Report: Apple Releases iOS 4.2 to Developers

Apple has released iOS 4.2 to developers, according to a Monday report from Apple Insider.

The release, known as build 8C134, is for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices, which could mean iOS 4.2 will be released soon, the blog said.

Among the features expected to be included in iOS 4.2 is AirPlay, which Apple chief executive Steve Jobs showed off at a September press event. AirPlay will allow users to stream content from any iOS device to an Apple TV. Start watching something on Apple TV in the living room, walk into another room, and pick it up on the iPad, he said.

The updated OS will also include a printing feature called AirPrint, which Apple described as its "powerful new printing architecture that matches the simplicity of iOS—no set up, no configuration, no printer drivers and no software to download."

The update is also expected to include multitasking and iOS folders for the iPad, as well as a variety of other features already on the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple Insider said. It will also bring GameCenter to the iPad, enhanced enterprise support, and new language andaccessibility features.

by Chloe Albanesius

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Turkish Court Orders YouTube Closure Days After Service Resumed

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- A Turkish court ordered that access to Google Inc.’s YouTube website be blocked again, days after the site was reopened following a 30-month ban.

The court in Ankara ordered the closure because the site posted videos showing former opposition leader Deniz Baykal, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported. Baykal quit as leader of the Republican People’s Party in May after a video on the internet showed him in a bedroom with a female lawmaker.

The court instructed Turkey’s telecommunications regulator to ask YouTube to remove the video, and block access to the site if it failed to comply, Anatolia said. YouTube was still accessible from Turkey as of 9 p.m. local time today.

Turkey in the past week relaxed a ban on YouTube that had been imposed in May 2008 after videos on the site were deemed by courts to have insulted the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which is a crime in the country.

YouTube reposted the videos that led to that ban to make them accessible from outside Turkey, after deciding that they didn’t violate its copyright policies, Ozlem Oz, a spokeswoman for Google in Turkey, said yesterday.

Turkish visitors to the YouTube site have been able to circumvent the ban by using so-called proxy websites.

Las Vegas-based Gabriel Ramuglia, 27, manager of hundreds of proxy sites, told Istanbul-based Hurriyet Daily News that YouTube-specific traffic from Turkey, which made up a substantial portion of his revenue, had dropped by half in three days following the lifting of the ban. The newspaper didn’t give specifics of the decline in revenue.

More than 4,000 other websites remain banned in Turkey, Hurriyet reported.

By Benjamin Harvey and Steve Bryant

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Facebook Knows When You'll Break Up

(CNN) -- Worried about when you might get dumped? Facebook knows.

That's according to a graphic making the rounds online that uses Facebook status updates to chart what time of year people are splitting up.

British journalist and graphic designer David McCandless, who specializes in showcasing data in visual ways, compiled the chart. He showed off the graphic at a TED conference last July in Oxford, England.

In the talk, McCandless said he and a colleague scraped 10,000 Facebook status updates for the phrases "breakup" and "broken up."

They found two big spikes on the calendar for breakups. The first was after Valentine's Day -- that holiday has a way of defining relationships, for better or worse -- and in the weeks leading up to spring break. Maybe spring fever makes people restless, or maybe college students just don't want to be tied down when they're partying in Cancun.

And let's hear it for cheapskates. The other big romantically treacherous time, according to the graph, is about two weeks before Christmas -- presumably as people begin pricing gifts for their significant others.

Mondays, as if they weren't bad enough, are the most likely day to break up. Summer and fall look like the safest seasons.

And, possibly showing that some people's sense of humor is more twisted than others, there's a spike in breakups on April Fool's Day.

What single day are you least likely to get a "Dear John (or Jane)" letter?

"Christmas Day," McCandless said. "Who would do that?"

(Via Geekosystem)

by Doug Gross

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Ford's unlikely do-it-yourself racer, Fiesta

Ford's unlikely do-it-yourself racer, Fiesta

As racers go, the Ford Fiesta is kind of a squirt. But Ford thinks the subcompact car will be a lot of fun for true-blue racing enthusiasts. Today, Ford announces at the SEMA trade show in Las Vegas that it's going to put a line of racing parts out for Fiesta.




CAPTION
Ford Motor via WieckThe Ford Racing Performance Group is bringing the competition-ready package stateside from Europe to let enthusiasts turn their five-door Fiesta into a Fiesta R2 that's ready to compete on the roads of RallyCar's Rally America National Championship.

