Online ad sales rose 7 % to $5.9B in 1Q

The revenue of $5.9 billion marks the highest for a first quarter, which is typically a slower period following high ad spending over the holidays.

Thursday's study by the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers says retailers are spending more on Internet ads as Americans go back shopping. Retailers accounted for 20 % of all online marketing in 2009.

The rebound came after online ad revenue slumped for the first three quarters of 2009.

David Silverman of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that while uncertainty about the economy remains, the strong start in 2010 "is a sign of the health and vitality of online media."

In 2009, the height of the economic crisis, online advertising fell for the first time in 7 years. Revenue dropped 3.4 % that year to $22.7 billion.

Microsoft gets more aggressive with free software

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. is rolling out a new edition of its Office programs to businesses Wednesday. And for the very first time it's offering versions of Word and other programs that work in a Web browser, for free.

Office 2010 marks a milestone in Microsoft's efforts to keep up with an industry shift from programs that run on PCs to free, Web-based ones that can be accessed from any computer.

And yet Microsoft have to be careful not to undermine its lucrative desktop software business, which accounted for 29 % of Microsoft's revenue and 51 % of its operating income in the most recent quarter.

Consumers can start buying Office 2010 or using the free applications on the Web in June 2010.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs attacks Adobe Flash as unfit for iPhone

In a detailed offensive against the technology owned by Adobe Systems Inc., Apple's CEO Steve Jobs wrote Thursday that Adobe Flash has too many bugs, drains batteries too quickly and is too oriented to PC-oriented to work on the iPhone and iPad.

In a statement Thursday, Steve Jobs laid out his reasons for excluding Flash - the most popular vehicle for videos and games on the Internet - as of Apple ( AAPL - news - people )'s blockbuster handheld devices.

Apple has been criticized for the omission of Adobe Flash, which limits the usefulness of the iPhone. In his rebuttal, Steve Jobs said the most important reason for excluding Adobe Flash is that it puts a 3rd party between Apple and software developers. That means developers can take advantage of improvements from Apple on condition that Adobe (ADBE - news - people) chose to upgrade its own software, Steve Jobs wrote.

Facebook hacker claims to be based in New Zealand

A Russian hacker who says he is living in New Zealand attempted to vend the login details of millions of Facebook users - an unprecedented attack on the world's biggest social networking site “facebook”.

Detectives from the National Cyber Crime Centre (NC3) are investigating whether the hacker Kirllos is using New Zealand as a base to commit internet fraud.

Kirllos is offering the user names and passwords of around 1.5 million Facebook users for between $35 and $62.70 per 1000 accounts sold on an underground hacker forum and the New York Times reported that the login details of as many as 700,000 Facebook had already been sold.

3D prototype camera exposed

A prototype of a 3D camera built by Sony & combined with Discovery was unveiled Sunday 11 April through the Digital Cinema Summit at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention.

John Honeycutt, executive vice president & head of international business operations at Discovery International, exposed the camera as well as revealing plans for a 3D channel from Discovery, Sony & Imax expected to launch this year.

Its technical specifications are which include 3-inch CMOS sensors per eye, Full HD (1920x1080), interchangeable lenses, convergence control & complete metadata support. Field tests are planned to start in July.

Apple Launches iPhone OS 4.0

Apple has finally exposed the 4th iteration of the iPhone OS which adds 100 new features for the iPhone & the iPod Touch mobile devices.

The software platform also covers the way for the next iPhone which should be launched by the end of June 2010 during Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference & coincides with the official "summer" availability of the iPhone OS 4.

Apple explained that it is planning to become a massive mobile player with the beginning of mobile advertising platform iAd, which came out of the acquisition of Quattro Wireless earlier this year. To help develop new products, 1500 brand new application programming interfaces (APIs) will be freed as well as a brand new software development kit for Apple coders.

Blu-ray expand 50 GB to 128 GB

The Blu-ray Disc Association has exposed a new technology that will increase the recordable capacity of Blu-ray discs from the current 50GB to a huge 128GB & a slap the name BDXL on the format.

In this 128 GB Blu-ray discs will not be used with existing Blu-ray players & are WORM (Write Once Read Many) media. It will be achieved by increasing the layers from 2 to 4. There will be one more format called the IH-BD for Intra-Hybrid Bluray Disc, which, as its name says, will offer both a 25GB WORM layer & a 25GB rewritable layer.

A 1TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) for a case barely cost above £60 as a 50GB Blu-ray is likely to cost about £16 which is quite onerous.

Sky begins online 3D-ready pub finder

Sky will launch 3D broadcasts to pubs for the Premier League clash among Manchester United & Chelsea on Saturday.

