Google+Facebook+iPhone: 11/06/11

Sunday, 6 November 2011

How Apple will use Siri, Maps and Microsoft to divorce itself from Google

Apple and Google have had a tumultuous relationship in the mobile landscape. When the iPhone was launched, Google was a partner from day one. Their map data, YouTube archive and default search option were integral parts of the iPhone experience.

Now, with Google also in the mobile handset arena, the stakes have changed a bit. Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs saw the introduction of an Android device, by HTC, that felt very similar to the iPhone as a move that amounted to “grand theft” and reportedly declared that he would go to “thermonuclear war” with Google over it.

Since then, Android has continued to grow and now has the largest install base of any mobile operating system, with iOS sitting in the second spot. Both of these OSs have a massive lead on any potential competition as Windows Phone 7 has yet to gain any real traction, webOS is on the brink of fading away forever and BlackBerry has gone off the deep end.

Being reliant on a competitor’s products, especially one as contentious as Android is to iOS, is never a great idea, and you can be sure that Apple knows it. Android devices, of course, have access to all of the same Google products that the iPhone does, and more, but there is a key difference.

By using Google’s services, Apple is effectively supporting their competitor’s products to the tune of 250M installed devices.

This is something that has to change and Apple knows it. This is why it is currently working, as it has been doing since 2009, to divest itself of as much of Google’s products as it can.
Siri and Search

When the iPhone was launched, Google won a bidding war with Microsoft to make its search product the default on the iPhone over Bing. This was revealed during a Senate Antitrust hearing over Google’s dominance in the search industry.

This battle to be the default provider on Apple’s iOS devices happened before Android was announced by Google, indeed, before it was ever in the form that we know today. You can bet that if Google had a rival mobile operating system at the time, it would have been a much tougher play to get Apple to go that way.

That being said, Google was by far the dominant search engine at that time and still remains so in many ways today.

So what is the best way for Apple to combat competition in something that is as basic a need as search? By pulling a play from Google’s own book.

With Siri, Apple is showing off its new search strategy in a big way. Siri launched with two content partners, Yelp and Wolfram Alpha, that allow it to deliver query results directly to those asking for it.

If you ask Siri for a restaurant nearby, you aren’t taken to a Google results page with restaurants by location, instead you’re provided with a simple list based on your query that contains information and star ratings provided by Yelp.

Tech Recap: iPhone 4S battery; HTC Rezound; Kindle Fire; Nook Tablet

Apple Inc. this week said it will release a software update to the iPhone 4S fix a battery life issue for select owners.

“We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks,” the company said in a statement.

Buyers of the iPhone 4S have been irked by a battery drain issue that is plaguing select devices.

This week, a discussion forum at Apple.com has grown to 190 pages from buyers who have claimed the battery life on the iPhone 4S is far less than advertised.

Apple disclaims eight hours of talk time and six hours of internet use via 3G, with standby time of up to 200 hours.

Buyers of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S this week said the Siri voice command assistant held intermittent functionality Thurs. with users unable to access the feature nationwide.

In the error, users who activate the Siri function will receive a message that states, “Sorry, I’m having trouble connecting to the network.”

Siri, which offers voice command assistance from calls to stock information, must connect with a server at Apple to subsequently provide an answer.

Google Inc. this week launched then removed the new Gmail app for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch due to a software error.

The company this week said the Gmail for iOS app contained a bug that caused users to see an error message upon launch of the app.

It added it will release a new version soon.

Google Inc. this week said it has improved its ranking algorithm to compile more timely search results.

The update to the Caffeine web indexing system will affect roughly 35 percent of searches to provide more up-to-date results.

For example, when users search ‘nba lockout’ the search engine will display recent pages or images that may be only minutes old.

In addition, reoccurring events will automatically search for the most recent or upcoming event rather than a prior event.

Amazon.com Inc. may include an 8.9-inch display in the successor to the Kindle Firetablets.

Digitimes this week claimed Amazon panel suppliers for the 7-inch the Kindle Fire have begun to prepare production capacities for 8.9-inch displays.

The report adds Amazon may subsequently release 9.7 to 10.1-inch models in the future.

Amazon.com Inc. launched the Kindle Lending Library to allow Amazon Prime customers to borrow digital books at no cost.

The company said Prime customers can choose from thousands of books including 100 current New York Times Bestsellers with no due dates.

Amazon currently offers free streaming of Amazon Prime Instant Videos to members who pay $79 a year for free two-day shipping and one-day shipping at $3.99.

Retailer Amazon.com Inc. this week said it will offer content from Walt Disney Co. Amazon Prime members in a new streaming partnership.

The agreement includes 800 titles from ABC Studios, The Disney Channel, ABC Family, and Marvel. Titles include Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Felicity, Phineas & Ferb, X-Men Evolution, Greek, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Apps that are child's play for iPhone and iPad

While there are numerous reasons to not use your handy tech devices with your little ones --developmental and hygienic -- some of us find exposure to the ubiquitous small screens unavoidable.

Although in my family we do try to limit our use of digital devices, with a preference for face-to-face and real-world interactions, my 5-month-old has become familiar enough with the smartphones and tablets in our household that he can scroll, swipe and perform several multi-touch actions.

It's not that we have tried to show him any of this, but we use the devices so often to shoot photos and video of his every move and Skype with his grandmother, who lives out of town. Because he has quickly adapted to them, I have acquiesced somewhat and created a folder on my phone with apps just for him.

I'm more interested in saving money for his college (or heck, even preschool) than spending on apps and in having him engage with the real world than focus on a small glowing screen. So the apps that I do use with my son, first, are free or cheap, and second, are less about bells and whistles and killer graphics than they are about encouraging engagement and reinforcing experiences with a causal connection.

Here are five apps (with a few bonus items) in my baby's folder on my iPhone and iPad:

1. Animal Sounds for Baby: Fisher Price offers three free Laugh & Learn iPhone/iPod apps designed for babies ages 6 months and up. Among them is this, featuring a selection of animated animals that smile, dance and growl, quack or make their other appropriate sounds. Your child can get a response from the animal by tapping, tilting and shaking the screen.

A cheerful woman's voice says the name of the animal as it is highlighted on the screen. (I usually join her.) After a series of animals, there's a catchy little song and dance.

The app runs through two groups of animals and then repeats. (Honestly, though, I can usually make it through only about two reps before the song takes root in my head.)

