Google+Facebook+iPhone: 11/10/11

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Police break up iPhone 4S line outside Hong Kong Apple Store after altercation

Hundreds of people lined up for the release of the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong were reportedly dispersed by police Wednesday evening after customers got in an argument with professional queuers outside the Apple Store.

The recently opened Apple Store in Hong Kong is expected to see crushing demand when the iPhone 4S goes on sale there on at 7 a.m. local time on Nov. 11. Preorders for the device sold out within just 10 minutes of availability last Friday, serving as an early indication that the handset will be a hit in the region.

According to M.I.C. Gadget, customers began waiting in line Tuesday at noon. Witnesses alleged that a group of professional queuers believed to be in the employ of a gray market iPhone reseller threatened the customers and attempted to cut in line. The police eventually arrived to resolve the issue, but the scalpers quickly returned after the officers left. The scalpers reportedly receive $500 HKD ($64) to wait in line for their bosses.

The publication also noted that the number of queuers outside the Hong Kong IFC Apple Store number "a lot more" than those outside the flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York. A separate report noted that, due to "poor air ventilation," a woman had an epileptic seizure while waiting in line.

iPhone 4S always-on infrared sensor means Siri is ever watching, waiting

Apple’s Siri virtual assistant is a bit of a creeper.

The iPhone 4S includes an infrared LED sensor that remains on whenever its screen is lit up, seemingly to let Siri know when you’re holding the phone up to your face to give it commands, reports iFixit.

All of Apple’s iPhones have included an infrared proximity sensor, but previously it only lit up while you were making a call (or using an app like Skype), which made the phone dim its display and turn off touch functionality. The iPhone 4S, on the other hand, always keeps its IR sensor on when the phone is active.

“Siri is ready and waiting to answer her master’s beck and call at any time,” iFixit writes. “And in order to be as attentive as a personal assistant ought to be, Apple had to design the proximity sensor to be as vigilant as Big Brother, but as cute as Little Sister. So whenever the screen is active, the proximity sensor is active too. Thus, whenever you raise the iPhone 4S to your face, Siri is ready to take orders.”

The always-on IR sensor could be one reason why Apple can’t bring Siri to older iOS devices (though I think that decision has more to do with older iPhones not being fast enough to support Siri). But it’s not like Siri would be unusable without the ever-watching sensor — it’d still be accessible by double-tapping on your home button.

iPhone Battery Bug Fixed By iOS 5.0.1: Early Reports

Apple seeded a test build of iOS 5.0.1 to a lucky few iPhone owners recently. The iPhone operating system update is meant to help fix a bug that Apple says is affecting iPhone battery life on devices running iOS 5. Based on what some of these early testers say, the update solves the problem for most users."Frankly, the difference is nothing short of amazing," he said. "To go almost an entire day without a change in the meter reading seems unbelievable. Where before I could almost watch the battery drain, now it doesn't move at all."

Wired reader Donald Kuntzman offered the magazine an explanation of his experience with iOS 5.0.1 on his iPhone 4.

Kuntzman said that he first noticed the battery issue on his device after installing iOS 5. As many others have complained, Kuntzman noted that he could practically see the battery lose power by looking at his phone. With the update installed, everything appears to be fixed.

Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue

You know you've been there. You're with colleagues or friends, and suddenly something really awkward happens. Rather than deal with the situation, you quietly pull out your smartphone and pretend you didn't see anything. When there's no other way to get out of a sticky social situation, 52% of respondents to a Yahoo poll will turn to their trusty smartphone for safety. Women use their phones as an excuse more often than men do, reported the survey.

Yahoo Mobile and Razorfish polled some 2,000 U.S. smartphone users and asked about their multitasking habits and smartphone device preferences. In addition to overall usage trends, Yahoo discovered some interesting divides along gender lines.

Unsurprisingly, 75% of all respondents listed their smartphone as the most-used device in their household. It's no wonder, as modern smartphones serve as workstations, email machines, search terminals, social networking tools, cameras, music/video devices, gaming handhelds, and life organizers.

Nine in ten said that they use their smartphones to multitask, especially when watching television. Most often people send text messages, make phone calls, or check social networks during commercials.

Smartphone users regularly use the devices to check facts while watching television. The Yahoo poll revealed that 58% of men polled check facts while watching live sporting events and 47% use their smartphones to check the scores of other games and follow their fantasy league players. With all this fact-checking going on, 29% of the men admitted that using their device to check for sports news/scores caused arguments with their significant other, while only 17% of the women admitted to the same. On the flip side, however, 65% of the women under age 35 said that they surf the Web while watching TV, while only 47% of the men the same age do.

