Google+Facebook+iPhone: 09/20/11

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Google Wallet Open To Sprint Customers

Google on Monday began distributing its Google Wallet payment app to eligible Sprint customers--beginning what's likely to be a lengthy competition to capture the mobile payment market.

Google Wallet is being distributed in an over-the-air update to Sprint Nexus S 4G owners. The mobile app allows users of phones with near-field communications (NFC) hardware to pay for items using one of two virtual payment cards: a Citi MasterCard or a Google Prepaid Card, a card funded from a person's other credit cards.

Eventually, customers will get more payment options. In May, when Google introduced Google Wallet, it announced partnerships with Citi, MasterCard, First Data, and Sprint. On Monday, Visa, Visa Europe, and Google said jointly that Google has licensed Visa's NFC payment technology payWave. The deal will allow Visa-issuing banks to provide customers with the ability to add their credit, debit, and prepaid accounts to Google Wallet.

Payment card companies Discover and American Express are also working with Google to provide Google Wallet support.

"Our goal is to make it possible for you to add all of your payment cards to Google Wallet, so you can say goodbye to even the biggest traditional wallets," said Google VP of payments Osama Bedier in a blog post.

To achieve its goal, Google will have to convince merchants to participate. Google says that hundreds of thousands of stores utilize MasterCard PayPass wireless payment systems. But in a given area, these locations are likely to be few and far between. To help would-be Google Wallet aficionados use their mobile payment technology, Google offers an Android app to help locate merchants equipped with PayPass readers.

Google Wallet will be competing with whatever NFC solution Apple has devised, which may or may not debut with the iPhone 5 next month. Google also faces competition from a payment consortium called ISIS that includes AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. ISIS isn't expected to have its payment system ready until 2012.

Whether or not NFC really offers a better experience than carrying a physical credit card remains to be seen. There are bound to be customers who prefer to swipe real credit cards, instead of deepening their dependence on their phones.

But affinity for physical credit cards seems likely to dwindle over time, as today's early adopters become tomorrow's mainstream consumers.

Windows Phone 7's Marketing Problem

The latest numbers coming from Connected Intelligence suggest there may be another mobile market shift in the quarters ahead--one that favors Microsoft over Google. Nearly half of current U.S. smartphone owners are weighing a switch from Android to Windows Phone 7, says Connected Intelligence. But the news for Microsoft isn't all good.

"The Android juggernaut continues, and that's not great news for some of their OS competitors," said Linda Barrabee, research director for Connected Intelligence in a statement. "For example, one-third of BlackBerry smartphone owners are most interested in Android for their next smartphone purchase. That said, Android is also experiencing continued competition from Apple's popular iPhone, as well as some nascent competition from Windows Phone 7."

Right now, most people are still interested in Android, and they still will be throughout the next six months. Connected Intelligence finds that Android commands more interest than any other mobile platform, at 63%, and also rates as the "most wanted" by 36%.

But there are no guarantees in life. Connected Intelligence's most recent report shows that 44% of smartphones owners who are looking to upgrade are considering purchasing a Windows Phone 7 smartphone. If even a small percentage of that number actually makes the switch, it could be a major win for Microsoft's smartphone platform, which has yet to really catch on with the general public.

Google+ public launch takes battle to Facebook and Twitter

Google has opened its ambitious social networking site Google+ to the public, having attracted more than 20 million users for aits 12-week invitation-only trial.

The public launch marks a significant moment in the search giant's challenge to Facebook, which has almost 800 million active users around the world, and the messaging service Twitter, which has more than 100 million members.

Unlike Facebook, where you have to be a "friend" with a counterpart, or Twitter, where "followers" and even unregistered visitors to Twitter's website can typically see anything that someone tweets, Google+ uses "circles", where a posting cannot be shared more widely than its creator wants. At its broadest, that can be completely public – but it can also be a circle only of one person, or just family or close friends.

Google+ also breaks with the brevity of Twitter, allowing users to post messages of unlimited length to any number of friends.

More than 1bn items have been shared on the new social network since its launch, said Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice-president of engineering, in a post on Google's official website on Tuesday. He announced nine new features for the fledgling site, including the ability for users to video chat using Google+ on compatible mobile phones. Users will also be able to record and broadcast video chats for friends to watch, and complete tasks with friends, he said.

Google also introduced a search feature for the site.

The search engine giant's latest major social networking project got an underwhelming response from critics on its launch on 29 June, but the service quickly attracted millions of users, according to calculations. Google has tried to build worldwide social networks before, with Orkut – which succeeded in Brazil and India, but flopped elsewhere – and with Buzz, which used people's email accounts to construct a "social network" on the fly. However privacy flaws in Buzz, which attracted a barrage of complaints from users whose contacts were inadvertently exposed on the site, led to an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, in turn leading to a 20-year oversight ruling on Google and the privacy of its products.

Charlie Sheen sets Twitter ablaze. It's like March all over again!

During last night’s pushing-the-boundaries-of-taste Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, comedienne Amy Schumer delivered a low-blow at the man of the hour, as well as his Two and a Half Men replacement Ashton Kutcher: “You’re just like Bruce Willis — you were big in the ’80s and now your old slot’s being filled with Ashton Kutcher,” she joked.

But Schumer wasn’t the only one to hit Kutcher where it hurt on Monday night. Even his beloved Twitterverse seemed to have turned their back on him, when the social networking website lit up with talk of Sheen and his harsh roast. But Sheen got the last laugh: According toGigaom.com, social media monitoring group Visible Technologies found that the Charlie Sheen roast, and talk of all things about the tiger blood-infused warlock, garnered upwards of 40,000 tweets, while Kutcher’s debut onTwo and a Half Men earned only around 15,000. (One of which he contributed to, with his post, “Man I wish I had the east coast feed so I could watch it with you all… #2.5.”)

Of course, it’s not all bad news for Kutcher, as only 6.9 percent of tweets about him and the sitcom were negative, while 13.4 percent of roast tweeters spoke ill of the Comedy Central special and its subject. And then there’s the fact that the Sheen-free Men premiere earned a staggering 27.7 million viewers.

Other interesting stats from the study (which used color charts and everything! The gang fromHow I Met Your Mother would be so psyched!): During the roast, Schumer, who had that aforementioned zinger, cultivated more tweets than any other roasters with 38 percent. (Mike Tyson followed far behind with 16.9 percent of the tweets.) In fact, Schumer’s brash jokes during the roast prompted Sheen himself to tweet, “Shocking!! @amyschumer… You’re beautiful… funny… and incredibly mean!! And I love you!!”

Did you tweet about Sheen’s roast and/or Kutcher’s turn on Two and a Half Men, PopWatchers? What did you have to say about them? #Shareinthecommentssectionbelow.

The “Twitter Proletariat”

There aren’t many things one can rely on these days. One of the few is finding something thoughtful, or provocative, or just plain interesting in Foreign Policy magazine.

Now, before you discount this as little more than a plug from one journalist to another, consider for example that in just the last week or so, FP asked whether supercomputers will ever be able to predict revolutions (yes, but not yet), assembled a slide show of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin doing…well, just about everything (he drives race cars! and shoots bears!), and delivered a sharp-elbowed look at Abkhazia’s pursuit of independent statehood.

A protester in Cairo's Tahrir Square

What caught our eye, however, was managing editor Blake Hounshell’s recent reflection on social media and the Arab Spring titled, “The Revolution Will Be Tweeted.” (Yes, we’ve used that title before, too; but so have many others.)

Hounshell writes he was moved to re-think social networks like Twitter during a recent visit to Egypt. Following a large and angry crowd to Tahrir Square, Hounshell’s eye fell on several young Egyptians. “To one side stood a different category of rebel entirely: scruffy guys and gals staring down at their cell phones. They were tweeting.”

He goes on to describe Twitter less as a social network and more a reporter’s medium – similar to the old ‘wire’ that used to connect newspapers and bureaus around the world. “Twitter isn’t the maker of political revolutions, but the vanguard of a media one,” he writes.

We caught up with Hounshell and put a few questions to him about Twitter, revolutions, and journalism. Some excerpts – first on the role of social media in the Arab Spring:

Read more at http://blogs.voanews.com/digital-frontiers/2011/09/20/the-twitter-proletariat/

Twitter Checking Out Eastern Sites for Data Center

Frustrated by “the whale” on Twitter that pops up on your screen when you're trying to access the site but it can't respond because it's overwhelmed by traffic? Relief may soon be in sight.

Less than two weeks after hitting the 100 million user mark, Twitter is reportedly planning to move into a mammoth data center in Atlanta to accommodate increased traffic on its microblogging service, reduce system downtime and, hopefully for consumers, make the fail whale extinct.

According to a report by Rich Miller in Data Center Knowledge, Twitter's new data center will be in a 990,000 square-foot Metro Technology Center owned by Quality Technology Services.

By opening a data center in the East, Twitter appears to be emulating the East-West strategy adopted by other companies offering cloud services.

Facebook and Apple, for example, have supplemented their California server farms with large data centers in North Carolina. The idea is that by placing the network infrastructure closer to the people using it, delivery speeds will be increased, and in Twitter's case, send its fail whale into a retirement home.

Samoan rugby player apologizes for Twitter rants

AUCKLAND, New Zealand—A Samoan rugby player escaped punishment from World Cup organizers after team officials apologized Tuesday for his Twitter comments that compared the team's treatment to the Holocaust, slavery and apartheid.

Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu took to the social networking site after Samoa lost to Wales 17-10 on Sunday, saying that second-tier Samoa had to play the critical match only four days after its first game while top-tier Wales had a week to prepare.

The tweet he has since deleted said: "Ok, it's obvious the IRB are unjust. Wales get 7 days, we get 3. Unfair treatment, like slavery, like the holocaust, like apartheid."

Fuimaono-Sapolu also dared the International Rugby Board to suspend him, saying it would be another injustice.

Rugby World Cup Limited met with Samoa team officials in Auckland on Tuesday, but Fuimaono-Sapolu didn't attend because players had the day off. RWCL then released a statement saying it considered his comments "inappropriate" and warned the Samoa Rugby Union on future social media conduct.

"RWCL has accepted an official apology and is satisfied with the proactive measures that the union has outlined to RWCL to address the matter," it added. "There will be no further action and RWCL considers the matter to be closed."

Samoa said when the players regather on Wednesday, the squad will decide whether to sanction Fuimaono-Sapolu.

Fuimaono-Sapolu was angry at the overall scheduling for Tier Two and Tier Three teams, which often have less time to rest between games than Tier One squads such as the Tri-Nations and Six Nations sides.

Will the Google Motorola Deal Convert iPhone Fanatics to Android Users?

Recently, Google announced it had entered into a deal with Motorola that could have a huge impact on the mobile phone world, especially to mobile phone users in search of a way to save money on their bill through more mobile options.

The massive global software company made a bid for Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion that would allow Google to gain access to Motorola’s patents, while possibly giving it an opportunity to tailor its Android Market to better compete with the iPhone.

In the past, some faithful iPhone users have reluctantly jumped ship and purchased an Android instead to take advantage of a larger selection of phones and providers, a more expansive apps market and the ability to utilize smartphones with prepaid services.

In a time when you don’t really need a landline anymore and smartphones are becoming the number one phone choice, changes in the mobile industry are important. Could this deal between Google and Motorola–along with Steve Jobs’ recent departure from Apple–encourage iPhone fanatics to switch over to the Android?
What Is Android and How Has It Impacted the iPhone?

Google has always been known as a company that manages to stay ahead of the technological curve. In addition to its powerful search engine, the company has masterminded a number of enterprises, including Android.

What is Android?
Android is a Google-owned operating system originally developed by Android, Inc. and later by Open Handset Alliance for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Since the release of the first Android phone–T-Mobile’s HTC Dream–in Oct. 2008, Android has grown in popularity, largely due to its expansive catalog of mobile applications.
Apps for Android

Similar to Apple iPhone apps, the apps for Android can range from virus protection software to games like Angry Birds. Also like the iPhone, the Android market is huge. Currently, it offers hundreds of thousands of applications.

However, while apps for the iPhone can only be used on that phone brand, the Android app can be used with dozens of phones from a variety of service providers, giving customers more options in phone styles, prices and plan preferences.

Android was listed as the best-selling smartphone platform worldwide by Canalys in the fourth quarter of 2010. Of course, this means it is more than giving iPhone a run for its money. With its new deal in the works, is iPhone in trouble?

iPhone 5 Release Date: When Will Apple Finally Confirm Details?

Even though there are plenty of rumors circling the internet, Apple still has not spilled the beans on any information regarding the next generation iPhone.

Here is a list of some of the most popular rumors surrounding the device.

The iPhone 5 will look completely different from the current version.

Based on leaked cases and schematic designs, experts are anticipating a thinner tapered look with a curved back for the device.

They also expect the smartphone to be strikingly light along with sporting a bigger screen in order to compete with Android devices.

It is also expected to come with an 8 megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p HD video.

The iPhone 5 will also be released on T-Mobile and Sprint. Information began to arrive on the internet over the summer showing that carriers Sprint and T-Mobile would both make the iPhone available to their customers.

Sprint has updated its monthly plans and networks to gear up for the arrival of the iPhone 5, but the company still has not confirmed its release.

T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Mobile has already begun taking pre-orders for the device inGermany.

Both companies are holding media events around the time the iPhone is rumored to be released in early October.

The iPhone 5 may look like the iPhone 4.

There are many skeptics when it comes to Apple changing the iPhone’s look. Some analysts are predicting that the new device will look identical to the iPhone 4.

There have been reports from various manufacturers stating that they were producing phones for Apple that were updated iPhone 4’s. But there have also been reports of an iPhone with a brand new design.

The iPhone 5 may not even exist.

This is not that bold of a statement considering Apple was expected to reveal some information on the iPhone 5 sometime in September.

HTC: Rhyme a better upgrade phone than iPhone

If you're looking to upgrade to a smartphone from a basic handset, HTC executive Jason Mackenzie says he believes the Rhyme offers a better option than Apple's iPhone.

HTC's global marketing chief, Jason Mackenzie.

(Credit: HTC)

"For a feature phone customer, we think this is a better product than the iPhone," Mackenzie said in an interview with CNET. HTC's global marketing chief was in New York on Tuesday for the unveiling of the Rhyme for Verizon Wireless, a "plum" smartphone with feminine sensibilities--not that HTC or Verizon would easily cop to that fact.

Mackenzie's claim is a bold one, but one in line with a company that itself has gotten bolder in the smartphone arena. Over the past few years, HTC has made a name for itself with its unique take on the Android smartphone and a concerted effort to get its own name out in the market, rather than relying on carrier partners for marketing support.

That higher profile has come with bigger problems. HTC is embroiled in a massive legal battle with Apple over the alleged violation of patents on both sides, a conflict that has drawn in Google's direct support through the transfer of its own intellectual property. At the same time, HTC faces the prospect that one of its strongest partners, Google, will turn into a competitor, once it absorbs Motorola.

As the first Android vendor to be sued by Apple for patent infringement, HTC has grown weary of the litigation questions.

"It's the last thing we want to talk about," Mackenzie said.

Mackenzie declined to comment on where he thought the litigation would go, but he reiterated that he felt confident in the company's position.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20108931-94/htc-rhyme-a-better-upgrade-phone-than-iphone/#ixzz1YWkONZiT

Skype iPhone, iPod Touch App Has Security Hole

Skype is working to fix a security hole in its iOS app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows a hacker to steal a person’s entire address book. The vulnerability, located in the app’s chat message window, can be exploited with JavaScript code. It was pointed out by security researcher Phil Purviance of AppSec.

"Skype uses a locally stored HTML file to display chat messages from other Skype users, but it fails to properly encode the incoming user’s ‘Full Name,’ allowing an attacker to craft malicious JavaScript code that runs when the victim views the message," Purviance wrote on his blog.

The heart of the problem, according to Purviance, is an improper definition within the Skype app that allows access to a user's local file system. He says the threat is partially mitigated by protections within iOS itself, but the address book remains vulnerable.

Skype appears to be in no hurry to fix the problem. In a tweet, Purviance said he notified Skype of the vulnerability on August 24, and was told that an update addressing the issue would be released in early September.

A statement from Skype confirms that the company is aware of the issue and will fix it "in our next planned release, which we hope to roll out imminently."

You can watch a demonstration of exactly how the exploit works in this video, created by Purviance:

T-Mobile executive says no iPhone 5 in 2011

An executive from the country’s fourth largest wireless carrier, T-Mobile, said the company won’t be getting the iPhone 5 this year, according to a leaked internal document obtained by Tmo News.

Right now, T-Mobile is the only carrier that has not confirmed Apple’s iPhone will launch on its network.

According to the document (a transcript from a recent Town Hall meeting at a T-Mobile field service center), T-Mobile’s chief marketing officer, Cole Broadman, claims that the carrier will not “get the iPhone 5 this year”.

The news doesn’t necessarily mean that another model of the iPhone won’t debut on the network soon. Both the current iPhone 4 and the rumored iPhone 4S upgraded model do have a chance to appear on the network in time for the lucrative holiday shopping season.

It’s highly likely that an iPhone will land on T-Mobile. Back in April, it was revealed that Apple was testing out the iPhone on T-Mobile’s network with prototype devices. Also, T-Mobile admitted that it was hosting over a million unlocked iPhone devices on its network in June, which was made much easier after Apple began selling unlocked versions of the phone.

Facebook’s HTML5 apps platform has been delayed (rumor)

Project Spartan is rumored to be Facebook’s upcoming HTML5 platform. Speculation suggests the social networking giant will use it to challenge Apple, Google, or both in the mobile app space.

Project Spartan was expected to be announced in July, but we’re in September now and it still hasn’t seen the light of day. Some expected it to arrive this week at Facebook’s f8 developer conference, but now Facebook is apparently worried that the project will overshadow some of the company’s other big announcements. As a result, the HTML5 platform won’t be announced at f8, according to TechCrunch.

The only tangible part of this rumor is BoltJS, a user interface framework designed to help developers build mobile web apps, in HTML5 and JavaScript that run entirely in the browser, with no backend processing required. BoltJS is built on top of Javelin so that it does not duplicate code already present in the Facebook codebase and so that it is familiar for third-party Facebook developers.

The modules are defined using the CommonJS standard, ensuring each module is completely self-contained, with no global variables being created. There’s nothing linking the two projects right now, apart from the fact that it looks like BoltJS could be used to develop Project Spartan apps.

Custom Facebook Tab Option: Customizer Enterprise

Custom tabs continue to undergo a resurgence since the recent change from Facebook Markup Language to iFrames, and GroSocial became the latest player in that game with its release of Customizer Enterprise.

Tabs are applets accessed via little icons in the left hand column of brand pages, beneath the main image. The most popular type of tab is the so-called like-gate, which encourages prospective fans to click like in order to obtain content or a promotion.

Now GroSocial’s Customizer Enterprise competes with the likes of Wildfire, North Social and ShortStack Labs.

GroSocial’s new tab rounds out the vendor’s Customizer platform, allowing brand managers to deploy custom-designed promotional tabs across their Facebook partner networks.

Partner companies on the networks can use the tabs to offer goods or services, run contests, offer promotions, make coupons available to potential customers, or add videos — all behind a like-gate, should the manager choose to erect one.

Managers can determine which components of their tabs can be modified by partners, helping them to ensure brand integrity. Engagement statistics will also be available to them.

GroSocial’s Customizer suite permits brand managers to add dynamic forms to their Facebook pages, including basic form fields, check boxes, radio buttons, drop-down lists, MailChimp, and AWeber.

The WSJ: Facebook app in one hand, paywall in the other

The Wall Street Journal has launched a “social reading” application for Facebook called WSJ Social, which lives on Facebook and allows users to share articlesfrom the newspaper with each other for free (for now at least). To some, this feels a lot like what “portals” such as America Online and Compuserve did in the early days of the public internet, by trying to bring content into their walled gardens. For the WSJ, meanwhile, there is an obvious tension between providing articles on a public network like Facebook while still having a paywall — it feels like the paper wants to have its cake and eat it too, and it could wind up with neither.

The app is fairly straightforward: all a Facebook user has to do is be logged in and go to the WSJ Social address, and then authorize the app and a page appears with the app loaded and a selection of stories. Unlike the typical newspaper front page, the app shows only images, with a headline below and the number of “likes” and comments each article has received — along with some avatar icons to show who has interacted with it. If you click on the icon of a user, you can see their profile page, which shows the articles they have liked.
Access is free for all — for now

Also prominent on all pages is the logo of the app’s sponsors, Dell and Intel, whose sponsorship has made the app free for all users for at least the first month. What happens after that remains to be seen — the Journal’s deputy managing editor Alan Murray, executive editor of the paper’s online operations — hinted on Twitter that the app could remain free for longer than that (if other sponsors come forward, presumably). When users “like” an article, it appears in their stream, and users can also add other friends as “editors” within the app, so that they see their selections immediately.

Facebook Offers Small Businesses $50 in Advertising Credits

At Facebook, former Googler Sheryl Sandberg is aiming to reach out to small businesses. Her plan for Facebook includes giving small business owners an advertising credit to try out Facebook advertising.

Sanberg’s Ambitious Plans

In a USA Today interview, Sandberg called her dream “simple”: “I think every small business should […] be using Facebook,” she said. “We're not going to stop until all of them are using it to grow their business.”

To get to that point, Facebook will be giving out $10 million in advertising credits ($50 each to up to 200,000 small businesses). Details will be revealed this week, perhaps at f8.

Sandberg feels that the $50 credit will be enough for most businesses to get a strong sense of the Facebook advertising’s potential. For $50, she says, “most small businesses can target every single person they need to target at least once, and then they can grow their business from there.”

Most small businesses recognize Facebook as a tool for promoting their business, with Sandberg estimating that nearly a third of all U.S. businesses have a Facebook presence. However, most of those businesses stick to Facebook’s free features, and most notably the creation of a Facebook page. When it comes to paid advertisements, the figure shrinks from an estimated 9 million businesses to “hundreds of thousands,” according to Sandberg.

But for Sandberg, the social ads aren’t just another PPC program. “Facebook takes word-of-mouth marketing and makes it work at scale,” she said, emphasizing the potential viral component of advertising with the world’s largest social network.

If 200,000 more businesses can be convinced to spend, it would mean a significant boost to Facebook’s advertising economy. Beyond the benefit of additional advertisers, Facebook would see increased revenue per advertiser; since the ads are run on a bidding system, more advertisers and more active advertisements increase the overall cost of a given click.

Read more at http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2110606/Facebook-Offers-Small-Businesses-50-in-Advertising-Credits

Facebook to Stream Music, Add 7 Partners

Facebook may add at least seven launch partners for its music sharing service, as the social media giant looks to expand its media sharing abilities.

A web developer has identified seven companies, including Spotify, MOG Rdio, SoundCloud, Deezer and Rhapsody that all have included Facebook data on their pages, according to code leaked from music streaming services. Facebook may include those services, plus others, when it launches its music service, which may be announced as early as Thursday during its Developer Conference in San Francisco.

Facebook Music is expected to have two unique features; track unification and the ability to add users’ music automatically to their profiles. Track unification, will give users the ability to share music or lists from several music sites.

If a Facebook user shares a song on Spotify, for example, another user can click and hear that song, regardless of that user’s music service.

The music service is a part of Facebook’s larger push to include media offerings such as music and video. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company told media executives a new feature will work like news feed posts that display web pages users “like.”

Facebook is reportedly working with Spotify to let users hear songs on the third-party service — without leaving the social network. Spotify, which was unveiled in the U.S. earlier this summer, already integrates with Facebook. Spotify users can log onto Facebook to see who of their friends are, and connect with them to share music.

In July, a link in Facebook’s video calling service code revealed music may be downloaded on the site, fanning rumors of a music sharing service. Other leaks have suggested a “music tab” that may be added on Facebook users’ home page, much like the links for photos, friends and places.

Facebook’s move toward music sharing may be in response to other sites’ music streaming offerings, including Apple’s iCloud and Google Music. Facebook’s aim to bring music to its user base will likely keep it competitive, along with giving its more millions of subscribers yet another reason to visit the site and stay on it for hours.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mobiledia/2011/09/20/facebook-to-stream-music-add-7-partners/

Facebook f8: Get Ready for Massive Changes to Profiles, Pages

Facebook has been changing rapidly since the launch of Google+, so it’s no surprise that a profile redesign is said to be coming out of the f8 developer conference this week. Mashable credits anonymous sources with the news that this redesign is a “major” one, focused on keeping users on the page longer consuming content.

While there are rumors of a Facebook app store,Project Spartan’s pending launch, and a social commerce focus, Facebook remains tight-lipped. F8 conference participants will get the first peek at what, exactly, this latest rollout will look like; the new profile is said to be just one component of the launch, alongside a music and media platform.

Facebook seems to have made agreements with a number of companies to bring content users are watching or listening to around the web into their Facebook profile in real-time, sharing the media with others. Spotify, Rhapsody, Vevo, and Rdio are said to be among Facebook’s new media partners.

Will Facebook Deliver a Knockout Punch to Google+ this Week?

Can Facebook rest on its 750 million user-base laurels? We'll find out this week at the social network's F8 Developer Conference, which takes place in San Francisco on September 22. Buzz on what's expected ranges from new Read, Listened, Watched, And Want Facebook Buttons to a first-ever Facebook iPad app.

Facebook is tight lipped when it comes to what we can expect, but with Google's social network seen as a formidable competitor, with Google+, all eyes are on Facebook to deliver a knockout punch to Google.

Facebook Worried?

Ironically, since Google+'s launch in June, Facebook has borrowed from Google+ making it seem the social network is concerned about defectors. Facebook's new smart friend lists, similar to Circles on Google+, is one example. (That's not to say Google+ hasn't lifted some features from Facebook) With this feature you can more easily share with just the Facebook circle friends you want. Stealing a feature from Twitter, Facebook has recently added a subscribe feature which allows you to have Twitter-style followers on your profile.

Facebook is also feeling the heat from media sites that are growing in popularity and quickly becoming social hubs for sharing with new and existing friends. Media services, with millions of users, are seen as both a threat to Facebook or new best friends - if Facebook can ink deals with them. Facebook already has a deal with Spotify allowing users to share their Spotify playlists with other Facebook friends. But is that enough?

Is Facebook feeling the heat of the competition? Anecdotal reports suggest no. Google+ interest among its users is reportedly waning. It's also a safe bet if you have a Hulu, Spotify, or MOG account you also have a Facebook account. And let's face it, even the most serious threat to Facebook, Google+, is so far in the social network's rearview mirror it would be silly to think Facebook was paranoid.

Still, Facebook's pride is on the line this week. A humdrum rollout of lukewarm features is a cancer this behemoth can't afford. After all, the bigger they are, the harder they fall - just look at AOL.

In July Facebook rolled out "something awesome", as Mark Zuckerberg called it, which turned out to be a video chat service. The service was a welcome addition to Facebook, but was less than awesome when compared to Google+'s video chat feature. Zuckerberg was forced to take that defeat on the chin.

Here is a look at what we might see this week from Facebook.

Music and Film Ticker
Several sources claims to have the inside scoop on Facebook's upcoming F8 Conference, and says that Facebook will be announcing a real-time stream, or "ticker," of what its users are listening to and watching online. The Guardian says Zuckerberg plans to unveil the changes as part of a "read, watch, and listen" theme, which suggests that the social music and social movie rental ideas aren't far off.

Other sources suggest that the Facebook tickers will take the form of Read, Listened, Watched, And Want buttons. In the same way Facebook Like buttons highlight and personalize content, these new media-centric buttons would accomplish the same goal.

If Facebook does introduce such a service, it'll hopefully be opt-in and not opt-out. After all, not everyone wants their Facebook buddies to know what they're listening to or watching. The Guardianclaims it'll be an opt-in service, but you never know with Facebook.

Exclusive: Facebook seeks exec to build Hollywood, media ties

In recent months, Facebook had discussions with former MySpace co-President and former MTV executive Jason Hirschhorn about a job spearheading the company's outreach to media companies, according to several people familiar with the situation.

While the talks do not appear to have gone anywhere, and it wasn't clear whether Facebook had approached others about the position, the efforts signal Facebook's intention to take a more hands-on approach in helping media companies bring their content to the social network.

"They had held the media industry at arm's length for a while. It was: 'We are a platform, come use us all you want but we don't necessarily need to partner with you.' But now the attitude has changed," said one of the people familiar with the situation.

"They realize that one of the next phases in its evolution is to work with the media companies," the person added.

Facebook and Hirschhorn both declined to comment.

Facebook's media push comes as the company faces fresh competition from Google Inc, which launched a rival social networking service in June.

Twitter recruited former Creative Artists Agency executive Omid Ashtari to be its "L.A. person" last November, according to a report in AllThingsD.com, and the company recently appointed Chloe Sladden to a new role overseeing content and programing efforts.

"The view is they're looking at Twitter and Google and their outreach to the media community and they don't want to fall behind the curve," the source said. "They don't want the media companies to think they're uninterested."

Google+ Social Network Opened to Public

Google Inc. on Tuesday broadened its assault on rival Facebook Inc. by opening its Google+ online social network to the public.

The company also introduced new features to Google+, including the ability to search for information about topics such as cooking and photography, and along with the ability to see relevant Google+ users and their posts on such topics, as well as relevant content from around the Web.

Google+, which launched in late June and which up till now had only been open by invitation to users, is also putting a heavier emphasis on video, one of its main technology advantages over Facebook. Facebook, which has more than 750 million active monthly users, recently inked a deal with Skype SA to allow its users to communicate with each other through their computer's built-in video cameras.

Google+ lets as many as 10 people communicate simultaneously in a video "hangout." On Tuesday, Google said people can broadcast a "hangout" to the public, similar to how Google's YouTube video site lets some partners broadcast a live event.

Google also added a key feature to the version of Google+ that works on mobile devices powered by Google's Android software. Google+ users who own devices with front-facing cameras participate in a multiperson "hangout" using those devices, a potential advantage over the feature on Apple Inc.'s iPhone that lets people do video chats face-to-face, also known as "face time."

Google made its announcement two days ahead of Facebook's annual conference, dubbed F8, which is for software developers who build applications for Facebook's users such as Zynga Inc.'s "social" games. Google last week started allowing developers to build apps for Google+. It also has several partners that offer games to Google+ users, including Zynga.

Vic Gundotra, a Google senior vice president, said in a post on the company's blog that the latest Google+ features bring the total number of "improvements" to 100 in the three months since the site launched. "Google+ is still in its infancy, of course," Mr. Gundotra wrote.

Google+ now has more than 25 million unique visitors per month, the comScore research firm has said. The company hasn't released any information on the number of monthly active users. Google also hasn't yet marketed the service to the more than one billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail and other services.

Google+ lets people share comments, articles, photos and videos with various "circles" of friends or contacts, or they can share content publicly with any user who wants to view their posts. Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google+ in its other services, such as its YouTube video site.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903374004576582801044012470.html#ixzz1YWT90EvV

Samsung Escalates Patent War, Countersues Apple in Australia

Samsung today escalated an industry-wide patent war by filing another countersuit against Apple, this time in Australia, joining similar actions in South Korea.

Samsung told a Sydney court Apple's iPhones and iPads violate seven of its wireless patents. The company also said Apple's case against its Galaxy Tab 10.1 is invalid, alleging the patents in question expired long ago.

The South Korean company also plans to file an injunction against the iPhone 5 in its home country.

Samsung's countersuit in Australia and plans to scuttle the iPhone 5 in South Korea ramps up pressure in a growing web of legal entanglements between the two companies. Apple and Samsung currently have 20 lawsuits open against each other in Germany, the Netherlands, the U.S., Italy and South Korea.

Samsung faces smartphone and tablet injunctions in the first two countries, which will cost the South Korean company revenue unless it can either work out a settlement or bring equally damaging charges against Apple.

Samsung and Apple may each face the same difficulties in the U.S. if the International Trade Commission rules it violates the other's patents. Samsung is already experiencing a ban in Australia, where the manufacturer has been postponing its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for two months, agreeing to forgo profits while Sydney courts deliberate Apple's case against its rival.

Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch review

Samsung had unprecedented success last year delivering its Galaxy S line of flagship Android phones to a global stage, and for good reason: it launched as one of the thinnest smartphones in the world, the homegrown 1GHz Hummingbird processor was plenty fast for its day, and the 4-inch Super AMOLED display was a serious dazzler. Particularly impressive was its showing in the US, where Samsung managed to get all four national carriers — historically stubborn carriers — to release variants of the phone. But could it repeat the coup in 2011?

That’s where the Galaxy S II comes into play. Introduced to glowing reviews in Europe several months ago, Samsung has managed to get three of the four US nationals back on board for the sequel (the fourth, Verizon, is rumored to be holding out for an even higher-end Google Nexus device that could be launching in the next few weeks). Expectations are obviously high, and Sprint is the first to take a stab at it with the release of the gratuitously named Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. Is it worth your $199.99 on contract? Read on.

The packaging for the Epic 4G Touch isn’t particularly interesting or notable, apart from the fact that the name is de-emphasized — it’s relegated to the side of the box in smallish type (and with a name that long, I can’t say I blame them). The only thing you see on the front is an ultra-colorful representation of the phone’s screen, which is unquestionably one of its biggest selling points, and probably the first thing customers are going to notice when they walk into the store. Like most versions of the S II sold around the world, the Touch has a Super AMOLED Plus screen, 4.5 inches in this case — more on it in a bit. Inside the box you’ll find the battery, a micro-USB cable, a USB wall charger, and the usual assortment of documents and a bag for recycling your old phone neatly packed into a cardboard envelope. Notably missing is a set of earbuds, but as I’ve said in many reviews before, that’s just as well — pack-in earbuds are rarely any good.

Samsung Windows 8 Tablets Surface on eBay

If you're dying to get your hands on a Windows 8 tablet, right now for $2,000 or more on eBay you can pick up several Samsung Series 7 700T tablets running Windows 8. The one-panel slate was handed out for free to all 5,000 developers who attended Microsoft's recent BUILD conference.

Now, at least four enterprising conference attendees are looking to profit off Microsoft's largesse. With all the excitement around Windows 8 right now, these tablets are likely to be popular items. In fact, one was sold while this article was being written.

Nevertheless, you still have time to check these tablets out if you're interested. At the time of this writing, only one of the four Windows 8 tablets included a "Buy It Now" option (for the ridiculous price of $3,500). The others were all being auctioned to the highest bidder, with minimum bids ranging from $2,000 to $2,300 depending on the seller.

The Samsung tablets were first discovered on eBay by WinRumors.

So what do you get for a minimum of $2,000? Well, for starters you'll get a piece of hardware that is similar to what is scheduled to hit store shelves October 2 -- albeit running Windows 7. On top of that, the base 700T running Windows 7 will retail for a suggested $1,100, nearly half what you'd pay on eBay.

So why not just wait a few weeks, buy the Windows 7 tablet and download and install the Windows 8 developer preview for free directly from Microsoft?

Well, it's not clear how much tweaking Samsung and Microsoft did to get Windows 8 running on Samsung's reference model, so perhaps it's worth it to overpay for this version of Samsung's Windows tablet.

But trying to find a bargain on this device is hardly the point. It's the first tablet you'll find that comes preloaded with Windows 8. And, as any technology geek knows, it's always fun to be the first on your block with a flashy new toy.

Google and Moto: The Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios

Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent overture to buy Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) has the potential for reshaping the entire Android landscape. If it wins regulatory approval for the purchase, Google may only have a short time span to connect its marketing strategy.

When and if this happens, it could further fracture the open source Android operating system. Depending on how Google follows its purchase of a hardware division, a future release of Android might usher in a more tightly controlled platform.

Consumers might see choices between hybrid Google Android devices with newer features than are available in the older open source versions of Android. That type of division could separate hardware manufacturers, propelling some to rally around Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Phone platform.

"If Google does plan on making an integrated move with hardware makers, we will know that within one year's time, maybe even within one month. It would be evident very quickly if Google starts trying to build a closed ecosystem," Anandan Jayaraman, chief product and marketing officer at Connectiva Systems, told LinuxInsider.

Why Google is not Microsoft

Thirteen years ago, in August 1998, I sat across a boardroom table from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for a deposition as part of the antitrust case brought against the company by the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 states. When the courts found that Microsoft had violated the law, the case showed the crucial difference between legitimate business competition, which the antitrust laws are intended to encourage, and illegal, strong-armed monopolistic practices which thwart competition and deter innovation.

This week, Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google will be questioned by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights about practices currently being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission. Google's competitors and some observers have sought to identify similarities between Google and Microsoft as a result, but the companies, and the facts about their respective behavior then and now, could not be more different.

Simply put, Google is not Microsoft.

Antitrust law is about behavior. It's not about whether a company is big and successful -- it's about whether it is big and bad. Microsoft was both. With 95 percent share in the market for PC operating systems, Microsoft had unprecedented power over PC manufacturers who needed Windows to sell PCs, and it used that power to squelch competition. At trial Microsoft was found to have wielded its Windows monopoly to punish PC manufacturers who wanted to use products made by Microsoft's competitors -- most prominently a small startup company, Netscape. This had the effect of protecting the Windows monopoly, punishing those who pushed back on Microsoft's licensing terms, and raising prices for consumers.

In addition, Microsoft threatened to withhold technical information from software developers who wanted to write programs for Windows that might have eroded its monopoly. Microsoft also made it impossible to fully use other company's products on Windows and difficult even to install some rival programs. The purpose of Microsoft's conduct? To protect the huge profits it made from the high prices it charged consumers for Windows. Not surprisingly, the courts found that Microsoft had used its monopoly power illegally to stifle innovation, limit consumer choice and harm competition.

Google Launches Wallet, Impact Still Limited

Google’s near field communications payment system, Google Wallet, has officially launched. While Google’s compatible devices and available payment options remain limited, Google has indicated that more options are on their way.

The Limited Launch

Image Credit: GigaOM

While Google has been testing this product extensively since May, select users will now be able to use Google Wallet to make payments. Of course, the restriction that limits the launch to “select users” has nothing to do with a phase of testing. Rather, Google’s product has only one compatible device (The Nexus S 45) and one credit card that connects with the app (Citi MasterCard).

However, Google also had some good news: They would be making a Google prepaid card available for use with Google Wallet. Users can fill this card by using any other standard credit card. Further, according to the Google Blog post announcing the launch, “Visa, Discover and American Express have made available their NFC specifications that could enable their cards to be added to future versions of Google Wallet.”

On the device front, Google’s anticipated Nexus Prime should give Wallet users more breathing room, while device manufacturers may contribute their own alternatives in the near future.

Read more at http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2110582/Google-Launches-Wallet-Impact-Still-Limited

Google Launches Hangouts API For Developers

In addition to the slew of new Hangout-related featuresannounced today on the official Google blog, the Google+ team also announced the launch of the Google+ Hangouts API for developers. This API (application programming interface) will be available as a “Developer Preview” starting today – meaning it’s not a fully-cooked product, but one that’s available for testing purposes only.

The new Hangouts API will allow developers to build their own experiences inside Hangouts and build real-time applications that use Hangouts, similar to Google’s own built-in YouTube player. The YouTube player lets Google+ users in a Hangout watch videos together at the same time.

Google also announced screen-sharing, Google Docs editing and sketching as new built-in features for Google+ Hangouts today, thereby forcing developers to think beyond the obvious integrations to more creative uses of the Hangouts API when building their apps.

To get started with the API, developers will build a Web application, register it with Google and specify who on their team can load it into a Hangout. The app behaves like a normal Web app, says Google, but it can use the new APIs like synchronization. Developers can create a “shared state” among all instances of their app so that all of their users are instantly notified of changes made by anyone else. Also included are the first few multimedia APIs that enable apps to do things like mute the audio and video feeds of Hangout participants.

The increased focus on Google+ Hangouts comes at a time when interest in Google’s new social network is dwindling and Facebook has implemented several similar features to those found on Google+. It’s not surprising to find Google promoting Hangouts, then, given they’re one of the service’s main differentiating factors from Facebook. Although Facebook offers video chat with friends through its Skype integration, that support is limited to one-on-one conversation, not group chats.

Mid-range Pantech Breakout Android 4G smartphone will sell for under $100

Money conscious consumers in the US don’t have to compromise on features and connectivity when they come to buy their next Android device as mobile makers are starting to roll out sub-$100 smartphones with 4G connectivity, access to thousands of apps and more than adequate technical specs.

The Pantech Breakout made by Personal Communications Devices (PCD) is the latest budget-friendly Android handset to make its way onto shelves in the US.

The Pantech Breakout sports Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, a 1 GHz processor, a 4” touchscreen display, a 5MP camera with 720p video recording capabilities and DLNA connectivity.

While most 4G-capable smartphones are currently selling for around $250 on a two-year contract there are lots of options for consumers that don’t want to spend that much.

Consumers looking for a wallet-friendly Android smartphone with 4G connectivity should also investigate the Huawei Impulse 4G ($22.99 on a 2-year contract), the Samsung Exhibit 4G ($29.99 on a two-year contract), the Samsung Gravity SMART ($29.99 on a two-year contract) and the Samsung Conquer 4G ($99 on a two-year contract).

One of the most enticing deals for a sub-$100 Android smartphone is the Nexus S 4G which has been reduced to $99.99 on a two-year contract.

The Pantech Breakout will be sold exclusively from American carrier Verizon Wireless from September 22 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate on a two-year contract.

Source:http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/midrange-pantech-breakout-android-4g-smartphone-will-sell-for-under-100-2357973.html