Around 1,500 pubs & clubs in the UK have previously signed up to receive the service, & customers can log on to the '3D pubs' section on Sky's website to track down a participating venue in their area.

In a report, Sky said that its installers have been "working well to make sure the vast majority of pubs on the finder have been supplies out with 3D TVs & 3D glasses in time for the match". After the April 3 transmission, Sky plans to show the minimum of 5 more Premier League games in 3D before for the current season ends on May 9.

Victorinox launches highly secured USB Stick

Victorinox, manufacturer of the well-known Swiss Army Knife, has launched a new secured memory stick that creates like something right out of Mission: Impossible, Called the Victorinox Secure, it comes in 8GB, 16GB, & 32GB sizes. It offers a variety of security features with fingerprint recognition, a thermal sensor, & has a self-destruct mechanism.

Victorinox offers no explanation how it works, only saying that if someone tries to forcibly open the memory stick it triggers a self-destruct mechanism that "permanently burns CPU & memory chip."

It also has the security features like an LED mini light, retractable ballpoint pen, blade, scissors, nail file, screwdriver, & key ring. It uses the Advanced Encryption Standard 256 to protect the data & the security chip. It sells for $75 to $270. It was launched last week.

French Police Seize Alleged Twitter Hacker

French police say they have seized a 25-year-old who allegedly hacked Twitter accounts of various famous figures, including Britney Spears and the US President Barack Obama.

Police said Wednesday the suspect, who went by the alias "Hacker Croll," was caught following a joint operation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and detained Tuesday in the Puy-de-Dome region, central France.

Police say the FBI contacted them after discovering in July that somebody had managed to get access to private information after hacking into the Twitter system and passing for an administrator.

Police say defy, not money, motivated the hacker.

Twitter has been the target of numerous attacks. Hackers have posted information online or sent counterfeit messages.

AT&T ready to trade Palm, Dell Smartphone

AT&T Inc will ready to selling Palm mobile phones in a few months, Palm said as it looks to expand distribution & raise consumer awareness of its phones.

Palm said its Palm Pre Plus & Palm Pixi Plus will be on hand in AT&T stores "in the coming months," among $149.99 & $49.99, with a 2 year service contract, & after a $100 mail-in repayment.

AT&T said it will soon expose Dell’s first Smartphone available in the U.S, the Aero. The Aero is based on Google's Android mobile phone OS. Dell's Smartphone was officially announced late last year & is now available in China & Brazil.

Opera released Opera Mini 5 & Opera Mobile 10

Opera has released the ultimate version of their mobile web browsers, Opera Mini 5 & Opera Mobile 10. Opera offers to user’s superb speed-to-surf, style & also cost efficiency. This version of Opera mobile-browsing comes after finishing touch-ups to the existing browser.

The new version now comes with a distinguished look, novel features like speed-dialing, password management. It also allows users to link bookmarks, tabbed browsing. Moreover, it is free & easy to download.

It also shapes to save cost by reducing the amount of data sent by almost 90 percent, it helps in lowering costs on pay/MB data plan or even while roaming.

Mobiado introduces Classic 712GCB luxury phone

Mobiado has introduces a new classy handset, named as “Classic 712GCB”. The Classic 712GCB is combined with gold, sapphire crystal & stainless steel to build a new regular in luxury. The frame is said to be CNC machined from brass, hand polished, & then plated with a chunky coating of gold.

The Mobiado logo is precision CNC machine embossed into the device to give a finishing stroke of class. The phone is thought to give out a look of mechanical perfection, mastering of aesthetic particulars & the integrity of unswerving craftsmanship.

The phone might work on any GSM network operator. The device is quad-band GSM & includes triple band WCDMA Band I, II & VIII coverage on up to 5 continents. The handset sports a huge 2.2-inch QVGA display, and includes a 5 MP camera & video camera with flash. This device is equipped with GPS, web browser, email support, & a music player that is compatible with AMR, MID, MP3, MP4, M4A, .WMA & AAC files. The price of 712GCB is currently under wraps.

On Latest Guitar Game, Players Strum Real Six- Strings

NEW YORK – A new musical video game lets players strum a real 6-string electric guitar as an alternative of tapping buttons on a fake instrument.

"Power Gig: Rise of the SixString" is a game first and foremost. However its maker, Seven45 Studios, says players will be capable to plug the guitar that comes with it into a standard amp and play real music.

Games like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" soared to popularity over the past several years. But lately they have been faltering, in part as customers have been reluctant to shell out big bucks for the fake musical instruments needed to play the games and the Seven45 hopes "Power Gig" will lure gamers prepared for a new challenge.