Samsung Illusion Specs Outed in Verizon’s Infocenter

Wondering just what the Samsung Illusion has in store? A recently uncovered Infocenter page through Verizon has all the vital details. The phone sports Android 2.3, a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, and 512MB of RAM. A 3.5-inch TFT LCD display gets a resolution of 480×320. Perhaps most interestingly, the Illusion features a “curved design” not unlike that of the Nexus S and upcoming Galaxy Nexus (though from the image, the curve doesn’t look as extreme). No release date is mentioned, but going off recent rumors November 17th could be the date.

[via AndroidCentral]

IBM, Samsung Fight Over Patent Leadership in the U.S.

We tend to be amazed by the number of patents that are being acquired by young companies, such as Google, in an effort to protect themselves from lawsuits and the bullying of older corporations.

Zoom
As much as those old businesses claim that their patents are used to protect their intellectual property and innovative spirit, it is often overlooked that patents have become a huge business across the planet.

For example, Microsoft recently said that it spent nearly $4.5 billion for license fees over the last decade, but it has also put 1133 license agreements in place to give licenses to its patents - and we know that Microsoft will be raking in more than $1 billion from Android vendors in the near future - annually.

IBM and Samsung are IT industry patent giants. No other company files for nearly as many patents as those two companies - and no other company gets as many patents granted as those two. At least as far as my personal records go, IBM just hit a new record high of patents granted; IBM received confirmation of a staggering 265 patents in the past week alone. Since August 1, IBM was granted the rights to 1975 patents.

However, Samsung was able to top that result. Samsung received 270 patents last week, which is the highest of any tech company over the past 6 years - at least as far as my records go. Since August 1, Samsung got 2324 new patents from the USPTO. Both IBM and Samsung are well on their way to exceed the number of the patents they received in 2010 - when IBM got 5896 and Samsung 4551. For this year, both IBM and Samsung have been granted more than 6000 patents already. 2011 is likely to be the first year in which IBM could have to surrender its patent leadership to a foreign company. So far, IBM has stood on top of the ranking since 1982.

Samsung Galaxy S3 complete guide

For all Samsung's patent woes with Apple, one thing is clear -- people are loving the Galaxy range. This autumn the Seoul-based company shipped 6 million more smart phones than Apple, and Samsung is now the biggest smart phone maker on the planet.

Its next flagship device, which pretty much everyone expects to be launched at February's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will be the Galaxy S3. Will Samsung take this opportunity to break its fixation with black rectangles and deliver something completely different? Or will it be steady-as-she-goes with just power, speed and feature upgrades? Read on for our best guesses…
4.6 inches, dark and handsome

Normally, we like to start our predictions by gushing over a gadget's new look, feel and design -- it's the ego-massaging equivalent of a fairground fortune teller saying how tall, dark and handsome you are.

Galaxy phones have always been about their screens -- luscious great slabs of glass straining to burst their housings, with dollops of colour dripping from their OLED innards. The Galaxy S2 has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen that gives probably the best colours and contrast of any mobile device, even if it lacks the sheer raw detail of the iPhone 4S.

The safe money is on the S3 shipping with the screen seen on the recently announced Galaxy Nexus -- a pin-sharp 720x1,280-pixel affair with 16 million colours, probably measuring 4.6 inches.

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727 (AT&T)

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket ($149.99) is a big slab of Android, but with a twist: It's one of the first two smartphones to support AT&T's brand new 4G LTE network, the other being the HTC Vivid ($99.99, 4 stars). We're giving the Editors' Choice nod to the Skyrocket, thanks to its faster performance, lightweight design, and vibrant (if not as high resolution) screen, but the Vivid is also a very powerful smartphone—you can't go wrong with either one.

Design, Screen, and Call Quality
The Skyrocket looks a lot like the Galaxy S II ($99.99, 4.5 stars). It features a matte, slightly textured back panel, black glossy plastic sides. It measures 5.15 by 2.75 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.65 ounces. At least, that's what Samsung and AT&T both claim. But if you lay the Skyrocket flat on a table and place a ruler next to it like I did, you'll find it's actually about 0.42 inches deep. It sticks up noticeably higher than an iPhone 4 I had nearby (which rings in exactly at its quoted 0.37 inch figure). The Skyrocket is still thinner than other LTE devices we've tested, though, and it's certainly lighter in weight.

The massive 4.5-inch, 480-by-800-pixel, Super AMOLED Plus display is as vibrant and colorful as on other Samsung phones; it's also two tenths of an inch larger than the Galaxy S II's display. But at this screen size, I'd like to see more pixel density. On the plus side, you can read it outdoors, which was a problem with earlier AMOLED panels, and the gorgeous color and deep blacks really stand out. On a screen this size, you get big keys, so typing on the on-screen keyboard isn't a problem in either portrait or landscape mode.

The Skyrocket is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), tri-band HSPA+ (850/1900/2100 MHz), and dual-band LTE (700/1700 MHz) device. It also has 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi; it connected to my own WPA2-encrypted network without issue.

