Sony PlayStation Network downtime continues; personal data in jeopardy?

As the Sony PlayStation Network blackout continues into almost five days of downtime, there could be more problems than we realize.

The PSN outage started last Wednesday night, and even as of Saturday, Sony reps didn’t have many answers as to what is going on. Here’s what we do know:

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* An “external intrusion” is at fault
* Qriocity services will remain down until further notice
* Anonymous, the hacker group that claimed responsibility for the PSN outage earlier this month, claims no involvement this time
* Apps such as Netflix can be accessed still, but it takes multiple login attempts
* Games can still update
* Sony has not said when we can expect this issue to be resolved

What we don’t know? Whether or not personal data attached to PSN accounts (used for things like Music Unlimited subscriptions, buying games, movies, etc.) is at risk. Sony Computer Entertainment rep Satoshi Fukuoka informed PC World that “the company has not yet determined if the personal information or credit card numbers of users have been compromised.”

We could be looking at something much more serious than just a week or so without access to a network that caters to gaming console owners. And if the worst case scenario happens (i.e. all of that data ends up in the wrong hands), Sony could have a lot of furious customers around the world angry soon. All we can do for now is hope for the best…which isn’t really very reassuring.

Related coverage on ZDNet:

* Nintendo 3DS arrives at JetBlue’s Terminal 5 in New York JFK airport
* Nintendo announces Wii 2
* Sony PlayStation 3 sales surpass 50 million units worldwide
* Sony brings Music Unlimited to PlayStation Portable
* Sony NGP release could also be delayed by disaster in Japan

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Apple May Beat Google to Market With Cloud Music Service [REPORT]

According to reports, Apple is almost ready to release a cloud-based music storage service compatible with iTunes.

Sources say the product is finished, and Apple might be ready to launch its service before Google’s competitive product sees the light of day.

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Several sources close to the matter and aware of both companies’ plans told Reuters that Apple will soon let iTunes customers keep their music libraries on a remote server. The music would then be accessible from any Internet-connected, iTunes-running device.

But though the technology is in place, one all-important piece is missing from both music offerings: licensing agreements with major record labels. Google is stalling on its own music projects due to rumored tiffs with record labels, and Apple has yet to discuss any new licensing agreements with labels, according to Reuters’ sources.

However, since the latter company has been working with musicians for a long time vis-a-vis iTunes and iTunes’ new social component, Ping, one might imagine that Apple has a laid some groundwork for fruitful discussions around licensing.

Google was rumored to be building an iTunes competitor in the summer of 2010. The service was said to have an Android-friendly component or two, and the Android music store was expected to launch with the release of Gingerbread. The service was also rumored to include music-streaming options in addition to music locker features.

However, more current reports suggest that Google may be further than ever from an actual launch due to licensing snafus with major record labels, particularly Warner Music Group.

We’ll keep you updated on Apple and Google’s music services as the weeks wear on — particularly next month, when Google is set to make a slew of announcements at its annual developer conference, Google I/O.

Is The White iPhone 4 Arriving Next Week?

Apple fans with an Ahab-esque obsession with the Great White iPhone may finally have reason to shout, "Thar she blows!" Images of a purported white iPhone 4 wrapped in retail packaging were posted by Engadget Friday and later in the day 9 to 5 Mac quoted sources who said the product would begin selling in The Netherlands next Wednesday.

Rumors of a white version of the Apple iPhone have become something of a cottage industry for tech publications. Apple originally planned to make both a black and white iPhone 4 available when it launched the fourth-generation smartphone last year.

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But the company wound up delaying the white version of the iPhone 4, saying in a June statement that it had "proven more challenging to manufacture than expected." Apple promised to release a white iPhone 4 by the end of July, but on July 23, Apple conceded that the white iPhone would not be available until the end of the year.

Some10 months after the black iPhone 4 was released, Apple may finally be ready to start selling the white version.

The Engadget images were reportedly sent in by a British Vodafone UK customer who was accidently shown an in-stock 16GB white iPhone 4—the salesperson actually rang it up as a black iPhone, according to Engadget's source—long enough to snap some pictures before the sale was halted and any more such sales were postponed "until next week."

Engadget compared the model number shown in the pictures to an in-house UK iPhone 4 and came away convinced the white phone in the shots was the real deal.

Meanwhile, 9 to 5 Mac received word from its own tipster that Dutch retailer BelCompany would begin selling 16GB iPhone 4s next Wednesday. An unconfirmed BelCompany memo further stated that "a limited number of retail stores will receive a single 32GB white iPhone."