Samsung Galaxy Nexus appears in Verizon training docs, November 21st added to launch date lottery

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been one of the leakiest phones in recent memory which, if anything, shows just how much excitement there is surrounding both it and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Today we've got another pair of leaks for you to help pass the time on this lazy Sunday.

First up, the folks at The Droid Guy have been sent the image you see up above, which is a handy comparison chart that's allegedly being passed around to Verizon employees to help them train for Big Red's upcoming trio of high-end Androids. There's not a lot on the chart that we don't already know, but it does show that Verizon's version of the Galaxy Nexus could come with 32GB of built-in storage, which is important to note since the phone doesn't have a microSD slot to add memory with. And yes, there are a couple of small errors on the chart that make us want to take a few take it with a few grains of salt, but that doesn't necessarily mean the document should be immediately discounted as a fake.

Next we've got another date to add to the Galaxy Nexus launch lottery. This morning Droid-Life received an internal Verizon doc showing that the Nexus could be launching on November 21st. And that "w/o?" The source of the image says that it means "web only," meaning that the Galaxy Nexus may only be available online on that date. The slide also shows that Verizon may be planning to launch the BlackBerry Curve 9370 on November 17th with the XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition to follow on November 30th. That last date is a Wednesday, which is not the day that we're accustomed to seeing Verizon launch new devices on, but the DROID RAZR and Rezound are coming out on a Friday and Monday, respectively, so the 30th is still a date to keep in the back of your mind.

Google Android 4.0 offers better support for x86 chips

Google’s Android operating system is built on open source software, and that’s allowed device makers to tweak the OS and install it on a wide range of devices. While most Android phones and tablets released so far have shipped with ARM-based processors, we’ve also seen devices with MIPS chips or Intel processors.

But up until recently, Android was optimized specifically for ARM. While you could compile it to run on other hardware, it might not run as well. In the case of MIPS-based devices, I’ve noticed that some Android apps simply won’t run — and that may even include the Android Market itself. And most Intel-powered devices running Android haven’t been fully optimized with power-saving features or hardware graphics acceleration.

That could all change with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich though. AnIntel spokesperson tells IDG News Service that ICS does include optimizations for x86 chips from companies such as Intel.

The news shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. A few months ago Google and Intel announced that optimizations were coming. But this is the first time I’ve seen confirmation that specify that Ice Cream Sandwich will be x86-friendly.

Scam Artists Target Elderly Louisiana Residents

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Scam artists are targeting elderly Lake Charles area residents by impersonating their grandchildren and seeking transfers of thousands of dollars.

The American Press reported that the scammers are using technology to shield their identities from would-be victims and avoid detection.

The scammers appear to be using Google Voice, an Internet based telephone service, to call potential victims in southwest Louisiana. Google Voice is available for public use and is free or, for people who make international calls, low-cost.

Carmen Million, president of the local Better Business Bureau, said that while the scam recently affecting Lake Charles is classic, the technology that permits greater anonymity is a new wrinkle.

Jay Nancarrow, a Google spokesman, said the Internet giant is mindful of fraudulent activities that can occur using its technology.

"Google does not tolerate abuse of our services. We will disable accounts for verifiable violations of our policies, including this type of voicebased scam," Nancarrow said. "We will also review law enforcement requests that we receive through valid legal process."

The BBB often sends reports of scams to the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates financial crimes. But the agency, which is more famous for its role protecting the nation's leaders, is undermanned, Million said.

"For every person they arrest, there's probably 10 more that have probably used the same scam," she said.

Million said cons seek out the elderly as victims because they are frequently at home during the day and often answer the phone.

The scams, Million said, can prove lucrative.

"The reality is that they may call 100 people, but if they scam five people, it may very well be worth it because they can get as much as $3,000 from each," she said. "They'll just rotary call until they get somebody."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/06/scam-artists-target-elderly-louisiana-residents/#ixzz1cxorHPPV

Google launches major tweaks in formula to refine searches

Last week, Google Inc. introduced a major improvement in its search algorithm to help it better determine when to give users more up-to-date and relevant results.

“Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world,” said Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow, and head of Google’s core ranking team, on the company’s official blogpost, “the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.”

An algorithm is a set of mathematical steps that solves a problem. A Google Fellow is a designation the company reserves for its elite master engineers in the area of “ranking algorithm”.

Tweaking algorithms to yield better search results is not new to Google. Over the past decade, the owner of the world’s most popular search engine has introduced many innovations such as PageRank, named after Google’s co-founder and chief executive Larry Page, which works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is.

In February, it had introduced another algorithmic improvement christened “Panda” to improve user experience by catching and demoting “low-quality” sites that did not provide useful original content or otherwise add much value while simultaneously giving better rankings to high-quality sites—“those with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports and insightful analysis”.

Singhal, along with numerous other Google scientists, analysts and engineers, continuously works on refining searches with a good reason. The search firm answers more than one billion questions a day from people in 181 countries and 146 languages. It indexes millions of Web pages, but the challenge is to return only the most relevant and most recent result, depending on the context of the query. Moreover, the company in February had a nearly 90% share of the global search engine market, according to research firm StatCounter.

Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine garnered a mere 4.37% share and was marginally ahead of Yahoo at 3.93%.

Google looks at offering Pay TV

GOOGLE is considering a plan to offer paid cable-TV services to consumers in the US. The move could unleash a new wave of competition within the traditional TV business.

Google has looked at ways to expand a previously announced project to build a high-speed Internet service in Kansas City in Missouri and Kansas, adding video and phone service in a mirror of offerings from cable and telecom companies, according to people briefed on its plans.

Google says Apple's Siri threatens search

Google [GOOG] chairman Eric Schmidt has admitted his company may have bitten off more than it can chew in its war with Apple [AAPL], and is running scared of the serious search threat posed by Siri.

From the horse's mouth

I can already hear the Android fans argue against this claim, but it's not me who is saying this, but Google. "Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," said Schmidt in a written submission to the Senate's antitrust subcommittee.

Schmidt is attempting to argue that Google's huge slice of the search market doesn't mean it dominates search. He sees Siri as a big threat, and argues that social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook also threaten the Googleplex.

Last month I argued that Siri opens a new front in Apple's battle with Google. I argued that Siri search and services will lower people's dependence on browser-based search.

