Saturday, April 30, 2011

VERIZON ADDING LOCATION TRACKING WARNING STICKERS TO PHONES


In an effort to be “clear and transparent” with its customers and the government, Verizon Wireless has sent a letter to Congress detailing plans on how it will better inform consumers about location data collection on their smartphones. The wireless carrier will soon apply a removable stickers to its devices with the following warning:
“This device is capable of determining its (and your) physical, geographical, location adn can associate location data with other customer information. To limit access to location information by others, refer to the User Guide for Location settings and be cautious when downloading, accessing, or using applications and services.”
Verizon Wireless will also issue alerts more clearly in its V CAST applications, some of which can be used to track family members or friends voluntarily. It confirmed that it does not sell or rent out personal user information, and that user habits are only used for internal marketing purposes. Verizon says it only collects location data for “various service and operational purposes,” and that it uses the data to ensure customers have solid call and data quality.

GOOGLE HIT WITH CLASS ACTION SUIT FOR LOCATION TRACKING


Last week, the public was up in arms after O’Reilly revealed that Apple was recording and storing the location of its iPad and iPhone users. Not long after that, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google was also tracking and storing the locations of Android users. Even though Google has said all location sharing is opt-in and that all location data is anonymized, Bloomberg is reporting that two Oakland County Michigan residents have filed a lawsuit against Google with the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Detroit. The class-action suit asks Google to stop saving smartphone location data, and it also seeks $50 million in damages. The plaintiffs argue that the level at which Google tracks their AT&T HTC Inspire 4G phones would ordinarily require a court-ordered warrant. The case is “Julie Brown v. Google 11-11867, U.S. District, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit),”

LEAK: ADOBE FLASH 10.2 LEAKS ANDROID 3.1 VIDEO ACCELERATION


A recent Adobe Flash Player 10.2 update has spilled the beans on Android 3.1. The update says that Flash Player 10.2 supports “hardware accelerated video,” provided that a user is running the unannounced Android 3.1 operating system. This should drastically increase video playback performance, specifically with HD video, on Honeycomb tablets. Google hasn’t yet announced Android 3.1, but we expect to hear more it during Google’s I/O developer conference on May 10th and 11th in San Francisco.

MOZILLA LAUNCHING FIREFOX 5 JUNE 21


According to an update at the Mozilla releases page, Firefox 5 looks like it’s headed for a release on June 21, less than two months away. We haven’t heard anything about what new features the next version of Firefox will have, but when Mozilla said that Firefox 4 would be the last time they waited months between major releases, they meant it.

Mozilla is taking the same approach that Google is taking with Chrome; faster updates, more releases, and no waiting to bundle major features together into a bigger update that takes longer to assemble. It’s no surprised that they want to make sure the next version of Firefox is right on the heels of the release of Firefox 4.

To contrast, Google steadily and regularly releases updates for Chrome, silently downloading them and installing them in the background when a user closes and then re-opens the app. To date, each major revision of Firefox has been lauded with a laundry list of features and highlighted release dates. Mozilla developers are hoping to keep up with its browser competitors by slipstreaming bug fixes and minor updates more regularly, and introduce major updates as they’re available instead of waiting.

To help with the testing process, Mozilla devs have introduced dev and pre-release channels of Firefox in addition to the stable release build that most people have running. The dev channel will be the most unstable, with new changes and features added and removed on almost a daily basis, much like the current nightly builds. The pre-release channel, called Aurora, will include features and bug fixes that developers plan to include in the stable build, but want to test with a broad audience.

All of that aside, we still don’t know what Firefox 5′s features will be. Mozilla has said they want at least four major releases of Firefox in 2011, but the product roadmap doesn’t list major features aside from things like “anything that improves responsiveness and is ready” and “anything that improves stability and is ready,” among others.

REDBOX TO OFFER GAMES IN KIOSKS; GAMESTOP TO START STREAMING GAMES 'EVERYWHERE'


Redbox's famous red disc-dispensing kiosks will start spitting out video games starting on June 17th, offering titles for the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii for $2 per day.

The new game rentals have been in testing at about 5,000 locations around the country for some time now, but Redbox says they’re finally ready to expand the program to their other 21,000 kiosks. According to the press release, video games will be introduced at the same time as Blu-Ray discs at Redbox locations nationwide. “Redbox will make discovering the latest games as easy as a trip to the local grocery, convenience, or drug store,” according to Redbox’s VP of Games, Joel Resnik.

Meanwhile, GameStop's Spawn Labs' offers a cloud-powered game streaming service, enabling users to enjoy their favorite console games on connected devices with substantially less horsepower. Back in March, Spawn was acquired by retail giant GameStop — and it looks as though you might soon be playing Xbox 360 or PS3 games on your Android tablet as a result.

Joystiq has discovered several job postings which are aimed at developers who can help the company port Spawn’s player software to Android and Linux. As an added twist, GameStop is also hoping to put its acquisition of Impulse to good use when its “new consumer interface” for Spawn is ready to rock.

Impulse is a digital content distribution service like Steam, and it even sports the unsurprisingly similar domain name impulsedriven.com (compared to steampowered.com). GameStop President Ton Bartel foresees pairing Spawn and Impulse in order to offer users the ability to stream its library of 1000-plus games on-demand.