Dutch shoppers had better get up early Wednesday morning, however—the memo goes on to say that when the first batch of white iPhones runs out, it will take four to five weeks to get any more.

AT&T and Verizon have apparently been more circumspect than their European counterparts. If the two U.S.-based Apple partners have any white iPhones ready to start selling, they've been mum about it.

iPhone 5 Rumor: New Model to Be 'Completely Redesigned'

Various sources are reporting that Apple is shifting suppliers for parts of its next iPhone and that the new model, the fifth version of the phone, will be a complete redesign for the product.

The news that Apple is changing suppliers is the latest from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News, reported elsewhere. Apple is said to be turning to Taiwanese manufacturers Foxconn and Foxlink for some parts of the iPhone 5 in an effort to cut production costs.

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At the same time, Engadget cites "sources" in saying the next iPhone will be a "completely redesigned handset." The report goes on to speculate that the iPhone 5 will have a Qualcomm GSM/CDMA chipset and a new processor called the A5. The phone is said to be a "total rethink," but supposedly it won't feature LTE 4G connectivity.

The Qualcomm chip rumor is buoyed by the recent unveiling of the Verizon iPhone, which will have a Qualcomm CDMA chip. Additionally, rethinking the design of the iPhone seems prudent in the wake of the release of several Android phones with screens larger than the iPhone's 3.5-inch display. The bad press received by the iPhone 4's external antenna may also be a factor.

If Apple follows its normal product refresh cycle, the next iPhone should arrive this summer, most likely on the heels of a refreshed iPad.

Mobile Phone Deals - Affordable Deals For Every Consumer

Mobile phones are something that is more than a necessity for every human being on this planet. These small gadgets help us to stay in touch with our friends, lovers, relatives no matter what part of the world they are on. Relatives or friends living in any part of the world are now just a call away. These communication devices also serve us in carrying out the several tasks of our daily life conveniently.

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These days, mobile phone market is flooded with countless handsets and with each new day we are witnessing newer handsets arriving in the market. All these handsets are equipped with excellent features and appealing designs which creates sensation in the hearts of consumers and mobile critics. Earlier these widgets were the monopoly of rich class only and were considered as a luxury. But, now the situation has changed a lot. With the advancement of technology, mobile phones are now within the reach of common man. Now new handsets with sophisticated technology are available at low rate price tags. Consumers from every economic class can now afford to buy these tiny gadgets.

People use mobile phones for lots of purposes like listening to their favorite trcks, clicking photographs, recording videos, playing video games, text messaging, accessing high speed Internet, video calling, etc. These days, these gadgets are very simple to use and are available in the market at very affordable rates thanks to the presence of mobile phone deals which are offered by all top notch network operators. Professionals take advantage of these awe-inspiring gadgets to operate their professional life with ease and also to stay connected with their clients and employees in every part of the world. Multinational corporations are the one who take maximum advantage of this technology as their businesses are spread all over the world. To monitor such huge business empire they need mobile phones.

As stated above mobile phone deals are the most appropriate way to avail mobile phones at cheap price tags. These deals permit consumers to avail handsets from any major mobile manufacturer like HTC, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Blackberry, Apple etc. These nicely configured handsets are loaded with cutting edge ltechnology and alluring design.

Users have a long list of handsets to choose from. To get these handsets, we know that mobile phone deals are the best way. But these deals are available in different categories as contract, pay as you go, SIM free and SIM only deals. Network operators offering such exciting deals include Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin, Three and O2. The main factor behind the popularity of such deals is that users are also entitled to receive lots of unbelievable free gifts like free DVD players, laptops, computers, LCD TVs, Sony Playstation, PSP, vacuum cleaners, digital camcorders, Bluetooth headsets, car kit, coffee makers, home appliances, etc.

These cheap mobile phone deals also offer many incentives like free talk time, free text for messages, instant cash back offers, free data usage, free line rentals, discounted call rates, etc.

Open source programming tools on the rise II

Of course, not everyone welcomes the flexibility Git provides. Some see this freedom enabling confusion. Proponents counter that you're not required to use all of Git's power, but it's there to help out when the project requires more than a central government. Some developers have create Repo to combat the complexity of Git. A tool for pushing changes through multiple repositories, Repo is, in a way, the re-emergence of central control for the Git ecosystem.

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Open source programming tool on the rise: Gerrit
The rise of code reviews at larger development shops could lead to only one thing: the creation of a tool to automate the process. Enter Gerrit.

Meant to work closely with Git and Repo, Gerrit allows code validators to send comments to the central Git repository, creating an extensive meta layer of discussion on top of the code itself. In the old days, discussions took place in header comments, but by separating comments to a dedicated layer, Gerrit allows for a more sophisticated discussion that doesn't force future readers to wade through old change discussions before getting to the code.

