Aussies Quit Beer and Fags! Now Addicted to Smartphones and Social Media?

Blogger and ABC contributor Peter Ryan has a superneat post on a new report confirming what most of us  already knew: Australians are addicted to their smartphones. The survey of smartphone users by tech behemoth Cisco reveals that the daily ritual for Gen Y Aussies kicks off with a quick txt.

Many of the survey participants admitted that they checked for messages, emails and updates at least twice an hour, many becoming anxious when their phone goes astray.

Kevin Bloch isn’t alone, our favourite news agency – Reuters – has an ubercool post on our latest addiction, Social Media.

Social media is now apparently a recognised addiction, a study undertaken last year by the University of Chicago found that Liking and Tweeting can be even more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol. The research showed that social networking sites gave users a burst of the addictive neurotransmitter dopamine :: Read the full article »»»»

Google Maps Back on iPhone as Apple Makes an iMess of iMaps

Google has released a new Maps app for iPhone,the release neatly coincides with Apples inability to get it’s glitch-ridden program right. iPhone users have panned consistently panned iMaps for omitting key landmarks, cities, as well as failing to correctly to give directions.

Google has a serious push for iPhone users underway, promising an entirely new experience with its Google Maps App, including it’s standard – and working – local search functions, voice-guided directions and Street View images of places, as well as the interiors of some 100,000 retail outlets and businesses.

Earlier this year, to much fan-fair, Apple unceremoniously gave Google Maps the boot – which had been the default program for iPhones since the devices inception – when it developed its own mapping application. However, the new Apple developed program immediately drew scorn from iPhone users.

iPhanatics groaned and moaned that Apple’s service – based on Dutch navigation equipment and digital map maker TomTom’s data – contained errors and lacked features that made Google Maps popular.

In October, Scott Forstall, a long-time lieutenant of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was asked to leave the company partly because of his refusal to take responsibility for the mishandling of the mapping software :: Read the full article »»»»

New Alienware MX14,17+18 Ivy Bridge

Hot on the heels of last week’s preview of Intel’s 3rd-generation Core i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge mobile processors, Dell’s Alienware has announced Ivy Bridge availability in its refreshed M14x, M17x, and M18x gaming laptops. The three units also get new GPU and storage options, dedicated Creative Sound Blaster chip, as well as THX TruStudio.

Locally, cnet reported, Dell has officially refreshed its Alienware gaming laptop lineup in parts of Asia Pacific with Ivy Bridge processors. Countries getting the update: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. Unlike the US and UK, those in this region (with the exception of Australia and New Zealand) won’t be seeing the M18x. This means that consumers only get to choose between the M14x and the M17x.x

The 11-inch M11x didn’t make the transition to Ivy Bridge, the company is discontinuing it :: Read the full article »»»»

iOS Developer Ditched By Apple

Famed tech security researcher and hacker – NSA, Accuvant Labs – Charlie Miller has been blacklisted by Apple after he discovered, reported and then opened-up a potential vulnerability within iOS apps. Exploiting the flaw – later patched by Apple – Miller created an app that made it possible to steal data from, and take control of, other iOS devices. Further, Miller managed to get the app through the stringent Apple approval process and had the app posted on Apples App Store for a short while. In 2008 Miller won a $10,000 cash prize at the hacker conference Pwn2Own for being the first hacker to find a critical bug in the MacBook Air. The next year, he won $5,000 for cracking Safari. In 2009 he also demonstrated an SMS processing vulnerability that allowed for complete compromise of the Apple iPhone and denial-of-service attacks on other phones.

Facebook Ordered to Overhaul Privacy Controls

Following on from Facebook’s earlier order/agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission – FTC – over allegations it had a deceptive privacy policy. Under the proposed settlement Facebook will have to submit to independent privacy audits but will not have to fix what it has done in the past. Facebook must now overhaul privacy protection for more than half a billion users outside North America after a three-month investigation found that its privacy policies were overly complex and lacked transparency. The probe by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) at the US company’s international headquarters in Dublin found users risked unknowingly publicising personal details. Users might not be aware, for example, that uploading their photos made them publicly searchable until they changed the setting on their Facebook page. Facebook’s Ireland office handles all of its users outside the United States and Canada. The group operates the world’s largest social networking website with 800 million users, the majority of them outside North America. M★C

Facebook Ordered to Overhaul Privacy Controls

Following on from Facebook’s earlier order/agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission – FTC – over allegations it had a deceptive privacy policy. Under the proposed settlement Facebook will have to submit to independent privacy audits but will not have to fix what it has done in the past. Facebook must now overhaul privacy protection for more than half a billion users outside North America after a three-month investigation found that its privacy policies were overly complex and lacked transparency. The probe by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) at the US company’s international headquarters in Dublin found users risked unknowingly publicising personal details. Users might not be aware, for example, that uploading their photos made them publicly searchable until they changed the setting on their Facebook page. Facebook’s Ireland office handles all of its users outside the United States and Canada. The group operates the world’s largest social networking website with 800 million users, the majority of them outside North America. M★C