Motorola launches the Xoom in India

It's raining tablets. Motorola has launched its flagship Android Honeycomb based tablet, the Xoom, in India a day after HTC's Flyer released.

The powerful 1 GHz dual core Tegra 2 processor powers the 1280x800 resolution 10.1-inch HD display. The Motorola Xoom was the first Honeycomb tablet to launch elsewhere around the world but was beaten to the finishing line by the Acer ICONIA A500 in India

The Xoom is priced quite competitively compared to the iPad 2 with the Wi-Fi + 32GB version at a street price of Rs. 32,990. and the Wi-Fi + 3G variant at a street price of Rs. 39,990

The biggest advantage that the Xoom has over the iPad 2 is the ability of expand available storage using a Micro SD card. However, it falls short in terms of tablet specific apps.

It has a 5MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and a modest 2MP front facing camera for video conferencing, which is undoubtedly better than what the iPad 2 has on offer.

With the BlackBerry PlayBook that launched on June 22, the Xoom and HTC's Flyer now offer Indian consumers tablet options to the iPad.

Detailed reviews of these tablets coming soon, right here 

Google fined by Taipei over app refund

Taipei said Monday it had fined Google Tw$1,000,000 ($34,600) for refusing to grant customers a seven-day trial period when they download apps for their cell phones.

Taiwan's consumer protection law stipulates that consumers are entitled to a seven-day trial period after purchasing any products via Internet, including cell phone software applications.

The capital city's government found that Google and Apple had violated the law and on June 8 ordered them to alter their trading rules.

"Google refused to change its rules," Betty Chen, the head of a consumer protection at the city government, said. Apple changed its rules.

Under the terms of service for Google's Android Market, consumers are allowed only 15 minutes to decide whether they want a refund after buying an app online.

In reaction, Google suspended the sale of its paid apps to Taiwan consumers, according to Chen, who described the move as "unfriendly".

No Google Taiwan officials were immediately available for comment.

Chen said Google plans to send officials from the United States to Taiwan on Thursday over what she said was the company's violation of the island's law.

Officials said they may impose a similar fine if Google does not make the change by July 1.

Airtel launches 3G international video calling

Telcom giant Bharti Airtel, which has operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, Monday announced the launch of its international video calling capabilities on its third generation (3G) services for its customers in India.

"As we take the lead in launching international video calling on 3G in India, this marks the beginning of a new era of next generation communication in the country -- one that will help mobile customers break the barrier of boundaries and instantly connect with their personal and business network across the world," said Atul Bindal, president, mobile services, Bharti Airtel.

"Given the high demand of video calling services seen since the launch of Airtel 3G services, we are confident that our customers will see great value from the availability of this capability for international calls as well," he added.

For the US, Canada and Bangladesh the service is priced at Rs.14 per minute. Video calls to the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Oman are priced at Rs.20 per minute. 

iPhone 3GS now costs Rs. 19,990

The iPhone 3GS, 8GB version, will now be available for just less than Rs 20,000. It will be unlocked and come with an Indian warranty.

The iPhone 3GS was released in 2009 and has been available in India since 2010. The 16 and 32 GB versions of the iPhone 3GS were available for over Rs. 35,000. The locked version of the 8GB iPhone 3GS is available for $49 (approx. Rs. 2,200) in the US from AT&T. The 16 GB and 32 GB versions of the iPhone 3GS are available for $199 and $299 respectively.

According to our sources, Apple has not launched the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 3GS in the market. This might be a good strategy for Apple as there will be a clear distinction between the 3GS and iPhone 4 with the available memory, but the consumer is clearly the loser.

In comparison, Google's Android flagship device, the Samsung Nexus S, also costs Rs. 19,990 and has a much faster processor plus much more RAM to run multiple applications at the same time. It also has twice the storage at 16 GB. 

Apple files fresh lawsuit against Samsung

US technology giant Apple said on Friday that it has filed a lawsuit in South Korea claiming Samsung Electronics copied its products, in the latest round of an international legal battle between the pair.

