Intel next-gen chip to support key Apple tech

Intel's next-generation processor is expected to add support for a key OS X technology that accelerates gaming and financial applications. That potentially means a more powerful MacBook Air in the future.

The MacBook Air could get a boost from the upcoming Intel processor that supports improved graphics performance.

Listed as a "core" OS X technology, OpenCL "dramatically accelerates" applications by tapping into the special processing power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), according to Apple. It taps into what an Apple developer page states as the "the amazing parallel computing power of the GPU."

GPU-centric acceleration can be used for financial modeling, accounting applications, analysis on large media files, games, and media applications. In general, the GPU is much better than the CPU (central processing unit) at certain types of computations--thus the necessity of GPUs in games.

In fact, much of the performance boost in Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processor (up to 60 percent faster than Intel's current Sandy Bridge chip) is due to more graphics circuits. Of the several hundred million additional transistors in Ivy Bridge (compared to Sandy Bridge), many are dedicated to boosting graphics performance.

To be fair, Nvidia's and Advanced Micro Devices' GPUs already support OpenCL but since neither of those GPUs are in the third-generation MacBook Air, the popular Apple MacBook would likely need an updated Intel processor to get that support.

That's where Ivy Bridge comes in. That Intel chip is due for volume production in the first quarter of next year potentially putting it in a refreshed MacBook Air sometime after that.

Indeed, that's a question that may dog the MacBook faithful in the coming months. When, in fact, will MacBooks get the Ivy Bridge processor?

Which leads to another intriguing question. Ivy Bridge also supports USB 3.0--a faster version of aging USB 2.0. Will Apple also equip MacBooks with USB 3.0 ports next to the existing Thunderbolt port?

FBI investigating hacking of celebrities

The FBI office in Los Angeles is investigating a series of hacking incidents targeting high-profile victims.

"The FBI is investigating a person or group responsible for computer intrusions of high-profile figures," FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told CNET in a phone interview today. 

Eimiller said she couldn't say how many alleged victims there may have been, but estimated that there were "dozens." The investigation has been going on since late 2010, she said. 

Yesterday, photos of Scarlett Johansson were posted to BuzzFeed that appeared to have been taken by the star of herself. Johansson asked the FBI to investigate, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

The news follows leaks of celebrity photos reported in previous months. In March, Vanessa Hudgens met with the FBI after nude photos of her were allegedly stolen from her Gmail account and released online, TMZ reported at the time. 

It's unclear who is behind the Johansson incident and whether all of the reported cases are linked or even legitimate. 

Unlike corporations, which typically shun publicity for hacking, celebrities--whose careers seem to rise and fall with headlines--may have a motivation for going public with hacking claims, either to get attention or to deflect bad publicity. Meanwhile, celebrities are an attractive target for headline-seeking hackers. Sometimes it's difficult to link the attack to a specific party. 

That didn't appear to be the case with an incident that happened during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28. That night someone posted a video on YouTube with the headline "Anonymous - My Little Pony KREAYSHAWN HACKED." It contains an anti-Semitic rant about Hollywood. Also that night, nude photos of the rapper were posted to her hacked Twitter account, according to the Huffington Post. 

"We're simply here to facilitate the free flow of information from a place which was previously over looked, Hollywood," a representative from a group calling itself Hollywood Leaks told Gawker in an e-mail the day after the Kreayshawn photos were leaked. Hollywood Leaks promotes its activity on a Twitter account using the "HWLeaks" handle. 

FBI spokeswoman Eimiller said she could not comment on whether the agency was looking at the Anonymous group as part of its investigation. "There are lots of hackers out there," she said.

Hollywood would be a new type of target for the Anonymous online activist collective, which previously has hacked government agencies, law enforcement, foreign governments, and private corporations like Sony. Often, members of the group release sensitive e-mails, contact information, and other information pilfered from compromised servers, but they also have been known to organize distributed denial-of-service attacks at victims, which can shut the Web sites down temporarily. 

