Android 4.0.3 ICS now rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S II

Five months after the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, users will start seeing a roll out of the official ICS upgrade for their Samsung Galaxy S II device.

The update will be available in stages and will arrive first to Samsung’s home country Korea. The first European countries that will receive the update are: Poland, Sweden and Hungary. Samsung confirmed that the UK rolout will begin next week.

“Samsung UK can confirm that the roll out of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on Galaxy S II will be available from week commencing 19th March, however the availability of software upgrades in the UK will be dependent upon each network’s own software approvals process.”

Samsung have informed users that Android 4.0 updates for the Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II LTE, Galaxy R, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, 7.7, 8.9, 8.9 LTE and 10.1 will be coming along “Soon”. Owners of the Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab 7, Galaxy S Plus, Galaxy S Super Clear LCD and Galaxy W can all expect an update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread at the end of this month.

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Google Rebrands Android Market, Google Music as 'Play'

Google said Tuesday that it rebranded its Android Market, Google Music, and its online eBookstore as a single brand, Google Play.

Over the next few days, Google will upgrade its Android Market app to Google Play, the company said in a blog post. Likewise, Google Play Music, Google Play Books, and Google Play Movies will become the names used by Google's music, books, and movie storefronts, the company said.

The rebranding won't be consistent on a worldwide basis. For example, in Canada and the U.K., Google said it will offer movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; and in Japan, movies and apps. Everywhere else, Google Play will be the new home for just Android apps, the company said.

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Apple to Sell 'Cheap' iPad to Fend Off Android: Report

Black and white versions of the new iPad 2.When Apple [AAPL  Loading...      ()   ] releases its new and enhanced iPad next week, the company will also re-launch a less expensive version of its current iPad 2 to combat cheaper tablets running Google’s Android operating software, according to a JPMorgan analyst report out of Asia.

“Expect higher resolution new iPad, but also a cheaper iPad 2 to defend against Android Tablets,” wrote Gokul Hariharan of JP Morgan in a note today. “PC vendors like ASUS have issued aggressive guidance on cheap Android Tablets. If Apple comes out with a multi-pronged pricing strategy for iPads, then Android tablets may again find it difficult to gain traction, except for very low-end ones like Kindle Fire.”

Shares of Apple are up more than 30 percent this year in anticipation of the iPad announcement next Wednesday. The device is expected to have 4G capability and even more enhanced features. Meanwhile, shares of Google [GOOG  Loading...      ()   ] are lower for the year and Amazon’s stock is up barely 3 percent for 2012.

It is not unprecedented for Apple to keep selling older models under a new pricing structure in order to take market share on the lower end. After introducing the iPhone 4S last October, Apple announced it would keep selling the iPhone 4 for $99, as well as an iPhone 3GS for free when accompanied with a two-year contract.

For the best market insight, catch 'Fast Money' each night at 5pm ET, and the ‘Halftime Report’ each afternoon at 12:00 ET on CNBC. Follow @CNBCMelloy on Twitter.

______________________________________________________

John Melloy is the Executive Producer of Fast Money. Before joining CNBC, he was an editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing the U.S. Stock Market coverage team. Click here to see his full bio.

______________________________________________________
Got something to say? Send us an e-mail atdocument.write("");document.write("fastmoney-web"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write(''); and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap! If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send your message todocument.write("");document.write("fastmoney"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write(''); .

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In Brief: Patent Party's Over, Android Left in Cold

By Kat Asharya | Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:39 pm

The Justice Department approved the $4.5 billion purchase of over 4,000 Nortel patents to major Android rivals like Apple and RIM, guaranteeing no end in sight to the legal battles entangling the mobile industry.

In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter -- today and what it means for tomorrow -- clearly and simply.

What's Happening: The DoJ's review of the record-setting patent purchase of 4,000 patents, previously owned by the now-bankrupt Nortel Networks, expired without comment by the regulator. Rockstar Consortium, a partnership between Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Ericsson and RIM that won the portfolio at auction, is now free to use its purchases.

The Nortel intellectual properties -- covering technologies in wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, among other technologies -- went up for sale last year as a prized commodity in an industry increasingly embroiled in a web of patent litigation. The DoJ's official go-ahead clears the way for the Rockstar Consortium to use the patents freely.

What's Really Happening: The Nortel patents were purchased by an unusual partnership between Apple, RIM, Microsoft and Sony. These partners are generally rivals in the marketplace, but most are all Android rivals, now armed with a warchest of intellectual property.