At present, Apple's (beta) offering is unique -- no one else has something as capable as Siri at this time. Since my report, Forbes has even called Siri a "Google killer".
Read more http://blogs.computerworld.com/19212/google_says_apples_siri_threatens_search

Motorola drops the ball again, but with their new XOOM 2 tablets

Motorola Mobility Inc. (MMI) has struggled all year to capture market share in the tablet market with their only offering, the 10.1″ Motorola XOOM. So far, MMI has reported shipping 540,000 Motorola XOOM tablets. Meanwhile Motorola’s own Android counterpart Asustek Computer Inc. is planning to reach 1.8 million tablets shipped for the year, Asustek has shipped 1.2 million tablets so far.

After a few months of the Motorola XOOM being on the market many began to speculate on the next major release, then call the Motorola XOOM 2. The Motorola XOOM 2 was expected to be the tablet that would bring quad-core processing to Android tablets, the XOOM was the first with a dual-core processing chip after all.

Business Beat: Businesses learn to maximize social media's potential

Social media isn't just for socializing any more.

-

-

In fact, it's one of the most powerful business tools out there. More than 40 people attended a seminar hosted by the Louisiana Small Business Development Center at the Central Louisiana Business Incubator Thursday to learn how to maximize that potential.

The seminar, presented by LSBDC consultants Lee MaCallister and Heather Conoboy, focused on Facebook because of its huge and extremely loyal user base.

While creating a Facebook page for your business is as easy as popping online (www.facebook.com/pages/create.php) and following the steps in a creation wizard, it doesn't do much good if you don't know how to use it.

"Once you create a page, the real work begins," McCallister said. "In order for that page to be of any value to you it needs to be promoting your business."

Some tips McCallister and Conoboy gave for business owners using Facebook included:

»Plan a strategy on how you want to use social media before you begin.

»Make your page engaging and interesting. Allow people to interact with the content and provide information your customers will find helpful.

»Promote your events always.

"You might say, 'we had an event last week, what did you think of the decorations?'" McCallister said. "That engages you. You can post video from the event so people can see what they missed and maybe they'll come next month."

Chickenpox Lollipops By Mail? Illegal, Prosecutor Warns

Parents receiving chickenpox-infected lollipops through the mail are breaking the law, a federal prosecutor tells the Associated Press.

Spurred by reports aired in the past week about parents turning to Facebook to procure items said to be infected with chickenpox, U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin hopes to make it clear that trafficking in infectious diseases is illegal — as well as unsafe.

"If you are engaged in this type of behavior, you're not only potentially exposing innocent people to dangerous viruses and illnesses and diseases, you're also exposing yourself potentially to federal criminal prosecution," Martin told The Associated Press.

According to Martin, it is a federal crime to send diseases or viruses across state lines, whether through the U.S. Postal Service or private services like FedEx or UPS. The same laws that prohibit, say, the mailing the of anthrax also apply to infectious diseases: Offenders, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison.

The hubbub comes in the wake of the growing popularity of so-called chickenpox parties, organized by parents in order to expose their children to chickenpox and thereby strengthen their immune systems. As WSMV-TV in Nashville reported Thursday, parents without entree to such events are increasingly turning to internet dealers purporting to sell lollipops, among other items, infected with the chickenpox virus.

Facebook claimant Paul Ceglia returns to U.S. to press his case

Paul Ceglia is stateside again.

The New York state man embroiled in a contentious lawsuit with Facebook showed up Friday in the offices of his hometown newspaper, the Wellsville Daily Reporter reported.

Ceglia, who claims a 2003 partnership agreement entitles him to half of Mark Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar stake in Facebook, sounded confident, according to the report.

"I'm back," he proclaimed. "It's off to find some important USB devices and memory sticks."

The federal judge in the case ordered Ceglia to return from Ireland last week to search for missing evidence.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio made the decision after a three-hour hearing on Wednesday.

Ceglia's lawyer, Dean Bolan, said last week that his client welcomed the opportunity to push the case forward.

"We are thankful for a precise and detailed order going to finally wrap up the case," Bolan said.

Samsung debuts Apple iPod touch knockoff

“Samsung finally copied Apple’s 2007 iPod touch by releasing its own knockoff in 2011,” Obama Pacman reports.

“The Samsung Galaxy 4.0 Android MP3 Player, priced at $229, even copied the 2010 4th gen iPod touch pricing of $229,” Obama Pacman reports. “Too bad that right before Samsung introduced its knockoff device, Apple unveiled 2011 Pod touch starting at $199.”

Obama Pacman reports, “The SamsungGalaxy player, is of course larger and bulkier, with the bonus of lower battery life.”

4G LTE capable HTC Vivid Android smartphone now available from AT&T

The new HTC Vivid for AT&T, one of the carrier's first two LTE 4G smartphones, is now available for purchase. In addition to the LTE data, the Vivid offers a massive 4.5-ich qHD touchscreen display for web browsing, pictures, and video. The Vivid packs a zippy dual-core 1.2GHz processor under its hood along with 16GB of storage and microSD card support for cards up to 32GB in size. With its 8MP camera, the smartphone can record 1080p HD video and offers users a built-in video editor and slow-motion playback. The Vivid is available now for $199.99 with a new two year service agreement. Check out our hands-on video with the HTC Vivid for AT&T here. It is worth mention that some users in certain regions of the USA are seeing the HTC Vivid on AT&T's website for $100 less than the announced price.

source: AT&T

Samsung Galaxy Nexus pricing: £549.99 unlocked, £529.99 PAYG?

We know exactly when the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will land in the UK, and we have some indication of pricing, but not the whole picture. While sites like Phones4u and Buymobilephones have thrown up some contract deals, we haven’t heard direct from the networks, or a firm unlocked handset price.

Amazon UK have the 16GB Galaxy Nexus up for pre-order for the tidy sum of £519.99, with Clove hovering around the £515 mark. Paul O’Brien of MoDaCo fame has tweeted some Phones4u pricing too. Both the unlocked and PAYG pricing are higher than Amazon UK and Clove, at £549.99 and £529.99 respectively. No word on what network(s) will be providing the phone on PAYG, though. Phones4u will also reserve initial stock for contracts only, so if they start flying off the shelves come November 17th, don’t expect to just waltz into a store and walk out with an unlocked model.