The company has not announced a price. It will be available in the fall.

Apple announces IPad Tablet Sale on April 3 in U.S.

Apple Inc, growing beyond the iPhone & Macintosh desktops & laptops, plans to begin selling iPad tablet computer in the U.S. on April 3 & it will get preorders for the iPad next week.

The company will primarily sell models that connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi networks, starting at $499. Versions that can too tap mobile-phone networks will be on hand in late April, Apple said today.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has pitched the iPad as mobile device that falls among smartphones & laptop computers. With a 9.7 inch touch screen, it provides Web pages, e-mail, music, videos, games, electronic books & iPhone applications. Apple may sell 6 million this year, depending to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Apple told today that all iPad models will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland & the UK in late April.

Nokia introduces new Nokia C5

Nokia has publicized the launch of the Nokia C5, a candybar smartphone. The Nokia C5 is a smartphone that comes with improved social networking & sharing features. It is a Symbian S60v3 FP2 device by HSDPA/HSUPA.

The Nokia C5 having the 2.2 inch QVGA display comes with 320 x 240 pixels resolution, 3.2 MP camera,50 MB of Internal Memory, 2GB MicroSD card in the box (it supports up to 16GB microSD memory card) & high speed data connection for easy uploading of photos & videos to various online communities.

The Nokia C5 also comes with integrated A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, Micro-USB connector, built in stereo FM radio & Stereo IHF speaker, 3.5mm AV connector, Nokia Messaging, & “Ovi Music”. It is having the pre-loaded 3.0 Ovi Maps for free walk & drive navigation. It is powered by 1050mAh battery that offers talktime of 12 hours & upto 630 hours of standby time.

The Nokia C5 will be accessible in white & warm grey colors in the second quarter of 2010 in Europe, Eurasia, China & MEA. It is priced at €135.

The LG's new Watch Phone : India

This fashionable phone comes by scratch-proof tempered glass, 3G If you are a watch freak & also come about to be a fan of ultra rare gadgets, this may just interest you. The LG GD910 watch phone appears like a normal watch - but for the truth that it can double up as your mobile phone when required.

The GD910 LG's hottest watch phone has been introduced in India. It is quite slim at just 13.9mm & packs in 3G & Video calling capabilities too. The phone is quite stylish & the front fascia is covered by scratch-proof tempered glass.

It is also having a Bluetooth headset. The LG watch phone can be all yours for Rs. 49,990 which makes it wonderful expensive - even for an ultra sci-fi style gadget like this.

Nokia to release Nokia Software Updater 20.0.019

Nokia is releasing an exclusive Nokia Software Updater 20.0.019. It is considered to be the software that comes with enhanced touch screen scrolling as well as it has Ovi maps 3.01 with 3-D maps. Nokia Software Updater is a windows application that is liable for updating device of a user from his PC.

This beta release of the Nokia Software Updater won’t be able to load any pre-release of Nokia device software. In case you try to do this, after installation you will get a message: “No software updates available”, which means that no latest version is found for a particular device. It is also a key to check if mobile service provider accepted the latest Nokia device software.

In order to check a new software update, you must do the following: visit to My Nokia subscribe by means of email or SMS, & you will be able to get software notifications.

The next is to type a key *#0000# into your phone’s home screen or you can go to Device manager. Then you have to Select Options & then check for updates. It is key to follow the on-screen prompts before you update is not finished.

Deal between Microsoft-Yahoo search

Microsoft's plans to acquire Yahoo's internet search & search advertising businesses have been cleared by both European & US regulators. The European Commission ruled that the deal "would not considerably obstruct effective competition".

Under the contract, Yahoo's website will use Microsoft's Bing search engine, & the 2 firms will share the revenues. Microsoft is seeking to boost its share of the search engine industry, which is conquered by Google.

It and Yahoo 1st announced the planned tie-up in July of last year.

T24: the fresh GSM brand in India

Tata Teleservices in partnership with the leading retail entity, Future Group has unveiled its new GSM mobile service brand – T24. This is the newest entrant to the India’s previously crowded market of mobile service providers. T24 symbolizes Talk24 wherever customers of this new GSM services will be provided with the twin facility of shopping and talking for 24 hours of day.

Tata Teleservices is the pan India twin technology operator, namely GSM and CDMA services. The launch of this new service will at first take place in the Southern Region of the sub-continent and is expected to come into existence in the next 3 years. The company plans to cover all the telecom circles by end of this year.

As per the joint venture agreement between the 2 parties, Future Group will sell Tata Teleservices' GSM links under the T24 brand name to customers visiting its trade outlets across India. The tariff details in regard to the GSM service has not been exposed by the companies yet.