How the HTC 8X stacks up to other Windows 8 phones

On Tuesday night, HTC posted a sly tease on its Facebook and Twitter pages—a photo that showed only the corner edge of a device with a banner that read 19.9. All became clear Wednesday morning when that mystery device was revealed to be the HTC 8X. Along with the HTC 8S, the newly unveiled 8X will make up the company's Windows Phone 8 lineup.

Amid recent releases from Samsung and Nokia, HTC will be vying for the hearts of Windows Phone fans with handsets that feature exclusive Beats Audio and the proprietary HTC ImageChip, a f/2.0, 28mm wide-angle lens with HD recording.

Much like Nokia's Lumia 920, the 8X comes in a variety of bright candy-like colors (red, blue, yellow, gray, and black); the 8S comes in blue, red, gray, and black, but it features a bright strip of color along the bottom of the handset. The super-slim unibody is tapered, and the screens—at 4.3 and 4 inches, respectively—are both smaller than the competition. Samsung's ATIV S has a 4.5-inch screen while Nokia's Lumia 920 tops out at 4.8 inches.

The 8X features what is quickly becoming an industry standard of 1280 by 720 resolution as well as the super LCD 2 screen we previously saw in the One X, while the 8S's WVGA touchscreen has a lower resolution of 800 by 480. This puts it squarely in the same arena as the ATIV S and Lumia 920, which both have a 1280 by 720 resolution. (The Lumia 820 also has a 800 by 480 resolution).

The standout feature of the 8X, however, is its camera: The front-facing camera boasts the highest megapixel count of any Windows Phone at 2.1 megapixels and an f/2.0 aperture. It is also capable of 1080p video capture. The front camera features an ultra-wide angle (88 degrees) that can capture up to four people in one shot. The rear camera, meanwhile, offers up to 8 megapixels, a CMOS sensor, backside-illumination (BSI) for quality shots in low-light, and the aforementioned ImageChip technology. Sadly, the 8S does not have a front-facing camera at all.

While the 8X has some solid specs, so do most of its competitors, even with the Lumia 920's overblown video claims. Both the 920 and the ATIV S offer 8-megapixel cameras, 1080p HD video recording, and a fairly high megapixel count in their front-facing camera. The Lumia 920 also features Nokia's floating-lens technology for image stabilization.

The rest of the specs in HTC's latest phones also run along the company line: The 8X cashes in on HTC's deal with Beats Audio (and features built-in amplifiers that are missing on the 8S), but otherwise the handset doesn't differ radically from the rest of the Windows Phone 8 family. Its 5.21-by-2.61-by-0.4-inch dimensions and 4.64-ounce weight are in line with what rival phone makers offer, as are its near-field communication (NFC) and LTE capabilities. The 16GB capacity, 1GB of RAM, and 1.5GHz dual-core processor in HTC's phone are similar to other Windows Phone 8 offerings, though its 1,800mAh battery is slightly smaller than the competitors.

While the HTC 8X may stack up quite comparably to the likes of the ATIV S and Lumia 920, the elephant in the room is how it might be able to compete with the iPhone 5, which arrives in stores this Friday. While the 8X has an eye-catching design, and stellar audio and camera capabilities that make it a great addition to the Windows Phone 8 landscape, it seems unlikely to win over Apple fans. Still, if its camera can produce images to rival the Lumia 920, the 8X could pull in a slew of folks ready to try out Windows Phone 8 software.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2010099/how-the-htc-8x-stacks-up-to-other-windows-8-phones.html
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HTC's Windows Phone 8X and Phone 8S: Hands-on

With today's launch of the HTC Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S, Microsoft has a worthy pair of flagship devices for the Windows Phone 8 platform. In an era where phone designs feel increasingly commoditized, the new HTC phones showed a design flair that's often been absent from devices that don't start their name with "i."

When I handled the devices at HTC's launch event today in New York City, I was immediately struck by how comfortable the phone felt in-hand. Each had elegantly curved sides that fit my (admittedly smallish) hands well. The rounded edges are thinner than on a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S3, but not so much so that it's distracting.