Normally we’d take this with a pinch of salt, but Mr. O’Brien has been a busy boy with the Galaxy Nexus as of late. On Thursday he achieved root access, and on Friday released the boot, recovery, and system images for the new superphone. Clearly then he’s been making friends with the right people, so we’re confident the information is accurate.

The Galaxy Nexus features the latest version of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, and packs impressive specs to boot. It has a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED 1280x720 display, 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with zero shutter lag and 1080p video recording, plus 16GB of storage.

Source: Twitter

Who is buying HTC Vivid or Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket?

Not me, likely, and I'm surprised by the answer.

Today, AT&T flipped the 4G LTE service switch in four additional markets and launched its first supporting smartphones -- HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyocket. Last week, I asked "Who will buy them?" I'm less surprised by your responses than my own.

Several BetaNews readers are in the same pickle barrel as me. They bought the Galaxy S II around the time of its October 2 release, which is outside AT&T's 30-day return period (with $35 stocking fee) to get the Skyrocket. The question: Why wouldn't you take the LTE and HSPA+ model over the HSPA+-only one, extending your phone investment over the life of the two-year contract?

BetaNews commenter VivekK offers the simplest solution to the 30-day return policy problem: "U know U can return the phone saying that something is wrong right? Do that, and U can get the LTE phone when it releases -- that's what I did. :D" I would more likely try to cajole bending the rules for a longstanding AT&T Wireless and U-verse customer. Do what your conscience will let you.

"I'm in your exact situation, Joe," Jon Deutsch comments. He continues:

iPhone 4S bug silencing outgoing calls?

Verizon's "can you hear me now?" guy has retired from that gig, but it now seems people receiving calls from an iPhone 4S are picking up the torch and asking the same question.

Can you hear me now, Ms. Appleseed?

(Credit: Apple)

That's because there seems to be a bug--reported on all three major iPhone carriers in the U.S.--that's occasionally keeping owners of the new iPhone from hearing anything in their earpiece when making outgoing calls.

At last check, the discussion of the issue onApple's support forums is 29 pages long and the current theory within the thread seems to be that a driver issue is to blame. Users have identified a number of workarounds, including toggling the speakerphone on and off, plugging and unplugging headphones, or activating Siri.

I've contacted Apple for a response, but haven't heard back. Developers have already been fed an update to iOS 5. We'll see if this issue miraculously disappears when the update rolls out to regular users in a few weeks.

iPhone 5 release date leads 2012 charge as iPad 3, iPod touch 5 linger

After a comparatively quiet iYear in 2011, Apple’s mobile products will necessarily see a slew of 2011 revamps from the headlining release dates for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 to the lingering iPod touch 5 and Apple TV. This year saw the company’s mobile hardware releases skew less ambitious than usual: the original iPad was replaced by an evolutionary iPad 2 instead of the one people were hoping for. The iPhone 4 was replaced with an outwardly identical iPhone 4S instead of the redesigned iPhone 5 people were expecting. Apple’s MacBook lineup was split, with the Air seeing a major revamp and the Pro seeing nothing more than a speed bump. Other Apple iProducts were simply skipped over. How much this had to do with the challenging leadership transition from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook while Jobs was dying, and how much of it was a matter of the products merely not being ready yet, is something no one outside Cupertino can say for sure. But with 2012 around the corner, here’s a look at Apple product categories which will see updates this year, from the iPhone 5 to the iPad 3 and beyond, and the prospects for each…

Tons Of iPhone 4S Users Can't Hear Calls Through The Phone's Earpiece

Apple's iPhone 4S is having another big problem: many users can't hear through the device's earpiece during outgoing phone calls.

There's a 29-page discussion on Apple's support boards about the issue, which is affecting users across all carriers.

A few of us at Business Insider have encountered the problem, but only intermittently.

Apparently, the earpiece can be hacked into working again if you flip the speakerphone on and off, but the results are only temporary.

Gizmodo dug through the discussion on Apple's forums, and speculates that the problem arises because of a "driver issue" within iOS 5.

iOS 5.0.1, which is filled with bug fixes, has already been fed to developers. We may not see it get pushed out for another couple weeks, though.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-4s-earpiece-2011-11#ixzz1cxl47pU1

Players Blast Michael Jordan on Twitter

On Saturday, as labor talks between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association were winding down, at least three NBA players took to Twitter to express their frustration with Jordan.

“I’m not wearing Jordans no more,” Washington Wizards guard Nick Young said. “Can’t believe what I just seen and heard from MJ. Elvis Done Left The Building.”

“Damn MJ,” Indiana Pacers guard Paul George wondered aloud. “That’s how you feel?”

Later, Golden State Warriors rookie wing Klay Thompson replied to George: “You think the 1996 MJ would pull this? Straight hypocrite bro.”

George agreed: “Man straight hypocrite bro.. He should’ve been the 1st one behind us smh.”

Here’s why all Twitter users should tweet with accountability and without the delete button

I recently had a very short conversation with a very well known journalist on Twitter. It consisted of two tweets on my part, both of which were, in my humble opinion, not at all rude, but for some inexplicable reason resulted in my being blocked by said journalist.

The issue arose from a misunderstanding after he deleted a tweet that I had replied to, challenging his opinion. I thought that he had deleted it because he was embarrassed by the idea that it conveyed, and the fact that the idea was now associated with his very public persona.

I took a screenshot of his deleted tweet and posted it in my reply to him, only to have him respond to me saying that he deletes all of his replies, that clearly I can’t read, and that I would promptly be blocked.

True to his word, I found that I was no longer following him, and that he had indeed blocked me. I quickly took and posted a screenshot of that pleasant reply as well, as I knew it’s short-lived fate on the interwebz.

That brief and disappointing blip on Twitter got me thinking.

Where is the accountability in social media when it’s that easy to delete a tweet without acknowledging the fact that it ever existed? In a small side conversation like this one, probably seen by very few people, it’s not such a big deal. Right? Wrong.

A Twitter user with over 80,000 followers has to have at least an iota of responsibility for the words coming out of his or her mouth – or Twitter account. And the same has to go for a user with a handful of followers as well.

The story about how social media has changed our lives forever and has connected us in ways we never imagined possible is by no means new. So it becomes incredibly easy for users to forget the basics of how and why we should be using social media. Clearly, we are in need of occasional reminders of the double edged sword that is social media.

Twitter wrap-up: Utah State at Hawaii

HONOLULU -- Utah State was looking for their first win in Hawaii since 1966 on late Saturday night. Those of the Aggie faithful that stayed up late to watch or listen to the game definitely saw quite a game.

