Massive security breach leaves cardholders vulnerable

Some 50,000 credit and debit cardholders may have their information exposed following a security breach at Global Payments, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The full extent of the breach is still unknown, the Journal reported today, and it's unclear whether fraudulent charges on cardholders have been racked up yet.

Still, MasterCard and Visa, whose customers could potentially be affected, have sent out warning notices

A spokesman for Global Payments wasn't immediately available for comment to CNET. A MasterCard spokesman told CNET that it was investigating the potential compromise and has alerted payment card issuers to the possible risk.

"MasterCard is concerned whenever there is any possibility that cardholders could be inconvenienced and we continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information," a spokesman said. He added that law enforcement has been called in to look at the matter.

Likewise, Visa has also alerted its customers, and like MasterCard, stressed there was no breach of its own systems.

"Visa has provided payment card issuers with the affected account numbers so they can take steps to protect consumers through independent fraud monitoring and, if needed, reissuing cards," the company said in a statement to CNET.

Global Payments processes payments from credit, debit, and gift cards between merchants and banks. Because it sits in this middle ground directing where payment information goes, an attack on its system would leave a lot of private financial data exposed. The breach was initially reported on by KrebsonSecurity. The site warned that far more cards -- more than 10 million -- may be compromised.

The estimated window of the breach appears to be between January 21 and February 25, the Journal reported. Customers with concerns should contact the banks that issue their cards.

Nokia rolls out update to fix Lumia 800 battery life

If there is one problem that has plagued the smartphone industry, it’s the problem of battery life. Nokia’s Windows Phone 7.5 flagship device, the Lumia 800 is no exception to this problem. The Finnish smartphone manufacturer has started rolling out an update that addresses the rapidly draining battery life of the device. For those of you that are wondering, the Nokia Lumia 800 sports a1,450 mAh battery.

On its official blog, Nokia said, “This software version for the Lumia 800 (1600.2487.8107.12070) brings significant improvements in battery performance and power management. Originally scheduled for 18 April, we’ve now managed to bring the schedule forward. But before you get all excited and reach out for that cable to connect your Lumia 800 to your Mac or PC, there’s just one more thing to know: the update will not span the globe all at once. It will be queued up over 4 weeks, beginning today (28 March) for the first batch. Subsequent phased updates will be on 4, 11 and 18 April.”

Nokia has previously rolled out an update to fix the battery life of Lumia 800. Reports then claimed that the upgrade would triple the battery life of the device.

If you would like to know whether the update is available in your country, Nokia has a ‘software availability’ webpage that informs you is the update is available in your region. Click here to see if the update is available to you.

Apart from improving the battery life, the update to the Lumia 800 adds the following features to the device:

• Improved bass when playing music
• Soft keys will be quite visible at all brightness levels
• Various fixes for reboots, lockups and ending calls

To download the update, users need to connect their Windows Phone to Zune on the PC, or Windows Phone 7 connection on the Mac to download the update to their handset.  

In case this is the first time you are updating your Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone, here’s a quick video by Nokia that shows you how to update the device via your PC.

Portonics introduces stylish Imooze wireless mouse in India...

Portronics has launched its Imooze wireless mouse in India, priced at Rs. 799. Stylish, the Imooze wireless mouse has been designed for comfort and convenience, including a internal storage slot for the USB dongle.

The Portronics Imooze wireless mouse has apparently been specially designed for both gamers and designers, and features four easily switchable DPI settings, ranging from 500 to 1750 DPI, by clicking both left and right buttons for three seconds.

Portable, the Portronics Imooze wireless will be easy to carry, and will be available in three different colour combinations - black and orange, black and blue, and white and pink.

Other features include an in-built super mini nano USB receiver, matte UV painting & ABS material, 2.4GHz anti-interference AFH, and power saving with automatic standby mode. For more information please visit http://www.portronics.com.

HTC One X, One V to hit Indian market next week..

HTC is going to launch its HTC One-series smartphones, including One X and One V, in India next week. According to reports, HTC One X will be priced at Rs. 35,000, taking on the likes of Samsung Galaxy SII. The HTC One V will come for Rs. 17,000 and is likely to compete with other Android smartphones under Rs. 20,000.

