What should WebOS smartphone and tablet owners do now?

Hewlett-Packard has turned out the lights on its WebOS smartphones and new tablet, the TouchPad, so what should you do if you've already got one of these products?

  

That's a good question. Here are a few (somewhat humorous) suggestions from CNET:

1 . Put them on the shelf with your Microsoft Kin (The Kin lasted 48 days on the market before being canceled; the HP TouchPad lasted 49.)
 2 . Use your pebble-shaped Palm Pre as a stone in your Zen garden.

3 . Turn your Palm Pixi into a table-leveler. You can put it underneath wobbly tables instead of sugar packets.

4 . Throw it in your junk drawer with your Palm Pilot and Palm Treo.

5 . Put your TouchPad under your pillow and hope the tablet fairy brings you an iPad 2

But seriously, this is a sad event for many loyal Palm fans. Hewlett-Packard yesterday announced that it is discontinuing the sale of devices running WebOS, the operating system that the computer maker acquired from Palm last year. The news means that HP will stop selling the recently launched TouchPad tablet as well as WebOS-based smartphones, such as the Palm Pre 2, HP Veer, and the upcoming Palm Pre 3.

The Palm Pre was the first device to debut with the WebOS software, and it caused quite a stir when it was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2009. The software won praise from experts, such as CNET Reviews senior editor Bonnie Cha, who said in her original review that the it offered "unparalleled" multitasking and notifications capabilities. She also noted that it had a sharp multitouch display and excellent Web browser and multimedia integration.

Unfortunately for Palm and the company's loyal following, the Pre and the WebOS devices that followed never made much of splash in the market. The Palm Pixi, Palm PrePlus, Palm Pixi Plus, Palm Pre 2, HP Veer, Palm Pre 3, and the HP TouchPad have collectively garnered a relatively small following.

Still, Palm fans have been a loyal bunch, many of them are former Treo fans. While the audience for the products has been tiny compared to their competitors, there are still some consumers with older or even recently purchased WebOS devices. So what are these consumers to do?

CNET contacted HP to find out what the company plans to offer in terms of support for its existing WebOS products. And an HP spokesman sent a one-sentence statement: "HP stands by its customers. We will continue to support existing products."

Exactly what this means is still a bit unclear. HP has a page on its Web site that describes support for the various Palm products. There are four main tiers of support for the Palm products:

Current: These products include ones that have been recently released, which includes all of the WebOS devices and the Palm Centro. Consumers can expect to be eligible for the full range of HP consumer support services that are available through sales channels in their region. Of course, what happens to HP's traditional product support is also in question now that HP says it plans to spin off its consumer PC business.

Mature: These include products that are no longer sold by HP and its resellers. Products in this category include many of the former Palm Treo phones. But technically, it will also soon include the WebOS products. This class of Palm product receives some HP support, but the company notes that support "may be limited or evaluated by HP in preparation for the next support lifecycle phase."

Legacy: These are products that haven't been sold by Palm in a very long time. (Think the oldest versions of the Palm Treos.) Palm offers paid phone support for these products and you may search or post a question in the Community Help Forums (English). Software updates to add compatibility with new Windows or Mac OS releases, service packs, and mail servers may not be available for legacy products, the company says on the Web site.

Historical: These include products from Palm and Handspring that haven't been available for ages. Online support materials are no longer available for these products. And HP doesn't offer assisted support via phone or Internet chat. If customers need help with a historical product, HP suggests searching or posting a question in the Community Help Forums.

HP also hasn't answered questions about whether or not it will allow customers to return recently purchased devices for a refund. But it is likely that the only refund customers can expect are the ones offered by retailers or wireless carriers where their WebOS devices have been purchased.

Best Buy, which sells WebOS smartphones and the TouchPad, allows customers to return products, such as computers, monitors, digital cameras, iPads, tablets and radar detectors, within 14 days of purchase. There is also a 25 percent restocking fee.

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Think Windows is insecure? Review Windows Security Praised

Conventional wisdom has it that Windows and products from Microsoft are extremely unsafe, easy targets for hackers. That conventional wisdom is wrong, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab's recent quarterly malware report, which found not a single Microsoft-related threat in the top ten.

The Kapersky Lab quarterly report has this to say about Microsoft products:

For the very first time in its history, the top 10 rating of vulnerabilities includes products from just two companies: Adobe and Oracle (Java), with seven of those 10 vulnerabilities being found in Adobe Flash Player alone. Microsoft products have disappeared from this ranking due to improvements in the automatic Windows update mechanism and the growing proportion of users who have Windows 7 installed on their PCs.

