`Unlocked` iPhone could be in India soon

Apple Inc will launch its latest offering, the iPhone in the US tomorrow. Apart from functioning as a phone, the device can function as a media player and also as a wireless web surfing device.

Officially, it will not be available in India for at least another year.

But for those who really want it, the wait might be as short as a fortnight or, at the most, a month. This is not just because of efficiently smuggled shipments but a technical 'feat' as well.

In the US, Apple has tied up with AT&T in an exclusive contract. This means that the iPhone will only work on an AT&T SIM card for which buyers have to sign up for an $59 to $100 a month plan for a minimum two-year subscription.

But in India, grey market operators say they can "unlock" the phone for just Rs 1,000 or Rs 1,500 so that it can be used on any network in India. "Unlocking the iPhone isn't tough," said a dealer in central Delhi.

In the US, the phone is priced between $500 (Rs 22,000) for the 4 GB version and $600 (Rs 25,500) for the 8 GB model. There are further variations depending upon the memory. Out in the grey markets of Palika Bazar or Sarojini Nagar, an entry-level iPhone will be available for Rs 30,000.

Unlocked Apple iPhone units are expected to be auctioned off at a premium, especially in Asian markets.

For those looking to buy the iPhone though the legal channels, however, the wait will be much longer. Apple executives refuse to talk about an Indian launch.

Tript Singh, a premium Apple reseller in New Delhi says, "It is highly unlikely that the iPhone will reach India before the year-end. Even early 2008 seems a long-shot."

Yet the interest is high. Singh's shop in south Delhi's Ansal Plaza recorded a whopping 50,000 enquiries when Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, announced the launch of the iPhone. "We receive 10 to 20 enquiries everyday," says Singh.

Meanwhile, other mobile vendors are taking the Apple challenge pretty seriously.

High Tech Computers (HTC), a leading provider of Microsoft Windows mobile-based smart phones, has launched an iPhone lookalike, the HTC Touch.

Peter Chou, CEO, HTC insists that his company has not made "an iPhone killer but a phone that is far more innovative and efficient". Available at Rs 19,900, it will be available exclusively for Airtel subscribers.

Globally too, Samsung has announced the launch of Ultra Smart F700 (to be launched in India this year). It will have a full touch-screen interface with a QWERTY keypad.

Says Asim Warsi, marketing head, Samsung India, "The music and phone features of the iPhone cannot be called cutting edge."

Nokia has also upgraded its N-series with N76 and plans to add to its communicator line with the launch of its E90 communicator phones.

One of the closest competitors to the Apple's iPhone is the LG Prada (which costs around Rs 42,000 outside India) and is available in touch-screen format.

What is a feed?

 

If you want to buy some magazine, you have two options.  Either you go to shop and buy, or you could subscribe to the magazine so that it could be sent to your home itself.  Second option is convenient na... If some site offers its latest content as feed, it is like they are providing us with an option to subscribe to the site. 

 

Normally we visit a site, and check if any new content is there.  It is like we are going to shop and buy. If that site offers content as a feed, we can subscribe to the site using a feed reader.  So, each time we use our feed reader, it will check the site if any new content is there and will retrieve the content.  So, every day we dont need to go to the site.  We can read all our favourite sites from one place (feed reader).

 

Some of the online feedreaders are:

 

http://my.yahoo.com

http://reader.google.com

http://bloglines.com

 

 

Feed definition on Wiki

 

A few facts about Computer Virus

In 1983, Fred Cohen coined the term "computer virus", postulating a virus was "a program that can 'infect' other programs by modifying them to include a possibly evolved copy of itself." Mr. Cohen expanded his definition a year later in his 1984 paper, "A Computer Virus", noting that "a virus can spread throughout a computer system or network using the authorizations of every user using it to infect their programs. Every program that gets infected may also act as a virus and thus the infection grows."

Using that explanation, we can see that viruses infect program files. However, viruses can also infect certain types of data files, specifically those types of data files that support executable content, for example, files created in Microsoft Office programs that rely on macros. Compounding the definition difficulty, viruses also exist that demonstrate a similar ability to infect data files that don't typically support executable content - for example, Adobe PDF files, widely used for document sharing, and .JPG image files. However, in both cases, the respective virus has a dependency on an outside executable and thus neither virus can be considered more than a simple 'proof of concept'. In other cases, the data files themselves may not be infectable, but can allow for the introduction of viral code. Specifically, vulnerabilities in certain products can allow data files to be manipulated in such a way that it will cause the host program to become unstable, after which malicious code can be introduced to the system. These examples are given simply to note that viruses no longer relegate themselves to simply infecting program files, as was the case when Mr. Cohen first defined the term. Thus, to simplify and modernize, it can be safely stated that a virus infects other files, whether program or data.

In contrast to viruses, computer worms are malicious programs that copy themselves from system to system, rather than infiltrating legitimate files. For example, a mass-mailing email worm is a worm that sends copies of itself via email. A network worm makes copies of itself throughout a network, an Internet worm sends copies of itself via vulnerable computers on the Internet, and so on.

Trojans, another form of malware, are generally agreed upon as doing something other than the user expected, with that "something" defined as malicious. Most often, Trojans are associated with remote access programs that perform illicit operations such as password-stealing or which allow compromised machines to be used for targeted denial of service attacks. One of the more basic forms of a denial of service (DoS) attack involves flooding a target system with so much data, traffic, or commands that it can no longer perform its core functions. When multiple machines are gathered together to launch such an attack, it is known as a distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS.

While purists draw a firm distinction between viruses, worms, and Trojans, others argue that it is merely a matter of semantics and give the virus moniker to all viruses, worms, and Trojans. The term malware, a.k.a. malicious software, can most easily be used to describe viruses, worms and Trojans while satisfying both arguments.

Malware is an even more appropriate term when one considers spyware, adware , and and browser hijacking techniques that may not fit in any of the aforementioned virus, worm, or Trojan classifications. Thus, malware can be defined as any program, file, or code that performs malicious actions on the target system without the user's express consent. This is in contrast to Sneakyware, which can best be described as any program, file, or code that the user agrees to run or install without realizing the full implications of that choice. One of the best examples of Sneakyware was Friendly Greetings, a greeting-card trick that exploited users' willingness to say Yes without reading the licensing agreement. By doing so, they were blindly agreeing to allow the same email to be sent to all contacts listed in their address book.

To recap:

• Viruses infect other files;
• Worms make copies of themselves;
• Trojans perform malicious actions but do not spread;
• Malware is an all-encompassing term that describes any malicious software program or file operating without the users explicit consent.