Nokia to unveil three smartphones next week.

Nokia the world's biggest phone manufacturer by volume, is getting ready to unveil three smartphone handsets at its annual trade show in London next week, according to leaked details. The Finnish group has seen worldwide smartphone sales collapse this year after ceding ground in the race to Apple and the Android community, and is pinning its hopes for a comeback on its decision announced in February to adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Its first Windows handsets, believed to be called the Nokia 800, the Ace and the Sabre, will go on show next Wednesday and are likely to be available in the shops in mid-November, in time for the Christmas market. The Nokia 800, dubbed the SeaRay, will come in a pink, light blue or black casing according to press shots leaked this week. It will have a curved glass 3.7in screen, and an eight-megapixel camera. Its body is based on the Nokia N9 smartphone, which was released in a limited number of countries earlier this year, but not in the UK or United States. The Sabre looks more like the iPhone, with a 3.5in screen surrounded by a white frame and a five-megapixel camera. According to Pocketnow.com, which published the first photos of the handset, it will retail at between £260 and £300 without a SIM card and unlocked. The third handset, the Ace, appears to be designed for business users. It is the only new device with a keyboard, which is hidden behind a slide screen, and the casing is black with silver detailing. According to TechWith, it has an eight-megapixel camera. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said on Thursday as the company announced its quarterly results that he was encouraged by its progress with Windows Phone and confirmed that "we look forward to bringing the experience to consumers in select countries later this quarter". A wider release is planned for 2012. The current phones will use Mango, the codename for Windows Phone version 7.5, which Nokia was not able to influence. The manufacturer will have a say in the design of the next iteration, codenamed Apollo, which is expected to be released in 2012. Competition for the attention of Christmas shoppers will be fierce. This week Motorola unveiled its latest Android operated handset, the Droid Razr, and Samsung showed off its Galaxy Nexus, which also runs on Android. They both compete with Apple's iPhone 4S, which has been on sale since Friday last week and shifted 4m units in its first three days.

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Time to Replace Traditional Wallet with Google Wallet.

What do you think about a world where we no longer keep traditional fatty wallets to store money and credit cards to pay the bills? If the Google wallet will be a success, it can change one human nature to keep wallets (of course money) with us. We can directly pay the bill from our mobile devices without even swiping card using Google wallet. Google Wallet supports Android phones with NFC (near-field communications) technology. However, right now only Nexus S is supporting NFC technology and MasterCard is the only partner. So currently only Nexus S users with Citibank MasterCards can use Google Wallet.

To use Google wallet service, your smartphone should have NFC technology. Here a chip installed in your smartphone makes secure communication between smartphone and PayPass terminals. NFC will be common in near future. It is expected that Apple will add NFC technology in the upcoming version of iPhone. Mobile carriers also play an important role in this program. Right now Sprint is the only mobile carrier who participate the program as Sprint is the carrier of Nexus S. Other mobile carriers too will join this program as soon as other Android smartphones will add NFC technology.

Is the iPhone 4S the best phone ever?

Looking at the release and all the news that surrounded the launch of iPhone 4S deals may make it seem like it is an underwhelming device and one that doesn’t deserve as much attention as previous iPhones. However, on closer inspection this should not be the case and we should realise it is an astounding feat of technological engineering and a testament to Apple’s innovation.


As Mark Hirst, Managing Director of Best Mobile Contracts stated ‘The introduction of dual core processing and improved graphics helps Apple stay on top of its game. New developments such as iCloud, Siri and its new iOS 5 ensure that the iPhone 4S remains one of the leading handsets in the smartphone arena.’



These three factors turn the tables in Apple’s favour. The device may not have the hardware many others do; however, those long enough in any tech industry will know that power alone does not make a popular and fantastic device. The innovations in the operating system, such as iCloud and Siri voice control are what make this a fantastic phone.



iCloud allows people to synch their Apple device with a number of other Apple related software and allows them such abilities as to download iOS updates over the air. Even more wonderfully it allows people access to their iTunes music collection, meaning they can listen to their library on the move once they are in reach of a connection. Apple has as always done this in a stylish and fantastic manner, offering user friendliness with ease of integration and so makes the iPhone a device to be reckoned with in this area.



