FBI to Build Social Network Spy App

1/29/2012

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is planning to develop an application that can track the public's postings to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, in order to aid how it predicts and reacts to criminal behavior, including public disorder and terrorism.

An FBI request for information document has been published, asking potential contractors to contact the bureau by February 10. The FBI wants respondents to the document to outline how they would build such a system and how much it would potentially cost.

The bureau said the system it wants must be able to automaticallysearch "publicly available" material from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites for keywords of interest. FBI agents would be alerted if the searches come up with evidence of "breaking events, incidents, and emerging threats."

Agents would have the ability to display any information on a map, and they could then add other layers of information, including past incidents and locations of important buildings like embassies and military installations.

The document notes that agents need to "locate bad actors and analyze their movements, vulnerabilities, limitations, and possible adverse actions."

By Antony Savvas, Computerworld-UK

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How to Hack an iPad

1/27/2012

Most iPad and iPhone owners rely on their Apple ID password to prevent access to their account details. This won't stop a hacker gaining access to your personal account and log in details. Here's how to hack an iPad.

Whenever you want to change a setting on an iPad or iPhone, aside from non-critical items such as the alarm clock time or the volume, Apple prompts you to enter your Apple ID. Ideally, there will be a four-digit PIN code preventing anyone who isn't you being able to get as far as the settings menu, but not all of us are that careful.

Here's why you really should pay much more heed to controlling access.

Go to the App Store and click on an item to download. Assuming it costs anything at all to purchase, you'll be prompted to enter the password for your Apple account. Do so, and then wait for the app to start installing. Return a few minutes later and you'll be able to purchase more apps without having to type in your password again. In other words, you'll be able to initiate more micro payments without specifically agreeing to them.

This isn't a lot of use, but the same idea can be used to access the account, password and payment details for a user's account. They simply need to have left their trusty iPad or iPhone unguarded on their desk for a few minutes (but not long enough for the autolock to have kicked in and a password to be required). This leaves the device open for someone to delve into the Settings menu and root around for their address, name, password reminder info and partial credit card details.

It works precisely because the same no need to re-enter a password principle applies to changes to the Settings on your iOS device itself. If the registered account holder has recently entered the necessary password, you may not need to enter your password again to get at items in the Settings menu.

Using the former scenario, we were able to delve into the Settings, Store menu on an iPad, view password prompt details and full address information for the user. We just had to click on the View Apple iD option and scroll through the information that appeared. We could then take a screengrab of the details and, from the iPad's Photo gallery, email the screenshot to any address we wished.

At first we thought we'd just got lucky, so checked the process on another iPad, this time with an Apple ID password required to access the account settings.

It turns out that even if you click on Settings and go to the Store menu and are then prompted for a password, you'll probably be able to get at the account holder, full address and password reminder details.

If you don't know the password, click on the iForgot button that pops up. You'll be taken to a landing page on the Apple site where you can either verify your details using the ID and password prompt information you provided when you created the Apple account - or you can request a reminder by email.

Do the latter and Apple will obligingly send you a link within seconds. On the two iPads we which we tried it, we were able to reset the password by following the link we were given and entering a new, strong (ie combination of upper and lower-case , numerals and letters) password.

When we returned the two iPads to our unsuspecting colleagues, one was able to reset their Apple ID by going to their account online; the other found themselves locked out of their account as they tried to reset their password on the iPad itself.

Needless to say, we showed both colleagues what we'd done and the details we'd been able to view. A four-digit PIN code would have prevented us from being able to do any of the above.

By Rosemary Hattersley, macworld.co.uk 

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Marine Breaks Record for Biggest Lego Collection, Gains Huge Geek Cred

There's something about finishing off a Lego set that feels quite rewarding--the bigger and trickier the better. You then usually add it to your collection on the window ledge or shelf and admire your collection. However, there's one guy who's collection is so big, not only does it take up most of his house, but also earned him a world record.

Marine Corps' Captain Kyle Ugone from Arizona has 1251 different Lego sets scattered across his home in Yuma. Each set is organized by its theme, ranging from Star Wars sets to the likes of space, castles, and trains--his biggest box set contained over 5000 individual pieces in order to complete. The collection is so cool, it could probably make some Lego theme parks blush.