The phones were each lightweight and well-balanced. The 8X weighs 130 grams, while the 8S is slightly lighter, at 113 grams.

Each phone is elegant; they look very similar in design, but for the 8S's smaller display (4-inches to the 8X's 4.3-inches), and for its distinctive colorful accent running along the bottom, near where the dedicated Windows Phone 8 navigation keys sit (the 8S is two-piece design, whereas the 8X is a polycarbonate unibody design).

The back is a matte soft-touch finish that extends up and folds around the edges. Meanwhile, the Gorilla Glass 2 display curves a bit towards the edges, taking a design cue from the HTC One X.

HTC didn't demo a lot of screens on-site; the Windows Phone 8 operating system is still largely under wraps, save for what morsels Microsoft already revealed during the summer at a developer's event. However, noticeable immediately was that both phones feature a bonded display; which means images looked crisp, even at wide angle of view. The 8X has a 1280 by 720 pixel resolution display, and what little was on show looked great. The 8S has an 800 by 480 pixel display, but I didn't see any video on that unit.

The two phones next to a Samsung Galaxy S III

A couple of more notes about the design. The volume rocker buttons felt a bit flat and narrow to the touch, likely a side-effect of the phones' narrow depth—each measures about 10mm deep. I could see that becoming an issue over time, especially if in day-to-day use it ends up being difficult to find those buttons. But only time will tell whether that will be the case .

Several of the bright, cheery colors were on display here; I liked the navy blue and red colors the best, but there's also a fluorescent-like yellow and standard black, too.

Both phones will be released in November on over 150 carriers in more than 50 countries. Further information on carrier availability, pricing, and a handful of other specifications are still to come.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2010106/htcs-windows-phone-8x-and-phone-8s-hands-on.html
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Three surprising ways iOS 6 can boost your productivity

With all the hubbub about the iPhone 5, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that there's a new iPhone operating system as well, one that's free and available for all iPhone owners starting today.

Usually you don't think of an operating system in terms of productivity, but iOS 6 does bring a few welcome improvements to that table. If you're wondering whether or not it's worth upgrading (trust me, it is), check out these three ways iOS 6 can help you work smarter.

1. The VIP inbox

Want to make sure email from important people, like your boss and clients, doesn't get lost in the shuffle? The new VIP inbox is the answer.

Just add one or more contacts to your VIP list. (You can add them manually or tap any sender's name and then choose Add to VIP.) The Mail app will automatically filter messages from those contacts into the VIP inbox.

When you're in a hurry, or just want to make sure you don't miss anything important, you can bypass your overloaded primary inbox and simply check the VIP inbox.

2. A smarter Reminders app

The original Reminders app, introduced in iOS 5, was a godsend to users who wanted a simple task list that was integrated into the OS. Alas, it was seriously underpowered.

It still is, but Apple did update it with some much-needed features. For example, you can now prioritize and rearrange tasks, set repeating tasks,

Even better, Reminders can now ping you when you arrive at or depart any location, not just those tied to contacts.

Finally, Reminders now syncs with iCloud. And it's a full two-way sync, meaning you can add tasks while signed into iCloud and they'll appear on your iPhone -- and vice-versa. That's a great perk for cross-platform task management, among other things.

3. Siri-powered Facebook and Twitter updates

If you use Facebook and/or Twitter as part of your marketing efforts (and you should), you'll greatly appreciate the option to push out updates using nothing but your voice.

That's not only a time-saver, but also a potential life-saver for anyone who thinks it's okay to tap out a status update from behind the wheel of a car.

Just activate Siri, then say "update Facebook" or "update Twitter." Wait for Siri's prompt, then speak your status. It's a fast and effective way to keep others in the loop when you're driving or otherwise occupied.

But wait, there's more

Other productivity-friendly iOS 6 features include different email signatures for different accounts, Notes syncing with iCloud, and call-rejection options that let you set a callback reminder or respond with a canned text message ("In a meeting," "Be there soon," etc.).

