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Do you use a smartphone or tablet and watch TV?

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 11:52pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

I occasionally do. My wife does every day, multiple times, either using her Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or Amazon Kindle. "In the US, 88 percent of tablet owners and 86 percent of smartphone owners said they used their device while watching TV at least once during a 30-day period", Nielsen says today. That's me. "For 45 percent of tablet tapping Americans, using their device while watching TV was a daily event". That's my better half. What about you?

I do tend to use my smartphone more often than a tablet while watching TV, that's to Shazam music -- something I frequently do everywhere. I was a deejay in an earlier life and compulsively search for good music. I'm not alone. Shazam audio QR codes appeared in Super Bowl ads for Best Buy, Pepsi and Toyota, among others. I see more QR codes in ads and TV shows every day. They're everywhere, and in some surprising places.

Nielsen's findings make sense of an increasing trend I see during prime-time programming: Interactive, companion smartphone and tablet apps. Second-screen they're often called, and emphasis often is social networking and sharing. "The Walking Dead" comes to mind. If I recall, viewers could track the number of people killed in real time, but the season's over and I didn't use the app. Last month, The Peel app extended its mobile apps second-screen in a pilot program with "American Idol". Suddenly, the live finalist broadcasts are interactive and social.

"It seems there are always a few controversial moments on American Idol, whether it is an overly harsh judge or the beloved contestant who is unexpectedly voted off", Peel CEO Greg Lindley says. "We are looking forward to being able to share our community's predictions and passion".

There is no shortage of second-screen apps. Among those for dedicated shows: "Bones"; "Celebrity Apprentice"; "New Girl"; MTVWatchWith, which covers the network's prime-time lineup; and NBC Live, which likewise is for prime-time programming; among many others.

Networks are getting more involved. For example, Fox has taken a small equity stake in ACTV8.me, which produces the "New Girl" app.

I'm surprised to see how far this second-screen thing goes. In late November eBay broke a feature from its iOS app as standalone for iPad: Watch with eBay. "You can browse and buy items related to the TV shows you’re watching", according to the auction site (This is where my jaw drops).

Definitely TV watching is increasingly social. Whether Facebook, Twitter, other social networks or broadly-dedicated second-screen apps like IntoNow, Miso or Zeebox (for UK audiences). How often do you see hashtags displayed during prime-time broadcasts, for example? I see them every day.

I wonder about these second-screen apps. "The most frequent tablet or smartphone activity across all countries while also watching TV was checking email, either during a commercial break or during the show", Nielsen says. I must confess, on the rare occasions I use a tablet while watching TV it's to manage email, which is faster by touch than mouse (well for me).

"Device owners also seem to engage with content related to the TV as well, either by looking up information related to the show or looking for deals and general information on products advertised on TV", according to Nielsen.

The closest I ever came to social watching: Dave Barry's live blogging commentaries of Fox series "24". Barry is a riot. But that was all before Facebook and Twitter added a different social element to TV watching -- or second-screen apps. But after writing this post, I might just start doing so.

Not that I need more reasons to sit in front of the boob tube. Do you?
Apple, two publishers resist ebook settlement

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 8:15pm CEST par Ed Oswald

The Justice Department is nearing a settlement with publishers over allegations of ebook pricing, but finalizing the deal is proving problematic as Apple and two publishers are balking at the terms of the deal. Amazon will be permitted to once again discount ebooks to its customers as a result.

Penguin Group and Macmillian have joined Apple in resisting the settlement, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal voids the contracts Apple signed with publishers in 2010, and permits a return to "wholesale pricing", where the retailer determines the price.

Such terms are likely unpalatable to the publishers as prices would drop significantly on ebooks and give retailers broad power on determining value. For Apple, it would force the Cupertino, Calif. company to drop its own prices in response to Amazon's moves, and likely sell some ebooks at a loss.

In court documents Apple indicates it has no desire to do this, and may exit the ebook business as a result of a return to wholesale pricing. While a settlement certainly seems closer at this point, WSJ sources call the situation "fluid", and the Justice Department could still file suit at any time.

The DOJ is joined by the EU's antitrust division in its investigation, which has already publicly signaled its willingness to settle. But European regulators want the same concessions, so it's likely the two sides are no closer to a settlement there.

