http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:49:09 GMT vBulletin 60 http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/styles/webpoint/misc/rss.jpg http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/ http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38770-computer-ojuju.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:16:03 GMT Pardon? Apparently, if you press the up arrow, then up again, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, the "Enter" key, then right click then press up and down, [fading] circles will appear on your screen, the only way to get rid of them is to log off or refresh the page. And I ask again, pardon?


If anyone knows what the mystery behind this is, please share. ]]> Tech-World Anike http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38770-computer-ojuju.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38768-computer-ojuju.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:07:05 GMT Pardon? Apparently, if you press the up arrow, then up again, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, the "Enter" key, then right click then press up and down, concentric circles will appear on your screen, the only way to get rid of them is to log off or refresh the page. And I ask again, pardon?


If anyone knows what the mystery behind this is, please share. ]]> Tech-World Anike http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38768-computer-ojuju.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38686-unfriend-sexting-named-words-year-facebook-generation.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:18:12 GMT 'Unfriend' has been named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

The verb - which is defined as the removal of a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook - came top in a list heavily-populated with tech-savvy terms.

'It has both currency and potential longevity,' said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for the dictionary.

'In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for word of the year.'

Other words deemed finalists for 2009 by the dictionary's publisher, Oxford University Press, came from other technological trends as well as the economy, politics and current affairs.

Word of the year finalists

Hashtag: The hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets that are similarly-tagged
Intexticated: When people are distracted by texting while driving
Sexting: The sending of sexually explicit text messages and pictures by mobile phone
Freemium: A business model in which some basic services are provided for free
Funemployed: People who take advantage of their newly-unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
Birther: Conspiracy theorists who challenged President Barack Obama's U.S. birth certificate
Choice-mom: A woman who chooses to be a single mother
Deleb: A dead celebrity
Tramp-stamp: A tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...#ixzz0X8rH3iPX ]]> Tech-World valteena http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38686-unfriend-sexting-named-words-year-facebook-generation.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38658-apple-vs-jailbreakers.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:11:29 GMT +

These Kids!

I bet if Nigerian kids had the kind of resources kids have out West,

They'd be just as 'resourceful' as this 17-year old pain in Apple's butt.

Auspicious.

---




Apple battles 'jailbreakers' over iPhone control
By Brian X. Chen, Wired
November 16, 2009 9:32 a.m. EST | LINK


George Hotz's self-portrait, included with his jailbreaking software, portrays
him as a Caravaggio-style youth orbited by iPhones.
Image credit: George Hotz

When he was 17, George Hotz poured hundreds of hours of his summer vacation into a special project: learning the iPhone's secrets. His unpaid labor eventually paid off.

With the help of a soldering iron, he was the first to unlock the iPhone, delivering the handset to international networks before Apple had a chance to.

He got some perks, too. His unlock catapulted him to internet stardom, catching the eye of an entrepreneur who traded his Nissan 350Z car for Hotz's restriction-free iPhone.

Hotz, now 20, makes a living as a "hacker for hire" of sorts -- getting paid to break into different types of gadgets. He gets to spend his free time unofficially attending a college, where he pretends to be a student just to socialize.

What's best, Hotz didn't think unlocking the iPhone was even hard.

"It did take 500 hours, but thinking back to some of the stuff I've done now, the first iPhone was incredibly easy," Hotz said in a phone interview.

But what was an easy task for a curious teen has turned into a persistent headache for Apple, one that the company has been trying to cure for over two years, with little success.

With each new version of the iPhone operating system, a small army of independent programmers and hackers get to work prying it open, removing restrictions and making their iPhones do things that Apple CEO Steve Jobs never intended.

To stay faithful to agreements with telecom partners, Jobs in September 2007 declared Apple was playing a "cat-and-mouse game" to disable unlocked iPhones. Apple regularly issues software updates to disable hacked, unlocked versions of the handset. But within a few weeks, new hacks emerge, freeing the iPhone from carrier restrictions again.

In fact, Hotz just last month released the easiest hacking solution for the iPhone to date.

Named "Blackra1n," his software can hack and unlock an iPhone in just two minutes. All the user needs to do is plug in an iPhone, launch the application and click a button.