GSM Arena reports HTC's flagship devices HTC One X and One S, and a mid-range HTC One smartphone will be released in Europe and in certain Asian markets on April 2. It's not clear which Asian markets will get the HTC trio, but Singapore and Taiwan have already been confirmed. Reports of the HTC One trio come days after the company posted a teaser video of the One X on their official Facebook page.

Among the three HTC smartphones slated to be launched next week, the HTC One X is the most talked about device. The HTC One X sports 1.5 GHz quad-core processor and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 UI. The device has a 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution, 8MP camera. 1.3MP front facing camera, 32GB internal storage and 1GB of RAM. For connectivity, the HTC One X has NFC, Wi-Fi and micro-USB 2.0. The HTC One X comes with a 1,800 mAh battery. Check out the full specifications here.

HTC had announced a new lineup of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones, including One X, One XL, One S and One V, at the recently held MWC event. Earlier this month, reports had claimed that the HTC One X and One S smartphones will be launched in April.

Indians prefer e-mails over social networking for online communication

Despite massive popularity of the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, majority Indians still prefer e-mails for online communication. According to a survey conducted by researcher firm Ipsos, about 68 per cent of Indians, who are connected with the Internet, communicate online via e-mails, while 60 per cent use social networking sites.

Biswarup Banerjee, Head of Marketing & Communications, Ipsos in India says the Internet penetration has improved over the years but as compared to China, India still lags behind. The survey highlights that only 25 per cent of the Internet users use VOIP for audio conversations. It also shows the Indian trend of web communication is similar to the global scenario. About 85 per cent of Internet users use e-mails for communication. Globally, communication via social networking site accounts for 60 per cent.

According to an estimate, 103.6 million people will go online in 2012. By 2015, the figure is projected to swell to 221.6 million. With the growing number of users accessing the Internet via smartphones, the usage of e-mail, social networking and other tools for online communication is likely to rise, says Banerjee.

Another Ipsos survey says about 40 million Indians access the Internet via their smartphones. It points out that about 56 per cent of smartphone users in the country access the web numerous times a day. Also, nearly 40 per cent smartphone users access the Internet at least once a day, while only 6 per cent users never access the web through their phones.

Google Maps for Android v6.5 released, with multiple updates

This week Google updated its Google Maps for Android to version 6.5, adding a redesigned Navigation menu for devices with Android 4.0+ platform. The new version provides estimated travel times within Google Maps in accordance with the traffic conditions. The traffic data is refreshed constantly so that user gets the latest possible information.

Google already offered traffic data but this is first time it has made the data available as part of directions. “The previous traffic feature that was removed from “Google Maps” last summer provided users with the worst-case traffic scenario based on historic traffic data — e.g. ‘up to 50 minutes in traffic," said a Google spokesperson.

The spokesperson further revealed that Google pulled that feature as it wanted to better the freshness of the data. The new feature gives users ability to check current traffic conditions and also provides an estimated length of travel time, which is based on data constantly refreshed. Google says the traffic information will be better and more precise if more people opted in the service.

For devices with high pixel density screen such as Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Droid Razr and others, Google Maps will provide now higher resolution map, which means you will get less cluttered map while navigating. The new style is also said to help maps react more quickly to panning, zooming, and twisting. Google also added the ability to prioritize a transit mode and route option in Google Maps 6.5 for Android

RIM shakes things up after another poor quarter, to abandon consumer markets.....

Research in Motion on Thursday announced the departure of several top executives, while promising that big changes are coming at the struggling company in the wake of another disappointing financial performance. Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie stepped down as board director.

The BlackBerry maker plans to abandon efforts to penetrate certain consumer markets while refocusing on the enterprise and public sector segments where RIM maintains "a leading position," said newly minted president and chief executive Thorsten Heins during a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's fourth-quarter and fiscal 2012 earnings.

RIM "was late to the 'bring your own device' movement," Heins said, explaining candidly that the company was caught off-guard under previous leadership by the growing presence of consumer-oriented smartphones like Apple's iPhone in managed IT environments once dominated by BlackBerry devices.

Heins, formerly RIM's chief operating officer, took over as CEO in January after long-time co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down amidst a crisis of shareholder confidence with the beleaguered company's leadership.

The company's future rests on its upcoming BlackBerry 10 (BB10) software platform for future handsets and tablets, he said, pledging that the new operating system was on schedule for release later this year and would be the foundation of RIM's business for years to come.

