China :: Technology

When the App Store was released back in 2008, it completely revolutionized the ecosystem for app discovery and distribution. There have been a lot of effort both from the company and third-party developers to develop a mutual collaboration. In a seemingly step backwards, Apple is further tightening its control of the App Store. Recently, an e-book app, Sony Reader was rejected by the iOS App Store which is surprising because there are other ebook reader apps such as Amazons Kindle that are still available. Turns out, The New York Times reports that the company has told some applications developers that they can no longer sell content, like e-books, within their apps, or let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store. I guess this is a premonition of Apples plans to distribute magazines and newspapers on its platform, where they more likely than not will implement the same policy. Being a company that primarily made money from selling hardware than apps,...

J'accuse... ! Remember the unnamed third party that Microsoft had found to be abusing 3G data on Windows Phone 7 ? Secret's out, and the culprit is none other than Yahoo Mail. According to a statement obtained by Microsoft guru Paul Thurrott, a fix is expected in the "coming weeks," but in the interim, you can mitigate the pain by going into settings and choosing less taxing options for "Download new content" and "Download email from" -- say, for example, "manually" and "the last 7 days," respectively. At least now you know exactly at whom you should wag your finger. Windows Phone 7 'phantom data' leaker unmasked as Yahoo Mail, fix due in 'coming weeks' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

On the same day it quietly rolled out an algorithm-based recommendations service , The New York Times added links to both its Facebook and Twitter accounts on its homepage. Now, two tiny logos one for Facebook and one for Twitter appear to the right of the words Follow us under the New York Times header. The logo is situated between a search box and, perhaps ironically, a text ad for home delivery. Lists of stories recommended by editors and ones Facebook friends are listed below. At the time of writing, the newspaper has nearly 2.9 million followe! rs on it s main Twitter account and a little more than 1 million Facebook fans . Its yet another sign of the times in the ever-evolving and increasingly overlapping spheres of old and media. More About: facebook , media , new york times , nyt , twitter For more Media coverage: Follow Mashable Media on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Media channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad ...

"iOS Cellular Protocol SW Engineer-SH/BJ" doesn't have the sex appeal of "chief designer" or anything, but someone is being sought for that very position, to work under the Haus of Apple . And what does the job entail? Among other duties, "Implementation, Integration, customization, enhancement and maintenance of L1-3 Protocols for one or more of the following air interface: GSM/UMTS, CDMA (1x/EVDO), LTE etc ." You read that right, LTE. It's not the first time we've seen such the technology listed (hello there, since-removed " Cellular Technology Software Manager " job posting), but at the same time, it's not surprising that Apple's looking to the future. Just don't get your hopes up for an LTE iPhone or iPad in the near future. Apple job posting calls for another LTE expert originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

Last week we told you about the CRTCs ( Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission ) decision that allowed the major ISPs in Canada (Bell, Rogers and Shaw) to force the independent ISPs to charge customers for usage-based billing. The Commission notes that carriers retail UBB rates are market-based and are not subject to prior Commission approval that is, they are forborne from regulation. -CRTC For Canadians, this meant the end of unlimited internet in Canada. Giant ISPs had already begun hitting customers with overuse charges and the new ruling forced the indie ISPs to follow suit. Aside from a small 15% discount (in fees) that was thrown to the smaller ISPs, with this ruling, the smaller ISP really had no way to differentiate itself in the market. For customers and internet junkies it meant the party was over Canadians were outraged. OpenMedia , the non-profit organization that has been cleverly organizing citizens on the internet to rally against the CRTCs lame-o...

Dont believe in the power of crowdsourcing yet? Well, if initiatives such as Wikipedia, open source projects and Ushahidi havent convinced you, the video below should pretty much negate anyones doubts about just how monumental a force crowdsourcing has become. We captured a Google Docs spreadsheet by @SpeaktoTweet just now of volunteers translating phone messages left by Egyptian protesters on landlines and mainly in Arabic into English tweets, a lightning speed (of course, the Internet is still completely down in Egypt at the moment). The video below is in real-time we did nothing to speed it up. Either watch it and be in awe, or go right to the spreadsheet and watch it continue to update: Image Credit , Andrew Lih

Today, The New York Times quietly rolled out a new page that serves up a list of recommended stories based on recently read items. Available at NYTimes.com/recommendations , the page is designed to help readers see through the news fog, NYT lead technology reporter Nick Bilton tweeted . It lists 20 recommended articles alongside personal data about the sections and topics one reads most often, suggesting that content is suggested based on those criteria rather than, for example, keywords. As far as we can tell, the feature is not integrated into the rest of the site, at least not yet. And unlike ! The Huff ington Posts recommendation system , for instance, there is nothing social about it suggestions are based purely on ones own reading habits, not the reading habits of ones friends. Weve reached out to The New York Times for comment and will update this post with further information after a scheduled call Tuesday. More About: media , new york times , nyt For more Media coverage: Fo...