The first quarter started out nicely as Matt Austin caught a nice touchdown pass and put Utah State on the board first. The Aggies led at the end of the first quarter, 7- 0.

The second quarter was a complete reversal of fortune for Utah State.

The penalties against both teams began to mount early on, leading Tyrell Marchant (@tbmarchant) to say, "It's already 10 p.m., someone tell the refs to quit throwing the flags." Obviously he was referring to the late start of the game.

Tyler Bennett poorly punted a ball early on that gave Hawaii great field position on the Aggies 18-yard line.

Hawaii scored shortly thereafter and tied the game at seven points apiece. But that wasn't the end of the scoring. Before Utah State realized it, they were down 21- 7 thanks to the play of Hawaii QB Bryant Moniz.

The Aggies offense couldn't seem to get a sustained drive going. The Upset Blog (@TheUpsetBlog) tweeted, "Every time I see Utah State with the ball, Keeton is scrambling right and going out of bounds."

One image that Utah State fans did not want to see was that of Keeton down, motionless on the field.

The Upset Blog (@TheUpsetBlog) wrote, "Keeton got crunched with his head pointing down by a Hawaii dude's torso after he got stripped of the ball. He is down and it's not good." He continued, saying, "Nothing dirty from Hawaii on the hit, Keeton just got tilted the wrong way and head crunched into someone else."

Homophobic tweet has Antony Golec in hot water

FOOTBALL Federation Australia is expected to come down hard on Antony Golec over disgraceful remarks the Adelaide United defender made on social media site Twitter regarding the performance of referee Ben Williams during Saturday night's controversial match between Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar.

United officials have already ordered Golec to write a letter of apology to Williams and he has been asked to front United chief executive Glenn Elliott this morning, when the club says he will be "heavily censured".

Williams sparked uproar and sent Twitter into overdrive after he issued red cards to Melbourne's Ante Covic and Matthew Foschini in the first half of the 2-2 draw at Etihad Stadium.

Golec, who switched from Sydney FC to the Reds at the start of the season, stunned Twitter followers when he tweeted: "Ben Williams you are gay, biggest homo going around, you gypsie."

United acted quickly, yesterday saying it had been made aware Golec "had inadvertently communicated a private tweet intended for his brother through to the general network".

Do you censor yourself on Twitter and Facebook?

The CIA are monitoring activity on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, the Associated Press reports.

Named the Open Source Center, the group provides a picture of the social world through tweets, photos and status updates.

They are said to have predicted the uprising in Egypt and analysed the popular reaction in Pakistan following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

While the goal is to collect information on foregin countries, it's clear that what you say online is not as private as you may think.

European Commission investigating Samsung over possible abuse of FRAND patents against Apple

Samsung's various attempts to shut down Apple products -- most recently the iPhone 4S -- with patents declared essential to the 3G industry standard have now given rise to an antitrust investigation by Europe's top competition "watchdog". This is the most important development to date related to the world-spanning dispute between these two companies. This investigation has the potential to force Samsung to withdraw most of its claims against Apple, but let's not forget that the underlying issue concerns the technology industry at large. Everyone -- not just Apple -- relies on FRAND standards.

I have been saying all along that patents that are contributed to industry standards on the basis of so-called FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing commitments must not be used as strategic weapons. In my view, FRAND patent holders can ask for reasonable compensation, but they are not allowed to overcharge or to shut down products as long as an alleged infringer is willing to take a license on FRAND terms (if there actually is an infringement of valid patents). That view was also shared by a judge in The Hague, Netherlands, who dismissed a Samsung request for a preliminary injunction and held that Samsung had failed to honor its FRAND licensing commitment.

A recent court filing by Apple in California (a proposed amendment to Apple's counter-counterclaims against Samsung, many of which are FRAND-related) states the following (click to enlarge, or read the text below the graphic):

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is an LTE-enabled handset with a spacious 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The handset runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and under the hood, a 1.5GHz dual-core processors makes it tick. An 8-megapixel rear camera allows capturing video in 1080p, while up front there’s a 2-megapixel snapper. The Galaxy S II Skyrocket features 16B of on-board memory, expandable via a microSD card by up to an additional 32 gigs.

AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, HTC Vivid launch; each $100 cheaper than expected

AT&T’s first two 4G LTE-enabled smartphones are now available for purchase, and subscribers looking to be among the first to own these powerful new Android devices are in for a pleasant surprise. Announced just last week, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and HTC Vivid feature Google’s Android Gingerbread OS and specs that place them on par with most modern high-end handsets. They were also announced with high-end price points; the Vivid was unveiled at $199.99 and the Skyrocket was given a $249.99 price tag. Both phones are now on sale as promised — they became available a day early on Saturday, in fact — but each smartphone is priced $100 lower than expected on AT&T’s website. Read on for more.

The Vivid is being offered for just $99.99 on contract in black or white, and the Skyrocket costs $149.99 on AT&T’s website, $50 less than the standard version of the Galaxy S II that lacks LTE. It is unclear how long the $100 online discounts will last for these sleek new smartphones, but buyers who were on the fence may have just gotten the push they needed.

BGR went hands-on with both the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the HTC Vivid last week, and we found the devices to be excellent jumping-off points for AT&T’s 4G LTE smartphone portfolio.

UPDATE: The plot thickens — apparently, pricing varies by region. Many report seeing the phones listed at their announced prices, while others are still seeing the $100 online discount. The screenshots below were taken at 12:30 p.m. EST using our zip code in New York.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Everyone was pretty excited about the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (renamed the Galaxy Tab 750 in India) when it launched worldwide earlier this year. Does the Galaxy Tab 750 live up to our long wait for serious competition toApple's iPad 2?

The Tab 750 is 8.6mm thick and weighs a mere 565g. That doesn't stop it from being one of the best tablet displays (if not the best display) available today and performance-oriented hardware. Watch a lot of high-definition movies? Have no fear, Full HD video playback is here; and Samsung made sure that a wide variety of video formats are supported. The same goes for your music and the two in-built speakers on either side deliver a stereophonic listening experience.

On the communications front, you'll find support for 3G, Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth 3.0. Finally, we move to software. The Galaxy comes with Google’s Android Honeycomb OS, and you can optionally install Samsung's custom interface. The multitasking is good, and you’ve got a host of Google services like Samsung Hub (stay connected, download music and e-books), and Polaris Office installed out of the box. Adobe Flash support is also a plus point.

