Emil Protalinski ... Samsung Exploit Could Give Android malware Access to User Data:
The brilliant minds at XDA Developers have done it again; this time, a user by the name of alephzain claims to have discovered a vulnerability in multiple Samsung devices that gives access to all physical memory. The potential is huge: attackers could use malicious apps to wipe data and brick devices or, more likely, quietly access user data.
Photo by Darcy McCarty - http://flic.kr/p/5Md5c
Yes, even your printer can be exploited!
From Lucian Constantin … Samsung printers contain hardcoded backdoor account, US-CERT warns:
Printers manufactured by Samsung have a backdoor administrator account hard coded in their firmware that could enable attackers to change their configuration, read their network information or stored credentials and access sensitive information passed to them by users.
The hardcoded account does not require authentication and can be accessed over the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface of the affected printers, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) said in a security advisory.
Good summary of the verdict from Mikey Campbell … Jury finds Samsung guilty of infringement, Apple awarded $1.05B:
From Nilay Patel's Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review:
On paper, the Note 10.1 seems extremely capable of creating that world: it has an extremely fast quad-core processor, the ability to run multiple apps side-by-side on the 10.1-inch display, and, of course, Samsung’s Wacom-powered S Pen stylus, which has been upgraded from the smartphone Note to offer 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity. Other Android devices have tried and failed to meaningfully incorporate stylus support, but only Samsung’s 5-inch Galaxy Note smartphone has ever been a success, and I had high hopes the Note 10.1 would simply be a larger version of that experience.
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It’s pretty clear that people want their tablets to support pen input — the huge market of iPad styluses is proof positive of that. Samsung’s S Pen system is way ahead of the curve in that regard: it’s responsive, it’s precise, and it works well enough, most of the time.
But a pretty good pen system built on top of a disappointing Android tablet still makes for a disappointing Android tablet. There’s just no reason to suffer through it: the Nexus 7 costs less than half as much as the Note and is without question the best Android tablet available. The iPad costs the same $499 and offers an unrivaled selection of apps, an industry-leading display, and so many stylus accessories and note-taking tools that you won’t even remember that the S Pen makes them all look a bit primitive. And a regular notebook and pen do not make blooping sounds at the slightest provocation.
Jim Dalrymple uses a music analogy to illustrate what Samsung is Stealing from Apple.
The iPhone and iPad are Apple’s songs. In fact, it could be said that Apple even created a few new instruments along the way.
Samsung didn’t just copy rectangles from Apple. They copied years of research in how to put together a hardware and software design that is new and fresh. It wasn’t done before and people loved it.
Using the music analogy, Apple had two blockbuster hit songs and Samsung stole them, note for note. That’s not right.
Clever, but read the fine print, highlighted below. From Steve Kovach … Samsung Galaxy S III Commercials:
Samsung released a new batch of commercials this weekend for its Galaxy S III flagship Android phone.
The ads don't waste time bashing the iPhone. Instead, they focus on what the Galaxy S III can do … playing up a feature called All Share that lets you instantly beam photos you shoot to other Galaxy S III phones. The iPhone can't do that, but it's getting a similar feature with the iOS 6 upgrade in the fall.
Unfortunately, All Share is difficult to set up and only works if your friends also have a Galaxy S III. [emphasis added]
Carrier IQ, the rootkit that can log everything you do on your phone, is easy to turn off on the iPhone and we noted yesterday how to check and remove Carrier IQ on Androidusing an app from the developer who discovered the Carrier IQ scandal, but that method required rooting your phone. Voodoo Carrier IQ Detector is a free app available on Android Market that can check for—but not yet remove—the spying software. It's easy to install and you don't need your phone to be rooted.
We now hear that Nokia is developing an operating system called Meltemi, the name of a Greek wind (I’m not making this up). The new OS targets the low end and intends to replace the S40 engine for Nokia’s dumbphones, a.k.a. feature phones.
A few thoughts.
First, both Meego and WP7 were, and are, too heavy for entry-level phones.
Second, Nokia sees a future in low-cost, low-margin products. Today’s smartphoneBOM is excessive, north of $100, and that’s before the handset maker, Nokia in our case, gets a slice of the pie.
Looking at Nokia’s Q2 numbers, we see an ASP (Average Selling Price) of 142€ ($200) per smartphone, and a low 36€ ($50) per “feature phone”. In the same quarter, Nokia sold 16.7M smartphones and an impressive 71.8M dumbphones, yielding revenues of $2.4B and $2.6B respectively. In other words, for all the excitement about its smartphone OS moves, Nokia is still a huge “feature phone” maker. To keep this business alive, it must make its dumbphone smarter without introducing expensive hardware. From the WSJ Meltemi story:“… even consumers in emerging markets now expect low-end feature phones to act like smartphones’’
Here in the Valley, most of us think Google will have to face the music. Especially Oracle’s. Added to Microsoft’s game of IP Go, Oracle’s multibillion dollars lawsuit against Google’s alleged (and dangerously close to established) abuse of Java intellectual property could force the Mountain View Don’t Be Evil leaders to make painful concessions.
In the meantime, seeing the Google thread this week’s events, I wonder: Is Google’s Strategy Of Everything backfiring now? Do Larry, Sergey and Andy know how counter these 360 degrees assaults?