Publishers have suggested keeping the current pricing model but scrapping the so-called "most favorite nation" clause in an attempt to appease Justice Department officials. As we reported last month, this portion of the deals between Apple and the publishers is the most controversial, and also quite possibly illegal.

"The book publishers had an obvious motive -- to preserve the profit margins on the sale of hardcover and paperback books, which were threatened by the much lower prices for ebooks that were offered by Amazon", antitrust lawyer William Markham told BetaNews at the time. "The book publishers enlisted the aid of Apple, which agreed to offer ebooks on its iBook platform only at approximately $15 per ebook".

This isn't satisfactory to the DOJ, the WSJ says, and wants some type of "cooling off" period before the publishers could reinstitute agency pricing. Regulators seem to believe the only way this could be done is under another collusive type arrangement.

Requests for comment from the book publishers and Apple on the situation went unanswered as of press time.

Photo Credit: Daniilantiq/Shutterstock
Sex offender? No online gaming for you!

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 7:30pm CEST par Tim Conneally

The state of New York has pulled more than 3,500 registered sex offenders from various online gaming platforms, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Thursday. The initiative, supported in part by Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Media Group, Warner Brothers and Sony, is called "Operation: Game Over."

New York State's law requires convicted sex offenders to register all of their online identities with the state, be they email addresses, screen names, or whatever. "Operation: Game Over," however, is the first time the New York law has been applied to online video games.

Spurred by the story of the 19-year old man abusing a 10-year old boy after a three-month long Xbox Live friendship, Schneiderman's office approached game companies with the request that sex offenders be banned, purged, or have their communication privileges revoked. The Attorney General's office did not specify the networks from which privileges were revoked.

"We must ensure online video game systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators. That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming networks as a vehicle to prey on underage victims,” said Attorney General Schneiderman in a statement on Thursday. "I applaud all the companies participating in this first-of-its-kind initiative for taking online safety seriously and purging their networks of sex offenders. Together we are making the online community safer for our children, not allowing it to become a 21st century crime scene."

Photo: [ag.ny.gov]
Taposé gives iPad split personality

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 7:25pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Much has been made of Taposé in recent days, with a great detail of attention being focused on the new iPad app being based on the failed Microsoft Courier project. But it is important to look at this as a piece of software in its own right.

Taken at face value, this is an app that could easily been seen as trying to be all things to all people, but the simple fact: it is a fully-featured tool. Packing notes, maps, word processor, web browser, drawing tools and much more, this is an app that can turn its hand to many tasks.

Taposé is surprisingly flexible, and when used in portrait mode it is a versatile app that can be used for everything from drawing plans, collecting together ideas for a project, keeping notes and much more. The set of tools you are presented with means that Taposé can easily replace several apps and can save you a great deal of app switching. But it is when you switch to working landscape mode that the app becomes particularly interesting.

On its side, Taposé splits your iPad screen in two and enables you to run a different component of the app on each side. So you might use one side to browse the web for research, and use the other to make notes in the word processor. This is handy, but you can also drag and drop elements from one side to the other, so if you come across a web site you would like to make a note of, you can drag and drop it into a document and a snippet will be instantly added for you.

All of this is made even more useful thanks to the fact that Taposé is cloud aware. You are provided with 400MB of online storage space which opens up the possibility of collaborative work. There is also talk of Android and web-based versions of the app, so you will be able to access your data from a number of different devices in the future.

The app isn’t perfect, but it is interesting and it is worth investing $2.99 to see where this intriguing piece of software goes.

You can find out more by paying a visit to the Taposé review page.
When your PC monitoring apps are up to no good, there's Bad Application

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 7:21pm CEST par Mike Williams

There are plenty of PC monitoring programs that aim to keep an eye on your running processes, and carry out some actions if things seem to be going wrong (PC Lasso is an excellent example). Testing these tools can be a problem, though, as you can’t safely make regular programs hang or lock up on demand.

But then that’s where Bad Application comes in.