It’s fully compatible with Windows, so adding files and music is as simple as copy-paste, with no extra software required. Verdict: To sum up, it’s a really good effort but there’s much more to be desired. The interface may feel unintuitive at times, the Android isn’t as mature as the iOS, so there are a few bugs and glitches here and there. The Android Marketplace has limited apps available that take advantage of a tablet’s available resources, so I’d suggest you check if the apps you require are available. Android is an open platform, so whoever knows how to write software programs may find it useful to make their own private apps. Hardware wise, Samsung really has put together a decent package, which I dare say is superior to the iPad 2.

Smartphones win over 1.4 million Australians

More than 2.4 million Australians aged over 14 have ditched a fixed line in favour of their mobile phone according to Roy Morgan research.

Mobile voice call minutes rose 17.3 per cent in the 2010-2011 financial year to more than 13 billion minutes, according to Telstra's annual report.

Telstra customers sent almost 10 billion text messages during the same period, a rise of 5.3 per cent.

There are more than 22 million active mobile phones in Australia - more than one for every man, woman and child.

Telsyte technology analyst Foad Fadaghi said banking and grocery shopping apps had attracted older people to smartphones.

"What we are seeing now is that smartphone usage is becoming very reflective of the general mainstream population," he said.

Motorola Droid Razr: Verizon’s favorite Android phone?

Report says Verizon Wireless will focus on promoting the Motorola Droid Razr this quarter.

Verizon Wireless will focus on promoting the new Long Term Evolution Android smartphone by Motorola Mobility, the Motorola Droid Razr, according to a report posted by Reuters.

The company’s spokesman has confirmed that the new Razr with the Google Android operating system will receive “tremendous advertising weight” this quarter that will surely attract the wider consumer audience, obviously leaving other Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound as “alternatives” to Motorola’s sexiest Android smartphone to date.

The new Motorola Droid Razr is the thinnest Android smartphone yet, only 7.1 mm and surprisingly thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S II and Apple iPhone 4/iPhone 4S. However, the Droid Razr will offer an “older” Android operating system version, the Android Gingerbread 2.3, making it less attractive to advance smartphone users.

Samsung’s new smartphone, the Google Galaxy Nexus, is the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich device, and the only smartphone that will offer the “most beautiful” Android version this year. However, Motorola has confirmed that the Droid Razr will get the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update next year — a strategic business decision that will challenge Samsung’s “pure Android” smartphone.

The Motorola Droid Razr, without the “Droid” branding, is also expected to compete against the Galaxy Nexus in other countries including China, countries in Europe and Central and South America.

The Motorola Droid Razr is powered by 1.2GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM, sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen with 540 x 960 pixels resolution, can shoot HD photos and videos courtesy of an 8-megapixel primary camera and can also initiate and receive video calls courtesy of the phone’s 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

Motorola granted patent-related injunction against Apple in Germany

On Friday Motorola Mobility scored an injunction against Apple Inc. that could theoretically prohibit Apple from selling its mobile products products in Germany. The injunction was originally reported by FOSS Patents, and later confirmed by Apple with the following statement:

"This is a procedural issue that has nothing to do with the merits of the case. This does not affect our ability to sell products or do business in Germany at this time."

Some sites are reporting that since the injunction names Apple Inc. and not Apple GmbH (Apple Germany), the victory is little more than symbolic since Apple Inc. doesn't actually sell products in Germany. A default injunction was granted against Apple Inc. because it failed to reply in time to the suit, where it was named co-defendant with Apple Germany. Apple Germany did reply to the suit in time, and therefore dodged the default injunction.

FOSS later points out that even if Apple Inc. does not directly sell products in Germany, it is responsible for shipping them to Apple Germany, which would appear to be covered by any injunction.

Thanks, Web User: You’re a Part-Time Internet Archivist

Con enthsba!

Look familiar? Those confusing semi-words you retype to buy Rolling Stones tickets on TicketMaster.com or sell an antique lamp on Craigslist might not read as real words, but they are. They're actually images from the pages of books -- and thanks to reCAPTCHA technology, they're a key reason Google has digitized more than 15 million books since 2004.

The Google Books project has vastly improved the quality of digitized text, thanks in part to those curvy, sometimes colorful words on the web that are filled out 200 million times a day, explained Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Luis von Ahn, the inventor of the reCAPTCHA system.

“Humans, at least non-visually impaired humans, have no problem readings these distorted characters. But computer programs can’t do it as well yet,” von Ahn told FoxNews.com.

Google puts the obscure bits of books that it can't scan completely in the reCAPTCHA system and it’s up to humans rather than OCR machines to determine what the words really are. And by decoding the sometimes-fuzzy words that Google's optical character recognition (OCR) system is unsure about, you're helping the huge book project Google.

“Enthsba” may seem like Greek to you -- and it may actually be. Google says words from hundreds of countries and over 400 languages are part of the CAPTCHA program it acquired in 2009.

So congrats, Internet user! You're a part-time archivist.

But it hasn't always been so.

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a free program that von Ahn developed in 2000 to help Yahoo! with an e-mail spam problem.

“You type these distorted characters to prevent scalpers from writing up programs that can buy millions of tickets two at a time,” von Ahn said.

Two words appear in a CAPTCHA. The system knows the answer to one of the words and assumes the user typed in the other word correctly. The answer to the second word is then compared with what's written by other users and put into the pool of verified words.

“At first I was really proud of that.” But he told FoxNews.com that he started to feel bad for taking up Internet users’ time

He asked himself: “Can we do something useful at the same time?”

That’s when he came up with reCAPTCHA in 2007, which currently exists on over 100 websites including Facebook and Twitter

He took old issues of The New York Times and put them in the reCAPTCHA system. They digitized 20 years worth of editions, von Ahn reported. The system is clearly a success: Von Ahn did the math and figured out that 200 million CAPTCHA’s were filled out per day, taking about 10 seconds each.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/06/thanks-web-user-youre-part-time-internet-archivist/?test=faces#ixzz1cxhV5GBc

Anonymous is not attacking Facebook today

Although I debunked this story some three months ago, many are still asking if Facebook is being attacked today, if it will be taken down, and if their account credentials are safe. November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) is arguably a more likely date for the social network to be hacked than your average Saturday, but as I’ve already said, if something does happen today, the hacktivist group Anonymous will not be to blame.

