Facebook Connect issue wreaks havoc on the Web

A temporary glitch in the social network's system rerouted people from other sites to a Facebook error message.

Facebook had a temporary glitch this afternoon that pulled people from different Web sites to a Facebook error message when they tried to access an account that was linked to the social-networking site.

TNW's Alex Wilhelm first tweeted about this at 4:15 p.m. after trying to read an article from a news site: "Reading article. Dragged from two diff sites to Facebook, which displays what appears to be a permissions error. Wa?"

The issue, which was related to Facebook Connect, was resolved around 4:40 p.m.

Facebook issued this statement shortly after, saying it was a bug, but the company did not elaborate further:

For a short period of time, there was a bug that redirected people logging in with Facebook from third-party sites to Facebook.com. The issue was quickly resolved, and Login with Facebook is now working as usual.

This means if you logged in to other sites using your Facebook account -- a feature Facebook likes to highlight constantly -- then you would get rerouted to Facebook's site and an error message that read "An error occurred. Please try again later."

The only way to stop it was to log out of Facebook. This shows how widespread Facebook Connect is and how easily one site can cause the Internet to come screeching to a halt.

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Ubuntu OS smartphones to hit stores in October

The open-source operating system for PCs and TVs is making its way to mobile. Look for the first phones to arrive in the fall.

It's been said that Ubuntu's open-source operating system would be available on smartphonesby the end of the year, and now it's confirmed that consumers can get their hands on such devices in October.

Ubuntu is made by Canonical, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the founder and CEO of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth said that Ubuntu OS smartphones will be available in October and app developers will get access to the OS later this month.

It's not yet clear which smartphones will run Ubuntu's OS, but app developers will be able to work with the OS on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus.

Ubuntu OS is long a favorite open-source platform for computing. And now, as it gets ready for a smaller screen, the OS will use the same drivers as Android smartphones and will also be able to run on entry-level smartphones.

Ubuntu for phones will use native apps, which means that developers can create a single app for both the desktop and the PC. This will let users easily move between devices. The OS also favors swiping gestures to reveal navigation strips and overview pages.

According to the Wall Street Journal, several carriers are interested in the smartphone, but it's still unclear which ones Canonical will partner with.

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Apple wins design patents for slide-to-unlock, original iPhone

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants design patents for the contentious user interface asset.

Apple was granted design patents today for the contentious slide-to-unlock user interface asset and the design for the original iPhone.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved Apple application No. D675,639 for "ornamental design for a display screen or portion thereof with a graphical user interface," which includes illustrations of the familiar horizontal bars with rounded corners found at the bottom of locked iOS screens since the original iPhone's debut in 2007.

Slide-to-unlock functionality has become a major sticking point with handset makers. Apple, which was granted a patent for the feature in 2011, has charged both Motorola and Samsung with violating patents related to the functionality.

Apple pressed the patent against Samsung's Galaxy Nexus in January 2012, only to discover that Google had filed a patent application in 2010 that described a manner in which users interact with a smartphone -- or PC -- to unlock the device and perform at least one command.

An Apple patent infringement lawsuit filed in Germany against Motorola over the function wasbackburnered last March. The judge in that case said he wanted to wait until the German Patent and Trademark Office heard Apple's case before his court continued.

Illustration accompanying Apple's design patent for the iPhone's appearance.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple was also granted approval for design patent No. D675,612, which covers the "ornamental design of an electronic device" -- specifically the rounded corners found on the iPhone. The design feature is key to Apple lawsuits against Samsung.

A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission, a federal agency with the power to block imports of devices found to infringe on U.S. patents, ruled last October that Samsung had violated Apple's iPhone design patent covering the look and feel of the smartphone's exterior. That ruling is currently under review, and a decision is expected next month.

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Latest jailbreak for iOS arrives, works with iPhone 5

A new software tool promises deep system access to the inner workings of the iPhone 5, as well as Apple's latest devices, running the newest iOS.

Despite Apple's best efforts to keep users from gaining deep access to its iOS software, it's proven to be a cat-and-mouse game that just won't quit.

The latest -- from the mouse front -- is a tool calledevasi0n, which was released this morning. The software jailbreaks the most recent version of Apple'siOS 6 software, something that's already been accomplished. However this new, much-awaited tool continues to work even if you restart your iPhone oriPad, and also works with the iPhone 5.