While the recent reports of celebrity hacking date back to March, the Hollywood Leaks Twitter account appears to have been operating since only August 19, claiming credit for the release of phone numbers for David Spade, Miley Cyrus, and Ashley Tisdale, among others, as well as the leak of a copy of the Tom Cruise film "Rock of Ages," which is due out next year.

iPad fastest at web browsing among mobile devices

The iPad blew away several other mobile devices at loading Web pages, according to a recent speed test conducted by researchers at Compuware.
Though the test was geared toward smartphones, and the iPad was used only as a reference point, Apple's popular tablet proved speedier at web browsing than the iPhone, HTC Desire, BlackBerry Torch, and several other mobile devices.
Conducted in July, the test tried to determine the impact of each device on Web site performance. Specifically, the analysis looked at two different measurements: 1) Page load time - how long it takes for a Web page to fully load; and 2) Perceived render time - how long it take for the visible portion of a page to appear to load in the browser.
To ensure that the results were of real-world conditions rather than those in a lab, Compuware took measurements from more than 200 million pages downloaded by the mobile devices of actual users in the U.S. last month. The firm captured and aggregated data via both cellular and Wi-Fi connections and different mobile browsers to see how users actually experience Web performance on their devices.
The results were then pared down to show only devices with more than one million page views.

 

In top place, the iPad's load time was 6.8 seconds, while its perceived render time was 5.09 seconds. Trailing close behind was the HTC Desire with a load time of 6.87 seconds and a perceived render time of 5.16 seconds.

Of the ten mobile devices analyzed (11 if the iPad is counted), the iPhone ended up about mid-range with a load time of 10.81 seconds and a perceived render time of 8.08 seconds. Though not a smartphone, the iPod Touch was included as well and scored slightly behind the iPhone.
In last place was the Motorola Droid with a load time of 15.35 seconds and a perceived render time of 11.92 seconds.

Compuware, which acquired Gomez in 2009, sells tools to enterprise customers to help them optimize their server applications. Gomez specifically helps customers monitor and manage their Web sites and Web-based applications.

Five possible responses to the Google-Motorola merger

There's no question that the mobile market was turned on its head yesterday when Google announced its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola.
So what's it mean for the rest of the industry? Typically, industry consolidation begets more consolidation. CNET offers five predictions for how this mega-merger may affect other players in the mobile market from highlighting the potential alliances that might form to the companies that may be possible acquisition targets.

1. Microsoft keeps close partnership with Nokia but adds closer ties to Asian handset makers: Samsung, HTC, and LG Electronics
Since Google's plan to buy Motorola was announced, pundits have been speculating on what Microsoft's next move might be. As a sort of knee-jerk reaction, people have wondered if Microsoft might take its relationship with Nokia to the next level.
It is certainly possible that this could happen. After all, not many people expected Google to buy Motorola just a couple of days ago. But most Microsoft watchers are skeptical that Microsoft would actually buy Nokia outright.

 

Here's why: Microsoft can benefit from its existing relationship with Nokia without having to buy the whole company.
One of the potential benefits of Google buying Motorola is that it could follow Apple's model and build devices that are tightly integrated with its Android operating system. Some people argue that this control translates into a better experience for end users on these Android devices. Microsoft, has a similar model to Google in that it currently licenses its software to several manufacturers. So some have suggested that Microsoft may want to follow the Apple model, too.
But that's unlikely because Microsoft already tightly controls the specifications for the devices on which its Windows Phone software operates. So Microsoft already ensures a more consistent look and feel to the user experience on Windows Phone devices.
The main reason that Google is buying Motorola is for its 24,500 patents. Microsoft may also want to own Nokia's mobile phone patents to bulk up its war chest of patents. But again this isn't necessary, given that the two company's have cross-licensing arrangements already.
And finally, Microsoft may have a disincentive to buy Nokia because it may want to cozy up with some of Googe's tight Android partners, such as Samsung, LG Electronics and HTC. These companies, which have been relying on Android, may now feel threatened and may be looking to diversify their product lines to ensure they aren't too dependent on Google.