Have you found any other iOS 6 tricks that can help your fellow busy workers? Tell me about them in the comments.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/2010102/three-surprising-ways-ios-6-can-boost-your-productivity.html
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Virgin Mobile's password security rapped by researchers

John P. Mello Jr.

Millions of subscribers to Virgin Mobile USA, the pay-as-you-go arm of Sprint in the United States, may be at risk to hacker attack due to its weak password scheme for accessing their online accounts, according to security researchers.

Virgin Mobile's password deficiencies were exposed by independent software developer Kevin Burke in a blog on Monday.

Burke explains that the carrier requires its subscribers to use their mobile phone number as their user name and a six digit number as their password when accessing their online accounts. That means there are only a million possible passwords available to a user, he wrote.

"This is horribly insecure," he asserts. By comparison, a randomly generated eight-character password containing upper and lower case letters and numbers creates more than 218 quadrillion combinations. (See also "Secure Your Life in 12 Steps.")

"It is trivial to write a program that checks all million possible password combinations, easily determining anyone's PIN inside of one day," he says. "I verified this by writing a script to 'brute force' the PIN number of my own account."

What's worse, Virgin did not lock an account (website or phone) after a limited number of failed attempts, making it even easier to "brute force" a password. That flaw has apparently been cleaned up since Burke wrote his condemnation

However, Burke told Computerworld that the fix is ineffective. It will cut off a person logging into an account after four failed tries but only if the same cookie is used for each login attempt. By clearing cookies between tries or not using cookies while logging in at all, a lockout can be avoided.

Observes Stuart McClure, founder and CEO of Cylance: "The countermeasure they use to track logon attempts via cookies is preschool protection, not Fortune 500 Truly sad."

"There are many different overlapping safeguards in place to ensure our customers' privacy and security, and we have taken steps to further prevent intrusions and spoofing," says Sprint spokesperson Stephanie Vinge.

"While we maintain confidentiality about our security measures, our customer accounts are monitored constantly for several types of activity that would indicate if something illegal or inappropriate may be taking place," she says.

She notes that payment card data is not visible when viewing an online account. Other processes are in place to monitor and limit balance transfers and correct inappropriate charge, she adds.

"We haven't seen any reports of Virgin customers' account being hacked, nor any unauthorized access," she adds.

Nevertheless, security experts found Virgin's procedures wanting.

"It seems pretty sloppy to me, and even though most users won't be at immediate risk—now the problem is known about, there will be surely some mischief-makers who will try to exploit it," says Sophos Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley.

"The current system Virgin are using would be embarrassing 20 years ago—let alone today," he adds. "It's no wonder that users' confidence may be rattled."

The original omission of a failed attempt limit puzzled some experts. "If an attacker has an unlimited number of opportunities to guess your password, it doesn't matter how complex the password policy is, eventually they can get in," says Marcus Carey, a security researcher at Rapid7.

Cylance's McClure, founder and CEO of Cylance, a stealth security company, notes: "Passwords are the scourge of the cyber earth. They simply don't work to protect anything."

That doesn't forgive Virgin's security sins, he adds. "The problem with Virgin Mobile is a problem of barebones, basic, simple kindergarten security—or lack of it," he declares.

"If a website like Virgin Mobile wants to truly protect their customers they will require difficult passwords and ideally employ some form of two-factor authentication like a soft token, one-time password, or similar along with their passwords."

In his blog, Burke explains that he informed Virgin about its password deficiencies but after a month of silence from the company, he decided to make his security analysis public.

"We greatly appreciate Mr. Burke's outreach to the company and are reaching out to him as well," Sprint's Vinge said on Wednesday. "His inquiry did enable us to even further secure our customers' accounts."

