Are Google’s Wallet Dreams in Danger?

Let’s get something straight: Google’s head will always be in the clouds.

Every major product it’s working on — mobile, social, video, whatever — emphasizes long-term payoffs over short-term gains. For Google, the goal is to create products that revolutionize industries, shaking up established tech-biz hierarchies. Google Wallet, the company’s smartphone-based mobile payments initiative, is perhaps the apex of Google’s lofty thinking. And now Wallet is under fire for security risks, raising serious questions about the product’s long-term viability.

Security research firm Zvelo — which analyzes and sells threat-detection services — discovered avulnerability in Wallet’s password system on Wednesday. In short, Zvelo found that smartphone thieves could potentially access users’ secret Wallet PIN numbers. Wallet’s saving grace in this situation, however, is that the threat only applies to Android devices that have been “rooted,” a process that provides privileged, superuser access to whoever owns (or steals) the device. Rooting isn’t recommended for amateurs, and is usually only useful to software geeks.

So, to some degree, what Zvelo uncovered wasn’t a huge deal. Rooting your phone always comes with risks. What’s more, Google has consistently warned users about the security risk. “We strongly encourage people to not install Google Wallet on rooted devices,” said Google spokesman Nate Tyler in a statement provided to Wired. “And to always set up a screen lock as an additional layer of security for their phone.”

But not a day following the Zvelo blow-up, another more serious problem came to light. Mobile blog The Smartphone Champ discovered that those who owned non-rooted devices running Google Wallet werealso found to be potentially at risk.

Currently, you can only link a Citibank MasterCard to your Google Wallet account for payment. If you don’t have one of those cards, Google provides a pre-paid card that acts as a credit card, to which you can transfer money from any of your existing accounts (Citibank or any other creditor). The problem is, once you link your prepaid account to that phone, the linking data stays inside the phone — even after wiping a phone of all your personal information.

So, ultimately, if you lose or give away your phone, anyone can reinstall Wallet and access your prepaid account with his or her own PIN. The interloper can’t siphon out your credit card account, but he or she can still grab all the credits you’ve put into Wallet.

This is an egregious security risk. And it comes at a bad time. Google is already fighting an uphill battle to convince customers that linking credit cards to smartphones is a safe, preferred alternative to carrying around cash and plastic in beat-up leather.

Google’s response to this latest embarrassment, again, was swift. The company is currently working on an automated fix for the exploit, and it should be ready soon, says spokesman Nate Tyler. Moreover, Google urges anyone who loses a Wallet-carrying smartphone to disable his or her account ASAP.

But there’s still a problem: We aren’t yet capable of seeing our lost phones as lost wallets. Imagine your gut reaction after losing your physical wallet. You get on the phone and immediately cancel all your plastic, replacing your stolen cards with an entire set of new ones. A lost phone, however, usually just spurs a trip to a phone store or kiosk.

And that’s all to be expected for a mobile payments scheme that’s still in its infancy. Google launched Wallet less than half a year ago, and widespread adoption is seriously hindered by the fact that there’s literally only one phone on which Wallet will work: Samsung’s Nexus S 4G, carried by Sprint. That’s one smartphone out of hundreds of options. Even worse, at 9 months old, the Nexus S is positively ancient in mobile hardware years.

Wireless carriers aren’t making things easy for Google, either. Not wanting to miss out on a potentially lucrative new revenue stream, Verizon asked Google to block Wallet from the Samsung Galaxy Nexussmartphone a mere fortnight before the phone’s release. As it stood, Google and the credit card companies were the ones making all the money, while carriers like Verizon were denied any piece of the mobile payments pie. (As a side note, the carriers tried to do their own thing with the ISIS mobile payments initiative, but the credit card companies didn’t want to let that happen.)

And it gets worse for Google still: Even if the company manages to get Wallet’ed phones in the field and convinces carrier partners to play ball, it still must resolve retailer skepticism.

“Few retailers are prepared to support NFC payments, as it requires deployment of additional infrastructure at the checkout,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told Wired in an e-mail. “Even when all these ducks line up, there is little to convince the consumer to use the technology as they are pretty comfortable with their cards.”

