Saturday, September 3, 2011

Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis


 
Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis


Jakarta - Komputer tablet Toshiba AT200 disebut-sebut sebagai yang tertipis di dunia. Ketebalannya yang cuma 7,7 mm memang lebih langsing dari Galaxy Tab 10.1 ataupun iPad 2.

Sebagai perbandingan, Galaxy Tab 10.1 dan iPad 2 ketebalannya masing-masing 8,6 mm dan 8,8 mm. Beratnya pun terhitung sangat ringan, cuma 558 gram.

Toshiba AT200 mengandalkan sistem operasi Android Honeycomb. Sedangkan di sisi dapur pacu, ia dibekali prosesor 1,2 GHz buatan Texas Instruments.

Memang selain ketipisannya, spesifikasi AT200 tidak jauh berbeda dengan berbagai tablet Android Honeycomb yang sudah beredar. Sebut saja kamera depan 2MP dan belakang 5MP, Wi Fi, bluetooth, port microHDMI sampai slot microSD.

Dikutip dari Inquirer, Sabtu (3/9/2011), Toshiba menyatakan AT200 bakal tersedia di sejumlah pasar mulai kuartal 4 2011. Harganya saat ini belum diumumkan. ( fyk / fyk )

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Steve Jobs Adalah CEO Terbaik Dalam 50 Tahun

'Steve Jobs Adalah CEO Terbaik Dalam 50 Tahun'

Jakarta - Pensiunnya Steve Jobs dari kursi CEO Apple masih jadi buah bibir. Pujian khusus dilayangkan oleh Eric Schmidt, mantan CEO Google yang kini menempati posisi chairman di raksasa mesin cari internet tersebut.

Schmidt yang adalah sobat lama Jobs tanpa ragu menyebut Jobs sebagai CEO dengan performa terbaik dalam 50 tahun terakhir. Itu terbukti dengan tangan dingin Jobs yang mampu beberapa kali membangkitkan Apple jadi raksasa teknologi yang disegani.

"Steve Jobs memberikan performa seorang CEO yang terbaik dalam 50 tahun. Dia tidak hanya membangun Apple sekali, namun dua kali," kata Schmidt, dilansir TechRadar dan dikutip detikINET, Sabtu (3/9/2011).

Steve dan Eric dahulu adalah kawan akrab. Namun persahabatan mereka retak setelah Google meluncurkan Android yang ditujukan untuk menghantam iPhone.

Jobs dilaporkan merasa dikhianati oleh Schmidt ketika mendengar kabar Google akan meluncurkan OS baru berikut ekosistem aplikasinya. Memang Android kemudian terbukti menjadi pesaing terkuat gadget Apple.

"Steve sangat sangat kecewa. Oh Tuhan, dia sangat marah," demikian kabarnya Schmidt mendeskripsikan pernyataan Jobs kala keduanya berbincang di telepon. Konon sejak itulah, hubungan Jobs dan Schmidt mulai merenggang.


( fyk / fyk )

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SFPD says it helped Apple in iPhone hunt, says SF Weekly

By Wilson Rothman

SF Weekly's deep investigation of the alleged hunt for a missing iPhone has another twist to it: The San Francisco Police Department previously told SF Weekly that it was not involved in a hunt for a missing iPhone, giving the assumption that Apple investigators were impersonating officers. Now the SFPD says it did indeed accompany Apple and stood by while company officials searched a man's home. a

In what sounds like a complete reversal, SFPD told SF Weekly that "three or four" officers did in fact accompany two Apple security staffers to a home in search of a missing iPhone. However, this is where the tale gets even more sinister: According to the SFPD representative that SF Weekly talked to, the officers did not accompany the Apple investigators into the home for the search.a

(Read the story for more details — SF Weekly is doing a great job handling this story.)a

OK, so impersonating a police officer may be a felony crime, but what do you call it when police officers allow private investigators to do the leg work? This saga has gone from 10 p.m. cop drama to midnight film noir, and there's still no sign of the Maltese Falcon — I mean, missing iPhone.a

Did Apple snoops pose as cops in iPhone hunt? Did another iPhone prototype go missing? iPhone rumors: What to expect this October Apple now No. 1 smartphone vendor by volume

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.a

LulzSec and Anonymous Suspects Arrested In U.K.

British police have arrested two men accused of conspiring to commit computer Relevant Products/Services crimes under cover of the online identity Kayla associated with the hacktivist groups Anonymous and LulzSec. Computer equipment belonging to one of the accused men was seized for forensic examination.

Among other things, Kayla has been linked to the security Relevant Products/Services breaches that occurred at HBGary Federal last February in the wake of the security firm's boast that it was about to reveal the true identities of some members of Anonymous and LulzSec.

"The arrests relate to our enquiries into a series of serious computer intrusions and online denial-of-service attacks recently suffered by a number of multinational companies, public institutions, and government and law-enforcement agencies in Great Britain and the United States," said Mark Raymond, a detective inspector with the e-crime unit of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Thursday's arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by the e-crimes unit in collaboration with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies overseas. "We are working to detect and bring before the courts those responsible for these offenses, to disrupt such groups, and to deter others thinking of participating in this type of criminal activity," Raymond said.

Switching Hats

The latest round of U.K. arrests demonstrates that hacktivists aren't as anonymous as they would like to believe. In an interview published earlier this week as part of a Cisco Systems security blog, a former Anonymous member known by the online identity Sparkyblaze advised other hackers to stay away from black-hat hacking.

"White-hat hacking is a lot more fun, you get paid for it, it is legal," Sparkyblaze observed. "A conviction for hacking and leaking a database will affect you for the rest of your life."

The former hacktivist said he was initially attracted to Anonymous because he loves hacking and believes in free speech. However, he eventually became disillusioned with some of the group's activities.

"I feel that it is OK if you are attacking the governments [for the purpose of] getting files and giving them to WikiLeaks, that sort of thing," the former member noted. "But putting usernames and passwords on a pastebin doesn't [impact governments], and posting the info of the people you fight for is just wrong."

A Lack Of Understanding

The biggest problem companies face today is a lack of understanding concerning the importance of computer security [and having] a good information security policy, Sparkyblaze noted.

Companies don't want to spend time and money on computer security because they don't think it matters, Sparkyblaze observed. "They don't encrypt the data Relevant Products/Services, nor do they get the right software, hardware and people required to stay secure Relevant Products/Services," he explained. "[And] they don't train their staff not to open attachments from people they don't know."

Earlier this week, British police arrested three men between the ages of 20 and 26 and two teenagers for conspiring to commit unlawful computer acts. Four of the defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Sept. 7. Additionally, a 16-year-old male has been referred to the Surrey Youth Justice Board.
 

Get theater-quality sound from one speaker

Bowers & Wilkinsa

Bowers & Wilkins Panoramaa

By Steve Williams, Techlicious.coma

That wafer-thin flat-screen TV you bought may be a treat for the eyes, but your ears are another story. The speakers built into skinny TVs are, by definition, small and thin, which limits their ability to move air. And since moving air is what sound is all about, you end up with flat, compressed audio.a

What to do? You could buy a full surround-sound system, with speakers up front and behind, but that often means running wires from the front of the room to the back, and certainly means more boxes and clutter. Or you could go with an increasingly popular alternative, the soundbar.a

A soundbar does away with multiple speaker boxes, along with unsightly cables and wires. It combines three or more speakers (for the left, right and center audio channels) in a single compact enclosure, which sits unobtrusively below the TV screen on a table, or hangs on a wall. And thanks to its unified design, a soundbar is a snap to set up.a

The majority of today’s soundbars are bundled with a separate subwoofer, a large speaker specifically designed to recreate the bass frequencies crucial for enjoying movie explosions and crashes. Sometimes the subwoofer connects to the soundbar via a cable, sometimes it receives the audio signal wirelessly.a

Where a soundbar differs significantly from a full surround-sound system is the lack of rear speakers. Instead, soundbar systems use sophisticated digital audio processing to simulate surround-sound, artificially replicating the sound you’d hear from actual rear speakers by using audio delay and bouncing sound off the side walls of the room. Of course, the size and shape of your room will determine how effectively this digital trickery functions. Even if you don’t get much surround effect, though, the soundbar system will still provide the volume, clarity and bass power sorely lacking in built-in TV speakers.a

All the soundbars we’ve auditioned here are of the active variety — that is, they are powered by built-in amplifiers and require no complex hookup to a receiver. They can be connected directly to a game console or Blu-ray player, but generally take the sound feed from the audio outputs of your television, or from the cable/satellite box.a

Polk Audioa

Polk SDA Surroundbar IHT 3000Polk Audio has been involved in soundbar innovations from the get-go, and now offers a family of what it calls “SurroundBars.”a

Some SurroundBar systems require power from a separate receiver or amp, but the Polk SDA Surroundbar IHT 3000 ($250 on Amazon.com) is a self-contained unit. Bundled with a hefty wireless subwoofer, this unit uses RCA cable inputs, which means you’ll need to run over to RadioShack and buy an adapter if you want to plug in a mini-stereo cable, and can’t make a direct HDMI connection. The system's main bar uses two drivers powered by a 50-watt stereo amplifier, within an enclosure measuring 3.75 inches high by 31 inches wide and a slender 2 inches deep. Sound is robust, if a bit laid back.a

Sony Electronicsa

Sony HT-CT550WThe Sony HT-CT550W ($349.99 on store.sony.com) new entry has more bells and whistles than most in this price range. Along with a thin 37-inch bar that fits neatly under nearly any screen, the Sony is bundled with a control box with three HDMI inputs that adds unusual flexibility when it comes to handling multiple sound sources. There’s a remote, a wireless subwoofer and a robust 400-watt power supply. Simulated surround-sound processing is handled via S-Force PRO Front Surround 3D technology, and there’s also a built-in FM radio tuner.a

Boston Acoustica

Boston Acoustic TVee Model 30The TVee Model 30 ($600 on Amazon.com) has excellent balanced sound, whether you feed it the Rolling Stones, Rachmaninoff or “Ratatouille.” Boston Acoustics uses what it calls Digitally Optimized Virtual Surround processing for its surround system, which includes a separate “music” mode (along with a “movie” mode) that really does improve musical reproduction.a

