Just hours after the much awaited re-launch of the PlayStation Network, it suffered a crash. The crash resulted in the turning off of the online service once again. The re-launch has been eagerly awaited by the PSN gaming community as the service went offline after a series of much publicized hacker attacks.

After a month of being offline, the PlayStation Network re-launching has resulted in a massive amount of simultaneous traffic. An announcement made by Sony stated that the sudden crash of the reinstated network is the result of heavy password resets and service demands.

The cyber criminals who managed to breach the security of the PlayStation Network has managed to access users’ private data. The eager gamers were met with a request to reset their passwords to enter the network once again.

For the users who are complaining about the further delays to the reinstating of the PlayStation Network, Sony has sent a further announcement. According to the tweeted statement, the password resets are expected to take some time to clear the ISPs and to reach the emails of the users. Sony requests the users to bear with them a little longer until the whole matter is settled.

However, latest reports claim that the Japanese government has suspended the PSN services from the country until Sony is able to meet their security demands. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has issued a statement saying that as of may 13, Sony has not shown much promise in exercising of their security measures. It is said that the Japanese government expects preventative methods as well as tighter security before the network is allowed clearance to go online within the country.

As of now, certain parts of the PlayStation Network have been turned off until further notice.

A report published by Juniper Networks, an IT company, has stated that there has been a 400 percent increase in Android malware since the summer of 2010. The information was released via a report titled "Malicious Mobile Threats Report 2010/2011". Juniper Networks further stated that the attention of cyber criminals has now turned to mobile devices.

Dan Hoffman, chief mobile security evangelist at Juniper Networks has stated that most users are quite unconcerned about the applications that they download. According to him, most users don’t bother to check whether the applications that they download are actually coming from legitimate sources.  This has opened up a massive amount of possibilities for malicious app developers who are seeking for ways to spread corrupt software.

The report suggested that users pay special attention to provide adequate protection to their mobile phones the same way they would for computers and laptops. The fact that the majority of mobile phone users haven’t got antivirus software installed in their phones offers a free passage for malicious software.

The spreading of SMS Trojans makes up about 17 percent of all infection. This is considered to be the biggest threat to smart phone security at the moment. The lack of antivirus software enables Android malware to enter mobile phones without much obstruction. Most users fail to realize that they have been attacked until the damage has been done.

According to Jeff Wilson, principle security analyst at Infonetics Research, a survey conducted on large businesses has brought disturbing facts to light. Over 40 percent of the surveyed business individuals have considered smart phones to be the primary security threat as of now. Experts suggest that as the technology of smart phones reach higher and higher peaks, the users also need to increase their awareness on the potential dangers that may arise.

Samsung has confirmed speculation and rumors that have been circling the Internet. A new version of their Galaxy S II handset with an added special feature is set to be released this year. The new Galaxy S II will come with Near Field Communication enabled.

Near Field Communication, or NFC Technology is a contactless and wireless method of transferring information between two objects. This technology is not much different to Bluetooth but is considered to be much faster. However, NFC has a much shorter range in comparison. The connectivity field is activated when two antennae are communicating via a magnetic field.

NFC technology comes with many benefits and applications. For instance, devices such as smart cards, credit and debit cards as well as mobile phones can come enabled with this technology. NFC enabled devices such as mobile phonespossess the ability to function as a means of offering identification by serving up personal information, to function as a bank card by serving bank account details or to function as a paid ticket to offer access to events.

With the enabling of NFC in the new Galaxy S II, Samsung appears to be aiming to eradicate the need to carry cash, credit cards or even a wallet. The NFC technology has also been detected by advertisers as a potential means to bring product information in to a handset.

A representative of the company has stated that the newest addition of technologyfrom Samsung will hit the shelves later this year. However, the exact release date is not yet confirmed. Since the current edition of the Samsung Galaxy S II carries a high end price of £500 in the UK, it is expected that the advanced version of the handset will carry a similar price tag or slightly higher.

Experts believe that Samsung’s latest technology additionmay just be the beginning of the decline of carrying cash.