Friday, April 29, 2011

FREE ANDROID APPS OUTNUMBER FREE iPHONE APPS....WHO KNEW!


According to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo (registration required), there are now more free apps available for Google's mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. And then there's Apple's sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage -- after all, this report doesn't highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 -- but between Android's rapid growth and what the report terms iOS's relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months' time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined -- a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer.

RUMOR: APPLE'S CLOUD SERVICE TO BE NAMED......iCLOUD


According to the latest Internet rumor, Apple’s presumed cloud-based service may be getting a familiar moniker. Blog GigaOM is reporting that the Cupertino company has purchased the domain name iCloud.com from Swedish company Xcerion. We wouldn’t be surprised if the rumor turned out to be true, Apple has had a love affair with the vowel “i” since the early 1990′s, although, as TechCrunch points out, the iPad was thought to be called the iSlate at one point. The report states that Apple paid $4.5 million for the domain name, and states that Xcerion recently re-branded its service’s name from iCloud to CloudMe.

HULU PLUS FOR XBOX 360 LAUNCHING TODAY; FREE UNTIL MAY 6TH


Hulu’s subscription-based Hulu Plus service will launch for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 on Friday, and here’s the best part: it’s free for Xbox Live (Gold and Silver) users until May 6th. After that you’ll have to drop $7.99 per month to kick back and watch your favorite shows from ABC, Comedy Central, FOX, NBC, MTV, and others. Hulu’s even adding Kinect support, which means you’ll be able to play, pause, fast forward, or rewind whatever you’re watching with your voice or with a gesture.

VERIZON'S 4G LTE NETWORK BACK UP NATIONWIDE


Verizon Wireless announed late Thursday that their 4G LTE network is back up and running. The network went down earlier in the week, but Verizon says they determined the cause of the issue late yesterday afternoon, and posted an update to their Twitter account to let the public know they’re working with their vendors to resolve it. Now, it looks like everything is back to normal.

Verizon Wireless hasn’t fessed up to exactly what caused the issue in the first place, or what they’re going to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Even so, no carrier with as much riding on their network as much as Verizon Wireless has riding on its LTE network would move forward without examining the root cause of the outage and taking whatever corrective action is necessary.

The company did say that while Thunderbolt owners should be relieved, 4G modem owners may still have some issues when moving between 3G and 4G modes. They did note that any issues 4G modem owners had would continue to improve as they continue to work on the network, but stopped short of explaining why. In the meantime, 4G owners can be happy that they have their super-fast network back.

AMAZON STOPS WORK ON DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN SC OVER TAX LEGISLATION; 1250 JOBS GO AWAY


Amazon.com has been on a hiring binge, and its need to open more fulfillment centers across the U.S. has been a big factor. But the Seattle ecommerce giant also has been in protracted disputes over uncollected sales taxes in numerous states, from Illinois to Texas to South Carolina.
Those two realities have collided in South Carolina, with potentially devastating results for a community seeking jobs there.

On the heels of a legislative vote in South Carolina that rejected Amazon’s plea for a sales tax collection exemption, Amazon said it won’t open a distribution center in the state, a project that included a one-million-square-foot building already under construction and 1,249 jobs.
“As a result of today’s unfortunate House vote, we’ve canceled $52 million in procurement contracts and removed all South Carolina fulfillment center job postings from our (Web) site,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president for global public policy, according to a report on The State newspaper website.

Lexington County Economic Development Director Chuck Whipple has estimated all those jobs would have resulted in an annual payroll of $60 million, according to the Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Amazon’s “our way or the highway” strategy suggests Amazon thinks it will easily find other alternatives to fulfil the company’s needs to open more distribution centers to keep those boxes of goods flowing. Maybe so. But it remains to be seen if this is a sustainable strategy, given the fact that Amazon currently doesn’t collect sales taxes in half the U.S. states.
Amazon this week said it plans to open 11 distribution centers, maybe more, as the company tries to keep up with demand from consumers who have flocked to its website looking for deals on books, music and other merchandise.

But Amazon also has played hardball in states where Amazon does not collect sales taxes from those sales. In March Amazon announced it was closing its affiliate program in Illinois, a day after the governor signed a law requiring Amazon and other online retailers to collect sales taxes on goods sold in the state.

RUMOR: SPOTIFY GETS CLOSER TO LAUNCHING MOVIE SERVICE


Spotify continues to negotiate with Facebook over its long promised U.S. launch. But that isn’t the only thing the music streaming service has been up to. They’ve negotiated a number of deals with major movie studios to offer users streaming movies as well as music, a source in the industry tells us.

Earlier this week we reported that YouTube plans a similar service (something we first wrote about last year). As with Google/YouTube, we’re not sure when Spotify will launch the new service. But our best information suggests this Fall.

And these aren’t your standard Netflix/Amazon/iTunes type movie deals, either, we’ve heard. Spotify is aiming to offer users much earlier access to movies. Similar to the release dates that hotel’s get for premium in-room movies. They’re expensive, but users can often see them just a couple of weeks after they’ve been in theaters.

We believe the studio deals being negotiated are for worldwide rights, so Spotify users anywhere would have access.

Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, is denying the rumor, however he has denied a number of past rumors that turned out to be true.

