How Many Were Already iFruit Users?

The first thing many people do after receiving a new tablet or smartphone for Christmas is to immediately go to the app stores to download software and games. Based on those downloads, it looks like Apple had a big Christmas, according to app analytics firm Flurry, which looks at those downloads to determine which brands of smartphones and tablets were the most popular gifts.

According to Flurry’s data, 51.3 percent of mobile devices activated in the week leading up to and including Christmas were from Apple, compared to 17.7 percent from Samsung and 5.8 percent from Microsoft.

Happy Solar New Year

Once again we would like to wish a Happy Solar New Year to all of our readers. Our offices close early today and we’ll all be off tomorrow.

If any really BIG news breaks we’ll let our readers know. Otherwise, we’ll see you in a couple of days.

Kodak Phones

The Kodak brand has lots of positive associations for a certain generation, who remember the company’s pioneering work in film and cameras.

Aiming to capitalize on that, a smartphone maker is planning to use the venerable film name for a new line of Android devices that will debut at CES next month.

Bullitt Group, which already makes rugged smartphones with the Caterpillar name, says the Kodak line will aim for a less tech-savvy crowd that wants a good-looking phone that takes nice pictures but is less complicated than most of today’s smartphones.

The phones will feature software to allow those who are more likely to have bought a Samsung or Motorola phone remotely help their parents struggling to use their newfangled Kodak phone.

PlayStation Network Problems

Sony‘s PlayStation Network suffered connection problems for a fourth straight day since hackers attacked the video game network, and the company said on Sunday that service was gradually being restored.

The hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for disrupting both the PlayStation Network and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox Live on Christmas Day. Service was restored to Xbox Live on Friday.

"We are currently experiencing widespread network issues that are being addressed," Sony said in a statement on PlayStation's maintenance website.

Hours earlier, Catherine Jensen, vice president of consumer experience at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said on the PlayStation blog that the network was "back online."

Some gamers said on Twitter that they were able to access the PlayStation Network on Sunday, but others took to the microblogging site to complain about the continuing outage. It was not clear how many of the 56 million video gamers who use PlayStation still suffered problems.

Why We Hate to Fly

An AirAsia plane en route from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has lost contact with air traffic control.

Flight QZ8501 went missing at 07:24 (23:24 GMT), tweeted the Malaysia-based airline.

Indonesian military planes are searching an area of the Java Sea after the flight disappeared about two hours into a three-hour flight.

The pilot had called for a 'deviation' from the flight path due to bad weather.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that a British national was on board and said the next of kin has been informed.

AirAsia said there were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew.

Most passengers were from Indonesia but there were also passengers from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and France on board.

A statement said: "AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.

Hacker Attacks

Microsoft online game network Xbox Live was back up on Friday after an after an apparent hack while Sony's Playstation Network remains down.

The two services were offline much of Christmas Day in an apparent denial of service attack, USA Today reported.

Sony's PlayStation Twitter account said the company was looking into the outages Christmas morning, but the network still appeared down as of Friday morning.

Reuters reports that a Microsoft website that keeps track of the status of Xbox services listed Xbox Live's "core services" as up and running on Friday but several third-party apps on the platform were experiencing limited services.

A group called Lizard Squad is taking credit for the takedown, the paper reported. The group had previously claimed credit for the attacks on the PlayStation Network and online games World of Warcraft and League of Legends back in August.

The PlayStation network problem is the most recent holiday headache for Sony, which was the target of a massive hacking attack in recent weeks in apparent retribution for its release of the comedy "The Interview." The company briefly canceled the Christmas Day release of the film, the plot of which centers around the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but has since made it available in limited theatrical release and home video streaming after criticism.

Kellemes Karacsonyi

To all of our Hungarian readers:  
Kellemes Karacsonyi