The software itself runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux and can be used on "all iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini models running iOS 6.0 through 6.1," its creators say. Once installed, users can install applications on their phone outside of Apple's App Store using tools like Cydia. Some of those same software tweaks can also be used to make major changes, like reskinning the operating system, or adding extra functionality.

The effort comes just a few days after Redsn0w, a similar jailbreak solution that worked on iOS 6.1, but was not compatible with Apple's newer chip architecture found on the iPhone 5, as well as the latest iPads and iPod Touch. 

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Samsung Galaxy S4 a no-show at Mobile World Congress

Samsung Electronics wants the spotlight all to itself for the Galaxy S4.

The Korean electronics giant will be holding off on any major announcements at Mobile World Congress later this month, according to a person familiar with its launch plans. As with last year, Samsung will likely hold its own separate event to launch the latest iteration of its flagship Galaxy S franchise.

A Samsung representative declined to comment to CNET.

The move is a continuation of the broader trend of larger technology companies utilizing their own events for major product announcements. Rather than battle through the noise of competing news, a solo event allows the product to get the full attention of consumers and media. Over the past year or so, Microsoft and Samsung have dramatically reduced their presence at trade shows, following in the footsteps of Apple.

BlackBerry just launched its next-generation smartphone at its own event this week, andHTC will hold an event a week before Mobile World Congress.

Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S3 at its own event in May, just days before the CTIAWireless conference. The move made for a relatively quiet trade show.

Over the past few years, Samsung has made frighteningly quick progress in establishing its Galaxy S franchise as one equal to Apple's iPhone. The latest Galaxy S device now garners the same amount of interest and hype as Apple's marquee smartphone, and the media will flock to wherever the company decides to hold an event.

That's a far cry from its start with the original Galaxy S, which ultimately was tweaked into four separate versions for each of the four national U.S. carriers. The Galaxy S3, as well as theGalaxy Note 2 were both sold by all four carriers unaltered.

While Samsung is the top smartphone manufacturer in the world, it recently lost its U.S. crown to Apple thanks to strong sales of the iPhone 5. Samsung will look to regain its title with theGalaxy S4.

Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona, Spain, in the last week of February, and will still feature plenty of announcements from the likes of Nokia and Huawei. Check back with CNET for full coverage of the show.

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What it really takes to make a flexible phone (Smartphones Unlocked) Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-57567014-85/what-it-really-takes-to-make-a-flexible-phone-smartphones-unlocked/#ixzz2JqPL5i4n

A bendable screen is nice in the lab, but it will take more than flexi-glass to get your phone to touch its toes.

Had Dr. Dipak Chowdhury known just how accident-prone I really am, he never would have handed over the 0.1-millimeter sheet of glass for me to bend between my fingers.

Luckily for me, the vice president and director of Corning's Willow Glass division is a trusting soul and gave CNET the world's very first public demo of this glass so thin it can bend without breaking.

Flexible glass and flexible screens have been a hot topic for some time, culminating with fanfare at Samsung's demo of its curvy Youm OLED display at CES.

Companies like Samsung, Nokia, and even Apple have been working on flexible smartphone displays for a years, but for the first time, there's enough real research and development in this area to, perhaps, start getting excited.

Just think of what a bendable smartphone could do: curve with your body's movement so it sits more comfortably in a pocket; drop from a height and flex on impact, rather than shatter; pack into any number of compartments without having to triple-swath it in bubble wrap.

But don't get too frothed up yet. Willow Glass isn't the hearty Gorilla Glass 3, Samsung's Youm screens have nothing to attach to yet, and smartphones that sway in the breeze are still years out.

There's more that needs to go with the flow than just the display and its glass.

The problems with flexible glass

One of the biggest challenges with a flexible phone is getting the cover glass to bend -- and it's a common misconception that bendable glass is unbreakable.

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury stresses that Willow Glass was designed as a substrate material -- glass that belongs on the inside of a smartphone -- but in its current form, it isn't strong enough to serve as the tough barrier guarding the internal materials from the elements. It wasn't designed to be.

However, even if a Willow Glass cousin does grow fortified enough to top a phone and maintain its bend, breakage is still a worry.Yes, a substance similar to the bowed Willow Glass could undergo a similar chemical strengthening process as Corning's more famous Gorilla Glass, the substance that makes up the outer layer protecting many of today's phones, tablets, and laptops.

When chemists and industrial designers talk about strength, they're not just talking about massive cracks and shattering. It is true that flexible glass can withstand drop tests with less damage than some rigid glass, thanks to its undulating ways, but it may not be able to rebuff the scratches, gouging, and long-term wear patterns that make screens vulnerable to breaks.