Recently, the company joined with Bassett Furniture to create a line of “Nvelop” wood credenzas with built-in BA soundbars. The units, priced from $1,500 to $2,000, also feature a six-inch subwoofer hidden inside the cabinet and a built-in mini-stereo jack in a drawer for iPods, MP3 players and computer audio connections.a

Bowers & Wilkinsa

Bowers & Wilkins PanoramaYou’d think for $2,200 (on BestBuy.com), Bowers & Wilkins would include a super-size subwoofer with its Panorama soundbar. In fact, there’s is no sub at all … and it turns out, that’s the last thing the Panorama system needs. The soundbar alone fills a room with deep, rich audio, and is especially adept as using the room’s acoustic properties to create impressive surround effects. Five speakers are contained in the soundbar, which offers a selection of surround mode settings to suit your listening mood.a

More stories on Techlicious:a

Best Buy Launches Insignia Connected TVs with TiVo Google TV for $99: Is It Worth the Price? Sonos Play:3: Streams Quality Music to Small Spaces

Chat with Techlicious on Facebook and get the free daily Techlicious Newsletter.a

Customer walks out of Apple Store with its secret files

Brendan Mcdermid / Reutersa

By Suzanne Choney

Guy walks into a bar — an Apple Genius bar, to be precise — to get his repaired hard drive back. Walks out with said drive, boots it up and says he finds confidential documents, info on Apple's sales techniques and videos of Apple corporate goings-on and store meetings, among other juicy goods.a

Then — and tell us if this is sounds familiar — he tries to sell the hard drive to a website. In this case, the website, Cult of Mac, doesn't bite, but it does share the story and some of the screenshots the "tipster" submitted:a

According to our tipster, “confidential docs, internal manuals, Apple’s sales technics (sic), an Apple store work checklist, products layout, time schedules, pictures and videos of Apple corporate activities that only Apple employees can see, videos of store meetings, business structure and much much much more.”a

“I always wondered what went on behind that big doors on the back of Apple Store,” our tipster writes. He never imagined he’d find out this way.a

The files, says Cult of Mac, "look legit to us, which makes this one of the weirder stories that has come through our hands recently."a

The tipster, who went into an Apple Store in Connecticut — there are four in the state — was "strongly advised" by Cult of Mac to return the hard drive to Apple, and "even offered to help facilitate the safe return of the disk if he was nervous about the exchange."a

But they haven't heard a peep more from the fellow. No doubt he's drowning his sorrows at a bar — although probably not a Genius bar.a

— Via Business Insidera

Related stories:a

2 men charged with selling iPhone prototype Did another iPhone prototype go missing? Apple Store employee: Working for company can feel like a cult

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.a

Friday, September 2, 2011

Saingi FIFA, PES akan Dibuat Online

Saingi FIFA, PES akan Dibuat Online

Jakarta - FIFA memiliki versi online yang sudah bisa dimainkan di beberapa negara. Lalu bagaimana dengan Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)? Konami pun mengikuti langkah serupa dengan membuat PES versi online.

Memainkan game sepak bola secara online memang sangat menyenangkan. Gamer bisa mengajak pemain lain untuk membentuk tim, lalu bertanding dalam kejuraan yang bisa mereka ciptakan sendiri.

Konsep seperti itulah yang ditawarkan EA melalui FIFA Online dan Konami yang bekerjasama dengan pengembang game asal Korea, NHN, untuk menggarap versi online PES.

Selain NHN, sejatinya ada beberapa pengembang game lain yang menawarkan diri untuk membuat PES versi Online. Sebut saja NCSoft dan Hangame, namun karena beberapa alasan Konami menjatuhkan hati pada NHN.

"Pembuat game di Korea memiliki kapasitas yang besar dalam mengembangkan game. Tapi NHN tidak hanya memiliki game, tapi juga menjadi portal layanan," ujar Shinzi Enomoto, Konami Vice President.

Dikutip detikINET dari gamasutra, Jumat (2/9/2011), belum diketahui secara pasti kapan game tersebut mulai dipasarkan. Namun yang jelas, versi betanya dijanjikan bisa dicicipi di awal 2012 dengan nama Wining Eleven Online. ( eno / eno )

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Radar & Titan, Duo Windows Mango dari HTC

Radar & Titan, Duo Windows Mango dari HTC

Jakarta - Radar dan Titan, merupakan dua smartphone dari HTC yang dibekali sistem operasi Windows Phone 7.5 atau Mango. Kedua ponsel ini rencananya bakal dirilis dalam waktu dekat.

HTC memang bukan yang pertama menyatakan bakal segera merilis ponsel berbasis Mango. Vendor asal Taiwan ini telah disalip oleh Toshiba Mobile Communications yang telah merilis ponsel sejenis untuk wilayah Jepang.

Pun demikian, dengan spesifikasi dan fitur yang diusung Radar dan Titan HTC optimistis bisa menjadi juara di kalangan ponsel berbasis Windows Phone paling anyar tersebut.

HTC Radar diperkuat dengan prosesor 1 GHz, memori internal 8 GB dan kapasitas RAM 512 MB. Ponsel ini juga dilengkapi dengan Super LCD 3,8 inchi dan kamera 5 MP yang mampu merekam video resolusi full HD.

Sedangkan HTC Titan memiliki spefikasi sedikit lebih canggih dengan prosesor 1,5 GHz, memori internal 16 GB dan memori RAM 512 MB. Layarnya juga sedikit lebih besar dari Radar yakni 4,7 inchi 480x800 WGVA, dengan kamera 8 MP.

Dikutip detikINET dari pcworld, Jumat (2/9/2011), belum diketahui kisaran harga kedua ponsel tersebut, namun dipastikan Radar dan Titan bakal dirilis bulan Oktober 2011. ( eno / eno )

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Is your Netflix queue in trouble?

By Wilson Rothman

People who are blissfully addicted to their Netflix Instant Queue may not realize where all that not-quite-premium-but-totally-watchable content comes from. A major source of it, in fact, the prime source of the top-shelf material, is Starz. And Starz, which carries Disney and Sony content, said today that it might not be providing any of that content to Netflix after February 28, 2012.a

Companies fight all the time, and there may be a deal yet. It's a bunch of millionaires fighting over billions. The question is, how much are you affected? There's actually a very simple way to measure this:a

Step 1: Take a look at your Instant Queue. If yours is like mine, it's packed with TV series and favorite movies. Maybe there are movies you watch and then remove, like on the DVD Queue, but in my mind, the Instant Queue is really misnamed, since it's more like your personal streaming library.a

I have a ton of things that I will never remove, entire series of "X-Files" and "Star Trek: Next Generation" (also, I will admit, "ST: Voyager"). Of the 42 titles, the majority are TV shows, and of the movies there are lots of cult comedies and thrillers, and few if any "major motion pictures."a

Step 2: Now look at your Saved Instant list. Another misnamed queue, this should be called "Stuff we don't currently have rights to." These were movies and shows you added that were available, but are no longer. a

In a perfect world, that list should be empty, but mine currently contains 21 titles, from "Young Frankenstein" to "Young Victoria," from "Team America" to "The Breakfast Club." Where'd they go? On-demand movies come and go for a variety of reasons, often as exclusive commitments on network TV or premium cable, but a bunch of Sony-distributed movies were yanked in June in what Netflix called a "temporary removal."a

Step 3: Do the math. Today, tomorrow, when the Starz deal does or doesn't go through, you will need to take the total number of titles in the Instant Queue and subtract the number of titles on the Saved Instant pile. If you come up with a negative number, or even come close to breaking even, you may not be getting what you think you're getting from your Netflix on-demand experience.a

Step 4: Know your options. If you're feeling cheated, just remember, there's no two-year commitment, and you can cancel anytime you're truly not getting your $8 worth. There are actually a surprising number of Netflix competitors coming out of the woodwork, some you may already be paying for without knowing it. If you're already ticked about Netflix's price hike, it may be an especially good time to check your existing services.a

I was a member of Hulu Plus, until I realized that, as a Comcast subscriber, I could just access all of that same content through the Xfinity website and apps. (Note: Comcast is the corporate parent of msnbc.com's joint owner NBC Universal, but I am speaking strictly as a paying subscriber here.) a

You may also already have Amazon Prime, for the shipping benefits that the annual-fee program offers. It has many of the TV shows seen on Netflix, and getting more every day. And they have an on-demand section for new releases, something Netflix will probably never get.a

Final pro tip: Make sure you finish your 20-episode "Party Down" marathon by February 28, 2012. It's a Starz Original series, and will likely vanish.a

More on Netflix from msnbc.com:a

Starz walks out on Netflix streaming talks For Netflix users, it's time to make a decision Outrage over Netflix rate hike continues The future of TV doesn't belong to Netflix

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.a

Jaringan Telekomunikasi Lancar Selama Lebaran

Jaringan Telekomunikasi Lancar Selama Lebaran

Jakarta - Tiga operator besar seperti Telkomsel, Indosat, dan XL Axiata mengklaim sukses melayani lonjakan trafik seluler sebelum dan sesudah hari Lebaran berkat kesiapan jaringan yang direncanakan secara matang.

"Jaringan XL sukses melayani pelanggan jelang dan sesudah Idul Fitri 1432 H. Layanan terhadap pelanggan tidak mengalami gangguan yang berarti," kata head of Corporate Communication XL, Febriati Nadira, Kamis (1/9/2011).

Pernyataan serupa juga disampaikan head of Corporate Communication Indosat Djarot Handoko, dan General Manager Corporate Communication Telkomsel Ricardo Indra.

Dipaparkan oleh Ira, sapaan akrab Febriati Nadira, XL yang memiliki 38,9 juta pelanggan pada hari biasa atau waktu normal mencatatkan trafik percakapan suara 530 juta menit, SMS sebanyak 630 juta pesan, dan data 33 terabytes per hari.

Sementara pada saat Lebaran 31 Agustus 2011, trafik percakapan naik 17% jadi 620 juta menit, SMS naik 23,8% jadi 780 juta SMS, dan data naik 4,5% menjadi 34,5 terabytes

"Kenaikan trafik secara nasional pada Lebaran mencapai 23,37%, dimana kenaikan tertinggi di Central Jabar, Jateng & DIY) 61,07%, disusul Northern Sumatera (Sumut, NAD, Riau, Ridar & Sumbar) 31,11%, dan East (Jatim, Bali, NTB & NTT) 29,91%," ujarnya.