The kit will convert a production Fiesta to rally specification. It includes new pistons, connecting rods, camshafts, valve springs, injectors, airbox, air filter and a sump baffle kit to improve engine performance. It boosts Fiesta's performance to 168 horsepower, a 40% increase over the stock Fiesta.

The package is now available for order through Team O'Neil Motorsports, a division of Team O'Neil Rally School in New Hampshire.

"The spirit of One Ford is making it possible for us to bring the best of European rally racing to competitors in the U.S.," said Jamie Allison, director of Ford North America Motorsport. "The Fiesta R2 has already proven itself in Europe as a great platform for aspiring rally drivers."

The winner of the 2011 U.S. Fiesta Sport Trophy Championship will also have the opportunity to compete in the R2 class during next year's Wales Rally GB.

by http://content.usatoday.com

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Microsoft to drop 3D, plug-in need in Bing Maps

Microsoft to drop 3D, plug-in need in Bing Maps 

Microsoft has taken the covers off a future update to its Bing Maps service that removes the need for its Silverlight browser plug-in to view an alternate mapping layer, and has also announced that it plans to remove its 3D map viewer. The changes will arguably make the service more approachable to the masses, but indicate that the company is going in a different direction with its online tools and technology platforms.

In a post on the Bing community blog, Bing Maps Product Manager Brian Hendricks detailed two big changes to the company's online mapping service.

The first of those is the removal of the 3D maps layer, which lets users see 3D renderings of some buildings, as well as landscape topography. Microsoft first introduced the 3D feature in early 2007, and it's since come to include nearly 70 cities around the world.

To make sure the removal of 3D doesn't litter the Web with a bunch of non-working URLs, the company is changing every map link, map tour, and desktop shortcut to simply direct users to whatever part of the map the 3D version had been pointing to. Buildings that had been 3D models before will also become pushpin locations.

The other change coming to Bing Maps is more subtle and may even go unnoticed by many. Users no longer need to have Silverlight installed to use Bing Maps' bird's-eye view. This is the isometric view that the company has used in addition to top-down photography to give users a better sense of two-dimensional scale. Here's the difference compared to your standard aerial view:

According to Hendricks, this change was due to the company's efforts with Ajax, which, as Hendricks notes, allows people to use the feature "without custom plug-ins for individual features." That also means bird's-eye view will work on mobile devices that may not have been able to run the Silverlight runtime.

(left) Bing's aerial view provides a top-down view,
while (right) bird's-eye is taken at a 45-degree angle.(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)



The changes go along well with Microsoft's push to implement
Web standards in the browser, as was presented at the company's
 Professional Developers Conference, which took place last week.
But at the same time, it also muddles the message the company has
 been pushing since yesterday, that it still believes Silverlight to be an
important technology, and one that can differentiate itself from existing
Web services. Saying the same thing can now be done with Ajax, the
technology Silverlight was utilized to replace just less than a year ago,
does not say much for its future as part of the company's online services strategy.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has released a statement
 clarifying some of the changes mentioned in the company's post:


Today's announcement on the Bing Maps blog was around
 the end of life of the Active X-based 3D Map control and it
 has nothing to do with our commitment to Silverlight.
We continue to invest in Silverlight functionality, which delivers
the richest possible experience for our users; specifically through
our map apps that run in the browser on the PC and the
Silverlight map control forWindows Phone 7 applications.

by Josh Lowensohn

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W3C publishes "extremely silly" HTML5 test results suggesting win for Internet Explorer 9

W3C publishes "extremely silly" HTML5 test results suggesting win for Internet Explorer 9

A preview version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 browser engine passed more elements of a web standards test than a random selection of other browsers in the Worldwide Web Consortium's "vastly incomplete" HTML5 test suite, creating a news story that W3C members decried as "incorrect information" based on a "rather buggy test results page."

A variety of sources have reported the published results of the W3C test suite without noting that the browser Microsoft submitted for testing on October 28 was its "hot off the press" Internet Explorer Platform Preview 6, introduced to developers at the company's Professional Developers Conference just days earlier. Microsoft's "platform preview" was compared against Apple's currently shipping Safari 5.0.2 (publicly released two months ago), as well a beta version of Google Chrome 7, Mozilla's Firefox 4 beta 6, and an alpha build of Opera 11. 

