North Korean government labels cell phone users as war criminals
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- Published on Friday, 27 January 2012 19:18
In North Korea, using a cell phone could come with the accusation and punishment of being a war criminal.
According to The Telegraph, anyone caught using a mobile phone or attempting to flee to China during the 100-day mourning period for late leader Kim Jong-il will be considered a war criminal and "punished accordingly."
How Wi-Fi could squeeze wireless carriers
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- Published on Friday, 27 January 2012 16:47
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint—as well as every other wireless player on the planet—are betting they can squeeze more revenue out of customers due to booming demand for mobile data. The fly in the revenue growth ointment may just be Wi-Fi.
In a research note earlier this week, a team of Jefferies analysts made the case that Wi-Fi will squeeze the pricing power for mobile data.
Ericsson is buying BelAir, betting on Wi-Fi
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- Published on Thursday, 26 January 2012 16:00
In a sure sign that the cellular industry is getting serious about Wi-Fi, telecom networking giant Ericsson is buying BelAir Networks, adding its high-performance outdoor hotspot technology to its portfolio.
The deal could signal a big shift in the mindset of the big wireless vendors, which have always favored their own specialized and expensive cellular technologies to meet growing mobile data demand rather than more generic but much cheaper Wi-Fi tech.
States allow voting via cloud for citizens overseas
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- Published on Thursday, 26 January 2012 12:52
Several states are using an online balloting website based on Microsoft's cloud-computing platform to allow U.S. voters living overseas to cast their votes via the Web in 2012 primary elections.
LiveBallot, based on Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud infrastructure, has already allowed more than 1,200 voters from Florida living in 40 countries around the world to access their ballots for a Jan. 31 election, according to Microsoft.
Securely upload data to the AWS cloud
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- Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 19:31
Amazon announced AWS Storage Gateway, a service that provides a new option to securely upload data to the AWS cloud.
The AWS Storage Gateway connects an on-premises software appliance with cloud-based storage for seamless integration between on-premises IT environments and AWS storage.
Amazon Fire skips preloaded Google apps
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 16:30
Since Google Inc. introduced its Android operating system in 2007, the company’s strategy has been simple: Give it to developers for free and make money when consumers click ads on the Web or through apps. That model is hitting a snag.
Amazon.com Inc. and Chinese Internet giants Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are using Android as a building block for their devices, skipping preloaded applications such as Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube that generate ad revenue for Google, as well as its app store. Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which is gaining ground on Apple Inc.’s iPad, comes with none of those apps.
Nokia fined for spam texts in Australia
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:48
Australian regulators have fined Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker by volume, A$55,000 ($58,000) for spamming customers and said the Finnish company should change its text message (SMS) marketing.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority said texts Nokia sent to clients as tips to get more out of their phones promoted the company without offering an 'unsubscribe' option as required by law.
SoundCloud reaches 10 million registered users
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- Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 18:30
Music-sharing platform SoundCloud has reached 10 million registered users, the company announced.
SoundCloud also boasts 5 million downloaded mobile apps and 10,000 apps developed on SoundCloud’s open platform.
The service hit the 5 million users landmark back in June 2011, having risen to that number quite quickly since its launch in 2008.
Cloud provider Joyent gets $85 million for global expansion
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- Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 17:31
Joyent has netted $85 million in new venture funding to fuel a global expansion of its cloud services. Most of the new money comes from Weather Invest II Group and Accelero Capital, but Telefonica Digital is also investing. Existing Joyent backers include Intel Capital, Epic Ventures, Liberty Global, Greycroft Partners and El Dorado Ventures.
San Francisco-based Joyent fields public cloud services itself but also sells cloud technology to businesses wanting to run their own public or private clouds.
Samsung suffers German court setback in Apple battle
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- Published on Friday, 20 January 2012 18:00
A German court ruled against Samsung Electronics Co in a patent suit versus Apple, another leg in a long legal battle as the two technology giants jostle for top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet markets.
Samsung, which passed Apple in the third quarter as the world's top maker of smartphones, is locked in a bruising patent tussle with the U.S. firm in some 10 countries from the United States to Australia, France and Japan.
