Applr brings social networking to app purchases

A new online service lets users combine social networking with App Store shopping as they peruse the latest offerings for their Phone and iPad. Applr launched this week, the creation of developer Michael Johnston, who has been working on the project since 2010. After users register for an account, they're asked to list their most-recommended apps. They can also find other users to "follow"--much like Twitter or Facebook--in...

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Nokia offers paid upgrade to music service

Nokia plans to roll out in the first quarter of this year its Nokia Music+, a new subscription-based upgrade to its free-to-stream mobile music service. The paid service will offer unlimited downloads of sets of tunes or "Mixes" for offline playback, and unlimited track skips, Nokia said on Sunday. Nokia started offering last September in the U.S. its Nokia Music, a free music streaming service. The service will continue...

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Facebook legal notice could get you cash, so don't trash it

Facebook recently sent a legal notice to users that may appear daunting at first glance, but before you relegate it to the trash bin you ought to take a look at it -- it could mean cash in your pocket. The notice is meant to notify some of its U.S. members that their names, profile pictures, photographs, likenesses, and identities were unlawfully used to advertise or sell products and services through Sponsored Stories without...

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Twitter's Vine ripe with users of video sharing service

Twitter launched Vine recently and it appears the video sharing service that lets you post clips up to six seconds long is already a hit with users. Vine is a completely public and compelling medium that gives you a brief window into what people all over the world are seeing, or the kinds of things they're thinking about. You can share the brief videos on Twitter and Facebook. Just like Facebook's Instagram turns regular...

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The iPad mini: 2013's next big business tool?

Not long after the iPad mini launched last fall, Cameron Yuill, the founder of AdGent Digital, started using the device to make business presentations. Convenience was one reason: The iPad mini has all the capabilities of its bigger predecessor, including wireless AirPlay mirroring that allows him to project the tablet's screen onto a nearby TV. But salesmanship was a factor, too: There's nothing like arriving at a meeting,...

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What IT needs to know about near-field communications

The rise of near-field communications (NFC) has been part of the discussion in the mobile industry for years. Unfortunately, the technology hasn't generated much more than discussion to this point. So far, all who have predicted the ubiquity of the point-to-point communications technology have been wrong. Executives at major tech companies - Apple and eBay, for example - have scoffed at the idea of NFC as an everyday...

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Samsung investigates worker's death following chemical leak at chip plant

A chemical leak at a Samsung Electronics plant in South Korea has resulted in the death of a contract worker, while four others have been discharged from a hospital after treatment, the company said Monday. Hydrofluoric acid leaked from a chemical supply system during a maintenance operation at Samsung's Hwaseong site, the company said. A service company sent the contract workers to deal with the problem, Samsung said. "Sadly,...

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Security software showdown! 9 antivirus suites empirically tested

If you're like a lot of people, when it comes time to renew your security software, you may ask yourself, "Do I really need to upgrade to the latest version?" The answer is yes. Keeping up-to-date is generally a good idea, as new threats surface constantly. And if you value mobile security or use a social network, this year's crop of security suites is worth paying attention to. An increasing number of security suites...

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Acquisition math: Belkin CTO predicts outcome of Linksys deal will be "1+1=3"

News that Cisco intended to divest its Linksys home-networking business unit broke last December, but Belkin's decision--announced last Thursday--to acquire that division came as a surprise. Belkin's intentions are even more interesting: The company isn't just buying a prestige brand to slap on its existing home-networking product line; it plans to market networking products under both brands. When...

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HP offering data-breach response and remediation services

HP today announced data-breach remediation services intended to help organizations prepare for an incident related to data loss that would require fast response to meet both legal and digital forensics requirements. "It's not if, it's when a breach occurs," said Andrzej Kawalec, global chief technology officer at HP Enterprise Security. [ Symantec CEO on reorg: "Our system is just broken" ] HP's services from...

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IBM to beef up content management, analytics in Connections enterprise social product

IBM will launch before midyear several new and improved collaboration and communication products, including a new suite for human resources tasks and a major upgrade of its Connections enterprise social networking product. The company, which will unveil the products at its Connect 2013 conference in Orlando on Monday, will also announce improvements to its enterprise social suite for marketers. The upgrade to its IBM Connections...

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WhatsApp could face prosecution on poor privacy

A yearlong investigation by government privacy watchdogs in Canada and the Netherlands identified major weaknesses in the way the WhatsApp cellphone messaging application handled the personal information of its users. Many of the problems have since been fixed, but Dutch authorities have yet to decide whether they will attempt to prosecute WhatsApp under Dutch privacy law, the two organizations said in a joint statement on...

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Apple makes good on CEO's promise to expand iPhone 5's 4G carriers

iOS 6.1 patches more than two-dozen security vulnerabilities and adds three-dozen LTE carriers to the supported list for the iPhone 5. Apple today released iOS 6.1, the first major update for the mobile operating system since its September 2012 launch, patching 27 security vulnerabilities and adding three dozen LTE carriers to the iPhone 5's support list. At the top of Apple's list of improvements was an expansion of the LTE...

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