"We have filed a lawsuit against Samsung with the Seoul Central District Court," Steve Park, a spokesman for Apple Korea, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Apple Korea said in a statement it was "no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging.

"This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas," it said.

The South Korean firm said Apple's latest legal action wouldn't affect its own lawsuit.

"We will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business," it said in a statement.

Samsung and Apple are entangled in widening legal battles.

Apple in April filed suit against Samsung in San Francisco claiming the Korean firm copied its smartphones and tablet computers.

Samsung responded later that month with a lawsuit in Seoul alleging five patent infringements by Apple. It filed separate actions in Tokyo, citing two patent infringements, and in the German city of Mannheim citing three.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab has been a best-selling rival to the iPad, which has dominated the growing market for the touchscreen devices.

Despite their prickly competition in finished products, the two firms have a close business relationship.

Apple was Samsung's second-largest client in 2010 after Japan's Sony Corp, accounting for four percent of the South Korean firm's 155 trillion won ($142 billion) annual revenue.

BlackBerry maker upbeat on Asian growth markets

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) is banking on Indonesia and other populous markets for growth in Asia, while it faces intensifying competition worldwide from rivals like the iPhone.

The Canadian firm had one of the most prominent stands at the CommunicAsia telecom fair that ended Friday in Singapore, where industry executives gather annually to check out new technology and seal deals.

"We are in a great spot. When I think about the (Asian) markets, I have a big smile on my face," RIM's regional managing director Gregory Wade told AFP at the expo.

Wade said BlackBerry currently leads the smartphone market in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Technology research firm IDC estimates that RIM shipped 1.5 million BlackBerry devices to Asia in the first quarter of this year and since 2004 has sold at least 8.5 million units in the region.

Asia accounted for 11 percent of RIM's global shipments in the first quarter of 2011, compared to eight percent for all of 2010, it said.

Wade said that as more consumers seek replacements for older handsets, there's ample room for further growth in the Asian smartphone sector.

"There is a huge adoption of technology, consumers are making that leapfrog," he said.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have a combined population of 400 million, and Indonesians have a particular fondness for BlackBerry's instant-messaging function, which spares them from texting charges.

"If you look at the countries he (Wade) mentioned, those are good success stories for them despite the beating they are getting globally," said Byan Ma, an analyst with IDC.

"In Indonesia, everyone wants to have a BlackBerry."

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM was once the frontrunner in the high-margin smartphone market when it introduced the first BlackBerry device in 1999, which integrated email into a handset in a secure and reliable way.

The gadget was an instant hit, especially with corporate users.

But now, according to technology research company Gartner, RIM ranked fourth in the smartphone market globally in the first quarter of 2011 with a 12.9 percent share based on operating systems -- behind Google's Android, Nokia's Symbian and Apple's iOS.

At CommunicAsia, RIM showcased the Playbook, its answer to Apple's iconic iPad.

The Playbook, which boasts a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) touchscreen, was released in April but the market's reaction has been mixed in RIM's key North American market.

RIM said it shipped about 500,000 Playbooks in the three months to May 28, and sales start this month in Asia.

Roberta Cozza, an analyst with Gartner, said the Playbook was a "solid device" but like the rest of the iPad challengers, it lacks a well-supported "ecosystem" of applications similar to Apple's.

"Even Android tablets are struggling to deliver value to the consumers," Cozza said.

Android, an operating system developed by Google, is the software of choice among several iPad challengers like Samsung, while RIM has its own proprietary software.

"All the vendors are focusing on the hardware features but this is not where the game is," Cozza said.

HTC unveils the HTC Flyer in India

HTC's new tablet, the Flyer, is the latest iPad competition in India. It will launch today at a relatively high price point of Rs 39,890.

Disappointingly, the 7-inch 1024 x 600 resolution tablet does not run on Google's tablet specific Honeycomb OS but on Google's mobile OS Gingerbread skinned with the latest version of HTC sense instead.