So if you're running Windows --- especially Windows 7 --- you don't need to worry that you're a sitting duck.

Windows blogger Ed Bott notes that at the Black Hat conference, security expert Chris Paget praised Windows security as well. Paget was hired to find security holes in Vista before it shipped, as a way to make the OS safer. She called Microsoft's security "world-leading" and said:

"Microsoft's security process is spectacular."

So if you're one of those who thinks that Windows and other Microsoft products are riddled with security holes, the message is simple: You're living in the past.

 

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Apple's news: Apple is reportedly eyeing a post-x86 future

Apple is reportedly eyeing a post-x86 future as it prepares to merge iOS and Mac OS X into a single unified platform.

According to Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek, the inevitable transition is likely to begin in 2012 with a new MacBook Air featuring Apple's next-gen A6 processor, which will also power future iterations of the iPad and iPhone.

"We believe Apple is ready to start sampling the A6 quad-core app processor and will be the first to such multi-device platform capable of PC-like strength," Misek wrote in an industry note cited by AppleInsider.

Nevertheless, Cupertino will probably retain Intel x86 processors for the majority of its Mac lineup - MacBook Pro and desktops - until 2016.

"Our preliminary view is that Apple can use a 32-bit ARM architecture to address the vast majority of the OS X ecosystem's needs in 2012-13 except for high-end professional devices," Misek explained. 

"When 64-bit ARM is available in 2016, we believe Apple will have a single OS and hardware architecture."

Reports of Apple moving away from x86 architecture and towards a RISC-based future have multiplied over the past year, with sites like SemiAccurate stating the transition is already a "done deal."

"Intel is out, and Apple chips are in. The only question left is if they will use their own core, a Samsung core, or the generic ARM black box," tech guru Charlie Demerjian wrote in May 2011. 



"My bet is on generic for the first round, with a custom uncore, and moving to progressively more proprietary features with each successive generation."

However, Silicon Valley chip expert David Kanter believes Apple won't switch its laptops to ARM anytime soon. Yet, Kanter does acknowledge that eventually unifying three major platforms (computers, tablets and phones) would make it far easier for developers to target Apple platforms.

"In some ways, this might be the most sensible, since expanding the iOS installed base would help Apple create a more attractive market for developers compared to Android and could facilitate tying the iPhone to other Mac products. [Remember], Apple has few attachments to x86 and would not hesitate to shift to a better alternative," Kanter wrote in a RealWorldTech analysis.

"[Yet], there are no ARM designs [to] meet Apple's needs for performance and efficiency in the next two or three years. Even if there was, it is hard to see how such a design would be substantially better than AMD's offerings. Over 5-10 years though, many of the technical and business hurdles may change. The ARM ecosystem is moving forward at a rapid pace, and Apple is watching carefully."



Kanter also opined that Cupertino may be planning to design a hybrid x86-ARM system at some point in the near future.

"There are a number of ways putting ARM near a computer could be quite interesting and valuable... For example, Apple could include an ARM core in future notebooks for 'instant-on' web browsing while the computer is booting - something done in certain Dell and HP models. A [further] extension of that idea would be an update to OS X with an iOS emulator and maybe a co-processor for future hardware."

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Top 11 Tips to Ensure Great Smartphone Photography

You probably don't carry your fancy-pants DSLR camera with you all the time, but your smartphone--along with its built-in camera--is in your pocket everywhere you go. That's why these days the most popular camera used to upload photos to Flickr isn't a camera at all, but the iPhone.

The challenge, of course, is getting great-looking photos from a gadget primarily designed for chatting. If you keep a few tips in mind, you can take some pretty sharp pictures with either an iPhone or an Android phone. Here is what you need to know (click all photos to enlarge).


1. Let the sun shine in: Your phone can handle a lot of situations with aplomb, but it can't shoot every scene you encounter. The teeny image sensor craves light, and does best outdoors, in daylight. For the best exposures, follow the same advice that photographers have kept in mind for decades:

Let sunlight help your photography.Try to put the sun behind you or over one of your shoulders. Avoid shooting directly into the sun, or you'll radically underexpose your subject. If you're shooting indoors, put your back to the window and turn on the lights.

2. Compose your photos: Capturing a good photo isn't merely about knowing the right settings. Compose your photos as the pros do. Divide the frame into thirds--imagine a tic-tac-toe board--and put your subject on one of those lines, rather than in the middle of the screen.

Divide your frame into thirds.Be careful to keep the camera level, too; nothing ruins a photo like a tilted horizon. Keep an eye on the background to be sure that nothing is "growing" out of the top of someone's head.