BlackBerry 10 is RIM's upcoming, QNX-based smartphone OS, which was originally supposed to be available early this year but has been delayed to the fall. In January, RIM said that BB10 will share developer tools and a screen aspect ratio with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

But if Heins promised a rosier future, he acknowledged that RIM's present troubles required "substantial change."

How bad is it? RIM posted a net loss of $125 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, with revenue of $4.2 billion slipping 19 percent from the third quarter and down 25 percent from the same period in the previous year. For the full year, RIM had sales of $18.4 billion, down 7 percent from the $19.9 billion in revenue it reported for its fiscal 2011.

RIM also said it shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and more than 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets during the three-month period ending March 3. But that could be the last time we hear such figures for awhile—given what it portrayed as the uncertainty of its position in the mobile device market, the company said it has decided "to discontinue providing specific quantitative guidance" and unit shipment numbers in future earnings reports.

Heins said that aside from building towards the BB10 release, RIM would be narrowing its focus on its traditional enterprise customer base in the coming days.

"We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we try to be everybody's darling and all things to all people," he said. Instead, RIM plans to improve and accelerate enterprise-focused offering like BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a software platform that helps IT organizations integrate its BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets with iOS and Android devices across managed IT environments.

Refocusing on the enterprise is precisely what RIM needs to do and has been a long time coming, according to Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst of Moor Insights and Strategy.

"RIM's disappointing earnings can be attributed to their movement away from their core markets and competencies," Moorhead said. "As soon as RIM started to aggressively moving away from businesses and governments, the slide began ... and then RIM stuck to their guns and failed to listen to the marketplace once the slide began. RIM needs to exit the consumer market and focus on large organizations and small businesses. Here, they have a chance."

Balsillie's departure marks the end of his 20 years of service to RIM.

"As I complete my retirement from RIM, I'm grateful for this remarkable experience and for the opportunity to have worked with outstanding professionals who helped turn a Canadian idea into a global success," he said.

The company also parted ways with David Yach, its chief software technology officer, and Jim Rowan, chief operation officer for Global Operations.

Nokia adds Traffic Feature on Nokia maps, starting with Delhi and Mumbai....

Nokia has added the Traffic Update feature to the Location Services portfolio on Nokia Maps. At the moment, this is available for users in Delhi and Mumbai. The service is powered by NAVTEQ Traffic Pro, and will depend on data collected from users.

Before setting off, users can feed in the destination into Nokia Drive or Nokia Maps, and get an idea of the traffic situation along the way. The service refreshes every two minutes, and will re-route on the fly in case the situation changes.

“The launch of this traffic feature on Nokia smartphones reflects the ever-growing consumer appetite for more interactive location based services beyond the traditional turn by turn navigation. Going forward, we will continue to introduce more location-aware services that represent the future of mobility for consumers in India”, said Rajat Tandon Director Sales, Nokia, Location & Commerce.

The update is available as a free download for all Symbian-based Nokia smartphones, as well as the Nokia Lumia 710 and the Lumia 800.

PlayStation 4 code-named 'Orbis', expected to launch in 2013

If you were disappointed that there would be no new hardware shown off at E3 2012 except for more details on the Wii U, here’s a little news that will cheer you up! Reports on the Internet suggest that Sony has been hard at work on the PS4, codenamed Orbis, and the system is expected to launch in 2013. Considering Kinect was code-named “Project Natal” for its duration of development and the PS Vita the NGP, it’s no surprise that console manufacturers have very bad taste in code names. Why not just call it the PlayStation 4?

Past rumours about Sony next gen console suggested that it would be ditching the cell-based architecture, which is there on the PS3 for a more “developer friendly” architecture. According to reports, the processor is an AMD x64 CPU and an AMD Southern Islands GPU will power the graphics. The device is also expected to support a resolution of 4096x2160. That 4K! Take thatApple Retina Display!

The fact that Sony’s new hardware could support 4K may not be a hoax considering the PlayStation history. Every PlayStation console has brought with it a new disc format and supported a higher screen resolution. The PS1 was the best CD player, the PS2 was the best DVD player and the PS3 brought with it the Blu-Ray format.

