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Well here is an ouch for Apple; according to a report the new touch screen panel for the iPhone 5 could have a defect in many of them. According to the report that DigiTimes saw (through a source) the defect appears after lamination and is called a delayed bubble defect. The good news is that this defect appears during production and is easy to spot before the panels ship. Another good bit of news for Apple and WinTek (the company that is having the issue) is that this defect can be sorted fairly quickly and easily.

Now, if this defect cannot be fixed there is still hope. Currently WinTek is only producing between 20-25% of the panels that will be used in the new iPhone. Initial shipnents would be hindered but that type of delay is easy to spin into a positive with statements like “We are selling them as fast as we can make them” or “Demand was so high, we ran out of all of the initial production units”. You get the picture here I am sure.

Still, a delay in the launch of the iPhone would not be good for Apple. Consumers are still talking about the year-long delay to get a white iPhone4 to market. If there is any serious delay on the next gen iPhone it could impact consumer confidence in Apple’s ability to produce a product, especially when you add in the other problems with the iPhone 4 during its launch (Grip of Death, etc).

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Facebook is a force to be reckoned with; we have seen this by the way they knocked the once great MySpace into the “who is that?” category. They have challenged almost all other social networking sites and won (with the exception of some of the *cough* adult ones). However, they have also gotten a bit, or rather more cocky than they should. Facebook has begun to implement changes that do not appear to be what their users want and in some cases risk their users personal privacy.

However, one tool they do have that makes them much more nimble than others is Open Graph. It is Open Graph that allows an almost seamless integration with Facebook for websites and many applications. This is also the tool they are going to use to put one of their boldest plans into action. This is the integration of music and video services right into Facebook.  With this new plug in you will be able to share what you are watching and listening to on services like Hulu, Spotify Rhapsody and more right on your profile page. (Anyone want to bet on how long before RIAA and MPAA chime in on this?)

The service is up and running now globally (although no Netflix for the US due to video sharing laws) so I am sure we will all know what our friends are listening to or watching in short order. With the power of Open Graph we have to wonder what Facebook will integrate next.

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Remember when we told you about the security holes in the supervisory control and data acquisition components (SCDA)? Well it looks like there are even more to be found out there in the wild. If you are surprised by this then you must have just crawled out from under a nice big rock. After all most of these components have not been upgraded in decades or are manufactured by companies that still believe that these components are not reachable.

Thanks to a 30-year old Italian researcher named Luigi Auriemma this problem is being brought to light. Most of the companies that are seeing this light are having pretty much the same reaction as you get when you stumble out into the day after a serious night of partying. They are closing their eyes and trying to ignore the big light in the sky. Auriemma, has been finding these new holes at an alarming (to the industry not to many security researchers) rate. He unveiled over 30 in March and has tossed out a few each month since then.

The holes tend to center around the PLCs or Programmable Logic Controllers. These are the devices that do all the heavy lifting and can be used to operate valves, motors etc. In short these are the parts that are the most critical in terms of the need to keep them secure. The odd thing about these new security holes is that when the need for connected SCDA, DCS and PLCs came around no thought was given to make sure they were secure. Then as the threats on the internet grew the manufacturers continued to ignore the need for security. It is a sad state of affairs to find that the majority of the major control systems in the US (and other countries) is connected to the internet without a thought for security.

There is good news though, some of the manufacturers appear to be starting to make a shift to thinking of these devices as the connected systems they are. This means they are preparing for better security precautions and building new software to help make unauthorized access more difficult. The question that has to be asked is; if they have waited so long are these companies up to the task of competing with the current crop of “bad guys”?

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Not all that long ago I was in a discussion about the future of the XboX 360- console. I mentioned that Microsoft would be smart if they integrated the Console environment into Windows. Now at the time I had also heard some rumors about this happening so I was playing with something of a stacked deck. The talk had been going on for some time that Microsoft needed to combine the Xbox 360, XboX Live and Windows Live for Games into a more seamless object.

Well as one of the final items during the Build 2011 conference Microsoft showed off a very early demo of this exact thing. They demonstrated XboX Live running on Windows 8. This was demonstrated by Microsoft’s Avi Ben-Menahem who also stated that they are trying to bring “everything you know and love on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to Windows”.  The demo was pretty slick even though it only touched the tip of what could be possible with this new OS and interface. You even have the possibility of turn-based gaming between a PC and an XboX or an XboX and a Phone…

Now we need to get confirmation on that next gen console from MS (complete with a metro based UI) and we will be all set.

Check out the video below;



Source GeekWire

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