Sementara Indosat yang memiliki 47,3 juta pelanggan, pada 29 Agustus mengalami peningkatan trafik suara 22,18% menjadi 392,8 juta menit dibandingkan dengan trafik voice reguler tertinggi pada pertengahan Juli 2011.

Kenaikan tertinggi trafik voice terjadi di area Jawa Tengah (53,1%), Jawa Barat (42,7%), Jawa Timur (35,5), Sumatera Selatan (29,9%), Kalimantan (17,8%) dan Sumatera Utara (10,7%).

Sedangkan trafik SMS naik 19,7% menjadi 862 juta SMS dibandingkan trafik SMS pada pertengahan Juli 2011. Keberhasilan kirim antar pelanggan Indosat lebih dari 96,72%. Sedangkan tingkat keberhasilan pengiriman SMS ke antaroperator mencapai 97,4% walau terjadi kepadatan jalur pengiriman.

"Kenaikan tertinggi trafik SMS terjadi di Three 31,5%, XL 23,5%, Smart 18,7%, Ceria 16,5% dan Telkomsel 14,7%," papar Djarot.

Trafik data Indoat pada 29 Agustus kemarin juga naik 11,7% menjadi menjadi 28,87 Terabyte dibandingkan trafik data pada pertengahan Juli 2011.

Operator lain yang paling sibuk melayani jaringan pelanggan adalah Telkomsel. Anak perusahaan Telkom dan SingTel ini mencatatkan peningkatan jumlah trafik SMS 31% pada 30 Agustus (H-1) dari 864 juta menjadi 1,057 miliar pesan yang terkirim.

Tak hanya itu, Telkomsel juga mencatatkan trafik tinggi pada pengiriman pesan multimedia (MMS). Tercatat MMS meningkat 43% dari 964 ribu menjadi 1,6 juta.

Sedangkan untuk voice, pada Lebaran 2010 Telkomsel mencatatkan 13,8 juta menit dan 16,1 juta menit per 30 Agustus 2011 ini. Akses data Telkomsel juga. Untuk akses data, Telkomsel yang memberikan data year on year mencatat, trafik data pada Lebaran 2010 berkisar 40,830 terabyte, tumbuh menjadi 89,138 terabyte di Lebaran tahun ini.

Dari keempat layanan utama yang diselenggarakan Telkomsel, lonjakan signifikan masih didominasi oleh pesan singkat SMS. Saking tingginya, program bonus SMS gratis yang biasanya dinikmati pelanggan pun dinonaktifkan selama Lebaran. Sayangnya, sosialisasi penghentian bonus ini hanya diberitahukan di situs Telkomsel saja.

"Ada pengumumannya di website kami. Demi kelancaran Anda berkomunikasi selama Lebaran, promo akan ditutup sementara pada tanggal 27 Agustus-2 September 2011," jelas Ricardo Indra.

Dalam Lebaran tahun ini, pemerintah telah memprediksi sekurang-kurangnya ada 2 miliar layanan pesan singkat (SMS) terkirim pada H-1 hingga H+1. Sedangkan percakapan akan berlangsung minimal 2,5 miliar menit. Selain itu, diperkirakan akan digunakan sebanyak minimal 250 terabyte untuk layanan data, khususnya internet.



( rou / rou )

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Can a $200 Tablet from Lenovo Take on Apple's iPad?

The Hewlett-Packard Touchpad sold like proverbial hotcakes when the electronics maker slashed the price from $499 to $99. Now Lenovo is entering the market with a tablet Relevant Products/Services priced at what it hopes is the sweet spot: $200.

Lenovo just launched the IdeaPad Tablet A1 running Android 3.1. The new tablet features a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core mobile processor for high-speed multitasking and web browsing. Adobe Flash Player is built in for gaming, and the device is touting low power consumption for longer battery life.

The A1 weighs just over a pound and a half. It comes pre-loaded with more than 40 apps from the likes of Amazon.com, Adobe Systems, Electronic Arts, Rovio and DataViz. Some of the notable apps are Angry Birds, the Kindle e-book reader, and Documents To Go.

Pricing Not the Only Factor

"There's no question that price matters, but what we learned from HP -- who discounted a $500 tablet to $100 -- is that people like $500 tablets that sell for $100. That's all you can take away from that," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, speaking from the IFA show in Germany.

He noted that $200 tablets already exist -- consumers can buy them at Walgreen's, but few do. As Greengart sees it, consumers looking for tablets want high quality. That, he said, is because a tablet isn't a device that most consumers need. Rather, it's something they want. And if a tablet is a want rather than a need, consumers aren't going to buy a tablet that doesn't live up to their expectations.

"I have not looked at the Lenovo tablet, so I don't know if it will live up to people's expectations as to what a tablet ought to be. But price alone is not enough," Greengart said. "Apple has done such a great job creating a good product at a reasonable starting price of $499 that competing solely on price and not providing a high-quality product is not going to work."

The Business Tablet

Lenovo also debuted the ThinkPad Tablet, a 10.1-inch tablet running Android 3.1. Lenovo promises the device will let users work productively and securely and enjoy plenty of entertainment in off times. The ThinkPad also takes a page from HP's TouchPad with a stylus, albeit a supercharged one.

The ThinkPad Tablet also draws from some popular features on other ThinkPad-branded devices that play to mobile users. Beyond the digitizer pen, the tablet sports a full-size USB port and an SD card slot, mini-HDMI for connecting to external displays, and a keyboard Relevant Products/Services folio case with optical TrackPoint.

Lenovo touted more than a dozen partners and pointed to more than 250,000 apps in the Android Market as well as the Lenovo App Shop. But that doesn't touch the offerings from Apple's App Store.
 

4 Ancaman yang Menghantui Game Online

4 Ancaman yang Menghantui Game Online

Jakarta - Popularitas game online semakin tinggi. Tidak hanya dimainkan orang dewasa, anak-anak pun sudah terbuai dengan permainan di dunia maya ini. Namun sadarkah mereka jika ada program jahat (malware) yang selalu menghantui.

Malware inilah yang juga harus diwaspadai para online gamer. Berikut jenis-jenis serangan yang sering menghinggapi dan malware yang menghantui dunia game online, menurut perusahaan keamanan Eset:

1. Phishing
Situs game palsu merupakan modus kejahatan internet yang marak bermunculan di internet. Sebagian di antaranya tampil dengan wajah yang memiliki kemiripan dengan URL atau web game aslinya.

Seorang gamer yang tidak waspada tidak hanya berpeluang terinfeksi tetapi juga bisa terancam kehilangan data pribadi yang lagi-lagi dapat berdampak pada kerugian finansial.

2. Jejaring sosial
Seperti di dunia nyata, kita tentu akan lebih percaya pada teman dekat. Di dunia maya, Facebook sebagai situs jejaring sosial dan pertemanan menjadi tempat penyebaran kejahatan internet. Banyak account Facebook palsu yang beredar dan dibuat untuk melakukan kejahatan.

Parahnya lagi adalah masing-masing menyatakan bahwa mereka adalah legitimate producer dari game-game yang beredar di Facebook tersebut. Untuk itu, jangan pernah memberikan atau memasukkan data pribadi yang bersifat rahasia ke situs-situs tersebut.

3. Game yang terinfeksi & software bajakan
Gamer berpeluang terinfeksi virus karena menggunakan software game komputer palsu atau hasil crack. Para pelaku kejahatan dengan modus tersebut tidak peduli pada kecintaan para gamer terhadap game dan aktifitas gaming, mereka begitu saja menyebarkannya lewat internet agar bisa didownload oleh gamer yang tidak waspada.

Para pecinta game diimbau untuk ekstra hati-hati terutama terhadap kiriman attachment email dan tentu saja juga removable media seperti USB flash drives.

4. Malware
Belakangan ini malware yang menyerang komputer para game online dan paling luas penyebarannya adalah Win32/PSW.OnLineGames. Program jahat ini masih termasuk keluarga Trojan yang biasanya digunakan untuk melakukan serangan phishing dan ditujukan spesifik ke pemain game online.

Malware tipe ini umumnya muncul dengan keylogging dan terkadang juga rootkit untuk mengumpulkan informasi yang berhubungan dengan online game dan data milik pemain. Langkah berikutnya adalah informasi yang diperoleh tersebut akan dikirim ke komputer lain, yaitu komputer pelaku penyerangan.

Untuk itu sangat dianjurkan bagi pemain-pemain di MMORPGs (Massively Multi- player Online Role Playing Games) seperti Lineage dan World of Warcraft untuk tetap waspada terhadap threat yang potensial menyerang mereka.

Yudhi Kukuh, Technical Consultant dari PT. Prosperita-ESET Indonesia menambahkan, kerugian yang dialami para gamer online karena infiltrasi malware Win32/PSW.OnLineGames biasanya bisa dalam bentuk kehilangan poin perolehan game yang dimainkan.

"Karena poin itu adalah capaian penting dari para gamer dunia. Oleh sebab itu tindakan pencegahan sangat perlu sebelum point atau nilai tersebut hilang," pungkasnya kepada detikINET, Rabu (7/9/2011).
  ( ash / rns )

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Lamebook challenges Facebook, doesn't lose

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Killing privacy isn’t enough? Facebook is trying to end satire, too?a

Not happening, not to Lamebook anyway. You can still get your Schadenfreude on via the endless collection of Facebook screen shots featuring epic YO MAMA smackdowns, NSFW courtships and employees complaining about the bosses they forgot they friended, thanks to a settlement in which "Lamebook can continue to exist as long as it adds a disclaimer to its site disavowing any affiliation with its Palo Alto counterpart," PaidContent reports.a

Lamebook took the lead in this game of trademark chicken last year when Facebook threatened a lawsuit over the name, inspiring the site that offers "the funniest and lamest" of Facebook to file first — a preemptive First Amendment suit citing Lamebook as an obvious parody. "Settlement" doesn't mean "win" in legal terms, of course, but this saga did come to an end after a federal judge refused to move the case from Lamebook's home state of Texas to Facebook's (perhaps more tech-sympathetic) California digs.a

Much like Apple's possessiveness over the name "App Store," Facebook notoriously doesn't like to share any part of its name — but gets little sympathy from courts. The social behemoth previously claimed trademark infringement against educational site Teachbook and NSFW sites Shagbook and Facebook of Sex, all of which you can still find online. a

More on the annoying way we live now:a

Google's +1 for Chrome follows your Internet travels If Google+ is an 'identity service,' what's Facebook? Man steals $57K from neighbors using their Facebook info

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.a

4 Ancaman yang Menghantui Game Online

4 Ancaman yang Menghantui Game Online

Jakarta - Popularitas game online semakin tinggi. Tidak hanya dimainkan orang dewasa, anak-anak pun sudah terbuai dengan permainan di dunia maya ini. Namun sadarkah mereka jika ada program jahat (malware) yang selalu menghantui.

