Releasing the iPhone 3.0 Apple announces to continue the developing of the platform for enterprise use in its firmware. The company has issued a distribution guide for system administrator to incorporate the iPhone or iPod touch and a variety of features to be used in business department.

The updated functionality is added tools for restricting device usage, as well as configuration profiles that can be encrypted and locked, these needing a password to be removed. Features to control the camera or to specify the duration of time the handset can stay unlocked are also available.

The devices can be registered over the air through the use of Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) servers and the iTunes backups saved in encrypted formats. The protection against theft is ensured by the possibility of remote wiping of the data from the device itself.

Last year in ‘Wall Street Journal’ Apple highlighted the iPhone’s enterprise features which made the handset to be ranked as the leader in customer satisfaction. The minis-site that the company has been running is dedicated to bringing the device into corporate environments. Initially the iPhone was viewed with the deficiency in that that it missed a number of business features, but lately Apple has strived to cover the gaps and since then it enacted itself as a leader in the enterprise field. As a result the market shows a growth in demand for Palm and Apple and a decline for RIM devices.

Applications that have been recently patented indicate that business-centered technology may be on the way; the relevant example being “biometric authentication”. Biometrics, generally speaking, refers to methods that enable unique recognition of humans based on one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. In information technology, in particular, it is used as a form of identity access management and access control. On March 2009, the Apple patent was published to present an application related to biometric authentication security system that is meant to be incorporated in all the Apple’s future hardware, from iPhone to MacBook. Through this application the users, as owners of the device, are the only persons to operate the unit.

Methods of this application include detecting the information of identification with the one existing in the stored library of the device, fingertip technology, face and voice recognition, ear canal sensory, a system operative to detect and authenticate a user according to the features of a user’s eyes, or movements of the user’s eyes. and so on. Combining temporal and visual patterns for authentication is another method based instead or in addition on a received temporal pattern of the data introduced by the user.

Another way to provide security is a device that is time-based and ensures the user that the application would be shut down after a specific time is set up for shutting. Apple’s new features in iPhone 3.0 introducing also the biometric security system options offer world class applications that will enable Apple to move further into enterprise market.

At an affordable price of only $120 (compared to its older sibling, Lumix DMC-FS25, which is more expensive), Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LS85 displays a point-and-shoot camera of 8-megapixel with a full feature set and good image quality and the Leica lenses give a 33 mm to 132 mm 4X optical zoom.

The Intelligent Auto button, set on the top of the camera, next to the shutter button, turns on the in-camera optimization features – optical image stabilization, red-eye correction, automatic scene selection based on the shooting environment and an ISO adjustment. The position of this iA button is very at handy for the casual set-it-and-forget-it photographers.

The scene mode which presents a LS85 menu with 21 setting to choose from, can be selected manually. The unique modes that it has make Lumix DMC-LS85 appear out of the ordinary: Aerial Photo (enables you to take pictures through airplane windows), Fireworks, Food, and High Speed Burst mode that provides up to 5 shots/second at the lowest-resolution setting. At the price offered by this camera one can get a great optical image stabilization even when one shakes it around. The screen at this type is a 2.5” LCD, maybe a little bit small, but bright enough to be seen in the sunlight. The camera is powered by 2 AA batteries (that last for approximately 280 shots before needing to be replaced) and has also a SD/SDHC card slot that is positioned on the side of the camera.

To evaluate the quality of a picture, tests were conducted by taking a series a photos, using or not the flash, with the camera’s highest resolution. The photos were taken on a complex still life, a mannequin (to check on the way camera is capturing details and the subtle colors) and a target resolution chart. Scores for the image-quality were assigned to have an idea on this feature that Lumix DMC-FS85 presents.

The switches and the buttons (shutter button, zoom, off/on switch) are all positioned on top of the camera. At the back side one can find a photo/playback button, a dedicated mode button, and a menu button to browse the four navigation system with a one-touch activating the exposure settings, the flash, the macro mode, and the timer. Set under these buttons are two more to adjust display settings and access a separate menu for image stabilization, controlling the white balance, auto focus option and LCD brightness.

The evaluations of the lab test have shown an overall image quality rated to GOOD. Its size (3.9” –W x 2.5” –H x 1.2” –D) and the weight 6.2 lbs. make Lumix DMC-LS85 a easy to handle and wear camera. If your budget is restricted and you are in the thing of taking snap shots whenever a landscape strikes your view, the affordable Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85 is definitely an option to be taken into account.

On Tuesday, Google has stated that it is planning to test a viability of a version of Gmail service to see if it confers more security to the site. The plan is to change the back-end servers in order for the users to automatically access the encrypted HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) connection while using the Gmail service. The point is that this HTTPS is in use while logging in to Gmail, but the problem is that after that the Web pages are delivered without the encryption. This may lead to hackers’ access to a network and take over a Google account using the so-called “session hijacking” technique. Through this they have also access to read e-mails that are of a private nature.

Cristopher Soghoian, one of 38 security and privacy experts who prompted Google to make the changes, declared that the identity of a person lies in the inbox that can be one click away from the hackers. The experts had stated that an adoption of a HTTPS is mandatory not only because it encrypts e-mails, but also provides a way to authenticate the servers, ensuring the users that they actually address to Google and not “some phishing site”.

