NIS, Dallas: New Tablet distribution will Grow

By: Marco A. Ayllon
Nautilus Science and Technology News
February 5, 2011

We estimating that Tablet shipments will grow by a factor of 12 by 2015, according to a report released late Thursday by NIS Dallas.
PC tablets plus Media Tablets, are expected to grow from 17.4 million units in 2010 to 242.3 million in 2015, the report said.

The article states that following the launch of the iPad, a wave of "Honeycomb"-powered Android devices will propel tablets forward, but that consumers expecting Windows tablets will have to wait. Over 80 tablets were reportedly shown at CES; Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook characterized the Android tablets shown there as "vapor".

"The significant growth of the tablet market from 2010 to 2015 will be driven by three successive waves of growth," said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at IHS. "The first wave, which is hitting in 2010 and 2011, was created by the arrival of the iPad and the ensuing tsunami of demand for the device.

The second wave, arriving in 2011 and 2012, will be propelled by a deluge of iPad competitors, particularly Android-based models. The third wave, which will turn up in 2013, will consist of a flood of models based on the Windows operating system that will expand the reach of tablets into traditional computer markets."

NIS broke down the tablet market into media tablets, like the iPad, which are designed to consume media by any operating system. Those tablets, expected to grow from 17.4 million last year to 202 million units and up in 2015, are expected to dwarf those that will run a PC-like operating system, which the research house equated with Windows. Those PC tablets will grow to 39.3 million units in 2015, up from 2.3 million units in 2010, the report said.

Although the iPad virtually launched the current generation of tablets, NIS predicted that it would lose its majority position by 2013, when Android tablets were more established and Windows tablets are expected to emerge. Alexander also said that tablet makers using the Android OS are pushing features that Apple has yet to include, including 4G.

"At least three of the major Android tablets released at the Consumer Electronics Show in January featured built-in support for a 4G wireless communications technology: long-term evolution (LTE)," said Francis Sideco, principal analyst, wireless communications at IHS. "With iPad only supporting 3G for now, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the battle pitting the allure of technology—i.e. LTE—against the appeal of usability—i.e. the iPad's benchmark user friendliness."

Mr. Alexander also said that there's a possibility that Apple could release a MacOS tablet as well. "The year 2013 will mark a critical juncture, as the tablet market turns into a battleground between media tablets using mobile operating systems, and PC-type tablets employing the Windows operating system," Alexander said. "Add to this mix the competition from ever-improving smart phones, and the mobile device market will get very interesting."

ked web browsing on Chromium

RockMelt is a new Social Web Browser hopping to get more users:

Nautilus Science and Technology News
By: Marco A. Ayllon
November 7, 2010

Tonight RocketMelt formally launched a self-titled web browser that it hopes will make social browsing common. Interested on a idea of frequent sharing much like a group, the browser's always-on connection to Facebook both makes it possible to share any page through a single button but also to follow others. The app always lists a chosen list of friends on a sidebar and supplies a quick glance at status updates, detailed feeds and Facebook chat for when both contacts are online at the same time.
Web hits and feeds are also faster, as a second sidebar provides access to favorite sites with a Safari-style notification when new content has come in. Search is simplified with search results that auto-populate and the option of live previews of the results before switching over. It can follow and refine search behavior over time to become more relevant, although the company stressed that it doesn't push the information online.

The Co. used a plataform and closely on Google's open-source Chromium engine and should compete with the most recent web browsers in speed and accuracy.

RockMelt is currently in a testing phase but is accepting invitation requests through a Facebook connection for both Mac and Windows users. It hasn't given an estimate for when the finished browser should be available.

Amazon Kindle UK Pre-Orders ‘Sold Out’ Until Sept 4th

Nautilus Science & Technology News

By: Marco A. Ayllon
August 3, 2010


It looks like Amazon are going to have a monster hit on their hands with their new Kindle wireless reading device, as it seems that the first batch of UK pre-orders has already sold out due to overwhelming customer demand.


Amazon initially promised an August 27th delivery for anyone pre-ordering the compact, cut-price (£109/£149- U$129-179) eReader, but customers visiting the Kindle homepage are now seeing this message:

Temporarily sold out. Order now to reserve your place in the queue


Due to strong customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Order now to reserve your place in the queue. Orders are prioritised on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders placed today are expected to dispatch on or before September 4.

Outselling Hardback Books


Amazon boasts that the earlier Kindles have been the most-wished-for, most-gifted products on Amazon, with the eReaders receiving the most 5-star reviews and becoming the No.1 bestselling item for two years running.

The US Kindle store currently offers more than 630,000 titles, and the company recently announced that over the past three months, the number of e-books being sold on Amazon.com had raced significantly ahead of hardback sales.