APPLE SURPASSES MICROSOFT IN MARKET CAP, REVENUE AND NOW PROFIT


Just about a year ago, when Apple passed Microsoft in market cap, the Redmond loyalists were out in full force: that means nothing — look at the revenues! When Apple passed Microsoft in revenues last October, it was: who cares — look at the profits! We were looking, and we projected that this quarter just ended would be the one in which Apple passed Microsoft in that regard too.

Sure enough, they have. Easily.

Microsoft has just announced their Q3 2011 results. The numbers appear to be good, beating analysts’ expectations. But with net income now at $5.23 billion, Microsoft now comes in well behind Apple, which had a net income of $5.99 billion last quarter.

Last October, despite Apple pulling ahead in revenue, the profit gap was about $1.1 billion in Microsoft’s favor. Last quarter, that gap was down to roughly a $600 million. And now, rather remarkable, it’s over $700 million in the other direction — a $1.3 billion swing in just one quarter. And you can probably expect that trend to continue.

Meanwhile, on the revenue side of things, Apple now holds a roughly $8 billion advantage — $24.6 billion to $16.43 billion. And in market cap, Apple’s advantage is just about $100 billion — $318.45 billion to $224.43 billion.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

VERIZON LAUNCHES $50 PRE-PAID UNLIMITED PLAN


Verizon Wireless officially launched “Unleashed,” the carrier’s own unlimited prepaid service. Customers can choose between four different plans — including daily and by-the-minute — but the most attractive offering is a $50 monthly option that provides unlimited calling, texting, and web browsing. There are only three feature phones available from Unleashed right now, including the LG Accolade ($39.99), the LG Cosmos ($99.99), and the Pantech Caper ($79.99). By contrast, Boost Mobile, which offers a similar $50 monthly unlimited plan, has 18 different phones including a few that are powered by Android. If you’re looking to save some cold hard cash without sacrificing cell phone minutes or text messages — or Verizon’s coverage — then Unleashed should do the trick.

YOUTUBE FOUNDERS BUY DELICIOUS FROM YAHOO


YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have agreed to purchase Delicious from Yahoo. Hurley and Chen’s company, AVOS, will be the new owner of the service, and Yahoo has promised to keep Delicious up and working until about July, when user information is then turned over to AVOS. What AVOS plans to do with Delicious is up in the air, but it’s doubtful they’ll make many changes immediately. Yahoo says they’ll turn over public and private bookmarks and user information to AVOS when the change is complete and AVOS will re-launch Delicious shortly after.

Users who don’t want their data moved or shared with another party will have the ability to opt out. Yahoo will present each user with AVOS’ terms of service prior to the changeover, and users who don’t agree will not be able to access their bookmarks or use the service, but AVOS won’t have access to their data either.

VERIZON ENGINEERS WORKING TO RESOLVE 4G LTE OUTAGE


Verizon Wireless has acknowledged a problem with its 4G LTE network and is keeping its customers up-to-date via Twitter. “We’re aware of an issue with the 4G LTE connections and our network engineers are working to resolve quickly,” Verizon’s official account tweeted today. It followed up three hours later with “Investigating 4G LTE network issue; ThunderBolts making voice calls, may get slower 1xRTT data.” Verizon says it will keep its customers updated as its works to resolve the problem.

It appears 4G is slowly coming back online. There are reports out of San Francisco that 4G has been restored there, but so far that is the only city seeing the return.

SONY SAYS IT MAY HAVE "SOME" PSN/QRIOCITY SERVICES UP NEXT WEEK


As the PlayStation Network / Qriocity outage stretches into its second week, over on the PlayStation Blog rep Patrick Seybold has just posted an updated Q&A based on the inquiries of concerned users. Beyond the security of our personal information, the most important question is when service might be restored and he reiterates Sony expects to have "some services" up and running within a week from yesterday.

When it comes to the most important personal information like credit card numbers, there are assurances that the credit card database was encrypted and there is no evidence anything was taken, but that's a possibility that still cannot be ruled out completely. To keep things secure, Gamasutra reports game developers are getting new SDKs with updated security features as well. When the service comes back up, expect a mandatory system update that requires a new password before getting back to your Mortal Kombat or Portal 2-related plans.

HTC TO GET INTO AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS?


HTC's been riding high on its smartphone success as of late, and now it looks like its ready to cruise into the automotive market. That's right, the world's third most valuable smartphone manufacturer is seeking to add a North American "automotive business development director" to its team. According to a job post that appeared on the Taiwan-based company's website, HTC is looking to hire an "experienced leader in the automotive electronics industry" to "develop business in the automotive market."

This could mean an uptick in HTC in-car accessories and built-in console computers like Microsoft's SYNC.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

PLAYSTATION NETWORK HACKED, PERSONAL INFORMATION STOLEN


On Tuesday, Sony issued an update explaining the recent PlayStation Network and Qriocity outages. The company said it has discovered that between April 17th and April 19th, someone broke into its network and stole user information. In an effort to stop the security breach, Sony temporarily killed access to its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, hired a security firm to investigate, and started beefing up its security measures. However, the leaked information may be alarming to PlayStation network users. Here’s part of Sony’s statement:
We believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained.
Sony said that it doesn’t think credit card data was taken, but that it will not rule out the possibility, and says that it’s possible credit card numbers – excluding the security codes – may have been obtained by the intruders. The firm advises that its customers “remain vigilant” by closely monitoring credit statements. Sony says the services will be reactivated as soon as possible and that customers can dial 1-800-345-7669 with any questions.

