BRITISH COLUMBIA: Shares of Research In Motion (RIM) have jumped on speculation that next week it would unveil a new touchscreen BlackBerry that could compete more effectively with Apple Inc's iPhone and other smartphones.

RIM is expected to announce the launch of the BlackBerry 9800 at a joint event with AT&T Inc in New York next week. AT&T is expected to get exclusive US rights to sell the new device.

Industry watchers say the 9800 will boast a new operating system, a revamped web browser and full slide-out keyboard — features designed to revitalize a product lineup that critics say looks out of date.

A smooth launch is critical for RIM, analysts say. Its stock has fallen by a third in the past year as the iPhone and devices running on Google Inc's Android software eat into its share of the key North American market.

For RIM, the timing of the event seems fortunate. Apple has taken a rare misstep with the launch of the new iPhone 4, with complaints about the model's antenna design putting the company on the defensive. That may allow the 9800 to steal the spotlight, however briefly.

"This is an opportunity for RIM to respond, not only on the operating system and browser-side, but equally importantly, that they have a nice smooth operating piece of hardware," Mackie Research Capital analyst Nick Agostino said.

The 9800 is viewed as RIM's bid to finally silence its own critics, who have complained about a clunky web browser, a humdrum applications store and a product lineup that's missing a compelling touchscreen device.

RIM's overseas sales have grown steadily, but gains have largely come from sales of low-end devices that have weighed on the company's average selling price. RIM is also facing more competition within its once-secure business enterprise segment, as some companies are allowing employees to swap BlackBerry devices for other smartphones.

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NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The government has laid down stringent norms for telcos sourcing equipment from foreign manufacturers to address security concerns over gear.

Penalties of 100% of the contract value will be imposed on mobile phone operators if any spyware or malware is found in their imported equipment, the Centre announced.

International telecom gear makers keen to do business in India will have to deposit source codes and detailed design of all products and services they sell here into an escrow account in encrypted form. This can be accessed by security agencies and operators in case of an emergency.

The new rules will be incorporated into the licence agreements of all telecom companies with immediate effect. The new norms were issued after security agencies and the home ministry had raised concerns regarding imported telecom gear, especially those sourced from Chinese companies.

Since February 10, the government has not cleared over 450 equipment orders worth close to $3 billion placed with Chinese vendors citing security concerns, slowing down the expansion plans of all operators. The new norms will also enable telcos to place orders for 3G networks following the recent allocation of 3G bandwidth to successful bidders via an auction process.

The new rules further state that global telecom gear makers like Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent and others who maintain and manage mobile networks of cellphone companies here must only employ Indian engineers adding that these gear makers would be given a two-year time frame to comply.

The networks of India’s largest phone firms—Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Tata Tele and Idea, are being managed by either Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland-based Nokia Siemens, China’s Huawei or Paris-headquartered Alcatel-Lucent.

Reliance has outsourced its GSM network management to China’s Huawei while Loop Telecom has tied up with another Chinese firm, ZTE, for its GSM rollout across India. The new amendments to the licence agreement have predictably stirred a hornet’s nest in telecom circles.

While none of the companies or vendors are willing to go on record yet, they felt “such draconian penalty clauses could trigger a serious backlash from affected parties, derail procurement of telecom gear, and, in turn, undermine network expansion plans of the biggest telcos.”

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WASHINGTON: The Justice Department said it sued Oracle Corp, alleging it defrauded the federal government on a software contract in effect from 1998 to 2006 that involved hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

The lawsuit alleged Oracle misrepresented its true commercial sales practices, ultimately leading to government customers receiving deals inferior to those Oracle gave its commercial customers, the department said.

Under the contract, the General Services Administration (GSA) used Oracle's disclosures about its commercial sales practices to negotiate minimum discounts for government agencies that bought Oracle's software.

The contract required Oracle to update GSA when commercial discounts improved and extend the same improved discounts to government customers.

The lawsuit was initially filed in federal court in Virginia by Paul Frascella, Oracle's senior director of contract services, the department said, adding it then decided to intervene in the case and to file a complaint under the False Claims Act.

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NEW YORK: It's a maxim of technology: Invent the newest gadget and the porn industry will find a way to cash in.

So when Apple Inc launched the iPhone 4 and its FaceTime videoconference feature, it didn't take long for adult-entertainment companies to develop video-sex chat services and start hiring workers through Craigslist.

With more than 3 million of the phones already sold, the adult industry stands to make big money on this new way to reach out and touch someone — even if it puts Apple, which has always taken pains to keep its iPhone apps squeaky clean, in an awkward spot.

