Nasa Says 'Prayer' Is Our Best Defense Against A Deadly Asteroid

Nasa chief Charles Bolden has said the best defence against asteroids is... prayer. The remark was made at the US House of Representatives Science Committee on Wednesday.

Bolden was discussing Nasa's ability to protect Earth from deadly asteroids - which currently is essentially non-existent. "From the information we have, we don't know of an asteroid that will threaten the population of the United States," Bolden said, according to Reuters.

"But if it's coming in three weeks, pray. The reason I can't do anything in the next three weeks is because for decades we have put it off." Nasa is currently tracking about 95% of the asteroids which are hurtling in the sky near our planet and are larger than about a kilometre.-

But smaller asteroids can still cause devastation, as shown in Chelyabinsk, Russia, last month where shockwaves generated by an 18-metre meteorite caused more than 1,000 injuries, and just 10% of the so-called "city-killer" asteroids larger than 165 feet wide have been found so far. About one of those objects hits the planet every 1,000 years.-

Lenovo CEO Says Company Is Open To Buying BlackBerry

Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing tells a French newspaper that a deal could make sense, but he'd need to look at the market first.

By: Roger Cheng

Blackberry 10

Lenovo's chief executive has told a French publication he is open to an eventual deal to buy embattled smartphone maker BlackBerry.

In an interview with the French financial newspaper Les Echos, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said that a deal could make sense, but added he would need to analyze the market and understand the importance of the company. Bloomberg spotted and translated the French language publication's story.

The comments sparked a 14.1 percent increase in BlackBerry's stock. It's up $1.84 to $14.90 in recent trading.

CNET contacted BlackBerry and Lenovo for comment, and we'll update the story when they respond.

Bloomberg noted that the comments were similar to Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming's own comments earlier this year about looking at all opportunities.-

In both statements, however, the executives hedged on just how open they were to striking a deal with BlackBerry.  BlackBerry, meanwhile, is in the middle of staging its turnaround, having unveiled and launched its BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in several markets.-

In the U.S., AT&T has said it would sell the Z10 on March 22. While the company finally has its next-generation platform out in the market, there are still no guarantees for success. It still faces stiff competition from Android and iOS, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which is also angling to be the No. 3 ecosystem.-

Google Needs To Be More Like Apple To Keep Users Safe

As malware developers devise more tactics for duping users into installing their nasty apps, Google must be more vigilant on behalf of naïve users.

An Android malware developer is paying $100 for verified Google Play developer accounts, purportedly to more effectively flood the Android ecosystem with malicious code masked as legit applications. The news, first reported by security expert Brian Krebs, should serve as a stark reminder to Android users (and the IT admins who manage them) that the open nature of Google's mobile ecosystem makes it ripe for exploitation, particularly compared to Apple's mobile universe.

Android has garnered a reputation for being an insecure platform, and deservedly so. Trend Micro went so far as to deem Android malware as one of the top security threats for 2013. We witnessed several instances of cyber criminals exploiting the relatively porous Android app market to spread nasty code in recent months.

Android malware is a problem that's spiraling out of control as the tech industry and users collectively forget or ignore every security lesson they learned over the past decade-plus as they've struggled to protect Internet-connected PCs. While iOS users aren't entirely immune from malware threats, Android users face more significant threats. The reason: Apple is notoriously meticulous in vetting each and every app and bit of content that's added into the iTunes Store. "Say what you will about Apple's 'closed' or 'vetted' iTunes store for iPhone apps, but it seems to do a comparatively stupendous job of keeping out malicious apps," Krebs wrote.

The real trouble is that relying on users to exercise even a modicum of discretion as they eagerly grab shiny new Android apps out of the Internet ether is a recipe for disaster. End-user naïveté? End-user stupidity? Call it what you want. What matters is that end-users can be an overly gullible or trusting lot, and malware developers will continue to find techniques to further take advantage of that fact -- say, selling malicious apps under the name of a "Google-verified" developer.

Krebs spells out some common-sense solutions for end-users, but they may not be entirely realistic. Among them, he recommends that users "take a moment to read and comprehend an app's permissions before you install it." That's sound advice, but it's not necessarily practical. Just getting an average user to read all that legalese and techno-mumbo-jumbo, let alone comprehend it, is highly unlikely. They don't do it for websites, after all, which is why last year a group of privacy enthusiasts launched Terms of Service; Didn't Read (ToS;DR), an open source-inspired project aimed at helping users make better-informed choices before clicking Agree when presented with mind-numbing TOSes.