Open source programming tool on the rise: Hadoop
The power of Hadoop was put publicly on display in the form of Watson, IBM's "DeepQA" machine that recently beat the two greatest human champions in a game of "Jeopardy." The framework was used to orchestrate dozens of algorithms searching for an answer in parallel.

Hadoop is a general tool kit for splitting apart the work into pieces that can be computed on separate servers, then joined together into a final product. Google pioneered the idea when it needed to choreograph a vast army of servers to crawl the Web, and now Hadoop offers a general framework that's being used again and again in similar situtations.

Hadoop's original simple core may be several years old now, but there's a great deal of interest in spinoffs that bundle Hadoop with code for tackling specific problems. Mahout, for one, is a scalable machine-learning framework that analyzes large data sets for patterns that might emerge. Hive offers a data warehouse that can be queried with parallel search using HiveQL. This method is fast becoming a popular approach for dealing with massive quantities of Web logs.

Open source programming tool on the rise: jQuery
jQuery is not a new tool for people building active Web pages with JavaScript that manipulates the DOM. Many Web developers start off learning jQuery before trying to understand pure JavaScript because it's so much simpler and efficient. Part of the reason for its success is the layer of plug-ins created by a vast army of devotees. This collection of plug-ins is a quickly changing ecosystem filled with very creative and amazing tools for enhancing websites. There are too many to begin to list.

These plug-ins are usually pretty easy to string together and glue into a coherent display. There are even some bigger collections of plug-ins that harmonize the widgets. jQuery Mobile, for instance, is dedicated to producing applications that run well on the small screens of smartphones.

Google Apps updates...something for everyone or about time?

This week, Google announced several updates to its Google Apps online productivity suite. Improved migration tools and the ability to paginate Google Docs were followed by an new administrator interface. And yes, I did just say that Google announced pagination.

In fairness, Google Docs has had the ability to insert page breaks for some time now. You just couldn’t really see the pages very well. Or know for sure where soft breaks would occur. Fairness aside, though, this bit of news is being met with almost as much scorn as the great ruler debacle of 2010. A year ago today, Google announced a ruler with tab stops in the Google Docs interface and Microsoft responded with an unusually clever snark:

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Andrew Kisslo, a Sr. Product Manager with the Office group, blogged about the new features on Wednesday, noting, “Rumor is the WordPad Team is very nervous about that leap in productivity gain. (Yes that’s a joke.)”

And yet…

Google Docs has always been about creating content and sharing it with coworkers. Page breaks, after all, don’t exist on the Internet. Only scroll wheels or, if you’re lucky, two-fingered scrolling on your touchpad, make the difference between a short page and a long one.

I use Google Docs now in my new job working for a virtual classroom company more than I ever have. The majority of my colleagues are in northern and central India and we get to talk when we occasionally happen to be conscious simultaneously. Fortunately, I’m a night owl and they seem to just work all the time, so it’s OK. However, as their head of marketing, I’m constantly collaborating on documents and pulling together content that will ultimately go into a CMS, onto a web page, or into a press release anyway. It doesn’t matter if it has pages.

Of course, it’s smart of Google to add this visual queue. Students around the world have had to hit Print every 10 minutes to see if they’ve actually written a 5-page essay since schools started adopting Google Apps. Now, they will know for sure.

But now for the more substantive updates. You can now add custom themes to Gmail!

OK, now I’m being snarky.

The updates that matter include the deprecation of their IMAP email migration tool, used to bring user accounts from other systems over to Apps. Rather, the Exchange Migration tool has been enhanced to handle more than just Exchange. According to the Google blog,

The IMAP mail migration tool in the administrator Control Panel will no longer be accessible as of April 30th. We recommend using the Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange utility which migrates email from IMAP mail servers in addition to supporting migration from Exchange Server 2003/2007/2010, PST files, and Google Apps.

The update to the “Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange” is discussed in more detail here.

There were other updates for Lotus Notes users, but I think they all work at IBM anyway, so we can ignore those.

The point of all this is that Google Apps is steadily marching forward with enhancements and tweaks. Nothing revolutionary recently, but many enhancements to the entire suite of related products. As I asked a year ago, is it enough to compete with Office 2010? It certainly is in my job right now. I think it is for a lot of other users, too. But even I can’t keep the snark out of a blog post on these little tweaks. Maybe it’s just late and I should get some sleep, but more likely, Google still has a ways to go to convince people that all they really need is a browser.