This all started on July 16, 2011, when someone created accounts for an “Operation Facebook” on YouTube (FacebookOp) and Twitter (OP_Facebook). The goal was simple: “to bring attention to the fact that Facebook stored the data of user accounts.”

The former account is dead and the latter hasn’t tweeted anything for almost a month. A previous tweet still points to a YouTube video detailing Facebook as the target for November 5, 2011.

Back in August, I quickly figured out that Anonymous did not support the attacks. Only a small number of members thought Facebook deserved to be taken down. This explained why other mediums of communication that Anonymous has used in the past weren’t leveraged and why the released video was not of the usual Anonymous computerized voice and visual production quality.

The timing made me equally suspicious:

Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby Mama’ Mariah Yeater Answers Questions on Twitter

Mariah Yeater claims she isJustin Bieber’s baby mama, and she has been eating up the attention on Twitter.Last night she attempted to race to 9,000 followers, and she answered questionsfrom her followers. However, the young woman left one of the most importantquestions unanswered.

Late last night, Mariah Yeater tweeted, “I’m a great parent.

”However, earlier in the evening, Twitter’s @racheldillin tweeted asking her “@MariahYeater20 whatis your baby doing right now?” Somehow the woman who claims she is Justin Bieber’s baby mama never got around to answeringthat question even though she spent hours and hours on Twitter yesterday sayingall sorts of random things and begging for new followers while claiming she isnot trying to get famous.

In filing her lawsuit against the Babysinger, Mariah Yeater opened up a whole world of criticism from Beliebers whoare a huge and powerful group of people on Twitter. She seemed to be thrilledat the fact that her name was still trending after so long, and then, suddenly,the stream of random tweets stopped when she tweeted she was done with themicroblogging site.

She wrote, “Bye guys. not coming back to twitter. peace.#done.” Does this mean she has quit the site, or was it just for thenight? It seems the woman really ate up all the attention she receivedyesterday even though much of it was quite negative. After reading througheverything, though, you are left wondering just where her baby was during allthis? At three months old, Tristyn Anthony Markhouse Yeater probably is notdoing a lot, but he still requires plenty of care an attention. It is too badthat among all her random answers to fans she did not have time to discuss whather baby was doing while she spent hours on Twitter.

Hopefully he is okay and well cared for.Whether the little boy is or is not Justin Bieber’s baby, he needs to be takencare of, and as his mother Mariah Yeater bears much of that responsibility.Maybe she will take time away from her busy Twitter to make sure she does.

Rights group slams Facebook for censorship of French weekly

PARIS: Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders slammed Facebook on Friday for threatening to terminate the account of a French weekly whose offices were firebombed after publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed.

RSF noted with irony that Charlie Hebdo’s staff could no longer edit comments on its Facebook “wall”, including those inciting violence, while the “enemies of freedom of expression” could continue to post hate messages.

“Facebook has just discovered opportunely that Charlie Hebdo ‘is not a real person’, something that breaks the site’s rules,” RSF said in a statement, citing a message in French from Facebook.

“The content that you have published on Facebook has been deleted for breaking (Facebook) rules. Postings with graphic, sexually explicit or excessively revealing content are banned,” it quoted Facebook as saying.

“This message is a warning. Another infraction will result in the account being terminated.”

Charlie Hebdo journalist Valerie Manteau said late Friday that the newspaper had taken down its Facebook page voluntarily and as a temporary measure because it could not edit the comments.

Charlie Hebdo — which on Wednesday published a special Arab Spring edition with Mohammed on the cover as “guest editor” saying: “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!” — had the offending cover as its Facebook profile picture.

“We can only regret a position that says the enemies of freedom of expression are right and which leaves us perplexed as to the social network’s real motives for closing the account,” RSF said.

“The newspaper can no longer either add or block outside comments, be they hateful or threatening, as the page’s administrator cannot deactivate outside contributions,” RSF said.

“It is extremely worrying to notice that the social network seems to fall on the side of censorship and restricting the freedom to inform,” RSF said, noting that Facebook had already closed the pages of several dissidents.

Bank Transfer Day Attracts 81,900 RSVPs on Facebook

It started as a Facebook event page on Tuesday, and now it’s grown into a national movement. Today (Nov. 5) is Bank Transfer Day (BTD), a deadline activists set for transferring funds from for-profit banking institutions into not-for-profit credit unions closer to home.

Organized by Kristin Christian, her Bank Transfer Day Facebook page has attracted more than 81,900 RSVPs for the event since Tuesday (Nov. 1). Why? Kristen Christian wrote on the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page’s FAQ:

“I started this because I felt like many of you do. I was tired — tired of the fee increases, tired of not being able to access my money when I need to, tired of them using what little money I have to oppress my brothers & sisters. So I stood up. I’ve been shocked at how many people have stood up alongside me. With each person who RSVPs to this event, my heart swells. Me closing my account all on my lonesome wouldn’t have made a difference to these fat cats. But each of YOU standing up with me… they can’t drown out the noise we’ll make.”

The protest, not affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, had already gathered momentum with a similar push to “Move Your Money” started in July by Arianna Huffington. That project also encourages people to withdraw funds from “too big to fail” national banks and deposit them in smaller local banks and credit unions.

What’s the result of these social media-fueled protests? According to the Credit Union National Association, “at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions in the past four weeks.” That mass influx of credit union customers was further ignited on Sept. 29, when Bank of America announced it would begin charging consumers a $5-per-month fee for debit cards. Bank of America has since retracted that rate hikebecause of the public outcry.

What do you think of this movement? Will it convince those large for-profit banks, widely touted as “too big to fail,” to further change their ways?

Source:http://mashable.com/2011/11/05/bank-transfer-day-on-facebook/

Google Opens New Campus in Venice

Forget Jim Morrison or Jean-Michel Basquiat or even Lindsay Lohan. Venice's new most famous resident is Google.

The company opened the doors of its Binoculars Building campus on Thursday evening to applause from Los Angeles politicians and cautious optimism from local residents.

About 500 Google employees – Googlers – will start work Monday in the Frank Gehry-designed building at 340 Main St. and in two adjacent buildings. Three previous locations in Santa Monica will be closed, so the area's teams, including about 375 engineers, working on products such as YouTube, Google Chrome and Google+, and 125 sales people will be united in one campus, similar to the company's Mountain View location.

