Apple patent would enforce parental controls on texting  The company yesterday reportedly secured from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent 7,814,163, which covers "systems, devices, and methods" that allow a user to determine what kind of text-messaging content can be sent or received from a given device.According to the filing, either messages will be blocked entirely or the "forbidden content" will be "removed from the message prior to transmission or as part of the receiving process." In order to filter the content, Apple said that it will use certain criteria as defined by a separate parental control application.That application will include "objective ratings criteria or a user's age or grade level" to determine what kind of words and content will be allowed in text messages, and what will not. Whenever a text message contains inappropriate content, the applications will "alert the user, the administrator, or other designated individuals of the presence of such text." In other words, kids who are trying to get away with an unsavory text message could find their parents being alerted by the app. Apple's filing also points out that the patent could do more than just abet prevention of inappropriate communication. The application could also be used as "an instructional tool or study aid" to help kids with text-based communication, such as grammar, spelling, or vocabulary. The app would allow administrators to send certain messages to students and ask them to respond with the proper response. If the message is grammatically incorrect, for example, the parent or administrator of the tool will be alerted to "the absence of such text." "These embodiments might, for example, require that a certain number of Spanish words per day be included in e-mails for a child learning Spanish," the patent abstract reads.Apple, which applied for the patent in January 2008, could be on to something with this. Inappropriate text messages have been on the increase. In fact, Pew Research found last year that 30 percent of 17-year-olds had received sexually explicit images from others. The practice, known as sexting, is a legal issue for one, but it's also worrisome to parents who don't want their kids to be involved in such practices. Although it seems that Apple's patent relates to text, the proposed service could at least arm parents with another line of defense against their children engaging in inappropriate communication.
Get wet! Toshiba CAMILEO BW10 Sportcam
The Sportcam, first of its kind from Toshiba, has a 2-inch display screen and is waterproof up to 2 metres. With the rubberised exterior, the Camileo BW10 is also shock and dirt proof. The camera has a 10x digital zoom and a maximum ISO sensitivity of 1600, which means you can take pretty pictures even in low ambient light. The Camileo BW10 doesn't scrimp on image quality, packing in Full HD recording at 1080p. The cam also packs in a HDMI output so you can hook it up to a TV with a single cable, a 10-second self-timer to shoot shots of yourself, and one button YouTube uploading to share your clips as soon as you plug it into a PC.
AT&T launching 3 Microsoft-powered phones
Microsoft will launch three new smart phones with AT&T ahead of the holiday shopping season. The new phones will run on Microsoft’s new mobile software in a test of whether Microsoft can catch up with rivals in the fast-growing smart phone market.T-Mobile also plans a phone running Windows Phone 7 software for the holiday season.The new handsets will go up against both the iPhone and the expanding number of phones running on Google’s Android operating system. The phones AT&T plans to launch will be manufactured by HTC, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. The first will go on sale on November 8, with two more coming a few weeks later.The phones could help AT&T make up for the possible loss of its exclusive rights to sell Apple’s hugely popular iPhone. Published reports say the iPhone is coming to Verizon Wireless by early next year. For Microsoft, the new devices represent one step in an uphill struggle. In the most recent quarter, the company’s existing cell phone software accounted for just 5 per cent of the worldwide smart phone market. That compares with 41 per cent for Nokia’s Symbian system, 18 per cent for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry phones, 17 per cent for Android and 14 per cent for the iPhone.At an event in New York on Monday, Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer said the company’s new software will power “a very different kind of phone” than customers are used to. “We want you to get in, get out and back to your life,” he said. The iPhone and Android are popular in part because of the tens of thousands of tiny applications, or “apps,” made by outside software developers. But those developers may not want to devote the resources to build programmes for another smart phone system until it gains traction with users.In the past, Microsoft focused narrowly on building phone software, giving handset makers and wireless carriers lots of leeway to adapt and customise their products. In the wake of the iPhone’s success, Microsoft has adjusted its strategy, retaining more control over the way the phones look and work.The iPhone prompted a generation of look-alike smart phones, with screenfuls of tiny square icons representing each programme. Microsoft has tried to avoid an icon-intensive copy, instead relying more on clickable words and images generated by content. For example, a weather programme might show a constantly updated snapshot of weather conditions; photo or music libraries would be represented by a recent snapshot or the cover of the last album played on the device.Windows Phone 7 borrows its aesthetic from the company’s Zune media players, and the entertainment “hub” on the phone is based on the Zune the same way the music on the iPhone is filed under the “iPod” section.Many other Microsoft programmes and services come built in on the new phones. There’s a mobile version of the Bing search engine, for example, and a games “hub” that can connect to Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online gaming community.