Krebs' second piece of advice: "Make sure you download apps that are scanned through Bouncer." That's good advice, but it's not a guarantee that the app you're about to download is secure. A study out of North Carolina State University from late last year found that Android's built-in malware scanner isn't entirely effective; in tests, researchers found it detected just 20 percent of malicious apps.

Krebs' third piece of advice: "Do a bit of due diligence before installing an app: Would you randomly grab some Windows program and install it without learning something about its reputation, how long it had been around, etc? Hopefully, no. Treat your phone with the same respect, or it may one day soon no longer belong to you."

Again, excellent advice, but malware developers have long found ways to fool users into trusting them though such tactics as masking malware to resemble legitimate software from reputable companies.

Nicholas Weaver, a senior researcher at U.C. Berkeley's networking group, responded to Krebs's report with an interesting proposal for curbing Android exploitation:

[The] biggest flaw in Android [is] the Blame the User permissions model. With iOS, you have Apple's nazgul, err, lawyers and limited API (apps can't dial the phone or access SMS messages) protecting you, and what few prompts occur happen on first use, so users can meaningfully make a decision and have already established that the app can run.

With Android, the only thing really protecting the user is a huge permissions blob that all but an expert has no hope of decoding, and it's all or nothing: Either the app runs or it doesn't.

They really, really need to change this to shift a lot of scary permissions (SMS, phone dialing, private data access, etc.: All the stuff the malcode really needs to do) into "prompt on first use.

Krebs's reply: "You're absolutely right, IMHO. It's the same thing with privacy policies, only this time it's apps." This story, "Google needs to be more like Apple to keep users safe," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

LG WCP-300 – World’s Smallest Wireless Charger Unveiled

Today LG has declared the launch of the world’s smallest Wireless Charger called the WCP-300. This charger is said to deliver maximum charging performance while offering convenience to the users. Portability factor was kept in mind before designing the WCP-300 and the charger measures just 6.9cm in diameter. Yet charger arrives with the charging area wider than that of LG’s previous wireless charger.  According to the latest reports, new model  is compatible with a standard 5-pin micro-USB charger which offers the highest level of charging performance and user convenience.-

Electromagnetic induction technology is employed in WCP-300 and is Qi certified by the Wireless Power Consortium. This technology used produces a magnetic field that in turn generates an electric current to charge the batteries in devices placed on the charging pad.-

This certification makes the WCP-300 wireless charger well-matched with all Smartphone’s that support the Qi standard. The LG Spectrum 2 and Nexus 4 have built-in support for wireless charging in the US market, due to which users will not have to purchase separate covers for wireless charging.-

Facebook Says It Was Hacked, Claims Member Data Safe

In January, employees at the social network unknowingly downloaded malware that compromised the security of the site.

(Credit: Facebook)

Facebook today admitted that its systems were hacked last month when staffers unknowingly installed malware to laptops. The social network called the attack sophisticated, but claimed that no user data was compromised.

"This attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer website that was compromised," Facebook said in a statement posted today on its security blog. "The compromised website hosted an exploit which then allowed malware to be installed on these employee laptops."

The social network identified the attack as a "zero day" Java exploit that allowed the website in question to bypass employees' security software and install the offending software. Oracle, which manages Java, was alerted to the vulnerability. The company issued a patch to fix the problem on February 1, Facebook said.

Despite only admitting to the hack after the fact, Facebook hopes to reassure users that their personal information was not passed on to attackers. "Foremost, we have found no evidence that Facebook user data was compromised," the company said.

Facebook said that it is in cooperation with law enforcement and has worked with other organizations that were victims of the same exploit.

iPad Mini Is Affordable, Effective

The iPad Mini is shown in San Jose, California. (AP Photo)

Apple's iPad Mini will bring a lot more excitement and a little more confusion to the holiday shopping season. It only takes a few minutes playing with the iPad Mini to realize the scaled-down tablet computer will be a sure-fire hit with longtime Apple disciples and potential converts who've been looking for a more affordable entree into the mobile computing market.

With a 7.9-inch screen, the iPad Mini is perfectly sized to be stuffed in Christmas stockings. Recipients who will discover the pleasure and convenience of being able to take pictures, surf the Web, watch video, read books and listen to music on an exquisitely designed device that's pancake thin.

As enticing as that all sounds, the iPad Mini also causes a dilemma, albeit a pleasant one.

The new option will make it even more difficult for holiday shoppers to figure out which mobile device to buy for their loved ones -or for themselves.

I felt the pangs of indecision within a few minutes of picking up the iPad Mini for the first time.

Apple´s  newly introduced iPad Mini and 4th generation iPad are seen during Apple´s special event at the California
Theater in San Jose. AFP Photo

As the company usually does at its product unveilings, Apple Inc. only provided reporters with limited, strictly supervised access to the iPad Mini on Tuesday.