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2010115/virgin-mobiles-password-security-rapped-by-researchers.html
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Buffalo WZR-D1800H 802.11ac router review: A few features light, but decent performance

Buffalo was first to market with both an 802.11ac draft 2.0 router and an 802.11ac draft 2.0 media bridge to go with it. But I imagine that more than a few early adopters are gnashing their teeth over the fact that Buffalo has yet to release a firmware update to improve the pair's performance. The firmware available today is unchanged from when the manufacturer originally shipped the product.

On the upside, the WZR-1800H's current street price ($160) matches that of Belkin's lesser AC 1200 DB router, and Buffalo's router supports three spatial streams on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency band, whereas Belkin supports only two streams on each band. What's more, Buffalo has been shipping a media bridge since its router launched, while Belkin has to provide reviewers like me with engineering samples and beta firmware.

The WZR-D1800H comes with removable feet than allow it to operate in either a vertical or a horizontal orientation (in the latter case, the feet lift the router up, so that air can flow across both sides of its enclosure. There is no provision for wall-mounting the router. Buffalo built only one USB 2.0 port into the WZR-D1800H, so it can support either network-attached USB storage or a shared USB printer, but not both at the same time.

I didn't try to set up a printer, and I couldn't measure its NAS performance because the router's firmware supports only drives formatted using FAT32 or XFS. High-capacity drives such as the 500MB Western Digital My Passport drive that I've been using to benchmark routers come from the factory formatted to use NTFS, and I'm not about to reformat it just so I can plug it into a router. Sorry, Buffalo, but that's a dumb oversight. The decision not to provide a guest network on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequency bands is even more lame-brained.

On the bright side, the WZR-D1800H provides a DLNA-certified media server, a Samba file server, and an integrated BitTorrent client that can download Torrent files without requiring you to run your PC.

The router came from the factory set to operate on a single 20MHz channel on the 2.4GHz frequency, but it had no problem bonding two channels together to provide 40MHz of bandwith when I reconfigured its firmware. Even then, its TCP throughput left it languishing near the bottom of most of my charts (except on my close-range test, where it tied with the Belkin AC 1200 DB). The WZR-D1800H was configured for channel bonding on the 5GHz frequency band by default, delivering 80MHz of bandwidth in that spectrum. Here again, however, it finished last or next-to-last on most of my benchmark runs.

Benchmarking 5GHz 802.11ac performance

I used an AVADirect laptop equipped with a 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-3210M CPU, 4GB of memory, and an integrated Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi adapter to run my benchmark tests. The Ultimate-N 6300 can send and receive three simultaneous 150-mbps spatial streams (450 mbps in total); most adapters are limited to handling two (300 mbps in total). This was all the streaming I needed to evaluate the WZR-D1800H's 802.11n performance (on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands). To measure the router's 802.11ac performance (on the 5GHz frequency band), I used Buffalo's AirStation AC1300 wireless ethernet bridge, connecting the bridge to the AVADirect's ethernet port. The bridge looks almost exactly like Buffalo's router from the front. It has a four-port gigabit switch in the back, but it lacks a WAN port.

To test the router, I positioned the client successively at five spots inside and outside a 2800-square-foot, ranch-style home (distances from the router are noted in each chart below). I used the open-source IPERF benchmark (and the JPERF Java graphical front end designed for it). To measure the router's downlink TCP throughput, I set up the laptop as a server and used a desktop PC hard-wired to the router as the client.

The WZR-D1800H delivered disappointing performance at close range, with the client 9 feet away from the router and in the same room. It might sound odd to hear a wireless TCP throughput of 270 mbps described as disappointing, but the Asus and Netgear routers delivered TCP throughput approaching 500 mbps. Only the two-spatial-stream Belkin AC 1200 delivered slower performance than Buffalo's router at this location.

As you can see in the chart below, things didn't improve any when I moved the client and the wireless bridge to the kitchen. Here again, the WZR-D1800H finished ahead of only the Belkin AC 1200 DB, delivering wireless TCP throughput at 269 mbps, compared to the Netgear's nearly 500 mbps and the Asus's astonishing 525 mbps.

