iPhone Oddities: 10 Unique Ways that Apple company Creates, Provides Its Legendary Handset

Apple’s iPhone is officially the world’s most popular smartphone. Tens of millions of units of the device are sold to customers around the world each quarter and there is currently no product on store shelves today that can come even close to matching that figure. The iPhone is the benchmark by which all other smartphones are judged, and it’s widely viewed among reviewers and consumers alike as a device that deserves that crown.

But that doesn’t mean that the iPhone is perfect. As noted before, the iPhone has some flaws, including a less-than-desirable camera and lack of 4G, that doesn’t make it ideal for everyone. In addition, the device is surrounded by some rather surprising market and feature quirks that raise questions about how Apple made some of its decisions. From its choice to ignore T-Mobile to its old debate over not offering Flash support, Apple has made some odd decisions over the last several years.

Read on to find out what sort of oddities are surrounding Apple’s iPhone, and why, at least in some cases, they’ll never end:

1. No friend to T-Mobile

Apple has always offered the iPhone on AT&T’s network and last year brought the device to Verizon and Sprint. This year, it has made a serious push into the regional carriers. Along the way, however, Apple has turned its back on T-Mobile. It’s an odd decision, considering T-Mobile is a major carrier and has more customers than any of the smaller regional carriers. Why is Apple ignoring T-Mobile? And more importantly, when will it stop?

2. Apple’s no-4G stance

Although Apple has brought 4G LTE to the iPad, the company has yet to give the same treatment to its iPhone. It’s an odd decision, considering so many competitors have already introduced 4G smartphones. Hopefully Apple will support the ultra-high-speed network when the iPhone 5 launches later this year.

3. High subsidies: take it or leave it

In the vast majority of cases in the mobile space, smartphone makers aren’t so willing to charge carriers an exorbitant amount of cash to carry their products. In fact, they usually come to some sort of agreement to make it easier for carriers to want to sell their devices. But with Apple, everything is different. For years now, the company has been selling the iPhone for $600 or more to carriers, and Apple has given no indication it’ll budge from those prices.

4. Touch...to a point

Apple might have been the first company to truly popularize touch screens in the mobile space. But to call its iPhone a fully touch-enabled device would be incorrect. Since it was released, the iPhone has come with a home button and in order to quickly change volume settings, set the phone to vibrate, or turn off the screen, physical buttons are required. When will Apple finally go all-touch?

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Ms windows 8 due 'for the vacations,' but will biz bite?

Ms decreased some suggestions these days that the commercial launch of Ms windows 8 could come earlier rather that later, but experts are concerned that it's not very company friendly.

Announcing the Ms windows 8 Release Review, Windows Steven Sinofsky had written these days in the Developing Ms windows 8 weblog that one more edition is, at the very least, on track.

"If the reviews and telemetry on Ms windows 8 and Ms windows RT match our objectives, then we will enter one more stages of the RTM (release to manufacturing) procedure in about 2 months," Sinofsky had written. (Windows RT represents the edition that operates on ARM snacks. Ms windows 8 operates on Apple and AMD processor snacks.)

He ongoing. "If we are successful in that, then we are monitoring to our distributed goal of having PCs with Ms windows 8 and Ms windows RT available for the vacations."

That's the best part about it. On the other hand, companies may not find the update to be fulfilling, say experts.

"Virtually all of the significant new features in Ms windows 8 -- the new Ms windows Playback, the Community environment with its full-screen programs, and the all-new designer APIs that drive it all -- are produced completely from the cellular community and Windows encounters building Ms windows Phone for smartphones on the market," had written John Thurrott at SuperSite for Ms windows.

Thurrott ongoing. "It's become significantly clear that Ms doesn't actually expect companies to update to this new system in any significant way."

Thurrott went on to say that it's a "a measured risk" that allows Ms to focus on the individual market, which it threats losing to Apple and, somewhat, Operating system.

Another report these days mentioned business designers that are flummoxed by Ms windows 8.

"I like Community on a product, though I don't see how on a company level it's going to perform for business company programs. It's a little too simple. It's too adorable," a company user told RedmondMag.com.