There's no getting around it: LTE is fast. In a series of tests in and around Boston, MA, I saw data speeds ranging from 16Mbps to 25Mbps down, and 12Mbps up. Be aware that AT&T is still building out its LTE network; currently, it's only available in nine cities in the U.S. When not in an LTE area, the Skyrocket is rated as an HSPA+ 21 device; the Vivid is just HSPA+ 14.4. However, I saw roughly the same real-world HSPA+ speeds with both the Vivid and the Skyrocket, averaging up to 8Mbps down.

Google Soothes Partners Over Motorola Mobility Takeover

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- While Google waits for regulatory approval on its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility, company executives have repeatedly worked to assuage partners' fears that the Android software developer is preparing to compete with them.

Partners in Google's mobile-phone venture were understandably skeptical when the Android maker said this summer that it planned to acquire one of their rivals, creating a potential reason to roll out improvements to its popular smartphone operating system on Motorola phones before offering them to others.

Google has offered free and open-source versions of Android to anyone ambitious enough to download it and tinker with the code. Dozens of smartphone and tablet makers have taken Google up on this, and have come to rely on it for their businesses.

Google, which assured them it is focused on software, not hardware, seemed like a logical partner. Then, when the company's intentions to buy Motorola surfaced, Google execs said they were mainly doing so in order to protect themselves and their partners against patent litigation. (Motorola has about 24,000 patents either approved or pending).

The $12.5 billion acquisition still has not cleared federal oversight, and so Google has not been talking publicly much about its plans. A spokesman declined to comment on the matter last week.Read more http://www.thedenverchannel.com/money/29729438/detail.html

Motorola Revives RAZR With Slim New Droid

With its super-slim, stylish frame, Motorola's Razr phone became incredibly popular in 2004 - a smash hit that Motorola hasn't been able to replicate. Now, many years later, the company is trying to recapture some of that magic by ushering the Razr into the smartphone age.

The new Droid Razr, available Friday through Verizon Wireless for $300 with a two-year service contract, echoes the svelte form and good looks of its ancestor.

It has many great features, including a big touch screen and the ability to use Verizon's high-speed 4G LTE network for zippy Web surfing. It also has Motorola's MotoCast service for wirelessly streaming and downloading content stored on your computer.

Yet I couldn't get much time to enjoy the phone because using it with LTE quickly wore down the battery.

And while the phone runs the latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software that is available for smartphones, shoppers may be tempted to wait. Verizon will soon offer Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which will come with an even newer version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Droid Razr is expected to get that update, too, but not until next year.

Don't get me wrong, though: The Droid Razr is a hot phone.

Gazing at it for the first time, I had the same thought as I did when I first laid eyes on the now-ancient Razr phone: How the heck did Motorola make the phone that thin? Except for a chunk at the top that houses the rear camera, flash and an external speaker, the Droid Razr is slimmer than any other smartphone. It's just a third of an inch thick. It's light, too, at 4.5 ounces.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/10/motorola-revives-razr-with-slim-new-droid/#ixzz1dICsk840

Flurry: Smartphone game revenues eclipse Nintendo DS, Sony PSP

Games developed for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android smartphone operating systems now account for 58 percent of all portable gaming revenues in the U.S., surpassing the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS platforms, according to new data published by mobile app analytics firm Flurry.

Portable game revenues across both the smartphone and handheld platforms will reach $3.3 billion in 2011, Flurry estimates--the segment generated revenues of $2.5 billion in 2010 and $2.7 billion in 2009. Two years ago, iOS and Android titles combined accounted for just 19 percent of the U.S. portable game market, with the Nintendo DS at 70 percent and Sony PSP at 11 percent; in 2010, iOS and Android grew to a combined 34 percent, with Nintendo DS slipping to 57 percent and Sony PSP falling to 9 percent. Twelve months later, Nintendo DS now yields just 36 percent of portable game revenues, while Sony PSP has declined to 6 percent.

Flurry credits surging iOS and Android device sales along with the rise of the freemium pricing model for the recent acceleration in smartphone gaming revenues. This summer, the company reported that freemium games (titles that are free to download but offer premium in-app transactions like virtual currency and virtual goods) now generate 65 percent of total gaming revenues in Apple's App Store, up from 39 percent earlier this year. Parallel with the explosion of interest in mobile gaming, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP revenues have plummeted from $2.2 billion in 2009 to $1.4 billion in 2011.

Read more: Flurry: Smartphone game revenues eclipse Nintendo DS, Sony PSP - FierceMobileContent http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/flurry-smartphone-game-revenues-eclipse-nintendo-ds-sony-psp/2011-11-10#ixzz1dICIG8xz

Droid RAZR: The Kate Moss of smartphones.

What if the smartphone version of Kate Moss hooked up with the smartphone version of Yao Ming?

You'd have the Motorola Droid RAZR.

At a quarter of an inch, Moto's latest Droid is ridiculously thin. Even more impressive is the beefy specs jammed into that slim waistline.

