Start-Up BlueStacks Raises Cash to Bring Android Apps to Windows PCs

A couple years back, Rosen Sharma, Suman Saraf and colleagues had founded a startup, BlueStacks, to work on virtualization. They just hadn’t figured out the right use of the technology on which to focus.

At least, they hadn’t until the summer of 2009 when Saraf took a trip to Switzerland with his family. Throughout the trip he allowed his then six-year-old daughter, Mahi, to play games on his Android phone. Of course, when he got home, Mahi wanted to keep playing the same games on the family computer–a Windows PC. And, with that, Saraf and team had their idea.

Now, they are ready to share their idea publicly. BlueStacks plans to show off its technology at the Citrix Synergy conference on Wednesday, as well as detail its ambitious plan to convince PC makers to load their software on new computers, ideally enabling tens of millions of Windows computers to run Android apps over the next couple of years.

Mac Sales Outpace Market… Again

There’s really no other way to say this: The Mac is kicking ass. Not only is its growth outpacing that of the broader market, it’s doing it in virtually every segment from government to enterprise.

March marked the 20th consecutive quarter that Mac shipment growth exceeded that of the PC market.

ElcomSoft Breaks iPhone iOS4 Encryption

That certainly did not take them long. ElcomSoft, a Russian company, managed to crack the iOS4 encryption. With Apple's iPhone 3GS, the company introduced a hardware encryption chip. Following the release of iOS 4, Apple brought Data Protection feature, a 256-bit hardware encryption for all the devices featuring the chip, which is also why your device feels (and is) slower after the iOS 4 update.

The press release of the company states:

"ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. enables enhanced and near-instant forensic access to encrypted information stored in iPhone devices, and updates Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker with tools that can access protected file system dumps extracted from iPhone devices, even if the data is hardware encrypted by iOS 4.

Google invests $55 million in wind farms in California's Mojave desert

Google announced today that it will invest $55 million in a large Mojave Desert wind energy farm. The LA Times reports that the search giant is partnering with Citibank, "which is also shelling out $55 million to help finance part of the Alta Wind Energy Center, one of the world's largest wind installations," and that the move is seen as a "key step in California's efforts to regain its once enviable title as the world's capital for wind power." When the project is complete, it will be capable of generating 1.5 gigawatts, enough to power 450,000 homes.

Google invests $55 million in Mojave Desert wind farm (LA Times)

Zynga Preparing to File for IPO [REPORT]

Less than a week after LinkedIn’s spectacular IPO, social gaming juggernaut Zynga is preparing to cash in with its own offering.

According to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to come in the next two weeks, though other reports claim the company will file for IPO in late June. Goldman Sachs could be one of the lead bankers in the deal, butMorgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments also have investments in Zynga and would likely be involved in an IPO.

The gaming company is worth around $10 billion on the private markets — a figure already higher thanLinkedIn’s $9 billion IPO. So a Zynga IPO would likely trump LinkedIn’s strong showing on the markets. It makes $500 million to $1 billion per year in revenue, thanks to big partnerships and virtual goods. Zynga has also been on an acquisition spree as of late, acquiring 14 companies in the last 12 months alone.

Watch Out, Nook: Amazon Launches $164 Kindle 3G With Ads

Watch out, Nook: Amazon has just launched a 3G version of its ad-supported Kindle for $164.

The new device, officially called the Kindle 3G With Special Offers, is almost identical to the $114 ad-supported Wi-Fi Kindle except for the addition of 3G functionality. The device is a 6-inch device that displays the occasional advertisement. In return, users get special offers and a $25 discount on the Kindle 3G’s $189 price tag. In a statement, Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine called it “the lowest price for any 3G ereader.”

The special deals associated with the 3G Kindle are similar to the Wi-Fi version. Some of the special offers Amazon will launch “in the coming weeks” include $10 for a $20 Amazon gift card, 20% discounts on 200 HDTVs, and $1 for select Kindle books.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, Wants to allow children under 13 to sign up or social networking

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it makes sense to find a safe way to allow children under 13 to sign up for the social network, but the company isn’t currently working on such an effort.

“We haven’t gone there yet, but over time it’s an important dialogue to have,” said Zuckerberg at the eG8 meeting of web giants and policy makers in Paris.

Mark Zuckerberg

Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the eG8 forum in Paris.

Current legislation in the U.S. and Europe makes it difficult for children under 13 to access web services such as Facebook. The company’s own policies prohibit children under 13 from using the site.

Zuckerberg said at this stage, he isn’t saying that children under 13 should be allowed on Facebook but that whether they should or not is a question that will need to be discussed some time, especially in relation to education.

“If children under 13 ever were [allowed to get on Facebook] we’d need to find a way for them to be safe,” the 27-year-old Facebook founder said.

Zuckerberg will be part of a delegation of six people attending the Group of Eight meeting beginning in Deauville Thursday to present a number of resolutions from the two-day e-G8 meeting which discussed the role of the web in society.

Motorola Droid X Android 2.3 Gingerbread Update Imminent

After a couple of leaks, Motorola and Verizon have finally gone ahead and finalized a Droid XGingerbread build for official release. At the moment, Motorola is doing a “soak test”, and the update will be out once the testing is complete.

It looks like the testing will be over anytime soon, as Verizon has already updated the Droid X page on their website with the Gingerbread update details. According to the Verizon’s site, the Droid XGingerbread update will bring new features like a Download Manager, an all-new Multi-touch keyboard, improved text selection and copy and paste.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ships with Android 3.1 Honeycomb in the US

In our Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review, we played around with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, but here is news for you – the model which ships to the US will feature Android 3.1 Honeycomb upon its release Stateside, at least according to Samsung’s Facebook page. How do you know that this is true? Just check out the product information page on its US website to have those question marks dispelled. Not only that, Samsung will also enhance the Galaxy Tab experience by throwing in the latest version of Samsung’s TouchWiz customization with L!vepanel.

