Google Chrome for Windows gets more secure Flash player, gives users a browsing sandbox safety net

Chrome turned 21 last week, and in that new version, Google's made playing Flash videos in its browser even safer... for Windows users, anyway. This latest release puts Adobe's Flash Player plug-in for Windows in a sandbox, much as Chrome 20 did for Linux. This sandbox is "as strong" as Chrome's extremely robust native version -- even in Windows XP -- which means that Flash-borne malware can't hurt Microsofties. Securing the Flash Player plug-in is the result of two years of work, and was made possible by a new plug-in architecture Google co-developed with Adobe. In addition to the security benefits, the architecture has also brought performance improvements by way of a 20 percent decrease in Flash crashes and GPU acceleration for smoother scrolling and faster Flash rendering. And, while the immediate good news is for Windows users, Google has assured us that a port for OS X is in the works, and it hopes to ship that Mac version soon.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Google Chrome for Windows gets more secure Flash player, gives users a browsing sandbox safety net originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dropped calls, slow download speeds rank among top gripes of mobile users

Everyone has an opinion, and if they all stink, then Pew must have one hell of a tolerance for foul odors. The research group recently surveyed a number of mobile phone owners to determine their primary complaints, and while it's not much of a surprise, slow network performance stole the show. In all, 77 percent aired at least some dissatisfaction with download speeds, and nearly half of all respondents cited frequent frustration. The story is similar for dropped calls, as 72 percent of those surveyed claim to experience the annoyance at least occasionally. While less widespread, the distribution of those who receive unwanted marketing attempts via either telephone calls or text messages is roughly equal -- it seems reasonable to assume that many respondents are harassed by both means. For more surveys*, just text #eng-123 to 9999. *Outrageous fees will apply.

Continue reading Dropped calls, slow download speeds rank among top gripes of mobile users

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Dropped calls, slow download speeds rank among top gripes of mobile users originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Users reporting BBM down, joins Instagram in being less social (update: RIM's on it)

First Netflix, then Instagram, now BBM? We're getting reports along with plenty of Twitter noise that the popular BlackBerry service has headed south. This makes for one heck of an anti-social weekend if you're a photo-sharing, BBM-er for sure. Let us know if you've been affected by the service, in the meantime why not read up on some tech news? We've plenty!

Update: We've just received word from RIM itself explaining the situation. Basically, you might experience some hiccups with BBM and web browsing, but everything else should be back to normal. Check out the response below:

Today, we experienced a service issue which may have affected some of our customers in certain parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Some minor issues relating to browsing and BlackBerry Messenger may still persist, but all other services are operating as normal. We apologize to any customers in these regions who may have been inconvenienced.

Users reporting BBM down, joins Instagram in being less social (update: RIM's on it) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(PR) Lenovo Connects ThinkPad Users with No-Contract Mobile Broadband Service

"We live in world where it's not only undesirable to be without online access, it's often disruptive to businesses. For that reason we wanted to create a flexible mobile broadband solution that would be unparalleled in its ability to help business users stay connected and working," said Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager, ThinkPad Business Unit, Lenovo. "Fundamentally, Lenovo Mobile Access gives individual and corporate customers options to determine how, when and where they want to connect with online applications and services, all at a price that fits their budget." ]]>

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Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India, users increasingly mobile

You probably don't need a 112 slide PowerPoint presentation from Mary Meeker and the venture capital firm KPCB to tell you this, but the Internet, she's getting bigger. Every year more and more people sign on and, not surprisingly, many of the 663 million netizens added over the last three years have come from developing nations like China and India. In fact, since 2008, China has accounted for almost a third of new web users, adding 215 million to the connected population. What also shouldn't come as a shock, is that the boon in connectivity is also being pushed by the broader availability of 3G data connections. Areas like India, China and Vietnam have all seen triple digit percentage growths in 3G penetration since last year. Wireless broadband has really exploded in India, where year over year growth in subscribers was 841 percent, though, that still only equates to a four percent penetration rate. For more info about the state of the internet and the world's 1.1 billion 3G subscribers hit up the source link.

Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India, users increasingly mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 22:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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