Latest Technology News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.")

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

iObit has released version 4 of its flagship PC maintenance and optimization tool, Advanced SystemCare. The program comprises a number of system maintenance, cleaning, repair and optimization modules, and version 4 introduces a number of new components, including Disk Scan and Vulnerability Fix, plus a redesigned interface.

Version 4 opens with a greatly simplified user interface, designed to help the novice quickly get his or her PC optimized via Quick Clean and Deep Clean options. An enhanced Turbo Boost module is capable of disabling more unnecessary background services to reclaim precious system resources and speed up the computer.

Kaspersky Lab has issued a statement Sunday confirming earlier reports that Ivan Kaspersky, son of CEO and founder Eugene Kaspersky, had been kidnapped and subsequently freed. Ivan Kaspersky was freed in an "operation" by the authorities and no ransom was paid.

The statement in full follows: "Kaspersky Lab confirms that an operation to free Ivan Kaspersky was carried out successfully by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Criminal Investigation Department of the Moscow Police and Kaspersky Lab's own security personnel. Ivan is alive and well and is currently located at a safe location. No ransom was paid during the rescue operation. Eugene Kaspersky and Natalya Kaspersky are currently unavailable for comment."

Over the weekend, I started looking at how realistic would be cutting my IPTV provider and replacing it with over-the-air broadcasts and Internet steaming from services like Hulu Plus and Netflix. Most anyone else would be looking to ditch a cable provider like Comcast, Cox or Time Warner. I have AT&T U-verse -- since February 2008. My U-verse bill for Internet and TV was $140 last month, and that's simply more than I can afford to spend. I'm not fully employed.

The problem, I realize, is that U-verse (or Cox, the other option) offers too much of what I don't want and not enough of what I do. I'd rather pay something like 80 bucks a month, even 100, for Internet and handful of channels and streaming services that my family would regularly watch. Perhaps cable providers don't see the profit opportunity in such an approach, or maybe it would be logistically too difficult to offer such choice or to mange its billing.

The devastating PlayStation Network outage continues unabated today, with Sony issuing a long-overdue new statement. Patrick Seybold, Sony senior director of Corporate Communications & Social Media, posted the update to the PlayStation Blog, as the network outage entered its fourth full day.

"We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online," Seybold writes. "Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security."