What's Next: The DoJ's green light will likely lead the way to a new rash of lawsuits targeting Google's mobile OS, continuing a growing wave of patent litigation against Google and its Android phone maker rivals. The Nortel IP covers some key areas in technology, particularly in wireless 4G.

With the DoJ approval, Apple et al. could begin implement many of the Nortel patents in new features and software, but will likely also begin filing more infringement suits against Android phone makers, to either force sales bans or open up negotiations for settlements and licensing. The rash of patent lawsuits against Android is poised to escalate, and the Android rivals could become even more aggressive in their legal strategy to hobble Google.

However, Google has boosted its patent game, acquiring Motorola Mobility earlier this year and giving the search giant its own strong portfolio of patents. Google can likely draw on its own patents to create software and Android capabilities free of patent infringement, or begin to file its own suits against rivals.

The Takeaway: In an industry where the competition between device makers is fought in courtrooms as well as the market, the DoJ's approval of Rockstar's purchase officially arms a group of Android rivals with a formidable weapon. Most of the patent battles have led to few definitive victories, but even one settlement can have lasting, concrete consequences -- Microsoft, for instance, collects a sizable portion of profits on HTC Android phones for its use of its patents. The Nortel patents, especially those covering key technologies like 4G, may lead to more of these licensing settlements in the future.

At this juncture, the focus on patent suits is beginning to shift from outright infringement accusations to questions over fair use of industry standards software. By covering key pieces of technology crucial to the mobile industry, the Nortel patents may get caught up in this debate. However Apple and company chooses to wield their patents, one thing is clear: the importance of patents in the mobile industry will continue to grow, and those armed with the strongest portfolios will likely wield the most influence as the patent battles evolve.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:04 pm | By
AT&T is expanding its LTE service, and Tim Cook sold off more of his stock in Apple. Meanwhile, Verizon had some sporadic outages, Apple denies Proview's claims on its iPad name and Twitter snapped up Posterous, a blogging platform.



Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:46 pm | By
Apple's is reducing the price of the iPad 2 with the release of the new iPad, boosting the company's educational initiatives by making tablets more affordable for schools.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:39 pm | By
IPads drastically help doctors boost their productivity, according to a study, highlighting how mobile technology is revolutionizing healthcare.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:58 am | By
Chinese factory workers say Apple overlooked safety hazards after an explosion last December, as the company struggles to maintain its reputation amid mounting public concern.

Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:15 pm | By
The Apple-Samsung battle heats up, RIM's BlackBerry loses a key sector of customers and other stories from today's news.


Editorials & Opinion By Kat Asharya
The Justice Department approved the $4.5 billion purchase of over 4,000 Nortel patents to major Android rivals like Apple and RIM, guaranteeing no end in sight to the legal battles entangling the mobile industry.

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VYou brings video Q&A service to Android phones

Video Q&A startup VYou is massively extending its reach with the release Monday of an Android app. That app, which follows the release of an iPhone app (aapl) last September, could greatly increase the number of mobile users VYou can attract.

VYou is built around the idea of submitting and answering questions via video, putting a real voice and a face behind those people who provide their opinions through the service. It gives users a few short minutes to provide replies, which are viewable by all users. With recent updates, it also gave users the ability to create status updates and provide their own responses to questions that are posed to other users. All of these features have been aimed at building a community around sharing via video.

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Developers can steal photos off Android phones via flaw

After finding a similar flaw in iOS devices, the New York Times looked into a similar,  potential flaw for Android devices.  They found one.

It seems work if a particular app has permission to access the Internet, it is capable of uploading photos right off your phone without your permission or knowledge.  This was successfully tested by an App developer who was able to take the most recent photo from the victim’s phone and upload it to a photo sharing site.

A Google spokesman explained that because the gallery had to be open when photos are stored on the microSD card, access had to remain simple so that the photos could be removed easily should the memory card be replaced or moved to another device.  Although the potential security flaw hasn’t been fixed, Google is already considering placing more security for photo access.

Until that happens, take care when downloading apps from third party app sites.

[VIA]

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Apple to Sell 'Cheap' iPad to Fend Off Android: Report

Black and white versions of the new iPad 2.When Apple [AAPL  Loading...      ()   ] releases its new and enhanced iPad next week, the company will also re-launch a less expensive version of its current iPad 2 to combat cheaper tablets running Google’s Android operating software, according to a JPMorgan analyst report out of Asia.