Microsoft, of course, believes Ms windows 8 is great for company and published a individual weblog to address company users these days.

"It provides what modern employees wants, providing new opportunities in cellular efficiency, end-to-end security, virtualization and management enhancements, and the company pills you've been awaiting," had written Windows Erwin Visser.

And here are more best parts from Sinofsky's weblog these days on the Ms windows 8 Release Review.

We have a lot of technical engineers modifying a very little bit of value. We often say that delivery a significant item means "slowing everything down." Right now we're being very planned with every change we make and guaranteeing our quality is higher than ever as we advance towards RTM. The item is last when it is packed on new PCs or generally available for purchase.

RTM itself is a service stage, rather than a instant. We keep throw out Ms windows 8 in over 100 different dialects and we are planning last items for different markets all over the community. As that procedure indicates, we are done modifying the value and are formally "servicing" Ms windows 8.

Once we have joined the RTM stage, our associates will start making their last pictures and developing PCs, and software and components distributors will ready their Ms windows 8 support and new items. We will also start to produce store bins for delivery all over the community. We works with our business customers as well, as we ensure option the volume certificate tools and items.

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To Beat Bots, the objective of the White House

The White House has teamed up with several companies and industry groups to launch an initiative aimed at countering botnets.

Members of the Industry Botnet Group will share information, educate users and promote innovation with the aim of mitigating threats. Members have agreed to report on attacks and the measures they've used to combat them.

"The issue of botnets is larger than any one industry or country. This is why partnership is so important," says the Obama Administration’s cybersecurity coordinator, Howard Schmidt.

"The principles the IBG is announcing today draw on expertise from the widest range of players with leadership coming from the across the private sector, and partnering with the government on items like education, consumer privacy and law enforcement."

The number of machines infected by a botnet at any one time is notoriously difficult to establish. But Michael DeCesare, co-president at security vendor McAfee, puts the figure at around five million for the US alone - about ten percent of the computers in the country.

"No one entity can combat these security challenges alone," says Liesyl Franz, vice president for cybersecurity policy at TechAmerica, speaking on behalf of the IBG.

"Individually we can take measures to defend ourselves, and together we can do even more to protect the ecosystem."

Members of the IBG include BITS/The Financial Services Roundtable, the Business Software Alliance, Online Trust Alliance, Software Information Industry Association, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, National Cyber Security Alliance, Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, StopBadware, TechAmerica, the United States Internet Service Provider

Association and the United States Telecom Association.

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New samsung Universe Observe LTE vs Samsung Android Razr Maxx: Will Samsung's Mobile phone Defeat The Motorola's Best Bet?

The Samsung Galaxy Note LTE was released in January and comes with the trademark large screen that allows users to view more with less scrolling and transitions. It also features the S Pen stylus, which integrates with the device's native apps to offer a richer and more interactive experience.

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx is a feature-packed smartphone that offers a powerful battery as well as high-speed 4G LTE compatibility.

Samsung's Galaxy Note LTE features a gigantic 5.3in Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels at 285 pixel per inch (ppi). It includes the TouchWiz User Interface. The Droid Razr Maxx comes with a 4.3in Super AMOLED Advanced capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 960x540 pixels at 256 pixels per inch (ppi). It includes Corning Gorilla Glass which protects the screen from damages, as does the Galaxy Note LTE.

Processor

The Galaxy Note LTE is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon chipset with a dual-core 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor. Motorola's Droid Razr Maxx is powered by a 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core CPU and TI OMAP 4430 chipset. Both the Galaxy Note LTE and the Droid Razr Maxx sport 1GB of RAM.

Camera

Both the Galaxy Note LTE and the Droid Razr Maxx boast an eight megapixel rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash. The sporting features are geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection and image stabilisation. Both smartphones allow users to record video of 1080p.

The Galaxy Note LTE features a two megapixel front-facing camera, whereas the Droid Razr Maxx includes a front-facing camera of 1.3 megapixels.

Operating System

Both smartphones run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which is upgradable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Storage

Both the Galaxy Note LTE and the Droid Razr Maxx have 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot with additional memory space of 32GB.