Add all this up, toss in the recent security scares, and Google’s Wallet dreams look bleaker by the day. Nonetheless, Wallet looks like yet another project that Google is willing to tackle over the long haul, managing stumbles and flare-ups as they occur. It’s a strategy we openly accept in search development, and merely tolerate when it comes to personal data mining. But with Wallet, we’re entrusting Google with our money.

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An ‘Entertainment Device’ Is Expected From Google

An ‘Entertainment Device’ Is Expected From Google

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is developing a home entertainment device, according to people with knowledge of the company’s plans, in a move that would bring it more broadly into consumer electronics.

The device, which exists as a prototype and will eventually be sold as a branded item to consumers, is the company’s most significant venture into hardware. While the initial purpose of the device will be for streaming music, the eventual use could be much wider.

As the Internet matures, the leading companies are trying to create full-fledged ecosystems to preserve their individual dominance.Amazon, which began as a retailer, now makes reading devices.Apple, which originally produced only hardware, now sells content.

Google still makes the vast majority of its money from Internet search. But as computing detaches from the desktop and laptop, the company cannot afford to be marginalized. The new device is an effort to control the design, production and sale of an entertainment device, just as its competitors have done so successfully.

Larry Page, who last year took the reins of the company he co-founded, has been intent on moving into hardware. The entertainment device has been in the works for more than a year, before Google made a $12.5 billion deal to buy the handset maker Motorola Mobility, the most likely manufacturer of the device. That acquisition is likely to close next week.

Owning Motorola — whose origins lie in a company that made an earlier generation of home entertainment systems before stumbling — will put Google into direct competition with the phone makers that use its Android software as well as Apple and its iPhone.

A Google spokesman declined to comment.

While Google has talked openly about its designs on consumers’ living rooms, news that the device was becoming a reality surfaced last week in an application the search giant filed with the Federal Communications Commission. In the application, Google said it would begin testing a device it labeled simply an “entertainment device.”

The device will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and, as Google noted in the application, it will “connect to other home electronics equipment.” The application, which was first reported by the tech Web site GigaOM, said Google would test the device for stability in employees’ homes through the summer.

Analysts are wary of Google’s venture into the notoriously cutthroat hardware field. Apple has loyal, sometimes fanatical followers, and enviably rich profit margins. Amazon is willing to lose money on its devices and make it up on sales of content. Most other hardware makers have a much tougher slog.

But Google is seen as having little choice.

“Google’s future depends on extending its influence beyond the PC screen,” said James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst. “They’ve made tremendous progress in the mobile phone business, but their attempts to do the same thing with the TV and tablet flopped because the hardware manufacturers they relied on were not able to move fast enough.”

But Mr. McQuivey noted that controlling manufacturing meant calling the shots. “It’s quite telling that Amazon introduced its tablet two months ago and is already the second tablet maker in the market,” he said.

Last November, Google introduced its own streaming music service to compete with Apple and Amazon in the wars for digital media. The service lets users access music from various Internet connected devices. By manufacturing its own device, Google can tether those listeners back to its own product.

Google’s larger goal, a person closely tied to the project said, was to connect everything in the home to the Internet, including light bulbs, speakers and TV sets. Google unveiled a “conceptual” version of a multi-purpose device last year at a developer conference.

The perils of not having full control of the design and manufacturing of a device became apparent with Google TV, which was codeveloped in 2010 by Google, Sony, Intel and Logitech. Reviewers hated it and the public scorned it. Guerrino De Luca, chief executive of Logitech has acknowledged publicly that the Google TV was “a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature.”

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Apple Sues Motorola Over Licensing Wireless Patents

--Ruling comes after Motorola enforced injunction against Apple, temporarily suspending sales

--German court dismissed Motorola lawsuit against Apple over standards-essential patent

--Apple attempting to ward off future injunctions from Motorola

(Updates with additional details on German proceedings in fourth paragraph.)