The RAZR sports a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor (the phone is zippy) and 1GB of RAM (multitask like a boss). It runs on Android 2.3.5 and Verizon's high speed 4G network.

Like with all good lookers, the RAZR costs a pretty penny. The device, which goes on sale Nov. 11, costs three Benjamins and a two-year contract.

While big can be arguably better in some situations, it does not in smartphone design. The RAZR's 4.3" screen is easy on the eyes, and a pain in the palm.

Swiping across the screen while holding the phone with one hand is cumbersome. My thumb barely reached the far end of the screen and I often ended up launching the wrong application.

Given the vast screen real estate, it's a pity Motorola did not make the keyboard more user friendly.

In portrait mode, the tightly packed software keys require the pointed precision of expensively manicured fingers.

Despite those quibbles, the RAZR shines because of its Super AMOLED display. The hi res screen coupled with muscular processor made move watching an incredible experience.

Putting the sleek RAZR in a case would be a tragedy. And you may not have to.

The RAZR has Kevlar coating on the back and Gorilla glass on the front. The phone also has "splashguard coating," including on the internal electrical boards. That said, don't shoot at it, or drop it in your cup of coffee.

The RAZR's 8 megapixel camera shoots video in 1080p HD and has a front-facing HD video camera. Make sure your nose hair is trimmed.

Veracode Infographic Compares Google vs. Facebook on Privacy and Security

BURLINGTON, Mass., Nov 10, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Veracode, Inc., provider of the world's only independent, cloud-based application risk management platform, today announced details of its most recent infographic, "Google vs. Facebook on Privacy and Security." Whether social networks are accessed for games, video and photos, or just to re-connect with old friends, users should be more aware of how their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is protected. This infographic examines how Google and Facebook stack up against each other when it comes to handling privacy and security concerns.

The launch of Google+ signaled greater competition with Facebook in areas such as email, instant messaging, games and calendars, while some compliance and policy questions remain about how Google data will be managed and protected. Meanwhile, Facebook has been under a microscope, particularly in recent weeks, with much hype and speculation surrounding its potential November 5 cyber attack, which never materialized, and the announcement of several upcoming features aimed at improving security and privacy, specifically Trusted Friends and App Passwords.

In this infographic, Veracode includes a security checklist to help users determine for themselves if these networks can be trusted with their data. Users should consider features such as the ability to add a mobile number for added account security and the availability of two-factor authentication, suspicious activity alerts and password creation tips. The image also features a privacy checklist that compares functionality such as allowing companion sites to share info; blocking individuals from seeing a post; stopping tracking after logout; or scanning content for keywords.

How To Connect Your Google+ Page To Your AdWords Campaigns

As you may know, Google lets you tie the +1’s of your Google+ Page to your site, your search results, and your AdWords ads. The company announced a new AdWords feature called Social Extensions, which is how you include your AdWords campaigns.

“Currently (and for campaigns that don’t have Social Extensions enabled) your AdWords ads only show +1’s from people who have +1’d that ad’s landing page,” explains Dan Friedman of Google’s Inside AdWords Crew. “This limits the likelihood that someone who sees your ad will have a friend or contact who’s recommended it. By enabling Social Extensions on your ad campaigns you’re able to leverage all the +1’s your brand has received, whether it be on a search result, on your Google+ Page, your website or on your ads, making it more likely that someone who sees your ad will have a friend or contact who has recommended it.”

“We believe that this has the potential to improve your overall ad performance,” he adds. “In fact, 71% of shoppers say that recommendations from friends and family impact their purchasing decisions. These additional recommendations may result in more conversions and deeper engagement with your business overall.”

That stat comes from a Harris Interactive poll from last year. There’s a good chance that the number is even greater now, with social penetrating search more and more.

There is also a new reporting segment for AdWords, which Google says will help advertisers better understand the impact of social annotations on their campaigns. Advertisers can now segment campaigns by ad groups, keywords or by +1 annotations.

+1 annotations will let you view metrics for impressions where the viewer had a friend or contact that +1’d your brand, impressions that included an anonymous count of people who +1’d your brand, and impressions without any social annotations. The segment works with all campaigns, regardless of whether or not you enabled Social Extensions.

You can enable Social Extensions by clicking “Ad Extensions” in your AdWords account and finding the option in the rop down menu. Choose new extension. Google will ask you to add your verified Google+ Page URL.

Google May Penalize Your Site for Having Too Many Ads

Google is looking at penalizing ad heavy sites that make it difficult for people to find good content on web pages, Matt Cutts, head of Google's web spam team, said yesterday at PubCon during his keynote session.

”What are the things that really matter, how much content is above the fold," Cutts said. “If you have ads obscuring your content, you might want to think about it,” inferring that a if a user is having a hard time viewing content that the site may be flagged as spam.

Google has been updating its algorithms over the past couple months in their different Panda updates. After looking at the various sites Panda penalized during the initial rollout, one of the working theories became that Google was dropping the rankings of sites with too many ads "above the fold."