The biggest disappointment with the PS3 was that its backward compatibility to PS2 games wasn’t great and this feature was eventually dropped in the subsequent iterations of the console. Reports suggest that the PS4, the Orbis, will not be backwards compatible at all!

Recent speculations on the Internet suggested that the next gen XBOX would not be compatible with used games. This may just become an industry norm as reports suggest that the Orbis too will not be compatible with used games. You may need to link the game to your PSN account or use an activation code to play the game.

Sony has always maintained a 10-year lifecycle for its gaming hardware and even if the Orbis launches in 2013, you can expect to see developer support for the PS3 till 2016 at the very least.

RIM slashes BlackBerry smartphone prices by 26 per cent

In a move to boost sales or rather maintain its market share, RIM has slashed prices of its smartphones. The entry level BlackBerry Curve 8520 now costs Rs. 8,999 instead of Rs. 10,990 where as the Curve 9380 and the Curve 9360 have seen a price fall from Rs. 20,990 and Rs. 19,990 to Rs. 16,990 and Rs. 18,990 respectively. The price of the BlackBerry Torch, RIM’s flagship touchscreen smartphone, has fallen from Rs. 29,990 to Rs. 21,990.

Rim India managing director Sunil Dutt said, "These four handsets comprise a bulk of sales in the country, it is 60 per cent of the business from India. The focus is not just on reducing prices, but we want to address a larger number of people and give them the overall experience of BlackBerry. We will continue to focus on bringing locally relevant products, services and applications to Indian consumers."

In the world of tech, slashing the prices of products means that new iterations are underway. But the scenario here might be a little different. With Apple’s iPhone and the plethora of Android powered devices available, BlackBerry is facing stiff competition. Analysts expect that RIM has missed out on its annual target and wants to see some rise in its smartphone sale before they announce their next quarter earnings.

In 2011, smartphone shipment in India reached a whopping 11.2 million showing an 87 percent year on year growth in the mobile segment. Leading the pack was Nokia with 38 percent share closely followed by Samsung, who captured 28 percent market share.

In a move to take on the tablet market, RIM recently dropped prices of its PlayBook tablet PC. The 64GB variant of the device will now cost you a mere Rs. 19,990.

Google Drive cloud-based storage service rumoured to launch in April..

Google is reportedly prepping a cloud-based storage service called 'Google Drive' or 'GDrive', which will be launched in the first week of April. Dubbed as a Dropbox rival, Google Drive service will offer 1GB of free storage and charge for additional storage space. Dropbox, however, offers 2 GB of free storage with a number of options to acquire more.

GigaOM's Om Malik, citing 'well-placed sources familiar with the company’s plans', reports Google will offer its service to Google Apps customers, and also include third-party developers into the service, allowing users to save and load files directly from Gdrive.

“Interestingly, it will launch for Google Apps customers and will be domain specific as well. Google has also built an API for third party apps with this service so folks can store content from other apps in the Google drive,” he notes. The GigaOM author, however, points out there's a longhistory of false alarms relating to Google's cloud-based storage service.

First rumours of Google's GDrive surfaced in 20006 and then in 2007 The Wall Street Journal published a story on GDrive, it's learnt. In 2010, Google upgraded its Google Docs services, allowing users to upload documents and files. Soon after the move, rumours started again and once again triggered by a WSJ report.

According to reports, Google's Drive service will have an interface similar to the current Gmail service and will allow users to store documents and PDFs. Rumours of Google's cloud-based storage service come shortly after HTC announced closure of its cloud service HTCSense.com. HTC on its site said that it is revamping its cloud service will come up with an improved version of it very soon.

Cloud based storage services are the next major thing that mobile phone makers aim to offer to their customers. Just yesterday, HTC announced to shut down HTCSense.com for renovation and better integration of cloud servers based storage and phone set up service - Dashwire.

Back in India, the market of cloud services is projected to grow by $15-18 billion by 2020. Google and Microsoft are reportedly competing with each other to grab a share of the Indian market

Facebook users beware: Don't use the word 'Book'

ndividual privacy is a hot topic in the social-networking world right now. But have people thought about privacy of the companies, such as protection of their brand, logo, and trademarks?

This is something Facebook is looking into. In the recent revisions (PDF) of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, the social-networking site is now saying that account holders "will not use" the word "Book."