A 1.5GHz single core processor powers the Flyer. It also features HTML 5 and Flash 10 support. This is a deviation from tradition in a tablet market dominated by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual core processor. It offers 32GB storage and 1GB of RAM.  The back of the device houses a 5MP camera and the front has a 1.3MP camera for video chat. 

Uniquely, the tablet allows the use of a stylus-like pen to draw and write. With the pen, you can take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo. There is no way to stow the stylus in the device itself, but you could use the provided carry-case. It is easy enough to lose styli even when housed inside a phone or tablet, and without a good stowing mechanism you might have to buy a new stylus more often than you like.

The HTC Flyer tablet also introduces HTC Watch, HTC's new video download service.  The HTC Watch service enables on-demand progressive downloading of High-Definition movies from major studios.

The Flyer seems like a well-built device, but does it justify the price tag of Rs. 39,890? Stay tuned for the compete review, coming soon. 

Social gaming a big winner in smartphone boom

More virtual livestock looks set to be traded and petulant fowl hurled at targets as social gaming takes hold in the booming mobile phone market, industry experts say.

Social gaming, made popular by titles such as "Farmville" and "Angry Birds", was one of the closely followed topics at last week's CommunicAsia trade fair in Singapore, where telecom executives meet annually to check on new trends.

Internet-enabled smartphones as well as tablets are liberating social gamers from the physical confines of home and office, and more titles specifically designed for handheld devices are on their way.

Asia-Pacific smartphone sales are expected to reach 200 million a year by 2016, a third of all mobile phones sold in the region, according to telecom consultancy Ovum.

"At least 90 percent of gamers will be on mobile in the future," said Jeffrey Jiang, a director at Singapore-based Touch Dimensions, which develops games for various platforms.

He said his firm's clients now favour social games designed for mobile phones rather than personal computers or consoles such as the Xbox 360.

"When I started in the industry, all the projects are mostly PC, hardly any mobile. But now most of the projects that people ask from us is about mobile," he told AFP.

Jiang, whose firm creates games for mobile brands such as the iPhone, Android and Nokia, said light social gamers rather than hardcore videogame players would be the drivers of developer industry growth.

"The majority of the population are going to be casual gamers and casual gamers are not really that willing to play their games just on the PC... Everyone has mobile devices so it's the logical shift."

"Farmville", which enables players and their friends to turn themselves into rural folk ploughing fields and trading pigs and cows, is the most popular game on Facebook and has made its developer Zynga a fortune.

With Zynga preparing to offer its shares soon, The Wall Street Journal has quoted sources as saying the developer could be valued at $7 billion to $9 billion after making $400 million in profit on approximately $850 million in revenue last year.

More than 250 million people a month play Zynga games which also include "CityVille", "FrontierVille", "Caf� World", "YoVille" and "Vampire Wars", according to the developer.
In "Angry Birds", developed by Finnish company Rovio, players catapult birds at enemy pigs which have stolen their eggs -- players post their scores and discuss the game on social media sites.

Social game developers make money by selling their games as paid applications on mobile platforms such as Apple's AppStore, with various upgrades available as users become more addicted.

Advertising space is also available within their virtual worlds.

David Ko, senior vice president for Zynga, said some 1.1 billion smartphones -- mobile devices with features such as video cameras and Internet capability -- are expected to be shipped worldwide in 2015, double this year's forecast.

This creates a "tremendous opportunity" to reach more players, he said.

Ko said gamers have pressed Zynga to devote more resources to mobile platforms, "so an important part of our strategy is making sure that we have mobile extensions of all of our IPs (intellectual properties) going forward."

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said gamers were the biggest customers of its applications store Ovi.

At Apple's AppStore, mobile games are the best-selling items, filling nine out of the top 10 slots.

Even BlackBerry, a brand more synonymous with businessmen rather than the gaming fraternity, showcased the gaming capabilities of its first tablet model, the Playbook at CommunicAsia.

It set up four flatscreen televisions connected to Playbooks enabling players to compete in the racing game "Need for Speed".

Thomas Crampton, a Hong Kong-based media consultant, said the rise of the smartphone made social gaming viable.

