Lawmakers reintroduce cyberthreat information-sharing bill

Two U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced a controversial cyberthreat information-sharing bill over the objections of some privacy advocates and digital rights groups.

As promised, Representatives Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, and C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, a Maryland Democrat, have reintroduced the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill that would allow private companies to share a wide range of cyberthreat information with U.S. government agencies.

New legislation is needed to protect the U.S. from cyberattacks coming from Iran and other countries, said Rogers, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. Cyberattacks have "exploded into what is an epidemic," he said during a briefing on the bill. "We are in a cyberwar—most Americans don't know it, most folks in the world probably don't know it—and at this point, we're losing."

The bill can help U.S. agencies and businesses address their toughest cybersecurity problems, Rogers said. "It's not a surveillance program, it's in real time, at the speed of light, exchanging zeros and ones when it comes to malicious software to catch it and stop it," he said.

Several privacy and digital rights groups have said the bill allows companies to share too much private information with government agencies, without sufficient oversight. The U.S. House of Representatives passed CISPA last April, but the legislation failed to advance in the Senate after the White House threatened a veto over privacy concerns.

The privacy protections in the new bill are "woefully inadequate," Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior policy counsel at civil liberties group the Constitution Project, said in an email. "If passed in its current form, it would allow companies that hold sensitive personal information to share it with the federal government, including with agencies that have a history of domestic spying, which could then potentially use the information for purposes totally unrelated to cybersecurity," she added..

Rogers and Ruppersberger said they've addressed privacy concerns in the new bill, although several privacy groups still voiced opposition to CISPA. The lawmakers have worked with privacy groups and will work with the White House as the bill moves forward, Ruppersberger said.

The two sponsors engaged in "lengthy negotiations" on privacy concerns, Ruppersberger said. The new bill has narrowed the definition of information that can be shared and sets strict restrictions on the government's use and searching of the data, the sponsors said.

The two lawmakers introduced CISPA a day after President Barack Obama signed an executive order focused on allowing federal agencies to share cyberthreat information with U.S. businesses and on creating voluntary cybersecurity standards for operators of critical infrastructure.

The bill is needed in addition to the executive order to enable wider sharing of cyberthreat information than the order allows, Rogers said. While Obama's order allows federal agencies to share cyberthreat information with companies, the bill would allow agencies to share classified information and would allow U.S. businesses to share cyberthreat information with each other and with government agencies.

CISPA also protects businesses that share cyberthreat information from lawsuits.

Some tech companies and trade groups, including Verizon Communications and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, praised the bill. The sharing of cyberthreat information is a "critical missing link in our efforts to detect and deter cyberattacks," Michael Powell, NCTA's president and CEO, wrote in a letter to the sponsors.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and Demand Progress, a digital rights group, both repeated their opposition to CISPA.

"CISPA does not require companies to make reasonable efforts to protect their customers' privacy and then allows the government to use that data for undefined national-security purposes and without any minimization procedures, which have been in effect in other security statutes for decades," the ACLU said in a statement.

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For a sneak peek at Ubuntu phones, try this Android app

Canonical made quite a splash at the start of this year when it announced Ubuntu for phones, but—apart from what it demonstrated at the time—we're still waiting both for the downloadable image it promised to provide for the Galaxy Nexus and for specifics on actual devices.

Many outlets have reported that Ubuntu phones are due in October, but that's still far from certain. Work on apps, however, has clearly begun.

In the meantime, those who can't bear the wait now have at least some solace: an Android app you can download today that gives you at least an early taste of what Ubuntu Linux for phones will really be like.

Intrigued? Read on.

'Ubuntu Phone Experience'

Targeting both high-end superphones and entry-level basic smartphones, Ubuntu for phones is particularly notable for the way it uses all four edges of the screen, according to Canonical's early demonstrations.

There have already been published guides to replicating the interface's basic appearance using themes on Android, but none I've seen so far have included that fundamental behavior.

Enter Ubuntu Phone Experience, a free app that's readily downloadable and lets you get a more accurate taste of what the real thing will reportedly be like.

A free download

Posted by members of developer site XDA, Ubuntu Phone Experience is designed to offer a gesture-based experience similar to that promised by Ubuntu for phones, according to an Android Community report.