2. Amazon and Hewlett-Packard team up via WebOS
Google, Apple, and Amazon have increasingly become competitors in the wider online world. Each of these companies now offers cloud-based content, and they're vying for consumer loyalty to their services. Devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPad and Google's Android devices provide that link to the cloud the services. And as portable devices, such as smartphones and tablets replace desktop and laptop computers, the battle for consumers hearts and minds will be fought in the mobile market.
While Amazon and Google are rivals when it comes to cloud services, they are also budding partners. Amazon is rumored to be developing tablets using the Google Android platform. But Google's purchase of Motorola may threaten this relationship with Amazon. And as a result, force Amazon to look for an alternative to Android.
Hewlett-Packard could be the perfect partner, according to ZDNet blogger Jason Perlow. HP, which bought Palm for its WebOS mobile operating system, hasn't seen much success with its first tablet, the TouchPad. But the WebOS software has actually won a lot of praise from experts. Perlow thinks that HP should cut a deal with Amazon.
He said that HP could continue to advance the WebOS technology, while leveraging Amazon's sales and distribution network for the tablets and phones that use the operating system. But more importantly, Amazon could provide the cloud services and content for the WebOS devices, including books, video, music, storage, and e-books. Currently, one of WebOS's biggest problems is that it doesn't have any content relative to Apple and Google.
On the hardware side, Amazon already has lots of experience partnering with Asian device makers for its Kindle e-readers.
Amazon could serve as the primary brand for the WebOS devices, giving HP much-needed marketing and distribution for its products. It could be a win-win for each company. But Perlow points out that this also means that Amazon would have to abandon or curtail its existing strategy for its Amazon Appstore for Android and its plans to build Android tablets.

3. Research In Motion becomes an attractive acquisition target, but who's buying?
Once worth $83 billion at its peak, RIM has lost about 80 percent of its value over the past three years as Apple and Google have eaten into its smartphone business. The company has fallen from the No. 2 position in terms of smartphone operating systems worldwide to the No. 4 spot as of the second quarter of 2011.
The company has plans to release seven new BlackBerry 7 handsets starting this summer, which may offer a slight boost to sales in the ultra competitive smartphone market. But the turn-around is likely to be a long one for the company, which is struggling to regain its footing.
Still, RIM owns some 10,000 to 15,000 patents that cover advanced wireless technology, security, enterprise mobility, and software. And of these patents more than 3,000 are specific to mobile technology. According to MDB PatentVest, RIM has more mobile device patents than anyone else.
Based on the recent jockeying for patents, it's clear that Apple, Microsoft, Google, and others see patents related to mobile technology as valuable and important. And given RIM's strong patent portfolio plus its low share price, it could be attractive to potential suitors, even though its current product line-up is in transition.
But who would be interested? That's the big question. Microsoft had been a rumored suitor, but as noted above, the company may not be interested in being saddled with a hardware provider at this time.
HP, which bought Palm for its WebOS, could be another candidate, or perhaps one of the other hardware companies, such as Samsung, may be interested.
RIM's other option may be to spin off its patent portfolio into a separate patent-holding company that licenses the patents to other companies. It's unclear what will happen, but RIM's outlook now may be better than it was last week.

4. Sony Ericsson may feel pressure to monetize its patents.
Sony Ericsson, a relative small player in the overall smartphone market, may also look for ways to extract some value from its patent holdings. Sony Ericsson, formed in 2001, is owned in a 50-50 partnership between Sony of Japan and Ericsson of Sweden. Together its parent companies own 1,470 patents specific to mobile devices.
In recent years, the company, which has always been a bit of niche player, has struggled to keep up with rivals. And it's continued to lose market share, despite shifting from the Symbian mobile platform to Android.
In the second quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson's total mobile device market share fell to 1.7 percent from 3 percent a year ago, according to Gartner. Chinese manufacturer Huawei bumped it from the No. 9 spot. And Sony Ericsson is now in the No. 10 spot in terms of worldwide device sales.
As a result of its poor performance, investors may pressure the company to do something with these patents.