The Siri voice control abilities are also fantastic and lead the phone into an area that has not been utilised to its full extent by any other manufacturer. This voice control allows a smorgasbord of options and means that we can do such things as add notes, send emails and convert currency all just with the use of voice.



iOS 5 also comes with iMessage to send free instant messages between iPhones, Android like notifications from the top of the screen and also the ability to take photos from the front locked screen without having to unlock. All of this means the device is an innovative and fun phone to use in a colourful and user friendly manner and puts it to the fore of all smart phones.

So the initial reactions to the iPhone 4S were unfounded. This is a fantastic phone and just as ground breaking as the iPhone 4 was last year. It may not look like a completely new phone, but the iPhone 4S has such a wealth of new software features and increased hardware power that you could not possibly confuse this with the iPhone 4 if you were to use both phones simultaneously. The added benefit is that the best mobile phone deals for the iPhone 4S are not much more expensive than those for the iPhone 4, despite the amazing new features.

Encryption is Not Enough for Cloud Security.

By saying that encryption is not enough for cloud security, I don’t mean that you also need other types of protection like server security, identity management, etc.  I think most people deploying cloud computing plan to implement more than encryption for security.  What I mean is that encryption alone is not enough in an encryption solution when it comes to cloud environments.
Of course, industry-standard encryption is essential, but it’s table stakes.  When dealing the multi-tenant nature of the public cloud, or even the inter-departmental shared resources of a private cloud, how encryption keys are stored and accessed is at least equally as important to securing data.
Policy-based key management can limit where and when data can be accessed.  For example, some data privacy regulations specify that data can only be accessed in certain geographic locations.  With the public cloud, service providers can have multiple data centers across different regions, and may move data without the customer’s knowledge for availability or to make the best use of resources.  In these circumstances, encryption with policy-based key management can help ensure that data is only accessed in permitted locations.
Yesterday at VMworld, Trend Micro gave a presentation on “Dealing with Data Mobility—What to Do When Your Data Decides to Leave” (see Trend Micro’s VMworld activities).  This presentation was inspired by Dan Crowe’s blog on data motility. Both discuss how to address the movement of data in the cloud, using encryption as well as other approaches.
When using shared computing environments, you also want to limit which servers can gain access to your data.  When a server makes an encryption key request, the encryption solution must be able to authenticate the server.  And server authentication can go beyond identity-based validations and include integrity checks as well, ensuring that the requesting server has up-to-date security in place before releasing the encryption keys.
Trend Micro SecureCloud offers all of the components discussed above with simple, policy-based key management, and unique server authentication using identity-based and integrity-based validation.  This week, Trend Micro announced that SecureCloud now works with Trend Micro Deep Security for more in-depth integrity checks.  Deep Security is a server security platform that protects physical, virtual, and cloud servers.  SecureCloud communicates with Deep Security to get the security status of a requesting server before releasing keys.  If Deep Security determines that a requesting server has out-of-date or inadequate protection, or has been compromised by an attack, keys are not released. Keys can also be revoked or redistributed as the security status of a server changes.
 Key ownership is another important element in encryption solutions.  If you only want to apply encryption to a particular public cloud service, accessing encryption through the service provider can be an easy add-on when available.  However, if you want an encryption solution that can be used with data stored in physical, virtual, and cloud servers, and even across cloud vendors, then you’ll want to retain key ownership in a solution that lets you manage encryption across all of those deployments.  This also maintains a separation of duties between you and your service provider.  And there are different key service options, such as on premise or through a SaaS solution, depending on what best meets your needs.

 So the “encryption” in an encryption solution is really just the beginning.  Encryption for the cloud must be more context aware and let you more granularly control data access.

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STEVE JOBS BIOGRAPHY.

Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955, to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption. Smart but directionless, Jobs experimented with different pursuits before starting Apple Computers with Stephen Wozniak in the Jobs' family garage. Apple's revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are now seen as dictating the evolution of modern technology.