Malware inilah yang juga harus diwaspadai para online gamer. Berikut jenis-jenis serangan yang sering menghinggapi dan malware yang menghantui dunia game online, menurut perusahaan keamanan Eset:

1. Phishing
Situs game palsu merupakan modus kejahatan internet yang marak bermunculan di internet. Sebagian di antaranya tampil dengan wajah yang memiliki kemiripan dengan URL atau web game aslinya.

Seorang gamer yang tidak waspada tidak hanya berpeluang terinfeksi tetapi juga bisa terancam kehilangan data pribadi yang lagi-lagi dapat berdampak pada kerugian finansial.

2. Jejaring sosial
Seperti di dunia nyata, kita tentu akan lebih percaya pada teman dekat. Di dunia maya, Facebook sebagai situs jejaring sosial dan pertemanan menjadi tempat penyebaran kejahatan internet. Banyak account Facebook palsu yang beredar dan dibuat untuk melakukan kejahatan.

Parahnya lagi adalah masing-masing menyatakan bahwa mereka adalah legitimate producer dari game-game yang beredar di Facebook tersebut. Untuk itu, jangan pernah memberikan atau memasukkan data pribadi yang bersifat rahasia ke situs-situs tersebut.

3. Game yang terinfeksi & software bajakan
Gamer berpeluang terinfeksi virus karena menggunakan software game komputer palsu atau hasil crack. Para pelaku kejahatan dengan modus tersebut tidak peduli pada kecintaan para gamer terhadap game dan aktifitas gaming, mereka begitu saja menyebarkannya lewat internet agar bisa didownload oleh gamer yang tidak waspada.

Para pecinta game diimbau untuk ekstra hati-hati terutama terhadap kiriman attachment email dan tentu saja juga removable media seperti USB flash drives.

4. Malware
Belakangan ini malware yang menyerang komputer para game online dan paling luas penyebarannya adalah Win32/PSW.OnLineGames. Program jahat ini masih termasuk keluarga Trojan yang biasanya digunakan untuk melakukan serangan phishing dan ditujukan spesifik ke pemain game online.

Malware tipe ini umumnya muncul dengan keylogging dan terkadang juga rootkit untuk mengumpulkan informasi yang berhubungan dengan online game dan data milik pemain. Langkah berikutnya adalah informasi yang diperoleh tersebut akan dikirim ke komputer lain, yaitu komputer pelaku penyerangan.

Untuk itu sangat dianjurkan bagi pemain-pemain di MMORPGs (Massively Multi- player Online Role Playing Games) seperti Lineage dan World of Warcraft untuk tetap waspada terhadap threat yang potensial menyerang mereka.

Yudhi Kukuh, Technical Consultant dari PT. Prosperita-ESET Indonesia menambahkan, kerugian yang dialami para gamer online karena infiltrasi malware Win32/PSW.OnLineGames biasanya bisa dalam bentuk kehilangan poin perolehan game yang dimainkan.

"Karena poin itu adalah capaian penting dari para gamer dunia. Oleh sebab itu tindakan pencegahan sangat perlu sebelum point atau nilai tersebut hilang," pungkasnya kepada detikINET, Rabu (7/9/2011).
  ( ash / rns )

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Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis

Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis

Jakarta - Komputer tablet Toshiba AT200 disebut-sebut sebagai yang tertipis di dunia. Ketebalannya yang cuma 7,7 mm memang lebih langsing dari Galaxy Tab 10.1 ataupun iPad 2.

Sebagai perbandingan, Galaxy Tab 10.1 dan iPad 2 ketebalannya masing-masing 8,6 mm dan 8,8 mm. Beratnya pun terhitung sangat ringan, cuma 558 gram.

Toshiba AT200 mengandalkan sistem operasi Android Honeycomb. Sedangkan di sisi dapur pacu, ia dibekali prosesor 1,2 GHz buatan Texas Instruments.

Memang selain ketipisannya, spesifikasi AT200 tidak jauh berbeda dengan berbagai tablet Android Honeycomb yang sudah beredar. Sebut saja kamera depan 2MP dan belakang 5MP, Wi Fi, bluetooth, port microHDMI sampai slot microSD.

Dikutip detikINET dari Inquirer, Sabtu (3/9/2011), Toshiba menyatakan AT200 bakal tersedia di sejumlah pasar mulai kuartal 4 2011. Harganya saat ini belum diumumkan. ( fyk / fyk )

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Tracking no excuse to record teacher's naked chat pics

By Athima Chansanchai

When a substitute teacher bought a used laptop from one of her high school students for $60, she probably thought she was getting a great deal. Little did she know that it was stolen, and that the theft recovery technician tracking it was not only recording her sex chats with her boyfriend, but sending police naked webcam images meant only for his eyes.a

Now Susan Clements-Jeffrey, a 52-year-old widow, is suing the software company responsible for the tracking program, its' arguably overzealous "theft recovery officer" and the two police officers who showed her the images. These included shots of the naked woman meant only for her long-distance sweetheart. Officers Geoffrey Ashworth and Noel Lopez allegedly mocked and humiliated her about the images when they arrived at her residence to arrest her for receiving the stolen goods. a

Charges were dismissed within a week.a

Live PollDo you have an expectation of privacy in your instant messages and webcam activity?a

Heck YES. If I put a password on my computer, I make it known it's for my eyes only.NO. Big brother watches everything. I don't do anything that might come back to haunt me.VoteView Results157658Heck YES. If I put a password on my computer, I make it known it's for my eyes only.75%157659NO. Big brother watches everything. I don't do anything that might come back to haunt me.25%VoteTotal Votes: 95a

Her allegation: They not only intentionally invaded the privacy of the couple, but also violated her fourth and 14th amendment rights that protect citizens from unlawful search and seizure, and guarantees due process.a

Wired's Kim Zetter gives the nitty gritty on the case, which took place in Springfield, Oh. in the late spring and summer of 2008. Court documents reveal more details: that the computer was the property of the Clark County School District and reported stolen from a student studying at the public library and that it exchanged hands at least once more before Clements-Jeffrey purchased it. The school district had a contract with Absolute Software for its theft recovery services, which included installing LoJack for Laptops on the devices. This allowed Absolute and the employee assigned to the file, Kyle Magnus, to monitor emails, chats and capture screenshots to help track down the stolen laptop. Clements-Jeffrey asserts the company could have stopped its efforts after obtaining the computer's IP address.a

One of the core disputes between the parties involved is whether Clements-Jeffrey knew the laptop was stolen. She claims she didn't, while the defendants said she should have known by the filed off serial number and the student's criminal background (which she claims she was not aware of).a

Clements-Jeffrey claims she bought the laptop with the understanding it was two years old and not working, but she had another teacher help her by reinstalling the operating system and making it operable again.a

In his 49-page decision to allow the lawsuit to proceed, U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice did not agree with Clements-Jeffrey's fourth amendment allegation, but he did acknowledge violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act.a

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Rice admonished Absolute in his ruling:a

"It is one thing to cause a stolen computer to report its IP address or geographical location in an effort to track it down. It is something entirely different to violate federal wiretapping laws by intercepting the electronic communications of the person using the stolen laptop." a

He added, "Based on the evidence presented, a reasonable jury could find that, with respect to the keystroke capture, the Absolute defendants 'intentionally accessed' data stored on the laptop 'without authorization' to do so."a

Absolute tried to use, in its defense, cases of other companies and what they'd done to recover stolen property. We've written about it, too, but in those cases, the thieves were targeted, not those who were not aware they had hot goods.a

Rice offered another warning, and other security companies may well take heed:a

Although the Absolute Defendants may have had a noble purpose, to assist the school district in recovering its stolen laptop, a reasonable jury could find they crossed an impermissible boundary when they intercepted the Plaintiffs' instant messages and webcam communications. A reasonable jury could also find that such conduct would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities to suffer shame and humiliation.a

More stories:a

Police arrest MacBook thief caught on camera by victim College student tracks down his stolen iPad Laptop thief caught by victim, who posts on YouTube, Twitter Amish sexter busted for buggy sex invite to girl, 12

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.a

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis

Toshiba Luncurkan Komputer Tablet Tertipis

Jakarta - Komputer tablet Toshiba AT200 disebut-sebut sebagai yang tertipis di dunia. Ketebalannya yang cuma 7,7 mm memang lebih langsing dari Galaxy Tab 10.1 ataupun iPad 2.

Sebagai perbandingan, Galaxy Tab 10.1 dan iPad 2 ketebalannya masing-masing 8,6 mm dan 8,8 mm. Beratnya pun terhitung sangat ringan, cuma 558 gram.

Toshiba AT200 mengandalkan sistem operasi Android Honeycomb. Sedangkan di sisi dapur pacu, ia dibekali prosesor 1,2 GHz buatan Texas Instruments.

Memang selain ketipisannya, spesifikasi AT200 tidak jauh berbeda dengan berbagai tablet Android Honeycomb yang sudah beredar. Sebut saja kamera depan 2MP dan belakang 5MP, Wi Fi, bluetooth, port microHDMI sampai slot microSD.

Dikutip detikINET dari Inquirer, Sabtu (3/9/2011), Toshiba menyatakan AT200 bakal tersedia di sejumlah pasar mulai kuartal 4 2011. Harganya saat ini belum diumumkan. ( fyk / fyk )

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Produsen BlackBerry Hadapi Jalan Terjal

Produsen BlackBerry Hadapi Jalan Terjal

Jakarta - Research in Motion (RIM) menghadapi perkembangan kurang menggembirakan. Produsen handset BlackBerry ini melaporkan pendapatannya mengalami penurunan di tengah tekanan hebat dari para rival.