This tiny portable program (an 11KB download) provides a simple interface that allows it to emulate a misbehaving application. And so if you have a tool that should react to a hung application, say, there’s no need to wait for one of your normal programs to hang. Just launch Bad Application, click “Hang Process”, the program will immediately lock up while grabbing 10 percent of your CPU time, and you can watch how your monitoring tool reacts.

Or maybe you’ve installed a tool that logs or tries to help with process crashes? Again, normally that’s hard to test as you can’t generally crash programs on demand (not safely, at least). But Bad Application is different: click Crash Process and it’ll fail immediately.

You can also change Bad Application’s process priority with a click, handy if you’d like to check how a monitoring tool reacts.

You’re able to flash the application’s title bar at a click.

And, for some reason, you’re also able to terminate Explorer. It should simply restart, but this is the one option which may cause problems if the process is in the middle of doing something, so we’d recommend avoiding clicking “Terminate Explorer” unless you have good reason to do otherwise.

Plainly Bad Application really isn’t a program that most people will want to use every day. If you regularly work with or try out new system monitoring applications then the ability to, say, hang the tool at the click of a button could be very useful, though. And if you’re a programmer then the news is even better, as the download includes the C++ source that can easily be extended to add new capabilities of your own.

Photo Credit: HitToon.Com/Shutterstock
5 ways my small business benefits from the cloud

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 7:08pm CEST par Ed Oswald

We have talked a lot about cloud computing recently here on the pages of BetaNews. That's not surprising since it is one of the fastest growing segments of the tech industry today. Missing, however: A more personal story on how we're using the cloud in our day-to-day business.

I run a small freelance writing and media consulting business out of my home, Oz Media Inc. While being my own boss is fun, it also requires me to be owner, CEO, CFO, IT administrator, and employee. It's a company of one. Cloud computing has definitely paid off and made running my business a lot easier, and here's why.

1. Cloud computing reduces my technology expenses. I do not have a large budget, nor room for error when it comes to technology purchases. I can buy only what I truly, truly need, and this is common across every small business. If I can push something to the cloud, say backups or files which I've done with iCloud it is generally much cheaper than purchasing physical hardware and has freed up revenue for other necessary expenses.

In fact, the iCloud free storage at 5GB is enough to store a good majority of my work file backups. That's a huge benefit.

How much money am I saving as a result of the cloud? It's difficult to quantify, but I would venture to guess in my small outfit it's into the hundreds if not thousands every year. That is more profit in my pocket, which is the ultimate goal of any business owner (see #5 for some specifics).

2. My data is accessible anywhere. Going "to the cloud" gives me mobility. As I've expanded out to a multi-device solution -- desktop, laptop, and tablet -- I am running into issues about data being on one device but not the others. Using the cloud allows me to start the work on one and finish it on another.

I write some of my stories using Google Docs. I can submit them to my editors wherever they may be and we can collaborate on the document in real time, saving a good deal of time over sending edits via email.

3. I scale my IT needs as needed. The great thing about depending on the cloud for your IT needs is the fact that there isn't a commitment. When you buy hardware and software, there is a set price you pay whether you use it until you break it, or once and never again. With cloud services, the choice is there to stop using something you don't need at any time, and limit costs.

For example, before I could afford QuickBooks software, I used a combination of Freshbooks and Outright to handle the tracking of invoicing and bookkeeping. Together these two services cost me less than $10 per month.

4. It's a breeze to manage. Large-scale IT deployments require an administrator to keep everything in tip-top shape. In small businesses, you're a man with many hats. Cloud services have made managing aspects of my business, like collaboration services (Google Apps), easy enough for somebody who isn't a true expert on IT. More money saved.

5. It's platform independent. As stated previously, I run several devices. Here's the thing though -- these devices run three different platforms. The desktop is a Mac, the laptop a Dell, and the tablet an iPad. Cloud services like Google Apps are platform agnostic, which eliminates the need for multiple versions of software for the same program.

Let's use productivity software as an example here. If I had to purchase the software for each of the platforms, it would cost me $60 for the Mac for iWork, $30 for iWork for the iPad, and at least $150 for Microsoft Office for the Dell if it was not included already. That's $240 for software -- and with Google Docs, which works on every platform, its completely free.

