InformationWeek Stories by David Chernicoff

InformationWeek Stories by David Chernicoffhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2012-12-14T09:01:00ZBYTE Guide To In-Flight Wi-FiHere is how WiFi on major airlines works and what it would cost you. Probably. Airplane Wi-Fi pricing is such a mess that you often can't even know what the cost will be until you're on the plane. Gogo is the major provider, and we identified service offerings from Air Canada, Airtran, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Jet Blue, SouthWest Virgin America, United and US Air.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/wireless/byte-guide-to-in-flight-wi-fi/240144399?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsFor some, once they get past the TSA checkpoints, an airplane flight becomes an oasis of electronic solitude; a few hours when they can relax and forget about staying connected. For others, it is a time of nervous anxiety, as they begin to miss the immediate connectivity to which they have become accustomed. And then, of course, there is the business traveler, who is looking at the flight as a time to focus on getting some work done and for whom network connectivity is crucial. How it works This need for connectivity has been driving the adoption of in-flight Wi-Fi services by major airlines worldwide, though most of the implementation of these services has been by airlines that are U.S. based and operating. At this point in time, services are provided to the airlines by outside vendors so the airline can select which vendor and package of services to offer on their flights. There are two major U.S. vendors of inflight connectivity, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gogoair.com/">Gogo</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.row44.com/">Row 44</a>. A third entrant, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.viasat.com/">ViaSat</a>, will begin to offer service in 2013. Each vendor offers their own specific type of connectivity for the aircraft with pluses and minuses, and as of the date of this article, Gogo is the dominant player by far. All of the services function in basically the same way. They provide connectivity to the public Internet via a Wi-Fi hotspot accessible from the cabin of the aircraft. This in-cabin network may also be used to provide in-flight entertainment services ranging from television network feeds to movies and canned TV shows available from an on-board media server connected to the network. In the U.S., the Internet connectivity is available when the aircraft is above 10,000 feet and is turned off during take-offs and landings. Access to the Internet is browser-based and users are directed on their device to connect to a secure web site in order to pay for the service or enter their passcode if they are a subscriber or have prepaid for the service on their flight. What differs between the providers is the speed and bandwidth of the pipe they can provide to each aircraft. It's important to note that at this point in time using in-flight Wi-Fi is nothing like connecting to a terrestrial wireless access point. The available bandwidth is significantly narrower, and the latency of the network is such that usability is compromised for anything much beyond basic email and Web browsing. Gogo, the current market leader, provides connectivity to aircraft via a network of 250 dedicated cell towers that it has built nationwide. Fundamentally, it offers the same type of connectivity you would expect to see on a standard 3G capable phone. The connection is limited in speed to just over 3 Mbps and all users on the plane share this one connection. Common Problems This means that streaming video and interactive communications such as Skype are not supported. Web browsing and slow file transfers are all that can be realistically expected when using this service. As of late November 2012, Gogo is in the processes of upgrading its network and aircraft equipment to its ATG-4 (Air to Ground) protocol which operates at almost 10 Mbps. Changes in antennas and modems used on each aircraft are required, as well as the changes to its cell towers to support the EV-DO Rev B standard, an upgraded version of EV-DO commonly found in older cellular phone networks. Aircraft equipped with the second generation Gogo hardware also have a different pricing level, which starts out higher than those aircraft still using the older network. And like the older network, the aircraft are still bandwidth limited; the more people on the plane that are using the service, the slower the overall connection experience is for each user. Row44 has taken a different approach to providing the in-flight connectivity. The company's only U.S. carrier at this point is Southwest Airlines, which has begun rolling out the service on certain aircraft. This service uses satellite connectivity, so connections are not limited to line-of-sight connections to terrestrial cell towers. Row44 has partnered with HughesNet Satellite Internet to provide this connectivity to their aircraft with a maximum speed of 11 Mbps. HughesNet is very familiar to many users as it has been providing satellite Internet services for more than 20 years, so the technology is well-established and reliable. It does, however, suffer from the rules of physics. The latency added to every packet is a direct result of the fact that it travels from the aircraft to the satellite, to the ground station, and then out to the Internet. While Row44 doesn't limit the applications or uses of its service, the very nature of the service means that latency-sensitive applications, VOIP and multi-player games, for example, won't work well, if at all. And, as with the Gogo service, the shared bandwidth connection to the aircraft means that the activities of every user affect the overall user experience. The third service should be making its appearance on the airline JetBlue in Early 2013. This is a new satellite service provided by ViaSat. The primary difference between this service and its competitors is that ViaSat are claiming that it will be able to deliver a 12 Mbps or faster connection to each passenger, rather than a single bandwidth delivery claim on a per-aircraft basis. The service will still have the latency issues inherent in space-based communications, but individual connection speeds promise to be much greater. As the service is not yet available to the public, we have been unable to get any feedback on its actual usability. Pricing So, how much does it cost? For that, there is no easy answer. The tables below outline some basic price information, and there are pre-purchase options available from Gogo that are usable across any airline that provides service using Gogo's infrastructure, but the actual price that you will need to pay may not be something you can find out until you are actually aboard the aircraft. Yes, there is no pricing on these services that you can get in advance and on which you can rely, and the posted pricing changed more than once while we wrote this story. Airlines have been diversifying the basic Gogo offerings by breaking purchases up into smaller packets, allowing the customer to buy services on as little as a per-minute basis. This can make service for an entire flight extremely expensive if you need to do more than a quick email check. Meanwhile, a similar flight on the same airline may allow the use of the Gogo flat-rate plan purchased on a per-day basis. And there are many pricing options in between those two, based, in part, on how much use the airline is seeing of the in-flight connectivity on that particular service segment. Your best option, before planning on using Wi-Fi on your next flight, may be to check the web site of the airline you'll be using. Some of the airlines will allow you to drill down to the equipment that will be used on a specific flight and you will be able to determine, with a strong possibility of being correct, what service and the prices will be available on your flight. Other airlines provide more generic information, and you will not be able to confirm prices until you're at the gate or on the aircraft. If your business travel plans require you to have connectivity, regardless of cost, then you will need to either check that your specific flights will be