Cellphones, Software, GPS, Intel to acquire Telmap, dole out easy to implement location APIs to AppUp developers

In case you weren't watching, Intel's Elements 2011 Keynote slipped in a sly acquisition announcement: the firm recently signed a deal to absorb Telmap, an Israel-based outfit whose location platform is the backbone of countless navigation apps. Intel's Peter Biddle says the navigation firm is to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, and will help AppUp developers pack their apps with unique location capabilities via Telmap's standardized APIs. Biddle wraps it up simply enough: "New advanced capabilities with just a few lines of code." Details on the deal are scarce, but hit the source link below to see Biddle's full statement in Intel's AppUp wrap-up.

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Microsoft wants to pick your brain for Windows Phone tweaks

Mango has already begun to trickle out into the wild, and Microsoft is still trying to figure out exactly what their Windows Phone users want. Case in point: they’ve just unveiled their new Suggestion Box, where users can submit and vote for ideas that they would like to see implemented in Windows Phone 7.

All snark aside, it’s a much better alternative to shooting your ideas out into the ether via Twitter, as the Windows Phone Blog is quick to point out. By centralizing all of their users suggestions, Microsoft can look at potential improvements and see where user priorities lay.

link to Microsoft windows phone

http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions

For hackers, mobile security is the next lock to pick as McAfee, Symantec, Sophos and AVG gear up to provide solutions

Hackers have broken into the cellphones of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Prince William. But what about the rest of us, who might not have particularly salacious photos or voice messages stored in our phones, but nonetheless have e-mails, credit card numbers and records of our locations?

A growing number of companies, including start-ups and big names in computer security like McAfee,Symantec, Sophos and AVG, see a business opportunity in mobile security - protecting cellphones from hacks and malware that could read text messages, store location information or add charges directly to mobile phone bills. 

On Tuesday, McAfee introduced a service for consumers to protect their smartphones, tablets and computers at once, and last week the company introduced a mobile security system for businesses. Last month, AT&T partnered with Juniper Networks to build mobile security apps for consumers and businesses. The Defense Department has called for companies and universities to come up with ways to protect Android devices from malware. 

In an indication of investor interest, one start-up, Lookout, last week raised $40 million from venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total to $76.5 million. The company makes an app that scans other apps that people download to their phones, looking for malware and viruses. It automatically tracks 700,000 mobile apps and updates Lookout whenever it finds a threat. 

Still, in some ways, it's an industry ahead of its time. Experts in mobile security agree that mobile hackers are not yet much of a threat. But that is poised to change quickly, they say, especially as people increasingly use their phones to exchange money, by mobile shopping or using digital wallets like Google Wallet. 

"Unlike PCs, the chance of running into something in the wild for your phone is quite low," said Charlie Miller, a researcher at Accuvant, a security consulting company, and a hacker who has revealed weaknesses in iPhones. "That's partly because it's more secure but mostly because the bad guys haven't gotten around to it yet. But the bad guys are going to slowly follow the money." 

Most consumers, though they protect their computers, are unaware that they need to secure their phones, he said, "but the smartphones people have are computers, and the same thing that can happen on your computer can happen on your phone." 

Cellphone users are more likely than computer users to click on dangerous links or download sketchy apps because they are often distracted, experts say. Phones can be more vulnerable because they connect to wireless networks at the gym or the coffee shop, and hackers can surreptitiously charge consumers for a purchase. 

There have already been harmful attacks, most of which have originated in China, said John Hering, co-founder and chief executive of Lookout. For example, this year, the Android market was hit by malware called DroidDream. Hackers pirated 80 apps, added malicious code and tricked users into downloading them. Google said 260,000 devices were attacked.

Hacker Finds Quora-like Q&A Features in Google Plus Code

A curious hacker named Matt Mastracci was diving into the Google Plus code yesterday, trying to turn on access to the new Circle-sharing feature, when he uncovered several new features apparently in the works. One, referred to in the source as 'Google Experts,' appears to be a Quora-like question and answer feature with the same posting, commenting and sharing features as regular Plus posts.
Mastracci also uncovered Google Voice integration, which will not require phone numbers; new photo browsing options including photos from Messenger; new, clearly labeled privacy presets and a feature like Facebook's wall, letting users post on each other's profile without showing up in others' streams.

IBM to build 1000 times faster PCs

Get ready for next-generation computers and smartphones that are up to 1,000 times faster than the systems you use today. Computer maker IBM is developing "skyscraper" computers using huge sandwiches of silicon chips by sticking layer after layer of chips covered with tiny components together.

The process, for which IBM has roped in glue maker 3M, will make PCs and smartphones up to 1,000 times faster than the existing ones and are expected to be available in market by 2013.

The 3M currently makes heat resistant glues, adhesives used in the aerospace industry and sticky tapes, but the hi-tech glues created for IBM could actually be the key step towards making the next evolutionary leap in computing, the Daily Mail reported

Ubuntu

Announcing the new Ubuntu App Developer site - all the information you need to know to create, deploy, and sell or give away for free your apps on Ubuntu - http://developer.ubuntu.com/ - read more at: http://developer.ubuntu.com/2011/09/announcing-the-ubuntu-app-developer-site/

HCL Tech to create 10k jobs in US & EU

HCL Technologies said it will create 10,000 jobs in the US and the EU in the next 5 years, emphasizing that it does not want to be "seen as a company which takes away jobs". The announcement comes at a time when anti-outsourcing campaign against Indian tech companies is gaining momentum in a slowing US and European Union.

Politicians and governments in these countries have been objecting to offshoring work, and in the US, President Barack Obama had threatened to cancel tax breaks to companies shipping away jobs.