It's safe to say this is a game where the mouse has outrun the cat, and it's unlikely Apple will catch up anytime soon. That's because Apple is up against a lot more than an individual hacker.

The iPhone and its App Store not only gave birth to a new digital frontier for mobile software, but created an entire underground ecosystem: the Jailbreak community.

In addition to multiple iPhone hacker groups pumping out different unlocking solutions on a regular basis, there are several stores hosting unauthorized iPhone apps and programmers developing software strictly for hacked iPhones.

Hackers adopted the word "jailbreak" to describe the act of overriding the iPhone's restrictions to install unauthorized software in the device. Jailbreaking is the first step an iPhone owner must take in order to later execute the hack to unlock the handset, enabling it to work with any carrier.

The original iPhone was extremely insecure and thus very easy to jailbreak, according to Hotz, and hackers almost immediately broke into the gadget after it debuted in June 2007.

Jailbreaking accelerated quickly. Soon, hackers reverse-engineered major parts of the iPhone API, and they opened doors to creating and installing third-party apps for the device.

Games, utilities and even custom themes and wallpapers enhanced the capabilities of the handset. To Apple enthusiasts, this was exciting: The iPhone at the time had no App Store, so jailbreaking was the only way to get more than the handful of basic apps provided by Apple.

In August 2007, Hotz announced he had unlocked the iPhone with the Dev Team, a group of hackers that posts jailbreak tools and instructions. Soon after, Hotz released software that anyone in the world could use to make their iPhone work with any carrier's SIM card.

When Apple in July 2008 opened its official App Store, the urge to jailbreak got less exciting. The App Store grew quickly -- with 100,000 apps to date -- making the act of jailbreaking seemingly irrelevant to the average iPhone owner, who could download Apple-sanctioned apps without risk.

Reformation
But the App Store didn't stop the Jailbreak community from proliferating. Now that the App Store exists, jailbreakers have shifted their focus to creating work-arounds for the iPhone's many restrictions. Most share an open-software philosophy, giving consumers full ownership rights over their product, or the ability to do whatever they wish with the gadget they paid for.

Jay Freeman owns Cydia, an unauthorized app store open to jailbroken iPhones, which distributes iPhone apps Apple would otherwise forbid. Before opening his store, Freeman played an instrumental role in setting up the early groundwork for the jailbreak platform.

Often referred to as "Saurik" in the Jailbreak community, Freeman admitted he was initially reluctant about the iPhone due to its stifling limitations.

"Apple seems to have spent very little time looking at previous phones, and left out many features that users, such as myself, have come to expect," said Freeman, reflecting on the original iPhone. "However, [a friend] insisted to me that jailbreaking was the future. The software it comes with doesn't matter; I can just rewrite it all to my liking."

The need for an underground app store became more clear after Apple rejected several iPhone apps. The company faced severe scrutiny when it rejected the official Google Voice app, which would enable consumers to use a single phone number to ring all their phones, send free text messages and make cheap international calls.

The move stirred so much controversy that even the Federal Communications Commission investigated the rejection.

Unauthorized app stores served as a way of circumventing Apple's censorship. And some programmers are even making money coding forbidden iPhone apps.

"People are so annoyed by Apple and their shit, and if you give them opportunity to go around it, then they'll even pay for it," said Kim Streich, a developer whose app 3G Unrestrictor earned $19,000 in sales in just two weeks through Cydia.

With more than 10 million jailbroken iPhones registered, Freeman's Cydia store is the most popular underground app store. Icy and Installer, two previous unauthorized iPhone software distributors, have been discontinued.

Whenever Apple releases an iPhone update, the new software usually erases unauthorized apps and disables unlocked iPhones. In response, the iPhone hacker group Dev Team continues to post regular updates on its blog with instructions and new jailbreak patches for newer iPhone software. The Dev Team's main jailbreak weapon is called Pwnage Tool, which creates a custom (hacked) patch for Apple's iPhone firmware and then installs it on the device.