In at least five cities, Craigslist ads seek models specifically for video sex chat on FaceTime. Many of the ads even offer to throw in a free iPhone 4 for the new employees.

FaceTime lets people call another iPhone 4 user and have live video conversations over a Wi-Fi connection through the phone's camera and screen. In one TV ad, a soldier uses it to get a look at his faraway wife's ultrasound pictures.

The adult industry wants its customers to share moments of an entirely different kind with its stars. And while the technology may be new, the idea is not. Porn providers have always been early adopters.

In the 1970s, the demand for explicit videos at home helped VCRs become widespread, and the industry was the first to embrace DVDs, too. Internet porn peddlers were some of the first to make wide use of streaming video and online credit card payments.

"The first time someone created a camera there was someone who said, 'Wouldn't it be good for someone to take off their clothes in front of this camera?'" said Michael Gartenberg, vice president at Interpret LLC, a media research company.

And for years, cameras mounted on computers have helped connect people for racy online video sessions. But the portability and privacy of a cell phone makes FaceTime a new frontier for the industry.

"A phone is such an intimate thing, you usually don't lend it out or have someone else use it," said Quentin Boyer, a spokesman for Pink Visual, an adult production company.

Boyer said his company began planning for iPhone 4 video services almost as soon as the device hit stores. They should be ready in a matter of weeks. Boyer said the company will offer FaceTime sessions with some of the same women who appear in its videos.

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SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp set out its ambitions to dominate the consumer electronics market with Windows-powered tablet computers and smartphones designed to beat back advances by Apple Inc and Google Inc.

New tablets will be available as soon as they are ready to ship and phones will be on the market this autumn, CEO Steve Ballmer said, setting up a key test of Microsoft's ability to capture the imagination of tech-savvy consumers.

"We're coming full guns," said Ballmer at the company's annual presentation to analysts at its Redmond, Washington headquarters. "We're going to sell like crazy; we're going to market like crazy."

Microsoft has been irked by Apple selling more than 3 million iPads since the launch in April and is working with PC makers Acer Inc, Dell Inc, Toshiba Corp and others to develop so-called tablet or slate devices running the Windows operating system.

"We've got to push right now with our hardware partners," said Ballmer. "They (the new devices) will be shipping as soon as they are ready. It's job No. 1 urgency around here. Nobody's sleeping at the switch." The new tablets will run on Intel Corp chips, said Ballmer, dampening talk that a recent agreement with British chipmaker ARM Holdings Plc heralded a shift toward that company's chip design, which powers the iPad and most smartphones.

A new range of Intel chips expected early next year will give the whole market for tablets a boost next year, Ballmer said, adding that both Windows phones and tablets will have "aggressive" marketing support from Microsoft.

Microsoft employees showed off the new phones running Windows Phone 7, made by handset makers Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Corp, but did not allow photographs of the devices, which are still at the prototype stage. No handset makers have announced a date for commercial launch.

Ballmer said only that they would be coming to market this autumn. The devices have large touch screens, incorporate a Zune music player, email programs and link up with content from Xbox Live, Facebook, and other networks. Ballmer acknowledged Microsoft has lost ground in the phone sector.

"It's probably fair to say we've got a lot of work to do," said Ballmer. "It isn't all going to happen overnight." When asked what would happen if the new Windows phone software was not a success, or a repetition of the ill-fated Windows Vista, Ballmer answered: "It won't be," adding that there was no contingency plan.

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This is a little quirk of mobile deal-making I wasn’t aware of. Gadgetwise noticed that on the AT&T Captivate (which I recently reviewed), launching the included MobiTV app while connected to a Wi-Fi network prompts you to disconnect, and then warns you in all caps “THIS PRODUCT WILL USE A LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA AND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL DATA CHARGES.”

Sure, and usually that’s why they ask you to connect to your Wi-Fi: so it doesn’t burden the network and/or use up all your data (at which point you inevitably come crying to them). So why does this one tell you to shut it down?

It turns out that the app maker, the service provider, and probably the handset maker all put their heads together and decided that their included TV streaming app would be network data only — in hopes that people would upgrade their data plan to accommodate all that bandwidth they’re using. Pretty evil, if you ask me, but they do warn you what they’re doing.

It’s kind of ugly, but the fact is these are the deals that get cut so you can pay $200 for a $600 device. No one’s forcing you to use them, just like no one’s forcing you to click on ads. And if you don’t like it, get a custom skin like LauncherPro and just hide the suckers.

Update: Craig from MobiTV notes below that the app does in fact work over Wi-Fi, but content restrictions (i.e. their contract with so-and-so content provider) prevent you from doing so on a few devices, like the Captivate. So it’s not a plot to sell more data.