This is an odd stance, considering Google AdSense Help essentially tells website publishers to place ads above the fold by noting, "All other things being equal, ads located above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold."

Cutts also encouraged all websites that have been marked as spam and feel they should not have been marked as spam to report their sites to Cutts and his team. Cutts stated that he has a team of web spam experts looking into problem sites and that the Google algorithm still misses a site or two in its changes.

Google dumping its BlackBerry Gmail app

Google is ending support for its Gmail app on Blackberry smartphones as of Nov. 22.

"Over this past year, we've focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser and will continue investing in this area," Google said in a blog post. "Users may continue to use the app, if installed, however it will not be supported by Google" or be available for download as of Nov. 22.

Last week, Google released a native Gmail app to Apple's App Store for iOS devices -- such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad -- but the app was filled with problems.

Google quickly pulled the app from the App Store, apologized for shipping an incomplete product and said a fix was on the way. So far no new iOS Gmail app has been delivered.

The company also produces a native Gmail app for Android but does not make one for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software.

Source:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/google-ends-support-for-blackberry-gmail-apps.html

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A small victory today for a Nottoway County family who's been fighting Facebook for months to gain access to their 15 year old son's account.

We shared the heartbreaking story of Eric Rash last week. The straight- A Nottoway High School student who took his own life last January.

In a desperate search for answers, Diane and Ricky Rash contacted Facebook to try and gain access to their son's facebook password, but was denied access because of privacy policies.
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The family has since been urging lawmakers to get social networking sites to change their policies regarding minors.

The family was contacted by Facebook this week, and told they would be receiving a cd with all of Eric's correspondence prior to his death.

The company did not say whether it was considering changing its privacy policies.

Original story posted Nov. 4, 2011:

NOTTOWAY COUNTY, VA (WTVR) - On a quiet dairy farm in Nottoway County, Ricky and Diane Rashsay they were at peace raising their four children, including their only son, Eric.

Eric was an avid hunter and fisherman, and his father's right-hand man on the farm.

"He loved to help," says Ricky Rash. "He was very kind and gentle."

In many ways, the Rashes say their son was all boy - he loved soccer, football and baseball, but his true passion was reading. Diane says her son read everyday and kept a log of his favorite titles.
"I read him his first Harry Potter book, and he took off from there."

By the age of 6, Eric was making straight A's and headlines in the local paper for his academic success. By the time he was 12, he had his sights set on Virginia Tech and Harvard Law School.

"It came easy to him," explains Diane. "For him to get a B, he really had to throw a test."

But underneath Eric's shy and happy demeanor, he was hurting. That's something his family says he never revealed by words or emotions.

WhoSay.com is Facebook for the famous

When Paul Feig, the director of "Bridesmaids," was invited to join WhoSay.com, a relatively new social network that describes itself as the source for "Photos and videos directly from Celebrities and Influencers," he was sure he was somehow being set up.

"They contacted me about four or five months ago and they made the offer to help me put up a page," Feig tells Fast Company. The page would bring together his tweets (a prolific tweeter, the director has over 1.2 million Twitter followers), Facebook page and other social media odds and sods, in one easy-to-use platform built to his exact specifications. "They gave me the hard sell," he continues. "I kept looking for what the scam was, or if I had to pay. It was so easy and user-friendly for me, how could I not?"

That hard sell is actually quite simple: When Feig — or Tom Hanks, Anderson Cooper, Zooey Deschanel, or any other celebrity dabbling in social media — posts a picture to Twitter or Facebook, they risk losing their copyright and any possible revenue derived from their work, even if that work is, say, just a snapshot of their sashimi lunch.

Twitter's Terms of Service, (which are similar to Facebook's), state that "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication. … Such additional uses by Twitter, or other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter, may be made with no compensation paid to you with respect to the Content that you submit…" When you are a living brand, that lack of compensation can rankle, especially if your work leads to someone else's compensation at your expense.

Are iPhone 4S Orders Being Cut Or Not? Facebook Stats Could Shed Some Light

When Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) launched the iPhone 4S in October, some thought the device would be a disappointment to the market because it was not a significant enough upgrade to the iPhone 4. Then Apple began to release sales numbers that confounded that theory. Yesterday, however, two conflicting reports emerged that claimed, alternately, that Apple was cutting orders of the iPhone 4S after slowing sales, and that this was not the case at all.

So which one is it? One indication could come in the form of some usage statistics from Facebook.

Benedict Evans, an analyst with Enders Analysis in London, has taken the number of monthly active users accessing Facebook via its iPhone app over the last few months—numbers that the social network releases regularly—andplotted them out on a graph:

The graph shows, by way of Facebook usage on the platform, constant growth of iPhone usage. However, come October, when Apple introduced the iPhone 4S, the growth pattern shifts: from one angle of steady increases to “even faster growth than before. No slowdown here,” writes Evans.