To further combat jailbreaks, Apple has attempted to claim to the U.S. Copyright Office that jailbreaking is illegal. :D

However, the Dev Team skirts around copyright issues by not copying and providing Apple's software:D:D, according to Eric McDonald, a member of the Dev Team. Instead, the Pwnage Tool requires iPhone users to download Apple's legitimate firmware, and the Pwnage Tool patches it with jailbreak code.

Hotz, who was kicked out of the Dev Team after prematurely publishing information on iPhone hacks, still hacks away the iPhone on his own. Hotz doesn't demand money for his work, though he does accept donations.

He isn't shy about showing his face to Apple or the world, either: When running Blackra1n, the iPhone temporarily displays a photo of Hotz styled as an angel from a Caravaggio painting (above).

"Blackra1n is only 600K, and 200k of it is my picture," Hotz said, laughing.

Though the Jailbreak community persistently issues new hacks for iPhone updates, Apple is continuing to fight. A recent Apple job listing reveals the company is seeking an iPhone OS security manager to help prevent exploits, which could block future jailbreak solutions.:lol:

Hotz doubted a security expert could block his efforts. In fact, he said he's already discovered a brand new exploit that will jailbreak and unlock Apple's fourth-generation iPhone -- presumably due in stores summer of 2010 -- even though he hasn't touched it.:eek:

"Personally I love that Apple keeps the iPhone closed," Hotz said. "This is a personal hobby; it'd be no fun if Apple didn't have it closed anymore. Get a Jailbreak cop and then I'll show them what I can really do." ]]> Tech-World Auspicious http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38658-apple-vs-jailbreakers.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38376-help-pdf-copy-restriction.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:09:42 GMT I don't know if this should be in the Tech. section.
But since it is a problem I am facing I thought it might fit in here as well.:cry:

I wonder if there is a way to send MSWord files or pdf files to be read on screen , with a higher chance of their contents NOT being copied and pasted into other applications?

I work with MSOffice 2003 and have Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional installed. The only way I know , is to add a password copy restriction to the pdf document. But googling for "pdf copy restriction remover" returned many results for third-party software that can simply remove this restriction.

Please can anyone tell me of other ways or tips to make content copying more difficult.

Thank you in advance ]]> Tech-World wonderer http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38376-help-pdf-copy-restriction.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38170-real-problems-atm-card-fraud.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:18:28 GMT If time permits, see the article below +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It is a shame that we have the high level of ATM card fraud in Nigeria... If time permits, see the article below

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It is a shame that we have the high level of ATM card fraud in Nigeria when most (if not all) of the fraudulent activities could be checkmated or prevented.

Truth be told, there is no where in the world that experiences the embarrassing high level of ATM card fraud simply because the implementation of the technology in Nigeria is characterized by ineptitude, lack of knowledgeable programmers and security experts that could guide and implement a secure transaction channel regardless of the level of education of the ATM card users.

Basically, all the entities involved in the ATM card business are to blame with varying degree of blame based on the contribution to the clearly avoidable mess we are in today as regards ATM card transactions and fraudulent practices.

These are the ATM gateway providers, the participating banks and the ATM card users themselves.

We need to understand the way the ATM card transactions currently run today so as to understand the inherent avoidable risks and loopholes that many people take advantage of to defraud ATM card holders through unauthorized withdrawals.

ATM withdrawals - Card holders are provided with ATM cards with unique numbers tied to the main account and a user changeable 4 digits PIN number. All that is needed to access one's account is the ATM card and the PIN number. So, anyone that has access to the ATM card and the PIN number automatically has access to your account and can effectively empty the account.

We hear that people can print (or clone) these ATM Cards with any existing card number and with the correct pin the newly cloned card can be used to access the same account. This is totally unacceptable because just a single extra security layer is all that is required to shut out any ATM cards that are not printed by the originating banks.

Online ATM payment - This is the most embarrassing implementation of an online payment gateway I have seen in the world. Just an ATM card number and a PIN number and I am ok to make payments online with ATM cards? This is a professional blunder that cannot be excused.

From Interswitch website - "WebPay - Provides the simplest and quickest method of integrating e-commerce websites to the InterSwitch payment platform".

Is it simple? Yes. Is it the quickest method? Probably yes. Is it safe? No.