Gmail users have access to their messages via the already established HTTPS, but to do this they click the “browser connection” set at the bottom of the page; the test that Google plans to take sends the HTTPS under a ‘default’ status, thus activating a security that will cover part or all of the Web page. This ‘default’ feature wasn’t previously adopted by Google, because, as they said, it would have made the Web site too slow.

Regarding the security must, Soghoian has come up with the idea that Google should adopt the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and Alma Whitten, Google’s Software Engineer, answered that they would move small samples of different types of Gmail users to HTTPS to see whether it affected the performance of their e-mail, to check if it loaded fast enough, if it was responsive enough. In case the test works out positive, then Google will apply on HTTPS by default more broadly, “hopefully for all Gmail user”, as Whitten stated.

Google didn’t mention when the testing would begin, but they know that they are more ahead of rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, that do not offer a HTTPS connection to their users, as Jeremiah Grossman – chief technology officer with White Hat Secuirty, declared. Since encrypted message contain more information, using HTTPS default may slow down Web surfing and this can be a reason that can turn the performance of the site into an undesired one. If this will cause users to drop the service, than they will face a major problem, Grossman added.

As Whitten wrote, the free, always-on HTTPS is quite unaccustomed in the e-mail business, especially for those using a free e-mail service, but at the same time they take it as being another way to make Web service safer and more useful; a feature that all major webmail service should provide. But till then, Gmail, more secure – is a must!

Apple announced that customers who have purchased qualifying Mac with OS X Leopard installed may upgrade it with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date program which is to be released in September for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 plus tax. There are provided full details for customers that want to upgrade; for instance customers who have several qualifying Macs on a single invoice are able to buy an upgrade kit for each system at the price of $9.95. It is also offered a similar program for customers that have or will purchase Xserves and wish to upgrade it to OS X Snow Leopard Server.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is a refined version of the elegant Mac OS X having lots of little touches and performance improvements, this will make the user to enjoy Mac even more. It includes some technologies designed to draw the power of today’s computer hardware and ensure a strong base for innovation.

Mac OS X is known to be simple, reliable and easy to use. So, the engineers from Apple Comp. had a single purpose in their minds while designing the Snow Leopard: to refine a fine thing and not reinvent it. So they set out to further simplify and speed up, from little details to big ones, and the result is amazing!

The Finder feature is completely rewritten to include 64-bit support and Grand Central Dispatch. It proves to be more responsive with snappier performance across the whole Finder. The 64-bit support doesn’t contradict itself, through that that is displaying its power to speed up everything from, as we know, everyday applications to the most demanding scientific computations. And is the same with Snow Leopard.

Although the 64-bit support is showing its capability in Mac OS X, the Snow Leopard takes an even bigger step by rewriting almost all system applications in 64-bit code and by giving the Mac the possibility to address large amounts of memory.

That the entire computing industry is adopting the 64-bit technology it’s not a new fact. Through Mac computers this is easy to make us see why?!

Almost all built-in applications (including the Finder, Mail, Safari, iCal, and iChat) are built with 64-bit code. Beside the fact that they are capable of taking full advantage of all the available memory in your Mac, they also increase the overall performance through the move to 64-bit applications. Next to other improvements and refinements, Snow Leopard offers the feeling that everything you do (launching applications such as QuickTime or using JavaScript in Safari to open images, etc) is faster and more responsive.

The 64-bit support is preparing Mac OS X with the new Snow Leopard for whatever computing devices might come in the future. So, why not give your Mac OS X an upgrading with Snow Leopard new performances?

A theft detection system based on a new patent appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office is likely to equip the future Apple devices, such as iPhone, iPod and perhaps laptops. The system for theft prevention consists of an acceleration sensor which detects the acceleration of a portable electronic device and a controller that analyzes this acceleration to check if a theft condition is present. In this case an alarm signal will be initiated.

The theft prevention system is equipped with a filter which may attenuate irrelevant acceleration frequencies and isolates the ones that represent the feature of a theft. There is also included a comparison hardware/software to determine whether the acceleration present is the one to match the profile characteristic of a theft. A graphical user interface is used to set various parameters of the theft prevention system.

The trend to minimize electronic devices has resulted in systems based on computers to make them more portable. Laptops, iPods from Apple Computer Inc., not to mention the compact disc players, are a living proof to the above statement. This easy to wear devices are also targets for thieves, so long as they are easy to wear for the owners, the same they are for the thieves. A current anti-theft system is currently represented by a simple mechanical lock that attaches to the housing of a device by means of a cable. This cable is wrapped around other objects so that it is fixed to the portable device. Thus the portable electronic gadgets can be tethered to fixtures that are close to the user. These models of anti-theft system prove to be uncomfortable to carry around due to the bulky cable and lock and mostly because there can not be convenient spots to tether to.

Therefore the need for theft detection system for portable devices that does not imply the use of additional cables and is available to function in different locations is more than welcomed. This new patent of the invention can be implemented in various ways, such as device, method, system, or computer readable medium. As a computer readable memory that includes instructions to direct an electronic system that provides theft protection, the device of the invention contains: an acceleration signal that has frequencies feature of movement, a set to process the acceleration signal in order to isolate the movement frequencies, a set to measure the frequencies, and a set to initiate an alarm based upon the measurements.

The inventor of this theft detection system for portable device is Paul J. Wehrenberg and he issued a graphic which shows a block diagram of a portable electronic device built in relation to an embodiment of the invention.