The next two benchmark runs took place inside my home theater. This is a room-within-a-room design, with four walls of 2-by-4 framing and drywall inside four walls of 2-by-6 framing and drywall, with about 6 inches of dead air and fiberglass insulation separating them. My intent was to optimize the room's acoustics, not to build a Faraday cage, but many lesser routers and other wireless devices have had trouble penetrating it. However, none of the 802.11ac routers I tested had any difficulty reaching the client in this room. On this benchmark, Buffalo's router finished dead last, delivering less than half the throughput of its top-performing rivals.

Since many people will want to connect the gear in their home entertainment system to an 802.11ac network, I decided to measure TCP throughput with the wireless bridge inside the built-in equipment cabinet in my home theater (the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall cabinet is constructed from cabinet-grade plywood, including the back). The WZR-D1800H's performance looks a little better in the chart below, but only because the Belkin shed so much throughput on this measure while the Buffalo held steady. I was able to wirelessly mount and stream a Blu-ray ISO image of the movie Spiderman 3 from a Windows Home Server 2011 machine in my home office to a home-theater PC in that entertainment center, including its high-definition soundtrack.

As the chart below depicts, the WZR-D1800's performance improved considerably when I moved the client and the wireless bridge to the first of my two outdoor test locations—an exterior patio enclosed by three walls and one half wall with glass windows. In the real world, I doubt that anyone would try to set up a media bridge outdoors because dragging the bridge and finding an outlet (and likely an extension cord) are too inconvenient. On this measure, the Buffalo presented no threat to the top two routers I tested, the Asus RT-AC66U and the Netgear R6300.

When I moved the client and bridge to my most challenging outdoor location, separating them from the router by 75 feet, with three insulated interior walls and one insulated exterior wall (clad on one side with fiber-cement lapboard) between them, the WZR-D1800H slipped to last place behind the Belkin AC 1200 DB, delivering TCP throughput of just 48 mbps.

Benchmarking 2.4GHz 802.11n performance

As I mentioned earlier, Buffalo's router had no problem with channel bonding once I configured it to do so. As a result, the WZR-1800H delivered the fastest performance at close range, with wireless TCP throughput of 175 mbps when the client was in the bedroom, and 186 mbps when the client was in the kitchen.

The good times didn't last when I moved the client and the bridge outdoors. Buffalo's router delivered a last-place finish from the patio, and it placed next-to-last on the even more-distant picnic table.

Benchmarking hardwired ethernet performance

The WZR-1800H's four-port gigabit ethernet switch performed as expected, delivering TCP throughput of 943 mbps, as did three competing routers.

Bottom line

If you don't mind its inability to support USB hard drives formatted in NTFS, Buffalo's WZR-D1800H delivers better value than Belkin's AC 1200 router. Both models carry street prices of around $160, as does Buffalo's AirStation AC1300 wireless bridge. Belkin's 802.11ac bridge hasn't reached the market, yet, and its absence sharply curtails that router's usefulness. Moreover, Belkin's router and bridge support only two spatial streams on each wireless network. So if really want an 802.11ac router, and your budget limits you to an outlay of $160, Buffalo has one for you.

Note: This review is part of a roundup. Click here to read the introduction to the story and find links to the other 802.11ac routers reviewed at the same time.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/262177/buffalo_wzr_d1800h_802_11ac_router_a_few_features_light_but_decent_performance.html
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Sabayon 10 adds a GNOME 2-flavored 'MATE' edition

It seems like just yesterday that we saw the release of Sabayon 9 with its three desktop flavors, but already the project team behind the popular Linux distribution has launched a new version.

Sabayon 10 made its official debut late last week, and certainly most notable among the new additions to the free and open source operating system is yet another desktop edition, bringing the total number of choices for users up to four.

Now joining the ever-growing list of distros to offer a variation on the old, beloved GNOME 2 theme, Sabayon

New to the desktop: Sabayon 10

10 brings a number of other enhancements to the table as well. Here's a quick overview of some of the highlights.