NINTENDO 3DS SALES WEAKER THAN EXPECTED ACCORDING TO NINTENDO PRESIDENT


Speaking during an investor briefing on Tuesday, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata said that sales of his firms new 3DS portable gaming system failed to meet expectations. “Sales of the 3DS have been weaker than expected since the second week of launch in the US and Europe,” Iwata said while discussing the device’s launches in Europe, the United States, and in Japan.

Nintendo had expected to sell 4 million units last quarter, but sales fell short at 3.61 million units. Iwata said that he hopes sales will increase as much as 40% during the next year, AFP reported.

Reviews of the device are pretty unanimous that the system doesn't offer enough features to justify the high $250 price tag.

NOKIA CUTTING 4,000 JOBS, MOVING 3,000 MORE IN CONTINUED RESTRUCTURING


Finnish handset giant Nokia continues its restructuring in an effort to trim overhead and return to profitability. The BBC is reporting that the company will cut 4,000 jobs worldwide and jettison an additional 3,000 positions to Accenture — the consulting company set to manage the Symbian mobile operating system going forward. ”With this new focus, we also will face reductions in our workforce,” said Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop. ”This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term re-employment programmes for the talented people of Nokia.” The proposed moves are scheduled to take place sometime in 2012.

APPLE ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ABOUT LOCATION TRACKING


Apple has finally broken its silence over the the location tracking database found on iPhones and iPads running iOS 4 and higher. The company states that it never has and never plans to track users iDevices and the purpose of the database file in question — consolidated.db — is to “help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.” The company said a software update will become available in the next few weeks that will limit the size of and encrypt the location database file. The official statement is below.
Apple Q&A on Location Data

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple would like to respond to the questions we have recently received about the gathering and use of location information by our devices.

1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.

2. Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.

3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.

4. Is this crowd-sourced database stored on the iPhone?
The entire crowd-sourced database is too big to store on an iPhone, so we download an appropriate subset (cache) onto each iPhone. This cache is protected but not encrypted, and is backed up in iTunes whenever you back up your iPhone. The backup is encrypted or not, depending on the user settings in iTunes. The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location, which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone. We plan to cease backing up this cache in a software update coming soon (see Software Update section below).

5. Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.

6. People have identified up to a year’s worth of location data being stored on the iPhone. Why does my iPhone need so much data in order to assist it in finding my location today?
This data is not the iPhone’s location data-it is a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone to assist the iPhone in rapidly and accurately calculating location. The reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). We don’t think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data.

7. When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database?
It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below).

8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.

9. Does Apple currently provide any data collected from iPhones to third parties?
We provide anonymous crash logs from users that have opted in to third-party developers to help them debug their apps. Our iAds advertising system can use location as a factor in targeting ads. Location is not shared with any third party or ad unless the user explicitly approves giving the current location to the current ad (for example, to request the ad locate the Target store nearest them).

10. Does Apple believe that personal information security and privacy are important?
Yes, we strongly do. For example, iPhone was the first to ask users to give their permission for each and every app that wanted to use location. Apple will continue to be one of the leaders in strengthening personal information security and privacy.

Software Update

Sometime in the next few weeks Apple will release a free iOS software update that:

reduces the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone,
ceases backing up this cache, and
deletes this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.
In the next major iOS software release the cache will also be encrypted on the iPhone

WHITE iPHONE FINALLY GETS AN OFFICIAL LAUNCH DATE


The elusive white iPhone 4 that has been rumored for over a year has finally been confirmed by Apple with a launch date. The white iPhone 4 will go on sale at the Apple Store tomorrow, Thursday April 28th. It has the exact same internals as the regular iPhone, just in a white outer shell.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

RUMOR: YOUTUBE READY TO START RENTING ON-DEMAND MOVIES


According to entertainment website The Wrap, Google's YouTube has finally locked up all the studio deals to get itself fully into the online movie rental game. The report indicates it could launch as soon as this week with movies from majors including Sony, Warner and Universal, as well as smaller entities like Lionsgate, Kino Lorber and other independents. This doesn't appear to be a challenge to (now bigger than Comcast, but still smaller than HBO) Netflix, with the unnamed studio exec quoted in the article saying how happy they are to see a new entrant renting (and eventually selling) movies that's not using a subscription model. Apple currently leads the online VOD market after jumping in with iTunes back in 2008, so obviously that's a main target but without the important info (pricing, picture quality and content) it's hard to tell how much of a challenger this is. VOD rumors have swirled around YouTube for quite some time and it rolled out $3.99 rentals of indie movies a little over a year ago, here's hoping they go the whole way and offer nothing less than 3D and 4K streaming to start.

COALITION OF COMPANIES COALESCE AROUND WEBM


When Google unveiled its WebM open source media format and declared it to be the one codec to rule all others, there were those who decried its usefulness and felt that H.264 should inherit the earth. WebM's power converted some of those staunch detractors, and to rally more to to the VP8 / Vorbis cause, 17 companies have now formed the WebM Community Cross-License (CCL) initiative by inter-mingling their WebM-related IP resources. The initiative was founded so that all may use El Goog's preferred multimedia codec free from the threat of patent litigation, and the CCL superfriends will welcome more members to bolster their legal might -- but those wishing to join must grant a royalty-free license to any of their patents that cover WebM technology.