Speaking to USA Today, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos predicted that the company will, “surpass paperback sales sometime in the next nine to 12 months. Sometime after that, we’ll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover.”

Early Review

Nautilus Information Systems bagged an early review model, and praised the eReader’s overall design, speedier navigation and build quality, delivering a very positive verdict:

The Amazon Kindle 3 made an unusually quick, and positive, impression. The new Kindle’s solid build quality, improved design, integrated store, and cross-platform transportability (books are usable on any Kindle reader app, including iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, and PC) all add up to a winner poised to top the pack.

We Want!


We’re certainly convinced, and have placed an order – so expect a review as soon as we can get our hands on it!

Microsoft Patches 'Critical' Crack in Windows Operating System

Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft

Nautilus Science & Technology News
By: Marco A. Ayllon
August 3, 2010


Microsoft released an emergency patch for a "critical" crack in Windows operating system software that could let hackers take control of computers over the internet.

"The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if the icon of a specially crafted shortcut is displayed," the US technology giant said in a security bulletin ranked 'Critical.' "An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user."

Computer users commonly use shortcuts in the form of on-screen icons they can click to instantly awaken favoured applications.

The Windows flaw lets hackers booby-trap such icons with malicious software that could let them control machines from afar.

Microsoft routinely releases software patches the second Tuesday of each month but resorts to making patches available "out of band" when it deems situations dangerous.

"Several families of malware have been attempting to attack this vulnerability," Microsoft Trustworthy Computing response manager Christopher Budd wrote in a blog post.

"We firmly believe that releasing the update out of band is the best thing to do to help protect our customers."

Some attacks have reportedly been directed at power plants and other vital infrastructure. People using computers running on any version of Windows software were urged to apply the update immediately.

Google Fixes Image Search to Eliminate Clutter, Will Improve Search Results

Nautilus Science & Technology News

By: Marco A. Ayllon
July 20, 2010


Google's image search service will be getting a revamp this week, aimed at making the search function easier to use, and to provide more relevant results. The redesign is essentially the service's first major makeover since Google Images went live in 2001.


At that time, only 250 million images had been catalogued by the Mountain View, Calif. search company. Now over 10 billion images are indexed. With such an increase in volume, obviously the search functionality will need to improve, as does the way the site displays ever larger results.

"We hope [the changes] not only make it easier to search for images, but also contribute to a better aesthetic experience," product manager Nate Smith said. "We see images as a major source of inspiration, a way of connecting the world--and their growth is showing no signs of slowing down."

Such is the focus of the changes. The image page will take on a decidedly Bing-like look, where text in the results are eliminated, and image results are spaced more tightly together. Also "infinite scroll" has been introduced: more results would load as the user scrolls down, up to 1,000 images per page.

Interactivity is also increased. Hovering over an image will give the user a larger preview, along with information on that specific image and possible similar ones. Clicking on it takes the user to a preview of the image overlaid on a cached version of the page that it came from.

At an event at Google's Mountain View campus Tuesday, officials said other features will be on their way, such as timeline-based searching of images. It also said that only 10 percent of users would be able to see the changes starting today: it expects a full launch by the end of the week.

With the new Google Images comes a new advertising format, which for the time being would appear exclusively on the Images section. The new option would allow advertisers to place a thumbnail image beside their ad text.

It is not clear whether the search giant has plans to expand this format elsewhere.

Microsoft is Working With a Tough Patch Job Helping Windows Shortcut Bug

Nautilus Science & Technology News

By: Marco A. Ayllon
July 20, 2010

Another researcher disputes that, says fix could come within two weeks

Microsoft may have a tough time fixing the Windows shortcut vulnerability, a security researcher said today.


A noted vulnerability expert, however, disagreed, and said Microsoft could deliver a patch within two weeks.

"The way Windows' shortcuts are designed is flawed, and I think they will have a very hard time patching this," said Roel Schouwenberg, an antivirus researcher with Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab.

Schouwenberg based his prediction that a patch may prove elusive on the fact that Microsoft has never faced a security issue with shortcuts, and thus has no security processes in place that it can quickly tweak.

For its part, Microsoft considers the flaw a security vulnerability, and has promised a patch. As of Tuesday, however, it had not set a timeline for a fix.

Microsoft has acknowledged that attackers can use a malicious shortcut file, identified by the ".lnk" extension, to automatically execute their malware by getting users to view the contents of a folder containing a malformed shortcut. The risk is even greater if hackers use infected USB flash drives to spread their attack code, since the latter automatically executes on most Windows PCs as soon as drive is plugged into the machine.