"The connectiveness to the Internet is important because it gives you that social link and the social aspect of gaming is really going to be a huge driving factor," said Crampton,

Asia-Pacific director of Ogilvy Public Relations' global social media team.

Tablet war heats up as Asia challenges iconic iPad

A tablet war is heating up in Asia as companies from China, South Korea and Taiwan challenge the dominance of Apple's iPad on features and price, analysts said.

Asia is a major battleground because of the presence of alternatives offered by top global brands like South Korea's Samsung as well as cheaper choices from dozens of smaller firms, many of them from China.

By one estimate, Asia will account for about a third of tablet sales by 2015, triggering a race for market share by big and unknown brands alike.

Chinese technology firm Huawei became the latest company to jump on the bandwagon when it launched the MediaPad, which has a seven-inch (178-millimetre) screen and is powered by Google's Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system.

Making its global debut at this week's CommunicAsia trade fair in Singapore, the MediaPad sports Qualcomm's dual-core 1.2GHz processor.

It is just 10.55 mm (0.4 inches) thick and weighs 390 grams (0.86 pounds), making it much lighter than an iPad2.

"With the Huawei MediaPad, we are demonstrating yet again that design, functionality and performance is within everyone's reach," said Victor Xu, chief marketing officer of Huawei Device.

The market is already abuzz with models such as Samsung's Galaxy Tab, the HTC FlyerTM by Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC and the ZTE Light tablet by Chinese manufacturer ZTE.

Add to these other Western brands such as the BlackBerry Playbook by Canada's Research in Motion and a growing array of inexpensive gadgets from little-known vendors and the field is widening up for competition.

"We see Apple's market share declining -- in a growing market -- as credible alternatives emerge from a variety of manufacturers," said Tim Renowden, an analyst with technology research firm Ovum.

"The emergence of lower-cost tablets, predominantly running Google's Android operating system, will be an important opportunity for Asian manufacturers," he told AFP.

He said Samsung and HTC "are arguably the front runners with their experience producing smartphones".

However, Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and ZTE "are also actively pursuing market share and can potentially succeed with lower-cost devices", he said.

In addition, traditionally PC-focused companies like Acer and Asus of Taiwan have also launched some interesting tablet products.

"All of these players are really competing against each other, more than they are competing with Apple," Renowden said.

Industry research firm Gartner has said the iPad accounted for a hefty 84 percent of the total 17.6 million tablets sold worldwide in 2010, with that share tipped to decline to 69 percent of 70 million to be sold this year.

Bryan Ma, an analyst with technology industry consultancy IDC, said although the iPad is expected to remain a major player in Asia, the region is different from Western markets.

Samsung is strong in South Korea because of nationalist sentiment, while the massive China market is awash in inexpensive tablets known as "white box" devices because of their obscure brands.

"In that sense there's an interesting activity that's giving Apple some competition. A lot of these guys are low-priced players," Ma told AFP.

"They might not necessarily have that cool cachet that Apple has but... these Chinese vendors are selling these products overseas, to other developing markets as well like Indonesia, parts of the Middle East and Africa."

Apple's advantage is that it has cultivated an image as a "cool product, and in many cases there is that status symbol element," Ma said.

"It's in the local culture. People will aspire to that social status to carry an Apple product."
Ovum's Renowden said the Asia-Pacific market was big enough for several players, forecasting tablet sales to reach 50 million units in 2015 out of a global total of 150 million.
"The market is certainly big enough for a number of players to be profitable," he said.

"But competition is already fierce and standing out from the crowd is important, as is maintaining good relationships with distributors, both retail and through telco partners."

Ma expects some competitors to fall by the wayside.

"Frankly, the market is over-saturated, there's way too many vendors trying to participate in this market than there is demand for," he said.

"We expect that there are going to be vendors that will find that they are not shipping enough volumes and they will eventually back out of the market both this year and probably in the upcoming year," he added.

"There's going to be some sifting of the market, the dust still needs to settle a bit because it's still very, very early stages."