3. Start the camera faster: Some phones make it so hard to get to the camera that you might think they're, well, camera-shy--which could mean losing out on many a great photo opportunity. If you have a smartphone and the operating system allows it, move the camera app to a more convenient location.

Make sure you can access your camera quickly.On the iPhone, for example, ensure that the camera app is on the first screen, or put it in the quick-access area at the bottom of the screen. Some phones even let you reassign buttons to launch the camera.



4. Keep the phone steady: One reason you tend to get blurry photos with your phone is that it's light and thin, and awkward to hold compared with a full-size camera. Grip the phone as still as you can, with both hands, and keep your elbows tucked in to your sides for support. Take a deep breath and then let out a slow, steady exhale as you gently trigger the phone's shutter release.


5. Know when the shutter clicks: If the shutter lags, you'll need to account for that. Some phones have a surprising delay after you press the shutter release. And if the shutter release is on a touchscreen (as it is on the Apple iPhone), the shutter probably trips after you lift your finger, not when you press down. Either way, hold the camera steady while the picture is being exposed. And don't jab at the screen, or the shake will blur your photo.


6. Optimize the settings: If your camera has a white balance control, you'll often get the best results leaving it on automatic. But if the colors come out wrong, try setting the balance to reflect the ambient light, such as fluorescent, daylight, or sunset. Just be sure to reset it to automatic when you're done, or future photos will look weird.


Make full use of any settings that your camera offers.If the camera offers an ISO setting (usually under Settings or Camera on an Android device, and under the gear icon on Windows Phone), take that off Auto. When you're outdoors in daylight, set the ISO to its lowest value to minimize the digital noise in your picture. In low-light situations, bump the ISO up as high as it will go.


7. Widen the dynamic range: Some phones (such as the iPhone 4 and Windows Phone 7 handsets, to name a few), provide a High Dynamic Range mode that captures an impressive amount of detail and a range of tones and colors in a single exposure.


If your phone has a High Dynamic Range option, learn to use it.The effect is similar to the way HDR software can combine multiple photos to create one rich, dynamic photo. If you have an HDR option (it might also be called Wide Dynamic Range, or some similar variation), try it instead of the flash when faced with tricky lighting.


8. Turn your camera into a photo lab: Most phones offer relatively few options for enhancing photos. That's what Photoshop and other editing apps are for. But some cameras include a veritable treasure trove of ways to tweak your shots, so check the camera settings for adjustments such as contrast, saturation, and image effects. You can use most of these controls as if you were adding spices to a soup: Experiment and apply the ones you like to taste. The saturation control, for example, adjusts the intensity of colors in your photos.


Experiment with your camera settings.It's usually best to stick with low or medium, since high saturation levels tend to make everyone look like an overcooked turkey. Image effects like negative, sepia, and black and white can help you take charming photos. But remember that if you shoot a photo in sepia, for instance, it will be tinted that way forever--there's no going back to the real colors. You might be better off ignoring such controls and adding a similar effect on your PC with a free program like Windows Live Photo Gallery, so you can always revert to the original color if you prefer.


9. Use the flash to reveal daytime details: It's counterintuitive, but in daylight, a fill flash can be your secret weapon. It provides a burst to reduce the shadows that bright sunlight causes. Although the flash won't be powerful enough to fill every shadow, if you're close enough to your subject, it can provide pleasant, even lighting on your subject's face. Of course, the tiny flash on most cameras works only at very close range, so don't expect it to help unless you're within a few feet of your subject.


10. Don't use digital zoom: Your camera phone can't magnify the image by moving its lens. Instead, it has a digital zoom, which merely makes the pixels big and blocky, obliterating fine detail. Want to fill the frame? Walk closer to your subject. If you really need to zoom, you can always produce the same effect on your PC with an image editor later.


11. S tock up on software: One of the best reasons to carry a smartphone is for the scores of apps you can install to enhance every aspect of the phone, and photography is no different. Check out your phone's app store for programs that can improve the way the camera works, as well for apps that can enhance the photos you take.

 

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Smartphones Review : Feature phones are going out of style

As the mobile handset market grows, smartphones seem to be taking center stage worldwide while the demand for feature phones begin to dwindle.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) reports vendors shipped 365.4 million mobile units in the 2nd quarter of 2011 compared to 328.4 million units in the 2nd quarter of 2010, which marks an 11.3% growth in the mobile phone market despite weakened feature phone sales.

Statistics from the 2nd quarter of 2011 reveal the feature phone market shrank 4% when compared to the 2nd quarter of 2010.