NOOK COLOR UPDATED WITH ANDROID 2.2, FLASH SUPPORT AND NOOK APPS


On Monday, Barnes & Noble announced that it will be updating the NOOK Color eReader with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and a number of other enhancements. The software patch — which will deliver Adobe Flash Player support – adds a NOOK Friends beta social network for sharing books, 15 new NOOK Kids Read and Play books, NOOK Email, NOOK Books Enhanced with embedded video and audio, and NOOK Newsstand for quick access to magazines and newspapers. A new NOOK Apps store will provide access to more than 125 applications, many of which are free or are priced below the $2.99 price point. The update, officially known as NOOK Color v1.2, is available now for free. NOOK Color owners can visit www.nookcolor.com/update to apply it now, or you can wait for an over-the-air update to roll out over the coming weeks.

DISABLING LOCATION SERVICES DOESN'T STOP iPHONE FROM TRACKING YOUR LOCATION


The recent rediscovery that Apple’s iPhone is tracking and storing users’ locations, after users all agreed to let Apple track, store and use their locations, of course, has caused quite an uproar. Unlike the last time this was discovered, the ordeal continues to make news nearly a week later instead of being forgotten immediately.

In this latest round of outrage, The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Apple’s iPhone continues to collect and store users’ locations even when location services are disabled. The Journal believes that the data is collected using data from cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots as the iPhone communicates with them. This, too, is well within Apple’s rights, and the rights of other cell phone providers, but the revelation is still likely to result in a new round of chatter.

Additional reports reveal that government bodies in several countries including South Korea, France and Germany are investigating Apple’s location-tracking practices, and they will likely make formal inquiries once they have enough information to do so.

APPLE GIVES UP TRYING TO TRADEMARK 'POD'


Apple, like any other high-profile brands, tries very hard to protect the product brand names it uses. That means iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac etc. are all trademarked words no one else can use without permission. But there is a gray area around some names, one of which is the word “Pod”.

For many years Apple has been trying to secure the trademark for the word Pod. In doing so it would stop third parties from using that word as part of other names which could cause confusion around Apple products. For example, a company may start selling Apple iPod accessories under the name ePod or 1Pod. Without a trademark on Pod, Apple could do nothing legally to stop such a thing happening.

But that now looks to be possible as Apple has thrown in the towel trying to secure the trademark. The proof of this can be seen on the trademark application form (see image above) which now lists the status as “ABANDONED” as of April 13, 2011.

Apple originally tried to get the Pod trademark on July 29, 2004. What followed was a lot of revisions and amendments over the course of the next seven years, none of which convinced the IP office to award the trademark. The last such correspondence happened on the 26th March this year.

SONY SHUTS DOWN PLAYSTATION NETWORK INDEFINETLY


On Monday, the Japanese electronics giant said it is keeping its PlayStation Network videogame service offline indefinitely following a hacking attack it now says may have compromised user’s information.

To ensure the network’s integrity, Sony said it is currently rebuilding the service, which connects more than 75 million PlayStation customers over the Internet, letting them play videogames and chat together. “This is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly,” Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said in a blog post.

Sony is still investigating the “external intrusion” that forced the electronics giant to shut down its network last Wednesday. In an email, the company also said it is also trying to figure out if any personal information, such as credit card numbers, may have been compromised in the attack.

RUMOR: NEW CASE DESIGN FOR MACBOOK PRO LINE


According to MacRumors the next revision of Apple's MacBook Pro line will utilize a new case design for the first time in several years.

The possibility of a new case design was first revealed by iLounge in February just before the early 2011 MacBook Pros were released. iLounge described the most recent updates as the last "incremental" update before an all-new MacBook Pro design.

MacRumors sources state "Next year is the year when Apple will introduce an all new design for the MacBook Pro product family, which is already under development at Quanta in Taiwan. It's being described as a big, "milestone" release for the Pro family, as compared with the speed bump features that will be introduced in [February's] models."

The last time the MacBook Pro was redesigned was in late 2008 with the introduction of the unibody MacBook Pro. The unibody MacBook Pro design which remains in use today offers an iMac-inspired design with a black-bezel and aluminum unibody casing. Unfortunately, we have no specifics on what the next MacBook Pro might look like, though many have previously speculated that Apple will take cues from the MacBook Air line.

Monday, April 25, 2011

APPLE DOESN'T TRACK ANYONE ACCORDING TO STEVE JOBS


In what is purported to be an email exchange with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, a MacRumors reader sent in the following:
Q: Steve,
Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

Sent from my iPhone

What’s not clear is whether or not Jobs was indicating that stored location data isn’t actually being sent back to Apple, and is instead only stored locally on the device and in iOS backup files created by iTunes. What is clear according to Jobs, however, is that Android is tracking customer’s location (and more) right out of the box. There are reports that the location recording issue in iOS 4 will be fixed in a software update and was a bug as opposed to a deliberate attempt to collect data.

APPLE SIGNS WARNER MUSIC TO STREAMING SERVICE


Need another sign that iTunes will soon be floating your library up to the cloud? Look no further than confirmation of Apple signing Warner Music, a deal that should see the label's music available in its upcoming streaming iTunes service. This is in addition to last week's confirmation that two major labels signed on, though its unclear whether Warner is part of the pair or is, indeed, a third. That might leave only one of the major labels left unsigned -- or maybe Apple's already locked down all four but doesn't want to kiss and tell.