This graphic gives a little bit of color to two reports out yesterday, one that claimed sales were slowing down and one that claimed they were still going strong.

The data could be an indication that the iPhone 4S has been selling very well—with all of those new iPhone owners accessing Facebook—if you assume growing consumer interest in Facebook has remained relatively constant. That number seems to be growing as quickly now as it was six weeks ago (no slowdown, in Evans’ words).

But the Facebook data also raises other questions:

» There seems to be a clear connection here between the introduction of the iPhone 4S and Facebook take-up. But that might not mean more sales iPhone 4S: as the 4S was introduced, several resellers, including carriers, began to offer older models at new, lower prices. So some of that growth in Facebook could be coming from the iPhone 4 or even the iPhone 3S.
Read more http://paidcontent.org/article/419-are-iphone-4s-orders-being-cut-or-not-facebook-stats-could-shed-some-li/

Samsung HM7000 Bluetooth headset quick review - VIDEO

The Latest Headlines from CNN Radio and the CNN Wire

Head football coach Joe Paterno says he reluctantly accepts the decision of Penn State University trustees to force him out of his job immediately. He's under fire for not reacting more forcefully after learning of allegations of child sex abuse by a retired assistant coach. The university president also was fired.

Perry-Debate-Oops
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he's glad he wore his boots at last night's presidential debate, because he says he "sure stepped in it out there." He was referring to a gaffe in which he couldn't remember one of the government agencies he would eliminate if he were elected president.

Soldier-Murder-Trial
Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs could learn today whether he'll spend life in prison for the murder of three Afghan villagers. He's accused of murdering the civilians, planting weapons on them and cutting off body parts as trophies.

Turkey-Earthquake
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey last night. At least 7 people died and rescuers are trying to reach more than 100 others buried in rubble.

Penn State Riots: Twitter Reacts to Shocking Actions of Students

The Penn State campus has been engulfed in riots. Students heard that Joe Paterno was fired, and many of them gathered, and their overwhelming emotion reached a boiling point.

It has been a surreal scene that appears to be a climax for the past days of disgusting accusations, bloated media attention, gut-wrenching stories of victims and just general confusion and shock.

Given the melee and emotion of this scene it is no surprise that there is a wide spectrum of commentary on Twitter about the riots.

A light post was apparently the first victim of the students' frustrations.

Kutcher halts Twitter postings

Ashton Kutcher has halted his Twitter activity after sparking outrage by defending ousted U.S. college football coach Joe Paterno.

Paterno was fired from his role as head coach of the Pennsylvania State University football team on Wednesday amid the growing sex abuse scandal surrounding his former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno has come under fire for failing to take more action against Sandusky, who has been charged with molesting eight boys over a 15-year period.

Kutcher took to his Twitter.com page to question the board of trustees' decision to fire Paterno, writing, "How do you fire Jo Pa? insult. no class. as a hawkeye (University of Iowa) fan I find it in poor taste."

His comment prompted a flurry of angry messages from offended followers, with several criticizing Kutcher for his response in light of the charity he co-founded to end child sex slavery.

The Two and a Half Men star quickly deleted the post and closed his page, admitting he felt "awful" about his comment.

He tweeted, "As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case.

"As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won't happen again."

Lebanon's Hariri Takes His Political Fight to Twitter

Young revolutionaries are no longer the only ones in the Arab world waging politics on Twitter: Even senior Lebanese political leaders have begun delving into the social media fray, sparking news, debate and more than a few smirks.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with just over 5,000 followers, is already an old hand, having first tweeted back in January. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who has been abroad since April (mainly in Paris and Riyadh) has had a Twitter account for most of this year, but it was only a few days ago that his 140-character communiques began sounding as if they weren't written by an automaton.(See photos of protests in Lebanon.)

"Well its about time to make this more up close and personel," Hariri tweeted on Nov. 3, "you be hearing from me more often and i'll be around as much as i can." True to his word, Hariri has devoted an hour or two of every evening since to engaging his followers (14,000 and counting) in frank, lively q&a sessions.

Immediate access to political figures is a novelty in a country where the divide between elites and everyone else is sharp, and politicians are not accustomed to being called to account. But social media is changing the game.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2099014,00.html#ixzz1dI8RI94u

Twitter's in-house photo service overtakes Twitpic, yfrog, Instagram

Just as when Twitter started rolling out its t.co web address shortener, many third-party developers were concerned that it could be the death of the URL shortening business.

Most widely used service bit.ly suffered, but nevertheless remains as one of the top third-party developers the site offers.

But Twitter’s new photo sharing service, powered by Photobucket, has had an adverse affect on the wider third-party developer community, by ranking as the number one means of uploading photos to the social network.

Twitter picture uploads by client (Source: Skylines)

(Image source: Skylines)

Just three months after Twitter integrated Photobucket functionality as part of its wider efforts to ‘patch’ the hole created by developers, by bridging the gap of what Twitter users wanted versus the lacking features that were available, Twitter’s own service has now overtaken all third-party services, including Twitpic, yfrog and Instagram.