Wi-Fi enabled or fly only on airlines that have equipped their entire fleet. Or, to guarantee yourself a price, buy through Gogo. It may not be the best price, but Gogo assures us that their pre-purchased passes will work. Unless your plane that day isn't Wi-Fi-equipped. One day this may all be simple, but we have a way to go until then. <hr /> All pricing is per-device, not per-user. All prices may vary depending on flight. <style type="text/css"> table.bordered { 	border-width: 1px; 	border-spacing: 2px; 	border-style: outset; 	border-color: gray; 	border-collapse: separate; 	background-color: white; } table.bordered th { 	border-width: 1px; 	padding: 1px; 	border-style: inset; 	border-color: gray; 	background-color: white; 	-moz-border-radius: ; } table.bordered td { 	border-width: 1px; 	padding: 1px; 	border-style: inset; 	border-color: gray; 	background-color: white; 	-moz-border-radius: ; } </style> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gogoair.com/gogo/listAllProducts.do"><div style="font-size:x-large;">Gogo Pricing</div></a><div style="font-style: italic; ">Applies to Airtran, Alaska Airlines, Frontier, United and US Air. United reports "Limited flights , primarily three cabin transcontinental service" US Airways reports "Limited availability"</div> <TABLE class="bordered" width=620> <TR><TD>Service</TD><TD>Price</TD></TR> <TR><TD>All-Day Pass on all airlines</TD><TD>$14.00</TD></TR> <TR><TD>Unlimited service (monthly subscription, on all Gogo airlines; auto-renews)</TD><TD>$49.95</TD></TD></TR> <TR><TD>"Traveler Pass" (monthly subscription, unlimited service on one specific airline; auto-renews)</TD><TD>$44.95</TD></TR></TABLE> <div style="font-size:x-large;">Airline-Specific Pricing</div> <TABLE class="bordered" width=620> <TR><TD rowspan=2> </TD><TD rowspan=2>Provider</TD><TD colspan=3><center>Pricing</center></TD></TR> <TR><TD>Per Day</TD><TD>Per Month</TD><TD>Per Year</TD></TR> <TR><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.aircanada.com/en/offers/air/wifi_sep09/wifi_sep09.html">Air Canada</a> (select Air Canada flights traveling between Toronto or Montreal and Los Angeles over the United States)</TD><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gogoair.com/gogo/listAllProducts.do">Gogo</a></TD><TD>$9.95</TD><TD> </TD><TD> </TD></TR> <TR><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/entertainmentOnDemand.jsp?anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=wifi">American</a> (American also offers segment based and mobile device pricing: Laptop 15 minute plan $1.95 - Entire segment $4.95-$17.95 based on market and mileage. Mobile phone, tablet: $1.96 for 15 minutes, $4.95-$9.95 per segment )</TD><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gogoair.com/gogo/listAllProducts.do">Gogo</a></TD><TD>$14.95</TD><TD>$34.95</TD><TD> </TD></TR> <TR><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/in-flight-services/products/technology/in-flight-wi-fi.html">Delta</a></TD><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gogoair.com/gogo/listAllProducts.do">Gogo</a></TD><TD>$12.00</TD><TD>$34.95</TD><TD>$399</TD></TR> <TR><TD>Jet Blue</TD><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.viasat.com/">ViaSat</a></TD><TD Colspan=3>Service beginning early 2013</TD></TR> <TR><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.southwest.com/wifi/">Southwest</a> (Limited flights - evaluation program)</TD><TD><a target="_blank" href="http://www.row44.com/">Row44</a></TD><TD>$5.00</TD><TD> </TD><TD> </TD></TR> <TR><TD colspan=5><a target="_blank" href="http://www.virginamerica.com/vx/wifi">Virgin America-specific pricing</a><ul style="list-style:none;"><li><ul>Laptops <li>4.95 under 1.5 hours</li> <li>9.95 1.5 - 3 hours</li> <li>12.95 - 24 hour pass</li> <li>14.95 - 3 hours or more</li> <li>44.95 - monthly auto renew</li></ul></li> <li><ul> Handheld Devices <li>4.95 under 1.5 hours</li> <li>7.95 over 1.5 hours</li></ul></li></ul> <ul>This pricing applies to planes equipped with first generation Gogo service. Second generation service starts at $17.95 per segment.</ul></TD></TR> </TABLE> 2012-08-29T17:10:00ZSamsung Updates Galaxy Note PhabletPundits were skeptical about the Galaxy Note phone/tablet hybrid, but Samsung has sold 10 million of them. The Galaxy Note II bumps up the hardware power and battery life, updates the OS to Android Jelly Bean, and increases screen size with only a modest increase in size and weight.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240006486?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIgnoring the wailing of pundits who complained that the Galaxy Note phablet with its 5.3" HD screen was too big, Samsung instead chose to listen to the purchasing power of its customers, who have snapped up over 10 million units of the giant phone-tablet hybrid in the year since its introduction. On Wednesday Samsung announced the Galaxy Note II, which increases the screen size to 5.5", adds a quad-core CPU, the Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean) operating system, a battery more than 20% larger, and an improved S Pen, all in a package that is only slightly larger than its predecessor and weighs just two additional grams. The announcement also claims 4G LTE which, if released in the U.S. in this configuration, would be Samsung's first quad-core phone here. (The U.S. version of the Galaxy S3 uses a dual-core Qualcomm SOC, not the quad-core Exynos SOC found in the international phone, in order to provide support for 4G LTE). <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-August/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II.jpg" /> Walking through the differences between the two devices we can start with same 2GB of RAM, and a 1.6-GHz quad-core CPU instead of the 1.4-GHz CPU in the original. As for the case, it's overall roughly the same size--151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4mm vs. 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65mm--but sports a metal back plate as opposed to the original plastic one. Placement of the ports on the phone has been changed slightly, and the battery has been upped to 3100 mAh from 2500 mAh. The .2-inch larger screen is still Super AMOLED but the resolution actually has been reduced slightly from 1280 x 800 to 1280 x 720 (which is the pixel resolution of 720p HD). A 64GB version has been added to the lineup along with the previous 16GB and 32GB models, but here in the U.S. we never saw the 32GB unit. The cameras are still 2-megapixel (MP) front and 8MP rear and the new device has the same photo software that was introduced with the S III. In appearance, the new Note looks a lot like a giant S III, just like the original Note looked like a giant Galaxy S II. It has the same wide home button--and likely will get the two soft buttons that grace the U.S. S III, too--and gently curving lines. But for dedicated Galaxy Note users, the most compelling feature might be the changes made to the S Pen. Not only is the pen larger and more tactile, making it easier to use, but the applications and integration with the pen have been significantly improved. For example, the act of removing the pen from its compartment will launch your favorite S Pen application. The apps also claim to be much more multitasking aware. The S Note app--now called Pop-up Note--will run as a pop-up resizable window over other applications. Samsung first introduced these Android improvements recently in <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/video/personal-tech/tablets/240005759">the Galaxy Note 10.1 full-size tablet</a>. The new Air View feature allows information to be previewed when the pen is hovered over an app such as email or the image gallery, making that functionality much more useful than just having a cursor appear on the screen as it does in the original Note. And for the forgetful among us, the phone will pop up an alert to tell you if you've walked away and left the stylus behind. This is the first phone announcement since the Apple court victory over Samsung, and it doesn't seem that the legal side is slowing down the technical innovations at Samsung. Samsung has stated that the international version of the phone will be available in October, so expect to see the U.S. version around the end of 2012. It's rumored the 3G model will start at around $800.2012-07-06T08:00:00ZCoIT Alive and Well in the Federal GovernmentEnd users in the federal government may be older than in the private sector, but they are just as anxious to use their beloved consumer technologies at work. They are, on the other hand, concerned that there will be insufficient training for their use. white house, Federal Digital Government Strategy, DGS, BYOD, consumerization of IThttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240003262?