Reportedly removed from Google Play since its original launch, the app promises to work with almost all ROMs and devices. Users can apparently adjust the sidebar to show recent apps, select apps, adjust the sidebar's appearance, and more. A premium version is said to unlock even more features.

A video on YouTube demonstrates the app in action. Ready to give it a try? Ubuntu Phone Experience is available for free from the XDA Developers site.

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Three ways to imagine an Apple 'iWatch'

Rumors have ramped up this week that Apple is developing an "iWatch." The success of wearable technology like the Nike Fuelband, and demand for the Pebble, the Kickstarter-backed smart watch, have fueled the speculation.

It's a logical move for Apple, which could use a new device to generate buzz and drive revenue. The iPhone and iPad are still selling almost as fast as Apple can produce them, but it will be hard to sustain growth and relevance by pushing out annual, incremental updates to them.

If Apple is working on some sort of intelligent watch, what exactly would it be? Here are a few concepts to consider.

iPod Nano in a Lunatik watch band

1. A standalone iWatch

Following in the footsteps of the iPod Nano-as-watch, Apple could simply develop a more capable version of the iPod Nano, engineered to be worn on the wrist.

People turned the iPod Nano into a watch by creating innovative watchbands for the music player. Apple embraced the movement by incorporating a variety of watch face options into the iPod Nano, but then it created a new iPod Nano model that's a different shape and breaks its functionality as a watch.

The iPod Nano has an MP3 player and an FM radio, photos, a clock, and Nike+ fitness capabilities. Apple could incorporate GPS or Wi-Fi into such a small gadget to greatly enhance the functions. An Apple iWatch could handle maps and navigation, and allow people to connect with and check in on social networks like Facebook or FourSquare.

The Pebble smart watch connects to an iOS or Android smartphone.

2. An extension of an iPhone

Rather than trying to build all of that functionality into a watch itself, Apple could make a watch leverage the power of the iPhone. An iWatch could be paired via Bluetooth with an iPhone and act as a wireless portal to a variety of iPhone functions, without making you take the smartphone out of your pocket or purse.

I suggested almost a year ago (about a month before the Pebble project took off on Kickstarter) that Apple should build on the iPod Nano-as-watch concept. It would be especially cool if an iWatch displayed maps and navigation information from the iPhone, or if you could push a button on it to query Siri. 

One of the reasons there's so much excitement about the Pebble is that it does things that people wish the iPod Nano-as-watch could do. The Pebble connects to an iOS or Android device, and it can leverage smartphone-based apps to provide functionality through its e-paper display. It has the potential to display alerts and notifications, emails, incoming call details, social network status updates, weather information, and more from your smartphone via the Pebble on your wrist.

Engineering a device that lies somewhere between the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch, but  can pair with and leverage the capabilities of the iPhone, is a logical direction.

Squeeze the iPhone 5 down to watch size?

3. A replacement for the iPhone

Let's be bold. The iPod Nano-as-watch has already been done. The smart watch as a Bluetooth extension of smartphone technology already exists through third-party devices. What if Apple just leapfrogs everyone, and disrupts the entire smartphone market (again) by creating a smart watch that effectively replaces the iPhone?

Many people who have a smartphone also have a tablet, yet there's significant overlap in their features and functionality. Since a tablet can already perform all of the smartphone functions (and then some), aside from voice calls, a wearable smartphone that has key elements of an iPhone but can easily place and receive calls would be the sort of revolutionary device so many expect from Apple.

For now, it would be virtually impossible to truly match the capabilities of an iPhone in a wristwatch; it's simply too small to house the storage, battery, and other technologies necessary. However, what if Apple included cellular functionality and enough of the core functionality of a smartphone, so that an iWatch effectively replaces the need for an iPhone?

Of course, Apple may not be working on an iWatch at all. The mythic Apple TV has been rumored for years, with no sign of it coming any time soon. Still, Apple could shake things up with any of these three concepts, or perhaps some combination thereof—like a wearable smartphone that can also pair up with an iPhone or iPad for extended capabilities. We'll have to wait and see.