According to an American news site, Facebook has admitted that they had hired a PR company to host a smear campaign against Google. The campaign was created to bring certain negative tales and speculation about its biggest and strongest rival to public attention.

Burson-Marsteller, the PR company responsible for the campaign to dig up negative news about Google had approached a reputed security blogger Christopher Soghoian to proceed with the plan. The PR company has reportedly requested the blogger to start an investigation on Google’s privacy policy. As a payment for the investigation, he was promised publication opportunities on influential sites such as The Washington Post.

The campaign fell short when Soghoian refused to take part and the emails he received from Burson-Marsteller were published online. One email showed how the PR company attempted to urge the blogger on by telling him that Google was broadcasting people’s lives without permission. Soghoianwas even offered writing assistance to complete the article.

At first, the PR companymanaged to keep the identity of their client undisclosed. But when the evidence was brought to light, Facebook issued a confirmation thatBurston-Marsteller was indeed hired to investigate Google’s social networking and to raise concerns about privacy. According to the statement issued by a spokesperson for the social networking site, Facebook is concerned about the possibility that Googlemay be making inappropriate use of the data they have gathered from Facebook users.

Since the rivalry between Google and Facebook is rather obvious, it is believed that the smear campaign was a bitter attempt of resentment by Facebook. Facebook’s 600 million strong userbase allows companies to sell targeted advertising thus taking a chip out of Google’s advertising revenue. At the moment, rumors state that Google is working on a new kind of social network named Google Circles.

Nokia X7 is all set to be launched next month. The latest version will come with the latest update of the Symbian operating system for smart phone. The all new version of the OS installed in the X7 is dubbed as ‘Symbian Anna’

The Symbian operating system has been overshadowed bythe likes of Android an iOS. The developers of Symbian OS,believes that the Nokia X7 release will create a spike of interest in the ailing smart phone operating system.

The X7 is said to come with quite a few interesting features. A Touch screen matching that of the E7, HD video recording,and an 8.0 mega pixel camera will be featured on the X7. In addition to that, GPS, HSDPA, and Wi-Fi will also be included in the package. The Black AMOLED, 4-inch screen, is created from Gorilla glass to prevent scratch and to be a dent proof interface.

The latest reboot to the Symbian operating system is said to offer better touch screen capabilities than previous attempts. In addition, a portrait QWERTY keyboard and a modified browser that is said to be three times faster than earlier version will also be presented in the package.

The CEO of Nokia, StepehnElop had stated earlier this year that Nokia is yet to provide a smart phone that matches the experience of an Apple iPhone. He had further added that the Finnish Giant has missed quite a few trends in mobile phones along with a considerable amount of time. It is expected that the release of the smart phone X7 will bring a bit of attention back to Nokia, as well as for Symbian.

As for the retail price, information has not yet been released. Experts believe that the possibility of the price being exorbitantly high is rather low due to the unpopularity of the Symbian operating system as a choice for smart phones.

Google has issued an official announcement stating that they are currently making attempts to fix a flaw in the security. The statement was made after a German research paper highlighted that Android phone owners were facing threats to security.

The research paper, published last week, stated that services such as Picassa, Contacts, and Google Calendar were at the risk of being leaked over Wi-Fi networks. Some of the Authentication tokens for these services are sent unencrypted. Therefore, users’ personal data has a high possibility to get stolen when these services are accessed over public Wi-Fi networks. At the moment, Google is attempting to fix this security flaw.

Experts believe that Google responded appropriately to the claim. Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman had stated earlier that the company was within the process of simplifying the mostly incomprehensible permission screen which appears while installing applications. According to Schmidt, the permissions are written by lawyers and are extremely complex descriptions of what the software will do. Users are pleased about the fact that Google is addressing to issues that create complications for them.

As for the security flaw, Google has admitted that certain circumstances could make personal information vulnerable to external parties. The official statement made by the Internet giant has acknowledged all Android users of the possibility of their personal information being accessible by third parties during certain situations. The security flaw is said to be effective for all Android devices except for those running on Gingerbread.