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThe drive for consumerization of IT is alive and well in the federal government. Despite the fact that the average worker in the federal government is 46 (13 years older than the average worker in the private sector), two-thirds of the government employees who were <a target="_blank" href="http://meritalk.com/mmi">surveyed recently by Meritalk</a> wished that the technology at work would keep up with the technology that they use in their private lives. This is important because of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wh.gov/digitalgov/pdf">the Federal Digital Government Strategy (DGS)</a>, which, among other things, has the goal to deliver government information and services to people via the web and mobile devices. And while age has been traditionally presented as a barrier to the adoption of new technologies such as mobile devices and social media, the reality is that over 90% of those surveyed bank or shop online, three-quarters have been using the web as a news source for more than three years, and almost two-thirds have been active in social media for at least three years. What was seen in the survey is that the process and tools that the government has been directed to adopt are already in wide use by Federal employees on the personal side of their lives, and the majority are looking forward to seeing them be adopted by the business side. And while the most off-putting factor in using new technologies on the personal side of their lives is the cost of the latest and greatest tools (75% of the respondents), from a business perspective the main concern that there would not be enough training on the devices and services which would allow the user to get the most from the technology. Training was an issue to 42% of those surveyed, which seems to indicate that almost as many as 58% of federal workers just want to get on with business. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed feel that it takes them longer to get used to new technologies at work than at home. This makes you consider that people personally invest in technologies that they find interesting and appealing and are self-motivated to get the most from their investments, and, of course, are interested in mastering their new tools. In the work environment, these same people may be less personally motivated, which fits in well with the survey results that show that the employee's number one concern is that there will not be enough training made available to master the new technologies. Implementing the DGS will require that those responsible for delivering the information and services fully embrace the methods by which the data and services will be accessed. By embracing the consumerization of IT and making those devices and services part of the workflow of the federal government some of the other goals, such as openness and transparency will be more easily achieved as federal government employees become one of the first people to make use of the data and services rather than just the faceless bureaucracy that obfuscates it.2012-06-29T09:24:00ZAdobe Backs Off Flash Support on AndroidThe variety of devices and OS configurations makes it difficult for Adobe to optimize Android properly in a plugin general to the operating system, so the company will be withdrawing support for the plugin. android, adobe, flash, jelly bean, Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One Xhttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240002968?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:200px; float:right; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012_June/FP-Android.jpg" alt="same as caption" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div>In a message posted on their blog site yesterday, <a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2012/06/flash-player-and-android-update.html">Adobe announced that Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean) would not be getting Flash support</a>. In fact, Flash development for the entire Android product line would be dropped. Adobe will also be using the lock down controls in the Google Play store to prevent the installation of the current version of Flash Player on any device that Adobe doesn't deem certified for Flash. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/certified_devices/">Click here for the list of certified devices.</a> Conspicuous by their absence are the latest top-of-the-line Android smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X, both of which shipped with Android 4.0 and currently can download the Flash Player from Google Play. As of August 15th, only certified devices will be able to download the last version of Flash for Android, and only if they are running a version of Android prior to 4.1. Adobe recommends that users who migrate to Android 4.1 uninstall Flash Player from their devices as there might be unpredictable results on the unsupported OS version. In essence, Adobe is claiming that Flash needs to tightly integrate with the hardware and operating system for optimal performance. The wide variety of Android devices prevents them from providing an acceptable version for all devices. A look at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplatform/whitepapers/roadmap.html">the Adobe Flash roadmap</a>, shows that Adobe's focus is going to be in developing Flash into a premium gaming platform that will be able to generate additional revenue through the activation of "Premium" features. Attempting to turn the vast majority of poorly-performing Android phones into suitable gaming devices with Flash would be doomed to failure. It appears that Adobe is getting out of this potentially damaging market for a premium Flash version focused on performance and game play.2012-05-04T14:00:00ZCan Samsung Make Enterprises Feel SAFE?PC management standards are mature, but mobile devices are a whole new ballgame. Companies are floundering, creating their own mobile rules on the fly. Samsung's SAFE (Samsung Approved For Enterprise) certification program hopes to help by providing a mobile standard.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232901430?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsMobile devices are in the enterprise to stay, but how to manage them is an unresolved problem. IT management is concerned about a lot more than network access, too. There is the data on the devices; their applications as possible vectors for attacks on corporate resources; and the inescapable fact that mobile devices containing confidential information are easy to lose. Add in operational issues--how do mobile devices integrate with corporate email systems, connect securely over company VPNs, and integrate into the existing business workflow--and it's easy to see why IT takes a jaundiced view. Samsung hopes to provide relief with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.samsung.com/us/article/samsung-approved-for-enterprise">SAFE (Samsung Approved For Enterprise)</a> smartphones and tablets. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-May/samsung-note-safe.png" /> <div style="margin:4px 0 0 0; padding:0; color:#990000; font-weight:bold; text-align:right; ">The Samsung Galaxy Note is a SAFE-certified device, which means it supports secure management.