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Review: Folder Colorizer brightens up Explorer, may help navigation

Microsoft Windows has been around since 1985, and one of the only things about it that hasn't changed is Windows Explorer (File Explorer in Windows 8). We still have the yellow folder tree-like structure, and many people may argue that it is comforting to have something familiar to hold onto, something that we all know, while the rest of Windows goes through dramatic changes. But some people depend on color to navigate successfully between folders, and all-yellow isn't going to cut it. If that's you, check out the free Folder Colorizer to add a dab of paint to the place and inject some color and life into the operating system. You may be surprised at the difference in not just your mood, but the efficiency of navigation.

Just right-click on the folder you want to colorize and choose your shade. If the one you want is not there, you can access a color table to make more colors.

Simply put, Folder Colorizer (as the name implies) allows you to assign a set color to each folder in Explorer. Upon installation (which also requires a system reboot), you are given some pre-set colors to start playing around with, and to install a certain color, all you have to do is right-click on the folder and go to the newly inserted  "Colorize!" option in your right-click Explorer menu. From there, you can choose a color and the changes will take effect immediately.

If you don't like the color change, you have three options: You can change to another color, choose  "restore original color " to completely undo everything, or reveal the hidden files in Explorer to reveal a temporary color file inside the folder. Delete that and your folder's original color will immediately re-appear.

The color table enables you to add and remove colors to get the ones you want.

If you don't care for the preset colors, you can delete them and start again, courtesy of a color wheel. However, this color wheel doesn't do RGB and HEX color codes, so nix any thoughts of getting that subtle shade that you simply adore. It only allows you to point to red, green, yellow, and so on, with slight shades of each. It's not bad, but RGB and HEX support would make it so much better.

So what is the advantage to this app, apart from turning Windows/File Explorer into Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat? Well, look at it this way. It makes navigating Windows folders much easier. A lot of people use color to find their way around, and if you can remember that you placed a file in the red folder and that Dropbox is the green folder (for example), then it may help you to speed up when dragging and dropping files all over the place. At least that's what happened with me.

After choosing a color, watch as your folders start to have a refreshing makeover.

Give Folder Colorizer a try out and see if you start to look upon Explorer with a fresh set of eyes. Just remember to make sure that the folders you want to color are not read-only; otherwise this won't work. To check, right-click on the folder, choose "properties ", and in the  "general " tab, look at the  "attributes " section. The Read-Only box is there–just make sure it's unchecked and once that's done, you'll be ready to give the folder a fresh coat of paint.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.

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Monster Microsoft Patch Tuesday focuses on Windows, Explorer, Exchange

In addition to covering Windows and Internet Explorer, Microsoft's latest monthly batch of patches covers the widely used Exchange Server, both the Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 editions.

"Microsoft delivered a monster sized patch this month ... It's enough to make your head spin," wrote Andrew Storms, director of security operations for security firm nCircle, in an email.

Overall, Microsoft issued 12 security updates, covering 57 vulnerabilities, one of the largest sets of security updates the company has ever released.

Microsoft tagged five of the 12 updates as critical, and labelled the remaining seven as important.

System administrators overseeing Microsoft Exchange deployments should take a close look at Microsoft's latest round of security patches.

Patch IE first

NCircle advises that organizations apply the two critical Internet Explorer patches first. "Both of these remote execution bugs are serious security risks, so patch all of them and patch them fast," Storms wrote. The two critical patches cover versions 6 through 10 of the browser.

"Both bulletins fix 'drive-by bugs' that only require the victim to browse a website to become infected with malicious code," Storms wrote.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-010 describes a vulnerability in Internet Explorer's implementation of the Vector Markup Language (VML) that could allow for remote code execution. This vulnerability has already been used in one attack, and more attacks are expected within the next 30 days, according to Microsoft.

Also directed at Internet Explorer, MS13-009 describes 13 different vulnerabilities that are grouped together in one update because they are found in overlapping sections of the browser's code base. Microsoft expects these vulnerabilities to be exploited within the next 30 days as well.

NCircle also advised that, in addition to patching Explorer, administrators should apply patches that Adobe released Tuesday for Flash and, if used, Shockwave.

"If you only have time to do the absolute minimum, you should patch Internet Explorer and Flash immediately," Storms wrote.

Windows updates

Windows has two critical updates. For Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008, MS13-011 addresses a critical vulnerability in the Windows Media Player that would allow code embedded in a media file to execute when the file is decompressed by the software. And for Windows XP SP3, MS13-020 also describes a vulnerability that could lead to remote code execution, one that would occur if the user were to open, in either Microsoft Word or Wordpad, an RTF (Rich Text Format Document) with a secretly embedded ActiveX control.