Delay in Kodak patent case against Apple, RIM

Kodak drew a one-time $550 million royalty payment from Samsung and a $414 million from LG Electronics. It has licensed digital-imaging technology to about 30 companies, including mobile-device makers such as Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp.

Relying on its rich array of inventions for repeated cash infusions has become an indispensable tactic driven in large part by Kodak's long and painful digital turnaround.

Since 2004, Kodak has reported only one full-year profit -- in 2007 -- and expects another annual loss this year before crossing back to profitability sometime in 2012. It has trimmed its work force to 18,800 from 70,000 in 2002.

The maker of cameras, film and printing technology is investing heavily in four growth businesses -- workflow software, packaging, home inkjet printers and high-speed inkjet presses. Through 2013, it expects that revenue will reach nearly $2 billion, accounting for 25 percent of all revenue.

Kodak shares rose 7 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $3.57 on Thursday amid a broader sell-off on Wall Street. The stock is trading in a 52-week range of $2.75 to $5.95.

Viacom sues Cablevision over iPad video app

Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV, Comedy Central and other television channels, accused cable TV distributor Cablevision Systems Corp. on Thursday of making its shows available on the iPad without permission.

Viacom is seeking millions of dollars in damages and an injunction to stop Cablevision from distributing an iPad app that lets subscribers watch live channels and get shows on demand. Viacom says the app infringes on its copyrights.

The app, called Optimum, is part of a move by cable, satellite and other TV providers to give paying subscribers the ability to watch programs on a variety of devices. There's no extra charge beyond what subscribers already pay monthly for television service.

Some call the concept "TV Everywhere," although the Optimum app doesn't allow subscribers to view shows over cellphone networks or Wi-Fi hotspots outside their home. It only works in subscribers' own homes using Wi-Fi signals that come through a modem supplied by Cablevision.

The app launched on April 2 and had more than 50,000 downloads within five days. It is available to Cablevision's digital cable subscribers for free.

Viacom said it has had "limited and unproductive" discussions with Cablevision for several months about licensing the app.

"We cannot wait indefinitely while our networks are being distributed without permission," the company said in a statement.

Viacom filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday. A day earlier, Viacom and another cable TV distributor Time Warner Cable Inc. agreed to postpone a legal battle over a similar iPad app to try to reach a deal.

Cablevision said its app falls within existing agreements with programmers, including Viacom.

"It is cable television service on the iPad, which functions as a television, and is delivered securely to our customers in the home on Cablevision's own proprietary network," Cablevision said in a statement.

Viacom said in its lawsuit that the delivery system was not secure and could allow for illegal copying and file sharing. Viacom also said Cablevision used the trademarks of Viacom's channel to give subscribers an incorrect impression that it is backing the product.

Viacom said viewing on mobile devices such as the iPad is not yet measured by The Nielsen Co. As a result, Viacom risks losing revenue from advertisers, because ad rates are set based on the number of viewers. If viewers stop watching on television and watch instead on the iPad, Viacom would lose credit for those viewers.

Hacker pleads guilty to AT&T iPad breach

A 26-year-old man pleaded guilty on Thursday to writing the code used to steal email addresses and personal information belonging to 120,000 Apple iPad subscribers from AT&T computer servers.

Daniel Spitler, of San Francisco, entered the guilty plea in a US federal court in Newark, New Jersey, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Spitler, who surrendered to the authorities in January, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers connected to the Internet and one count of identity theft, it said.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing was set for September 28.

"Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves," US attorney Paul Fishman said.

"Hacks have serious implications -- from the personal devastation of a stolen identity to danger to our national security," Fishman said.

"In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler's guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport," he said.