Apple now third-largest PC seller in U.S.
According to the Quarterly PC Tracker Survey released by IDC today, Apple shipped 1.99 million Macs in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2010. That's good for 10.6 percent of the 18.9 million PCs shipped in the U.S., putting Apple's share at its highest in the U.S. in the company's history, according to IDC. While that's still far behind Hewlett-Packard's 24.3 percent share and Dell's 23.1 percent share, both of those companies' shipments remained relatively static over the last year. Apple saw its shipments grow 24 percent from the same quarter a year ago. And it's not just the sales growth of HP and Dell it's besting: the entire U.S. PC market during the third quarter grew just 3.8 percent from a year ago (even though it was forecast at 11 percent), meaning Apple shipments of Macs grew at eight times the rate of everyone else. It's fairly remarkable considering the lingering weakness in the economy and the company's computers having been saddled with the "too expensive" label--whether accurate or not. So why is Apple doing so well selling computers now? IDC analyst David Daoud says the iPad may actually be one of the reasons. "It is very possible that the iPad's marketing right now is impacting [Apple's Mac] business as a halo effect, just like we saw several years ago with the iPod," he said. "The momentum went on with the iPhone, now it appears the iPad is playing a similar role, stimulating sales across its product line." Apple sold more than 3 million iPads between April and June, and it's very likely we'll get an updated number for sales over the last three months when Apple reports its quarterly earnings results on Monday. What is interesting is the suggestion that the iPad is not taking away sales of Macs, but helping them. Unlike the iPod which has a completely different use case than a Mac, there's been discussion over whether the iPad can in some instances replace a notebook computer. Best Buy's CEO was quoted last month saying that the iPad had cut into notebook sales by as much as 50 percent. Though he later backed off that statement, he only said the 50 percent figure was a "gross exaggeration." He didn't say there wasn't any cannibalization effect. Either way, it's good news for the Mac business, which doesn't get nearly the attention it used to, with the iPhone and iPad raking in huge amounts of revenue for the company, and the clear trend in the industry toward highly mobile devices. But we know for sure that next week we'll hear more about the Mac and Mac OS X, when Apple holds a special event at its headquarters to talk about hardware and the next version of the Mac operating system. Here's what CNET expects we might see on the Mac front. Though overall consumer sales weren't so hot, enterprise computer sellers did a decent business during the third quarter, IDC says. Lenovo, which sells heavily to large businesses, grew 32.9 percent in its worldwide sales. The long-awaited "commercial refresh"--the cycle of companies replacing employee computers and IT equipment en masse--continued on schedule. Perennial worldwide market leader HP saw little change in volume, claiming 17.7 percent of the 89.3 million computers shipped in the third quarter. Acer reclaimed its No. 2 spot with 13 percent of shipments, Dell dropped backed to third place with 12.5 percent, Lenovo claimed 10.3 percent of shipments, and newcomer Asus stayed firmly in the top five with 5.4 percent of shipments. Gartner released its market share results today as well, and saw similar numbers: HP with 17.5 percent of shipments worldwide, Acer 13.1, Dell 12.2, Lenovo 10.4, and Asus with 5.4 percent.
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