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Mini R/C helicopters are really fun to play with, and this model of the Millennium Falcon is no exception. Made from foam and built around a double bladed helicopter motor, this toy will let you reenact all of your favorite scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. You can pre-order one now from the Star Wars shop for $44.99, and the expected ship date is August 1st.

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Intel Corporation has developed a research prototype representing the world's first silicon-based optical data connection with integrated lasers. The link can move data over longer distances and many times faster than today's copper technology; up to 50 gigabits of data per second. This is the equivalent of an entire HD movie being transmitted each second.

Today, computer components are connected to each other using copper cables or traces on circuit boards. Due to the signal degradation that comes with using metals such as copper to transmit data, these cables have a limited maximum length. This limits the design of computers, forcing processors, memory and other components to be placed just inches from each other.

Today's research achievement is another step toward replacing these connections with extremely thin and light optical fibers that can transfer much more data over far longer distances, radically changing the way computers of the future are designed and altering the way the datacenter of tomorrow is architected.

Silicon photonics will have applications across the computing industry. For example, at these data rates one could imagine a wall-sized 3D display for home entertainment and videoconferencing with a resolution so high that the actors or family members appear to be in the room with you.

Tomorrow's datacenter or supercomputer may see components spread throughout a building or even an entire campus, communicating with each other at high speed, as opposed to being confined by heavy copper cables with limited capacity and reach. This will allow datacenter users, such as a search engine company, cloud computing provider or financial datacenter, to increase performance, capabilities and save significant costs in space and energy, or help scientists build more powerful supercomputers to solve the world's biggest problems.

Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer and director of Intel Labs, demonstrated the Silicon Photonics Link at the Integrated Photonics Research conference in Monterey, California. The 50Gbps link is akin to a "concept vehicle" that allows Intel researchers to test new ideas and continue the company's quest to develop technologies that transmit data over optical fibers, using light beams from low cost and easy to make silicon, instead of costly and hard to make devices using exotic materials like gallium arsenide.

While telecommunications and other applications already use lasers to transmit information, current technologies are too expensive and bulky to be used for PC applications.

"This achievement of the world's first 50Gbps silicon photonics link with integrated hybrid silicon lasers marks a significant achievement in our long term vision of ‘siliconizing' photonics and bringing high bandwidth, low cost optical communications in and around future PCs, servers, and consumer devices" Rattner said.

The 50Gbps Silicon Photonics Link prototype is the result of a multi-year silicon photonics research agenda, which included numerous "world firsts." It is composed of a silicon transmitter and a receiver chip, each integrating all the necessary building blocks from previous Intel breakthroughs including the first Hybrid Silicon Laser co-developed with the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2006 as well as high-speed optical modulators and photodetectors announced in 2007.

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MUMBAI: IT major Accenture has bagged a contract from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide multimodal biometric identification solutions to the latter's Aadhaar program.

Aadhaar is aimed at providing a unique number to each Indian resident thus enabling an easier, more efficient and secure access to Government and commercial services.

The contract will run up to two-years or until 200-million enrollments (whichever comes first), Accenture said in a statement.

"Aadhaar will not only be designed to enable the Government to deliver important social welfare programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) to rural India, but also provide easier access for residents to services and resources such as health, education and welfare programs," Accenture's Management Consulting, Managing Director, Krishna Giri, said.

Accenture will build a new system to help manage identity-related de-duplication and verification requests from both public and private organisations (which deliver services ranging from social welfare programs to banking and insurance).

It will also assist UIDAI in performance benchmarking and management of data quality for continuous improvement of the biometric solution besides operate and maintain the system.

The program is being developed using leading-edge technology that will be deployed in an innovative manner designed to reach the most remote residents of India.

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LONDON: The personal details of 100 million users of social networking website Facebook are now available for download after they were leaked online.

Ron Bowles, an online security consultant, used a code to scan Facebook profiles, collected data not hidden by users' privacy settings, and compiled a list, which is now available as a downloadable file, containing the URL of every "searchable" Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID, the BBC reported Thursday.

Bowles said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook retorted by saying the information was already public.

"People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want," the website said.

"In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook."

"No private data is available or has been compromised," Facebook said.

The list has already been downloaded by over 1,000 people on Pirate Bay, the world's biggest file-sharing website. One user, going by the name of "lusifer69", said the list was "awesome and a little terrifying.”

But internet watchdog Privacy International said Facebook had been given ample warning that something like this would happen.

"Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it," Simon Davies, an official of Privacy International, said.

"It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn't have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there's an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence,” he said.

Facebook hit 500 million users in June this year.

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