Dalam laporan keuangannya pada 15 September, RIM melaporkan pendapatannya mencapai USD 4,2 miliar di kuartal 2 tahun fiskal 2012. Jumlah tersebut merupakan penurunan sebesar 15% dibanding kuartal sebelumnya.

Penjualan tablet BlackBerry PlayBook juga mengalami penurunan. Tablet dengan sistem operasi QNX ini terjual sekitar 200 ribu unit, dari 500 ribu unit pada kuartal terdahulu.

RIM mengakui permintaan terhadap perangkat BlackBerry versi lama melambat. Namun demikian, mereka mengklaim BlackBerry yang memakai OS 7 seperti Bold 9900 terjual dengan baik pada minggu pertama pemasarannya.

Co CEO RIM, Mike Lazaridis mengatakan penjualan PlayBook memang tak sesuai harapan. Namun dia optimistis tablet tersebut tetap akan menuai sukses. Apalagi RIM sudah menyiapkan update software untuk meningkatkan kemampuan PlayBook. Lalu mereka juga akan menghadirkan BlackBerry dengan OS QNX.

Meski RIM terus berusaha optimistis, beberapa analis menilai vendor asal Kanada itu menghadapi jalan nan terjal. Apalagi pesaing, terutama Android dan iPhone menghadirkan tantangan kuat.

"Catatan kami mengindikasikan penjualan handset OS 7 lambat dan kami yakin iPhone dan Android murah akan menekan RIM," kata analis Peter Misek dari Jeffreries & Co, yang detikINET kutip dari eWeek, Minggu (18/9/2011).

Analisis dari Goldman memperkirakan market share RIM di pasar smartphone global kini adalah 9% di kuartal 2 2011, menurun dari jumlah 16% pada tahun lampau. Tak pelak, RIM dinilai harus waspada terhadap tren ini.

"Penurunan pangsa pasar RIM di Amerika Utara terus berkepanjangan dan kami yakin tren ini menyebar juga ke pasar internasional," kata analis Pierre Ferragu dari Sanford C. Bernstein.




( fyk / fyk )

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Akses Internet Ideal Minimal 3 Mbps

'Akses Internet Ideal Minimal 3 Mbps'

Jakarta - Kecepatan akses internet yang ideal untuk memenuhi tuntutan gaya hidup digital saat ini adalah minimal 3 Mbps, di mana konsumen dapat menikmati upload maupun download, streaming video, dan musik, tanpa buffering yang mengganggu.

Demikian dikatakan oleh Dicky Moechtar, Sales Director First Media, dalam keterangan tertulis yang dikutip detikINET, Kamis (1/9/2011).

"Tren kecepatan minimal 3 Mbps sudah menjadi sebuah gaya hidup menikmati dunia digital yang baru secara nyaman dan tanpa batas. Peningkatan kecepatan akses internet ini menjawab tren baru tersebut," kata Dicky.

Untuk memenuhi kebutuhan itu, First Media meningkatkan kecepatan akses internet yang mereka tawarkan. Kecepatan akses yang disediakan melalui tiga paket FastNet ditingkatkan hingga dua kali lipat. Layanan FastNet Express yang sebelumnya diberikan kecepatan 2 Mbps, kini naik menjadi 3 Mbps.

Sementara FastNet Premium, dari 3 Mbps naik jadi 6 Mbps. Dan layanan FastNet Professional, dari 6 Mbps kini naik menjadi 12 Mbps. Adapun kecepatan untuk paket FastNet Family yakni 1 Mbps dan FastNet Ultimate 20 Mbps tetap. Dari sisi tarif, tidak ada peningkatan harga berlangganan untuk seluruh akses tersebut.

"Layanan FastNet Express, misalnya, tarifnya tetap Rp 335.000 per bulan, dan pengguna diharapkan dapat mulai menikmatinya awal September ini," kata Dicky.

Langkah peningkatan kapasitas bandwidth bagi pelanggan First Media sekaligus untuk menjawab kebutuhan dunia bisnis yang membutuhkan akses broadband yang makin andal sehingga dapat mendukung produktivitas dan meningkatkan kecepatan akses rata-rata Internet di Indonesia.

Sebagai gambaran, berdasarkan data kecepatan Internet dunia per Maret 2011, dari sekitar 200 lebih negara dan wilayah, Indonesia berada di posisi 146 dalam kategori kecepatan akses, khususnya download. Kecepatan akses Internet di Indonesia rata-rata hanya 1,34Mbps, jauh di bawah Korea Selatan (33Mbps), Jepang (16,33Mbps), dan Singapura (17,62Mbps).

"Untuk mengimbangi pesatnya penggunaan Internet di kalangan masyarakat, penyedia akses Internet perlu terus meningkatkan layanannya sehingga Indonesia sejajar dengan negara-negara lain di dunia, dalam hal kecepatan akses internet," pungkas Dicky.



( rou / rou )

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IBM Caplok Algorithmics Rp 3,29 Triliun

IBM Caplok Algorithmics Rp 3,29 Triliun

Jakarta - Raksasa teknologi IBM memperkuat infrastruktur software layanan finansial bisnisnya dengan mengakuisisi Algorithmics, perusahaan software analis risiko asal Toronto, AS, dengan uang tunai senilai US$ 387 juta, atau sekitar Rp 3,29 triliun.

Seperti detikINET kutip dari Reuters, Kamis (1/9/2011), akusisisi ini diharapkan IBM akan tuntas sebelum akhir Oktober 2011 mendatang.

Akuisisi ini juga termasuk pengambilalihan 900 pegawai Algorithmics yang turut berperan dalam menghasilkan pendapatan perusahaan sebesar US$ 163,7 juta di 2010 lalu.

Sebelum mengakuisisi Algorithmics, IBM juga mengatakan telah membeli perusahaan software analisa keamanan i2 dengan nilai yang dirahasiakan. Akuisisi ini juga bertujuan untuk memperkuat layanan data dari IBM.

Dalam lima tahun terakhir, IBM yang telah melepas divisi komputernya ke Lenovo, telah menghabiskan US$ 14 miliar untuk mengakuisisi 25 perusahaan, yang terfokus pada data analisis seperti media sosial, biometrik, dan database kriminal.



( rou / rou )

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U.S. aims to track 'untraceable' prepaid cash cards

Candice Choi / AP filea

Prepaid reloadable debit cards can be bought in many places other than closely regulated banks, including retail stores.a

By M. Alex Johnsonmsnbc.com reporter

As the federal government tells it, the money men behind the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers would never have been identified had they not been lousy bankers:a

"The 9/11 hijackers opened U.S. bank accounts, had face-to-face dealings with bank employees, signed signature cards and received wire transfers, all of which left financial footprints. Law enforcement was able to follow the trail, identify the hijackers and trace them back to their terror cells and confederates abroad."a

That's from a Treasury Department assessment of financial security threats in 2005. It went on to warn that the terrorists could have quietly moved large sums of money into or out of the U.S.:a

"Had the 9/11 terrorists used prepaid ... cards to cover their expenses, none of these financial footprints would have been available."a

Six years after Treasury identified that vulnerability, concern that drug smugglers and terrorists are exploiting it is driving the federal government to change the rules for issuing and using prepaid cards, particularly high-value reloadable cards like the cash cards you might take with you on vacation.a

By making it harder to get prepaid cards without subjecting buyers to government scrutiny, regulators and lawmakers hope to make it easier to detect patterns of money movement that could signal something nefarious. But card issuers and some business experts warn that the expense and paperwork involved in the new restrictions, which require issuers to keep records on who bought how much for five years, could drive smaller card operations out of the market.a

A problem that's hard to quantifyWhen the government refers to "prepaid debit cards," it's not talking about the standard bank debit card you probably have in your purse or wallet. Because such cards are attached to bank accounts, they're already closely monitored my numerous federal agencies. If you gave a bank debit card to someone to do something bad with, it and you would be easily traceable.a

One of the new rules, in fact, is to rename prepaid debit cards, which also used to be known as "stored-value cards," to avoid confusion.a

They're now called "prepaid access cards" because they're not tied to a bank account. They're just pointers to a sum of money you've already paid up (or been given) in advance. The money itself can be anywhere, including accounts outside the reach of government monitoring.a

"The distinction actually makes good sense," said James Angel, a business professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. a

"You don't have that much risk of terrorism through a (bank) debit card," he said in an interview. "There's a problem with a prepaid card because it can begin with cash  — the trail is broken, and you can't track where the money came from."a

Prepaid cards, and their fees, go mainstreama

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Jim Schlegel, a senior product manager at ACI Worldwide of New York, which creates and manages electronic payment systems for banks and major retailers, said the new rules are well-intentioned, but he questioned just how big a problem money laundering through prepaid cards really is.a

It's "such a small percentage of the overall problem, and attempts to propose very heavy legislation and requirements around it put a drag on an otherwise growing and profitable sector," he said in an interview.a

Law enforcement agencies and banking regulators acknowledge that there's no way to know how much money is being moved undetected across U.S. borders through the cards — that's the point of money laundering, after all.a

But in a report late last year on money laundering and cross-border currency smuggling, the Government Accountability Office cited the Treasury Department's 2005 assessment to urge action to crack down on misuse of prepaid access cards, saying it was convinced that the shuttling of criminal proceeds across the border, "whether in the form of bulk cash or stored value" (on prepaid cards), poses "a significant threat to national security." a

In an examination of the threat last year, the Financial Action Task Force, an international agency established by the G-7 in 1989, said such an operation typically works like this:a

A criminal organization repeatedly loads a prepaid card in increments just below the amount that would trigger a report to the government. (In the U.S., that threshold is $10,000, so if it were based here, the organization might regularly reload a card with $9,900.)a

The card, or a second card linked to the same account, is sent to an associate, perhaps in another country, who withdraws the funds through ATMs. In one such operation based in Australia, more than $100,000 was laundered this way, the FATF reported.a

That's how the Black Guerrilla Family, a Baltimore street gang, worked, according to a federal racketeering indictment, to which three gang leaders and accomplices pleaded guilty in April. a

For more than a decade, gang members locked up in Maryland's prisons blackmailed fellow inmates and sold narcotics and other contraband, the FBI said. They then "laundered the proceeds of their illicit activities through the use of pre-paid debit cards" sold by Green Dot, the nation's largest seller of the cards in retail stores.a

