Steve Jobs, Apple ‘visionary’, dies aged 56

Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive of US technology giant Apple, has died at the age of 56.
 
Apple said he had been “the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives” and had made the world “immeasurably better”.
 
Mr Jobs had announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.
Tributes have been made by technology company bosses and world leaders, with US President Barack Obama saying the world had “lost a visionary”.
 
“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it,” said Mr Obama.
A statement from Mr Jobs’s family said they were with him when he died peacefully on Wednesday.
 
In pictures: Apple fans mourn JobsCan Apple stay ahead without Jobs at its core?Steve Jobs: Photos of your tributes”In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family,” they said, requesting privacy and thanking those who had “shared their wishes and prayers” during his final year.
 
Apple said the company had “lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being”.
Tim Cook, who was made Apple’s CEO after Mr Jobs stood down in August, said his predecessor had left behind “a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple”.
 
Flags are being flown at half mast outside the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, while fans of the company have left tributes outside Apple shops around the world.
 
“What he’s done for us as a culture, it resonates uniquely in every person,” said Cory Moll, an Apple employee in San Francisco.
 
“Even if they never use an Apple product, the impact they have had is so far-reaching.”
 
At the company’s Shanghai shop, customer Jin Yi said Mr Jobs had created gadgets which had “changed people’s perceptions of machines”.
 
Rivals’ tributes
 
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will remember Mr Jobs for “knowing what made sense in a product”The heads of other leading technology companies have also paid tribute, including Microsoft boss Bill Gates, who said Mr Jobs’s “profound impact” on the world of technology would “be felt for many generations to come”.
 
“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honour. I will miss Steve immensely.”
 
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg thanks Mr Jobs for “showing that what you build can change the world” while Sony Corp president and CEO Howard Stringer said: “The digital age has lost its leading light.”
 
South Korea’s Samsung, which is involved in an ongoing legal battle with Apple over patents, praised Mr Jobs for his “numerous revolutionary changes to the information technology industry”.
 
Source: BBC.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15193922) @ 06/10/11 21:00

Dell Partners with Baidu for smartphones in China

Dell the IT Services, Computer Hardware and Software giant has confirmed that it is one of the number of companies partnering with Baidu (China’s largest internet search engine) on mobile phones.

A spokesman from Dell stated that the company was developing smartphones which would utilise Baidu’s new software platform for the chinese market. In addition to the partnership with Dell, Baidu have announced that they will be working with a number of other developers and handset makers as part of an alliance to support the Baidu Yi platform.

Baidu Yi is said to be an Android-based platform but Ms Lee has not stated which operating system the Dell smartphones will be using.

Hewlett-Packard’s shares drop 20% after company takes new approach

Shares in Hewlett-Packard (HP) have fallen sharply on news that the company is buying UK software firm Autonomy for £7.1bn ($11.7bn) and may sell its PC business. HP’s PC business is the world’s largest, but by the end of next year, HP computers could be sold under another company’s name.
 
Analysts believe this move is due to the fact that Apple have knocked HP out of the PC, smartphones and tablet market with its iPhone and iPad products.
 
This new strategy means that HP will continue to sell servers and other equipment to business customers and side-line PC hardware in favour of more profitable software and services which will be provided by Autonomy.

Twitter users may face court

Twitter’s new European boss (Tony Wang) has suggested that users who break privacy injunctions by posting on the Twitter website could face UK courts.
 
Tony Wang has warned that the site would hand over user information to the authorities where they were “legally required”. In addition Tony Wang stated that people who did “bad things” needed to defend themselves.
 
Lawyers are challenging Twitter in court to reveal the identities of the Twitter user who violated a super-injunction which was put into place to hide the alleged affair of Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs.
 
Mr Wang has stated that Twitter with comply with local laws to turn over user details and will also notify those individuals of any such request.
 
At the first e-G8 summit, the topic of legal jurisdictions and the internet has been hotly debated and Technology IT Service leaders including Google’s Eric Schmidt and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg were among the speakers at the event.

Fake Security Program Hits Apple

Thousands of Apple users have been caught out by a fake security application which once installed, the fake MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity programs pretend to scan a computer and then ask for payment to fix non-existent problems.
 
Apple have put out a notice to warn users about the fake security software and for those users who have already been infected, Apple have released an in-depth guide on how to remove the malware infection (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4650)
 
Apple have released a statement saying they will release an OS X update soon to find and remove the MacDefender and its variants.
 
The MacDefender and its variants are thought to have caught some people out because the default security settings on the Safari browser allow it to download and queue itself for installation.
 
The percentage of Mac users who do end up installing the malware program may end up paying approximately £43 to remove the non-existent virus infection.
 
As Apple was releasing its fix for the Mac Defender malware infection, the gang behind it had starting a new variant called Mac Guard. The new variant is being spread by tying it to popular phrases typed into search engines. In addition the new variant (Mac Guard) gets round one of the factors that limited the spread of the Mac Defender as it no longer needs a user’s permission to be installed.
 
If you are experiencing any issues with you IT Services due to the recent Apple malware out break BubbleIT’s IT Support services will be able to help you get you up and running again.