The following gadgets, gizmos and accessories are sure to expose your dorkiness and fly your geek flag for the world to see. Wearable iPad Desk This hands-free bag from Assero is both a backpack and mobile desk for your iPad. It looks similar to those front carriers that parents use to haul around their little ones. Asseros bag has adjustable straps, pockets for cords and offers three carrying options; wear in the front/back or hide the straps and use as a hand carrier. Yes, it does look sorta dorky but it would be handy for the iPad if you were out on the field. Construction and utility workers or any outdoor job that demanded hands-free typing would benefit from this accessory. Its also sometimes a pain to remove the iPad from our bag and with Asseros bag, all you need to do is unzip. iPod Toilet Paper Dispenser This gadget combines your love of iOS devices and.. the bathroom ?! The iCarta + is a stereo dock for the iPhone and iPad that has an integrated toilet paper holder and ...

TNW Quick Hit Pictorymag : A magazine website where people submit photos with a single caption and a little background information. The best photos are selected and showcased. Each photo tells a story, a pictory. Hits : Beautifully designed website, easy to navigate and browse through pictores. A very compelling experience and very leaves you wanting more. Misses : No mobile app, it is missing the explosion in the mobile -photo-sharing market. Pictory is viewable on mobile devices but not user-friendly. Only a few pictures make the final cut. It would be interesting to view the other submitted photos. There are no comments enabled under the photos. The webistedistinctivelylacksasociallayer with share buttons hidden. Overall: 4/5 The Details: Pictory was founded and is maintained by Laura Brunow . Brunow was previously the editor in chief of JPG Magazine . She is based in San Francisco and is listed in the Most Influential Women in Tech by Fast . She single-handedly maintains and run...

Photography. Wandering around looking at how the light hits stuff, how things interrelate, and thinking about how best to capture it all can be pretty Zen. Ive been a bit of a snob in the past about using phone cameras, and always had a proper one in my bag, but since Ive had an iPhone that snobbery has faded. You can get some nice pictures out of it, but the one problem is that you often have to hold it really still to avoid blurry shots. I have missed out on some awesome Kodak moments because of this. Enter ClearCam (iTunes link)by Occipital , the developers also responsible for 360 Panorama and RedLaser . It takes a series of photos in quick succession and chooses the least blurry one. It also uses a technique called Super Resolution which it is claimed can create higher resolution, more detailed images. When Clearcam launches, you get a nice clean interface reminiscent of the standard iPhone camera app. Theres a choice of Quick or Enhanced mode, an info button to explain how the ...

We won't lie: we've been pretty skeptical of the rumors so far that the HTC ThunderBolt would have support for simultaneous voice and data over EV-DO -- SVDO , as it's known -- turned on. Perhaps more than any other US carrier, Verizon has a reputation for testing the living daylights out of devices and locking out hardware that doesn't meet its reliability standards, and so we were a little leery of some supposedly leaked internal communication not long ago letting reps know that although it'll be enabled, it shouldn't be discussed because it doesn't offer an "experience... consistent with [their] brand." Well, we've just been fed a second document that features the same wording, so it looks like this might be real after all -- and what's more, it's got updated verbiage stating that mobile hotspot capability will be available at launch, contrary to another leak floating around today. This particular document is dated today, so we'...

Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks whistleblowing site, has agreed a deal with British newspaper The Telegraph to publish cables that have been sent to the website after suffering a breakdown in hiscollaborationwith The Guardian. At the end of last year, Assange met with Rudolf Elmer, a former senior executive at Swiss bank Julius Baer, to take possession of secret documents that would expose a number of high-profile banks that are thought to have engaged in tax evasion, using offshore schemes and money-laundering. Assanges agreement with The Guardian saw the release ofsensitivedocuments passed to the newspaper and a number of other foreign press outlets, allowing journalists to delve deeper into the private data before they were released. The US diplomatic cables caused muchembarrassmentto the US government and now US banks might be subject to the same treatment. The Financial Times believes terse negotiations between The Guardians editor-in-chief and Assange were the reason...

The UKs Luton and Manchester Airports have today launched holographic members of staff to help passengers through the security process. According to the BBC , these are a world first. Impressive, if a little freaky.

Via The Joy of Tech .

Just days after BSkyB announced its acquisition of public Wi-Fi network The Cloud, the broadcaster has announced it will be giving 350,000 City workers free access to its internet service for 15 minutes every day. Pocket-lint reports the scheme will commence on February 1, mirroring a scheme that The Cloud currently has running in Glasgow. It is not known whether the announcement was planned before the BSkyB buyout or was rushed through after it was announced that Telefonica-owned mobile operator o2 was to open access to the around 450 public hotspots in a number of restaurants, shops and sports stadiums in the UK. Stuart Fraser, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation said: When it was launched in 2007, city-wide Wi-Fi coverage significantly enhanced the Square Mile as a place to do business, providing substantial benefits not only for City workers but also for visitors and residents alike. Offering all users 15 minutes of free Wi-Fi coverage every day, The Clouds latest ...

Named as one of the partners associated with the European launch of Facebooks Places Deals service , Argos is continuing to enjoy substantial growth of both its e-commerce offerings with it recently announced that its iPhone application has surpassed 1.2 million downloads, generating more than 3 million over the Christmas period. Argos currently has 715 stores in the UK and reaches 17 million UK homes by way of its printed catalogue but online is where the company is looking to establish its dominance over 150 million users visited the Argos website between September and January, resulting in over 350 million in sales. Although todays announcement identifies Argos as a charity partner, Argos looks set to refine and develop its mobile commerce offerings. Utilising services like Facebook and its recent partnership with PayPal , Argos wants to better serve its customers and ensure the company can offer its products to millions of mobile smartphone users. If you own an iOS or Android devi...