 
   By Ian Sherr 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Apple Inc. (AAPL) sued Motorola Mobility Inc. (MMI), saying Apple's iPhone 4S is protected under a license agreement from Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM).

The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, is the latest maneuver in a series of legal battles between smartphone makers that include litigation between Apple and Motorola in Germany.

With its latest case, the consumer electronics giant is attempting to ward off future injunctions from Motorola. In its suit, Apple said it should be protected from such court orders because of its rights as a customer of Qualcomm, whose chips are licensed by Motorola.

Apple's suit came after a German court dismissed a different Motorola suit against Apple earlier Friday. The dispute garnered particular attention when Motorola enforced an injunction from a local court there that made Apple temporarily suspend sales of some iPads and older iPhones because they allegedly infringed a Motorola patent.

The injunction was lifted, but around the same time, Motorola told the German court that Apple's newest smartphone, iPhone 4S, should have been blocked from sale as well, according to documents in the California case. Apple said in the documents that it argued its iPhone 4S is made using Qualcomm communications chips, and should benefit from Qualcomm's license with Motorola.

Motorola, on the other hand, had asked Qualcomm to revoke its license to Apple, the court document said. Qualcomm refused.

"An actual and justiciable controversy exists between Apple and Motorola with respect to whether Apple is authorized to use Qualcomm components," Apple wrote, adding that Motorola could cause "irreparable harm" if it is not kept from filing additional lawsuits alleging Apple infringes its patents.

Apple, Motorola and Qualcomm all declined to comment.

These and other patent battles between smartphone companies have heightened concerns in high-tech circles about how companies treat what are sometimes called "essential" patents, which cover technologies that are necessary to create certain kinds of products.

Many standards-setting organizations ask member companies to license essential patents under what are called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, a commitment also known as FRAND.

Apple has repeatedly claimed that its competitors have violated FRAND commitments as litigation over smartphone technology has continued to rise. In November, Apple sent a letter to a European standards body asking for an overhaul of FRAND agreements and a framework for how those patents are licensed. Among its recommendations, Apple said there should be an agreed-to base royalty as well as promises that companies won't seek or enforce injunctions against any competitor alleged to have infringed a FRAND patent.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) has expressed support of Apple's recommendations, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has made similar comments.

Google Inc. (GOOG), which struck a deal last year to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, sent a letter to dozens of European standards bodies saying it will maintain many of Motorola's practices and prices for FRAND patents. But Google stopped short of promising it wouldn't use injunctions as part of its strategy. Though the U.S. Justice Department is expected to approve Google's takeover of Motorola, regulators in both Europe and the U.S. have expressed concern about Google's strategy.

In its California suit against Motorola, Apple asked the court to stop Motorola from prosecuting its claims, adding that Motorola "has pursued an aggressive international campaign of litigation that flies in the face of its promise to license its cellular standards essential patents."

Apple also asked the court to stop Motorola from seeking injunctions on the Qualcomm patent in Germany or elsewhere.

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Intex launches new 3D dual SIM touch phone, the Avatar

Intex Technologies has announced the launch of their new mobile phone, the Avatar, which is a 3D touch phone. This mobile phone offers users the choice of converting 2D images and video content into 3D with the touch of a button and also the other way round.

A pair of 3D glasses have been provided, free of cost with this phone for consumers to unravel a new world of stronger visual experience and better imagery. The phone allows consumers to store and watch videos at the rate of 30 frames per second. One can also view 10 pre-loaded films available in the 4 gigs multimedia card, which comes for free with the phone. Avatar is priced at Rs. 3,690 and the phone is targeted at entertainment enthusiasts who are price conscious as well. It is a dual SIM phone with a 2.8-inch screen, all packaged in a handy candybar form factor.

The phone has an array of interesting features. In-built games like Crazy Birds, Fruit Ninja, Pentachess, Call of Atlantis, Yumsters and an enhanced experience of accessing social networking sites, such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook are already pre- installed.

