Latest Technology News

The worst fears of many PlayStation Network users were realized on Tuesday, as Sony finally admitted that the hack of the online service last week did indeed involve some type of data loss. The disclosure marks the first time since the debacle began that the public got a clear picture of what the hackers were after.

Sony said it believed at a minimum information including name, address, e-mail, birthday, and PSN login information were obtained. It also said that it was possible that both purchase history and also credit card information may have been compromised as well, although not the security code. An outside security firm was hired to investigate what happened.

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TweetDeck, the popular cross-platform Twitter client, has been reborn for the iPhone. While it is quite common for an app to undergo makeovers and updates, TweetDeck has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. This is a serious redesign rather than a simple update, and there is a great deal to look forward to in the new app.

One of the most interesting and innovative new features of TweetDeck 2 is the new navigational gestures that are supported. Even on the iPhone's limited screen, the swiping motion used to view tweets, view tweeter details and discover new people to follow works incredibly well.

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What's up with analysts skewing Android survey results, today? Are they looking for headlines by releasing contrary data? IDC kicked off the morning by asserting that developer interest in Android had plateaued; I disagree, using IDC's own data as evidence. Now Nielsen is overemphasizing Android's U.S. smartphone adoption gains, which would be impressive enough without the little kick.

From a purely statistical perspective, Nielsen strangely compares July-September 2010 to January-March 2011. Typically, analysts compare year over year or quarter to quarter. Android ranked as most desired smartphone OS -- 33 percent, up from 26 percent, when comparing the two time periods. Interest in iPhone fell from 33 percent to 30 percent, while BlackBerry declined from 13 percent to 11 percent. The data is for U.S. consumers planning to buy a new smartphone.

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In an effort to stay ahead of current trends in digital content, YouTube is said to be preparing an online movie service

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Sony Corporation on Tuesday unveiled its first two Android-powered "Sony Tablets" codenamed S1 and S2, and referenced rumors from earlier this year about a Vaio-branded Windows 7 tablet.

Both devices will run Google's tablet-specific version of Android, "Honeycomb" (Android 3.0) and will be tied into Sony's various online media services: Qriocity for music and video, the Reader Store for e-books, and PlayStation Suite for gaming.

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Hot on the heels of its iPhone app, SugarSync Inc has released a new mobile Android version of its SugarSync online backup application for Windows and Mac. SugarSync for Android sports AutoSync technology, which makes it simple and easy to back up and synchronize content on your Android phone with your computer without having to plug it in.

SugarSync offers online backup, sync and file-sharing for PCs, Macs and mobile devices. A free 5GB account is available, or users can upgrade to one of a number of paid-for plans, with prices starting at $49.99 a year (or $4.99 a month) for 30GB storage space.

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A 57-year old employee of France Telecom-Orange reportedly committed suicide by self immolation at the company's Mérignac-Pichey branch in southwest France on Tuesday. This is the company's second employee suicide this year in a rash of suicides that has taken more than 50 of the company's employees since 2008.

France Telecom was formerly a state monopoly, and has undergone significant changes since 1998 as it shifted from the public sector to the competitive deregulated market. This means tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in the last eight years, both through terminations and through voluntary departure incentives.

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Too much -- that's the supposed takeaway from a survey of 2,700 developers conducted just two weeks ago. My interpretation is different: Not much at all, based on developer responses.

Sixty-three of respondents cited fragmentation as the major risk facing Android, while another 30 percent cited weak, early sales of tablets running Google's mobile OS. IDC conducted the survey with Appcelerator. I'm no fan of joint analyst-vendor surveys, because of conflict of interest (The obvious question is "Who paid?" for the survey). The registered symbol after Appcelerator's name is a dead giveaway about who approved the press release.

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Over the last few days, there has been a significant amount of controversy stirred by an Android exclusive app entitled "Dog Wars" (with a parenthetical "Beta" tag.) In the Mafia Wars-style game, users are encouraged to train and fight Pit Bulls to establish their reputation as the most cruel and ruthless individual in the game's quasi-fictitious urban setting.

Gamers can pick from among several different character types which all share a generally negative description, including The Professional Football Player ("Growing up in the hood gave you the courage to become great on the grid iron. It also exposed you to some dark sports. Now that the days of scoring touchdowns are behind, you're looking for a thrill to fill the void,") and The Politician ("You've got enough dirt on local officials to almost get away with murder - and you live like it. The booze and women are just getting played out. Maybe it's time for a new hobby...and new enemies.")

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Aiming to give Facebookers a more private method of sharing content they find across the web, the social networking site on Monday introduced the 'Send' button. Simply put, it's like the 'Like' button but giving the capability to share content to an individual friend or a Facebook group.

Groups have become an integral part of sharing content among small groups of people since the platform was introduced last October. Use of the feature has exploded, and the the company says 50 million groups have been created. The send button seems to be an effort by Facebook to promote Groups even more.

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The game-console area on the Endpoint spectrum is a place I rarely visit, but Sony's huge PlayStation Network outage misstep has finally caught my attention. What is this company thinking?

Letting the PlayStation Network go down for five days with no resolution in sight, or even indication when there might be one, is sorely trying the nerves of the 70 million PSN users.

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With the PlayStation Network outage now in its fifth day, concerns have begun to mount that the hack that took the online gaming network offline may have involved some type of data loss. Sony representatives continued to stay mostly mum, only willing to confirm that an "intrusion" had indeed happened.

In an interview with IDG News Service, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesperson Satoshi Fukuoka said that the company had not determined whether or not sensitive information had been compromised. Fukuoka said that if the company did find evidence of such an issue, users would be notified "promptly."

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Barnes and Noble rolled out a series of updates to its Nook Color platform on Monday, including the 1.2 software update to the e-reader, a new Nook Apps store, and a Nook app developer program. The total package means the Nook Color is now just a bit more like a full-fledged Android tablet than a simple e-reader.

The Nook Color's underlying Android OS receives the "FroYo" update today, and with it, it gets POP and IMAP e-mail support, improved Web browsing, Adobe Flash Player, the Nook Apps store, a social reading and book sharing app called Nook Friends, Nook Books Enhanced which supports in-book video, and Nook Kids.

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I had no idea what I was going to see when relatives took me out in Washington DC to see The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs starring -- exclusively -- Mike Daisey. I didn't expect a political polemic. I'm still not totally sure what to make of it. Daisey's style is a monologue, a combination of storytelling and lecturing, just him on the stage. It was a hell of a performance and this was his second show that day.

There are two stories Daisey tells as he sits at a simple table on a complex chair (it's made from recycled plastic and is described in the program). First, he tells the story of Apple and his love for their products. Second, he tells the story of his trip to Shenzhen in China, in particular to the Foxconn facility in the Special Economic Zone, where Apple's magical iPhones and many other products are made. Daisey researched the second story by going to Shenzhen, hiring a translator and faking his way in for a Foxconn factory tour posing as a prospective American businessman. Then he stood outside the fence and interviewed employees on their way out after their shift.

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Troubleshooting software issues can be difficult, as applications rarely provide enough information on what they're doing. If you're lucky, you might get a helpful error message that explains a particular problem, but all too often you're left guessing, or trying to use a technical tool like Process Explorer to try and figure out what's going on.

Some applications, however, do send useful information to the Debug device that describes exactly what they're doing in many key situations. This is intended to help the developer troubleshoot problems, and if there's an issue, he can run a debugger on his system and immediately see what's going on. But regular users can see these messages, too -- and all it takes is a free copy of DebugView.

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