“Expect higher resolution new iPad, but also a cheaper iPad 2 to defend against Android Tablets,” wrote Gokul Hariharan of JP Morgan in a note today. “PC vendors like ASUS have issued aggressive guidance on cheap Android Tablets. If Apple comes out with a multi-pronged pricing strategy for iPads, then Android tablets may again find it difficult to gain traction, except for very low-end ones like Kindle Fire.”

Shares of Apple are up more than 30 percent this year in anticipation of the iPad announcement next Wednesday. The device is expected to have 4G capability and even more enhanced features. Meanwhile, shares of Google [GOOG  Loading...      ()   ] are lower for the year and Amazon’s stock is up barely 3 percent for 2012.

It is not unprecedented for Apple to keep selling older models under a new pricing structure in order to take market share on the lower end. After introducing the iPhone 4S last October, Apple announced it would keep selling the iPhone 4 for $99, as well as an iPhone 3GS for free when accompanied with a two-year contract.

For the best market insight, catch 'Fast Money' each night at 5pm ET, and the ‘Halftime Report’ each afternoon at 12:00 ET on CNBC. Follow @CNBCMelloy on Twitter.

______________________________________________________

John Melloy is the Executive Producer of Fast Money. Before joining CNBC, he was an editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing the U.S. Stock Market coverage team. Click here to see his full bio.

______________________________________________________
Got something to say? Send us an e-mail atdocument.write("");document.write("fastmoney-web"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write(''); and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap! If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send your message todocument.write("");document.write("fastmoney"+"@"+"cnbc.com");document.write(''); .

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Android Bug Opens Devices to Outside Control: Pros

Cybersecurity pros have uncovered a flaw in a component of the operating system of Google's widely used Android smartphone that they say hackers can exploit to gain control of the devices.

Researchers at startup cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said they have figured out how to use that bug to launch attacks and take control of some Android devices.

CrowdStrike, which will demonstrate its findings next week at a major computer security conference in San Francisco, said an attacker sends an email or text message that appears to be from a trusted source, like the user's phone carrier.

The message urges the recipient to click on a link, which if done infects the device.

At that point, the hacker gains complete control of the phone, enabling him or her to eavesdrop on phone calls and monitor the location of the device, said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer and co-founder of CrowdStrike.

Google [GOOG  Loading...      ()   ] spokesman Jay Nancarrow declined comment on Crowdstrike's claim.

Alperovitch said the firm conducted the research to highlight how mobile devices are increasingly vulnerable to a type of attack widely carried out against PCs.

In such instances, hackers find previously unknown vulnerabilities in software, then exploit those flaws with malicious software that is delivered via tainted links or attached documents.

He said smartphone users need to prepare for this type of attack, which typically cannot be identified or thwarted by mobile device security software.

"With modifications and perhaps use of different exploits, this attack will work on every smartphone device and represents the biggest security threat on those devices," said Alperovitch, who was vice president of threat research at McAfee before he co-founded CrowdStrike.

Researchers at CrowdStrike were not the first to identify such a threat, though such warnings are less common than reports of malicious applications that make their way to online websites, such as Apple's App Store or the Android Market.

In July 2009, researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner figured out a way to attack Apple's [AAPL  Loading...      ()   ] iPhone by sending malicious code embedded in text messages that was invisible to the phone's user.

Apple repaired the bug in the software a few weeks after the pair warned it of the problem.

The method devised by CrowdStrike currently works on devices running Android 2.2, also known as Froyo. That version is installed on about 28 percent of all Android devices, according to a Google survey conducted over two weeks ending Feb. 1.

Alperovitch said he expects to have a second version of the software finished by next week that can attack phones running Android 2.3.

That version, widely known as Gingerbread, is installed on another 59 percent of all Android devices, according to Google.

CrowdStrike's method of attack makes use of a previously unpublicized security flaw in a piece of software known as webkit, which is built into the Android operating system's Web browser.

Webkit is also incorporated into other software programs, including Google's Chrome browser and the Apple iOS operating system for the iPhone and iPad.

CrowdStrike said it had not attempted to create software to attack iOS devices or the Chrome browser.

Manufacturers of Android devices include HTC [HTCCY  Loading...      ()   ] , LG Electronics, Motorola Mobility [MMI  Loading...      ()   ] and Samsung Electronics.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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