Which is better, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the iPad 2? That depends…
In my tests, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was more successful than the iPad 2 at streaming video directly from websites, due to its support for Adobe flash. On the other hand, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has fewer tablet-aware apps than the iPad 2, with Netflix and Crackle being two good examples.
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So I guess my bottom-line advice is that, at price parity, the iPad 2 is a better bet for the average user, since it’s a more stable, near-perfect device with a rich assortment of apps for nearly every possible function you’d like to perform on your tablet. Therefore, unless you’ve got a grudge against Apple for some reason, or are enamored with the idea of having a more configurable tablet, there’s not a lot of justification to go with the less mature, less established device at the same price.
the 11.6″ Samsung Series 9 (NP900X1A) has now started shipping in the US, at Tigerdirect and Circuit City priced at $1,159.99. With its 0.62 – 0.65″ thinness, 2.31 lbs weight and a price tag of over $1,000 it’s as close as a competitor you’re going to get to the recent 11.6″ MacBook Air.
For that price, you get an 11.6″ 1366 x 768 (340 nits brightness) display, Intel Core i3-380UM (1.33GHz) processor with Intel HD 3000 graphics, 64GB SSD, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, Bluetooth, b/g/n WiFi, 1.3MP camera, 4-cell battery and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Ports include micro HDMI, 1x USB 2.0 (sleep & charge), 1x USB 3.0, LAN (via dongle) and card reader (MicroSD?). There’s also a backlit keyboard.
Isn’t it amazing that Motorola has considered that it okay not only to launch its tablet with a non-working SD-card reader but with an OS that is still full bugs? I can understand Motorola wanting to get its product to market before the iPad 2 was announced, but they’ll only give a lot of people a bad impression of their product, for not having waited until Google had stabilized the OS. While their brand is getting associated with tablets, it is being so in a bad context, but maybe they consider that is better that people talk about Motorola, even if it is to say bad things about its products.
Another interesting competitor is Samsung. Right after the iPad 2 was announced by Apple, one of the company’s VPs was caught on record saying that “Apple had made it very thin” and that they (Samsung) would have to review the “inadequate components and price”. Most people understood this to mean that Samsung would be going back to the drawing board like HP did last year, in order to release a competitive product. It turns out, though, that they are not. They are going to release their “inadequate”product on schedule.
HP is the only company to have gotten the message back in 2010, that this game isn’t about who has the camera with the highest number of megapixels. Its about the experience! HP seems to have gotten the memo last year when they decided that their Slate product would not be competitive against the iPad and decided to acquire Palm with its webOS operating system and go back to the drawing board. While I have not yet personally seen an HP TouchPad, it certainly seemed a lot closer to the iPad than Android is. Hopefully, at least the TouchPad will turn out to be a worthy competitor to the iPad in 2011.
I hope that the other companies that are planning iPad competitors finally get the memo this year. Those that don’t get it are going to continue to talk about meaningless products which will get little if any attention from those that have had the chance to try out an iPad or a TouchPad.
The Tab 10.1 is built around a larger screen than its predecessor, stretching from a seven-inch panel to a 10.1-inch spread that inspires the name. The shift essentially brings the device into direct competition with the iPad; the first-generation Tab arguably fell into a separate category for mid-size devices. Our experience with the original Tab felt closer to a smartphone than a tablet, but the larger model overcomes those objections.
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We liked the Tab 10.1, but the device did not have any spectacular features to set it apart from the rest of the crowd. Users can generally expect quite a few tablets to arrive this year with the same OS and similar screen sizes, screen resolutions and camera configurations. A few of the current unknowns -- price, battery life and launch timing -- may be the factors that make or break the Tab 10.1.
Lots of consumers are planning to buy tablet computers this year, and lots of companies are hoping to sell them. Apple managed to sell around 15 million of its ground-breaking iPads last year in only nine months, and, for many users, the iPad has replaced the laptop, at least for some uses. So it’s no surprise that consumer appetites for tablets have been growing and tech companies are planning to roll out as many as 80 iPad competitors in 2011, by some estimates.
Very true. I have some friends that have used it and don't really like it. iPad seems to be the winner on the market right now. I feel however, that Archos tablets will do really well once Android Gingerbread is released fully as it will have tablet support.Great comment! It's true that the current version of Android is not optimized for larger displays, such as a tablet. Even Google is cautioning tablet manufacturers to wait until Gingerbread. The Archos tablet does look promising.
With a retail price of $599 off-contract, the Galaxy Tab is $30 less than the comparable 16GB iPad, but we're not sure it's automatically a bargain. We’re really disappointed with the web browsing, Flash and video chat performance of the Tab and we’re still a little perplexed with the form factor of the device, especially since you pay only slightly less for what amounts to much less screen area. To really steal market share from Apple, the Galaxy Tab would need to have a larger screen, more dedicated apps, and keep its dual-camera setup all while maintaining or dropping its price point.
1. Its computing business is growing
2. It has both screen sizes covered
3. Windows and Android is a good combination
4. Acer gets design
5. It's waiting
6. Its tablet capitalizes on gaming
7. It has the enterprise possibility
8. The connectivity is there
9. The 10.1-inch model has entertainment covered
10. Its history says so
