At a time of heightened tension between North Korea and South Korea and the U.S., the North Korean government has cut mobile internet access for foreign visitors. The decision came in less than a month after the reclusive regime opened mobile internet access for visitors.
Microsoft’s mobile platform, Windows Phone, hasn’t exactly been a success. The company was able to trigger the interest of many with Windows Phone 8, but handsets running the latest release haven’t garnered significant sales. Now, Microsoft has apparently decided to abandon support for Windows Phone 8 by July, 2014.
Since Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are both already released, it is only natural to assume that Microsoft must be working on the next iterations of both operating systems. This assumption has now been substantiated, thanks to a few Microsoft-related posts and LinkedIn profiles, which mention both Windows 9 and Windows Phone 9.
Despite worries over new and more sophisticated mobile malware, cyber criminals still overwhelmingly prefer the older, more primitive attack techniques. Recently, mobile security company F-Secure has released a report on the status of mobile threats in 2012. According to that report, hackers prefer to target Android platform to spread malware rather than other OS. The security firm said that Android operating system accounted for 79 percent of all malware infections on smartphones, and the threat is multiplying.
It is strange to note that in the ongoing war of anti-competition lawsuits, Apple hasn’t been targeted on its strange policy towards third-party browsers for iOS devices. The Mozilla team has cited that until Apple lets it use its own rendering engine, it wouldn’t be releasing any Firefox for iOS.
Current research has equipped the medical world enough to help prevent the transmission of HIV from a mother to her child. In a recent case, a new-born incurred HIV infection when the mother didn’t take the right medications to prevent transmission. However, two years later, the child now registers no signs of HIV infections, which is very surprising for the researchers.
Currently, the smartphone market is dominated by iOS and Android platforms. Other platforms such as Windows Phone and Symbian exist, but their aggregate market share is minimal. Jolla, a Finnish startup, aims to change this by offering its Sailfish OS which, it cites, can be used by different companies to run on their own hardware.
After a long reign of iOS and Android based mobile devices, it seems that other contenders are finally entering the arena. Among these is Canonical’s Ubuntu Phone and Tablet OS as well as the Mozilla team’s Firefox OS meant for mobile devices. Now, Sony has expressed interest in Mozilla team’s offering and intends to launch a Firefox OS mobile device by 2014.