A researcher at Kansas State University found that mobile phones tend to primarily act as passive entertainment devices rather than serve the purpose of a anytime-anywhere communication device.

The focus group of the research was rather limited with the population of the university campus being adults between the ages of 19 and 24.

Esther Sweeney’s research determined that mobile phones are very personal products and the individual ownership is “a big deal” for their owners. Phones are not shared and have become key entertainment devices, which is not very surprising. However, Sweeney also said that her survey suggests that, while phones have become a part of us, we do not use them to express ourselves – which indicates that phones could be seen as passive entertainment devices (at least at the campus of Kansas State University).

She went a bit further and compared cellphones to be the “adult version of electronic Tamagotchi pets” many students cared for when they were children: “People don’t turn them off, are constantly playing with them, and want to show off the neat things the phone can do.”

SOURCE via Kansas State University

Have you played online games? How about spending real moneys on virtual items of the online games? Sound pathetic? Well plenty nerds already did just that. Spending real hard earned money on Facebook games could be fun, especially if it helps you soar to the top of your friend’s list or when you get limited edition items that cannot be purchased using the in-game credits that does not require real money, but are you really willing to pay real cash to get virtual goods that won’t benefit you in any way?

Well, you don’t have to always buy Facebook credits to get digital goods from the over 600 games on Facebook, thanks to U Mobile’s recent collaboration with Facebook and MOL AccessPortal  Sdn. Bhd., you can now earn Facebook Credits every time you reload your U Mobile prepaid mobile. Read more…

DDR3 memory will climb to a dominant market range of almost 90% this year, market researchers from IHS iSuppli said today. The company predicts that it will begin to fade in 2014 and hand over the majority of the market to next version of DRAM in 2015.

According to IHS iSuppli, DDR3 will account for 89% of a total of 808 million DRAM modules that will be shipped this year. DDR2′s share will decrease to just 9%, down from 29% in 2010. DDR3 market share in 2010 was 67%. The market research firm predicts DDR3 will hit 92% next year and 94% in 2013.

“DDR3 has been the main DRAM module technology shipped in terms of bits since the first quarter of 2010, gaining adoption quickly in the PC ecosphere as the market’s primary driver,” said Clifford Leimbach, analyst for memory demand forecasting at IHS. “Not only is DDR3 the dominant technology today in the three PC channels for original equipment manufacturers, the PC white-box space and the upgrade market, DDR3 is also the chief presence across all PC applications, such as desktops and laptops, as well as their subcategories in the performance, mainstream and entry-level computing sectors.”

DDR4 is expected to account for 12% market share in 2014 and approach 56% in 2015, while DDR3 is estimated to drop to just 42%.

George “GeoHot” Hotz, famed for his hacking of the iPhone and PlayStation 3 (and subsequent court dramas), has apparently found gainful employment – at social networking behemoth Facebook apparently.

A report on Tech Unwrapped, citing hackers who have been in contact with Hotz since his settlement with Sony, says Hotz has been turning down new hacking challenges/opportunities because he “doesn’t want that much attention”, and is instead now working at Facebook.

According to those with access to his site, Facebook messages left on Hotz’s account say that he began working at the site in May, and revealed the move to his friends on June 17.

As if Apple and Samsung’s patent infringement catfight weren’t distracting enough, Apple is recreating the legal spectacle in Samsung’s home country of South Korea. Apple just filed a suit against Samsung Electronics in Seoul Central District Court, with Cupertino alleging that the Samsung Galaxy S copies the third-generation iPhone, according to a report from the online news site, MoneyToday. That closely matches the claims Apple made when it it sued Samsung back in April for “slavishly” copying the iPhone and iPad. Since then, Apple’s expanded its case to include additional Samsung devices, including the Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Nexus S 4G, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy S II, and a handful of others. Meanwhile, Samsung has attempted (in vain) to subpoena prototypes of Apple’s next-gen iPhone and iPad. We wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung abandoned its efforts to peek Apple’s forthcoming products, but if this is, indeed, destined to be a case of déjà vu, Samsung might well strike back with a suit of its own.

SOURCE via Bloomberg

PopCap, the company responsible for gaming gems such as Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle, could soon be acquired for as much as one billion dollars. And who’s buying? Well, it’s no other than the famous giant EA that loves to gobble up small game developer firms!

PopCap’s got a number of hugely successful games in its portfolio and it seem those hit titles have attracted the attention of a potential buyer. Rumours circulating in the blogosphere suggest that PopCap is in final stage acquisition talks with none other than Electronic Arts.

Surprising as this news is, the sum of money being discussed is probably the most jaw-dropping detail of all — according to TechCrunch sources, PopCap’s price tag is set at over $1 billion. With EA’s current market cap sitting at $7.25 billion, a billion dollar acquisition would be a huge purchase for the company. However, TC’s Jason Kincaid writes, “We’re hearing that this is a Hail Mary pass from EA to break into mobile and social gaming — areas where the company hasn’t done nearly as well as it has in the console arena.”

The rumours first surfaced last night, though the buyer wasn’t known at the time. EA, Zynga and Chinese company Tencent were all named as possibilities. However, it seems tongues have been wagging since that report first hit the wire as TechCrunch has heard from two sources that the buyer is EA.

SOURCE via Tech Crunch

It’s been few days since DiGi’s site was down. Till now, their site is still inaccessible (we tried Streamyx and P1 WiMAX). But apparently their site isn’t really down. If you have an iPhone using DiGi’s SmartPlan, or you’re using DiGi’s Broadband, then you can still access their site. Weird? Yes, DiGi agrees, and says it’s still investigating the cause of this weird issue. Is this related to the recent hacking activities on our Internet?

The New York Times reports that the FBI knocked legit websites offline in its attempt to hunt down LulzSec and any affiliated hackers.

According to the report, the FBI seized web servers during a data center raid conducted early Tuesday morning. Owned by Switzerland-based DigitalOne, the server seizure inadvertently took down websites owned by the New York-based Curbed Network, Instapaper and “tens” more.

“After [the] FBI’s unprofessional ‘work,’ we cannot restart our own servers, that’s why our Web site is offline and support doesn’t work,” said DigitalOne’s chief executive, Sergej Ostroumow in a statement to his customers. He thought that the problem was merely a technical glitch with one of his Reston, Virginia-based servers at first until he was informed by a local that it had been removed completely from the data center.

“Our servers happened to be in with some naughty servers,” he said. Ostroumow later added that the FBI agents probably took entire server racks because they mistakenly thought that “one enclosure equals to one server.”

Meanwhile, Operation AntiSec continues on as Anonymous and LulzSec wage war against the world’s governments, banks and major corporations. On Tuesday the Brazilian branch of LulzSec reportedly took down the Brazilian government’s website. Later on LulzSec hinted that it had also penetrated servers of several banks and government institutions.

“Splendid old chap, yes, yes, quite. In other news, we’re loading leak bay #1 with stolen goods. #AntiSec,” the group bragged on Twitter.

As reported earlier, a vigilante band of hackers known as the Web Ninjas revealed its mission to expose the members of LulzSec and see that they were behind bars. They reportedly succeeded in retrieving the hacker handles of LulzSec members, including lesser members like “neuron” and “Redacted,” and also critical members such as “Topiary” and “Sabu.” LulzSec retaliated by “doxing” (or rooting out) the very person who leaked the information to the Web Ninjas.

“This is Marshal Webb, also known as “[redacted]” in the “#pure-elite” IRC logs you no doubt have enjoyed,” the group wrote to the FBI. “He was involved in the hacking of the game “Dues Ex” (sic) and was/is involved in countless other cybercrimes. Also, he tried to snitch on us. Therefore we just did your job for you with great ease. This moron is trying to flee the country in order to avoid serious punishment. Hunt him down… “

Hacking group TeamPoison has also claimed LulzSec blood by acquiring the names, addresses and pictures of the LulzSec team. “No matter how many bots you gather, no matter how much people you lie to, no matter how much pre-made tools you use, you will _NEVER_ represent the real hacking scene, we warned you, we told you we do not make empty threats, we gave u 48hrs to secure your ircs yet u failed to do so.”

Getting a headache from all this hacking talk? You’re not alone. Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski said that the hack on Sony’s PlayStation Network was a bad experience for the entire gaming industry. “It’s just a shame,” he admitted. “It cost [developers] an untold amount of money; I know developers who couldn’t put their betas out there because of it. I mean, it was a major problem. So it’s pretty scary to be a game developer, especially when you talk about there being a connected future.”

SOURCE via Softpedia

A report by Sky News in London claims that a 19-year-old male was arrested in Essex under suspicion of spearheading the hacker group LulzSec. The arrest arrives just days after the group openly attacked the CIA’s website last Wednesday, Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency on Monday, and numerous other sites in-between.

After the CIA’s website went down last week, the FBI and Scotland Yard reportedly launched an investigation immediately. While the details leading up to his arrest are scarce, Sky News reports that LulzSec’s alleged leader Ryan Cleary was apprehended on Monday after detectives from Scotland Yard’s e-crime unit closed in on his Wickford, Essex home.

Currently Cleary is in custody at a central London police station and being “questioned” under the Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act. If found guilty, he could be extradited to the United States to face trial. Meanwhile Scotland Yard is conducting an “examination of a significant amount of material.” Read more…

Thanks to a bug introduced by a code update, the entire world had access to Dropbox accounts for just under four hours. This issue was announced by Dropbox CTO Arash Ferdowsi on Monday revealed in his blog that a code update implemented on Sunday at 1:54pm PST introduced a bug that affected the service’s authentication mechanism. The bug was discovered at 5:41pm PST and fixed precisely at 5:46pm. This meant that for nearly four hours, accounts were left wide open for anyone to access without a password.

According to Ferdowski, only 1-percent of its user base actually accessed their accounts during that sensitive window. However, as a precaution, the company ended all logged in sessions until the bug was eradicated.

“We’re conducting a thorough investigation of related activity to understand whether any accounts were improperly accessed,” Ferdowski said. “If we identify any specific instances of unusual activity, we’ll immediately notify the account owner.”

By 10:46pm Monday night, Ferdowski said that the company had been working “around the clock” to gather additional data and continue to review logs for potentially unauthorized activity. Users would thus be notified within the next few hours if login activity was detected during the four-hour “open house” period. By 2:49am Tuesday morning, the accounts that logged in during the period had been emailed with additional activity-related details for review.

Dropbox is one of many cloud storage solution that offers a free 2 GB basic service and additional storage for a monthly fee. Users can automatically upload files to their cloud storage directly from a desktop, laptop or mobile device (iOS, Android) once the media is saved in a specific folder. Files can be kept totally private, shared only with family members, or offered to the public. They’re also kept in sync with other devices authorized with the Dropbox account.

That said, unauthorized access to a Dropbox account means that the “snoop” had access to the account holder’s email address, credit card and/or paypal information, and whatever is stored in the cloud. “This should never have happened,” Ferdowski said. “We are scrutinizing our controls and we will be implementing additional safeguards to prevent this from happening again. We are sorry for this and regardless of how many people were ultimately affected; any exposure at all is unacceptable to us.”

SOURCE via Dropbox Blog