1. A MATE option

Linux fans are no doubt already familiar with MATE, the GNOME 2-like desktop that was first included in Linux Mint 12 as an alternative for users wary of GNOME 3, and there's no doubt it's been gaining steam.

MATE is already available in packages for Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, just to name a few, and now it's part of Sabayon 10 as well.

"Many people wanted GNOME 2 back and there you have it!" reads the official Sabayon 10 announcement. "We are more than happy to serve MATE to all our users and officially support it starting from now."

2. Three other alternatives

As with Sabayon 9, this latest version comes with three other desktop editions as well. Specifically, version 10 can be had in editions featuring KDE 4.9, GNOME 3.4.2, or Xfce 4.10.

3. Amazon EC2 support

Also new in Sabayon 10 is the ability to run the operating system on Amazon's EC2.

"Running Sabayon on Amazon EC2 is more than a necessity for us," the project team explains. "It's how we implement our failover disaster recovery plan."

Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are now available for users interested in trying out Sabayon on Amazon's cloud platform.

4. Updates and fixes

Based on version 3.5.4 of the Linux kernel, Sabayon 10 updates numerous other packages as well, including bringing LibreOffice to version 3.6. Among many smaller updates and fixes, meanwhile, "one nice and small feature worth a mention is the ability to sanity check your Live media (whether it is USB or DVD doesn't matter) through the Live boot menu," the project team notes.

5. Even more hardening

Last but not least, one of the key features added in Sabayon 9 was a hardened Gentoo profile, and Sabayon 10 takes that even further by also providing an X.org-friendly hardened kernel based on the Gentoo hardened patch set.

Want to give Sabayon Linux 10 a try for yourself? It's available as a free download from the project site.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010069/sabayon-10-adds-a-gnome-2-flavored-mate-edition.html
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Tablets might actually be increasing PC customer satisfaction

"The PC is dead."

"We're in a post-PC era."

"Tablets are killing the PC."

You've probably heard these statements before, and perhaps you've even seen the analysts' charts, which forecast the rise of tablets and the subsequent demise of traditional desktop and laptop PCs. But tablets might actually be boosting the rate by which consumers appreciate their PCs. As tablets gain market share, overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry is actually picking up.

This year, personal computer satisfaction is up 2.6 percent, to a record-high score of 80 on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI). The reason, according to an ASCI report released Wednesday, is probably because tablet use is on the rise.

How can this be? ASCI founder Claes Fornell theorizes that when unsatisfied PC users move to Apple and other tablet makers, only the most loyal and happy users are left using traditional PCs, such as Dell, HP, and Acer computers.

In other words, people who never liked their PCs have moved on to tablets, leaving the ranks of PC users filled with a greater percentage of satisfied customers.

There may be another reason tablet growth has contributed to greater PC customer satisfaction: Tablets often serve as ancillary devices to PCs. So, instead of taking the place of a laptop or a desktop, tablets are used just for the tasks they're best for, such as checking email and watching movies. This leaves PC users acutely aware of all the productivity features that desktops and laptops actually offer. Indeed, the new crop of 7-inch tablets will never be useful for serious data entry, content creation, and other PC-dependent activities.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010109/tablets-arent-killing-pcs-they-might-actually-be-increasing-pc-customer-satisfaction.html
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Wikipedia contributors debate whether it's okay to pay for posts

A contentious debate has erupted on Wikipedia over questions about whether two high-profile contributors have been paid to promote articles on the site.

Roger Bamkin, Wikipedia editor

Some contributors have questioned whether Roger Bamkin, a director at Wikimedia UK, is being paid by the government of Gibraltar to write or edit articles about the British territory. Bamkin has a contract with the government of Gibraltar, apparently to promote the territory and the Wikipedia subsite Gibraltarpedia.

Bamkin, in his role as a Wikipedia editor, approved an article about a yacht club in Gibraltar, and nominated and reviewed another Gibraltar-related article, one contributor noted in a lengthy debate, beginning last week, on a Wikipedia discussion page. Bamkin has also worked with Monmouthpedia, a subsite about the U.K. city Monmouth.