The Intex Avatar

Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Kumar, GM, Mobile Business, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd. said, “At Intex, we believe in addressing consumer needs by constantly innovating and developing feature-rich mobile handsets. India has evolved in adoption of 3D technology. Keeping consumer needs in mind we have introduced this novel feature. Intex is poised to provide unique offerings to all the technology enthusiasts with products such as ‘INTEX AVATAR’ that provide an enriched experience to long standing customers in India and abroad.”

The handset supports both English and Hindi languages. Consumers will also get INTEX Zone – which provides additional features and various functions like Answering Machine, Mobile Tracker, Auto Call Record, Google, MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook and Games.

The Intex Avatar is priced at Rs.3,690 and is available across more than 15,000 distributors and reseller outlets, at 70 Intex squares (exclusive retail stores) and several hypermarkets across the country. 

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Pakistan blocks 13,000 websites for 'obscenity'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have blocked 13,000 "obscene" websites and are taking more steps to prevent the spread of such materials through the Internet, a top official said. 

Parliamentary Secretary for Information Technology Nawab Liaqat Ali Khan made the remarks while responding to a calling attention notice in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament. It is a serious issue and we are trying to address it," Khan said. 

A ministerial committee and a sub-committee had been formed to look into the matter. Khan expressed concern at what he described as the "rapid spread of obscene websites" and said the government currently has no mechanism to block all these websites. 

"However, we take action on receiving a complaint. We are trying to devise a mechanism," he said. Though China and India have installed an "automated filtration system", such measures are very costly, he said. Even if such a system is installed in Pakistan, authorities will not be able to block all objectionable websites, Khan said. Most of these websites are based outside Pakistanand authorities were unable to take action against them or penalise them, he said. 

After a string of cases were filed in courts across Pakistan against blasphemous and pornographic contents on the internet, authorities last year began blocking websites. 

Earlier, authorities had blocked popular portals like Facebook and YouTube but the move was criticised by civil society groups. Following protests, authorities began selectively blocking only pages that contained blasphemous and pornographic materials.

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Now, a robot that uses loo like humans!

London: A robot who answers nature's call! In another leap forward in android technology, researchers have created a robot that not only talks, walks and speaks like humans but also has to visit the toilet. 

A British research team has created a robot which uses organic matter for fuel, then 'excretes' the waste. 

They claim it could be the first step on the way to a new generation of "eco bots" that may even need their own toilets or share those available for humans. 

Another theory is that they could actually be toilets themselves, and use human waste for power. 

Such a scenario has until now been the stuff of science fiction, the time-travelling Delorean in Back to the Future Part 2 was famously powered by waste food. 

The discovery was made by the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), part of the University of Bristol in the UK, the Daily Mail reported. 

The first prototype had a microbe-powered fuel cell that ran off E coli bacteria which fed off refined sugar. 

The second model tried using sludge microbes to break down rotten food. 

Both of these had a hitch, however, that they had no way of getting rid of their waste, meaning they became poisoned. 

Step forward prototype three, dubbed "Ecobot-III" which BRL roboticist, Ioannis Ieropoulos said "collects its own food and water from the environment." 

Ecobot III can't find itself a sandwich, of course, it picks up its sugary food from a track within its Bristol laboratory. 

"It performs the task we design it to do, and at the end of the day, it gets rid of its own waste. It literally craps into its own 'litter' tray," Ieropoulos said. 

"Robots that eat biological fuels could find enough fuel almost anywhere. There is organic matter anywhere on Earth, leaves and soil in the forest, or even human waste such as urine and feces," John Greenman, a microbiologist at the BRL added. 

The researchers have already received enquiries from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and NASA which could put them on missions to Mars to keep astronauts company. 

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New Mahindra Xylo launched in Kerala

KOCHI: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), India's leading SUV manufacturer, on Thursday launched the new Xylo in Kerala market. 

The new model sports 50 new changes and features, including five variants powered by three distinct engine options, including powerful 120 BHP Hawk engine, Ravindra Shahane, senior general manager-marketing automotive division, M&M told reporters here. 

The new vehicle also boats of a pioneering Voice Command Technology for vehicle commands,e nabling cusomers to control over 30 features merely by talking to it. 

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