Research by Skylines suggest that while mobile devices, from BlackBerry, Android and iPhone combined, make up collectively the most popular way of uploading photos to Twitter, the single most sourced images now come directly from Twitter’s own service.
Read more http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/twitters-in-house-photo-service-overtakes-twitpic-yfrog-instagram/63070

Motorola guilty of misleading customers over DEFY claims

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned Motorola from running TV adverts claiming its DEFY handset is “life proof”.

The ASA investigated the claims made by Motorola in an ad campaign in April following three complaints from consumers that claimed the screens on their DEFY handsets had broken after being accidentally dropped.

It followed reports that BBC consumer protection show Watchdog was set to investigate the claims made by Motorola in August.

Motorola Mobility UK Ltd told the ASA it “strongly believed” the ads were not misleading and did not exaggerate the capability or performance of the product.

The manufacturer claimed the DEFY has a “scratch resistant display that had specific resistance to bumps, impacts, scrapes and scratches, because it was chemically strengthened to create a layer that acted as an ‘armour’ to reduce the introduction of flaws by end users.”

It also claimed the type of glass used on the device had been “exhaustively impact-tested” and its performance under stress was the reason for the selection of the particular material for the DEFY screen.

Motorola also maintained that the same DEFY handsets available on general sale had been used in the ad, which was shot live and without the use of computer generated imagery.

But the ASA upheld the complaints saying the advert was misleading for customers.

“We considered viewers were not likely to interpret the ads as suggesting the product was entirely damage-resistant or that there would not sometimes be faulty handsets but as promoting a product that was more durable than might be expected of a mobile phone and that it would generally withstand damage in the scenarios depicted and from day to day,” a statement from the ASA said.

The ASA ordered Motorola not to run the advert again in its current form.

Source:http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2011/11/motorola-guilty-of-misleading-customers-over-defy-claims/

Motorola Xoom Is The Woot Deal Of The Day [Woot Offering A Refurbished 32GB Motorola Xoom Tablet For $329.99, Will Be Available Today Only] Read: Motorola Xoom Is The Woot Deal Of The Day [Woot Offering A Refurbished 32GB Motorola Xoom Tablet For $329.99, Will Be Available Today Only] | TFTS

When the Motorola Xoom originally launched one of the bigger complaints was in regards to the pricing. And well, while that price may still be high in some cases, the tablet seems like it has been available for long enough that we see the odd offer. Enter the latest from woot! who have the tablet available today.

And just to clarify, just like all of the other “today’s woot” offerings, this one is available for today (November 10th) only. That being said, the Motorola Xoom is priced at $329.99 which will come along with an extra $5 for shipping.

With that, the one point worth mentioning is that the model you will be getting is refurbished. But otherwise, the specs and features will remain the same as what we have seen in the past. In other words, your $334.99 will get you a Honeycomb running tablet with features to include a 10.1 inch (1280 x 800) multitouch HD display, dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 3.5mm headphone jack, 3250 mAh battery, 2 megapixel front-facing camera and a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording.

Read: Motorola Xoom Is The Woot Deal Of The Day [Woot Offering A Refurbished 32GB Motorola Xoom Tablet For $329.99, Will Be Available Today Only] | TFTS

Motorola Droid RAZR: Not quite thin enough to cut metal (review)

You may have seen the television ad campaign for Verizon that shows the Droid RAZR as a thin throwing weapon that cuts metal. While the ad doesn’t show anything about the new phone, it does make a statement that it is as thin as can be. Holding the RAZR sideways shows this to be the case, it is as thin as any smartphone out there.

The new Droid phone from Motorola is the thinnest phone with 4G LTE capability, and even though it only has a 4.3-inch display it is the widest phone I have ever held. I have large hands and find the Droid RAZR to be almost uncomfortable to hold and use. I am not sure those with small hands could even use the RAZR due to this strange width.

80% of Smartphone Users Multitask While Watching TV [STATS]

It’s been said that multitasking makes you less productive, yet that hasn’t stopped the majority of U.S. smartphone users from juggling multiple devices. As many as 80% of people multitask on a mobile device while watching TV, finds a new study.

Using a laptop in front of the TV is no new behavior, yet few TV spots capitalize on the fact many consumers hold an Internet-enabled device in their hands as commercials air. The DVR presented hurdles for advertisers a decade ago as viewers were able to fast forward through ads. Today, tablets and smartphones introduce a new challenge: A more engaged yet distracted consumer. Apps and tools, such as Shazam, might offer one way for marketers to get viewers interacting with ads.

Yahoo Mobile and Razorfish polled 2,000 U.S. adults on their mobile habits and device preferences, to help marketers better understand consumer behavior.

We pulled out 7 intriguing stats on consumer multitasking patterns.