Apple iPhone 4 to arrive in India by May 27, with Airtel and Aircel

After various announcements, the last of which was more than a month and a half ago, operatorsAirtel and Aircel are finally making good on their claims of bringing the iPhone 4 to India. The duo will be launching it by May 27, or Friday, almost a year after it was launched in the United States, last June. So far, only Aircel has revealed pricing, and as expected, it has a slight premium attached.

The 16GB Apple iPhone 4 will retail for Rs. 34,500, and, the 32GB version will retail for Rs. 40,900. A requisite bumper, to avoid the ‘death grip’, will be charged for separately. This news fortunately is not too confusing for potential customers, as at that price, there are plenty of other phones with better specs, including the just-launched Samsung Galaxy S II, available for around Rs. 33,000.

Dual SIM Nokia X1-01 announced

The dual SIM Nokia X1-01 has just been announced, where it is touted to offer a totally radical experience compared to any other model that you can find elsewhere regardless of make and model where multiple SIM card installations are concerned. Capable of remembering the settings of up to 5 different SIM cards without causing any compromise on battery life, music features or messaging, we’re stoked to know more about the Nokia X1-01.

This unique handset is also a Dual-Standby device – where you can choose just which SIM card is used for calls, messages and other functions, while alternating between them in a jiffy from call to call. As for the Dual-Standby bit, it also means an advancement that most of you would like – you will always receive notification of calls and messages on each account without having to switch your SIM cards on and off.

Gear Deal: Dell XPS 15z Ultra-Thin Core i5 Laptop

Dell XPS

Delll brings us the brand new 15.6″ XPS 15z Ultra-slim Laptop. It is available now starting at $999.99. The new laptop weighs 5.54lbs, is less than an inch thick and sports an anodized aluminum case. It has a backlit chiclet keyboard and a Magnesium alloy palmrest.

Sony Ericsson Canada hacked

After hacking Sony Music Japan, hackers hacked Sony Ericsson Canada . The hackers stole the names and email addresses of about 2,000 customers from the website adding to the growing list of stolen data retrieved from the company’s networks.

What started as an attack on the game network has spread to the rest of Sony’s businesses and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. What will it take for the hackers to leave Sony alone? A public apology? A change in its policies? Its stocks have already fallen 24% this year according to Bloomberg Businessweek, and it’s probably going to keep dropping until the attacks top.

Nokia Oro 18-Carat Smartphone Launched

If the Nokia C7 wasn’t stylish enough the Nokia Oro delivers something a little special, in the form of 18-carat gold plating, a sapphire crystal and leather casing from one of Scotland’s finest Caledonian herds. To find out more about this rather unique take on the C7 join us after the jump.

High fashion, you either get it or you don’t, as long as your bank balance says you’ve got it why care. The Nokia Oro is set to cost 800 Euros, before taxes, and is designed with the Wag in your life. There is a choice of Nokia Oro Dark or Nokia Oro Light, with the difference being in the colour of the leather finish.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Up For Pre-Order At Amazon For $99.99

Sony Ericsson announced the world’s first PlayStation certified smartphone, the Xperia Play at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2011 in Barcelona. This handset runs on the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)Operating System and it will be exclusively available on the airwaves of Verizon in the US. Xperia Play is already available for pre-order at Verizon for $199.99 with a 2 years service agreement. If you are planning to buy this handset and save a few bucks, then you can go ahead and pre-order the powerfulXperia Play from Amazon for just $99.99.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play comes with a 4 inch capacitive multi-touch display with 480 x 854 pixels resolution, 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7 processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, slide-out gaming keypad, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash, 400 MB internal memory, microSD card slot, 8 GB microSD card included, up to 32 GB expandable memory and more.

Apple: Mac OS X update coming to block MacDefender malware

Good news for people who’ve been infected with the Mac Defender malware that’s been making its rounds on Mac computers all over the world. According to an announcement from Apple this afternoon, they will be releasing an update for Mac OS X that will automatically find and remove the software from your computer. Everything is fine in the world of Macs again.

But for those who want to remove it by themselves, Apple has posted the instructions online on the Mac Support site. There aren’t a lot of steps involved and it’s not very complicated, so even a novice will be able to get rid of the malware by him/herself.

Google May Unveil Its Mobile Payments System This Week

Google will announce a new mobile payments service on Thursday, Bloomberg reports. The new service utilizes Near Field Communications (NFC) and so will be only be available on those Android phones that have that technology - namely, the Nexus S from Sprint.

By utilizing NFC, this new mobile payments service will mean that consumers will be able to pay for goods and redeem handsets via specially equipped NFC cash registers. According to Bloomberg, the service will get a trial run in five cities - New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington DC

Windows Phone Mango details announced by Microsof

Nokia has taken note of Microsoft’s announcement concerning the new Windows Phone 7 (better known as Mango – what is it with all these fruity names?) that will be demonstrated on several Nokia handsets. You might find yourself taking some time to get used to the “Nokia with Windows Phone” branding – after all, it isn’t as natural as HTC’s partnership with Google right from the get go.

Nokia has this to say about their strategic partnership, “Today Microsoft has announced the key new ingredients of the latest ‘Mango’ release of the Windows Phone operating system. This is the software that will be used on the first Nokia with Windows Phone device, and so should be of keen interest to Nokia-watchers everywhere.”