5. Apple (or someone else) could spend a whole lot of dough on the Kodak imaging patents.
It's clear that battle being fought in the mobile market right now is over patents. My CNET colleague Jay Greene recently wrote in a piece that the next big portfolio of patents to go up for sale will likely come from Kodak. Last month, the imaging company said it was considering selling about 1,100 patents that cover capturing, storing, organizing, and sharing digital images. These patents cover technology that is increasingly becoming important in mobile devices.
And one particular patent that is likely to be included in the batch that Kodak plans to sell may be end up starting one of the most ferocious bidding wars to date for mobile patents. The patent in question covers image previewing technology that Kodak alleges is being infringed upon by Apple and Research In Motion.
This patent in particular is considered very valuable because there is still so much uncertainty surrounding the validity of the claim. The case has been batted around the legal system, and it's still being reviewed by an administrative law judge.
Even though its unclear whether Apple or RIM is infringing on the Kodak imaging patent, Apple will likely bid on this patent simply to keep it out of the hands of its rivals, namely Google.
"If you're Apple, are you going to let Google buy those patents? No way," Christopher A. Marlett, chief executive of MDB Capital Group, an investment banking firm that focuses on intellectual property, told CNET for a previous story.
There is a good chance that the bidding on these patents could go very high. Indeed, the value of mobile and communications related patents has already been high. According to recent estimates by Sanford Bernstein, Google's $12.5 billion bid for Motorola will give it access to about 24,500 patents at a price of about $350,000 per patent. Meanwhile, Apple, RIM, Microsoft and other players, paid a total of $4.5 billion for the Nortel Networks patents. This works out to about $750,000 per patent.
With $76 billion in cash and marketable securities as of the end of June, Apple is certainly in a strong position to pay what it must to secure whatever intellectual property it needs.

iPad users finally get Skype app

iPad users can finally get their hands on a native Skype app.

More than a month after it was expected to make its official debut, the iPad-optimized Skype client began appearing in Apple App Stores on August 1. The new app takes advantage of the tablet's larger screen real estate, making for crisp and clear video chat over Wi-Fi, and often less crisp chat over 3G.

However, not long after the app appeared, Skype pulled it, saying it was released prematurely. "To ensure your best Skype experience, we've temporarily removed Skype for iPad which went live prematurely today," Skype said on its Twitter feed. "We know you've been eagerly awaiting Skype for iPad and apologize for the inconvenience."

Then some hours later, on the morning of August 2, Skype proclaimed again that Skype is available for download.

Skype had whetted iPad owners' appetite in June when it posted a video of its not-yet-released iPad application to its YouTube channel before quickly setting it to private.

The video demos the application's video chat capabilities, which rival that of Apple's built-in FaceTime service with a window for both the person you're chatting with, and one to view yourself in. Also included is standard phone dialing and integrated text-chat, the latter of which can be used during a video chat.

The big difference from Apple's own FaceTime service is that Skype's application brings video chat over 3G networks. FaceTime currently only works over Wi-Fi, something Apple has said will change eventually.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20086685-37/ipad-users-finally-get-skype-app/#ixzz1TzIpgiMW

Android takes 48 percent market share in Q2

 

Google's Android easily dominated the worldwide smartphone OS market in the second quarter, research firm Canalys has found.

During the quarter, 107.7 million smartphones shipped worldwide, growing 73 percent year over year. According to the research firm, 39.8 million smartphone units shipped in the Asia-Pacific region, and 35 million units were released in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the Americas, 32.9 million smartphone units were shipped.

Canalys, which analyzes shipments in 56 countries around the world, said that Android led the way in 35 of them, helping it to secure 48 percent market share during the quarter. Android shipments during the period hit 51.9 million, representing 379 percent growth compared with the second quarter of 2010. Android is especially popular in South Korea, where it captured 85 percent market share. In Taiwan, the platform snagged 71 percent share.

Android's growth has been nothing short of astounding. In January, Canalys announced Android's fourth-quarter performance, saying that it captured 32.9 percent market share, thanks to shipments of 33.3 million units. At the time, the research firm said that Android shipments were up 615.1 percent.

The end of 2010 also brought Symbian to the second spot in unit shipments, nabbing 30.6 percent share on 31 million unit shipments. But in just two short quarters, Symbian is no longer hanging on to that spot. Thanks to increasingly strong iPhone sales, Apple's iOS platform scored the second-place slot during the second quarter, earning 19 percent market share on 20.3 million iPhone sales. In addition, Canalys found that Samsung moved ahead of Nokia in vendor rankings to secure the spot behind Apple. Samsung shipped 17 million smartphone units during the quarter, Canalys said.