Microsoft Exchange update

Microsoft Exchange is the focus of the fifth critical update.

While Windows and Explorer are updated pretty much every month, the appearance of an Exchange vulnerability is somewhat more rare. Microsoft bulletin MS13-012 explains the Exchange vulnerability. Attackers could compromise a deployment of Microsoft Exchange by having a user of Outlook Web Access click on a maliciously crafted attachment. The vulnerability actually stems from a library supplied by Oracle, called Oracle Outside In, that converts files in various formats so they can be viewed in the browser. Clicking on the attachment could trigger embedded code to execute on the server.

Of the seven "important" updates, two are for Windows Servers, one is for Windows desktop editions and two are for either the server or the desktop edition of Windows. One important update is for the .Net framework, and one is for the Fast Search server portion of SharePoint.

NCircle directed users of the VMware ESXi hypervisor to take a close look at MS13-014, which describes how NFS (Network File Server) operations running under Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 could be vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack. "This has the potential to inadvertently wreak havoc on your virtual infrastructure if everything is mounted using Windows NFS shares," wrote Tyler Reguly, nCircle technical manager of security research and development, in an email statement.

Microsoft routinely releases security patches for its software on the second Tuesday of each month. The predictability of patch Tuesday, as it is often called, allows administrators to set aside time to update their systems. As with any updates to critical IT systems, administrators are encouraged to apply the updates in a test environment to check for unanticipated interactions with hardware or other software. All of the updates in this month's batch may require restarting the system.

The security updates will be available at the Microsoft Download Center, through WSUS (Windows Server Update Services), and, for consumers, through the Windows Update process.

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Big data collection collides with privacy concerns, analysts say

A recent push in the information technology industry to collect and monetize big data is headed for a clash with privacy concerns from Internet users and potential regulation from some governments, according to tech analyst firm Ovum.

Internet advertising networks and other companies that depend on the collection of personal data online should prepare for a "rebalancing" of the relationship between themselves and Web users, with Web users having more control of their data, said Mark Little, principal analyst at the U.K. tech and business analysis firm.

Web users are becoming more aware of privacy tools and appear ready to use them, Little said. "More and more consumers are deciding to effectively become invisible in data terms on the Internet," he added. "It will shake the Internet economy as more and more users decide they don't want to be tracked."

Do-not-track favored

Ovum, in a recent survey of about 11,000 people across 11 countries, found that 68 percent said they would use a do-not-track feature if it was easily available on a search engine. Just 14 percent of respondents said they believe Internet companies are honest about their use of personal data.

"Unfortunately, in the gold rush that is big data, taking the supply of little data—personal data—for granted seems to be an accident waiting to happen," Little said in a written statement regarding the Ovum findings.

Ovum's survey results point to trouble for online business models that rely on the collection of personal data, including targeted or behavioral advertising, Little said in an interview. In addition to consumer concerns about online privacy, governments in Europe and North America are looking at new ways to protect consumer data through regulation, he noted.

"You are getting this squeeze between a hardening consumer attitude and tighter regulation," Little said.

Privacy advocates say the recent focus in the tech industry on using big data raises concerns.

"Big data is both a boon and a curse for users," Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said in an email. "Tens of thousands of data sources on individuals can be compiled in milliseconds."

The profiles allow marketers, politicians and businesses to predict consumers' futures, he said, "whether we will be a big and low-wage lifetime earner, how we may respond to medical concerns, and whom we can be persuaded to vote for."

In the long term, companies that collect personal data online may have to find new methods than the current approach of stealthily placing a cookie on a Web user's browser, a practice Little calls "data fracking."

A growing number of consumers seem to think the current model of data collection, with free Web content or services in exchange for their personal data, is out of balance, he said. Consumers are "feeling exploited," he said. "There's that feeling of, 'what am I getting out of this?'"

Data collection companies may need to establish stronger relationships with their customers or offer more incentives for customers to give up personal information, Little said. In the U.K. grocery store chain Tesco is allowing its customers to see their personal data collected by the company, he noted.

Give consumers control

Little also sees potential for a new business model in which consumers create personal data vaults that they control, giving consumers a choice about which companies they share their personal information with. A company called Personal is one company that has begun offering personal data vaults, he said.