The Justice Department said Spitler had admitted to being a member of Goatse Security, a loose association of Internet hackers.
In June 2010, the hackers attacked AT&T servers and obtained email addresses and other personal information of around 120,000 iPad subscribers to AT&T's 3G service.
They included the email addresses of a number of high-profile iPad users including US business leaders, politicians and military officials.
"The magnitude of this crime affected everyone from high ranking members of the White House staff to the average American citizen," FBI Newark special agent Michael Ward said. "It's important to note that it wasn't just the hacking itself that was criminal, but what could potentially occur utilizing the pilfered information."
Using a script called an "iPad 3G Account Slurper," the Goatse hackers managed to obtain the number used to identify a subscriber on AT&T's network known as the ICC ID, which stands for integrated circuit card identifier.
Until the attack, AT&T automatically linked an iPad 3G user's email address to their ICC ID.

Nokia's new flagship N9 gets mixed reviews

Nokia's latest attempt to win back market share with its N9 phone received mixed reviews on Wednesday but analysts said the real test will come when it releases new models using the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

Fans lauded the N9's ease of use without any "home" button -- a feature of the iPhone and other rivals -- while detractors mocked what they saw as its outdated Meego operating system.

Unveiled by Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop at the CommunicAsia telecoms fair in Singapore this week, fans crowded around the company's booth to try out the device.

The N9 has a 99-millimetre (less than four inches), 854 x 480 pixel display and weighs 135 grams (less than five ounces), putting it clearly in iPhone territory.

Its most distinctive feature is an "all-screen" display, with users swiping the screen to switch between applications.

The device also has a function that allows users to link it to dedicated accessories such as a headset or speakers by simply touching the phone against them.

"Being a user of Apple, an iPhone, this is light years ahead of what iPhone 3G does," declared Paul Krzystoszek, operations and marketing manager for Australian Satellite Communications.
"The ease of use... the intuitive nature of swiping across the screen instead of using a button, there's no button on it, the plastic casing, I think they're all things that make it a lot better than what we have already," he told AFP after trying the phone at the Nokia booth.

"Awesome" was how Shahiran Jaafar, chief executive officer of Malaysian firm Microtel Systems and user of an iPhone 3G, described the N9.

"The fact that you can just swipe it and it goes back to whatever screen that you need it to go back to, the fact that it can show all the open tasks that's available, that's fantastic," he said.

"It just dwarfs the iPhone, the iPhone is nothing now."

However, some were unimpressed by the fact that the N9 was still operating on Nokia's MeeGo platform despite the company's impending adoption of the Windows Phone 7 platform later this year.

"I have a problem with... the operating system," said Phoosith Ratpiyasoontorn, a Thai systems integration engineer, lamenting that MeeGo lacked user volume and compatibility with many applications.

Technological consultancy firm Ovum's consumer information technology analyst Tim Renowden said the true test of whether Nokia can reverse its sagging fortunes will be when its new handsets using Windows Phone 7 are rolled out.

"The N9 is an interesting demonstration that Nokia can still build excellent hardware, and it shows the progress made on the MeeGo OS," he said.

"But it doesn't change the fact that most Nokia fans will be waiting for the first Windows Phone 7 handsets to arrive later this year," he told AFP.

"With Nokia's focus shifting to Windows Phone 7 it's hard to get excited about MeeGo on Nokia hardware, despite the apparent merits of the N9 itself."

Ratpiyasoontorn added that the choice for him would be clear if the N9 was stacked up against the iPhone.

"iPhone for sure because the ecosystem, they have a lot more content, more applications," he said.

In Finland, Nokia touted the virtues of Meego as the N9 was unveiled in Asia.

"It reflects a change in philosophy, hardware and software coming together at Nokia in a very specific way to create a device," said Peter Skillman, Nokia Vice President of Services and Meego Design.

"This impacts everything from smartphones to low-end phones right across the board."

Android phones to pit vampires against slayers

Facial recognition startup Viewdle on Wednesday began letting Android smartphone users see which of the people around them are vampires and which are vampire slayers.
A "Third Eye" augmented reality game released by the San Francisco company online at viewdle.com is the first installment in a trilogy that will culminate in a battle between the undead and defenders of the living.

It was also intended as a fun demonstration of a powerful software platform that lets smartphone cameras recognize what they see and potentially support services such as sight for the blind or memories for the forgetful.

"It is true science fiction on some level," Viewdle chief product officer Jason Mitura told AFP. "The way people use their devices to interact with the world is going to change dramatically."