Kyle received his first set when he was five (a windmill, which he still has now), and is still hooked to the little plastic bricks. He brought in the Guiness Book of Records to check out his collection after being informed that in order to be the first to claim the title, he would need at least 500 official sets. Out of his collection, 1091 make him the current record holder. The remaining few were reporductions or didn't have the original instructions, so they don't count.

There are over 5000 Lego box sets out there, some of which are pretty rare or location-specific, so it will be interesting to see if anyone contends for Kyle's spot at the top. In the meantime, Kyle is slowly regaining control of his house by dismantling some of the sets, and turning his attention to a new project: restoring a classic muscle car.

I reckon one of the many GeekTech readers could potentially have enough sets to steal Kyle's crown. If it's you, drop us an email at our tip line below!

By Elizabeth Fish, PCWorld

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Asus U46SV: Fast, Comfortable, Enduring, but Too Much Software

The Asus U46SV all-purpose laptop sets itself apart from the crowd through great performance and outstanding battery life--two attributes that rarely cohabitate. The primary reason for the long 6-hour, 41-minute run time is an unusually large 74-watt-hour battery. The large battery is also responsible for the U46SV's hefty 4.9-pound static and 6-pound travel (with AC adapter) weights, but clever design makes the unit feel lighter than those numbers might lead you to believe.

The battery protrudes about a half-inch beneath the back of the otherwise one-inch thick unit. That gives you a firm, yet comfortable grip when toting it about (part of the reason it doesn't feel as heavy as it is) and also adds a slight forward rake that puts your hand at a better typing angle. All told, the heavier, larger, longer-lasting battery should please more users than it discourages them.

The U46SV sports a stylish aluminum lid and keyboard deck, though the effect is cheapened slightly by chrome touchpad buttons and a rather bright power button. Still, while the touchpad buttons are distractingly reflective, they also have just the right amount of resistance. The U46SV's breathable Chiclet-style keyboard feels exactly like those found on Lenovo's U series (a good thing)--crisp, even though the keys travel only a short distance. The touchpad is nicely responsive as well.

Our test unit featured an Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, 8GB of DDR3 memory, and a 750GB hard drive. It also had both Intel HD Graphics 3000 for everyday use and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 540M GPU that propelled the unit to playable gaming frame rates in the 60s at low detail and high 30s at high detail at 1024 by 768 resolution. You can also buy the U46SV with a Core i3, less memory, and less capacious hard drives if our configuration's $900 price tag seems too steep.

Besides the stellar battery life, the U46SV scored a 123 on WorldBench 6--excellent for a Core i5. Video of all resolutions plays smoothly and is rendered to good effect on the U46SV's 14-inch, 1366 by 768 display. So good, in fact, that when I tested with a 1080 DVD of True Grit (the Coen Brothers version), I wound up watching nearly the entire movie. Of course, it's also a very good movie. That experience was best with headphones; the U46SV's speakers sound weak and thin despite the Sonic Focus audio enhancement software that tries to overcome that fact.

The U46SV's ports include VGA and HDMI, three USB ports (one of which is USB 3.0), ethernet, and an SD card slot. The laptop includes both headphone and microphone jacks, as well as a Kensington lock port on the back. You get a webcam, too, but for some reason Asus opted for a relatively low-resolution 0.3 megapixel unit.

Though the U46SV turned in very nice performance numbers, it performs sluggishly for the first minute after booting with the stock software configuration. This is largely due to loading a whopping 32 nonstandard startup items--the majority of which aren't particularly useful or necessary. Some time culling the dross with msconfig.exe and uninstalling unnecessary software is in order if you want the performance you paid for. Not all the software is useless: Cyberlink's Power2Go supports the integrated DVD burner, and the starter version of Office 2010 is on hand for productivity chores.

As hard as Asus tries to muck up a good hardware package with a bloated software installation, the U46SV remains an impressive combination of performance, ergonomics, and long battery life. Remove the preinstalled applications you don't want, and you're good to go.


Asus U46SV Review, by Jon L. Jacobi 

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Massive Android Malware Op May Have Infected 5 Million Users

The largest-ever Android malware campaign may have duped as many as 5 million users into downloading infected apps from Google's Android Market, Symantec said today.

Dubbed "Android.Counterclank" by Symantec, the malware was packaged in 13 different apps from three different publishers, with titles ranging from "Sexy Girls Puzzle" to "Counter Strike Ground Force." Many of the infected apps were still available on the Android Market as of 3 p.m. ET Friday.

"They don't appear to be real publishers," Kevin Haley, a director with Symantec's security response team, said in an interview today. "These aren't rebundled apps, as we've seen so many times before."

Haley was referring to a common tactic by Android malware makers to repackage a legitimate app with attack code, then re-release it to the marketplace in the hope that users will confuse the fake with the real deal.

Symantec estimated the impact by combining the download totals -- which the Android Market shows as ranges -- of the 13 apps, arriving at a figure between 1 million on the low end and 5 million on the high. "Yes, this is the largest malware [outbreak] on the Android Market," said Haley.

Android.Counterclank is a Trojan horse that when installed on an Android smartphone collects a wide range of information, including copies of the bookmarks and the handset maker. It also modifies the browser's home page.

The hackers have monetized the malware by pushing unwanted advertisements to compromised Android phones.

Although the infected apps request an uncommonly large number of privileges -- something that the user must approve -- Haley argued that few people bother reading them before giving their okay.

"If you were the suspicious type, you might wonder why they're asking for permission to modify the browser or transmit GPS coordinates," said Haley. "But most people don't bother."

Android.Counterclank is a minor variation on an older Android Trojan horse called Android.Tonclank that was discovered in June 2011.

Some of the 13 apps that Symantec identified as infected have been on the Android Market for at least a month, according to the revision dates posted on the e-store. Symantec, however, discovered them only yesterday.

Users had noticed something fishy before then.

"The game is decent ... but every time you run this game, a 'search icon gets added randomly to one of your screens," said one user on Jan. 16 after downloading "Deal & Be Millionaire," one of the 13. "I keep deleting the icon, but it always reappears. If you tap the icon you get a page that looks suspiciously like the Google search page."

Android users have hammered one of the infected apps with low review scores, calling it 'crap.'

All 13 suspected apps are free for the downloading.

Symantec's researchers have told Google of their discovery, said Haley. Google, however, did not immediately reply to questions and a request for confirmation on the security firm's claims.

Haley said Symantec's researchers are still "peeling back the layers of the onion," and added that the company would publish more information on the threat as it unearthed details. "What's interesting here is that instead of taking legitimate apps, [malware authors] have created apps similar to legitimate ones," said Haley. "That, and the big numbers of downloads, of course."

Symantec has published a list of the 13 infected apps on its website.

By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

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Using Your Camera's Settings: Program Mode, Shutter Speed, and More

Here's how to get the most from Program mode and use an online digital SLR simulator to learn how shutter speed, aperture, and other settings affect your photos.

Attend any digital photography workshop, and inevitably you'll hear questions about digital camera exposure controls. Photographers want to know: How are aperture priority and shutter priority modes different? What does the ISO setting do? When would you want to use Program mode rather than Auto? Knowing which mode to use for specific photographic situations, and how your camera's various controls interact with each other can help you take dramatically better photos, and more easily, to boot. Let's start with a common question: What's the difference between Program and Auto mode?

Program vs. Auto Modes

Your camera's Program and Auto modes are clearly different--for one thing, camera manufacturers are unlikely to create two modes that do the exact same thing. Here's a typical camera settings dial, where you can see Auto, P (Program), S (shutter priority), A (Aperture priority), N (Manual mode), and others:

Camera models may vary, but in general, Auto truly means "automatic." When you dial in "Auto," your camera takes care of pretty much everything except where you point the camera and how much you choose to zoom. The flash, ISO (which is the camera's sensitivity to light), white balance, shutter speed, and aperture are all set automatically.

Program mode (sometimes referred to as the "Programmed Exposure" or "Programmed Automatic" mode) is a bit more flexible. When you dial in the P, the camera might look like it's in the same sort of autopilot mode as Auto, but you have full control over a surprising number of settings, including ISO and white balance, which are unavailable to you in Auto.

For example, you can crank up the ISO higher than the camera might ordinarily choose in order to freeze the action in extremely low-light situations. Or you might keep the ISO low to minimize digital noise. If you want to get motion blur or light trails at sunset, Auto mode will generally make that impossible because the camera will increase the ISO automatically. In Program mode, you dial in the right setting depending upon the situation.

Take Command of the Flash

In Auto mode, the flash is completely automatic and will fire whenever the camera thinks there isn't enough light to capture a good photo. In Program mode, though, your camera might make some gentle recommendations--like showing a flash icon or shake warning in the viewfinder--but you can choose whether the flash will fire, and in what mode (red eye, rear curtain, and so on). A typical shake warning is the classic "open hand with wavy lines around it," which is icon 16 in the diagram below:

That makes the Program mode handy for locations in which flash photography is not allowed. Leave your camera in Auto mode at a museum and you might get thrown out, but Program mode can save the day.

Use Program Mode to Control Action and Depth of Field

The "program" in Program mode refers to the fact that you can fiddle with the shutter speed and aperture combo. Whether you choose Auto or Program, the camera chooses an aperture and shutter speed combination that will give you a good exposure. Depending upon the particular camera you have, that might be the fastest available shutter speed based on the ambient light, or a somewhat slower shutter speed.

But if you're in Program mode, by turning the dial or pressing an arrow button, you can choose from among other valid shutter speed/aperture combinations. If you want to slow the shutter speed to introduce motion blur, just spin the dial (or press the arrows or rocker switch--check your camera's user guide) in Program mode. Likewise, if you want to increase the depth of field, move the controls in the opposite direction. You don't necessarily need to use Aperture or Shutter Priority modes as long as you remember that Program mode works this way.

Learn Camera Settings With CameraSim

So that's Auto and Program mode. But what about the other choices, like Shutter priority and Aperture priority? Likewise, do you want to really understand how all the variables--focal length, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and so on--contribute to your photos? A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. Even better is an interactive simulation where you can experiment with all these modes and instantly see the effect, without having to download photos from your camera and study the results.

Sound good? Then head over to CameraSim, a website that simulates the operation of a digital SLR. You can use it to tweak the settings and see the results instantly.

You'll see something like the screen shot on the right. You're seeing the scene as it might appear in a camera's viewfinder--a girl at the playground, holding a spinning pinwheel. When you click the shutter release, you see the effect of your exposure settings. (Click "Return to Viewfinder" to take another picture.) Now, let's look at some ways to experiment.

Vary Perspective With the Zoom

CameraSim does a good job of showing the effect of distance and focal length on your photo. Since we can see this through the virtual viewfinder without taking a picture, there's no need to click the shutter release to experiment.

Start with distance: As you move the slider, you can see how changing your distance from the camera to the subject changes the look of the scene. Notice that the girl and the playground equipment don't change size at the same rate. Instead, as you get closer to the subject, the foreground gets bigger much more quickly than the more distant background. This is called theparallax effect, and you can take advantage of it to emphasize the subject while reducing emphasis on the background.

Next, move the Focal Length slider, which is equivalent to zooming your camera lens. When you do that, you'll see the foreground and background growing larger or smaller in equal measure. This is a good rule to keep in mind: Using your camera's zoom control is not the same thing as moving closer or farther from the subject. They have noticeably different effects on the photo.

Use Shutter Speed to Capture (or Freeze) Motion

CameraSim should be set to Shutter Priority, which lets you change the shutter speed while the camera automatically adjusts the aperture setting to match. On the Shutter Speed slider, note the current setting (probably 1/125 second) and take the picture. You'll see some blur in the pinwheel, as in the image on the left.

Now try again at 1/20 of a second--the pinwheel should be completely blurred, as in the screen shot on the right. For comparison, slide the shutter speed all the way over to about 1/500 second. The pinwheel is frozen in time.

Experiment With Exposure

If you move the Shutter slider too far (slower than 1/13 second), the aperture reaches its limit (f/36) and can't get any smaller. Shutter speeds below this setting will generate an overexposed photo.

You can also underexpose the photo, but to do that, you'll need to lower the camera's ISO. It's currently set to ISO 200. Lower it to ISO 100, and then notice that once you hit a shutter speed of f/2.8, the aperture is open as wide as it can go--since the camera can't admit additional light, any shutter speed faster than about 1/1250 second generates a dark, underexposed photo.

Change the Depth of Field

Most photographers love to gently blur the background to draw attention to the subject. You do that by shooting with a relatively large aperture (a small f/number). You can see this by changing the exposure mode to Aperture Priority and setting the Aperture to f/2.8. This is the lens's largest aperture, and it should generate the least depth of field--the background should be blurry. You should find the photo looks pretty much like the view through the viewfinder.

Here's a bit of digital SLR trivia for you: Your camera leaves the lens set to its biggest aperture right up until you press the shutter release in order to let the most light into the viewfinder while you compose your photo. When you press the shutter release, it "stops down" the lens to the desired setting. If you choose the biggest aperture, you won't see a difference in the depth of field between the viewfinder and the exposed photo.

Now try the opposite extreme. Drag the Aperture slider over to f/22, which is the smallest aperture setting, and take the shot. You should have a fairly sharp background, right? Wait, what happened? It's blurry!

Check your shutter speed. The camera had to automatically set a slow shutter speed to compensate for the tiny aperture, and since this simulator assumes you're hand-holding the camera, it added blurriness due to camera shake.

What would the photo look like if the camera were mounted on a tripod, though? Find out by selecting the option marked Using tripod, and take the shot again. As you might expect, the background will be sharp, but the little girl will be blurry because she was around when you pressed the shutter release.

Want a sharp photo? Back off on the aperture until the shutter speed is 1/60 second and you'll find the whole photo is uniformly sharp.

Keep Playing

There are other things you can do with CameraSim. For example, you could increase the ISO to add more light to the scene, and then re-try the f/36 scene to get a sharper background. That'll work, but varying the ISO will also let you see the relative increase in digital noise that higher ISO settings contribute to photos.

And while you're fooling around, click over to Manual control and try setting both aperture and shutter values yourself, and see how varying the lighting from Sunny to Dim Indoors affects exposure as well.

By Dave Johnson, PCWorld

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Twitter Can Now Block Tweets in Specific Countries

Twitter can now remove tweets from users' feeds in specific countries while keeping them visible elsewhere, according to a post on the company's blog on Thursday.

The San Francisco-based microblogging giant said it made the change in an effort to comply with local limits on expression in some foreign countries.

Twitter has been used to spread messages of dissent and organize government opponents in several countries in recent years. The Chinese government has blocked Twitter, and at the height of protests that eventually brought down Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last January, Egypt also blocked the service.

Twitter has defended its role in helping protesters in the Middle East and other regions organize themselves and spread unauthorized messages within and beyond their countries. But it now has the ability to comply with local standards by blocking tweets from users just in the country in which they are banned. Those messages would be visible to Twitter users elsewhere in the world.

If Twitter does remove a tweet, users in the country in which it was removed will see a grayed-out tweet in their timeline that says a message from an identified user has been withheld.

Through an expanded partnership with Chilling Effects, a project that tracks constraints on online content, the company also will publish requests to withhold content.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," the blog said. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content."

The company said it hasn't used the new capability yet.

"We try to keep content up whenever and wherever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't," the blog said.

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News

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Nintendo: Wii U Will Launch in Time for 2012 Holiday Season, Use Touch-card Tech

Nintendo said Friday its next-generation Wii U game console will launch in time for the holiday season in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

The successor to the popular Wii console will integrate a popular touch-card technology into its controllers. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the device will use NFC, or near field communication, standards that are widely employed in tap-and-go train passes and other payment systems worldwide.

"It will become possible to create cards and figurines that can electronically read and write data via noncontact NFC," Iwata said in a speech, a copy of which was posted on Nintendo's web site.

"Adoption of this functionality will enable various other possibilities such as using it as a means of making micropayments," he added.

The Nintendo chief said final details about the Wii U will be announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, a major annual game exhibition to be held this year in June in Los Angeles.

The Wii U has a large controller that is similar to a dedicated handheld console, with a touchscreen, motion detection and camera. Its small screen can be used to supplement games played on TVs or replace the larger display entirely.

Iwata spoke a day after his company released poor results for the nine-month period through December. It cut its annual sales targets for the 3DS handheld console launched last year, as well as the original Wii, and said it now forecasts a much deeper loss for the fiscal year than earlier predicted.

He said Nintendo has made strong progress with the 3DS, the successor to the smash-hit DS. When the 3DS stumbled after its launch last year, the company responded with large global price cuts less than six months after launch, which eventually spurred sales but weighed heavily on its bottom line. It also announced a fleet of new game titles.

"In the first half of the next fiscal term, we are now anticipating to get out of the situation that we sell the hardware below cost," Iwata said Friday, emphasizing that the company's efforts have paid off and sales have rebounded strongly.

He added that Nintendo is working to expand StreetPass and SpotPass, the peer-to-peer platforms of the device, which let users communicate and compete via their 3DS consoles. The company is also working to expand its fledgling online shop for the device.

Like many Japanese companies, Nintendo's fiscal year runs from April through March.

By Jay Alabaster, IDG News

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First 'Super Wi-Fi' Network Goes Live in North Carolina

Lucky residents of Wilmington, N.C., will be the first in the nation to have access to a "Super Wi-Fi" network.

Officials from New Hanover County, N.C., announced today that they had become the first in the United States to deploy a mobile data network on so-called "white spaces" spectrum that the Federal Communications Commission first authorized for unlicensed use in 2008. The county was able to make a quick transition in using the spectrum for a mobile data network because it was the first to successfully transition from analog to digital television.

RELATED:FCC approves first white spaces database, device

FLASHBACK: FCC takes 'free love' approach to white spaces spectrum

"Super Wi-Fi" is essentially a buzzword created by the FCC to describe mobile data networks that run over the white spaces spectrum. The spectrum band's low frequency allows for signals to travel farther and penetrate more walls than traditional Wi-Fi networks.

Television "white spaces" are pieces of unlicensed spectrum that are currently unused by television stations on the VHF and UHF frequency bands and that have long been seen as prime spectrum for unlicensed wireless Internet services. In 2008, the FCC, then headed by former Chairman Kevin Martin, voted to let carriers and other vendors deploy devices in white space spectrum that operates unlicensed at powers of 100 milliwatts, as well as on white space channels adjacent to existing television stations at powers of up to 40 milliwatts.

This past fall the FCC removed the requirement that devices operating on TV bands have built-in sensors that would automatically shut down the devices if they came into contact with an adjacent television signal. Instead, the FCC now says that giving devices geolocation capability and access to a spectrum database will be sufficient to protect broadcasters' spectrum from interference. The spectrum sensor requirement had originally been put in place to satisfy concerns of television broadcasters that were worried that unlicensed use of white spaces could interfere with their broadcast quality.

The debate over white spaces has been a contentious one, with tech companies such as Google and Microsoft pitted against all the major broadcasting companies, as well as major telecom carriers such as Verizon. Proponents of unlicensed white space use have often argued that opening up the spectrum would help bring mobile broadband to underserved regions and would help close the so-called "digital divide" between many urban and rural areas in the United States. On the other side, the National Association of Broadcasters has argued that mobile Internet devices cannot operate on unlicensed spectrum without clashing with broadcasts on nearby frequencies.

By Brad Reed, NetworkWorld 

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Samsung Loses Again in German Patent Suit Against Apple

The district court in Mannheim, Germany, has again sided with Apple in a patent suit brought by Samsung Electronics, saying on Friday that the company had not infringed on a second patent asserted by Samsung against the iPhone and iPad.

Last week the court decided that Apple hadn't infringed on the first in a series of mobile patents Samsung has said Apple is using without paying royalties.

Samsung now reiterates what it said after the first loss. The company is disappointed, and will analyze the verdict and decide if an appeal is in order, a spokesman said via e-mail. Samsung still hopes the court will take its side on the remaining patents, and more verdicts will come in the next several weeks, he said.

The patent in question is EP 1,114,528, describing an "apparatus and method for controlling a demultiplexer and a multiplexer used for rate matching in a mobile communication system".

Apple didn't comment on its latest victory.

The two companies are battling in the stores as well as the courts. Apple won during the fourth quarter, selling 37 million iPhones to Samsung's 36.5 million smartphones, according to data from Strategy Analytics.

The data also shows that the smartphone market is turning into a two-horse race.

Together Apple and Samsung had almost 50 percent of the smartphone market during the last three months of 2011, compared to about 40 percent during the third quarter and the whole year.

By Mikael Ricknäs, IDG News

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