of curved, wood-encased computer with an edge-to-edge touch screen. Inside is a powerful 2.3GHz processor, battery and Wi-Fi capability. It can be used on its own or paired with a keyboard and a display up to a resolution of 4K. When paired in this way, the Solu acts as an input device instead of a mouse.

 

“This is something I’ve been thinking about for 15 years, but back then the technology that would have allowed us to do this would have been so complex and expensive – particularly the hardware – that it would have been impossible,” says Lawson in a disorienting Belfast-Finnish accent.

Lawson has been working on Solu’s hardware and operating system for the last 12 months, with a team that includes the former Nordic director of TMF Group Javier Reyes and Pekka Nikander, who founded IT security consultancy Nixu.

The team was, says Lawson, attracted to the leaping ambition of the Solu project: to disrupt the personal computing establishment. “When the challenge is big enough, the smart people will get inspired.”

Lawson draws directly on experience building Holvi, a simple online banking and accountancy service. Like banking, personal computing is a market that’s been dominated by major players like Microsoft and Apple for decades. The mobile revolution has given us computing power on the move, but the desktop staple – particularly the user interface – has remained unchanged.

Lawson’s biggest gripe with today’s computers is “how badly they use the internet as part of their whole experience”.

“Yes we have email but we’re still fighting with backups, hard drive space and downloading and installing applications,” he says. “The whole internet is not a natural part of the computer itself. If you run out of local resources, you’re screwed.”

With Solu, the hardware is linked directly to a cloud service the team has built, with data centres located in Finland. The cloud gives the user ability to scale up, while the local device acts as a smart cache with a capacity of 32GB.

The obvious comparison is Google’s Chromebook, but Lawson points out that this competitor “is basically just a web browser” and the “desktop experience is extremely limited”. Solu, on the other hand, is designed to work offline. Any changes made offline are synced as soon as the device goes online.

Zuckerberg gets hero rating in IIT-D, insists internet.org is not a villain

NEW DELHI: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said that he supported net-neutrality "100%", but added that he also strongly backed zero-rating.

Facebook's initiative, In ternet.org, rebranded as `Free Basics' a couple of months ago, has generated much debate on the subject. The service, delivered in collaboration with telecom operators, allows access to online content on "basics" such as health, education and employment and subscribers aren't charged for the data used.

Activists argue that such "zero-rating" pla ns go against the principle of net neutrality . But Zuckerberg believes that's "going too far". Answering questions at Facebook's first Town Hall Q&A in India, held at IIT-Delhi, he said: "Net-neutrality is a very important principle and we do a lot to support it in terms of pushing for regulation. This debate (exists) because countries are trying to figure out what their regulation should be." As loud cheers rang out at IIT-Delhi welcoming Mark Zuckerberg to the capital, cyber experts in the city voiced their concerns over Facebook's internet.org initiative. While the founder of the social networking powerhouse claimed that the views of people not connected to the internet were being ignored in the ongoing debate, net-neutrality advocate Nikhil Pahwa blamed Facebook for creating a "false choice".
"Zuckerberg is asking people to choose between universal connectivity and netneutrality ," Pahwa said. The principle of net-neutrality , he added, means that the opera tor shouldn't be giving a competitive advantage to any entity whether by manipulation of speed or differing pricing.

"Free Basics (the new name for internet.org) users will primarily get access to Facebook and its partners and this effectively discourages usage of the open web," Pahwa said, pointing out that internet penetration has increased dramatically in the past six months alone -rising by 52 million new users according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

We really don't have a problem, according to Pahwa. "There are ways to provide free access -it has been done in Africa, Bangladesh and the government free Wi-Fi projects are also on the same format. And none of these restrict usage to just a few sites," he said.

But, speaking at the IIT campus, Zuckerberg insisted that the line taken by net neutrality proponents may ultimately harm access to the net for the very large num bers who are still not online.

"Those pushing for netneutrality have access already ," Zuckerberg said."Those not on the net can't sign a petition pushing for access. We have a moral responsibility [toward] people who do not have access."

The type of content that'll be available through Free Basics is low-bandwidth, text and "not directly cannibalizing the operator's business".The platform "isn't a filter," Zuckerberg said.

Apparently Free Basics users -about 15 million across the world -tend to become full subscribers once they realise the benefits of being connected.

Zuckerberg's in India to interact with its Facebook community -population roughly 130 million -and a tiny part of it, about 1,100, attended Wednesday's Town House on the IIT campus.

"That's the second largest Facebook community in the world," Zuckerberg said."Our mission is to connect the world and India is the world's largest democracy . For every 10 people who get access, one gets a job, one gets elected out of poverty . It is a big opportunity to develop the economy here, one of the things you can do for the world."

Speaking on social tools from the Facebook stable, Zuckerberg said the safety tracking tool was used by millions to reassure family and friends after the recent earthquake. There's also Amber Alert on Facebook -a missing child alert currently available only in Canada and USA -that was launched in January this year and "at least one child has been found using it." "In 5-10 years, we want to build computers that are better at main human senses -that can see better, hear better," he said.