</div> Samsung is working with hardware and software vendors to provide support for both mobile device management and common corporate VPNs. Vendors can pick and choose and offer their own customized management capabilities; the options we list here come from Samsung and some of the partners who have released details about how they will be supporting SAFE. SAFE-certified devices can be encrypted (only with Android 3.x and 4.x) and have Samsung-specific extensions to the included email, contacts, and calendaring applications. Of course, integration with mobile device management systems is the primary attraction for control-obsessed IT departments. Samsung gives IT the ability to deploy management systems that fit a very familiar desktop management model. SAFE brings a laundry list of management capabilities to certified devices. Hardware control, for instance, includes the ability to enable or disable the following features: <ul><li>camera,</li> <li>Bluetooth,</li> <li>tethering,</li> <li>USB storage,</li> <li>access to internal and external SD cards; and</li> <li>Wi-Fi.</li></ul></li></ul> The level of control can go beyond simple on/off functionality. For example, devices can be configured to force a Wi-Fi connection whenever an approved connection is available, and prevent users from modifying the centrally applied Wi-Fi settings. IT also can silently update, install or uninstall applications. It also can: <ul><li>control users' access to application stores,</li> <li>limit the use of--and not just turn off--specific apps, such as Web browsers,</li> <li>disable cut and paste,</li> <li>track the versions of installed apps,</li> <li>blacklist applications, and</li> <li>automatically remove non-approved applications.</li></ul></li></ul> The list goes on. Controls can allow only specified versions of applications to be installed, prevent applications from updating, and even prevent carrier-pushed over-the-air updates of the phone operating system. In controlling email apps, the system can provide: <ul><li>remote Exchange ActiveSync Configuration,</li> <li>remote configuration of POP3/IMAP accounts,</li> <li>enforced signatures, and</li> <li>set sync intervals.</li></ul></li></ul> Primarily, the goal here seems to be to create a fully mobile Exchange client that has the functionality that the user would expect with their desktop Outlook interface. Samsung outlines a number of user capabilities with the SAFE-enhanced Exchange connectivity. Users can: <ul><li>access a global address list,</li> <li>create and respond to meeting requests,</li> <li>use the Out-of-Office Assistant, assign e-mail priority status, and use follow-up flags,</li> <li>sort emails by conversation view and other filters,</li> <li>view, edit and create Microsoft-compatible documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and</li> <li>view reply status.</li></ul> And, of course, there are the basics of device security. These features should warm the hearts of IT: <ul><li>device encryption,</li> <li>lock and wipe capabilities,</li> <li>complex passwords,</li> <li>password aging, and</li> <li>login attempt management.</li></ul></li></ul> Connectivity is also addressed, adding explicit VPN options to fit corporate models, including IPSec, PPTp, L2TP, and Certificate Authority support.</li></ul> This is only a partial list of the capabilities that are being provided with SAFE-certified hardware by Samsung's partners. Currently that partner list includes Cisco, Juniper Networks, MobleIron, Sybase Afaria, F5, SOTI MobiControl, and others not included in the initial announcement. Currently the only SAFE-certified devices from Samsung are the Galaxy Note smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet. Only the Tab has a version of Android--Android 3.2 (Honeycomb)--that allows it to support SAFE on-device encryption.2012-05-04T10:53:00ZSamsung Launches Galaxy S III PhoneWith the Galaxy S III smart phone Samsung is seeking to leapfrog the iPhone 4S and possibly the iPhone 5.http://www.informationweek.com/news/232901459?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsSo what do you do when you're the biggest maker of smartphone in the world who isn't Apple and it's time to refresh your flagship device (that has sold over 10 million units)? If you're Samsung, you introduce a device that is bigger, faster, smarter, and all around more capable than the previous generation. No half-measures here; <a target="_blank" href="http://www.samsung.com/uk/gs3/">the Samsung Galaxy S III</a> looks to make a major jump on its rivals (though the HTC One X is a worthy competitor) and give Apple a serious target for its yet unannounced next generation iPhone. The introduction was made Thursday evening in London. The Galaxy S III will be available in Europe in May. Samsung did not give a date for US availability, but various reports indicate some time in the summer. <div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:204px; float:right; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-May/samsung-galaxy-sIII-s3-3-184.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy SIII" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div>The S III has a 4.8" 1280x720 SuperAMOLED display, which is both larger and higher resolution than the previous S II displays (available in the US in sizes from 4.3" to 4.5" depending upon which carrier version you get). The iPhone 4S display, by comparison, is 3.5" and 640×960 resolution. Samsung claims that due to a smaller bezel the phone is only 22% larger than the S II, but that would apply to the international version, not the models found in the US. It's also going to be available in 16/32/64 GB versions and supports microSD expansion up to an additional 64 GB. The phone measures 136.6mm (5.38 inches) x 70.6mm (2.78 inches) x 8.6mm (0.34 inches) and weighs 133g (4.7 oz). The iPhone, by comparison, is 115.2 mm (4.54 inches) x 58.66 mm (2.309 inches) x 9.3 mm (0.37 inches) and weighs 140g (4.9 oz). See detailed specifications in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.samsung.com/uk/news/localnews/2012/samsung-introduces-the-galaxy-s-iii">the Samsung press release</a>. The S III CPU is a quad-core 1.4 GHz Exynos, a major step up from the dual core Exynos CPU found in the S II which was available in clock speeds from 1.2 GHz to 1.5 GHz depending on carrier model. The performance of previous generation Exynos processors has been smoking fast and there is no reason to believe that the quad-core will be any less impressive. There are unconfirmed reports that <a target="_blank" href="http://pocketnow.com/android/samsung-galaxy-s3s-dual-core-cpu-for-verizon-confirmed">a dual core version will also be available</a>. Among Samsung's advances in the S III is a "natural interaction" approach to the phone interface. It makes use of the cameras and the additional sensors available in the phone to enable features like Smart Stay, where the front camera tracks the movement of the user's eyes to maintain optimum screen display brightness when a user is web browsing or eReading. They've even enhanced the use of the now standard proximity sensor in the phone. If you're impressed by your phone knowing that you have picked it up and responding appropriately (turning off the screen when it nears your face, or answering automatically when lifted) the new Direct Call feature will probably be something you use. When that annoying text thread demands a phone call, just bring the phone to your ear and it will automatically dial the person you are texting with. And don't forget voice control. The not too imaginatively named S Voice will be even more of a competitor for Siri than the simplistic voice control features found in current Samsung phones, at least when you look at the demonstration that Samsung gave. S Voice is supporting 8 languages out of the box, so that's a plus. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-May/samsung-galaxy-sIII-s3-2-452.jpg" /><div style="margin:4px 0 0 0; padding:0; color:#990000; font-weight:bold; text-align:right; ">The Galaxy S III picks the best image out of a group that you shoot.</div> If there is one thing that seems a bit disappointing is that the S II seems to have the same 8 MPix camera found in the current S II and Galaxy Note. It's an excellent camera, but one can always hope for something better in the next generation device. Given the changes that AT&T (and to a lesser extent T-Mobile) has made to all of the previous Galaxy iterations it will be really hard to put the phone into context until we have an actual US version in our hands. I will, however, hope for the best.2012-05-01T12:00:00ZSamsung Galaxy Note: A Phone And Tablet In OneThe Galaxy Note from Samsung, available in the U.S. only from AT&T, breaks new ground. It's not just a large phone with a big, beautiful screen like the Droid Razr. It adds a stylus that makes annotation and new application types possible.