Connectivity

The Galaxy Note LTE features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi hotspot. It offers support to Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and EDR.

The Droid Razr Maxx comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspot. It supports Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, LE + EDR technology.

Battery

The Samsung smartphone packs a Li-Ion 2500mAh standard battery that allows for talk time of up to 10 hours and stand by time of up to 252 hours.

In comparison, the Droid Razr Maxx comes with Li-Ion 3300mAh standard battery that provides for talk time of up to 21 hours 30 minutes. It allows for stand by time of up to 380 hours.

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Fire malware a new age internet spy tool

Internet defenders on Wednesday were tearing into freshly exposed Flame malware (malicious software) that could be adapted to spread to critical infrastructures in countries around the world.

While the components and tactics of Flame were considered old school, the gigantic virus's interchangeable software modules and targeted nature were evidence that malware is a potent weapon in the Internet era.

"We are seeing much more specific types of malware and attacks," said McAfee Labs director of security research David Marcus.

"When you talk about a situation where the attacker knows the victim and tailors the malware for the environment it jumps out," he said. "That speaks to good reconnaissance and an attacker who knows what they are doing."

Gathering intelligence on targets and then crafting viruses to exploit specific networks as well as the habits of people using them is "certainly in vogue" and is an attack style heralded by the Stuxnet malware, Marcus said.

Stuxnet, which was detected in July 2010, targeted computer control systems made by German industrial giant Siemens and commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other critical infrastructure.

Most Stuxnet infections were discovered in Iran, giving rise to speculation it was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities there, especially the Russian-built atomic power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.

Suspicion fell on Israel and the United States, which have accused Iran of seeking to develop a weapons capability under the cover of a civilian nuclear drive. Tehran denies the charges.

"Stuxnet and Duqu belonged to a single chain of attacks, which raised cyberwar-related concerns worldwide," said Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Lab, which uncovered Flame.

"The Flame malware looks to be another phase in this war, and it's important to understand that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country."

Flame malware was larger than Stuxnet and protected by multiple layers of encryption.

It appears to have been "in the wild" for two years or longer and prime targets so far have been energy facilities in the Middle East.

High concentrations of compromised computers were found in the Palestinian West Bank, Hungary, Iran, and Lebanon. Additional infections have been reported in Austria, Russia, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates.

File photo shows Kaspersky Lab employees in Moscow. Kaspersky Lab, one of the world's biggest producers of anti-virus software, said its experts discovered a new computer virus with unprecedented destructive potential that chiefly targets Iran and could be used as a "cyberweapon" by the West and Israel.

Compromised computers included many being used from home connections, according to security researchers who were looking into whether reports of infections in some places resulted from workers using laptops while traveling.

While Stuxnet was crafted to do real-world damage to machinery, Flame was designed to suck information from computer networks and relay what it learned back to those controlling the virus.

Flame can record keystrokes, capture screen images, and eavesdrop using microphones built into computers.

In an intriguing twist, the malware can also use Bluetooth capabilities in machines to connect with smartphones or tablets, mining contact lists or other information, according to security researchers.

"There is lot of intelligence gathering and espionage-like behavior from the malware," Marcus said. "You can turn that to target any industry you want.

"It looks like the infection spread is specific to Middle East, but malware is indiscriminate in a lot of things so it can jump," he continued.

Marcus advised companies to not only keep network software up to date but to ratchet up security settings because threats such as Flame are carefully crafted to "fly under the radar."

For example, Flame reportedly sneaked back out to the Internet by activating a seemingly innocuous Internet Explorer online browsing session.

Geographically targeted cyber espionage and even modular components in viruses have been around for years, Rik Ferguson of security firm Trend Micro said in his blog at countermeasures.trendmicro.eu.

Flame stands out for being a malware behemoth of nearly 20 megabytes and for its use of Bluetooth capabilities, according to Ferguson, who branded the malware a tool, not a weapon.

"You can't get around the fact that the thing is gigantic," Marcus said. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to really confound researchers. We are going to be ripping this sucker apart for a long time to figure everything it was doing."

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