A move toward more consumer control of personal data won't be all bad for Internet companies, however, Little said. Personal data vaults will contain more accurate and forward-looking information than the current data collection methods can gather, he said.

The change in relationship between consumer and data collectors will change slowly, and Internet businesses shouldn't change their data collection practices immediately, Little said.

Internet companies should "keep on riding the margins of regulation and consumer acceptance in order to maximize your data set, because that is just good business," he said. "But prepare for changes where consumers start to want more of a relationship with their own data and the people who are collecting it."

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's email address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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Tech workers want Surface and iPhone, Forrester reports

Microsoft's Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet is at the top of the wish list for information workers, as is Apple's iPhone, according to a report on mobile trends released by Forrester Research last week.

The report, 2013 Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends, which has a list price of $2495, is based on interviews more than 9700 information workers around the world.

Nearly a third of those workers (32 percent) told Forrester's researchers that they want their next tablet to be a Windows slate.

A similar proportion of the workers (33 percent) said they want their next smartphone to be an iPhone. Only 10 percent of the workers said they wanted a Windows Phone handset in their future.

Forrester via MacRumorsNearly a third of information workers want a Microsoft tablet.

The interest in Microsoft tablets may be driven by the practical rather than any appeal the slates may have for the workers, maintained one self-proclaimed enterprise information worker on a MacRumors thread discussion of the study.

"I could see people in my world saying they would want a Microsoft tablet because all of us are trapped in the Windows world forced upon us by IT," the worker wrote. "People in this position most likely think 'I want a tablet, but IT makes us use MS software, so we should probably get a MS tablet."

"If MS ever did come out with Office for iPad, then iPad's would top this list," the worker added.

Forrester's data for its report was gathered before Microsoft released the Pro version of its Surface tablet. That version, which went on sale Saturday, has experienced some brisk sales, especially for the model with a 128GB solid state drive.

However, questions have been raised as to whether Microsoft deliberately understocked the 128GB Surface Pro in order to create a sellout buzz. On the other hand, since Microsoft experienced supply problems with its Surface RT tablet during the holidays, it could be that the Pro shortages are a continuation of those supply snags.

Microsoft may be able to build on the initial momentum behind the Surface Pro Sunday night when it airs its first TV ad for the hardware during the Grammy awards. The ad is directed by John Chu, who also directed the snappy ads for Surface RT.

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Review: Supercharged HP Officejet Pro X576dw skewers inkjet stereotypes

If anyone had the ability to bring out a laser-competitive inkjet, it'd be HP. And that's exactly what the company's laser masters in Boise have done, with the newly announced Officejet Pro X576dw color inkjet multifunction.

Now hold on, inkjet haters: This $799 machine is nothing like the $400 small-office inkjet MFPs we've lauded in the past, let alone the sub-$100 beaters that drink pricey ink. The Officejet Pro X576dw is faster than any color laser we've tested—that's its competition, not regular inkjets. Its consumables are supercheap; and its output quality is just fine, thank you. This is an inkjet that deserves respect from color lasers, including those from its own company.

HPHP's hoping the Officejet Pro X576dw will help inkjets move away from the flagging consumer market and into the healthier corporate space.

Will offices comfortable with laser technology give this supercharged inkjet a chance? HP has to try. "The consumer inkjet market is declining rapidly," says IDC's Keith Kmetz. "This means inkjet has to make the move to business markets to be successful longer term. This collides against laser, and there's a well-established laser bias in that market."

The Officejet Pro X576dw has to overcome inkjet stereotypes of being slow and expensive to maintain . "Many business buyers…associate these desktop inkjet products with low cost, but also frequent cartridge replacement," Kmetz explains. "'My cartridge ran out again...what are my kids printing on the printer to use so much color?' While HP aggressively touts low cost per page, there's a well-entrenched perception of inkjet that is an ongoing battle."

We understand. We, too, have scoffed at cheesy, poky, low-end inkjets that guzzle ink like there's no tomorrow. This is not a cheesy inkjet. Read on and find out why.

If it looks like a laser and runs like a laser…

When you're competing with corporate laser MFPs, it doesn't hurt to look like one. The Officejet Pro X576dw is as big and boxy as any color laser, so much so that our lab analyst actually mistook it for one when he started testing.