Google assures their users that the fixing of the security flaw will take effect globally within the next few days. As per the statement, user involvement will not be required for the fix to take effect. For the moment, users are advised to exercise care when sharing information across Wi-Fi networks.

Stefan Weitz, director of Microsoft's search engine Bing, has stated that traditional search engines have failed to address to the ever changing needs of Internet users.  Bing’s main competitor, Google, is on the receiving end of this criticism. According to Weitz, Google’s search algorithm which measures the strength of back links is not effective to delivery relevant results to users’ search queries.

Weitz has stated in an interview that Google launched with the intention of organizing the world’s information. He praises Google’s algorithm as a brilliant model but considers it to be ineffective for today.

However, Bing also offers a similar set of search features. Bing’s features include images and maps, ability to calculate sums, news, weather and the ability to define words. Google’s dominant position on the search engine market, of which it claims 65 percent, has attracted scrutiny from all sorts of parties including government regulators. Bing’s claim adds up to the long list of anti-trust claims and anti-competitive speculations Google has received. Weitz further stated that the reason for the government to investigate Google’s activities due to Google’s incredible power over the market.

Amid allegations and accusations, Google continues to dominate the search and mobile operating systems market. Recently, the giant has purchased £3 million worth of patents from anIsraeli company, Modu. Google has not yet announced its plans with the acquired intellectual property. It is expected that Modu’s ideas will be used to create innovative smart phones in the future. Experts believe that the move is yet another step towards smart phone supremacy.

As for Weitz, he is convinced that Google’s massive impact on the search engine market has to be observed for foul play. He added that Bing’s social results are a much better way to obtain relevant information on a search. Bing, which currently claims 14 percent of the search engine market still has a long way to go to catch up with Google.

SEGA is the latest victim of the wave of internet attacks on gaming companies. The company falls in line with Sony, Codemasters, and Nintendo, who have all suffered online security breaches recently. SEGA stated that credit card details were not compromised.

The hacking group LulzSec has come forward in a public tweet to offer their aid to catch the culprits responsible for the attacks. Some experts believe that the tweet appears to be saying that the group has nothing to do with the attacks. However, the public statement highlighted that the members of the group are huge fans of Dreamcast.

The attack was made known via email to the SEGA Pass users. The emails stated that they have identified unauthorized entry to the SEGA Pass database and that the breach had been isolated. The email added that they have launched an investigation to determine the amount of damage done. Users were advised to immediately change passwords. The request seemed to imply something serious as the password details on SEGA were stored encrypted.

Experts see SEGA’s immediate response and the request to provide additional security by changing passwords is admirable.The compromised information from the security breach includes email addresses and dates of birth stored within the SEGA database. According to a statement issued by the company, credit card details were stored elsewhere and were thus protected from the attackers.

SEGA is the latest victim of a long line of cyber attacks on multiplayer gaming communities that have been taking place for the past couple of months. Although LulzSec was involved in the hacking of several, much publicized high profile cyber attacks; they have made it clear that they are not involved in the attacks on SEGA in anyway.

Gamers, gaming companies, and experts are all highly concerned about the high frequency of recent hacking attacks.

SEGA is the latest victim of the wave of internet attacks on gaming companies. The company falls in line with Sony, Codemasters, and Nintendo, who have all suffered online security breaches recently. SEGA stated that credit card details were not compromised.

The hacking group LulzSec has come forward in a public tweet to offer their aid to catch the culprits responsible for the attacks. Some experts believe that the tweet appears to be saying that the group has nothing to do with the attacks. However, the public statement highlighted that the members of the group are huge fans of Dreamcast.

The attack was made known via email to the SEGA Pass users. The emails stated that they have identified unauthorized entry to theSEGA Pass database and that the breach had been isolated. The email added that they have launched an investigation to determine the amount of damage done. Users were advised to immediately change passwords. The request seemed to imply something serious as the password details on SEGA were stored encrypted.

Experts see SEGA’s immediate response and the request to provide additional security by changing passwords is admirable.The compromised information from the security breach includes email addresses and dates of birth stored within the SEGA database. According to a statement issued by the company, credit card details were stored elsewhere and were thus protected from the attackers.