The web is inherently an unsafe place. The web is full of sophisticated scammers that are aware of or even ahead of technologies that are used online.

I have a Mastercard and I cannot use this card to make online transactions without address verification - address that must match the address of the card holder as entered or recorded in the Mastercard account.

Some merchants may even request for shipping address verification and once there is a mismatch the transaction is aborted. Sure merchants like these may lose sales but not having to deal with fraudulent payments and maybe refunds and/or charge backs are enough for some merchants to stick to these options.

What this means in essence is that the ATM card we carry about in Nigeria is not well suited for online transactions. In fact, it should not be used for online transactions without address verification and an extra security layer that can make it impossible for anyone to use someone else's ATM card to make unauthorized payments online.

It is clear that the 2 major ATM card usage in Nigeria are implemented in an unsafe manner. I believe that the level of ATM card frauds in Nigeria is grossly under reported and the card providers seem to be at a loss as to what to do.

Technology can be used and abused. Every single IT related hardware comes with basic configuration to make installation and deployment easy for users. It is the duty and responsibility of the owner to implement security policies and features to lock down the hardware to prevent fraud, abuse and for audit purposes if need be especially when something goes wrong.

Now, it is time to indict those that are responsible for the problems

The payment gateway providers - By far this is where the major problem lies considering the fact that they provide the gateway for ATM card transactions in Nigeria without thinking through our unique environment that is far from a trust based society.

Regardless of the type of cards used for these ATMs an extra parameter like serial number of any ATM card printed could be used as an extra authentication parameter which would make it impossible for any cloned card to work if the correct naming scheme is employed in the generation of the serial numbers.

To a very large extent this will make it nearly impossible for one to use another person's ATM card without being in possession of the card as at the time of usage.

Then, the current practice of using these ATM cards for online transactions without any form of address verification should be stopped immediately and necessary changes made in the online transaction engine to make the process safer.

If not that our GSM operators are lagging behind even in GSM/VOIP gateway implementations based on current but stable standards and protocols a basic outbound initiated IVR calls could be implemented to call GSM numbers of the respective card holders to confirm transactions before flagging them off as successful transactions.

Randomly generated codes could be sent via SMS on a totally different channel (GSM) to achieve the same level of security by confirming transactions only when the cycle is complete.

The expertise necessary to update and/or implement these changes that will transform the ATM card transactions (whether done online or with the physical ATM) I believe is within the country. The work necessary to make these changes are not complex and won't take up to a month to initiate and complete.

The Banks - Why would Mr A who may never use a computer that is connected to the internet have an ATM card that could be used by a fraudulent person to make online purchases?

Why expose innocent card holders to the avoidable risks that they are neither aware of or interested in being aware of?

By default, all ATM cards should be disabled for online transactions. Only customers who explicitly request for activation of the feature should have the ability to use the card online.

Chances are that anyone wanting to use the card online would be literate enough to know or to be informed about the risks and dangers of using these cards online.

This will also reduce the number of potential targets for online scams based on compromised cards.

The ATM card user - This is where you get to see different types of people ranging from the innocent to the outright stupid and greedy people who end up being defrauded in their quest for easy wealth and winning bonuses for draws and competitions they never took part in.

Someone receives a text message informing him/her that he/she has just won N1M and should proceed to a website to enter information including ATM card number and PIN number. This person to begin with never entered for any draw but is eager to get the N1M and in the process is stupid enough to provide both the ATM card number and PIN number to an unknown person.

First things first, do these people even understand the essence of the PIN number? Why would someone that wants to credit your account ask for your ATM PIN number when the PIN number is only used when you want to take out money or make payments from the account?

While I agree that the banks and the payment gateway providers have a lot of work to do to make the ATM card transaction more secure the stupidity being exhibited by Nigerians as regards some of these social engineering based identity theft cannot be excused.

The way forward

Let the ATM payment gateway providers provide additional layers of security especially in the area of online transaction. Let the banks reduce the number of potential target cards by disabling the online card usage feature by default and enable them based on request. Let Nigerians stop being greedy and stupid especially when it has to do with claiming winnings and prizes for competitions and draws they never participated in.

Unfortunately, today it seems our blue chip organizations and even the GSM providers have turned to promotions, gambling and other schemes to make money and in the process have turned Nigerians into a people that wait for lucky draws and prizes to make money instead of using their God given brain, knowledge and talent to initiate and grow businesses that would provide services and products to people around them.

It is obvious that the rate of ATM card fraud went up as more and more promotions were introduced leading to the identity theft scheme that Nigerians have devised to steal money from ATM card holders.

While we are it, let us not forget the "insider". Most fraudulent activities could be facilitated by active or passive support by the employees of the payment gateway providers, the banks or even the ATM card users themselves.

So, while we complain about the embarrassing high level of ATM card frauds in Nigeria it is sad to note that indeed almost all the present risks and loopholes can be managed, mitigated and/or even eliminated if every single entity takes responsibility of its actions and do what is not only safe to do but what makes the most economic sense.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


About the Author

Afam Nnaji is the Chief Technology Officer @ www.justwebservice.com ]]> Tech-World afam http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38170-real-problems-atm-card-fraud.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38135-google-free-gps-phones.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:56:56 GMT + Dis gogu, DIS GOGU PEEPU ahn-ahn! See as dem kill tom-tom dem pepu! Ah, I taya for dem! Auspicious. +

Dis gogu, DIS GOGU PEEPU ahn-ahn!

See as dem kill tom-tom dem pepu!

Ah, I taya for dem!

Auspicious.

---



Google Steps Into Another Market: GPS for Phones
By JENNA WORTHAM and MIGUEL HELFT
Published: October 28, 2009 | LINK





MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — GPS navigation devices were the latest must-have tech toys just two years ago, and shares of device makers like Garmin and TomTom were soaring.

That didn’t last long. In a turnabout that has been remarkably swift even for the fast-moving technology business, those companies have suffered as competition has pulled down prices — and as more people have turned to their cellphones for directions.

In the latest blow to the business, Google announced a free navigation service for mobile phones on Wednesday that will offer turn-by-turn directions, live traffic updates and the ability to recognize voice commands. The service will initially be available on only one phone, the new Motorola Droid, but will be expanded to more phones soon.

In a briefing on Tuesday in advance of its announcement, Google said that the service might be supported by advertisements in the future. That would make driving directions the latest form of information to shift from being a paid service to one that is ad-supported.

“This is consistent with a certain pattern of Google, where they are able to build volume and usage of a product and then subsidize it with advertising,” said Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Market Intelligent, a research firm. The losers, he said, were companies like TomTom and Garmin, along with the cellphone carriers, which offer navigation services by subscription.

Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said that he didn’t view the new service as hurting an industry. Instead, he said, it is a boon to consumers, made possible by the increasing power of smartphones and the growing ubiquity of Internet access.

“Obviously we like the price of free, because consumers like that as well,” he said.

But analysts say that if successful, Google’s service could chip away at sales of stand-alone GPS devices and the subscription services offered by cellphone carriers.

Sales growth for those devices is already slowing. In 2007, global shipments of stand-alone navigation devices grew a hefty 131 percent from the year before, according to data from the research firm In-Stat. But the firm predicts that shipments will grow just 19 percent this year from 2008, and a price war has hurt the industry’s profits.

“With a free alternative that is just as good, I don’t see much positive growth for the likes of TomTom, Navigon or Garmin,” said Dominique Bonte, director of navigation research at ABI Research. “If it’s free and a good service, why would you pay for something you can get for free?”

Google’s announcement also reflects a broader shift toward consolidation in the gadget world.

The smartphone is already the Swiss Army knife of the digital age, able to transform into a camera, music player or game machine at the swipe of a finger. Now it is increasingly a navigation device too.

Many people still prefer dedicated GPS devices, which tend to display maps faster since the data is typically stored in the device rather than downloaded over a wireless network. But the list of smartphone shortcomings is shrinking. Smartphone users can download applications that offer spoken directions and live traffic updates. And at $100 to $300 apiece, smartphones are competitively priced with GPS units, which average about $177, according to the research firm NPD Group.

By 2013, phone-based navigation systems, which are already more popular among younger smartphone owners, will dominate the market, according to a recent report from Forrester.

