Apple, Disney create 'Tron Legacy' iAd, first for iPad Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20025643-37.html#ixzz187gPZCK8

(Credit: Apple)

Apple and Disney have put together a special preview iAd for the iPad that should show up on the U.S. App Store today.

Featuring Disney's upcoming movie "Tron Legacy," the new iAd will not only be a way for users to learn more about the movie, but it is also the very first iAd on the iPad.

"Disney and Apple are excited to debut the 'Tron Legacy' iAd today as a special preview of iAd for iPad, which launches next year," said the two companies in a joint statement. "iAd brings Tron's pulsing energy and vivid graphic style to iPad's stunning display, creating a truly immersive ad experience."

When you tap on the ad, you will be given the ability to watch full screen videos and trailers from the film, view a photo gallery and character bios, and listen to music previews from the Daft Punk soundtrack.

The iAd will also give users the ability to download content to their iPad. You will be able to get gallery content, links to purchase the soundtrack, a mapping feature that locates the nearest theater, and e-mail integration that lets the user send an image from the movie to a friend, inviting them to see the movie.

iAd integration is not widely available on the iPad, yet. However, iAds on the iPad are expected to be available to other companies in early 2011.

Of course, it makes sense that Apple would choose to partner with Disney. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar from Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion in stock, making Apple's CEO the largest single shareholder of Disney and a member of its board of directors.

Google Voice for iPhone Adds iPod touch Support

Description

Access your Google Voice account right from your iPhone.

Receive push notifications for new text or voicemail messages.

Send free text messages to U.S. numbers and make international calls at cheap rates.

Listen to your voicemail, read transcripts and manage your Google Voice inbox.

Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls.

Call contacts from your iPhone Address Book or enter new numbers on the dialpad.

A Google Voice account is required to use this app. To sign up go to www.google.com/voice.

Google Voice is only available in the United States.

...More

Google Web SiteGoogle Voice SupportApplication License Agreement

What's New in Version 1.1.0.636

* Support for iPod Touch
* iPod Touch and iPhone can now make calls using Click2Call
* Do Not Disturb setting
* Text forwarding is automatically disabled when registering for Push notifications
* Added Text forwarding setting to the app
* Easier to make calls from the phone Address Book
* Removed annoying OK dialog every time you send an SMS
* Fixed crashes caused by text messages that begin with a space character
* Fixed bug that caused the entire Inbox to load
* Fixed bug that caused Contact pictures to get mixed up
* Improved access to Contact groups
* Improved speed of Contact search

iPhone Screenshots

Customer Reviews

itouch support 

     

by David Spilkin

yay itouch support, thank you

Landscape 

     

by SuperNick7

Great having a native app for the Ipod Touch finally, but let's get some landscape keyboarding action in there

works great on ipod touch 2g 

     

by evanmo

title says it all except that i'm on ios 3.1.2.

FBI Investigating Gawker Hack

The Gawker hack that compromised the site's commenting system has caught the attention of the FBI. Investigators were scheduled to meet with Gawker editor Nick Denton Tuesday to discuss the breach, according to the New York Post.

"The FBI in New York is aware of these reports and is looking into it," an FBI spokesman said via e-mail.

At issue is a weekend hack that accessed Gawker's commentor database, which is home to about 1.5 million usernames, e-mails, and passwords. Gawker urged its users to change their passwords immediately, especially if they use that same password on other Web sites. The password vulnerability led to a Twitter spam attack on Monday.

"The passwords were encrypted. But simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack You should change the password on Gawker (GED/commenting system) and on any other sites on which you've used the same passwords," Gawker said in a statement. "Out of an abundance of caution, you should also change your company email password and any passwords that might have appeared in your email messages."

A group that calls itself Gnosis has reportedly taken responsibility for the hack. The group told Mediaite that it "went after Gawker because of their outright arrogance." Gnosis pointed to a document in the Gawker logs that quoted Denton as telling 4chan to "bring it on." Though Gnosis said it is not affiliated with 4chan and actually said it doesn't "like being lumped in with 4chan," Gnosis said that Denton needs to have "the means to back yourself up" when making statements like that.

In a Monday tweet, Denton denied the quote. "Actually, not true. That was an unfortunate joke in an internal chat by Gawker writers," he wrote.

It's possible that Gnosis could have broken into Gawker's commentor accounts by simply guessing their passwords. The Wall Street Journal reports that the most common passwords for logging into Gawker Media sites were "123456" and "password." Wonder if your password would pass the test? Check out PCMag's How to Create Strong Passwords feature.

Microsoft's CES Surprise, a Slew of Tablets?

Microsoft's CES Surprise, a Slew of Tablets?

CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly set to unveil a number of new tablet devices at the giant Consumer Electronics Show next month.   

December 14, 2010
By Stuart J. Johnston: More stories by this author: 

Wondering what's next in mobile? Just wait a day. That's not that much of an exaggeration as new smartphones and tablet releases are making news at least several times a week as of late.

Every since Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reignited the market for tablet or slate devices, companies have been scrambling to bring out competitive models. Ironically, Microsoft showed its first Windows-based tablet back in 2000, but those pen input devices were relegated to niche status. Now, as Enterprise Mobile Today reports, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is set to make a big tablet announcement at next month's CES show.

---

Microsoft has had an embarrassing fall, fending off accusations by competitors and critics that it has been talking big but still hasn't delivered on CEO Steve Ballmer's boast last summer that gaining a solid foothold in the evolving market for slate computers is Microsoft's "job one."

The company hopes that will start to change in early January when Ballmer is expected to show off a "slew" of new slate devices running Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 7 during his opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. 