That meant I could only experiment with it for about 15 minutes, but as an experienced user of the iPad 2, I could quickly see that the smaller tablet does just about everything its bigger brethren does.

Even though the Mini's screen is 1.8 inches smaller than the standard iPad, the movie The Avengers looked lush, even in a side-by-side comparison with the larger tablet.

When I pulled up the latest issue of the New Yorker, I didn't have to strain to see the text or pictures on the smaller screen. A quick check of other websites verified that the Mini's screen isn't so tiny that it's going to cause a lot of squinting.

After I took a very crisp picture of another reporter testing out a Mini, I decided to email it to her to test how easy it was to use the keyboard on the smaller screen. No problem there. Best of all, the iPad Mini can be held in one hand and is about half the weight of the larger iPad.

The Mini worked so much like my standard iPad that it immediately caused me to have second thoughts about a decision I thought I had already made.

I like my iPad 2 a lot, but it's just too big to carry with me wherever I am. But there have been times I really wish I had it with me, like when I spot something that would make a great picture or when I've needed to check something on the Web.

CEO Disappointed With New BlackBerry Release Date In US

The chief executive of Research In Motion said he's disappointed the new BlackBerry won't be released in the United States until mid-March, but he said early data suggests sales in the UK are above expectations. 

Thorsten Heins said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press that he was disappointed in the mid-March US release date. But he said the US and its phone carriers have a rigid testing system.

"We need to respect that. Am I a bit disappointed? Yeah, I would be lying saying no. But it is what it is and we're working with all our carrier partners to speed it up as much as we can," Heins said in an interview at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto.

RIM unveiled new BlackBerrys last week after excruciating delays allowed Apple, Samsung and others to build commanding leads in the industry.

The stock fell 12% after Wednesday's kickoff, despite positive reviews about the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

There's concern the phone isn't coming out sooner after RIM announced a March US release date last week.

Heins told the AP that it will be mid-March.

The first device in the new crop of the much-delayed revamped BlackBerrys will be the touchscreen Z10. Black and white versions were released in the UK last Thursday and will be released in Canada on Tuesday.

Heins said a substantial number of UK users are moving from other platforms to BlackBerry and said that's an encouraging sign because they first targeted longtime BlackBerry users.

"It's beyond expectations," Heins said.

"White is sold out already. The black is hard to stock up again. It's very encouraging. I won't share the number because I need to verify it, but we are getting a substantial number of users moving from other platforms to BlackBerry. That is an interesting data point."

Shares of RIM closed up 15% Monday on initial reports of strong UK sales and after an analyst upgraded the stock.

Heins said they have to retake market share in the US for BlackBerry to be successful. The US has been one market in which RIM has been particularly hurting, even as the company is doing well in many places overseas.

According to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46% of the US market in 2008 to 2% in 2012. The iPhone and Android now dominate.

Heins, who one year ago replaced longtime executives who had presided over BlackBerry's fall, said he's confident BlackBerry can become the third ecosystem behind Apple and phones running Google's Android operating system.

"We need to win back market share to be relevant," Heins said.

"We have to be aggressive in the US market."

The new BlackBerrys are a make-or-break product lineup after the pioneering brand lost its cachet not long after Apple's 2007 release of the iPhone, which reset expectations for what a smartphone should do.

RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems.

But it has taken more than two years to unveil new phones that are redesigned for the new multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers are now demanding.

RIM initially said the new BlackBerry with the revamped software would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012.

A few months later, that date was pushed back further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

As RIM previously disclosed, the first phone will have only a touch-screen keyboard, like Apple Inc.'s trend-setting iPhone and most phones running Android, including Samsung Electronic Co's popular Galaxy line.

The Q10 will follow and will have a physical keyboard, a feature that has kept BlackBerry users loyal over the years because it makes typing easier.

RIM said last week the Q10 will start going on sale on some global carriers in April, but didn't say when US carriers will have it.

Heins told the AP it depends on the carriers, but said keyboard versions will likely be released eight to 10 weeks after a carrier releases the touch version.

That could mean the Q10 keyboard version might not be released in the US until much later than mid-March or April.

Some analysts have questioned RIM for releasing a touch version first considering its most loyal users love the physical keyboard for typing.

Heins said the full touch screen was more complicated and they needed to focus on releasing that first.

He has also acknowledged that RIM failed to quickly adapt to the emerging "bring your own device" trend, in which employees bring their personal touch-screen iPhones or Android devices to work instead of relying on BlackBerrys issued by their employers Heins said they want to participate in that trend by releasing a touch version first.