The debate has raised the concerns of Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's cofounder, who wrote Monday that he was unfamiliar with Bamkin's situation. But, he said, "it is wildly inappropriate for a board member of a chapter, or anyone else in an official role of any kind in a charity associated with Wikipedia, to take payment from customers in exchange for securing favorable placement on the front page of Wikipedia or anywhere else."

Some Wikipedia contributors accused Bamkin of using his influence to get Gibraltar articles featured frequently on the site's "did you know" (DYK) section, featured on the front page. Others questioned Wikimedia UK's recent offer to provide in-kind support to Gabraltarpedia while Bamkin serves as a director for the U.K. group.

"There's a fundamental difference between wiki as a labor of love and wiki as a business," wrote a Wikipedia administrator know as Secretlondon. "If the same guy has a business based on mommouthpedia and gibraltarpedia then we shouldn't allow ourselves to be exploited by this. We're allowing someone to make money out of access to the front page."

Other contributors downplayed the issue, saying Bamkin has disclosed his consulting gigs on his contributor page. "My main question is why should we care?" wrote contributor Silverseren. "If someone is making money off of the articles indirectly (not talking about paid editors here, that's a totally different subject) or getting tourism or whatever, why should DYK or even Wikipedia care? So long as the articles are properly made and don't have POV or copyright issues, then we're getting more and better articles out of their desire to get tourism."

Bamkin didn't respond to a message seeking comment on the debate, but he defended himself on the discussion page. It was a mistake to nominate, then approve an article about Gibraltar, he wrote. His potential conflicts of interest are "well documented," he added.

Bamkin said he disclosed his commercial interests when he ran for a directorship at Wikimedia U.K., and the membership there supported him. "I don't intend to criticise their choice," he wrote.

Wikimedia contributors brought up a second case of potential conflict of interest days after the first debate started. Wikipedian in residence Maximilian Klein, through a business named UntrikiWiki, advertised services for posting positive articles on the online encyclopedia.

"A positive Wikipedia article is invaluable SEO: it's almost guaranteed to be a top three Google hit," the UntrikiWiki site said before the consulting pitch was pulled down. "We have the expertise needed to navigate the complex maze surrounding 'conflict of interest' editing on Wikipedia. With more than eight years of experience, over 10,000 edits, and countless community connections we offer holistic Wikipedia services."

Wales, again, said he was unaware of Klein's case. "If what you say is accurate, then of course I'm extremely unhappy about it," he wrote to the contributor who pointed it out. "It's disgusting."

UntrikiWiki pulled the pitch after the controversy erupted. Starting immediately, the business will "not accept any paid conflict-of-interest Wikipedia editing work," UntrikiWiki said in a statement Tuesday.

The company advertised Wikipedia editing services but it has "not aggressively pursued it," the statement said. "We've never made a single edit for which we had a conflict of interest on Wikipedia -- ever."

But the company also defended for-profit contributions to Wikipedia, "as long as it's approached in a transparent and ethical fashion."

"We understand why it's a controversial issue, but we believe that it's a necessary and emerging field and believe that it's important that people with knowledge of Wikipedia's ecosystem move [into] it and establish standards that protect Wikipedia's integrity," the statement said.

Klein didn't answer a message seeking comment on the debate.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010117/wikipedia-contributors-debate-whether-its-okay-to-pay-for-posts.html
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Apple releases iOS 6

iOS 6 is upon us. Apple on Wednesday, as promised, released the new version of the operating system that powers the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

You can upgrade to iOS 6 in a couple of ways. Option one is to upgrade from your device itself: Launch the Settings app, tap General, tap Software Update, and then follow the on-screen prompts to download and install the software. Option two is the old, tethered approach: Connect your iOS device to iTunes with a USB cable, and use your computer to download and install the software update.

iOS 6 contains a variety of new, hallmark features—but they won't all necessarily work on your device; Wednesday's release marks perhaps the most diverse iOS release to date, in terms of which features work on which devices.