The declining use of feature handsets can be mostly attributed to markets in the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe where users are quickly migrating to smartphones. That, plus conservative spending habits, resulted in the first decline in the feature phone market since the 3rd quarter of 2009 - almost two years prior.

"The shrinking feature phone market is having the greatest impact on some of the world’s largest suppliers of mobile phones," explained senior research analyst with the IDC, Kevin Restivo.

"Stalwarts such as Nokia are losing share in the feature phone category to low-cost suppliers such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel, and Huawei."

However, Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team, was quick to emphasize the strength of the mobile market overall, despite the decline in feature phone shipments.

"For the overall market to grow by double digits year over year, despite the decline in feature phones, is testament to the strength of the global smartphone market. While this is not a new trend - smartphones have been the primary engine of growth for the last several quarters - it does mark something of a transition point, as demonstrated by the growing number and variety of smartphones featured in the vendors' portfolios."

Interestingly enough, even developing countries known for using feature phones are beginning to adopt low-cost smartphones, especially those with social networking capabilities and interests. For example, lower cost devices, including Android phones, are driving smartphone penetration in several Latin American countries.

In North America, lower prices, big hardware launches and enhanced marketing for smartphones have helped fuel the dramatic adoption of the technology. Android in particular took the lead in the United States and Canada with the help of Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and LG.

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Glenn Beck explains Angry Birds' socialist connection

Extremely popular radio show host Glenn Beck is apparently trying to connect with his younger, hipper listeners.

 

In a recent segment on his daily syndicated radio show, Beck was able to bring very stark, important undertones to a mobile app that most people had previously only looked at as a fun, casual game.

But in fact, Angry Birds symbolizes one of the biggest travesties of America's potential downward spiral - "redistribution of eggs."

Wait, what?

Beck looked at the premise of Angry Birds and managed to link it to a message about socialism and Nazi Germany. As Beck, and only Beck, could put it, the birds worked for their eggs, but the pigs have taken them.

The birds represent "the wealthiest 1%" of Americans, while the pigs are just mooching - "especially the one wearing the crown" (cough, President Obama, cough).

The weird thing is it actually, kind of almost makes sense. But then again, anyone should be leery of anything Glenn Beck says about video games. After all, he's part of the radical anti-violent video game group who rants about rape simulators and torture porn, when there are absolutely no retail games that match that description.

Clearly this was Beck's attempt to connect with the iPhone generation, or the group of people who were awestruck from Obama's grandeur and public speaking skills, but became disappointed after he took office, reneged on his promises, and realized it's actually a hard job.

But will the Angry Birds analogy be enough to convince anyone that socialism is bad? Perhaps Beck should start working on metaphors with Call of Duty as well.

 

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Apple is expected to remain an "influential" presence in the smartphone market

Apple is expected to remain an "influential" presence in the smartphone market despite increased competition from Android and Windows Phone 7 devices. 



"In recent years, no company has flourished in this [bullish mobile] environment as much as Apple," explained IMS researcher Josh Builta.




"[For example], Apple's 2Q 2011 results [confirmed] record sales of more than 20 million iPhones."

Builta also noted that Cupertino was "not alone" in its success, as rival Samsung has demonstrated the best results in years, while smaller vendors such as HTC have seen their position rise dramatically.


"Capitalizing on its diverse portfolio - which includes devices using the company's own bada operating system along with Android and Windows Mobile - as well as its highly popular Galaxy series, Samsung smartphone market share increased from about three percent in 1Q 2010 to over 13 percent in 1Q 2011," he said.

According to Builta, the above-mentioned companies are well positioned to benefit from the rapidly expanding smartphone market.

"Though the other OEMs are stepping up their efforts in the space, companies such as Apple, HTC and Samsung have a considerable amount of momentum. Catching them will not be an easy task."



To be sure, sales of smartphones are projected to exceed 420 million devices in 2011 - accounting for nearly 28 percent of the entire global handset market.

 With the introduction of more affordable "entry-level" smartphones, IMS estimates annual sales will surpass one billion devices by the end of 2016, accounting for one of every two mobile handsets sold.

"But despite the higher margins for smartphones, and the seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for converged devices, it is clear not all OEMs are equally positioned to capitalize on this market trend," Builta cautioned.



"For instance, LG, despite being the third largest OEM in the world, has offered a fairly limited smartphone portfolio in recent years. [Meanwhile], Nokia saw its portion of smartphone market decline so dramatically that in early 2011 the company dropped the Symbian platform in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS."

 

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