Hasta La Gadget!

As you may have noticed, Microsoft has seen a few pretty significant executive shakeups as of late, with Robbie Bach and J Allard announcing their departures back in May, and Steven Elop leaving just last month to take the top job at Nokia. Now Microsoft has officially filled in some of those gaps, naming Kurt DelBene as president of its Microsoft Office Division, and Andy Lees and Don Mattrick as presidents of its Mobile Communications Business and Interactive Entertainment Business, respectively — Windows Phone and Xbox, in other words. All three divisions are actually new (at least in name), but DelBene is effectively succeeding Elop, who led Microsoft’s Business Division, while Mattrick and Lees are more or less splitting up Robbie Bach’s former duties as head of the now dissolved Entertainment and Devices division. Head on past the break for the complete press release.

Continue reading Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures

Microsoft names three new division presidents following recent departures originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Erudite tipster Abe found this little gem — if you search for “HSPA” at T-Mobile’s online store, up pops the image above, and as you can no doubt see with your sparkling eyes, that’s the myTouch HD we’re looking at. Or perhaps just the “myTouch,” as that’s the moniker on this particular page, or even the “myTouch 2,” as that’s the name affixed to the tiny image. No matter what it’s called, though, it looks like that front-facing camera is confirmed, and given our query we wouldn’t be terribly surprised if it had HSPA+ connectivity too. The big question is how disappointed you’ll be if it’s not “priced as low as free” when the handset comes out.

Update: Tipster David R. found some extra shots of the HTC handset buried deep in T-Mobile’s site — it’s got a black front, but the back of the unit is actually silver and white. You’ll find a 3.5mm headset jack up top, a micro-USB port on the left and a likely shutter button on the right, while the rear has a camera with what appear to be LED flash and speakerphone to either side.

Update 2: That link didn’t work before, but it sure does now — it’s the myTouch, and it’s got HSPA+ all right.

myTouch HD confirmed by T-Mobile website, could be free on contract? (update: live!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 21:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Apple addressed a congressional inquiry on privacy in July, the company claimed that it couldn’t actually track a particular iPhone in real time, as its transactions were anonymous and thoroughly randomized. Bucknell University network admin Eric Smith, however, theorizes that third-party application developers and advertisers may not have the same qualms, and could be linking your device to your name (and even your location) whenever they transmit data. Smith, a two-time DefCon wardriving champ, studied 57 top applications in the iTunes App Store to see what they sent out, and discovered that some fired off the iPhone’s UDID and personal details in plaintext (where they can ostensibly be intercepted), including those for Amazon, Chase Bank, Target and Sam’s Club, though a few were secured with SSL. Though UDIDs are routinely used by apps to store personal data and combat piracy, what Smith fears is that a database could be set up linking these UDIDs to GPS coordinates or GeoIP, giving nefarious individuals or organizations knowledge of where you are.

It’s a scary idea, but before you direct hate Apple’s way, it’s important to note that Cupertino’s not necessarily the one to blame. iOS is arguably the best at requiring users to opt-in to apps that perform GPS tracking; transmitting the UDID and account information together publicly is strictly against the rules; and we’d like to think that if users provide their personal information to an application developer in the first place, they’d understand what they’re doing. Of course, not all users monitor those things closely, and plaintext transmission of personal details is obviously a big no-no.

Smith’s piece opens and closes on the idea that Apple’s UDID is like the unique identifier of Intel’s Pentium III processor, which generated privacy concerns around the turn of the century, and we wonder if ths story might play out the same way — following government inquiries, Intel offered a software utility that let individuals manually disable their chip’s unique ID, and removed it from future CPUs.

Hacker claims third-party iPhone apps can freely transmit UDID, pose serious threat to privacy originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you have a Verizon phone sans data plan, but get billed for data anyhow? Verizon Wireless is dropping $90 million to make things right next month. The company will refund 15 million cellular customers who were wrongly charged for internet use, in the form of $2 to $6 credits on their next bill — unless the fiasco already caused you to leave, in which case you’ll get a similar check in the mail. The New York Times reports that the FCC pressured Verizon into this settlement following hundreds of complaints, so it looks like the squeaky wheel may have won this round. If you can call Verizon treating you to the equivalent of a latte a “win,” of course. Read Verizon’s full statement after the break.

Continue reading Verizon agrees to refund customers $90 million for wrongful data charges

Verizon agrees to refund customers $90 million for wrongful data charges originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ExoPC delayed a few weeks, apologizes with free stylus and stand originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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