The unit's speed did nothing to disabuse him of the notion. Pages hit the output tray in record times, including text and mixed monochrome pages at an aggregate 22.6 pages per minute (ppm) on the PC (using PCL6) and 24.9 ppm (using Postscript) on the Mac. It's nearly 5 ppm faster than any other color laser printer we've tested. Color 4-by-6-inch photos flew out of the unit at 6 ppm with plain paper, and a little over 2 ppm to glossy paper. Copies are similarly quick at 7.5 ppm. The only print test that the Officejet Pro X576dw didn't dominate was our full-page color photo printed on the Mac, which took a middling 43 seconds, or 1.4 ppm. Scan times are also average for the class.

Extra-wide printhead boosts performance

What makes this printer so fast? One reason is its PageWide technology. The typical inkjet has a small printhead that moves back and forth over a moving page. The challenge of getting a moving printhead over a moving page to create legible images is a big reason why inkjets can be slow. PageWide is a stationary bar of multiple printheads, with just the page moving underneath it. That means less fuss, more speed.

Melissa RiofrioA full-width printhead makes the Officejet Pro X576dw faster than a typical inkjet.

The other reason is the paper path—how the paper travels through the printer. Every bend in the path slows the paper's progress. HP designed the Officejet Pro X576dw's L-shaped path to minimize bends, so the page can shoot through faster even when printing in duplex (both sides). This is why the printer is so big, and also why the output tray is an elevated platform that looks like a lean-to. HP helpfully suggests that you use the space underneath it as a storage shelf, but it's really a by-product of the paper-path design.

The output quality of the Officejet Pro X576dw merits a closer look than some inkjet scoffers might otherwise give it. Yes, its text falls a dot or two short of laser-black and laser-sharp, but you'd have to be very picky to care about the difference. The pigmented inks create nicely drawn letterforms and handle difficult fonts with skill. And as an HP spokesperson gladly demonstrated for me at Macworld, the inks are so waterfast, he was willing to rub a wet page on his hair.

Paper does matter for color graphics. Images we printed look dull on mid-quality stock (such as the recycled-content paper we use in our office copier). They improved on the Hammermill LaserPrint that we use for testing, and HP's own photo paper produced vivid results. Grayscale graphics have a lightly greenish cast, and human faces on both plain and glossy paper look somewhat jaundiced. Scan quality is impressively detailed—better than we've seen in a while from any kind of multifunction printer.

Just one feature short of office-perfect

The Officejet Pro X576dw matches its color laser competition very closely in features. There's Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and USB onboard, for versatile connectivity. There's also a 4.3-inch touchscreen control panel with contextually-lit buttons. The capable HP software suite includes scanning to network folders, and remote and e-mail printing. The one corporate feature it lacks, to our surprise, is secure printing. The best you can do is plug a key drive into the front USB port and print live.

Paper handling includes an integrated 500-sheet paper cassette and 50-page auxiliary tray. You can add a second 500-sheet tray for $199. Duplex printing is automatic, as is two-sided scanning with the 50-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF). The flatbed scanner on top of the unit is letter/A4-sized, and the lid telescopes over an inch to handle thicker materials.

The Officejet Pro X576dw is even fun to watch. The ink cartridges, accessible via a front panel, rise into view like a pop star from underneath a fogged-up concert stage. Spring-loaded, they bounce out with a quick push. Paper exits through a hatch that opens and closes automatically.

Cost of consumables is very, very low

While the speed of the Officejet Pro X576dw should turn the heads of corporate buyers, it's the cheap high-capacity supplies that will make them smile. The 9200-page, 970XL high-capacity black cartridge costs $120, or a mere 1.3 cents per page. The 6600-page cyan, magenta, and yellow 971XL cartridges work out to a little over 1.8 cents per page, per color. Add that together and you have a four-color page for just under 6.8 cents--an open invitation to spice up more of your documents with color. The standard capacity 970 and 971 cartridges work out to about twice the cost—which is still cheaper than average compared to color lasers.

Melissa RiofrioThe HP Officejet Pro X576dw's inks are cheaper than average compared to color laser toner.

The Officejet Pro X576dw's recommended maximum monthly output of 2,800 pages is another indication of the machine's sturdiness. The standard warranty is only one year, but upgrades and service plans are available. The Officejet Pro X576dw's slightly slower cousins include the x476dw for $699, or the X476dn, without Wi-Fi, for $649. All offer the same low-cost inks.

