South Koreans will soon join the millions of others worldwide as its government on Wednesday approved the sale of the iPhone there.(Credit: Apple)For years, the Korea Communications Commission used technical rules to stifle competition, allowing homegrown companies like Samsung and LG to take over the market, according to a Wall Street Journal report.With an estimated 93 percent of South Korea’s population subscribing to a mobile service, Apple should be able to overcome one of the biggest barriers to smartphone success in South Korea–applications. Apple has been able to entice developers worldwide to build apps for the iPhone, with 75,000 apps…
Business
South Korea welcomes the iPhone
Business
RIM profit and BlackBerry sales disappoint
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Thursday said it sold fewer BlackBerry phones than analysts had expected and that the company’s quarterly earnings were hurt by a legal settlement.Even though RIM still saw strong sales of BlackBerrys, the news sent the company’s stock price tumbling in after-market trading. Many are now wondering if RIM’s disappointing sales are an indicator of a wider smartphone slowdown or if the news is an indication that the company is losing its edge in an increasingly competitive market.RIM’s co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, said the company is still in very good shape.”This stuff (smartphones and mobile applications)…
Business
Lower interest on loans indicates market may be recovering
The loans market may be recovering, it has been claimed, after a major loan provider reduced the interest rates it charges on personal loans. Nationwide is now offering personal loans at 7.7% APR, leading Tim Moss, head of loans at moneysupermarket.com, to say: “Loan rates have been going up since the start of the credit crunch – in April 2008 best buy loans were around 7.34 per cent, but have now risen to closer to 9 per cent.” He went on to say that Nationwide`s cut in interest rates is the first suggestion that the worst in the loan market…
Hack
LEGO Mindstorms Sudoku Solver
Swedish hacker [Hans Andersson] is no stranger to puzzle-solving robots. His prior work, A Rubik’s cube-solving robot called Tilted Twister, made waves through the internet last year. [Hans’] latest project only has to work in two dimensions, but is no less clever. This new robot, built around the LEGO Mindstorms NXT system, “reads” a printed sudoku page, solves the puzzle, then fills out the solution right on the same page, confidently and in ink. It’s a well-rounded project that brings together an unexpected image scanner, image processing algorithms, and precise motor control, all using standard NXT elements.
The building instructions have not yet been…
Hack
CBS to advertise using Video-in-Print technology
In what seems like another move to blur the line between digital and print media, CBS has announced that they will be introducing something called Video-in-Print technology in next month’s issue of Entertainment Weekly. Video-in-Print, or ViP, technology consists of a small LCD screen and circuit board that can be inserted into print media and play video and audio content. CBS is using the ViP technology to promote their fall prime-time television lineup. Video-in-Print technology is the brainchild of Americhip, a company that claims to specialize in multisensory marketing. The ViP player in next month’s issue of Entertainment Weekly…
Tech Support
Data-sniffing Trojans Found In Eastern European ATMs
Security experts have discovered a family of data-stealing trojans that have burrowed into automatic teller machines in Eastern Europe over the past 18 months.
The malware logs the magnetic-stripe data and personal identification number of cards used at an infected machine and provides an intuitive interface for retrieving the information using the ATM’s receipt printer, according to analysts from SpiderLabs, the research arm of security firm Trustwave. Since late 2007 or so, there have been at least 16 updates to the software, an indication that the authors are working hard to perfect their tool.
“They’re following more of a…
Information
Why Motivation Doesn’t Work by: Gary K. Robertson
It’s like the story about the horse pulling a heavy cart with the proverbial carrot dangling in front and a whip at the ready behind. He turns to the driver and asks, “Tell me again. What’s my motivation here?”How motivation usually works is like when we were kids and mom would tell us to clean our rooms. We had two options, for the most part—compliance or defiance. Either way, who had the motivation about our rooms being cleaned? Us or our moms?Fast forward to the present. How much has changed? Not much. We talk about our “inner child” wanting to…
Business
Internet Marketing – Niche Marketing
To begin with, if you follow Zeitgeist* you can see if there is anything that catches the eye.. These are the keywords that are ‘hot’ at the moment, if they excite, then add them to the list. If they are particularly new, the analysis that follows may be invalid, so please use common sense. i.e. ‘world trade center’ would have been ‘cold’ before 9/11, then hot, then cooling over the following years and now it will be hot again because of the film. If in doubt, check the trends to see the movement over the years.
You probably don’t want…
Facebook
With Facebook’s Thunder Stolen, Many Are Wondering What Will Be Announced At f8
It’s no secret that Facebook is no longer the hottest startup in Silicon Valley. With Twitter pursuing an aggressive search strategy and a fast growing user base thanks to Oprah’s support, Twitter is now Silicon Valley’s darling. Facebook however continues to add millions of users a week and the company has an active developer base that’s looking for some indication of Facebook’s next big step.
The first f8 event brought about the beginning of the Facebook platform during which time Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed the era of a new web-based operating system. While Facebook was able to attract a large number…
Business
What To Invest In – Investing your money
Having trouble knowing what to invest in? Of course you are, we all are at the moment. This is because of the financial state of the world economy. I will explain later what I feel is the best investment in these economical times, but first let me go through a few investments that should be left alone at the moment, due to this economical crisis. • Stocks & Shares – With shares you are giving a company your money to help run their business. In return, if they are successful and their share price rises your shares will be worth…
Facebook
Flixster And iLike Run Out Of Ideas, Rip Off LivingSocial
When the Facebook platform launched two years ago there were hundreds of copycats of successful applications that popped up almost instantaneously. Two years later we are back in the same position except this time it’s big app developers stealing from each other. Flixster and iLike have literally stolen entire chunks of Living Social’s extremely popular Pick 5 application which has attracted over 14 million users in a couple of weeks.
Early on the Facebook platform was considered the wild west but it appears that not much has actually changed. Large developers publicly steal from other developers which occasionally end up…
