China :: Technology

Plex introduced a cavalcade of new updates on Saturday, with major updates to its Android, iOS, Linux and Mac OS X apps, a new Windows client app and a brand new MyPlex service that allows you to save online videos for later viewing and share your media library with friends. Plex started out as a free media centre app for Mac OS X, based on the open source XBMC media centre, and has since grown to include server apps for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows and client apps for Android and iOS in addition to the aforementioned desktop platforms. The desktop apps remain free and the mobile ones cost $4.99 each. Plex is beautiful, versatile and very powerful. It is capable of playing back virtually every media format out there and can even transcode videos on the fly using the ffmpeg engine and stream them to mobile devices over the network. And it supports third-party channels, which endow it with content from over 150 sources of music, photos and videos. All the user has to do is point the se...

Symantec has revealed that at least 48 US-based companies came under attack during a six month cyber spying campaign which was run from China. The attacks, which where run with the aim of obtaining trade secrets according to the AFP ,targeted human rights NGOs, automotive companies and chemical firms between April and September this year. The campaign known as Nitro was waged from a US-based server registered to a man based in China. Nitro used a range of tactics that, according to Symantic, included the sending of malicious emails infected with a virus that enables data theft. Messages from fake business partners and others scams were deployed in attempts to get unsuspecting email recipients to unload virus onto computers and servers, from where information could be obtained. Symantecs report of these attacks comes less than a week after the Japanese government admitted that computers and servers in the lower house of its parliament building were compromised in an attack from China...

Home Screen Click here to view this gallery. Google has launched a new version of Google+ for Android, complete with a new look, a new UI and support for Ice Cream Sandwich . Version 2.1 of the updated Android app provides a cleaner and more streamline version of the app that is consistent with the design changes implemented in Android 4.0. Notifications have been moved to the top right, the interface has been tightened and photos have been enhanced and enlarged. Even profile pictures have been enlarged to improve the user experience. We worked closely with the Android team as they developed Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich), so youll see the same attention to beauty and simplicity in our new design, Google product manager Ben Eidelson explained in a Google+ post . According to the release notes , Google+ for Android features improvements to battery life, navigation, performance and notifications. The app also includes a new UI for posting to Google+...

Patent management company MOSAID Technologies has been acquired by Sterling Partners for $590 million, or $46 per share. MOSAID licenses patents and describes itself as one of the worlds leading intellectual property (IP) companies, focused on the licensing and development of semiconductor and communications technologies. Among the companys intellectual property is a total of 2,000 patents originally filed by Nokia, which MOSAID acquired this past September. The company said that it expects the deal to be approved in late December of this year or in January 2012. Read on for the full press release. Sterling Partners Agrees to Acquire MOSAID Technologies for $46 per Share MOSAID Board Recommends Rejection of Wi-LANs Amended Offer OTTAWA, Ontario Oct 27, 2011 MOSAID Technologies Inc. (TSX:MSD) announced today that it has entered into an arrangement agreement (the Arrangement Agreement) with Sterling Partners pursuant to which Sterling will acquire all the outstanding common shares of M...

Google is set to launch a dedicated Gmail application to the iPhone according to MG Siegler . The app, which has long been desired by a great many iPhone users, is thought to have already been submitted to Apple for review, suggesting that it may be released publicly very soon. While the potential of the app may delight iPhones users across the world, and a native gmail iphone app is great in theory, there is likely to be a lot of frustration until Apple allows users to change the default email client on the handset. And that is without considering that the app is likely to include push-updates only. That said, the upcoming native app is rumoured to be considered to be pretty fantastic by those who have seen it and, given the long delay without a native application for the iPhone you would expect that both Google and Apple would wait for the right solution and not rush he job with a half baked version. Is this a case of two sets forward and one step back? Only time will tell as we wait...

As Autoblog Green points out, Australia's Varley Electric Vehicles is known more for bulky industrial vehicles than high-end sports cars, but the company's now looking to change that perception with its new all-electric evR450 supercar. While it'll no doubt turn a few heads simply standing still, it also looks to measure up reasonably well under the hood, boasting a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour (or 124 MPH) and a zero to 100 km/h time of 3.8 seconds. The company's also promising a range of 150 kilometers (or 93 miles) that can be doubled with an optional range-extension pack, although its not letting anyone actually drive the car just yet (or even look under the hood, for that matter). As for a price, Varley's saying that the base package will come in "below" $200,000 Australian dollars (or about $213,000 US), and it says it could roll out "as early as January 2012." Varley's evR450 all-electric supercar set to hit Australian roads n...

According to Inside Facebook , the company has started letting Page owners know that the official Facebook MP3 player that it launched a few years ago will no longer be supported. The note that Facebook left page owners is: The Facebook Music Player app is being replaced with better ways to incorporate music on your Page The better ways the company is referring to is music streaming. At the f8 conference, the company made it very clear that it was going all in with streaming music. Partnerships with companies like Spotify , Rdio, and those utilizing its new open graph, will be the gateway into music sharing on the social network. This is just one of the ways that Facebook has begun cleaning up its platform to make way for more interactions via the newsf! eed. Sites like MySpace let bands upload and distribute their music directly from the site, but thats clearly not a game that Facebook wants to get into. With copyrights and other issues surrounding uploading of music, Facebook...

Google has begun rolling out a new version of Google Reader, one that sports a brand-new design and deep integration with Google+ . The new Google Reader sports a more spartan interface. Its similar to the Google Calendar redesign and Gmail makeover the search giant launched earlier this year. The greater change is the addition of Google+ sharing. Google has replaced the Like button with the +1 button, which lets users share content to their Google+ accounts. Reader users with a Google+ login can choose which circles theyd like to share articles to using Google+ snippets . The Google+ integration replaces the Google Reader social features the company unveiled in 2009. Integrating with Google+ also helps us streamline Reader overall, Google Engineer Alan Green said in a target=_blank>blog post. So starting today well be turning off friending, following, shared items and comments in favor of similar Google+ functionality. While Google Readers notes got some usage, dropping them in...

Words With Friends Arielle Calderon went all-out with her Words With Friends costume. Our best player at the office just sent her a game request. It's on! Click here to view this gallery. Happy Halloween, Mashable readers! Last week, we asked you to send us photos of yourselves in your tech-themed Halloween costumes. Were really impressed with the creativity youve shown! Youll find our favorites in the gallery above. SEE ALSO: Genius Turns iPad Into Amazing Halloween Magic [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO] More About: costumes , Halloween For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad