Google+Facebook+iPhone: 09/16/11

Friday, 16 September 2011

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) to Run Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich? [New Details About the Google Nexus 3 Available, ICS Not Android 4 Apparently] Read: Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) to Run Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich? [New Details About the Google Nexus 3 Available, ICS Not Android 4 Apparently] | TFTS

Just a few days ago we got an almost complete rundown of specs and features of the upcoming Samsung Nexus Prime, the third Google Nexus smartphone that’s going to be launched in late October or early November, and now we have more details about this device.

Again we hear that the phone may not be called the Nexus Prime and could be sold as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus by Verizon and other carriers. The news comes from “some random dude” who had access to the device.

The Galaxy Nexus will offer a 4.65-inch HD display with 1,280 x 720 resolution, a 1.5GHz Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of memory, SD card slot support, a 2,000 mAh battery and Android 2.4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Galaxy Nexus will have a curved screen like the Nexus S and a profile of 8.8mm. The phone is apparently a Verizon exclusive in the USA, which is something we’ve heard before.

Read: Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) to Run Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich? [New Details About the Google Nexus 3 Available, ICS Not Android 4 Apparently] | TFTS

Fashion Week: LG Debuts Designer Cases for Marquee Smartphone

It’s pretty rare that technology and New York Fashion Week collide, but that’s just what happened last night at Milk Studios in New York City. LG debuted a series of new designer cases for its upcoming fashion-focused smartphone, the LG Marquee.

LG enlisted Stacy London of TLC’s What Not To Wear to act as resident style mentor to a number of up-and-coming MADE designers who were asked to craft fashion-forward carrying cases for the Marquee. Participating designers include Christian Cota, Erickson Beamon, Katie Gallagher, Kevork Kiledjian, and The Lake and Stars.

“Being able to give our designers yet another platform for growth and exposure is part of the DNA of MADE; and allowing our designers to interact with major brands like LG is a great learning tool for future partnerships,” said Jenne Lombardo, co-director of MADE.

LG sponsored a panel discussion, “How Fashion Communicates,” which was moderated by Simon Collins, dean of fashion at Parsons The New School for Design. The panel included a number of high profile fashion figures, as well as Tumblr creator David Karp.

Developers Get Access to First Google+ APIs

Google has released the first public APIs for Google+ so that external developers can start working with the social networking site and planning applications for it.

This first batch of APIs lets developers fetch only public data from user profiles in a read-only manner, and application calls are limited to what Google calls a "courtesy usage quota" for now.

Google sees this initial API release as the first step in building a more powerful and sophisticated developer platform. "For all of you developers who have been asking for a Google+ API, this is the start. Experiment with it. Build apps on it. Give us your feedback and ideas," wrote Chris Chabot, from the Google+ Developer Relations team, in a blog post.

Creating a thriving developer community, as Twitter and Facebook have done, has proven a must for social networking sites to succeed, so a lot is riding on the Google+ application development platform. Twitter announced in July that some 750,000 developers have built about 1 million applications for its microblogging service.

Interestingly, Google is holding off on adopting for Google+ the OpenSocial APIs that it originally developed in 2007 and championed for years as a better alternative to proprietary tools for specific platforms like Facebook's.

Google conceived OpenSocial as a standard, common set of APIs for social networking sites to adopt, so that developers could build applications once and have them work on multiple sites with little or no modifications.

Google Still Must Defend Android in Java Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A federal judge refused to dismiss most claims in a lawsuit alleging that Google's Android operating system infringed on Java copyrights owned by Oracle.

Google had sought summary judgment on the basis that similarities between Android and Java are based on unprotected elements. It had also claimed that copying code files was minor. U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected both claims Thursday but agreed that the names of Java application programming interface (API) files are not protected as a matter of law.

Alsup sided with Oracle that each of the allegedly copied 12 Java code files should be considered a separate work for the purposes of this case, not convinced by Google's claim that such files are de minimis when stacked against the entire Java platform.

Google tried to apply a provision that defines something as a single work when it is registered as one and only one registration fee is paid. The court found, however, that the provision means the work is considered a single work only for registration "while its elements may be recognized as separate works for other purposes."

Alsup similarly rejected Google's argument that, when registering a copyright, one must list titles of protected independent works that appear within a larger work. The failure to list a title does not preclude the holder from later asserting the titles as separate works, he said, chastising Google for not giving enough factual evidence to show how the provision applied and related to the present dispute.

Alsup said Google failed to adequately support its argument that API declarations are unprotectable scenes a faire or unprotectable under the merger doctrine, adding that Google did not specify what it meant by "API declarations."

Google Acquires 1,023 IBM Patents to Shore Up Android Defense

Google(NAS:GOOG) has acquired 1,023 patents fromIBMas it continues its battle to defend its Android mobile operating system from legal threats mounted by the likes ofApple(NAS:AAPL) ,Microsoft(NAS:MSFT) andOracle(NAS:ORCL) .

Patent assignments recorded earlier this week on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website indicate that Google acquired the IBM patents on Aug. 17.Bloombergreports that Google had already purchased 1,030 IBM patents in a separate agreement finalized in July. Google confirmed the latest transaction without divulging details or additional terms. IBM declined to comment.

Google finalized the second IBM patents deal just days after revealing an agreement to acquireMotorola Mobility(NYS:MMI) for roughly $12.5 billion. In a blog entry announcing the Motorola purchase, Google CEO Larry Page stated the company made the deal in large part to enhance its product portfolio in an effort to "protect Android from anti-competitive threats."

An Oracle suit filed last year seeks billions in damages against Google, alleging "approximately one-third of Android's Application Programmer Interface (API) packages" are "derivative of Oracle's copyrighted Java API packages" and related documents. (Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems and its Java programming language in April 2009.) According to court filings submitted in late June, Oracle wants Google to pay $0.9 billion to $1.4 billion upfront for infringing on its patents. Oracle also wants 15 percent of mobile advertising revenues generated across the Android platform. Late last year, Google said its mobile ad business operates at a run rate of $1 billion annually.

See full article from DailyFinance:http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/16/google-acquires-1023-ibm-patents-to-shore-up-andro/?icid=sphere_copyright

Report: Google Prepping Flipboard-Esque News Reader

Google just announced plans to kill off its Fast Flip product, but the search giant is reportedly working on a more flashy news reader intended to compete with the likes of Flipboard and Yahoo Editions.

On Wednesday, tech blogger Robert Scoble said in aGoogle+ post that Google was "working on a Flipboard competitor for both Android and iPad." A source who saw the product, Scoble wrote, said it was "mind-blowing good."

Scoble speculated that Google might be holding off on unveiling the product until after Facebook showed off what it had up its sleeve at its f8 developer conferencenext week.

All Things D's Kara Swisher followed up yesterday with a post that said the Google project is called Propeller, but said it was "unclear" when it might launch.

"Here's what is: Propeller is a souped-up version of similar reader apps such as Flipboard, AOL's Editions, Yahoo's Livestand, Zite (which was just bought by Time Warner's CNN) and Pulse," Swisher wrote.

Swisher said Facebook is prepping something similar; "instead of just seeing a sidebar on a news site of what stories your friends liked, you'll get a personalized and reformatted version of the latest news when you visit that publication's page within Facebook," she wrote.

EU probing if Google dominates Internet search

The European Commission opened an investigation into Google in November last year after rivals, including Microsoft, accused the company of abusing its dominant position in the market for web search services.

"As part of our current investigation, we are trying to determine whether the company holds a dominant position in Internet search," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a competition conference in Florence.

"Google is the browser of choice for very many of us; but dominance is not the same as abuse of dominance. Abuse is a conduct that protects or extends dominance by illegitimate means, and we still have to conclude whether this is the case for Google," he said.

Google is the world's most popular search engine with more than 90 percent of the global market, according to Internet statistics firm StatCounter.

Google Doodle celebrates Vitamin C pioneer with oranges

Google continues its growing tradition of celebrating scientific and cultural pioneers who might not be household names, but whose work is part of our daily lives. While today's citrus-filled doodle on the search engine front page first appears to indicate that Google has sold out to Tropicana, it's actually a tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi's 118th birthday.

(Credit: Screen capture by Eric Mack/CNET)

What, you weren't already taking the day off to celebrate? In case you're not in the know, Albert, whose full name is Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápol, is the person credited with discovering Vitamin C and the citric acid cycle. That work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1937. He was also one of the first to look into connections between free radicals and cancer, and according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, "his discoveries about the biochemical nature of muscular contraction revolutionized the field of muscle research."

Google's Native Client goes live in Chrome

Google has officially launched Native Client – a means of securely running C and C++ code inside a browser – as part of a new stable version of its Chrome browser that activates this rather controversial sandboxing technology.

Mountain View turned on Native Client, aka NaCl, in the Chrome beta last month, and on Friday, it debuted in the new Chrome 14, a stable release that also includes Google's new Web Audio API.

First unveiled as an open source project over three years ago, Native Client is meant to turn the browser into a more serious platform for 3D games, video editing, and other apps that require the sort of speeds JavaScript can't provide.

"While JavaScript is a fabulous language and it just keeps getting better, there is a lot of great software that isn't written in JavaScript, and there are a lot of software developers that are brilliant, but they would rather work in a different language," Brad Chen, who oversees Google's Native Client project, told The Reg this summer.

Experts: Google Antitrust Probe to Shed Light on Search

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's antitrust investigation into Google's search engine could shine some light on the secret inner workings of the company's search ranking decisions and the relationship between advertising and free search results, some Google critics said Friday.

With other Google services being integrated with its search engine and Google offering both paid search and free search results, there's an "enormous possibility for abuse," said Eric Clemons, an operations and information management professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Google's paid search service gives the company an incentive to keep its free search results from getting too good, Clemons said at a Technology Policy Institute (TPI) forum on Google and antitrust in Washington, D.C. "I've always wanted to say this in Washington: Follow the money," he said.

The FTC's antitrust probe of Google, reported in June, will give investigators a chance to see how Google ranks search results, giving the public a "first line of defense" against anticompetitive practices, said Oren Bracha, a law professor focused on technology and intellectual property at the University of Texas.

"The whole search process is shrouded in secrecy," Bracha said. "It's a big black box, and nobody except Google really knows what's going on in there. Somebody gets to open the black box."

While Clemons and Bracha argued in favor of an investigation, other speakers on Friday questioned whether an antitrust probe of Google was appropriate. Though some competitors have complained about Google's search dominance and its search rankings, antitrust cases must show harm to consumers, said Geoffrey Manne, founder of the International Center for Law and Economics, an organization that has received support from Google.

Mercedes-Benz shows off “iPhone Interface Plus” concept for 2012

During the IAA Motor Show in Frankfurt, Mercedes-Benz showed off a new “iPhone Interface Plus” concept, which it promises to launch by the summer of 2012. The concept builds on the company’s Media Interface Plus system that aims to provide users with a continuous experience of being connected through their smartphones or tablets even while they’re driving. All this done so with safety measures in place of course.

The iPhone Interface Plus system works with a free iOS app such that your iPhone can be completely integrated with the in-vehicle system. In this way, you can stash your iPhone in the glove compartment and be able to connect and control your smartphone, accessing your music, email, or social networks directly from the larger display and hardware controls on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Read more at http://www.slashgear.com/mercedes-benz-shows-off-iphone-interface-plus-concept-for-2012-16180555/

App turns your iPhone into a time machine

Walk down certain city streets and you can practically feel the ghosts around you. Who was walking here 100 years earlier? Which buildings survived from earlier centuries? Wasn't there a famous fire around here? An iPhone app aims to help you spot the ghosts, or at least inform your imagination. WhatWasThere lets anyone upload and view old photographs that are tied to a location via Google Maps.

The free app, and accompanying Web site for the deskbound, is a crowdsourcing platform for assembling a visual historic record of the world's streetscapes. People can upload photos and tag them with location and year.

Places with associated photos are marked on a Google Map. Click on a mark and a list of available photos pops up with thumbnail, label, year, and distance from your location. Click a list item and the photo comes up. Put the photo in full-screen mode, aim your phone's camera in the direction of the scene in the photo, and you can drag a slider bar between camera view and photo to get a now-and-then perspective.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20107544-1/app-turns-your-iphone-into-a-time-machine/#ixzz1Y9qux4yT

Samsung targets Apple's iPhone, iPad in Australia

The legal spat between Apple and Samsung that has stretched around the world took on additional weight this week, with a new claim lodged against Apple by Samsung in Australia.

Bloomberg reports that Samsung this week went ahead with plans to file a cross claim with a federal court in Australia that takes aim at Apple's iPhone and iPad for infringing on seven wireless patents it holds. The claim also aims to invalidate patents held by Apple that have been used against the company, Bloomberg said.

Last month Samsung announced it would be taking retaliatory action against Apple, which successfully kept Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country as part of a legal agreement. Apple had originally targeted Samsung's devices for infringing on its own intellectual property, with that agreement giving Samsung the option to come up with a special, non-infringing model for the Australian market.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20107566-248/samsung-targets-apples-iphone-ipad-in-australia/#ixzz1Y9qfiBw6

IPhone Coming October 15, France Telecom Says

Apple’s iPhone 5 will launch on October 15, according to the CEO of France Telecom, as anticipation surrounding the device continues to build.

“If we believe what we have been told, the iPhone 5 will be released on 15 October,” said Stephane Richard, France Telecom chief.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has not released any specs on the iPhone 5 and is yet to even confirm its existence. However, analysts expect the device to have an A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera and 1080p video capture capabilities.

Richard did not elaborate on who clued him in on the date, or whether he was referring to a launch specifically in France or worldwide, but his comment falls in place with other recent iPhone 5 rumors.

AppleCare workers say they have been told to expect an increase in calls related to iOS beginning on October 10, as Apple gears up to send out the final version of iOS 5 for carrier testing next week.

Well-known iPhone ‘jailbreak’ hacker visits Apple campus for unknown reasons

iPhone Dev Team prominent hacker MuscleNerd confirms visit to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, sparking speculation that the iPhone maker may be interested in hiring another figure of the unofficial iOS jailbreaking community.

Not known by his real name, but very popular with iOS device users for his iOS hacking work as part of the iPhone Dev Team, MuscleNerd attended Intel’s IDF Conference in San Francisco.

The hacker, BusinessInsider reported , made a visit to Apple’s campus in Cupertino during that period, although the purpose of his visit is not known at this time.

MuscleNerd posted an image on his Twitter account, currently followed by over 230,000 people, showing a t-shirt that reads: “I visited the Apple campus. But that’s all I’m allowed to say.” Also noticeable in the same image is an Apple nametag showing his screen name, “Muscle Nerd,” instead of the real name.

Accompanying the image is a short tweet detailing the visit: “well this afternoon sure was fun… (what a great company!)…,” but the hacker doesn’t go into further specifics regarding a possible employment with Apple.

iPhone 5 arriving by mid-October, say sources

The New York Times ran a piece Thursday saying that the next iPhone is "just weeks away," citing "an Apple employee who asked not to be named because he was not allowed to speak publicly for the company." Meanwhile,according to TechCrunch, the CEO of France Telecom is saying the phone's launch date is Oct. 15 — for France at least.

Seth Weintraub at 9to5Mac says that he's heard there will be two phones, an iPhone 5 and an "aggressively priced" version of the iPhone 4, available by Oct. 7.

Our thinking has been that the unveiling event will probably happen on Oct. 3 or 4, and then the phone would be available within two weeks of that. These nuggets corroborate that assumption pretty nicely, especially since iPhone availability in France could easily be later than in the U.S.

The Times' Nick Bilton goes on to say that "an engineer familiar with the new iPhone" told him it would be "fairly different" than the iPhone 4, with an 8-megapixel camera and an A5 dual-core processor, as we suspected. Furthermore, Bilton writes that sources told him that either this phone or the next one will contain a telecom chip made by Qualcomm which includes near-field communication (NFC). This turns the phone into a so-called "digital wallet," that can be waved over a sensor to make a credit-card payment, for example. Google's Nexus S phone already has NFC built in.

FACEBOOK DELAYS IPO UNTIL LATE 2012

After debt struggles in Europe and the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating killed off several IPOs in early August, the market had slowly begun to recover. Now that improvement has been cast into doubt as The Financial Times reports that Facebook has decided to delay its initial public offering.

Facebook was recently valued at more than $66.5 billion, making a potential IPO one of the largest in history. Until the recent news, the company

was expected to conduct the offering potentially as soon as this year and no later than April.

But sources close to Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg told the Times he feels the company needs to focus on product improvements for the time being and would benefit from more time without the pressure of public operation. The IPO is now expected no sooner than next September.

Larry Page MIA on Google+, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg popular

Where's Larry Page?

Google+ launched a new communication age for Google's famously reclusive founder and chief executive.

The man of few public words has notched more than 300,000 followers, sharing everything from vacation photos to Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

But about a month ago, Page retreated from his company's new social networking service. He hasn't posted anything, at least not for public consumption, yet he's one of the people Google+ suggests users follow.

It's possible that some of his private Circles are getting regular updates. But why would he be so selective when Google is placing a giant bet on the success of Google+? And if he's simply not using the new service, why is he asking millions of users to make time and bandwidth in their lives for yet another social networking service?

Asks Paul McNamara: "Google+ is not for everybody, of course; certainly not for every CEO. But if that's the case with Page, why not just come out and acknowledge it instead of going through the motions of creating an account, participating in the early weeks, using the forum for public relations, and continuing to suggest that users follow him?"

Rea more at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/googles-larry-page-mia-on-google-zuckerberg-more-popular-on-facebook.html

Facebook Builds Bridge To Heroku Cloud

Cloud application platform Heroku has teamed up with Facebook to provide Facebook developers with a way to host their online games.

Developers have been able to host their Facebook apps on Heroku on their own, but now they can set their apps up and connect them to Heroku's cloud from within Facebook's developer interface.

The process is simple: Create a new app in a Facebook developer account and then select "Cloud Services." Heroku is the only listed option at the moment, but presumably there will be other cloud service providers in the future "Facebook wanted to make [its] new app creation process smooth and easy, and knew that [it] needed to embrace the cloud to do so," said Heroku CTO Adam Wiggins in a blog post. "As the world's most mature and powerful cloud application platform, Heroku was the obvious choice."

Heroku supports Facebook apps in one of four languages/frameworks at the moment: Node.js, PHP, Python, and Ruby. Apps running on Heroku can be managed using the Heroku command-line tool and deployed using Git revision control.

STUDY: Facebook Teaches Kids Freedom Of Speech

Facebook teaches students something theirteachers don’t really appreciate: freedom of speech, which the U.S. protects in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

That’s the gist of a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation survey of 12,090 high schoolers and 900 teachers across the U.S., illustrating that appreciation of the nation’s First Amendment grows in proportion to students’ use of social media.

In fact, more than three-quarters of students use social media several times a week to get news and information. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who believe “the First Amendment goes too far” in protecting the rights of citizens has dropped to a quarter (24 percent) in 2011 from nearly half (45 percent) in 2006.

Fully 91 percent of students who use social networking daily to get news and information agree that “people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions.”

However, only 77 percent of those who never use social networks to get news agree that unpopular opinions should be allowed.

Still, many teachers believe social media harms education, and most teachers also do not support free expression for students.

Motorola Droid Bionic Complaints Grow

The Motorola Droid Bionic is the top Android smartphone at the moment and shows no signs of losing that title on Verizon Wireless anytime soon.

Motorola Droid Bionic complaints grow: weak data connection, battery life affected
With its 1GHz dual-core processor and 4G LTE connectivity, it is the first of its kind in the US. Other features include a huge 4.3 inch qHD display, 8-megapixel camera and it comes preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Of course, with any smartphone that is popular from the get go, the chances of customers finding problems with the device will happen at a quicker pace than in the case of less popular smartphones which have a slower uptake by the market. In the case of the Motorola Droid Bionic, complaints have started to arise which result in loss of data connection and poor battery life. TFTS reports:

U.S. Cellular to Launch Motorola ELECTRIFY Later this Month

U.S. Cellular, a Chicago-based communications provider, announced it will launch Android (News - Alert)-powered Motorola ELECTRIFY later this month.

Featuring a powerhouse dual-core 1GHz processor, Motorola ELECTRIFY delivers the next generation of multi-media features and offers 70 percent faster overall performance and 75 percent faster browsing than leading single core smartphones, according to U.S. Cellular (News -Alert) officials.

“The ELECTRIFY is more than a ‘smart’ phone,” said Edward Perez, vice president of sales and marketing operations for U.S. Cellular, in a statement. “Its multi-tasking capabilities make it the perfect personal assistant for customers who depend on their smartphone to meet the ever-changing needs of their busy lifestyles.”

The Android smartphone comes with best-in-class display, 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and auto photo-enhancing software, Webcam, loads of software applications and a dedicated media kickstand. It features a 4.3-inch qHD (Quarter High Definition) touchscreen and a kickstand for convenient hands-free viewing of high-quality movies, TV shows and videos.

Rihanna Announces New Album On Twitter

Rihanna's Twitter can be a wonderful place. She tweets to her fans, posts fun backstage photos, and occasionally curses out the haters. Last night, she took to Twitter to talk about a recording session and then announced a new album.

It started when she retweeted the following message from producers The Runners: "Shout out to@alexdelicata for mAkin history with us. Wait till they hear this new @rihanna song." When fans began tweeting the "Cheers (Drink To That)" singer asking for news, she responded by confirming that she is working on a new album, her sixth studio album.

While she did announce that the album will be out this fall, she remained tight-lipped on any specifics, tweeting: "Yaaayy I can't wait to start filling u guys in on some details!! *Zips lips*"

Twitter Mailbag: Your Questions on Nick Diaz, HHH, and More

Between Nick Diaz's antics, Strikeforce's uncertain future, and HHH's comments on the UFC, there was no shortage of discussion topics for this edition of the Twitter Mailbag (TMB, if you're nasty).

If you'd like to ask your own question or just personally harass me until I block you, you can find me on Twitter@BenFowlkesMMA. Now let's do this thing...

@LoganasaurusRex is Carlos Condit really more dangerous to GSP's throne than Diaz? I felt that Diaz brought the whole "I'm crazy as [expletive]" edge
I still think Diaz is a more dangerous opponent than Condit, but not because he is crazy as [expletive]. Him being crazy as [expletive] certainly makes him a more interesting opponent, mostly because you know he'll keep getting in St-Pierre's face until the end, which is exactly what GSP's last few opponents have failed to do.

But what really makes Diaz the tougher style match-up is his jiu-jitsu. Very few MMA fighters represent a true threat off their backs the way he does, which makes taking him down a risky strategy. Condit doesn't have that in his arsenal, or at least he hasn't shown it much, so he has to rely more on takedown defense and striking power. Will that be enough? I doubt it, but you still can't count a guy like that out. All he needs is one good opening.

@VineStreetLife Do you have any insight regarding the difficult situation Jake Shields is in? I think Ellenberger pulls the upset, regardless.
Honestly, I have no clue what he must be going through right now. His father was not only, you know, his father, but also his manager. He was such a big part of his personal and professional life. I certainly can't imagine losing my dad and then getting up the next morning and going down to the gym.

Twitter enforces 140 character limit, kills off Deck.ly

If you want to write longer message, stick with Facebook.

That's the message Twitter is sending today with the announcement that TweetDeck will no longer support Deck.ly, a feature that allowed users to write longer messages.

According to Mediabistro, Twitter announced Deck.ly's demise with a tweet: “As part of the process of making TweetDeck more consistent with Twitter.com & Twitter's mobile apps, we're removing deck.ly from our apps.”

I'd say more, but I guess I should get used to writing shorter messages.

Source:http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/09/16/twitter_enforces_140_character_limit_kills_off_deckly/

HootSuite Raises $3M From Hearst And Others, Buys Twitter Data Analysis Tool TwapperKeeper

As we reported yesterday, social media dashboard company HootSuite had raised a new round of funding, according to an SEC filing. We’ve confirmed the funding with the company, and today, the startup is announcing a $3 million raise from previous investors and new investor, Millennium Technology Ventures. HootSuite has previously raised $1.95 million from Blumberg Capital, Hearst Ventures and Geoff Entress.

HootSuite offers brands and businesses a comprehensive social media dashboard that allows teams to collaboratively schedule and monitor updates to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, WordPress and other social networks via web, desktop or mobile platforms. Via the applications, HootSuite users can also track campaign results, analytics and other data

.The company is also announcing a new ‘strategic acquisition’ of social storage and reporting startup TwapperKeeper.com. TwapperKeeper helps academic organizations, conference leaders, marketing departments, customer service teams and PR companies to archive, track, monitor, and analyze Twitter data. Basically, TwapperKeeper allows users to archive tweets by hashtag, keywords, or person, and offers an API as well. The app will be integrated into HootSuite’s dashboard.

Twitter Loses Its Chief Scientist, Summize Co-Founder Abdur Chowdhury

The turnover continues at Twitter. Following the exit of Biz Stone, the firing of four key product guys, and the departure of a number of early Twitter employees, we’ve learned that another big name has left the company: Chief Scientist Abdur Chowdhury.

Chowdhury actually confirmed his exit yesterday on Twitter, but everyone seemed to miss it (hopefully because everyone was watching Disrupt). He came over to the service with the Summize acquisition in 2008. He was a co-founder of that search engine alongside Greg Pass, who left his CTO position at Twitter in May. We’re told that all of the original Summize team is now gone from Twitter.

Twitter in Mexico: Social Media Users under Pressure

In Mexico, it can sometimes be hard to get crime updates from news outlets and, increasingly, through social media. The Mexican state of Tabasco sought toimplement a law this week that would impose prison sentences for those who share false information via social media or the telephone calls. This comes after the neighboring state of Veracruz jailed two Twitter users, for posts that authorities say caused panic by erroneously reporting crimes. In a country where traditional media outlets fear reprisals for reporting about drug-trafficking organizations, Mexicans have turned to social media such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook to share crime warnings. However, legal action by local governments and the recent public display of two bodies in Nuevo Laredo—allegedly murdered by gangsters as a warning to bloggers—suggest that the tide may be turning against social media users as well.

The Tabasco law—a penal-code modification approved by the state’s Chamber of Deputies on August 31 with implementation planned for the week of September 11—punishes those who “provoke chaos or insecurity” using social media or telephone use and carries a prison sentence of up to two years. The law wagained approval six days after authorities arrested two tweeters in the neighboring state of Veracruz on terrorism charges for tweeting what police say was false information about drug-gang attacks on schoolchildren in the port city of Veracruz city. The tweeters could face 30 years in prison, although the state wants to change its penal code to allow for shorter sentences, reports The Los Angeles Times’ La Plaza blog. In Tabasco, legislators insist their law is necessary to maintain social peace and halt the spread of rumors, citing the need to maintain the social peace and create new laws for new problems.

Twitter's board loses two early investors

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital are no longer on Twitter's board, the company said on Friday.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the change.

Twitter does not plan to appoint new directors to replace Wilson and Sabet, a source familiar with the matter said.

Wilson and Sabet did not return emails seeking comment.

The departures mark the latest change to Twitter, whose microblogging service allows users to broadcast short, 140-character messages, or "tweets," to groups of "followers."

In October, Dick Costolo replaced co-founder Evan Williams as chief executive. Earlier this year Costolo brought Jack Dorsey, another co-founder, back to the company as executive chairman.

Williams and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone have recently started a new project called Obvious Corp.

Can Twitter Stop Chiquita From Splitting Cincinnati?

A group of mostly marketing and advertising executives from Cincinnati today launched a Tweet campaign to keep Chiquita, its Twitter-loving CEO Fernando Aguirre and its roughly 400 jobs in Cincinnati.

The company is considering a move to Charlotte, N.C., when the lease on its headquarters building expires next year. The retention campaign -- launched by Cincinnati-based J.B. Kropp, a Twitter strategic partnership executive, and Kevin Dugan, director of marketing at Empower MediaMarketing -- employs the hashtag #NoCincyBananaSplit, and appeared to elicit some almost instant responses from Mr. Aguirre (@FDOAguirreCEO).

"Appreciate all positive comments, support and luv thrown my way in the last 24 hours," he wrote today. "No decision has been made yet on HQ location."

In another, he said, "It's one of the most important & toughest decisions as CEO. Still gathering data. Cinci is a GR8 community. Will communicate when made."

Smartphone apps offer help sleeping

(NECN/CNN: Karin Caifa) - The days of warm milk and counting sheep are long-gone, as smartphones offer a high-tech solution.

At the end of a long, stressful day, a smartphone may be the last thing one wants to use. However, an app may be just what the doctor ordered. The Sleep Machine app for iPhone allows users to layer serene sounds to find the perfect combination for some shut-eye.

For people who sleep best 35,000 feet in the air, an airplane cabin is one of the dozens of sleep-inducing sounds programmed into the Asleep 3 app. Its snore monitor gently wakes users to switch positions if it detects loud snoring.

Dual-core smartphones (roundup)

The LG Optimus 2X was the first dual-core smartphone to hit the market late last year with its 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and it soon came to the U.S. in the form of the T-Mobile G2X. Since its announcement, there have been a veritable array of dual-core smartphones, and interestingly, all of them have been Android so far. These dual-core processors promise plenty of power and speed, and we have to say that they do live up to the claims. Navigation feels undeniably zippy, which makes multitasking a breeze. Here's our roundup of the most recent phones with dual-core processors.

The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of the better dual-core smartphones to catch our eye. The combination of the 1.2GHz dual-core processor and the Super AMOLED Plus display makes Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsung's TouchWiz look drool worthy. While the Galaxy S II we reviewed initially is the unlocked global version, Samsung has announced versions of this phone to arrive for Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Indeed, the Sprint version -- the Samsung Epic 4G Touch -- should be available now.

Sprint also offers the Motorola Photon 4G, which has a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor and compatibility with Sprint's 4G/WiMax network. It's not as slim and attractive as the Galaxy, however.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20107476-251/dual-core-smartphones-roundup/#ixzz1Y9jufDGt

Value of Intel-Google partnership on smartphones remains to be seen

Computerworld - Intel this week promised a smartphone based on its Atom processor will hit the market in the first quarter of 2012, while Google announced plans to make future Android releases work on Intel's mobile chips.

Those developments were announced recently by Intel CEO Paul Otellini andGoogle's Senior Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin, who appeared onstage together at the Intel Developer Forum.

But to analysts, the latest Intel-Google partnership wasn't all that significant, since Atom-based smartphones have been promised and delayed many times in recent years.

"Most of us didn't see what the big announcement [with Google and Intel] was," said Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner. He noted that Intel's Medfield chip, based on Atom, "was always going to support Android and also MeeGo and Windows, so what's the news?"

With new LU6200 smartphone, LG keeps pace with Samsung and HTC

After churning out a steady stream of midrange and entry-level Android handsets, LG may be setting its sights on the high end. According to details found on a Korean tech site (translated), an LG LU6200 is expected to arrive later this year with specifications that rival some of the smartphones coming out of Samsung or HTC.

Details for the LG handset are said to include a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, a 4.5-inch 720p HD display, and an 8-megapixel camera. Sounding remarkably similar to the upcoming HTC Vigor, the phone also supports 4G LTE and comes with a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.

The screen technology is listed as LG's own AH-IPS, and is touted as being more color-accurate than Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus as well as more efficient. Speaking of juice, the LU6200 comes with a 1,830mAh battery which is on the higher end of today's Android phones.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20107415-251/with-new-lu6200-smartphone-lg-keeps-pace-with-samsung-and-htc/#ixzz1Y9jNs4s0

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 preorder is pricey

In child psychology there's a concept called the middle child syndrome, where the kid in-between feels unloved by the parents or jealous of attention given the older and younger siblings. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 might just be that middle child. I'm not loving it.

Best Buy has started taking preorders for the tablet nestled between Tab 7/7.7 and 10.1 and for surprising price: $469.99 for the 16GB model, or just $30 less than the 10.1. From a price perspective, Best Buy isn't giving buyers much reason to choose Tab 8.9 over 10.1, other than smaller size. But is it really small enough for the price?

I've yet to handle one -- hey, it is only preorder -- so can't make the most important comparison to Tab 10.1. But given just how thin and light is the larger tablet (which I am using), it's hard to see the benefits of an 8.7 inch tablet for 470 bucks when the bigger one is just $30 more.

There's an art to product pricing, which Apple has refined to a science. Competing iPad 2 is good example. Apple differentiates iPad by storage capacity and wireless capabilities. WiFi-only models sell for $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB). The same capacity models with 3G radios sell for $629, $729 and $829, respectively. The price move up from the entry model is $100 or $130 depending on whether 3G or increased storage matters more.

A $399.99-priced Tab 8.7 would make more sense compared to $499.99 Tab 10.1. The larger cost gulf creates more value for both products, while making the 8.7 more affordable for more buyers. Affordability in a smaller tablet should be bigger priority.

Apple Apparently Ditches Samsung for TSMC Chip Fabrication

Apple’s strained relationship with Samsung has apparently taken yet another turn for the worse, this time with Samsung allegedly losing its deal to make chips for Apple’s products. Industry insiders claim Apple has dropped Samsung in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for the next versions if its custom designed processors, according to DigiTimes.

Apple and Samsung have been locked in a legal battle over patent infringement claims for several months. Both companies have alleged that the other’s mobile devices use patented technologies without proper licensing, and have filed lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and other countries.

Apple cozies up with TSMC for chip manufacturing

Assuming the insider sources are correct, those courtroom fights may have put too much of a strain on the two company’s business relationship.

A German court recently upheld an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country. The company filed an appeal earlier this week in hopes of overturning that ruling.

Read more at http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_apparently_ditches_samsung_for_tsmc_chip_fabrication/

Samsung accuses Apple of patent infringement in Australia

The legal battle continues between Samsung and Apple with new shots fired in Australia, where Samsung has had to delay Galaxy Tab 10.1 shipments as a result of patent infringement claims brought on by Apple. Samsung was given until today, September 16, to respond, and they’ve decided to fire back with claims of their own.

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Samsung has filed with the Federal Court of Australia, claiming that Apple’s iPhone and iPad infringe on seven of its patents that are related to wireless communications standards. Samsung is also seeking to invalidate and revoke the patents involved in Apple’s claim against Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets.

Read more at http://www.slashgear.com/samsung-accuses-apple-of-patent-infringement-in-australia-16180510/

Apple's iPhone 5: When Weeks Turn Into Months, and Vice Versa

From highly anticipated, the iPhone 5 is turning out as old and out of style, i.e. if you believe Martin Fichter, acting president of HTC America. He says that iPhones are not that cool anymore as his daughters college classmates are now touting Android phones from Samsung Electronics and HTC.