Although things went well for some companies in the mobile market last quarter, two companies--Research In Motion and Microsoft--struggled. According to Canalys, RIM's worldwide smartphone shipments were up 11 percent in the second quarter, but in North America, they were down 33 percent, leading it to secure just 12 percent market share.

Microsoft arguably had the worst quarter, though. According to Canalys, less than 1.5 million Windows Phone 7-based smartphones shipped during the period, earning the platform just 1 percent market share. Shipments were down 52 percent year over year.

For Microsoft, earning more market share will require the help of Nokia. Earlier this year, the companies signed a pact that will see Windows Phone become the "principal" operating system in Nokia handsets. Although the companies haven't said for sure when the first smartphone will launch, Canalys expects a "mid-to-late Q4" launch. Still, Canalys said, "it will be much longer before a portfolio of Nokia Windows Phone smartphones drives volumes."

Meanwhile, Canalys sees good times ahead for Apple. With the rumored iPhone 5 launching at some point in the third quarter, Canalys said, the iPhone maker's "position will grow even stronger in the second half of the year."

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20086769-17/study-android-takes-48-percent-market-share-in-q2/#ixzz1TzIT8qeF

AT&T doubles down on BlackBerry with three OS 7 devices

Though you can't shake a smartphone this summer without hitting someone writing a BlackBerry obituary, AT&T is not even close to attending a funeral. Today, the carrier announced that it was adding three new BlackBerry devices to its roster, starting with the BlackBerry Torch 9810 later this month. It's all very good news for worried BlackBerry fans, who could see seven new handsets from the manufacturer through the end of 2011.

The Torch 9810, aka the Torch 2 (that phone cleared the FCC last month), will be a part of AT&T's "premium" BlackBerry family, which will offer a "faster and more fluid" user experience. The design doesn't break new ground, but its top features include the new BlackBerry 7 OS and support for the carrier's "4G" HSPA+ network.

We haven't had a full hands-on with OS 7 just yet, though we expect to take it for a test drive very soon. According to AT&T, the upgrade will bring a faster and more efficient user experience, HD video recording, improved graphics, a digital compass, and augmented reality. What's more, browsing should be up to 40 percent faster than BlackBerry OS 6 smartphones (like the first Torch) and up to 100 percent faster than BlackBerry OS 5 based handsets.

Other features on the Torch 9810 are admirable. There's a 1.2GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and 8GB of onboard storage. The 3.2-inch touch-screen will be powered by BlackBerry Liquid Graphics, but you'll also get a slide-out keyboard.

BlackBerry Bold 9900

Later in the year, you'll be able pick even more BlackBerry goodness when AT&T unveils the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Torch 9860. The touch-screen 9900 doesn't come as a big shock given that we've heard so much about the phone since its unveiling three months ago at BlackBerry World (check out the hands-on from CNET Australia's Joseph Hanlon who was at the show).

Inside a thin design you should find OS 7, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera, HSPA+ support, 8GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS. T-Mobile has committed to carrying the 9900 already, though rumors of a delay have persisted.

We know less about the Torch 9860 except that it also will support HSPA+ and it will be AT&T's first all-touch BlackBerry smartphone (OS 7 as well). Otherwise, we imagine that its other features will compare favorably to its siblings.

Pricing and exact availability for the devices wasn't available at the time of this writing, but we'll fill in the details as we get them. And we'll do our best to get a hands-on as soon as we can.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20087255-85/at-t-doubles-down-on-blackberry-with-three-os-7-devices/#ixzz1TzHBSsNC

iPhone 5 rumor roundup

Will the iPhone 5 resemble its predecessor the iPhone 4?

In a big change from the previous three events, Apple's 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference didn't reveal new iPhone hardware. Sure, attendees got details of iOS 5 at the June 6 keynote address, but true iPhone fans also left the session without any hint of what a new handset might offer or when it would arrive.
With Apple devices in particular, the rumor mill tends to kick into high gear in the absence of any official announcement. And that's certainly been the case with the iPhone 5. The first gossip started to trickle in even as the iPhone 4 went on sale last year, but as summer has droned on that trickle has become a flood. Some of the rumors contradict each other--one camp suggests a minor update with an iPhone 4S, while another predicts a big update with an iPhone 5--but disagreement, after all, often is what the rumor mill is all about. And since conflicting information can be hard to track, we offer this handy timeline of iPhone 5 rumors so far in 2011. We'll add to it as we go along, and please let us know if we've left any juicy tidbits out.