This short list doesn't cover all the benefits to working in the cloud. I'd like to open this up to other small business owners who are using the cloud in their day-to-day work, though. What are the biggest benefits for you? Let us know in the comments.

Photo Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock
Are you a Mac zombie?

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 5:47pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Sometimes when dealing with the so-called Mac faithful -- diehard users who relentlessly demean and attack anyone (reporters, particularly) who doesn't share their unquestioning enthusiasm -- I think of the "Walking Dead"; TV show or comic, it's your choice. Nothing stops their relentless, mindless walk. As if there weren't zombies enough, cybercriminals have unleashed another kind that is much worse.

Late last week, I started following progress of a new Trojan injected via rogue Java applet. Flashback is a variant of older malware and Apple issued a patch, so I chose not to write about it. Whoa, that was a mistake. Yesterday, Russian security firm Dr. Web claimed that more than 600,000 Macs are infected and part of a sophisticated botnet. Cybercriminals have amassed a sizable army of zombie Macs. Let me take a moment to welcome Mac users to zombieland -- a place many Windows users have lived for years.

No One is Safe

Trojans are nothing new, they're just not as common on Mac OS as Windows, but they're increasingly common enough for concern. For all the other Mac zombies -- let's call them the Walking Dead for differentiation -- who claim there is no Mac malware, 600,000-plus is nothing, nothing. Close your eyes and wish them away.

Two May 2011 BetaNews polls found that eight out of 10 Mac users don't have anti-malware installed, while as many Windows users do. I've started the polls anew, to see what's changed, if anything, in 11 months. Please respond to them. The Walking Dead aren't only to blame here as I explained last year: "Apple has created, by asserting things like 'Mac OS X doesn't get PC viruses,' a false sense of Mac security".

"Despite what Apple's marketing department would have you believe, Macs are not invulnerable to attacks and malware targeting OS X does exist", security consultant Adrian Sanabria explains. "Our main takeaway from [Flashback] should be that many Mac users have been lured into a false sense of security, and will be, or may already be, in for a rude awakening".

Think about something. From where is the Mac install base growing? Windows users. Apple executives consistently say that half of Mac buyers are Windows users. As Mac Defender showed last year, successful Mac malware uses the same social engineering techniques common to Windows PCs. Windows users bring bad habits to the Mac, which Mac Defender showed can be exploited as easily on Apple computers as Windows PCs.

Then there is the Walking Dead and other long-time Mac users who aren't accustomed to their computers being assaulted. They're naive and leave the windows open and doors unlocked, so to speak. They feel safe when they shouldn't and don't know what behavior creates risk. Yes, I'm generalizing, but the point is valid.

Risks increase with malware success. Botnets this size are self-propogating. Cyberciminals can use a large botnet to attack and infect other computers. Can this one be taken down? We shall see.

Is anti-malware software installed on your primary home Macintosh?

Is anti-malware software installed on your primary home Windows PC?

Flashback to Terror

Initially, Dr. Web reported 550,000 Macs in the botnet but later updated the number to more than 600,000, get this, with "274 bots from Cupertino" -- the city presumably referring to Apple, as it's common shorthand.

SEO poisoning spread the last big malware outbreak. Similarly, Flashback spreads through compromised websites. Dr. Web explains:

Systems get infected with BackDoor.Flashback.39 after a user is redirected to a bogus site from a compromised resource or via a traffic distribution system. JavaScript code is used to load a Java-applet containing an exploit. Doctor Web's virus analysts discovered a large number of web-sites containing the code.

More than half of the compromised computers are in the United States and more than three quarters in North America.

More specifically, how are Macs infected? Security vendor F-Secure explains:

Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.I is dropped by malicious Java applets that exploit the known CVE-2011-3544 vulnerability.

On execution, the malware will prompt the unsuspecting user for the administrator password. Whether or not the user inputs the administrator password, the malware will attempt to infect the system, though entering the password will affect how the infection is done.

If infection is successful, the malware will modify the contents of certain webpages displayed by web browsers; the specific webpages targeted and changes made are determined based on configuration information retrieved by the malware from a remote server.

F-Secure also offers detailed instructions to detect and remove Flashback.