Wii 2 CONFIRMED FOR 2012; PREVIEW AT E3


Nintendo has just announced it plans to introduce a successor to its Wii console next year, a "playable model" of which will be shown off at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles coming up on June 7th. No details are available as to how the next Wii will improve on the first one, though we imagine Nintendo will be happy if it simply matches the success of its current-gen home entertainer.

Bloomberghas provided the first official hint about Nintendo's next console with a quote from company President Satoru Iwata. Nintendo will "propose a new approach to home video game consoles," though it won't be a simple move to 3D, as Iwata notes "it's difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven't obtained wide acceptance yet." Given that motion gaming is no longer new and 3D is off the table until 3DTVs go mainstream, we're now left facing only one potentiality -- Nintendo is planning on bringing genuine innovation to our living rooms. We suppose it also adds fuel to the rumor of a crazy next-gen controller to go with this next-gen console.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

GOOGLE SAYS ITS LOCATION TRACKING IS OPT-IN



Over the last few days there’s been quite a hubbub over the location tracking going on in the background on iOS devices, namely the iPhone and iPad 3G. The report that sparked it all focused on a database file stored on iOS devices that stores a record of the rough location of the device over long periods of time — and is unencrypted. Senator Al Franken subsequently sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs asking for an explanation.

Then, last night the Wall Street Journal published an article with a new revelation: Apple and Google (with its Android devices) are both sending some location data from these devices back to their home servers. That sounds pretty sinister, but as a long-time Android user it didn’t ring true to me — I vividly remembered a checkbox that asked if I wanted to allow Google to collect anonymized data, which means it isn’t really a secret, and you can opt-out of it. Unsurprisingly, Google confirms that this is indeed the case.

Here’s their statement:
“All location sharing on Android is opt-in by the user. We provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices. Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user.”
But, even then, the WSJ article also refers to data that isn’t actually being anonymized by Google:
Google previously has said that the Wi-Fi data it collects is anonymous and that it deletes the start and end points of every trip that it uses in its traffic maps. However, the data, provided to the Journal exclusively by Mr. Kamkar, contained a unique identifier tied to an individual’s phone.
Google explains that when a phone transmits data back to its servers some location data is actually assigned a unique identification number, but it says that this number is in no way associated with the device’s IMEI, the user’s name, or other information. In other words, they’d have a hard time associating a user with that data.

VERIZON CONFIRMS 2.2 MILLION iPHONES SOLD


Verizon Wireless reported that it has activated 2.2 million iPhone 4 devices during the first quarter. That number is helping the company to drive increased data revenue, which was up 22.3% year over year, and new smartphone sales which now account for 60% of total phone sales. That’s an increase of 11% from the previous quarter and 24% year over year.

In January, after much speculation and rumor, Apple and Verizon Wireless finally announced that the iPhone was coming to the carrier ending the monopoly AT&T had since 2007. The two companies picked the memorable date of 11.1.11 to make their announcement. That announcement was followed up by an official pre-order launch of the Verizon iPhone on February 9th, though Verizon subscribers got a chance to pre-order early on February 3rd at 3am marking the most successful first-day sales in Verizon Wireless’ history.

US ARMY'S SMARTPHONES TO RUN ANDROID


The US Army has selected Android to power the smartphones it eventually wants to issue to every soldier. Last year, there was question around whether the Army would select the iPhone or Android, but today they made the announcement. The idea here is to use smartphone technology to keep soldiers connected and in constant contact with monitoring personnel at military bases. Even though the program isn’t fully baked yet, they have settled on one thing: Google Android is the way to go.

That doesn’t mean that every solider will get a standard issue Droid when they sign up for the service, but it does mean that the hardware the Army eventually chooses to run its smartphones will support Android. The program, called the Joint Battle Command-Platform, is a project between MITRE and the US Army to develop the smartphones that will eventually be strapped to every soldier’s hip.

In fact, “smartphone” may be a bit of a misnomer for what the program aims to create: it’s less of a device that soldiers will be able to spend hours playing Angry Birds on and more of a tiny, portable computer and communications device. The device will only run apps that the Army approves and develops. Among those proposed apps are a mapping suite that will give soldiers situational awareness like where the enemy is and where friendly forces are. The suite would also allow commanders to track where their forces are on the battlefield.

The platform also allows for so-called “critical messaging,” which will allow commanders and forces in operation areas to exchange messages quickly and silently. There’s still debate and discussion around how the Army will keep the environment secure, and how the system will work in environments with no infrastructure for connectivity, but the project is still in its early stages.