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232901181?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsA GSM world phone with a dual-core CPU, LTE connectivity, and HD video support? Sounds like a winner. But when you add a 5.3-inch screen it suddenly becomes a question mark in the eyes of many cell phone users. That pretty much defines the first impression people seem to have of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Samsung+Galaxy+Note+(TM)+-+Carbon+Blue&q_sku=sku5610251">Samsung Galaxy Note</a>, available in the U.S. from AT&T as the SGH-I717. Unveiled at last year's CeBit show in Germany and released in the U.S. in February, the phone has garnered generally good early reviews--except for its size. The phone falls between the Samsung Galaxy S II 4.3-inch phone and the 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet. But rather than feeling like a small tablet, the Note feels only slightly bigger than the Galaxy S II, which is the number-one selling Android smartphone (see below). And it would seem that customers aren't being put off by the big screen--Samsung said over 6 million units had been sold worldwide in 2012 Q1. <a target="_blank" href="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/reviews/2012-April/Samsung-Galaxy-Note/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-1.jpg"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/reviews/2012-April/Samsung-Galaxy-Note/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-1-620.jpg" /></a> The phone fits easily in a shirt pocket and can be used with one hand. Granted, I can palm a basketball, but even someone with average hands should find it fairly comfortable with some practice. And that larger size does get you a 5.3" 800 x 1280 Super AMOLED HD display, which--beside being able to display 720P HD without resizing--offers a very bright and detailed screen for other apps, including those that can make use of stylus input. If you're a current Samsung Android phone user, especially if you are coming from the Galaxy S or S II, you'll feel right at home with most of the software that comes with this phone. It's the same current-generation of phone apps that have received excellent reviews. What the Note brings new to the table is the S Pen stylus. <div style="margin:0; padding: 0 10px 10px 0; width:260px; float:right; text-align:center;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/reviews/2012-April/Samsung-Galaxy-Note/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-stylus-drawing.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy Noe with stylus" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></div>Along with the unique ability to annotate just about anything that the phone can produce, the S Pen software makes taking notes very simple. The S Memo application is a full-featured note taker, and since the release of the Pen SDK last November, a number of S Pen-enabled apps are now available in the Market that let you do everything from artistically draw to play games. The stylus does what you would expect on a tablet that accepts pen input: you can take notes, convert your handwriting to text, capture screens and annotate them, open Office and PDF files (in the included Polaris Office application), and annotate using the pen. It can be used to simply navigate through applications; it's like a fingertip only with significantly more precision, which can be incredibly useful when doing many tasks, including browsing through link-laden websites. The S Pen stores easily in the base of the phone, though if you choose a bulky case, it can be difficult to extract. <iframe width="620" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aN9LCARJyfw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The phone also features a new registration and configuration process. The first thing experienced Android user will notice is that the phone doesn't automatically boot into the Android sign-in screen, which would normally configure the Google Apps on the phone, register the device with Google, and make the Android market (now known as Google Play) available. Instead, the user is made aware of the option to register the phone via a message on the drop-down notification screen. Clicking this message launches the AT&T Ready2Go app, which walks you through using your desktop computer to configure your new phone. From your desktop the nine-step process lets you configure your Gmail account, set up social networking, add additional contacts, select your wallpaper, install a few free apps that AT&T provides, select browser bookmarks from a list of sites, configure your home screen widgets , set your ring tone, and configure access to your Wi-Fi network. Or you can just launch any of the Google connected apps on the phone, such as the Market, and you will be walked through the standard Google registration process with which you may already be familiar. You can't have a review without getting into the device hardware and technologies, so let's take a look at the specs:<ul><li>Size: 5.78" x 3.27" x 0.38"</li> <li>Weight: 6.28 oz.</li> <li>Network and speed: GSM Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; UMTS; Tri-band: 850/1900/2100MHz; LTE; Dual Band: Band 4 & Band 17, plus 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA</li> <li>OS: Android 2.3.6 (Samsung TouchWiz 4.0 UI); Android 4.0 (ICS) expected shortly</li> <li>CPU :Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 Scorpion dual-core 1.5 GHz</li> <li>GPU: Adreno 220</li> <li>RAM: 1 GB</li> <li>Display: 1280 x 800, 5.3" (285 ppi) WXGA HD Super AMOLED PenTile</li> <li>Camera: 8MP rear with flash, 2 MPfront</li> <li>Video recording: up to full 1080P HD @ 30 fps</li> <li>Web browser: Android with GPU-accelerated 1080P flash playback capability</li> <li>Input: Proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer, barometer, aGPS, GLONASS</li> <li>Storage: 16GB internal, up to 32GB microSD can be added</li></ul> The Philadelphia area, where I am, does not yet have AT&T LTE deployed. But the Note was able to reach download speeds up to 11 Mbps with the fallback HSDPA 21+, which compares favorably to the Verizon LTE performance of up to 12 Mbps I get at my office. For work, I had no trouble connecting the Note to my Exchange Server account, and it is one of the first two Samsung phones (the other is the Galaxy Nexus) to be Samsung Approved for Enterprise (SAFE) certified. SAFE means the phone can by managed by mobile device management consoles that support the SAFE API set provided by Samsung, and that the phone comes with the ability to use a VPN to access a corporate network. The size of the screen makes reading existing documents (and even annotating them), much easier than on any other traditional cell phone, and content creation tasks are also made simpler. With a 5.3" display, the Note is also a great replacement for 7-inch tablet e-readers; text in all of the common eReader applications I used was easy to read. The difference between the Note and 7" devices was barely noticeable. One reason for this is that almost all 7-inch e-readers have a lower resolution than the Note--generally 1024 x 600. For the serious geek who is concerned about the PenTile display, the HD Super AMOLED display shows none of the artifacts that lower-resolution displays used to suffer from to the point of pixel peeping. The Samsung Galaxy Note SGH-I717 is $299 with a two-year contract from AT&T. Amazon sells it for $229, and price matching with Amazon is at the discretion of your local AT&T store. Name: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Samsung+Galaxy+Note+(TM)+-+Carbon+Blue&q_sku=sku5610251">Samsung Galaxy Note (AT&T)</a><blockquote>The Galaxy Note from Samsung, available in the U.S. only from AT&T, breaks new ground in the mobile space. It's not just a large phone with a big, beautiful screen like the Droid Razr. It adds a stylus that makes annotation and many new application types possible.</blockquote> Price: $299 with two-year AT&T contract. $229 at Amazon.com. Pro:<ul><li>Big, beautiful screen.</li><li>Stylus allows fine control over apps that otherwise might be impractical on a tablet or phone.</li><li>4G support (AT&T LTE).