The U.S. would seem to be especially vulnerable, because it's the world's biggest user of prepaid cards; the FATF report projected that by 2017, the U.S. will account for 53 percent of the worldwide market.a

Steve Streit, chief executive of prepaid access card firm Green Dot, told CNBC last year how the cards work.a

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Follow the money to find the bad guysHow is this specific roadblock to tracking transactions a threat to security, especially when authorities can't quantify it as a significant percentage of all money laundering?a

In congressional testimony last year, FBI Director Robert Mueller called the use of prepaid cards a "shadow banking system" that had "impacted our ability to gather real-time financial intelligence."a

The new rules not only are supposed to make it easier for the FBI and other agencies to track prepaid cards back to the original purchasers; they also require issuers to alert the government to any large or otherwise suspicious transactions, like those multiple $9,900 purchases. That can all add up to a pattern of evidence that could tip off investigators to larger plans that are in the works.a

The rules take effect Sept. 27. They fill 69 pages as drawn up by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a branch of the Treasury Department known as FinCEN, illustrating just how complicated the industry that manages prepaid cards really is.a

There are two main types of prepaid cards. One is called "closed system"; these are usually gift cards, student meal cards or transit and phone cards. They may or may not be reloadable depending on the program, but they're usually usable only with specific merchants, so their value in moving large sums of money is limited.a

Of more concern are "open-system" cards, like those issued for some electronic payroll systems and travel programs and usable at thousands of businesses across the U.S. (If they're "branded" cards — that is, if they come with the Visa or MasterCard logo — they can be used to withdraw money directly through ATMs.)a

Such cards make "the challenge of smuggling heavy stacks of cash nearly obsolete," Kumar C. Kibble, the deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Congress in March.a

Jasbir Anand, a senior consultant at ACI, said the funds represented on such cards, which you can easily buy online, could "travel across borders without limitation." a

"You could have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars associated with that card," Anand said in an interview, calling that "obviously a glaring exception" to current anti-money-laundering laws.a

‘They've got to find somebody' to regulate The new rules, in effect, shift the focus of regulation from where and how a card is used to where and how it is sold, Schlegel said.a

"How do you investigate the funds related to a particular product ... when that card is merely an access point to a larger system?" he asked in an interview.a

To put it another way, Anand said, the card itself is just a worthless piece of plastic. It's a token representing money that's being held somewhere else, very much like your checkbook.a

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In the same way that a husband can give his wife his checkbook, "I can give you the card, and that's not a financial transaction," Anand said. And "since that cannot be governed and controlled," the new rules target transactions the government can plausibly regulate — the actual initial loading of value onto the card.a

"They've got to find somebody" to monitor, said Angel, of Georgetown University.a

The rules include numerous exemptions to make issuing lower-value cards easier for those merchants, by excluding closed-loop cards — that is, gift cards and the like that can be used only at particular stores or service providers — of less than $2,000. They also exempt government-issued cards and many prepaid health care cards. The Treasury doesn't consider any of those to be a significant money-laundering threat.a

But most open-loop cards, which can be used pretty much anywhere, fall under the regulations, and the onus to do all the paperwork falls on whoever "exercises principal oversight and control" of the card program. The rules don't clearly define what businesses are in that category.a

That's not an issue for banks, which are heavily regulated and have processes in place because they already monitor billions of credit and regular debit cards. But many other previously unregulated or lightly regulated businesses issue or administer prepaid card programs: online shopping services, corporate rewards card programs, third-party payment processors — even celebrities, like the Kardashian sisters, who withdrew their Kardashian Kard from the market last year after customers complained about its high fees.a

ConsumerMan: Prepaid cards will have you paying, all righta

"The net impact of these rules would be an increase in the overall cost of debit cards for consumers for record-keeping and storage and so on that will eventually trickle down to fees on the debit card and a limitation on features," Anand said.a

That also could choke adoption of future technologies developed on the science inside the stripes on your plastic cards, he said. An example would be cashless "mobile wallets" that live in your phone and work through near-field communication wireless systems.a

"It's unfortunate that we're at the cusp of taking advantage of this huge channel and trend and something like this could really stifle growth," he said.a

Even as it warns about the potential money laundering threat, the Financial Action Task Force also acknowledges that tight restrictions on prepaid cards could have a significant impact on lower-income people unable to "take full advantage of mainstream financial service providers" because they have a poor credit record, for example, or because they have no permanent address and can't qualify for a bank account. That's more than 17 million Americans, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says, and for them, prepaid  cards can be the only way they can gain "ready access to services," the FATF saida

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"It is important to recognize that public officials can sometimes take steps designed to 'protect' those who are disadvantaged when those steps may actually become barriers that actually restrict access to financial services," the task force said in a follow-up report in June. "For example, steps that add to the costs for prepaid products may make them less appealing to those living on the margin."a

Customs is no barrierThere's another issue: The rules apply to transactions that take place in the U.S. Reputable overseas banks and other companies that want to continue doing business here will likely comply, but the U.S. can't impose its wishes on hundreds of thousands of merchants in other countries.a

"I can walk into a country with a prepaid card that has a thousand dollars on it and add more to it," Anand said, which means that even under the new rules, a smuggler or a terrorist can easily obliterate investigators' money trail back to the source.a

"Suppose I were a terrorist and I needed some money to buy some bomb-making materials locally, but my source of funding is over in Berzerkistan," Angel said. "They can have one of their operatives take a pile of cash, buy a prepaid card and get that into my possession without it being traceable back to anybody else in my terrorist cell."a

And how would that operative get the card into Angel's possession? He or she would simply fly into the country with it. Prepaid access cards aren't treated like cash, which travelers are required to declare if they're carrying $10,000 or more.a

"The debit card that looks, smells and tastes like (cash) — that doesn't count," Angel said.a

Three senators — Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-Vt. — introduced legislation last month to close that loophole. It would require travelers to declare "prepaid cards totaling more than $10,000" when they enter or leave the U.S., just like cash.a

That may sound like a common-sense approach, but card issuers and others have objections. The losers, they contend, won't be drug smugglers and terrorists — who likely wouldn't comply — but travelers and other innocent customers.a

The rules could make prepaid cards less attractive to travelers, putting them at a competitive disadvantage to credit cards and other standard bank cards, which wouldn't be covered, said Kirsten Trusko, executive director of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association.a

The NBPCA, a trade group for companies that issue of prepaid cards carrying the logos of networks like MasterCard or Visa, has weighed in against similar attempts to require customs reporting of cards, calling them "unwise and impractical."a

That's because you have to know the value of your prepaid card to declare it, Trusko said. And trying to determine a card's balance "while in flight or upon debarkation from a plane is burdensome and unnecessary," she said.a

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Angel said the problem is more basic.a

"I would think someone with a card with $10,000 or more on it would probably be watching it carefully and know they're over the limit," he said. But he warned that "the devil is always in the details," asking, "How are they going to catch somebody who violates?"a

"If you're wearing a money belt with hundred-dollar bills in it, that's going to be kind of obvious," he said. "But if somebody's carrying a MasterCard, how are they going to know? It could get fairly invasive when they start searching people at the border."a

Sony’s new tablets launch details out.

Sony announced the launch details of their long awaited tablets yesterday. The two tablets will be coming out sooner than you think, although the price point may not be to everyone’s liking.

The Tablet S comes in two flavors: 16GB and 32GB, being sold for $499 and $599 respectively. Coming with a 9.4″ 1280x 800 TruBlack LCD panel, the Tablet S will launch in late September, running Android Honeycomb 3.1 (and will be upgradeable to 3.2 later on). To stand out from the already crowded Android tablet market, and to potentially take over the iPad 2′s dominance, Sony has included two key features that they have been touting for the Tablet S. First off, it has a built-in IR transmitter which allows you to make it a universal remote control for any HDTV, not just Sony’s own Bravia brand. The second is that the Tablet S allows you to share media stored on various devices and play it back on the Tablet S (or through it to TVs) using DLNA through WiFi.

The Tablet P is another interesting device, not least because of its unique design. The main display is made up of two 5″ 1024×480 pixel screens which open up to make a big screen, albeit with a black line running through the middle. The Tablet P will have a customized UI to take advantage of its dual-screen setup. Speaking of which, both tablets will be powered by a Tegra 2 dual-core processor and will have a 5mp camera at the back, capable of shooting 720p videos. The Tablet P, unlike the Tablet S, will be available in November, and will be sold for a whopping $700. For that delay in release, though, the Tablet P will be shipping with Honeycomb 3.2.

We’ll give you more info on the Tablet S and P’s availability in the Middle East region once the local Sony HQ releases more info.

About Taimoor Hafeez

From auditing to editing, I now test and analyze the latest gadgets and games instead of the latest financial statements. Both jobs are equally intense and rewarding. In my free time you'll find me raiding in WoW or engineering in TF2.

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Laptop Dua Layar Siap Rilis November

Laptop Dua Layar Siap Rilis November

Jakarta - Kabar gembira bagi mereka yang membutuhkan layar dobel di laptopnya. Sebuah laptop dengan dual screen siap diluncurkan oleh gScreen dan diklaim sebagai yang pertama di dunia.

GScreen, perusahaan asal Alaska ini membuat laptop yang memiliki 2 layar LED HD berukuran 17 inch. Masing-masing berjalan dengan Windows 7 dan memiliki hard drive berkapasitas 500 GB serta RAM 8 GB.

Tentu saja dengan layar dobelnya, ia memiliki bobot ekstra yakni sebesar 10 pounds. Sebagai perbandingan, MackBook Pro 17 inch mempunyai berat 6,6 pounds dan HP Envy 17 inch berbpbot 7,5 pounds.

Kehadiran SpaceBook memang sudah diberitakan sejak lama namun kini GScreen menegaskan bahwa produknya sudah siap dipasarkan pada November tahun ini namun baru tersedia di Amerika dan Kanada.

Dalam siaran persnya, CEO Gordon Alan Stewart mengatakan bahwa ide pembuatan laptop tersebut datang saat sedang melakukan pekerjaannya di Hawaii dan membutuhkan ruang lebih guna melakukan pengeditan video, foto dan web design.