SEGA is the latest victim of a long line of cyber attacks on multiplayer gaming communities that have been taking place for the past couple of months. Although LulzSec was involved in the hacking of several, much publicized high profile cyber attacks; they have made it clear that they are not involved in the attacks on SEGA in anyway.

Gamers, gaming companies, and experts are all highly concerned about the high frequency of recent hacking attacks.

The Ministry of Defense of UK has released a set of videos for YouTube. The videos highlight the dangers associated with seemingly harmless social networking. They are created to advice and encourage service personnel to not share any personal or sensitive information on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

The videos are a part of a campaign hosted by the Ministry of Defense. The campaign is aimed at drawing the attention of service personnel towards the many unseen risks of using Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and other social media platforms.

The first two videos display the mother of a soldier having a cup of tea with a terrorist. The tea party takes place right after the soldier shares information about a mission on Facebook. In the video, the terrorist is depicted wearing a black balaclava and machine gun rounds.

The second video showed tow Navy sailor getting prepared for a night out. They share their location on Foursquare which exposes them for potentially dangerous consequences.

Major General Lorimer, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense stated that the campaign is designed to create awareness on the potential dangers that are lurking beneath social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Linked in. According to the statement issued by the spokesperson, the videos are not an attempt to scare personnel away from social networking platforms.

Major General Lorimer stated that although it is perfectly fine to use these networking platforms sharing too much information is highly inappropriate and dangerous. He stressed on the point that users of these platforms are not always aware of the fact that they are probably being watched on cyberspace.

The campaign will run on the Ministry of Defense Facebook page, YouTube and Twitter. Two more videos are to be expected by the end of July.

Significant changes have been made to Google’s image search this week.The new added features are said to make users’ image searching experience smoother and to deliver more relevant results. A recently released report by Google’s Software Engineer, Grant Dasher, highlighted the latest additions made to the world’s most popular search engine.

According to him, the latest improvements have granted the ability for Google to try and guess whether a user is trying to search for images even before they have clicked on the ‘images’ tab. This recent update is said to be a follow up for last year’s major change to Google Images. Last year, the image search for the top search engine saw a massive change in its layout.

The recent changes to Google’s image search is said to have been inspired by last year’s update. The latest changes will feature larger thumbnails and additional information about each picture. If a particular search keyword is defined to have ‘high image intent’ will automatically result in more images.Instead of two or three pictures, if a certain search term implies that the user is attempting to access images, most of the result page will be filled with relevant images due to the recent changes.

A top tip for users from Dasher is to include ‘photos’ or ‘pictures’ at the end of their main search terms to obtain faster results from the all new features. Experts believe that Google is trying to optimize their services to make up for the next big step to discontinue their services for older browsers. The decision to drop their support for older browsers is set to be put in to action from 1^st August.

As of now, the improved image search will make searching for pictures much easier for users.

Kevin Lynch, the chief technology officer of Adobe has made a statement about his vision on the future of smartphones. According to his belief, the next step in to the future of smartphones involves location-based applications.

Lynch voiced his opinions at the Open Mobile Summit and made a demonstration of the technology on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The demonstration showed how the real world and virtual world can be linked and how smartphones and tablets will know the location of their users at all times to provide better services and functionality.

The concept is to allow users to make the most of their location by allowing them to choose applications that will have higher value based on the current location of the user. With this technology, the applications network will let users know about particular apps that will come in handy at the area they are currently at. The demonstration showed Lynch arriving at a museum to find an application that provided information about the artwork and how he was able to order food at a hotel through his tablet.

According to Lynch, today’s technology is not too far from the demonstrated concept. At the moment, Adobe is attempting to enable their software to run on mobile devices. Experts believe that the process will be a challenging one due to the fact that Adobe’s software is more functional in powerful personal computers rather than mobile phones and tablets.

Users had mixed opinions about the technology and its applications. While some users commented that it would make things easier for malware developers and spammers, others thought it was a great idea if proper security measures are employed. Kevin Lynch, however, is positive about the technology becoming a success in the near future.