All versions of Windows are vulnerable to attack, including the just-released beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), as well as the recently retired Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000.

Attackers have exploited the shortcut bug to gain control of important computers at a customer of Siemens, the German electronics giant. Siemens last week alerted users of its Simatic WinCC management software of attacks targeting large-scale industrial control systems in major manufacturing and utility companies.

Time is also working against Microsoft. "This may take them awhile to patch," said Schouwenberg. "But the wider-scale use of this is imminent." Schouwenberg's last comment echoed those of other security experts Monday, when several organizations bumped up their Internet threat indicators in anticipation of impending attacks.

Another problem facing Microsoft is that the code is obviously old, making a quick patch that much more unlikely. The vulnerability exists in Windows as far back as the Windows 2000 edition, which Schouwenberg has tested and successfully exploited.

Schouwenberg compared the age of the code to that which Microsoft was forced to patch in the WMF (Windows Metafile) image format and Windows' animated cursor (.ani) file formats, in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

In both those cases, Microsoft issued emergency patches -- dubbed "out-of-band" or "out-of-cycle" -- outside its usual monthly schedule.

"I'm quite amazed that [the shortcut] bug hasn't been found before by researchers or by Microsoft," said Schouwenberg. "I would have figured that Microsoft would have caught this. But the fact that it's tied so closely with the OS may have been a problem."

Other researchers disputed Schouwenberg's assertion that a patch would occupy Microsoft for a long time.

"My guess is they will address this out-of-band and within two weeks, based on the exploits in the wild and the press coverage of the Siemens' software hack," said HD Moore, the chief security officer of Rapid7 and the creator of the well-known Metasploit hacking toolkit, in an e-mail reply to questions Tuesday.

An exploit of the shortcut flaw was added to Metasploit Monday, and Moore has been tweaking it since. Today, he said he was able to modify the exploit to create a true drive-by attack, where Windows PCs would be immediately compromised if their users were duped into browsing to a malicious Web site.

"It's always possible that Microsoft will find some very clever idea that will let them patch this quickly," said Schouwenberg.

Boeing's 'Phantom Eye' Ford Fusion Powered New Stratocraft

Nautilus Science & Technology News
By: Marco A. Ayllon
July 13, 2010

Twin car engines let robocraft make 4-day flights

US aerospace mammoth Boeing yesterday rolled out its "Phantom Eye" unmanned strato-plane, able to cruise high above the airlanes for up to four days - powered by two ordinary Ford car engines running on hydrogen.

"The program is moving quickly, and it’s exciting to be part of such a unique aircraft," said Drew Mallow, Phantom Eye program manager, in a statement issued yesterday. "The hydrogen propulsion system will be the key to Phantom Eye's success. It is very efficient and offers great fuel economy, and its only byproduct is water, so it's also a 'green' aircraft."


To be specific, the Phantom Eye uses 2.3 litre four-cylinder engines of a type normally found in some models of petrol-burning Ford Fusion, turbocharged and tweaked so as to run on hydrogen at 65,000 feet.

Four days would suggest pretty good fuel economy, right enough. However "green" is a bit of a stretch as hydrogen at the moment is normally made by reforming natural gas. This releases copious amounts of carbon into the atmosphere - usually more than one would generate by running an ordinary fossil-fuelled car engine - so it is hardly green*.

One might also quibble with the "moving quickly" description of Phantom Eye. True, Boeing announced that it would start work on the Eye only in March, which would suggest impressive speed by the Phantom Works engineers.

In fact, however, the company has been touting Ford-powered high altitude drones for several years now. Indeed, back in 2007 it managed to get some military development cash for the previous "Orion" single-engined version, which could also stay up for four days. At that time, Boeing considered that a twin-engined job along Phantom Eye lines would be good for 10 days, not four - though the firm seems to have walked back on that somewhat.

Phantom Eye, then, hasn't appeared with lightning swiftness: though one might excuse the Phantom Works engineers for that. The event which actually got the ball rolling again on the Phantom Eye was Boeing's decision to provide development cash itself, having failed to get any from government customers. Lately, companies such as General Atomics have won a lot of government UAV business by offering finished products rather than insisting on taxpayers furnishing development money up front.

The next move for Phantom Eye is shipment to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. It's expected to make its first flight next year. ®

Nautilus News Bootnote

*Hydrogen might be made greenly in future by cracking water with electricity; however at current 'leccy prices this is more expensive than gas reforming. Then, hydrogen is difficult and expensive to store and transport afterwards as well. At the moment, for military users - the likeliest initial Phantom Eye customers - it will be easier to set up transportable gas-fuelled hydrogen plants at airbases as necessary.