Google Mobile Searches Grew 130 Percent In Q3

As more and more consumers use their phones for both business and product search and purchasing, mobile ad formats for retailers are becoming a more compelling way to connect with these users. Today, Google is bringingits seller ratings ad format to the mobile platform, allowing searchers using Google on the mobile web to see ratings of merchants within a search ad. Another interesting tidbit from the post—Google Mobile searches were up 130 percent year-over-year in Q3 of 2010.

Similar to seller ratings for web-based search ads, the mobile format allows advertisers to include a rating for a business. Seller Ratings are aggregated from merchant review sites and Google says the the extension will only show when a merchant’s online store has a rating of four or more stars and includes at least 30 reviews.

The ad itself shows the merchants star rating and posts a link to the seller’s reviews. Google says that the mobile ad formats with seller ratings are only available on Google.com, Google.co.uk and Google.de domains. And Google cautions that these types of ads are only appropriate for “advertisers who provide users with paid goods or services or those that enable the buying or selling of products or services via a marketplace.”

Apple Looking To Hire More CDMA Engineers

A new Apple job posting, showing that the company is looking for more engineers with CDMA experience is just the latest bit of evidence that Apple is hard at work on an iPhone compatible with Verizon’s network. Te Cellular Systems Performance Engineer will need to be proficient in GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, and CDMA technologies. All but the last protocol are currently supports in the iPhone 4s. Verizon’s network uses CDMA rather than the GSM standard used by AT&T.

Apple has been adding CDMA engineers to their development staff since at least 2008; job listings two years ago showed proof of Apple seeking CDMA testing and certification engineers. The pace of hiring has intensified lately however. This is something anyone can see if you search for CDMA on Apple’s job site, there seem to be a number of positions open calling for familiarity with the protocol. The rumor of the Verizon iPhone has been bouncing around almost as long as there’s been an iPhone. Shaw Wu, a Kaufman Bros. analyst recently said that Verizon is so eager to get the iPhone that they’re giving in to more Apple demands, kicking in a subsidy of as much as $400 per phone.

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Toshiba and iPhone

Toshiba said building LCD display 

factory to supply iPhone 6

Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/12/13/toshiba.spending.12b.for.iphone.lcd.plant/#ixzz181pfHRss

Toshiba is building a large factory dedicated primarily to making LCDs for Apple, Nikkei said today. The Japanese firm would spend about $1.19 billion to make small LCDs and would primarily supply high resolution, low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) LCDs for iPhones. Apple is directly involved and will help fund the plant, the daily said.

Construction would start in early 2011 and would wrap up in time for production to start in the second half of the same year. Toshiba hasn't confirmed any details.

The timing would roughly correlate to the first results of the factory arriving in 2012, with the sixth-generation iPhone or expanded production of the fifth-generation model getting the first results. No mention has been made as to whether it would be a technological improvement or if it would simply supplement existing production; the new factory would be a more than twofold jump over the 8.55 million small LCDs Toshiba currently makes per month.

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DailyBooth, the photo-sharing startup with a focus on faces, is out with version 2.0 of its iPhone app. The update is a complete rewrite and redesign from the original and includes a live feed of photos, full profile information and messaging support.

The refreshed application also brings with it a 3-second timer for snapping photos, integration with Facebook and Twitter, username search, improved friend finding capabilities and photo ghosting.

The application should be well-received by DailyBooth users as it finally makes a majority of the web service’s features available on the iPhone.

As the camera capabilities on newer smartphones continue to improve, startups are responding by building specialized applicationsthat drastically improve the users’ ability to snap and share photos on the web from their mobile devices.

DailyBooth CEO Brian Pokorny believes the bigger trend is building for younger audiences who prefer to communicate with faces, hence his company’s interest in building around the front-facing camera of the iPhone 4. As for Android, DailyBoothindicates a version of the application is in the works for that operating system as well.

Microsoft joins group targeting Google deal

The FairSearch.org coalition said Monday that Microsoft (MSFT 27.25, +0.02, +0.07%) is among a handful of new members, who will be demonstrating “concern around the world about the broader threat the Google-ITA deal poses to travel consumers.”

Google (GOOG 595.00, +0.38, +0.06%) announced in July that it plans to purchase ITA Software, which provides travel information technology to Microsoft, American Airlines(AMR 7.84, +0.01, +0.13%) and others.

That announcement drew concerns from rivals and critics who say Google could use its market power as a dominant search engine to hinder competition in the online travel industry.

Google controls about 66% of the U.S. search market, according to comScore Inc. data, while Microsoft and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO 16.86, +0.17, +1.03%) hold a combined, 28% share.

Apple, Google, RIM go shopping for Nortel patents

Apple and Google are reportedly in a bidding war for bankrupt Canadian telecom Nortel's patent portfolio. Unnamed sources speaking to Reuters confirmed that the two companies—among others—participated in the first round of bids on Nortel's IP portfolio, the most highly prized being patents related to 3G and 4G wireless tech.

The source claims that, following the first round of bids, Nortel has grouped the patents into six different technology buckets—this will reduce the possibility that a single company will end up owning all of Nortel's patents. With more than 4,000 patents to Nortel's name, that still puts several hundred into each group, ranging from optical data to online advertising, PCs, and wireless tech.

Google Latitude for iPhone now available

Tired of being texted: "Where are you?" by your friends? Google Latitude for iPhone can answer that question for them without taking you away from your other important text messages, like "Hafta break up with u; sorry," or "Free food @Phils, 2 pm."

The free, location-based app, made available Monday in Apple's App Store, lets you share your location continuously with whomever you want, and see where your friends are on a map, as well as on a handy-dandy list.

Location-based apps, like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook's Connect, are all the rage, it seems. But Google has had a dedicated mobile website for Latitude for awhile, and the app has been available for use on BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian smart phones, as well as on computers. But the iteration for the iPhone is specifically made for Apple's iOS 4, the latest version of the company's mobile operating system.