August 2

iPhone 5 out for testing
The Guardian (U.K.) reports that wireless carriers have received highly secure boxes containing iPhone 5s that the operators are using to test network compatibility.

August 1

No vacations for you
Gizmodo cites an e-mail allegedly from an AT&T employee, which says that the carrier is denying any vacations requested during the last two weeks of September "due to an event blackout." According to the employee, the only other times vacations were denied in the past were during iPhone release periods.
Or maybe in October
Going the other direction, a story on AllThingsD quotes a source "with knowledge of the plans" who says, "I don't know why AT&T's calling for all hands on deck those weeks, but it's not for an iPhone launch." Instead, the source says that the next iPhone will come in October.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20073431-233/iphone-5-rumor-roundup/#ixzz1TzG7SMtZ

Android users twice as likely to see malware than six months ago

This chart shows the growth of malware-infected apps from 80 at the beginning of the year to more than 400 six months later.

 
LAS VEGAS--If you've got an Android you are 2.5 times more likely to encounter malware on the device today than six months ago, while mobile users have a 30 percent likelihood of clicking on a malicious link, according to a report released today from mobile security firm Lookout.

Those figures are based on detection rates from Lookout users on Android, but not the iPhone, however the rates are presumed to be about the same, according to Lookout.

"This number is likely so high because users on mobile devices often encounter threats targeting PCs--people read email, Facebook messages, text messages, and tweets on their phones just as they do on their PCs," the company says in its report, released on the eve of the Black Hat security conference here. However, many Web-based threats such as phishing attacks do not discriminate based on platform, while others, such as Websites containing browser exploits, are targeted at a specific operating system.


An estimated 500,000 people were affected by Android malware in the first half of this year, a period when apps infected with malware rose from 80 in January to more than 400 in June, according to the report, which focuses on Android and Apple's iOS. Lookout collects data from more than 700,000 Android and iPhone apps and 10 million Android devices around the globe, and offers free and fee-based versions of a security service for the open source Android platform, but not for iOS. While Apple vets every app before allowing it to be sold on the Apple App Store, the Android Market allows any app to be published but provides detailed information about what permissions the app has on a device.

Two of the most prevalent Android threats were DroidDream, which prompted Google to remove malware-infected apps that drop a Trojan on devices from the Android market in March and again in July, and GGTracker, according to the Lookout Mobile Threat Report. Authors of DroidDream released more than 80 unique apps with different malware variations that were designed to take control of a device. Typically, the malware distributors take legitimate apps and repackage them in the hopes that people will confuse them with the legitimate apps.

GGTracker is believed to be the first threat designed to steal money from Android users in the U.S. It signs up for premium text message subscription services without the user's knowledge and they are charged $10 per service and as much as $50 for multiple services. GGTracker also used new techniques to distribute the malware, including "malvertising" in which mobile ads direct users to a malicious site that automatically downloads malware when visited.

The report warns of another new type of attack that can happen when a legitimate application is published and updated to include malware once there is a large user base. Everyone who downloaded the app, which initially was benign, is infected when the app gets updated.

To stay safe, mobile users should only download apps from trusted sources, pay attention to the address of URLs they click on, and be on alert for unusual phone behavior that could signal an infection.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20087265-245/android-users-twice-as-likely-to-see-malware-than-six-months-ago/#ixzz1Tyzuejl4

Google offers workshops to lure Android developers

 

Google is launching a series of workshops designed to grab developers who can create high-quality Android apps.

Set up by the folks at Google's Android Developer Relations, the Android Developer Labs (ADLs) will try to show developers how they can optimize their apps for Android tablets, according to an Android developers blog
.
Dubbed "Optimizing Honeycomb Tablet Applications," the ADLs will cover how to develop apps for the screen size and user interface of Honeycomb tablets and how to migrate apps from mobile phones to tablets.
The sessions are for experienced developers only, specifically those who have already published apps to Google's Android Market.