The makers of navigation devices have not ignored the spread of smartphones. But Google’s move could make it harder for them to adapt.

TomTom, based in Amsterdam, introduced a $100 navigation application for the iPhone in August. The company said the program had been downloaded close to 80,000 times. Garmin recently released the Nuvifone, a hybrid of a navigational device and a cellphone that has generally received poor reviews.

“Turn-by-turn navigation on a handset is what we’re been doing with the Nuvifone,” said Ted Gartner, a spokesman for Garmin, which declined to release sales figures for the phone. “Google’s announcement reaffirms that consumers want their smartphones to double as a navigation device.”

Julien Blin, principal analyst at JBB Industry, called Garmin’s phone a “desperate move,” adding: “The Nuvifone is around $300, and you can get an iPhone for a comparable amount that can now do the same thing.”

Shares of both TomTom and Garmin plummeted Wednesday after Google’s announcement. Garmin’s shares fell 16 percent to $31.45 on Nasdaq, while TomTom’s shares closed around 21 percent lower on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Google’s navigation service, which for now works only in the United States, is part of a new version of Google Maps for Mobile, software that will work on the growing number of phones that run Google’s Android operating system. Google executives said they eventually hoped to offer the service on Apple’s iPhone and other mobile devices. But they said this would be up to those device makers. Apple and Google have clashed over Apple’s reluctance to approve an application that works with the Google Voice calling service.

As mobile services that involve location have become increasingly important, the underlying mapping data has become a valuable strategic asset. Google recently began creating its own digital maps in the United States, ending a contract with the map data provider TeleAtlas, which is owned by TomTom.

A year earlier, Google had chosen TeleAtlas to replace Navteq, a map data provider that Nokia acquired for $8.1 billion in 2007. Google and Nokia are rivals in mobile phone operating systems.
--- ]]> Tech-World Auspicious http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38135-google-free-gps-phones.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38006-no-more-charger-hell-universal-phone-charger-approved.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:57:10 GMT This is good news for people like me who have phones of different make and have to remember to log around chargers which can be a real p in the a...... This is good news for people like me who have phones of different make and have to remember to log around chargers which can be a real p in the a...

Universal phone charger approved

A new mobile phone charger that will work with any handset has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body.
Industry body the GSMA says that 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers are generated each year.
Currently most chargers are product or brand specific, so people tend to change them when they upgrade to a new phone.
However, the new energy-efficient chargers can be kept for much longer.
The GSMA also estimates that they will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6m tonnes.
"This is a significant step in reducing the environmental impact of mobile charging," said Malcolm Johnson, director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau.
"Universal chargers are a common-sense solution that I look forward to seeing in other areas."
The charger has a micro-USB port at the connecting end, using similar technology to digital cameras.
It is not compulsory for manufacturers to adopt the new chargers but the ITU says that some have already signed up to it.
"We are planning to launch the universal charger internationally during the first half of 2010," Aldo Liguori, spokesperson for Sony Ericsson told the BBC.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8323018.stm

"We will roll it out with new products as they launch." ]]> Tech-World wizard http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/38006-no-more-charger-hell-universal-phone-charger-approved.html http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/37852-nokia-sues-apple-there-many-ways-skin-iphone.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:32:42 GMT IPhone killing has moved from the markets and technology to the courtroom .. aha ... IPhone killing has moved from the markets and technology to the courtroom .. aha

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/2816...iphone-patents
Nokia sues Apple over alleged iPhone patent infringements

"Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation"



22 October 2009 15:43 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Nokia has announced that it has filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN standards.

Nokia is naming ten patents in the suit that relate to technologies "fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards".

The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and have apparently all been infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.
Nokia says it has spent over 40 billion euros over the last 20 years on various patents, some of which have made it to being the industry standard. While almost all the major mobile manufacturers pay Nokia for licence agreements to use the tech covered by the patents, it appears Apple has refused to do so.
"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for", said Ilkka Rahnasto, vice president, legal & intellectual property at Nokia.

"Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation". ]]> Tech-World wizard http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/37852-nokia-sues-apple-there-many-ways-skin-iphone.html