The goal of the project is to develop a mobile platform using commercially available technology that the Army can extend with applications. So far, it looks like Android is the optimal choice for a platform that will work consistently with different hardware components, but is also open enough to give them flexibility when developing applications. No one’s sure what the product of the program will eventually look like, but the Army expects to release its development kit, called the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment, in July to programmers and partners.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

APPLE MUSIC CLOUD SERVICE READY; AWAITING BLESSING OF MUSIC PUBLISHERS


According to Peter Kafka over at All Things D, Apple’s presumed cloud-based music service will not be all that dissimilar from Amazon’s. The report details that Apple, like Amazon, will allow iTunes users to store newly purchased tracks and already-owned digital music in an online locker. Unlike Amazon, however, the Cupertino company is looking for deals with major record labels.“They’ve been very aggressive and thoughtful about it,” said an industry executive speaking with Kafka. “It feels like they want to go pretty soon.” The report also notes that the industry buy-in and licensing will allow Apple to store a single, master copy of a digital music file on its services and share that file with authorized users — making the company’s storage schema much more streamlined. Amazon’s Cloud Drive implementation is based on its S3 storage service and functions more like a cloud-based hard drive — every time a user buys a track it’s uploaded to that specific users online locker. “Sources tell me that Apple has already procured deals from at least two of the big four labels (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony and EMI) within the last two months,” writes Kafka. “One source tells me Apple content boss Eddy Cue will be in New York tomorrow to try to finalize remaining deals.”

ELUSIVE WHITE iPHONE 4 FINALLY EMERGES IN UK


Well, would you have a gander at that? That, friends, is Apple's long-awaited, hardly-forgotten white iPhone 4, and so far as we can tell, this is actually the real deal. We've seen retailers making space for the elusive handset over the past few months, and earlier today, we heard that Vodafone UK's inventory systems were showing the white iPhone 4 as shipping in. Now, we've secured a few images of a 16GB model from a separate source that has seemingly made its way into the hands of one lucky customer over in Britain.

RUMOR: iPHONE 5 DESIGN & SPECS REVEALED


See that up there? That could be your next iPhone. It's a mock-up of what is said to be the iPhone 5, according to anonymous sources quoted by Joshua Topolsky.

A continuation of the concepts laid out in our post-CES look at what's next for Apple, the design here is said to be thin, metal-backed, tapered, and sporting a 3.7-inch display with the same 960 x 640 resolution in the iPhone 4's retina display, resulting in a slight drop from that phone's vaunted 326ppi density. The home button is quite obviously enlarged, possibly adding some thumbable gestures into the mix.

Internals are said to include a "swipable" area, possibly meaning NFC, along with a Qualcomm Gobi chipset with support for CDMA and GSM, so this could be the one phone to rule all the carriers. Or, it might wind up only ever having domain over a single .PSD file. To us, well, it looks a little too thin to be packing all that and a bag of antennas as suggested and, with all the weight at the top, we can see this things flying out of hands left and right. But, we're certainly willing to be surprised.

The source did update his statement to say the bevel may be exaggerated and the back may not be metal.

THREE DAY PLAYSTATION NETWORK OUTAGE CAUSED BY "EXTERNAL INTRUSION"


It started on a quiet Wednesday night, with PlayStation gamers finding their Network unresponsive to their login attempts, and now continues well into its third day. Sony has now finally shed some light on the problems it's been having with PSN and, to nobody's surprise, the culprit for its troubles has been identified as "an external intrusion." The current downtime for PSN is the second of its kind this month, with the Anonymous group of online crusaders claiming responsibility for the first. Sony now intends to keep both PSN and its Qriocity music streaming service offline until it can pinpoint the vulnerability that has been exploited and put a stop to it.

Friday, April 22, 2011

SAMSUNG SLAMS APPLE WITH PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT IN EXCHANGE FOR APPLE SUING THEM


Samsung on Friday filed multiple patent infringement suits against Apple. Just four days following Apple’s filing of a lawsuit alleging Samsung smartphones like the Galaxy S “copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style,” Samsung has filed three separate suits alleging infringement of a total of ten patents. The suits were filed in Seoul Central District Court, Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and in Manheim, Germany. In a statement, Samsung said it is “responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business.” Ebb and flow… yin and yang… suits and countersuits.

NEW HI RES NIGHT VISION MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE HELLO KITTY


Given, it might make you look like the love child of Robocop and a cartoon kitten, but SA Photonics' High Resolution Night Vision System (HRNVS) could mean smoother night flights for the US military. The light weight head mounted display couples high resolution imagery and an impressive 82.5 degree field of vision -- previous devices offered a range of only 40 degrees. What's more, it provides clearer peripheral vision, virtually non-existent halo effects, digital image enhancement, and night vision recording. The headset was designed in collaboration with the US Army and the Air Force Research Laboratory, which means these robo Sanrio helmets might actually get some play.

AT&T SENDS FCC 350+ PAGE REDACTED DOCUMENT TO MAKE CASE FOR T-MOBILE ACQUISITION


AT&T on Thursday filed documents with the United States Federal Communications Commission regarding its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutshe Telekom. The potential merger has been strongly opposed by many, such as Sprint, and one FCC official has a hard time believing such a deal could ever be approved. AT&T has a lot to lose of course, so you can believe the carrier is ready for a fight. AT&T’s position is that the merger will push the wireless industry forward by bringing high-speed 4G LTE service to over 97% of the U.S. population — revised up from the carrier’s earlier estimate of 95%. AT&T says its data traffic is growing at a remarkable pace and its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile will allow the carrier to utilize new spectrum and accommodate the rising demand for cellular data. AT&T also says the merger will create jobs and spur economic growth in small towns.

APPLE STORES STOCK SQUARE CREDIT CARD READER


Jack Dorsey's über-popular credit card readers got a big thumbs-up from Cupertino this week. Square's devices are hitting Apple's 235 US retail locations and Apple.com for $9.95 a pop(with a $10 redemption code making it free), plus the 2.75 percent that the startup takes off the backend each time you use the reader -- or you can always just sign up for a free one over on Square's site. The iPhone / iPad / iPod touch plug-in accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and yes, even American Express. The CEO of VeriFone will no doubt have plenty to say about the matter.