Apple has patched the vulnerability but took six weeks doing so. Meanwhile, like Mac Defender, new Flashback variants spread. Will you be a Mac zombie, or are you one already? Now might be a good time to invest in a Mac anti-malware app.
PhotoBox! comes to Android, can be used to fix Instagram's lack of SD save

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 5:27pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Mobile app developer WeaverMobile USA announced on Thursday that its formerly iOS-exclusive photography management app PhotoBox! has launched on Android.

The application can be thought of as "Lightroom for Facebook," giving users the ability to find, manage, add effects to, and share photos posted to Facebook, as well as perform batch uploads and downloads, to tag/untag, like/unlike, and comment. It provides a pretty robust toolkit for editing photos, adding filters, drawing, and adding text.

"PhotoBox! continues to be the only all-in-one photo app that supports searching, managing, editing and sharing images on Facebook," said Raymond Wei, co-founder of Weaver Mobile. "Facebook users are becoming increasingly mobile, and we are excited to bring the PhotoBox! app to the hands of Android owners everywhere."

But with the recent addition of Instagram to the Android family, PhotoBox provides an important gap-bridging solution.

Instagram photos, famously can't be stored directly on the phone's SD card. What they can do is be automatically posted to Facebook. Through Facebook, PhotoBox! can actually download all your Instagram photos back to your phone's SD card. It's kind of a convoluted way to do things, but hey, it exists.

Here's how to save Instagram photos to SD via PhotoBox!

Instagram should be set to post to your Facebook Timeline in an album called "Instagram Photos"
Click on the cloud icon in this album in PhotoBox!
Prompt will say "Are you sure you want to download all photos in album Instagram Photos?"
Click OK twice

Click on "Saved Photos"
Click on the blue arrow on the saved album "Instagram Photos"
Prompt will ask if you want to Delete Album or Export Album to Camera Roll
Click Export, confirm action
PhotoBox will say "Saved to your Phone SD."

This first version has proven to be somewhat crashy, and the "save to SD" feature does not work on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (since it doesn't have SD memory), however we got this feature to work on a first generation Droid, and files were saved to the directory /mnt/sdcard/PhotoBox. Please let us know what results you get with other Android devices.

Download PhotoBox! now in Google Play!
PhotoBox! comes to Android, the 'Lightroom for Facebook'

Publié: avril 5, 2012, 5:27pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Mobile app developer WeaverMobile USA announced on Thursday that its formerly iOS-exclusive photography management app PhotoBox! has launched on Android.

The application can be thought of as "Lightroom for Facebook," giving users the ability to find, manage, add effects to, and share photos posted to Facebook, as well as perform batch uploads and downloads, to tag/untag, like/unlike, and comment. It provides a pretty robust toolkit for editing photos, adding filters, drawing, and adding text.

"PhotoBox! continues to be the only all-in-one photo app that supports searching, managing, editing and sharing images on Facebook," said Raymond Wei, co-founder of Weaver Mobile. "Facebook users are becoming increasingly mobile, and we are excited to bring the PhotoBox! app to the hands of Android owners everywhere."

But with the recent addition of Instagram to the Android family, PhotoBox provides an important gap-bridging solution.

Instagram photos, it seems ~~can't be stored directly on the phone's SD card~~. (Edit: This is a false assumption. Upon closer inspection, we found that Instagram does automatically create a directory on the device's SD for saving copies of edited photos locally. The next section can be used simply to explain the Facebook batch download process.)

Here's how to save Instagram photos to SD via PhotoBox!

Instagram should be set to post to your Facebook Timeline in an album called "Instagram Photos"
Click on the cloud icon in this album in PhotoBox!
Prompt will say "Are you sure you want to download all photos in album Instagram Photos?"
Click OK twice

Click on "Saved Photos"
Click on the blue arrow on the saved album "Instagram Photos"
Prompt will ask if you want to Delete Album or Export Album to Camera Roll
Click Export, confirm action
PhotoBox will say "Saved to your Phone SD."

This first version has proven to be somewhat crashy, and the "save to SD" feature does not work on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (since it doesn't have SD memory), however we got this feature to work on a first generation Droid, and files were saved to the directory /mnt/sdcard/PhotoBox. Please let us know what results you get with other Android devices.

Download PhotoBox! now in Google Play!