HP color laser cousin can't compete

Still don't believe this is a good printer? Let's take a quick look at a competitive color laser product, HP's own LaserJet Pro 400 Color MFP M475dw. To its credit, this $750 color laser MFP produces supercrisp text and a surprisingly nice photo. But it's half as fast as the Officejet Pro X576dw (its top speed is 11.6 ppm printing text), and its best toner costs are 2.6 cents for high-yield black and 4.6 cents per high-yield color. Ignoring the technology, and just looking at the numbers, which printer seems like the better deal?

The Officejet Pro X576dw definitely covers the office-printer bases with its speed, capabilities, and low-cost consumables. It's facing a tough headwind, though: "There are several laser players who will work diligently protect their laser base from inkjet infiltration," warns IDC's Keith Kmetz. It's impossible to know whether any laser lovers will give the Officejet Pro X576dw a chance. If any inkjet deserves a fair hearing, it's this one.

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Raspberry Pi to get a video camera

A video camera board has been developed for the popular cut-price Raspberry PI computer.

The HD camera, whose specifications are still to be finalised, is expected to be available to buy in early spring, according to developers. The first cameras are expected to come with a 15cm flat cable and sell for around $25.

The lens on the camera is similar to those found on many camera phones and is expected to provide 5 megapixels.

Raspberry Pi developers claim the camera board has been developed as an alternative to using USB cameras with the Raspberry PI, as it provides a better quality resolution at a cheaper price when compared to USB solutions.

The new Model A of the Raspberry PI computer board was also recently unveiled, which is about 10 grammes lighter than the original version. That will also sell for around $25.

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Cellular carriers seek smooth handoffs from LTE to 3G

Mobile engineers have successfully demonstrated the handoff of a voice call from LTE to 3G, a capability that may prove critical in carriers' plans to put voice on their new, fast data networks.

Engineers from Telefonica Deutschland used SRVCC (Single Radio Voice Call Continuity) to move a call without disruption from an LTE to a 3G network. The test took place in a lab and was carried out over equipment from at least six different vendors in an effort to emulate mixed real-world networks, according to Telefonica.

Keeping a subscriber's call going as they move out of an LTE coverage area will probably be important to the deployment of VoLTE (voice over LTE), a technology that breaks a voice call into packets and transmits it as data traffic. Carriers that can't fill their whole coverage area with LTE will need a way to make the handoff. SRVCC, part of the 3GPP family of standards that underlies GSM and LTE, has wide support to become that mechanism. Products from Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Nokia Siemens Networks, Acme Packet, Qualcomm and Sony Mobile were included in Telefonica's demonstration network.

However, the need for SRVCC is expected to trail demand for VoLTE itself, which is only slowly emerging. Even most carriers that have extensively deployed LTE are still transmitting voice over their older 3G networks, which are expected to remain online for many years.

A major limitation of SRVCC, in some parts of the world, is that it doesn't work with CDMA, the form of 3G used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, South Korea's SK Telecom, and some other carriers. It's strictly for sending calls over to 3G networks based on the GSM family of standards, which include those used by AT&T and T-Mobile USA as well as most carriers in Europe and Asia, according to Ovum analyst Sara Kaufman.

Carriers in Asia are moving quicker on VoLTE than those in North America and Europe, Kaufman said. In the U.S., Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel all have said they plan to use it, but none of those deployments is imminent. On Friday, Verizon Wireless said it plans to start offering VoLTE late this year or early next year; Sprint Nextel would not name a date.

MetroPCS, a regional U.S. carrier, is already using VoLTE in some areas. Asked about handoffs to 3G, which still makes up much of MetroPCS's network, the company provided an assurance without details.

"MetroPCS has implemented VoLTE in a way that is transparent to the user on performance and services," MetroPCS said in a statement attributed to Ed Chao, senior vice president of corporate engineering and network operations.

Even when VoLTE is deployed, it's likely to benefit service providers more than subscribers. With voice calls on the data network, carriers ultimately will be able to run just one network and reuse the 3G spectrum for LTE. Calls on LTE also make more efficient use of spectrum. The potential benefits to subscribers include higher call quality and Rich Communications Suite, a set of services that could encompass voice and video calls and text chatting.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

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