Facebook integration—accessible via Siri on compatible devices—is one of the new features in iOS 6.

You'll need an iPad 2 or newer, an iPhone 3GS or newer, or a third-generation iPod touch or newer to upgrade to iOS 6—the original iPad and older iPhones and iPod touches aren't eligible. The full feature list of upgrades in iOS 6 includes an overhauled Maps app complete with built-in turn-by-turn navigation, new Siri functionality like support for launching apps and getting movie and sports information, systemwide Facebook integration akin to iOS 5's Twitter integration, and a slew of updates to existing, built-in apps: shared Photo Streams, Panorama photography mode, FaceTime over cellular, and updates to Mail, Safari, the App Store, Phone, and more.

Of course, if you upgrade to iOS 6 from an iPhone 3GS, you'll miss out on turn-by-turn navigation and the new flyover mode in Maps, shared Photo Streams, FaceTime, Siri, Panorama, and Safari's new Offline Reading List. The iPhone 4 gains access to shared Photo Streams and Offline Reading List, but misses out on the turn-by-turn, FlyOver, FaceTime over cellular, and Siri.

The iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 gain access to all of iOS 6's new features. The iPad 2 lacks Siri; the third-generation iPad gains access to that voice-recognition assistant in iOS 6. Panorama is limited to the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, and doesn't work on any iPad. FaceTime over cellular works on the third-generation iPad, but not the iPad 2.

Got all that?

In short: The newer your iOS device, the more iOS 6 features it will support—a statement not all that surprising.

iOS 6 is free.

Macworld will post our complete review of iOS 6, along with feature-by-feature guides, over the days ahead. You can read our iOS 6 FAQ now.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/2010080/apple-releases-ios-6.html
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HTC announces Windows Phone 8X and 8S, coming in November

With Microsoft's blessing, HTC has announced the Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S, two new smartphones coming in November.

Of the pair, HTC's Windows Phone 8X is the flagship. It has a 4.3-inch, 720p display, a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage, but no MicroSD slot. The phone also supports NFC for the wallet features Microsoft is cooking up in Windows Phone 8 .

For the phone's 8-megapixel, f/2.0 aperture rear-facing camera, HTC is bringing along the ImageSense sensor found in the company's high-end Android handsets. The 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera is no slouch either, with support for 1080p video chat and an 88-degree wide-angle lens that can get four people in the frame at once.

The Windows Phone 8X takes some design cues from Nokia, with a polycarbonate shell in a variety of colors to match the software's Live Tiles, surrounding a black bezel covered in Gorilla Glass. The phones look slim, but there's no word on exact measurements just yet.

The HTC Windows Phone 8S is a mid-range device with a 4-inch, 800-by-480 resolution display. Other specs include a 1 GHz dual-core processor Snapdragon S4 processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of storage, a MicroSD card slot and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera. It does not support NFC. The 8S phones have a two-tone polycarbonate body, with darker colors around most of the shell, and a bit of pop around the bottom where the Windows Phone buttons reside.

Both devices support Beats Audio software, but only the 8X has additional amplifiers inside, The Verge reports.

Though HTC isn't a stranger to Windows Phone, the company appears to have put some extra effort behind these phones, and has earned some special attention from Microsoft. In a blog post, Microsoft's Terry Myerson noted that these are the first devices with "Windows Phone" in the name. He said HTC CEO Peter Chou saw Microsoft's plans for Windows Phone 8 and asked his designers to create a device that matched the software's design and personality. "I think they achieved that and more," Myerson said.

That type of love from Microsoft has previously been reserved for Nokia, but HTC already has one important element that Nokia's new Lumia phones don't: commitments from wireless carriers. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile will all sell the Windows Phone 8X and 8S. In total, the phones will be available on over 150 carriers across 50 countries starting in November.

We'll have to wait a bit longer for an exact release date and pricing, but broad carrier support is exactly what Windows Phone needs to get some traction in the market.

20 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2010088/htc-announces-windows-phone-8x-and-8s-coming-in-november.html
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