 

I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

– Steve Jobs

Early Life

Entrepreneur. Born Steven Paul Jobs on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave their unnamed son up for adoption. His father Abdulfattah Jandali was a Syrian political science professor and his mother Joanne Simpson worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Steve was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

As an infant, Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist. The family lived in Mountain View within California's Silicone Valley. As a boy, Jobs and his father would work on electronics in the family garage. Paul would show his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs.

While Jobs has always been an intelligent and innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. In elementary school he was a prankster whose fourth grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined.

After he did enroll in high school, Jobs spent his free time at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he befriended computer club guru Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was a brilliant computer engineer, and the two developed great respect for one another.

Apple Computers

After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes. Jobs later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.

In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game designer with Atari. Several months later he left Atari to find spiritual enlightenment in India, traveling the continent and experimenting with psychedelic drugs. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computers. The duo started in the Jobs family garage, and funded their entrepreneurial venture after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator.

Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that they initially marketed for $666.66 each. Their first model, the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion on the very first day of trading. Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully of Pepsi-Cola to help fill the role of Apple's President.

Departure from Apple

However, the next several products from Apple suffered significant design flaws resulting in recalls and consumer disappointment. IBM suddenly surpassed Apple sales, and Apple had to compete with an IBM/PC dominated business world. In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh, marketing the computer as a piece of a counter culture lifestyle: romantic, youthful, creative. But despite positive sales and performance superior to IBM's PCs, the Macintosh was still not IBM compatible. Scully believed Jobs was hurting Apple, and executives began to phase him out.

In 1985, Jobs resigned as Apple's CEO to begin a new hardware and software company called NeXT, Inc. The following year Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas, which later became Pixar Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar's potential, Jobs initially invested $50 million of his own money into the company. Pixar Studios went on to produce wildly popular animation films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Pixar's films have netted $4 billion. The studio merged with Walt Disney in 2006, making Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

Reinventing Apple

Despite Pixar's success, NeXT, Inc. floundered in its attempts to sell its specialized operating system to mainstream America. Apple eventually bought the company in 1997 for $429 million. That same year, Jobs returned to his post as Apple's CEO.

Much like Steve Jobs instigated Apple's success in the 1970s, he is credited with revitalizing the company in the 1990s. With a new management team, altered stock options, and a self-imposed annual salary of $1 a year, Jobs put Apple back on track. His ingenious products such as the iMac, effective branding campaigns, and stylish designs caught the attention of consumers once again.

Pancreatic Cancer

In 2003, Jobs discovered he had a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pescovegetarian diet while weighing Eastern treatment options. For nine months Jobs postponed surgery, making Apple's board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders would pull their stocks if word got out that their CEO was ill. But in the end, Job's confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in subsequent years Jobs has disclosed little about his health.

Recent Innovations

In recent years, Apple has introduced such revolutionary products as the Macbook Air, iPod, and iPhone, all of which have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Almost immediately after Apple releases a new product, competitors scramble to produce comparable technologies. In 2007, Apple's quarterly reports were the company's most impressive statistics to date. Stocks were worth a record-breaking $199.99 a share, and the company boasted a staggering $1.58 billion dollar profit, an $18 billion dollar surplus in the bank, and zero debt.

In 2008, iTunes became the second biggest music retailer in America-second only to Wal-Mart. Half of Apple's current revenue comes from iTunes and iPod sales, with 200 million iPods sold and six billion songs downloaded. For these reasons, Apple has been rated No. 1 in America's Most Admired Companies, and No. 1 amongst Fortune 500 companies for returns to shareholders.

Personal Life

Early in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs' weight loss, some predicting his health issues had returned, which included a liver transplant. Jobs had responded to these concerns by stating he is dealing with a hormone imbalance. After nearly a year out of the spotlight Steve Jobs delivered a keynote address at an invite-only Apple event September 9, 2009.

In respect to his personal life, Steve Jobs remains a private man who rarely discloses information about his family. What is known is Jobs fathered a daughter with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan when he was 23. Jobs denied paternity of his daughter Lisa in court documents, claiming he was sterile. Jobs did not initiate a relationship with his daughter until she was seven but, when she was a teenager, she came to live with her father.

In the early 1990s, Jobs met Laurene Powell at Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They married on March 18, 1991, and lived together in Palo Alto, California, with their three children.

Final Years

On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old.