Dikutip detikINET dari HuffingtonPost, Rabu (31/8/2011), SpaceBook sudah tersedia untuk pre-order dengan harga USD 1899 dan USD 2100.

Sebelumnya, Acer juga telah memproduksi laptop 2 layar pada bulan Januari lalu namun tidak memiliki keyboard dalam bentuk fisik. Nah, SpaceBook di sini selain mengunggulkan layar dobel ia juga membuat penggunanya nyaman dengan adanya keyboard 'biasa'. ( sdj / sdj )

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Windows 8 To Offer Both Desktop, Tablet Interface

Users of the coming Windows 8 operating system will be able to switch between a traditional desktop Relevant Products/Services PC Relevant Products/Services user interface and a tablet -friendly look patterned after Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.
Some industry observers clearly have been worried about the dumbing down of the next Windows OS release. However, users who highly value the full-blown desktop experience will have the full set of PC capabilities at their fingertips, said Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft's Windows division, writing in a blog.
"If you want to, you can seamlessly switch between Metro style apps and the improved Windows desktop," Sinofsky wrote. "Essentially, you can think of the Windows desktop as just another app."
Windows 8 tablet users who prefer Windows Phone's Metro-style UI for accomplishing tasks on the fly will never even need to see the platform's desktop version.
"We won't even load it -- literally the code will not be loaded -- unless you explicitly choose to go there," Sinofsky said.
Moreover, the new Metro-style UI "is much more than the visual design -- [it is] fast and fluid, immersive, beautiful, and app-centric," Sinofsky said. And tablet users who do not need the full-blown Windows desktop experience won't have to comply with its more stringent memory Relevant Products/Services, battery life and hardware requirements, he added.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Microsoft has to negotiate an innovator's dilemma with Windows 8, said Al Hilwa, director of applications software development at IDC Relevant Products/Services.
"They have to create a product which is appealing to an apparently large segment of the user population who loves a simpler touch-first approach to computing, while maintaining Window's existing user-base that is comfortable with the precise control Relevant Products/Services a keyboard Relevant Products/Services, a mouse and a file-oriented interface provides," Hilwa said.
Just how Microsoft will go about accomplishing the delicate balancing act of having both Windows 8 user interfaces operating together harmoniously remains unclear right now. However, more concrete details are expected to emerge at Microsoft's Build conference for developers beginning Sept. 13 in Anaheim, Calif.
The bottom line is that Microsoft will need to ensure that both user segments remain happy with Windows 8, Hilwa said. The software giant also will need to "maintain two parallel application Relevant Products/Services development models until these begin to blend more naturally down the road," he added.

AT&T-T-Mobile deal? Either way, customers lose

By Wilson Rothman

The Department of Justice is trying to put the kibosh on AT&T's proposed buy-out of T-Mobile, saying it would result in "higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services."a

While this is true, it's just as likely that the damage is already done. Why would a phone shopper commit to a two-year contract with a troubled carrier, whose parent company shows little interest in improving? Either outcome seems equally dismal, at least in the near term, from the user perspective.a

T-Mobile is a decent fourth-place carrier, with excellent pricing and a higher speed 4G network that has held its own against the larger carriers. Subscribers who live in big cities, where T-Mobile's coverage is concentrated, experience satisfactory performance and are fairly positive on customer service.a

On the flipside, AT&T has well-known performance problems, from notoriously persistent iPhone call drops to a so-called "4G" network that in many markets shows no speed advantage over the 3G network, despite promotion suggesting the contrary.a

The merger was supposed to layer T-Mobile's network on top of AT&T's compatible, larger, but not-quite-so-organized one. I'm no network engineer, but it seems like reasonable proposal to bring desperately needed improvements to AT&T's massive audience. Still ...a

If AT&T gets permission to buy T-Mobile:a

There's a good chance we lose the great discount pricing that makes T-Mobile stand out. There's no guarantee of any kind of network performance boost in the immediate future. The merger could trigger a counter-merger, where Verizon Wireless tries to swallow Sprint whole, reducing the number of serious national carriers to just two.

The government's fears are reasonable, not only because of the immediate reduction of choices, but the potentially more hazardous long-term outlook. Still, the damage may already be done. Who wants to be a T-Mobile subscriber now?a

If AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile gets blocked:a

Subscribers will continue to feel uncertainty about signing on with T-Mobile. T-Mobile's network upgrades may be less frequent, as its corporate parent, Deutsche Telekom, grows tired of pouring money into it. The discounted pricing that gives T-Mobile cachet may not sustain — fellow discount-friendly carrier Sprint was forced to raise its smartphone plan pricing to stay afloat. AT&T's network may continue to experience technical difficulties, and its 4G strategy may continue to stall.

Besides competitive pricing, T-Mobile's biggest boon is its huge selection of great Android phones. To top that, there's even a chance that the next iPhone will turn up in its stores. But even this wouldn't be a coup: The carrier would get it along with Sprint, Verizon and longtime iPhone seller AT&T.a

There are murmurs that T-Mobile could merge with Sprint instead. Subscriber-wise, third and fourth place could combine to form a nice-sized third contender. However, the technologies of the two companies are wildly different, and Sprint still suffers for having acquired the incompatible Nextel. (There's also talk that Sprint might join with Metro PCS, which makes a tad more sense.)a

Regardless of whether this deal goes through, the customer may have already lost.a

More on AT&T and T-Mobile from msnbc.com:a

US seeks to block AT&T, T-Mobile deal Carriers' lofty claims of 4G speed put to the test AT&T texting plan: $20, not $10, for new customers AT&T to buy T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.a

Two Sony tablets announced, including foldable model

Sonya

The Sony Tablet S, left, available in September, and the Sony Tablet P, which will be out later this year.a

By Suzanne Choney

Sony Wednesday announced two tablets to take on Apple's iPad, including a foldable model with two 5.5-inch screens, and AT&T said it will carry HTC's Jetstream tablet dubbed by the carrier as "AT&T's first 4G LTE/HSPA+ tablet" that can run on the AT&T's fourth-generation network, still being built.a

Sony's S tablet has been long expected; it announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that it would come out with one (not two), and said when it did, it aimed to come in behind Apple as the world's second largest maker of tablet devices by 2012.a

HTC Jetstreama

All three tablets use Google's Android operating system, and ratchet up the tablet competition. Amazon's Android-based tablet, too, will soon be a contender.a

Both Sony tablets "come complete with access to a full suite of Sony’s network entertainment services," the company says, including being "the first PlayStation Certified tablets that provide out-of-the-box gaming with included favorites 'Crash Bandicoot' and 'Pinball Heroes.' "a

Here's some of the basics of the three tablets:a

Sony Tablet Sa

It has a 9.4-inch touchscreen display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor, weighs 1.33 pounds (the same weight as iPad 2). Has both a "Face focus VGA camera (front)" and 5-megapixel rear camera. Comes with microUSB interface, standard SD slot and 1 GB memory. It will ship with Android 3.1 ("Honeycomb," designed for tablets), but be upgradable to 3.2.a

The sloped design is slightly different than that of the iPad's. "Unlike other tablet devices, Sony Tablet S device has an ergonomic, asymmetric design which allows it to be easily held or carried for long periods of time," the company says. "The unique form factor shifts the device’s weight closer to your palm, making it feel lighter and more comfortable while reading an e-book or watching a video."a

Cost: Starts at $499 for 16 GB, WI-Fi only version; $599 for 32 GB, Wi-FI only model (the same prices as the iPad 2).a

Availability: Mid to late September.a

More info: http://www.sony.com/tablet.a

Sony Tablet Pa

The "P," on first blush, almost resembles Nintendo's two-screen DS and 3DS. It has two 5.5-inch displays and can "easily fit into a pocket, purse or backpack," Sony says.a

It weighs a little more than three-quarters of a pound (Sony says "about .083 pounds"), uses the NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor and in addition to Wi-Fi, will be 4G "capable exclusively on AT&T's mobile broandband network."a

The P will have many of the same features as the S; rear- and front-facing cameras, microUSB interface, standard SD slot. It is expected to ship with Android 3.2.a

Why the two screens? For you multitaskers who want to be "playing video on one screen while using the other as a controller or reading email on one screen while using the other as a virtual keyboard," Sony says. "The displays can also be combined to form a single large screen for Internet browsing and more. By holding the device vertically, you can also read eBooks much in the same manner you would a physical book."a

Cost: No information on pricing yet.a

Availability: Later this year.a

More info: http://www.sony.com/tablet.a

HTC Jetstreama

The tablet has a 10.1-inch HD display and is described by AT&T as providing the "first iteration of the HTC Sense" phone user interface in a tablet. It will use Android 3.1, or Honeycomb, OS.a

The Jetstream has a Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, rear-facing 8 MP camera and front-facing 1.3 MP camera, and there is a dual LED flash. a

AT&T says "for the first time, ATT customers can receive discounted tablet pricing after committing to a two-year agreement for a new $35, 3-GB monthly data plan."a

Cost: $699.99 with a new two-year contract. a

AT&T's pricing plan requires some study. The carrier says:a

Postpaid tablet customers now have a new $35, 3 GB monthly data plan option with a two-year contract. Customers who do not choose a long-term commitment may still select one of two existing monthly billing options:a

Postpaid:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB. Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment will be charged $10 per 1 GB of overage. Charges will appear on customers’ monthly wireless statements. Prepaid:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB. Customers on the 2 GB plan who exceed their monthly data allotment may choose to purchase an additional 2 GB for $25.  Charges will appear on customers’ credit card statements.

Availability:  Sept. 4.a

More info:  AT&T.a

Related stories:a

New iPad with retina display coming out early 2012? iPad will own 61 percent of market this year: report Why Amazon's tablet will threaten the iPad

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.a

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

HP Hidupkan Kembali TouchPad

HP 'Hidupkan' Kembali TouchPad

Jakarta - Hewlett-Packard (HP) akan 'menghidupkan' kembali piranti Touchpadnya. Keputusan ini diambil setelah melihat meledaknya permintaan akan piranti berbasis OS tersebut beberapa waktu lalu.

Permintaan yang cukup tinggi ini terjadi saat HP melakukan obral gila-gilaan dengan memangkas harga TouchPad sebesar USD 300.