RUMOR: NEXT GEN Wii CONTROLLER TO FEATURE 6.2 INCH DISPLAY


The next-gen Wii console rumors have heated to a boil. One of the most interesting bits of tattle originates from Kotaku. The gaming site's sources claim (with impressive specificity) that the new 8-button controller features a screen pushing a whopping 6.2 inches, two analog sticks, and a camera. The new Wii console (sometimes called the Wii 2, Wii HD, or simply "Project Cafe") is said to support the new controller in addition to Wii Remote-style controllers for backward compatibility with existing Wii games -- at the moment, however, it's not clear if that implies support for existing Wiimotes. But why the giant display? Here's Kotaku'stake:
The 6.2-inch screen will receive data wirelessly from the Nintendo console and presents an array of options, from putting the player's inventory or map on the controller screen, to allowing players to combine it with the controller's camera to snap photos that could be imported into a game or even turning it into some sort of glorified viewfinder (we're unclear about whether the camera on the controller points at the player or can be outward-facing; we've heard both - maybe it swivels?).
In other words, you can think of the new contoller-plus-console combination as a modern Dreamcast system or "glorified mega-DS," as Kotakuputs it, where the TV is the top screen and the handheld controller is the lower touchscreen. If true then we'll likely hear the official first word at E3 which kicks off on June 7th.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

FISKER KARMA DELIVERIES EXPECTED IN JUNE OR JULY


The company is insisting it can't "really be interpreted as a delay" given that it's gone from prototype to production in just 37 months, but Fisker is now saying that the first all-electric Karma luxury vehicles will delivered to their owners sometime in June or July -- which you'll notice is neither late 2010 nor the first quarter of 2011, as had been promised. Fisker's Roger Ormisher also points out that the company did begin "limited series production" at the end of March as planned, and he says the company is "ramping up slowly to ensure absolute quality." Is it worth the nearly $100k price tag? It certainly seems to be if you've got the cash to spare.

HOUSTON GRANDMOTHER BECOMES FIRST HOST OF WHITESPACE SPECTRUM HOTSPOT; AKA SUPER WI-FI



This ain't your grandma's WiFi -- that is, unless your grandma is 48 year-old Leticia Aguirre. The Houston woman became the host of the very first "super WiFi" hotspot, earlier this week -- the new network takes advantage of unused UHF TV channels to bring internet service to underserved communities.

In collaboration with researchers at Rice University, a Houston-based non-profit fittingly referred to as Technology for All (TFA), facilitated the setup and is in the process of deploying more whitespace hotspots across the area. The FCC approved use of whitespace for the new "super WiFi" back in September of last year.

"PHILLIEBOT" FAILS IN THROWING OUT FIRST PITCH


Mixing robotics and sport definitely isn't easy. But in the heart of Citizens Bank Park today, the so-called PhillieBot came close to generating a universal chorus of boos after it failed to successfully toss a first pitch to the Phanatic.

AMAZON LAUNCHING KINDLE LIBRARY LENDING


On Wednesday, Amazon announced that its Kindle customers will soon be able to borrow eBooks from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries. Amazon’s Kindle Library Lending project will allow users to check out eBooks from local libraries and then read them on the Kindle or any device that has Amazon’s free eReader software installed.

Unlike traditional libraries, which don’t allow borrowers to write in books, they can take notes and highlight as much as they like. “We’re doing a little something extra here,” said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced.”

Amazon is working with OverDrive on its Kindle Library Lending program, which it says will launch later this year.

YOUR SMARTPHONE IS TRACKING YOU!


The Internet nearly exploded this morning after O’Reilly filed a report indicating that users of Apple’s iPhone and 3G iPad were being tracked. A file, found in the filesystem of the aforementioned devices running iOS 4 or higher, contains a list of time-stamped GPS coordinates that correlate with the device’s location. The only issue I have with Apple’s methodology is that the file used to store said locations is unencrypted.

While there is no indication Android devices stores the same type of data, the Google terms of service does allow Google to retain such information as does HTC Sense, Motorola Blur, HP/Palm and RIM terms of service.

RUMOR: AMAZON TABLET COMING THIS SUMMER


Amazon is said to be prepping a new tablet device that may launch as early as this summer. According to a report from gadget site gdgt, Amazon has chosen Samsung to help design and build the tablet, which may run Honeycomb or even a custom operating system based on Google’s Android platform. Rumors of an Amazon tablet have been around for quite some time, and Android was always expected to be Amazon’s OS of choice.

News that the company may be building its own OS on top of Android suggests it may forgo some of Google’s core Android services, possibly including the Android Marketplace, and instead use the device to foster adoption of the Amazon Appstore, Cloud Drive and other Amazon services. Of course eBooks — specifically, Amazon’s Kindle platform — are expected to be a major focus of the tablet as well, and Amazon will also likely use the new device to push its music and movie services.

Given the added weight and drastically reduced battery life of tablets compared to dedicated eBook readers like the Kindle, it is likely that Amazon’s forthcoming tablet will compliment the Kindle eReader rather than replace it.
gay-blog-member-of-the-best-gay-bloggers