Since Steve Jobs opted to talk about clouds and some platforms in a conference in June, anticipation for the iPhone 5 has grown. But as the delay becomes longer, the waiting is getting absurd and hype could decline, as quickly as leaves fall this autumn.

And what if it's a case of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot? Microsoft has a new line up of Windows 7 phones and is already prepping up for Windows 8-powered smartphones. More powerful Android phones like the Motorola Droid Bionic (4G LTE, 4.3-inch screen) are now out in the market. We just can't wait 500 Days of Summer for someone when that one is not the right one.

Yes, the specs leaks are already there, the Oct. 7 release date rumors, carriers readying a surge in demand for new contracts, signal boosters being installed in Apple Stores, a prototype lost in San Francisco, but where is the real iPhone 5?

Stewart Wolpin says in an article at DVICE says that indications are, iPhone 5 will actually be more an iPhone 4S, a minor upgrade in screen size, antenna and design, with few significant improvements.

Sony unveils new RDP-X500IP speaker dock for iPhone

Sony has unveiled a new iPhone speaker dock that promises big sound called the RDP-X500IP. The speaker dock is up for pre-order right now with an expected ship date of October 2. The docking station will cost $299.95. The iPhone dock is on the front of the device and Sony claims that the dock is made to work without you having to remove the case on your iPhone. That is a big deal since many docks force you to remove your case.

The dock has dual passive radiators inside and an integrated subwoofer for deep bass. Sony’s S-Master Digital Amplifier is used inside for more performance. The device also has Clear Phase linear phase correction tech and a free app is offered that puts a clock on the iPhone screen and allows the user to adjust the sound settings.

Read more at http://www.slashgear.com/sony-unveils-new-rdp-x500ip-speaker-dock-for-iphone-16180459/

Vocre Translation App For iPhone Makes Cross-Language Conversations Easy

Add another Star Trek technology to the list of things that now exist in real life: the Universal Translator. Well, Vocre isn’t “universal” per se — I’m sure it wouldn’t be able to do Vulcan — but it will make conversing with people who speak different Earth-bound languages a lot easier.

Vocre is an app for the iPhone that utilizes three different technologies on the backend to transcribe speech to text, translate the text from one language to another, then speak the text to your conversation partner. Despite the complex background handoffs, the frontend process is quick and seamless. The language engine and word lists reside on a server, giving Vocre a leg up on exiting translators, as it recognizes millions of words instead of thousands.

The speech to text engine is powered by Nuance. The app streams audio live to their servers, which sends back text once the app determines you’ve finished speaking. Users then have the opportunity to correct any mistakes before then activating the translation engine. My Language, the company behind Vocre, developed their “hybrid translation technology” which uses crowd-sourced language data. iSpeech then handles the text to voice. My Language co-founder and CEO Andrew Lauder lauded iSpeech as “the best quality human-like text to speech voices that we’ve ever heard.”

Read more at http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/09/16/vocre-translation-app/

iPhone 5 Release: Huge Success Guaranteed as Apple Faces Future Without Steve Jobs

Customers around the world are breathlessly awaiting the much-ballyhooed arrival of Apple Inc.’s next generation of its wildly popular iPhone mobile device -- the iPhone 5.

Analysts are widely expecting the iPhone 5 to deliver record-shattering sales numbers, thereby adding even more luster to a much-lauded company that will soon become the biggest corporation on the planet.

However, given the recent sudden resignation of visionary chief executive Steve Jobs and the emergence of Samsung as a dominant player in the SmartPhone market, one must wonder if perhaps too much is being expected of Apple’s next edition of iPhone?

Might sales be disappointing, that is, somewhat less than stupendous? And in that event, could investors start to fret over Apple’s Jobs-less future?

For the moment, tech analysts and other experts don’t seem to be the least bit concerned -- they are almost universally expecting the iPhone 5 to be a blockbuster.

Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, recently told his clients that two-thirds (about 66 percent) of existing iPhone users were "very/somewhat likely to buy the iPhone 5." He described such demand as "unprecedented,” suggesting the product is guaranteed to be hugely successful.

China Mobile talks LTE iPhone, inks 4G Clearwire deal

Apple and China Mobile are in talks about a 4G iPhone, it has been revealed, though technological differences mean such a smartphone likely wouldn’t work on Verizon or AT&T’s LTE networks in the US. “China Mobile and Apple hope to find a solution for close collaboration” carrier chairman Wang Jianzhou told Bloomberg, before suggesting that the Cupertino company sounded enthusiastic about the prospect. ”We discussed this issue with Apple. We hope Apple will produce a new iPhone with TD-LTE. We have already got a positive answer from Apple.”

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Nonetheless, it’s not the first time that China Mobile has made promising noises about an LTE iPhone.Back in January, the carrier again suggested that Apple had agreed to make a version of its smartphone using TD-LTE. That may well have been premature, however; the commercial roll-out of the network isn’t expected to take place until 2012.

Despite the absence of support for either China Mobile’s 3G TD-SCDMA or the upcoming TD-LTE, Wang says adoption of the iPhone among the carrier’s subscribers has still been positive. 8.5m already have an iPhone of some sort, he claims, despite being limited to 2G data speeds.

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Friday, 16 September 2011