Akibatnya, stok TouchPad di sejumlah retailer dan toko online ludes dan menyisakan kekecewaan di banyak calon pembeli. Oleh karena itulah HP sepakat untuk memproduksi kembali TouchPad meski hanya dalam jumlah terbatas.

Pihak HP dalam pernyataan resminya mengatakan, "Alih-alih mengumumkan penghentian produksi hardware berbasis webOS, kami telah memutuskan untuk memproduksi TouchPad terakhir guna memenuhi permintaan yang ada," demikian seperti yang dilansir detikINET dari situs resmi HP, Rabu (31/8/2011).

Namun pihaknya tetap menegaskan bahwa setelah itu mereka tak akan lagi meneruskan produksi TouchPad. "HP akan menghentikan pengembangan piranti WebOS selama kuarter fiskal keempat kami di tahun 2011," jelas HP.

HP juga menambahkan bahwa pihaknya belum tahu kapan produk TouchPad terakhir tersebut akan tersedia dan berapa banyak unit yang akan dikeluarkan.

Sebelumnya, HP memangkas harga ToucPad hingga menjadi USD 99 untuk yang berkapasitas 16 GB, dan yang berkapasitas 32 GB hanya dibanderol USD 149 meski harga tersebut tetap tergantung kebijakan para retailer. ( sdj / sdj )

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Stop Pemalsuan, Apple Bentuk Tim Viagra

Stop Pemalsuan, Apple Bentuk 'Tim Viagra'

Jakarta - Pemalsuan produk yang makin merajalela di China tak urung membuat perusahaan raksasa Apple gerah. Oleh karena itu, pihaknya sepakat untuk membentuk tim keamanan global guna memerangi aksi tersebut.

Tak tanggung-tanggung, mereka mempekerjakan 'tim Viagra' untuk menumpas pihak-pihak di balik produk abal-abal Apple.

'Tim Viagra' ini ialah para pekerja dari perusahaan obat bernama Pfizer. Apple memilih orang-orang tersebut karena sebelumnya mereka mencetak keberhasilan dalam mengatasi pemalusan Viagra.

Pembentukan 'tim Viagra' sendiri dilakukan 3 tahun lalu untuk mengatasi pemalsuan produk unggulan Apple, iPod dan iPhone. Informasi ini dibocorkan oleh situs WikiLeaks yang mendapatkan datanya dari kedutaan besar Amerika Serikat di Beijing.

Bocoran itu juga menyebutkan bahwa sebelumnya Apple tidak memiliki tim keamanan global hingga Maret 2008.

Dikutip detikINET dari News.com, Rabu (31/8/2011), tim keamanan Apple menarget retailer-retailer, pabrik-pabrik, distributor-distributor dan vendor-vendor online untuk menghentikan produksi iPod dan iPhone.

'Tim Viagra' sepertinya melakukan usaha mati-matian untuk hal ini. Pasalnya, hampir 100% produk Apple telah ditumbangkan di pasar China. Pabrik-pabrik di provinsi Guangdong memproduksi banyak sekali barang palsu sehingga cukup untuk memasok semua negara dengan produk palsu Apple.

Salah satu produk palsu yang ditemukan ialah iPod yang dikatakan memiliki penyimpanan sebesar 80 GB padahal dalam kenyataannya ia hanya memiliki hard drive sebesar 1GB. ( sdj / sdj )

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Puluhan Hacker Diganjar Ribuan Dollar oleh Facebook

Puluhan Hacker Diganjar Ribuan Dollar oleh Facebook

Jakarta - Puluhan orang dari berbagai negara diganjar ucapan terima kasih plus uang ratusan hingga ribuan dollar dari Facebook. Mereka adalah orang-orang yang berhasil menemukan lubang keamanan (bug) di situs jejaring populer ini.

Ganjaran-ganjaran tersebut terkait program yang diluncurkan Facebook sekitar 3 minggu yang lalu di mana pihaknya menawarkan uang bagi mereka yang sanggup menemukan bug di situs Facebook. Minimal USD 500 akan dihadiahkan pada para hacker dan nominalnya akan ditambah untuk lubang keamanan tertentu.

Dikutip detikINET dari CNN, Rabu (31/ 8/2011), sejauh ini Facebook mengatakan mereka telah mengeluarkan uang lebih dari USD 40.000 untuk program ini. Bahkan, ada seorang hacker yang menerima lebih dari USD 7.000 karena menemukan 6 isu yang berbeda.

Meskipun Facebook memiliki tim keamanan sendiri, program bug bounty ini adalah langkah yang dirasa baik oleh Facebook. "Kami menyadari, banyak orang-orang berbakat dan ahli keamanan yang ada di seluruh penjuru dunia yang tidak bekerja untuk Facebook," ungkap Joe Sullivan, Chief Security Officer Facebook.

Sebagai apresiasi terhadap para hacker yang berasal lebih dari 16 negara, Facebook membuat halaman khusus yang dan daftar berisi nama-nama mereka yang berandil dalam program tersebut.



( sdj / sdj )

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Samsung Galaxy S II comes to US, Sprint first

Samsunga

By Wilson Rothman

The Samsung Galaxy S family of phones have wowed Android phone shoppers with vibrant Super AMOLED screens, fast processors and impressive battery life. The second wave, not so cleverly called Galaxy S II, gets a bigger screen, 8-megapixel camera and more powerful processor while remaining surprisingly skinny. It launched overseas in April, and is finally making its way to America.a

On Sept. 16, Sprint gets it, in the form of the $200 Samsung Epic 4G Touch. AT&T and T-Mobile will also be getting it, sometime later in the year. There is no mention of Verizon getting the Galaxy S II, though it does currently have several original Galaxy S phones in its lineup.a

As its name suggests, the Sprint Epic 4G Touch will run on Sprint's 4G network. The phone will have a massive 4.52-inch screen, while maintaining a thickness of 0.38 inches, almost identical to Apple's iPhone 4 (which measures 0.37 inches).a

T-Mobile's model, referred to as the Galaxy S II, has similar specs, and will run on the carrier's 4G network. (Sprint and T-Mobile 4G are different technologies, and which is faster actually depends, for the time being, on the market. Here's a 4G test to give you an idea of performance.)a

AT&T, also sticking with the franchise name Galaxy S II, has a slightly smaller screen, at 4.3 inches, but that decrease corresponds with a benefit: At 0.35 inches in thickness, the AT&T phone will be skinnier than the iPhone 4. It will have HDMI output and run on AT&T's 4G network, which operates using technology similar to T-Mobile's.a

Neither T-Mobile nor AT&T has yet announced pricing or ship date.a

The Galaxy S II platform as a whole features not only the larger screen and skinny body, but a 1.2GHz dual-core processor (compared with the 1GHz single-core processor found on most but not all earlier Galaxy models). Its 8-megapixel camera is up from 5 megapixels, and shoots 1080p high-def video. It will ship, at this time, with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the newest Android operating system release for smartphones. (A newer version, called Ice Cream Sandwich, is set to debut this fall, but it is not clear at the moment how upgradeable the phones will be.)a

Though there are many hot Android models to choose from, the obvious question is how this stacks up with the iPhone 4. As I mentioned, it's about the same thickness, but the screen is soooo much bigger. Rumor has it that Apple's next iPhone will have a 4-inch screen, but if you are really going for square inches, that 4.5-inch Galaxy S II screen still has it beat. That said, at 800x480, the Galaxy screen resolution still doesn't measure up to Apple's gorgeous 960x640 "Retina" display.a

While Apple needs to catch up in the processor department and the camera department, a hot dual-core chip and an 8-megapixel camera are both also rumored. Some Galaxy S II models will have HDMI output, which is also among the wished-for features in the next iPhone. Given the iPad's support of iPad (by way of an adapter), it's a possibility.a

Besides the 4G network capability, which odds are against Apple supporting this year, the Galaxy has an additional perk edge in the form of expandable internal memory — using MicroSD cards, you can add up to 32GB of storage.a

Bonus: Gadgetbox Video includes our first look at the new Galaxy S II phone:a

 a

Lately Samsung has dominated reviews and carrier promos with its powerhouse lineup of Android phones. So what makes them stand out? We devised a little trick so you can see for yourself.a

More on the smartphone battle — and Samsung's prominent place in it:a

Samsung to combat Apple with cheaper smartphones Apple now No. 1 smartphone vendor by volume (but Samsung close behind) Samsung launches Galaxy S sequel Carriers' lofty claims of 4G speed put to the test

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman or on the shiny new Google+ network, and join our conversation on Facebook.a

VMware Previews Virtual Workspace for Android

VMware is developing a new virtualized mobile Relevant Products/Services offering that will enable enterprise Relevant Products/Services workers to use their own smartphones and media tablets to securely conduct business Relevant Products/Services-related activities.

Unveiled at the VMworld 2011 conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the new corporate mobile workspace offering is part of the VMware Horizon platform for extending the benefits of cloud Relevant Products/Services-based application Relevant Products/Services management to virtual Relevant Products/Services Windows Relevant Products/Services apps.

VMware Horizon Mobile is expected to take its first bows on Android-based mobile devices from LG and Samsung in the months ahead.

"As a result, employees will gain the freedom to choose a single Android device for both personal and work use," said VMware Senior Product Manager Ben Goodman, in a blog.

The endgame for this kind of technology is to keep consumer and enterprise application environments separate, noted Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC Relevant Products/Services.

"In its full glory, this will allow devices purchased by consumers to be used as parts of corporate IT Relevant Products/Services environments as first-class citizens, able to run enterprise applications safely and securely," Hilwa said.

An Enterprise Boost For Android

With VMware Horizon Mobile, the goal is to give IT departments the ability to securely provision, manage and de-provision what amounts to a phone within a phone that will reside on mobile devices in isolation from the user's personal handset environment.

When this type of technology is in operation, it will boost Android's viability for enterprise applications, Hilwa said.

"It will imply that issues with Android's consumer environment do not affect enterprise apps and data Relevant Products/Services," he said.

Eventually, however, the virtualization Relevant Products/Services and cloud infrastructure provider intends to develop VMware Horizon Mobile offerings for the other major mobile device platforms from Apple, Microsoft and Research In Motion. The goal of ubiquitous availability for the new corporate mobile workspace offering is important because roughly 70 percent of today's enterprise workers regularly use mobile devices to achieve business goals, according to a recent study conducted by Enterprise Management Associates. (continued...)

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