At the heart of the vampire-themed game is Viewdle's facial recognition technology that debuted in April in the form of a SocialCamera application for Android-powered smartphones.
SocialCamera uses computer algorithms to create "faceprints" that people can tag with names and store in smartphones. The software then matches faceprints to subjects in subsequent photos.

Android smartphones can instantly connect names to those in photos and share the images using social networking service Facebook, photo-sharing website Flickr, or by email or instant message.

"Third Eye" uses facial characteristics to evaluate whether people viewed through smartphone cameras are "blood suckers" or humans who can be recruited as vampire slayers.

The objective of the first part of the game is to amass an army and establish alliances for battles between clans that will play out in installments due for release later this year.

"The gaming mechanism forces play that requires people to interact with the real world," Mitura said. "You hold the smartphone up to an object and it triggers game play; in this case the object is a person."

Viewdle has avoided controversy by putting the facial recognition power in smartphones with users keeping control, instead of putting the information on servers in the Internet "cloud."

Viewdle is working with chip and smartphone makers that are building computer vision into their offerings.

Viewdle bills itself as the leading independent facial recognition company for consumer gadgets. Its technology is developed by the company's research team in the Ukraine.

Viewdle is the result of 15 years of research, rooted in work done at The Cybernetics Institute in Kiev, and got its first infusion of investor money -- 2.5 million dollars -- in June 2008.

High-powered players in September pumped $10 million into the Palo Alto, California, startup devoted to crafting ways to let smartphones "see" things the same way people do.

The influx of cash came from Qualcomm, BlackBerry Partners Fund, US electronics retail chain Best Buy, and Anthem Venture Partners, an investment firm that has backed Viewdle from the outset.

"We are giving smartphones human eyes," Viewdle co-founder and chief executive Laurent Gil told AFP.

"Letting them see the world the way people do... it is artificial intelligence," he said. "It is happening."

Viewdle plans to make a software developers kit available to gadget makers interested in building computer vision into devices.

"It is an exciting future for computer vision," Mitura said.

US tablet users paid $53 for apps: study

More than 90 percent of US tablet computer users have downloaded applications and most have bought apps, spending over $50 on average during the past 12 months, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Twelve percent of the total US population own or use a tablet, the study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) found, with the number expected to rise to 23 percent, or 54 million people, by early 2012.

Ninety-three percent of tablet users have downloaded apps, the study said, with the average tablet user downloading 20 apps, predominantly for weather, games and music, social networking and news.

Seventy-nine percent of those who have downloaded apps have paid for apps during the past 12 months, spending $53 on apps during the period, the OPA study said.

Twenty-six percent of all apps downloaded are paid apps with games making up more than 50 percent of the apps people paid for, it said.

The study also found that 60 percent of tablet users are men and 48 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34.

Tablet owners were largely happy with their devices, the study found. Eighty-nine percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their tablet.

Apple's iPad was the tablet of choice among those surveyed with 46 percent saying they owned or used an iPad and 21 percent saying they owned or used an iPad 2.

The next most popular tablets were the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy, the Dell Streak and the HP Slate.

The survey of 2,482 people between the ages of eight and 64 was conducted by Frank Magid Associates between April 15 and April 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.97 percentage points.

Sony Ericsson eyes Android market with new phones

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson unveiled two new Android models on Wednesday in a bid to grab more of the burgeoning smartphone market.

The company, a joint venture between L.M. Ericsson and Sony Corp., plans to launch the Xperia ray and Xperia active models during the third quarter, Chief Marketing Officer Steve Walker announced in Singapore.

The new models should help the company expand its 11 percent market share of the Android segment, Walker said.

"Android smartphones is a rapidly growing part of the market, and we see our share within that market growing," Walker told The Associated Press.

London-based Sony Ericsson, which saw its phone unit sales drop 23 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, is moving away from cheaper phone models and seeking to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Nokia Corp.'s N9 in the higher-priced smartphone market.

