Veronica C. Silva

Artwork: Chip Taylor, Photos by: Robert CardinThe mobile device market is dominated by smartphones, according a recent study by Gartner. And among the mobile device brands, Apple, Samsung, and HTC reported strong first quarter results.

As of the first quarter this year, total mobile devices sold to end-users reached 427.8 million units, representing a 19 per cent increase from the same period a year ago.

A new report reveals that some of the world's most critical infrastructures are prone to cyber attacks. Yet, even with this perceived danger, these infrastructures remain unprotected.

Artwork: Chip TaylorThe new study commissioned by McAfee and conducted by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) involved looking at the vulnerabilities of companies in the critical sectors, such as those in power/electricity, oil, gas and water. Some 200 IT security executives from the critical sectors in 14 countries worldwide were surveyed to compile the report titled "In the Dark: Crucial Industries Confront Cyberattacks."

Here's welcome news to advertisers. A recent study showed that consumers in Southeast Asia are willing to watch advertisements in exchange for free music.

Artwork: Chip TaylorThe global study conducted by The Nielsen Company on consumers' interaction with music revealed that Southeast Asian consumers would do almost anything just to get free music. Sixty-four per cent said they would view or listen to ads in exchange for free music while 37 per cent they would exchange their personal information to get free music.

While Coca-Cola is the top brand in the traditional physical world, a new report revealed that eBay is its counterpart online. In Alterian's social media index, eBay and other technology companies were the top brands in the social media world, creating a totally different picture compared to the physical world.

For 2010, Coca-Cola has been identified by Interbrand Best Global Brands as the top brand for 11 straight years, bringing its brand value to more than US$70 million. Interbrand noted that the company was quick to adapt to social media, with more than 10 million fans in Facebook and almost 100,000 followers in Twitter.

The number of Internet users is expected to hit the two billion mark by the end of the year with most of the growth coming from developing countries, according to the latest report of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Artwork: Chip TaylorIn celebration of World Statistics Day on October 20 as set by the United Nations, the Geneva-based UN body released "The World in 2010: ICT facts and figures," which also revealed that 1.2 billion of the two billion Internet population will be from developing countries. Of the 226 million new Internet users in 2010, 162 million will be coming from developing countries.

Japan's NEC Corporation may have found the answer to the nagging debate between saving the environment without necessarily starving the population. And NEC found the answer while addressing the demand for durable plastic for the electronics industry.

NEC said it has developed a high-performance biomass-based plastic (bioplastic) which can be used in electronic equipment. The bioplastic is made from non-edible plant resources from discarded byproducts in agricultural processes.

Tired of having to memorize several user names and passwords for every secure website you visit? Don't be. A recent study confirms what IT security experts have been saying all along--it is wiser to have different user names and passwords to protect identities and information not meant to be public.

A week-long experiment by IT security solutions company BitDefender reveals that some people use the same user name and password in logging into several secure websites. The experiment also revealed that some 250,000 e-mail addresses, user names and passwords were found in social and open networks, including blogs, collaboration platforms, torrents, and other channels.

A decade after the Love Bug virus attacked millions of computers worldwide and put the Philippines in the IT world map in a negative way, computer security experts have noticed that today's computer attacks are more malicious than the original computer security threat.

In its April 2010 security report, Symantec said it has detected 36,208 unique strains of malware that were designed to carry out targeted attacks.

There was no let up in spamming and phishing activities last month even as the entire world watched with sympathy the tragedy in Haiti. To add to the sorrow behind the devastating earthquake on January 12, cybercriminals took advantage of the tragedy to launch spamming and phishing attacks.

"Both scam and phishing categories doubled in terms of the percentage of all spaArtwork: Chip Taylorm in January 2010 compared to December 2009," reported Symantec in its State of the Spam and Phishing Report of February 2010.

More mobile phone users are using their phones to access the Internet, according to the latest report of Opera Software, developers of Internet browsers, operating system for the web and other platforms.

Opera's State of the Mobile Web report for January 2010 also noted thaArtwork: Chip Taylort Google and popular social networking sites are among the most visited Internet sites in Southeast Asia using mobile phones. In Southeast Asia, which is a focus of this month's report, page views among the top 10 countries increased by 599 per cent compared to year-ago figures.

Illustration: Harry CampbellAsia is leading the growth for broadband despite the global economic downturn, with China overtaking the U.S. as the biggest market, and some Southeast Asia countries also growing their broadband market fast.

Industry group Broadband Forum revealed some of the latest broadband and IPTV statistics at the ongoing CommunicAsia 2009 regional trade fair and summit here on Tuesday.