Though Corning's current Willow Glass formula can deeply arch, it can still also puncture and snap.

What about a plastic screen instead?

It's very possible that the first actively bending displays we see will be covered by plastic rather than glass. As always, resilience and durability are concerns.

"There will be a compromise there," said Mark Rolston, chief creative director of celebrated firm Frog Design. "It's a material reality that anything that conforms will be more susceptible to scratches."

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury notes that some companies have demoed an arching plastic display for several years, but that there's still a long road to commercialization, even for the polymer.

The fact that the smartphone industry has almost wholesale moved from plastic screens to glass is also telling -- you don't see a plastic Retina Display on the iPhone 5, after all. Images look sharper and clearer with a glass cover, and it's also more responsive and sensitive to touch. (I've reviewed touch-screen phones without glass covers, and the experience was pretty terrible.)

Glass is also better at being impermeable to oxygen and water, two compounds you want as far from a phone's electronic guts as possible, to keep them from damage and aging.

If we do see bendable designs with plastic screens, they'll likely top reference products and concept designs, or very early niche models, rather than mature, mass-market devices.

Batteries don't flex well

Even if you get the screen technology and the glass to flex, there's still the matter of the other internal components. What do you do about the battery, the processors, the camera module, and the NFC circuitry -- all currently static wafers, bricks, and chips?

Conventional lithium-ion batteries, which power today's smartphones, are very rigid, says Marc Juzkow, vice president of research and development for battery company Leyden Energy. They need to be stiff and unyielding in order to last the longest time possible.

New battery technology in early development is moving in the direction of the thin, flat cell, but these aren't the right solution for a bendable phone, either, Juzkow says. First, they use a solid state electrolyte to generate power-yielding reactions, and that takes longer to charge. Second, their energy output isn't enough to run a power-hungry phone for very long.

In case you're wondering, it would in fact be possible to place a thicker, shorter battery to one end of a device, Juzkow concedes, so that the phone flexes while the battery does not. Makers of small flexible products, like smartphones, could also insert a series of smaller batteries along the length, leaving room for the device to bend between these static slugs. There's just one major problem with the latter: smaller batteries generate less charge and die off faster than larger batteries.

That doesn't mean a flexible phone is out of the question. Mechanical and design engineers have worked with shaped batteries and flexible printed circuit boards before, even though both are generally rigid.

Flexible printed circuit boards for example, were at one time ubiquitous in the humble flip phone, connecting both halves of the clamshell as it folded.

As for shapely batteries, one only need to look to Nike's FuelBand for a hint of recently broken ground. In making the device, Nike placed two curved batteries on either side of the band, covered by a piece of metal goes that restricts that portion of the band from bending.

It may be that the flexible phone of the future comes with some premolded elements.

Seeking the Lycra of phone chassis

When thinking about a bendable phone, there's also the problem of the phone material itself. From a design perspective, you don't want the body to be too lax or too rigid, says Rolston, Frog Design's creative lead.

"You have to build in limits. You can use a flexible plastic, but can [the body materials] also stop the movement at the end of the flex?"

In other words, if the phone bends, will it snap back to its original shape. There is such a thing, it turns out, as a phone that is too flexible.

One good example of what's possible and what might actually come, is Nokia's "kinetic device," a working prototype of a lightly twistable handheld computing device that CNET reporter Stephen Shankland saw in London in 2011.

Beyond its screen, you can manipulate the entire device, adjusting the sides in order to scroll through content like music and photos.

Shankland reported that some of the devices Nokia demoed that day contain carbon nanotubes in an elastomer material, a specific type of rubbery polymer. Stressing one side of the device while compressing the other created the physical interaction to make images advance and music to forward.

The ideal material for a flexible smartphone or other device bends slightly without losing its original upright form over time, a sort of Lycra for the personal electronics world.

"The question is the memory of the material," says Robert Curtis, Frog Design's executive director of product development. "How much does it hold if it's bent or unbent?" Memory, in this case, refers to the material's ability to return to its original shape, the antithesis of memory foam.

The good news is, all the materials to make this possible already exist. The difficulty is in assembling all the pieces into a functional design.

Then there's the price

Ask Corning's Dr. Dipak Chowdhury one of the main benefits of Willow Glass and he'll tell you that because it can be made it in a roll, it's cheaper to manufacture.