The results, published and amplified by Microsoft in a blog posting, suggest exceptional HTML5 web standards compliance in the company's upcoming Internet Explorer 9 and depict a significant lead over other browsers in web standards performance.

"Bogus," "buggy test results" used in "creating PR events" 

The W3C's internal HTML5 test results were copied to a public web site labeled "Official HTML5 Test Suite Conformance Results," and were subsequently picked up by the tech media to falsely suggest Internet Explorer 9 "outperforms other browsers in HTML5 compliance." 

The result was then discussed in emails between W3C members, including Anne van Kesteren of Opera, Maciej Stachowiak of Apple, Jonathan Griffin of Mozilla, Mikkel Toudal Kristiansen of Google, and Kris Krueger of Microsoft. 

Opera's van Kesteren wrote, "This test suite is vastly incomplete. Publishing unverified results of a vastly incomplete test suite without a big fat warning is extremely silly. Why was this done?"

Stachowiak responded, "It's also strange that the results include alpha/beta/preview versions of most browsers, but the stable version of Safari [rather than the latestnightly build]. Wouldn't be a big deal other than the fact that this rather buggy test results page was labeled as 'Official' and then picked up in the press as authoritative. We should probably be cautious about the chance of creating PR events based on incorrect information."

Google employee Ian Hickson, the author and maintainer of the Acid2 and Acid3 tests and the HTML 5 specification itself, added, "I agree with Anne that it's rather pointless to be publishing results for this test suite. Realistically speaking the test suite isn't even 0.1% complete yet."

Another member of the email thread, identified only as "miss.verstaendnis@nurfuerspam.de," responded, "Apologies to all. That was just a transmission of a test result to the public list. I did not expect that this result is published immediately." The individual's email address literally means "Miss Understanding" in German, with the placeholder domain name "only for spam." 

Microsoft's big push to catch up in HTML5, reach iOS users 

Microsoft's currently shipping version of Internet Explorer 8 fails nearly every HTML5, SVG, CSS3, DOM, and JavaScript test across the board. The dramatic reversal of Microsoft's browser performance in the W3C's HTML5 test suite appears to align with the company's recently stated intent to switch gears in pushing HTML5 web standards over its own Silverlight proprietary web-replacement plugin, in large part an effort to reach Apple's installed base of iOS users who can't install Silverlight.

Microsoft has also channeled resources in its money-hemorrhaging Online Services Division to focus Bing web search and maps features on using HTML5 embellishments rather than using Silverlight, an effort the company profiled on stage at Apple's WWDC event this summer. At the time, Apple's Steve Jobs announced that both iOS devices and Safari 5 would gain access to Microsoft's Bing service as a web search option.

The company has also changed its mind about supporting Canvas, an element of HTML5 used to create dynamic, scriptable rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images within web pages. Canvas, originally created by Apple and contributed royalty free to the HTML5 specification, enables HTML5 developers to create animations and games without needing a plugin helper like Flash or Silverlight. 

This spring, Microsoft was promising HTML5 support in IE9 but was still reserving the right to exclude support for Canvas, likely in an effort to protect a market for Silverlight. The company is now including support, albeit in a limited fashion. 

Microsoft aces its own tests 

However, there's another reason why Microsoft has vaulted from dead last to first place in HTML5 benchmarks: the company has essentially written the W3C's test suite used to generate the scores.

Microsoft has openly contributed thousands of test cases to the W3C pertaining to elements of the HTML5 technology portfolio (which collectively includes CSS, JavaScript and a variety of other components in addition to HTML itself). 

Additionally, the test also completely ignores HTML5 features critical to real world web applications, such support for drag and drop, Web Workers, the File API, local storage, and CSS3 transforms and other animations. Further, Microsoft only reports IE's performance against its own tests. 

This allows Microsoft's engineers to focus on scoring well on the tests they wrote, while not necessarily competing with other browsers to actually support web standards properly. Internet Explorer certainly does not lead in the performance rankings of independent web standards tests that were not invented by Microsoft, such as Acid3, which focuses on DOM and JavaScript compliance.