</li><li>Samsung SAFE certified.</li></ul> Con:<ul><li>Larger than most phones.</li>2012-02-24T11:30:00ZAir Force Says 'Nyet' to iPad2The U.S. Air Force is pulling back an order of thousands of iPads. Is it because the plan includes software written by a Russian?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232601389?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.afsoc.af.mil/">Air Force Special Operations Command</a> (AFSOC), operator of surveillance aircraft and specialized gunships, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20120221_7036.php">has backed off from their earlier decision to buy the iPad 2 for the electronic flight bag for their aircrews</a>. This decision was reached after questions arose about the origins of the GoodReader iPad software, which was a key component of the purchase decision. GoodReader, a top-selling, five-star-rated iPad/iPhone application in the iTunes App store, is a PDF reader that also has markup capabilities with freehand drawing, line drawings, sticky notes, text boxes, and other features that would allow better utilization of static maps and flight planning documents. It also includes the ability to encrypt data on the iPad, making it a useful addition to a pilot's flight bag. [Coincidentally, we have a new review of GoodReader for the iPad. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/reviews/personal-tech/mobile-apps/232601384">Click here to read it</a>.] While no official reason for the cancellation of the project has been given, sources have indicated that the problem stems from the fact that the GoodReader software is provided from a developer in Russia. The very minimalist <a target="_blank" href="http://www.goodiware.com">website of the vendor, Good.iWare</a>, doesn't include contact information for the company and includes only a few brief pages describing the products available and a blind contact form for users with support questions. According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20120221_7036.php">a report on the Nextgov website</a>, the director of the Army's smartphone connectivity project, Michael McCarthy, was quoted as saying that he would not use software developed in Russia due to the potential risk to which it could expose end users. The presumption is that there is the potential for intentional security issues introduced into a software product from a country that has historically been inimical to the goals of the United States. The original AFSOC proposal for the acquisition of tablet devices for the pilot's flight bag specified the GoodReader application as a requirement for the purchase, due to the capabilities of the software and how those capabilities meshed with the needs of the pilot. There is no other single application with the same feature set as GoodReader, though its capabilities could conceivably be matched using a less convenient combination of other products. This issue goes beyond the normal concerns of using commercial devices in a business environment. The military needs to vet software used in mission-critical roles on an almost line-by-line basis to assure that there are no intentional pieces of malicious code buried in applications that could compromise the security and safety of military personnel or their missions. Though the AFSOC has refused to comment on this issue, Yuri Selukoff, the developer of Goodreader, told Nextgov, "I am not affiliated with any government institution, neither Russian, nor any other, [and] GoodReader doesn't have any malicious code built into it. Having said that, I am open to any security/penetration tests that anyone would be willing to perform on the app." This issue also points to the trust that has been applied to applications purchased form the Apple iTunes App store. In years of working with ISVs, you learn that appearance is a big part of the sales process. While a great website is not a requirement for successful applications, a website with too little information has always been a bit of a red flag. Good.iWare, like many businesses that sell through the App store, has an almost non-existent web footprint outside of product reviews and the iTunes store. Of course, the security issue could be a red herring. The real reason for the cancellation could be that someone at the AFSOC noticed that the iPad 3 is due out in just a few weeks, and is reconsidering a large investment in technology that will soon be obsolete. 2012-02-03T18:27:00ZGoogle's Bouncer Ejects Malware From Android MarketMeet Bouncer, a technology Google has been using to continuously scan and test apps in the Android Market for malicious behavior.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232600262?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Google, which has always maintained that the Android Market, although not immune to malware, was not heavily affected by it, revealed Thursday it has been using a <a target="_blank" href="http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2012/02/android-and-security.html">technology called Bouncer</a> to monitor apps for malware. Although only saying that Bouncer has been in use "for a while now," Google said it saw a 40% reduction in the number of potentially malicious apps downloaded from the market between the first and second halves of 2011. Bouncer removes apps that it identifies as containing malware, spyware, or trojans. Google is quick to point out that the significant reduction in potentially dangerous applications occurred in the same time frame that anti-virus vendors made a lot of noise, well covered in the media, about the huge growth in malware-infected applications coming straight from the Android Market to users' devices. It's no secret that Google does not think well of anti-virus vendors, which it has called "charlatans" for selling anti-virus software. Google has said anti-virus software is a worse blight than the malware itself. Bouncer looks at applications in the Market and in developer accounts, searching for known code or behaviors that seem suspicious, and comparing new apps against previously uploaded versions. Additionally, apps are run on what is likely--Google doesn't say--an Android simulator in the Google Cloud to look for behaviors that are not obvious from the code analysis. Red-flag behaviors result in the app being pulled from the Market, and can also result in the developer's account being closed for repeated malicious behavior. Google also has the capability to remove an app from a user's device via its Remote Application Removal feature. This feature has been rarely used to this point, with Google only commenting on its use in removing a test app that a security researcher uploaded to the market. Google cautions users to look at the permissions that an app requests, and if the requests seem suspicious, to stop the installation. Of course, this means users have to understand the permissions being granted, and for most non-technical users, this is an onerous requirement. So far, nothing has been released via the Market that can't be removed by simply uninstalling the offending app. Should that change, then Google's offhand approach to protecting users might see a change. 2012-01-30T18:30:00ZInvasion Of The Android Malware! Or Not.Symantec identifies more than a dozen apps in the Android Market that are infected with malware--sort of.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232500746?