"The goal is to bring your app to the ADL, and leave equipped to make it into one that makes Android tablet users smile," according to the blog.

The first workshop kicked off yesterday in Bangalore, India. The next two workshops will run in Seattle on August 15 and on August 16. Those will be followed by two workshops in New York City, one on August 23 and another on August 24. The series will wrap up with a final session in Los Angeles on September 2.
Anyone with the necessary qualifications can register, according to Google, but only a small number of people will be chosen to attend based on the quality of their existing Android apps.

Trying to drum up developer interest in Android is of course only one of many factors that could push more business toward Android tablet makers. But even that may be difficult. A recent study from mobile analytics firm Flurry found that mobile developers are inching back toward Apple, the iPad, and iOS following earlier excitement over Android.

Despite the flood of Android tablets that have hit the market this year, Apple's iPad still holds its dominant market share. CEOs at such companies as Dell and Nvidia said they believe Android tablets could eventually outsell the iPad. Some reports have pointed to the iPad already losing customers to the combined might of all the Android tablets on the market.

But most analysts agree that Google and its tablet partners face a tough time trying to take a huge enough bite out of Apple's sales. Speaking with CNET on Monday, IHS iSuppli analyst Wayne Lam said that Google is unlikely to catch up with the iPad and iOS anytime soon. Lam feels that Android's makers still can't match the design of the iPad since, among other reasons, Apple controls both the operating system and the hardware.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20087468-251/google-offers-workshops-to-lure-android-developers/#ixzz1TyzLkgAz

Developers believe Google+ can beat Facebook

Available since just more than a month ago and still only in a testing mode, the Google+ social network has already convinced some developers that it will eventually catch up with rival Facebook. 

The new quarterly survey of mobile application developers by Web development tool maker by Appcelerator and market research firm IDC found that two-thirds of the 1,621 respondents to the question "Can Google+ catch up to Facebook?" replied yes. The reason: more than 68 percent of the respondents believe Google's other assets--search, YouTube, and maps, among others--trump Facebook's social graph lead.

 

Of course, Google+, which remains a "project" for the Web giant that only lets users in via invitations, has 20 million users, a far cry from Facebook's 750 million users. It's traffic may already be dipping as tech fashionistas look for the next big thing. But developers, cognizant of disruptive changes that trip up market leaders, are always keen to latch onto the next breakthrough. The survey suggests that many believe Google+ could be it.

"Developers are constantly going back and forth on the current real market need and on what's coming up," said Scott Schwarzhoff, Appcelerator's vice president of marketing and one of the surveys co-authors. "Google+ poses an interesting opportunity that catches their eye."

Never mind that Google+ hasn't given developers a set of application programming interfaces to write to yet. The developers in the Appcelerator survey are already keen to write programs for the new service.
The survey found that 72 percent of the respondents plan to write to Google+ APIs in the next 12 to 18 months. That's just one percentage point behind the number that plan to use Twitter's APIs, and only 11 percentage points behind Facebook.

Why so much enthusiasm for a brand-spanking-new service that doesn't even offer APIs yet? The respondents were bullish on Google's innovation with Google+, noting the Circles feature that lets users segment their friends into different groups, such as family, co-workers, or soccer team, and direct updates specifically to those groups. What's more, these are mobile developers and they believe that Google will bake Google+ into its Android mobile operating system, making it easy for them to create programs for devices.
Schwarzhoff believes that mobile developers will predominantly add Google+ features to existing applications, rather than gin up new programs made specifically for the service. But those programs will take advantage of features such as Circles that, the respondents believe, will improve customer loyalty by enabling more targeted use of their applications.

"What you want to do is drive reuse of applications," Schwarzhoff said. "Any feature that helps me do that stands tall."

Appcelerator and IDC conducted the survey June 20 to June 22. The companies surveyed 2,012 developers who use Appcelerator's Titanium application development platform. Appcelerator said that 30 percent of the respondents classified themselves as independent developers and the other 70 percent came from business. And 43 percent of the respondents live in North America, 33 percent live in Europe, the remaining 24 percent are scattered throughout the rest of the world.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20087283-93/developers-believe-google-can-beat-facebook/#ixzz1Tywv80zG