By 2015, about 60 percent of mobile phones sold in the Asia-Pacific region will likely be smartphones, up from 20 percent in 2010, Walker said.

"We made quite a fundamental shift in strategy and decided to focus a large part of our efforts into smartphones, to focus on the mid- and high-end part of the business," Walker said. "In many markets, we see a dramatic shift from feature phones to smartphones."

The company said in April that smartphones accounted for more than 60 percent of its sales during the first quarter.

Sony Ericsson's latest models that run on Goggle Inc.'s Android platform, the Xperia ray and active, will likely be priced below the high-end Xperia arc, Walker said.

Xperia active is water resistant and works if fingers are wet or sweaty, while the Xperia ray seeks to combine a sleek design with a device that is 9.4 millimeters thick (about 1/3 inch-thick).

Sony Ericsson also plans to introduce a less expensive model that highlights texting service and is aimed at teenagers, Walker said.

Apple removes anti-Israel app from App Store

Apple Inc. says it has removed an application called "ThirdIntifada" from its App Store following complaints that it glorified violence against Israel.

Israel's information minister, Yuli Edelstein, requested the company remove the app in an email he sent to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jewish human rights group The Simon Wiesenthal Center also complained to Apple.

"Intifada" is the Arabic term for two violent uprisings against Israel over the past two decades. The free application encouraged followers to share opinions and organize protests against Israel.

It linked to a website that helped organize violent clashes with Israeli troops recently along Israel's frontiers with Lebanon and Syria.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said on Wednesday that the app was removed "because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people."

BlackBerry maker launches PlayBook in India

It's here - the PlayBook from BlackBerry maker RIM has launched in India two months after it was released in the USA on April 19.

The much anticipated PlayBook - a strong contender for the iPad's alpha tablet title - has received mixed reviews across the world. While it is intuitive to use with innovative swipe gestures, it lacks a good app ecosystem and does not support email without connecting to a BlackBerry smartphone. However, RIM has announced that updates will be available by the end of this year which will bring in support for email and Android applications.

The QNX powered tablet has a multi-touch enabled 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1024x600. It features a 1GHz Cortex A9 dual-core processor that enables the tablet to support full HD video. The device also features a front and rear facing camera and a micro USB and HDMI out. And there's the Facebook app - the Playbook is the only tablet to have this.

Another important feature of the device is the BlackBerry Bridge. It can seamlessly sync any BlackBerry smartphone to the tablet and gain access to all contacts, messages, mail and more.

The PlayBook also comes pre-loaded with some India specific apps which include Bridal, Commix On The Go, TV On The Go, Bollywood Hungama and Cooking With Tarla Dalal.
The PlayBook will be available in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB versions. It will be priced at Rs. 27,990, Rs. 32,990 and Rs. 37,990 respectively.
 BlackBerry's Playbook is the second major contender to the iPad 2 to launch in India after the Acer A500, which is an Android Honeycomb based tablet. Future competition will launch in the shapes of the Motorola Xoom and the HTC Flyer.

iPhone 4 camera most popular on Flickr

The iPhone 4 has topped charts of a different sort again - it is the most popular camera on the photo sharing website Flickr. Even though the device has a 5MP camera and is quite underwhelming when compared to other smartphones in the industry, it has surpassed the likes of the Nikon D90, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi and the Canon EOS Rebel T1i.

Not only has the iPhone 4 left professional DSLRs behind, 4 out of the top 5 mobile devices used to upload photos are iOS devices. In order of ranking, these are the iPhone 4, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, HTC Evo 4G and the iPod touch.

Flickr states "camera phones are undercounted." The photo sharing service can identify the camera used to take the photo, and are accurate 2 out of 3 times. Flickr claims to receive more than 4,800 images shot with the iPhone 4 per day, more than any other device.

However, the all time favourite camera device is the iPhone 3GS - over 35 million photos have been uploaded using this. That's the number the iPhone 4 has to beat to take the overall number one spot. Once again, Apple is it's own competition.

The original iPhone with its underwhelming 2MP camera too topped Flickr charts way back in 2008.