That's right, Facebook is trying to trademark the word "Book."

If these revisions are approved, when users sign onto Facebook they will be agreeing not to use that word if they log into their account. However, this change is actually only a subtle difference from the list of terms account holders cannot use under the current Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

"You will not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F Logos, FB, Face, Poke, Wall and 32665), or any confusingly similar marks, without our written permission," Facebook's current Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says.

The new revisions include the word "Book" and take out "32665" (which is the number to text if Facebook users want to update their profile).

According to tech news site Ars Technica, which first reported this news, Facebook has 73 active trademarks listed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including the letter "F," "Face," "FB," "Wall," "Facepile," and "Friendfeed." "Book" is not yet on the list.

Facebook did not immediately respond to request for comment.

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

I

Pad mini to be closer in size to Samsung's Note?

Apple could be taking a cue from frenemy Samsung with its next iOS device, offering a gadget that's a bit larger than most cell phones, but about half the size of a tablet.

According to Japanese Apple news siteMacotakara, Apple's working with LCD suppliers to get a 5-inch panel with a pixel density high enough to be able to call it a Retina Display. That's according to "a reliable Chinese source," the site said.

That smaller device would arrive sometime next year, Macotakara suggested, and sport either a 1,600 by 960 pixel or 1,280 by 960 pixel resolution -- either of which would be a first for an iOS device.

This is just the latest in a series of reports claiming Apple's working on iOS device that falls somewhere between the iPhone and the iPad. Earlier this month, a report from the Korea Times cited an unnamed Samsung official saying Apple this year would be releasing an iPad with a 7.85-inch screen. That's as opposed to the current iPad's 9.7-inch display. Days before that, there was a report from VentureBeat saying Apple was eyeing a slightly-smaller 7.1-inch panelinstead.

Muddying up both these claims is the idea that these panels could actually end up being for a next-generation smartphone instead. A report from Reuters last week suggested as much, claiming that Apple was vying to pick up a slightly smaller 4.6-inch display for a new crop of iPhones with screens larger than the 3.5-inch panel the iPhone's shipped with since its introduction.

Apple is under considerably more scrutiny when it comes to the components it buys. The company has a very small variance in its product sizes, offering just a handful of configurations, and keeping sizes the same from generation to generation. This has been under particularly tight control with Apple's iOS family, which just recently jumped to a fourth possible screen resolution with the third-generation iPad.

By comparison, most of Apple's competitors -- notably Samsung -- have taken a different approach by building its notebooks, handsets and tablets at varying sizes. For instance, Samsung's Galaxy Note device, which has a 5.3-inch display, pulls double duty as a phone and a tablet. Earlier today Samsung said it's sold 5 million units of the Note globally since launching in February. Other such efforts include LG's Optimus Vu, and the ill-fated line of Dell Streak devices.

            (Credit: Apple)

Amazon's Bezos to raise Apollo rockets from watery grave

Apollo 11 lifts off on July 16, 1969.

(Credit: NASA)

Not to be outdone by "Titanic" director James Cameron, Amazon's Jeff Bezos has just announced that after searching the seafloor, he's located the rockets that thrust Neil Armstrong toward the moon more than 40 years ago and plans to bring them back onto dry land.

Writing on his "Bezos Expeditions" blog today, the e-commerce guru and would-be space explorer said his team had located the five F-1 rockets that lifted the Apollo 11 mission spaceward and then plunged into the Atlantic.

The F-1s, pre-Davy Jones' Locker.

(Credit: NASA)

"I'm excited to report that, using state-of-the-art deep sea sonar, the team has found the Apollo 11 engines lying 14,000 feet below the surface, and we're making plans to attempt to raise one or more of them from the ocean floor," Bezos wrote. "We don't know yet what condition these engines might be in -- they hit the ocean at high velocity and have been in salt water for more than 40 years. On the other hand, they're made of tough stuff, so we'll see."

The rockets still belong to NASA, Bezos said, and if one or more are indeed recovered, he hopes one will end up in the Smithsonian and perhaps another will touch down at the Museum of Flight in Amazon's hometown of Seattle.

"NASA is one of the few institutions I know that can inspire five-year-olds," Bezos wrote. "It sure inspired me, and with this endeavor, maybe we can inspire a few more youth to invent and explore."