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Symantec announced Friday that it had found the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2012-012709-4046-99">Android.Counterclank malware</a> present in more than a dozen applications available in the official Google Android Market. Counterclank is identified as the malware with the highest distribution discovered so far this year--a dubious distinction, given the year is less than a month old. The chart Symantec provided indicated the possibility of one million to five million installations of malware-infected apps. This has provided plenty of grist for the media mill, as headlines shouting "Millions of Android users infected with malware!" started bouncing around over the weekend. <a target="_blank" href="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/Jan-2012/sym-mal.jpg"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/Jan-2012/sym-mal450.jpg" /></a> Of the 13 identified Android apps, eight have been removed from the Market, which included all of the apps from the publisher iApps7, Inc: <ul>iApps7 Inc:<ul><li>Counter Elite Force</li><li>Counter Strike Ground Force</li><li>Counter Strike Hit Enemy</li><li>Heart Live Wallpaper</li><li>Hit Counter Terrorist</li><li>Stripper Touch Girl</li></ul></li> redmicapps<ul><li>Sexy Girls Photo Game</li><li>Sexy Women Puzzle</li></ul></li></ul> Five apps remain in the Market: <ul><li>Redmicapps<ul><li>Sexy Girls Puzzle</li><li>Pretty Women Lingerie Puzzle</li></ul></li><li>Ogre Games<ul><li>Balloon Game</li><li>Deal & Be Millionaire</li><li>Wild Man </li></ul></li></ul> Now here's where it gets interesting. Ogre Games, whose Deal & Be Millionaire has had between 1 million and 5 million downloads (sound familiar?) according to the Android market, has the following disclaimer <a target="_blank" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.christmasgame.deal&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5jaHJpc3RtYXNnYW1lLmRlYWwiXQ">posted on its game's Android market page</a>: <blockquote>WE ARE NOT MALWARE!! Symantec, the company that wrongly labelled [sic] this app as malware the other day, have contacted us and are in the process of un-doing the mistake they did and whitelabling our product.</blockquote> A call to Symantec's PR agency, which had sent out the Friday release identifying this malware discovery in the Market, resulted in my receiving the following response: <blockquote>We are continuing our analysis of this issue and expect additional information shortly. For years security companies did not detect adware/greyware in the PC space and it became a nuisance. Eventually security companies did address this space to the benefit of computer users. We always attempt to make decisions in the best interest of our customers.</blockquote> [Update: ]Later on, Symantec issued <a target="_blank" href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/update-androidcounterclank">a statement elaborating further on the matter</a>. Now, given that the vast majority of free applications in Android and iOS are ad supported, where does one draw the line between adware and malware? Especially since, unlike your Windows PC, you can make the ads go away by just deleting the offending app. There aren't any insidious applications that bury themselves in your Android firmware--at least, not yet. Late last year, Chris DiBona, open source programs manager at Google, <a target="_blank" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/114765095157367281222/posts/ZqPvFwdDLPv">posted on his Google + account</a>: "Yes, virus companies are playing on your fears to try to sell you bs protection software for Android, RIM and IOS. They are charlatans and scammers. IF you work for a company selling virus protection for android, rim or IOS you should be ashamed of yourself." The Symantec security report on the Android.Counterclank malware identified in the original announcement, which was updated today, classifies the malware at "Risk Level 1: Very Low", and only states that it has approximately one thousand reports of it in the wild. If you are concerned because you had downloaded any of the apps identified here, there are <a target="_blank" href="http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2012-012709-4046-99&tabid=3">instructions on the Symantec site</a> on how to remove the malware using the 90-day free trial of its Android anti-virus product. Also, note that the malware can simply be removed by going into Settings>Applications>Manage on your Android device, and clicking on Uninstall for the potentially infected products that you wish to remove.2012-01-27T17:11:00ZRooting The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7Updating the T-Mobile Galaxy Tab 7 isn't as complicated as you might think. BYTE's David Chernicoff shows us how.http://www.informationweek.com/news/232500651?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Have you and your Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 been orphaned by T-Mobile? You can get your tablet back in the game with some custom hacking. Toward the end of 2010 I decided that a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 would make an excellent holiday gift for my wife. Her job as the marketing director for an Internet-based industrial equipment company meant that she spent a fair amount of time each month traveling to customer sites and trade shows, and tools to make her life easier were always welcome. In brief, the tablet would let her get her email, Web surf, and get some work done without having to carry around a full-size notebook. In addition, the 7-inch screen made it much more purse friendly than a 10-inch tablet. At the time I bought the tablet, the best deal available was from T-Mobile, a decision that we eventually came to regret, for two reasons. First, T-Mobile coverage was nowhere nearly as good as advertised, and even when we checked in advance that a location she would be in would have service, more often than not there was little to no 3G connectivity available outside of major metropolitan areas. Second, T-Mobile never bothered to provide any updates to the Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system on the Tab, despite the fact that Samsung made the much-improved Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) implementation available for the device. After more than a year of use, the Tab began to experience the Android equivalent of Windows rot: Too many apps installed, lots of downloads, pictures, videos, etc., clogging up the works and needing to be managed. I decided the simplest fix would be a factory reset and wipe back to the device's original state. But realistically, I would need a good backup with a selective restore to make this practical. And to install and use a good backup application--<a target="_blank" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup">Titanium Backup Pro</a> is my favorite--it was very likely I would need to first root the Tab. Rooting, if you're not familiar with the term, is the process of elevating privileges on your Android device in order to gain root access. This lets you perform operations that the device is by default set up to forbid. Fortunately, the Tab 7 has been on the market so long that rooting it has become old hat. The now-ubiquitous SuperOneClick Android rooting tool makes it easy. Here's a step by step: <ol><li><a target="_blank" href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682">Download</a> SuperOneClick. <li>Make sure that you have the drivers for the Tab installed on your computer. If you don't, they can be downloaded from the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/SGH-T849ZKATMB">Samsung support site</a>. <li>Disconnect your Tab from your PC, and go to Settings-->Applications-->Development and enable USB debugging. <li>Connect the Tab to your PC. <li>Launch SuperOneClick. <li>When SuperOneClick sees your Tab, just click the Root button. <li>Let SuperOneClick do its thing. It will root the tablet and then install Superuser and Busybox, which are the support tools needed by the device to perpetuate its untethered root. <li>When SuperOneClick completes, reboot your Tab.</li></ol> That's all there is to it. You are now the owner of a rooted Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 and can make use of applications that require root access such as Titanium Backup Pro. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/howto/2012-Jan/T4.jpg"> Titantium Backup Pro's backup and restore status screen. With the Tab rooted, I went to the Android Market and installed Titanium Backup Pro. I then launched the app and had it do a batch backup of all the apps and data on the Tab. After the backup completed, I then did the first tricky part. Using my favorite file manager (ES File Manager, free in the Market), I copied the folder that Titanium Backup Pro created to the external SD card in the Tab. This last step is important, because a factory reset would wipe all of the data from the internal storage. Now I was ready to do a complete wipe of the Tab back to factory defaults. It's easy to do: You simply open Settings-->Privacy and choose Factory Data Reset. This does what is called a hard reset on the device. But in my research I had found that the Android community had already done the work necessary to bring Android 2.3.6 to the T-Mobile version of the Galaxy Tab, both in the form of the stock Samsung ROM, and custom ROMs based on the 2.3.6 Samsung release. In fact, the development for Android 2.3.6 was stable and pretty solid, with current additions to the various custom ROMs and kernels being primarily maintenance tweaks, as the bulk of the current development effort is looking at putting Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on the original Galaxy Tab 7. Much of discussion on the <a target="_blank" href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=752">Galaxy Tab forum</a> on the XDA Developers Forum led me to settle on the custom kernel and ROM developed by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamovercome.net">Team Overcome</a>. They developed a custom kernel and a custom implementation of the Samsung Gingerbread codebase that seemed stable and feature rich. Their website contains <a target="_blank" href="http://www.teamovercome.net/p1000/?page_id=17">a complete guide</a> to installing their kernel and custom ROM on the Galaxy Tab and, from my perspective, the fact that they make special note of the T-Mobile version gave me an added feeling of security. Development history and user discussions of potential issues with this ROM can be found <a target="_blank" href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1317384">here</a>. Team Overcome's directions include a how-to on first upgrading your Froyo Tab to the current Gingerbread implementation. If you like, you could actually stop at that point and treat the T-Mobile Tab as if it had gotten an official Samsung update. For those like me who prefer to go a bit further, the instructions are there to go from the stock Android 2.3.6 ROM to Team Overcome's custom implementation. All of the files and downloads necessary to complete the update to Android 2.3.6 or Team Overcome's custom ROM are linked in the directions. The entire process should take less than an hour, including backup, for a technically comfortable user. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/howto/2012-Jan/T2.jpg"> Samsung Galaxy Tab 7's About page, post kernel and ROM upgrade. As you can see in the image above, my Tab is now running both Team Overcome's custom kernel and ROM with version 2.3.6 on Android. It's up-to-date with the latest release of Gingerbread, now behaves like our other Gingerbread-based Android phones and tablets, and is running faster than it did with the original Samsung configuration. It was about an hour's worth of work to install Titanium Backup Pro from the Android Market, then reinstall all of the backed-up apps I wanted on the tablet. I did not reinstall applications that my wife had decided she was no longer using, which meant that only 50 or so of the 100 apps previously on the tablet needed to be restored. Since the update, she has been using the newly resurrected Tab with no problems whatsoever. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/howto/2012-Jan/T1.jpg"> The upgraded Galaxy Tab 7's main Home Screen 2012-01-25T12:40:00ZGoogle's New Privacy Policy Strips Away Users' AnonymityGoogle will consolidate its privacy policies next month to "improve" your experience. BYTE's David Chernicoff tells you what the changes really mean for your privacy.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/232500429?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Framed in glowing terms on its <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-terms.html">official blog site</a>, Google’s new simplified privacy policy might, on the surface, seem like a simpler alternative than trying to explain 70 different privacy policy documents to end users, but the truth is, its decision to link together information from the 60 or so different Google offered services is anything but a privacy improvement. Normally I would agree that simplicity is a good thing, but I think that Google might have gone way overboard with this decision. Basically it boils down to this: If you are logged in to Google it might choose to combine information you have already provided in one of their services with the capabilities of another service. This isn't just agreeing to a single sign-in across all of the services offered by Google; it's allowing Google to use information that you have provided to any of their services to "improve" your user experience. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Jan/GooglePrivacy.PNG">Google's new privacy policy: protection or a trap? It's also likely to mean that the same policy that applies to one service, such as Google+, will be applied across all of the Google services. So if you've allowed yourself to use Google+, with its real-name policy, you might suddenly find that your YouTube videos of yourself doing stupid frat boy tricks, posted under the pseudonym you used on YouTube, might be linked with your business posts on Google+. In an era in which employers already scrutinize employees' publicly posted information on sites such as Facebook, it seems like not having an in-depth understanding of exactly what you are agreeing to with Google's privacy policy could have some very unexpected consequences. Although some hypothetical "average" user might already be using a single online identity for everything, it is far more common for people to take pains to separate, at the very least, their personal and business lives. And don't think that you can choose to opt out of this new policy; that's not an option. When it goes into effect on March 1, you won't be given a choice. If you're thinking, "Well, all I have is a personal Gmail account and I don't really see a problem here," I hope you're not an Android smartphone user, because you had to provide the login information when you set up your phone. You know the one that you carry with you all the time, that is always logged in to Gmail, and that knows where you are because of that built-in GPS. Big brother is not only tracking you, but it's watching your online footprint, correlating things you do or talk about in email, analyzing your Web searches, keeping track of navigation that you have done, and cross checking the various components of your life that you have given Google access to, all in the name of "improving your user experience." If you're a Gmail user you might already have noticed that you get ads at the top of the page that are targeted to you based on your searches and email content. The more information Google is able to obtain about you, the more carefully it can target its ads, increasing the click-through rate and charging more for its advertising based on the success of those targeted ads. That's one of the ways that Google funds all of the "free" services that are so popular with users. But what we are talking about now goes well beyond that simple targeted ad. Let's consider the simple event of going away for the weekend. You mark in your Google calendar that you're planning on attending an event in a different city from home. Google starts sending you hotel, restaurant, and activity suggestions for that city. Perhaps it also reminds you that you have a half-dozen friends and family members in that city that you could visit. It seems rather innocuous, but this also means that your Google+ friends in that city might also be told that you are in town, because you didn't tell Google to keep that piece of information private. In current Google fashion you will likely have to navigate a maze of screens and menus to determine what information is made available and what isn't, should you choose to turn features on or off. Perhaps those friends are also relatives who are now annoyed that you didn't call to say you were visiting. No one really wants that guilt call from their mother because she found out via Google that you were in town and didn't visit. Okay, maybe that doesn't sound so bad. But what happens when it isn't your mother but your employer who, thanks to the fact that the Android phone in your pocket that you used to find your way to a job interview, is one of your Google+ associates who now knows that you just navigated to the location of your company's biggest competitor? Not so innocuous anymore, is it?