Attracting Google to Venice is seen as a win for the city of Los Angeles. "I couldn't be prouder to welcome you to Silicon Beach," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who began meeting with Google executives more than a year ago.

Since those initial meetings, the city has reclassified Internet companies out of a higher, media company tax bracket and created a three-year "tax holiday" for new or relocating companies in the city, said former Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Austin Beutner, who resigned in the spring to launch his own mayoral campaign.

"My aspiration would be to have Los Angeles become known as a world center of creative content, not just in traditional platforms but in newer platforms," Beutner told Patch.

The phrase "creative content" may be the key to the success of Silicon Beach, a term which has come to signify the burgeoning Internet businesses along the western edge of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles combines intellectual capital, a diverse community and a history of creative enterprise, Beutner said. "Combined, those three things are pretty powerful."

Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that Google video search technology started in Los Angeles, a fact Google's office director, Thomas Williams, mentioned in his remarks Thursday evening.

Williams was upbeat about the move, telling the crowd his team looked at more than 100 potential locations for a unified Los Angeles-area campus.

Sinead O'Connor: I Was Only Joking About Wanting to Murder the Pope

Irish songstress Sinead O’Connor came under fire a few weeks ago when she took to Twitter to announce that she would perform a "bloodbath" if Pope Benedict XVI visited Ireland.

"Young people of Ireland I love u' said Sinead as she pulled the [f**king] trigger," the artist tweeted, referencing the famous words of John Paul II, which he uttered in his 1979 pilgrimage to Ireland.

But O’Connor is changing her tune, insisting that her words were all in innocent humor.

“That was just nonsense. Come on! See, that's the trouble with Twitter, you know, people take it too seriously and they say, 'Oh, you're looking for attention,' but it's them following you and you didn't ask them to follow you,” she told FOX411’S Pop Tarts column at amfAR’s Inspiration Gala Los Angeles, a celebration of men’s style, to benefit the Foundation’s AIDS research programs.

“So it just got to a joke between me and my mate … I was joking about how I'd meet him at the airport with my AK but obviously I wouldn't or couldn't.”

Yet, this isn’t the first time the outspoken rocker who has vented her ill feelings towards the Pope and openly criticized the Catholic church over its sex abuses cases involving the clergy. In 1992 she sparked outrage on “SNL” following an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War" when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II with the proclamation: "Fight the real enemy!"

In recent months, O’Connor has also raised eyebrows with several odd remarks on her personal blog and on Twitter – ranging from her suicidal thoughts to her desperate need for a sexual partner. So now that her children are growing up, she has more time to devote not only to sharing her wildly random thoughts with the world, but to making music once again.

O’Connor did, however, recently delete her Twitter account.

“It was quite tiring keeping up with it really,” she explained. “I had great fun though, but all things must pass. I might start it up again, you never know.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/06/sinead-oconnor-was-only-joking-about-wanting-to-murder-pope/#ixzz1cw1eL2Le

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket Review (AT&T)

The new Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket for AT&T is hardly a far cry from its predecessor, theSamsung Galaxy S II, and that is a good thing. For a full review of the Samsung Galaxy S II, go here. With the Skyrocket, Samsung has made subtle, but significant changes to the Galaxy S II in the form of a larger display, a faster processor, and last but not least, they have thrown in 4G LTE support for AT&T’s up and coming 4G LTE network. Between all of these improvements, that basically makes the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket for AT&T the most powerful Samsung Galaxy S II model from all of the world’s carriers.
Galaxy S II Skyrocket VS. Galaxy S II

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket uses the same amazing Super AMOLED Plus display that can be found on the Samsung Galaxy S II and adds another .2 inches of display real estate for a total of 4.5 inches. That makes the Skyrocket similar in form-factor to the Samsung Infuse 4G for AT&T. Both phones also sport identical 800 x 480 resolutions. Fortunately, despite having bigger screen real estate, the Skyrocket has only slightly bigger dimensions than the original Galaxy S II. The Skyrocket measures 5.15” x 2.75” x 0.37″ and weighs 4.66oz, while the S II measures 4.96” x 2.60” x .35” and weighs 4.3 ounces. That means that the Skyrocket is a little bit thicker, wider, taller and heavier than the S II, but like the S II, it still feels lightweight for a device with such a big display. Fortunately, the extra screen real estate means that the onscreen keyboard feels more spacious. We only wish that they had bumped up the resolution to 960 x 540 which is the resolution of theHTC Vivid’s display. Furthermore, we almost wish that Samsung hadn’t increased the display on the Skyrocket to 4.5 inches. We actually feel like 4.3″ is more than enough, because even though the Skyrocket is just a bit bigger than the S II, we personally prefer the slightly more petite form-factor of the S II.

Shopping by smartphone this holiday season

As shoppers gear up for another mad holiday scramble, smartphones and tablet computers are emerging as Santa's electronic helpers.

And if the big guy up north isn't in touch with the times, shoppers are. Stuck in a humdrum economy and facing continued high rates of unemployment, consumers are increasingly finding that their mobile devices can come in handy. With a gadget in hand, shoppers can compare prices, research gift ideas, redeem electronic coupons and watch for special deals. Often, they do it right in the store aisle.

Retailers are catching on — just in time for the holiday season, the make-or-break time of year. Once content to simply sell these electronic devices, merchants and mall operators are now recognizing the increasingly important role phones and tablets are playing for shoppers and are eager to tap into this electronic path to consumers' wallets.

In addition to heavy promotions and the extension of store hours, many chains are rolling out shopping apps, mobile-optimized websites and spruced up social media pages.

"Retailers are looking at phones and tablets as one more channel to get shoppers, to drive brand loyalty and drive sales," said Jackie Fernandez, a Los Angles-based retail specialist for accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. "Consumers will be able to benefit from the discounts offered through them, especially around the holiday season."

About 1 in 4 smartphone owners plans to use a mobile device for holiday shopping, according to an annual holiday survey by Deloitte. Of those, 59% will use their phones to compare or check prices, 46% plan to use them to check product availability and 41% will get coupons through their handsets.

Social media, such as Facebook and Foursquare, will also be popular with shoppers, with 44% of those surveyed reporting that they will use social networks to find discounts, check out friends' or family members' wish lists and browse products.

Pages

Sunday, 6 November 2011