Yet the cost of making a single component less expensively doesn't add up to a product that's cheaper overall. The research, development, sourcing, and manufacturing process for new materials doesn't happen overnight, and can wind up being pretty pricey for a new technology.

How much would the average consumer pay for a bendable phone? Sure, it's a neat idea, but after the novelty wears off, how practical would a bendable phone really be compared to a traditional stick-straight device? Put another way, how much extra would you pay for your phone to conform to the shape of your pocket?

Forget the phone rollup, "bent" will triumph over "bending"

There's one shape we can cross off the list when drafting the flexible smartphone of our dreams: a device that rolls up into a circle or a scroll.

A rolled-up handset is "a really stupid idea," says Mark Rolston, Frog Design's creative director.

"Rolling and unrolling a phone defies the behavioral element of a phone," he added, stating that people want to pull their device out of your pocket and use it right away.Flexible phones and other devices may have a place in the world, but Rolston thinks they won't show up until the bending of glass and other components is "really mature."

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury agrees, partly because vendors haven't zeroed-in on what they want. "We're trying to commercialize our glass," he said, and when it comes to a fully-functioning device, "there's no agreed-upon term for what "flexible" means." Without that firm definition, there's also a foggy path to how vendors plan to profit from phone flex in their designs.

Instead of bending for the sake of it, both the glass and marketing executives see conformable displays finding much broader applications at first, before we start seeing commercial uses for those flexible bodies and screens. Premolded glass structures defy the straight, flat rectangle comprising so many panels in TVs, cell phones, and pretty much every programmable screen, and displays that take on organic shapes and configurations have any number of uses: perhaps futuristic computers that form the walls of your office, or a car windshield you can program to show you a map while you drive.

Between Rolston and Chowdhury, there are plenty of other examples that we can expect in the near future across a variety of industries, some of which we already see budding today:

• Wrap-around screens for devices and trade-show booths
• Curved displays for sports accessories, like watches and home appliances

• Formed displays for car dashboards
• Toys, thermostats, and tools that read out measurements
• Flexible photovoltaic cells for solar paneling you can unroll on a roof
• 
  

These ideas may not be widely seen today, but they aren't new. In 2008, Rolston said, Frog Design created a prototype design for HP with a wrap-around screen. It was decorative, rather than for informative, he said, but it made the sides of this mystery device integral in the never-released project's shape.

Rolston, for one, keeps coming back to the car dashboard, waxing poetic in the charming way that designers do about the aesthetically driven "humanistic" form of a sculpted car dash and the effort that designers put in to create luxury finishes using metal, wood, and carbon fiber.

"In the middle of all that," Rolston laments, "we increasingly cut an 8-inch rectangular hole to put a screen. If we can have that screen instead be part of the material, part of the car's visual language...that would be a beautiful thing."

"God, that'd be cool."

And perhaps that's the major lesson that bendable screens can teach us at this stage in their development. To be cool, you've got to be flexible.

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Twitter: Hacking attacks may have accessed data of 250K users

Twitter said today that it recently detected a series of attempts to hack into user data, and that the attackers may have successfully absconded with some users' information.

In a blog post this afternoon, Twitter explained the situation, and the steps it has taken to fight off the hackers.

 This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information -- usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords -- for approximately 250,000 users.

As a precautionary security measure, we have reset passwords and revoked session tokens for these accounts. If your account was one of them, you will have recently received (or will shortly) an email from us at the address associated with your Twitter account notifying you that you will need to create a new password. Your old password will not work when you try to log in to Twitter.

In an email affected users (including myself) received, Twitter wrote that it "believes that your account may have been compromised by a website or service not associated with Twitter. We've reset your password to prevent others from accessing your account."

Many people are speculating on Twitter that the affected accounts are all among the service's earliest -- in other words, that they were accounts created in 2006 or 2007, since only accounts that old seem to have received the notice from Twitter. It appears that the hackers behind the attacks had not targeted any specific group, like political dissidents or media organizations.

In its blog post, the company said that a very small number of users were affected by the hacking, but it encouraged everyone who uses the service to ensure that they are practicing "good password hygiene, on Twitter and elsewhere on the Internet." Among its suggestions: using unique passwords of at least ten characters, including a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Based on attacks on other high-profile tech and media companies, Twitter also said it is recommending the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent advisory on disabling Java, among other precautions.

The notice that CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman and up to 250,000 others got from Twitter today.

(Credit: Screen shot by CNET)

 This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident. The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked. For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.

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