Internet Explorer 9 still isn't standards compliant 

For example, despite publishing scores that suggest Internet Explorer 9 will pass all of the W3C tests it submitted related to SVG (scalable vector graphics) on its website, Microsoft's data "doesn't actually show SVG compliance as such," noted "Haavard," a blogger who works at Opera. 

Haavard cited CodeDread, a site detailing real world SVG support in different browsers. "As you can see, IE9 still does poorly compared to other browsers. So while Microsoft's own page would give you the impression that IE9 has excellent SVG support, that is not the reality," Haavard wrote. 

CodeDread's tests, based on the official SVG Test Suite, assigned shipping versions of Safari, Chrome and Opera "A" scores, while Firefox got a "C" and Internet Explorer 8 earned an "F," failing every test. Microsoft's IE9 Previews have only inched up from "F" to "D" over the past year, despite passing with flying colors the limited set of SVG tests that Microsoft invented for the W3C.

By Daniel Eran Dilger

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Google Chrome OS Netbook Launching This Month: Report

Google Chrome OS Netbook Launching This Month

Google may sell a Chrome Operating System netbook this month from a Webstore, according to Digitimes. The device would compete with other netbooks, Apple's iPad and Android tablets.

Google Chrome OS Netbook Launching This Month: Report - Analysts

Discuss Chrome OS Netbook from Google 

Google will sell a netbook based on its Chrome Operating System online similar to the way it sold its Nexus One smartphone, according to Digitimes.

Chrome OS is a Web operating system Google is building to run on netbooks as an alternative to computers running traditional operating systems such as Microsoft's Windows and Apple's Mac.

The platform, intended initially for netbooks sans local storage, will support Web applications running in Google's Chrome Web browser. Google introducedChrome OS last November with a goal to have it running on netbooks by November 2010.

Digitimes said Nov. 2 that the search engine will launch a Google-branded netbook built by Inventec through a Webstore online instead of through traditional retailers such as Best Buy. Shipments of this ARM chip-powered netbook will range from 60,000 to 70,000 units.

Google declined to comment on what it deemed "rumor or speculation" from Digitimes, which added that Chrome OS netbooks from major computer makers such as Acer and Hewlett-Packard will arrive in December. Those machines would be offered from retail outlets.

The idea that Google would try to sell netbooks, presumably sight unseen or untouched, through a Webstore is a bit of a surprise after the market demise of the Nexus One smartphone.

Google began selling the Nexus One, built by HTC and running Android 2.1 and only the software Google chose to put on it, online Jan. 5. Users could order it $529 unlocked or $179 with a two-year deal from T-Mobile.

The device didn't sell well and Verizon Wireless and Sprint backed off plans to support it. Google shuttered this online store in May.

If people were unwilling to purchase a phone without playing with it in a Best Buy or carrier outlet, wouldn't they eschew the same method for a netbook with an unproven new operating system?

Analysts aren't so sure.



IDC analyst Al Hilwa told eWEEK consumers are ready to try new things, making it a great time to launch disruptive appliances at the right prices and with the right content and usability.

"I would withhold judgment on whether this is a runaway success until I am able to play with one," Hilwa said.

"My instinct is that there are specific scenarios where this makes sense, but the bar for usability has been set high by Apple and Microsoft in the PC space, so it will be tough for a general purpose platform to breakthrough."

Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin told eWEEK that the goal in launching the Nexus One and Chrome OS netbook may be different. For instance, with the Nexus One Google wanted to disrupt the mobile phone market by reducing the role of the carrier.

"Consumers already buy their netbooks like other retail products, and carriers play a very small role (our data say that a paltry 6 percent of netbook owners bought theirs from a carrier), so the same objectives wouldn't seem to apply in this case," Golvin added.

In any case, Golvin said Google had better offer good tech support if it sells a Chrome OS netbook, which is likely to be purchased by very tech savvy buyers in the early going.

"As the buyer profile becomes more mainstream (if it does), the lack of physical retail outlets where consumers can actually experience the UI and hardwarewill be more problematic," he added.

Google and computer makers face another challenge in spurring adoption for Chrome OS netbooks in the form of tablet computers.

Apple's iPad tablet computer has come on so strong that it has spurred Samsung, Archos, ViewSonic and others to build Android tablets to get a piece of that mobile computing action.

Tablets are already chomping netbook share, making Chrome OS machines no safe bet this holiday season.
By: Clint Boulton

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