First quad-core smartphone is developed by HTC

How many smartphones options do you think are available right now? Of all the options out there, how many are dual-core? Exactly, there are many options with the dual-core processor and that is one thing that sort of surprised me when I read that HTC is finally taking a look at creating the first quad-core powered smartphone. I just figured I might have been reading about this for sometime already, but it appears that the HTC Edge will be the first quad-core smartphone available in the first part of 2012.

The new HTC Edge will be very powerful and fast reportedly clocked at about 1.5 GHz with the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip in the driver’s seat. With that sort of processing power, you can only imagine how the other features can handle all that power. The huge 4.7-inch HD touch display will look fluid and the 1GB of RAM will also help to keep things running smoothly. On the flipside, you will see an 8MP camera with LED flash, which has become the new standard, and the phone will likely be powered by the newest Android 4.0 operating system. The HTC Edge will likely sit on top with the new iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S3, once it arrives in stores next year.

You might be thinking, “Is the industry ready for the first quad-core smartphone?” and most people would say yes, because those people like the newest gadgets as they arrive. Mobile app developers and game developers are looking for more power in order to run their games and apps that are coming increasing more power hungry. So I would say that yes, we are ready for a quad-core powered smartphone on the market. The upgrade from dual-core to quad-core is going to be a huge, very noticeable improvement in speed and efficiency.

Putting the quad-core in line with the Android 4.0 operating system is going to give the smartphone a more iOS like feel for games, especially power hungry games like I mentioned before. The developers will be able to create apps that complement each other and won’t have to worry if a smartphone can even run more than one app at a time. Still, there is no exact release date or pricing available, but you can bet this phone is going to get all the attention it deserves in the next coming months.

Source:http://www.mobilebloom.com/first-quad-core-smartphone-is-developed-by-htc/226574/

iPhone fans rewarded at midnight

Devoted Apple fans queued for hours, sacrificing work and sleep to be among the first to buy the latest iPhone.

Finally at midnight their much-anticipated moment arrived.

About 50 Apple fans were lining up at the Telecom store on Wellington's Willis Street awaiting the release of the new iPhone 4S.

By midnight everyone was counting down and excitedly chattering about the new phone.

The new phone looks similar to the earlier iPhone 4 but has an improved camera and faster processing.

The phone also includes a personal assistant application called Siri which works on voice recognition.

Customers were looked after by Telecom through the evening with free pizza, coffee, waters and music.

Anthony Horvath, Jonathan Mosen and his wife Julia Mosen had been lining up since 6pm.

All three are blind and are looking forward to using the new voice activated technology.

Mr Mosen said they had come down to make sure the model they wanted didn't sell out. "It's the only cellphone you can take out of the box and it is usable by a blind person."

Apple lover Pach Topark Ngarm was first in line yesterday and said the whole evening had been very exciting.

He had sold his iPhone 4 last week in anticipation of the launch.

Selling the iPhone: One Carrier's Meat Is Another Carrier's Poison

Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone is showing up everywhere this year. Most major competitors have it, and Apple has also knocked on the doors of some of the Tier 2 players. In an interesting twist, C Spire said yes, and U.S. Cellular said no thanks. Why? I thought everyone wanted the iPhone -- but they have their reasons, and this could be good news for both.

We all know how much success AT&T (NYSE: T) Mobility had with the iPhone. In fact. this device should have gone to other carriers a year or two ago, but AT&T paid Apple a fortune to be the sole provider.

Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone. Of course, it also paid a fortune for the privilege. This fall, since the new version is out, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) is also starting to sell the device -- and yes, it is costing Sprint quite a bit as well.

Each of the top three carriers paid Apple billions of dollars to sell the iPhone. That means they won't be profitable for several years. And the surprises don't end there.

C Spire also recently announced it will sell the iPhone. That was an unexpected surprise. Then last week, U.S. Cellular CEO Mary Dillon said during her quarterly earnings call that Apple offered her company the iPhone. However, U.S. Cellular said no thank you. Another surprise.

So how many other wireless networks were offered the iPhone? How many said yes and how many said no? This story is just starting to get interesting. The truth is being revealed, one company at a time.

'Secret' iPhone 4S panoramic photo taker uncovered

iPhone tinkerers have discovered a new feature in the latest jailbroken Apple smartphone, allowing users to take panoramic photos straight from the device.

Panoramic photos can be used to take a wide, high-resolution photograph, by conjoining and combining a series of smaller images.

iPhone 4S camera secret (Source: CNET UK)

By enabling the feature, users can simply sweep the phone across the scene in one motion, and the clever little smartphone will do the rest.

Though regular iPhone users will not be able to access the feature unless they ‘jailbreak’ the device — by unlocking the device using a tool to run unauthorised applications on the handset — it could be a feature opened up in future releases.

CNET UK reports that the feature can be accessed by downloading Firebreak from ‘outlaw’ application store Cydia. However, there are plenty of applications in the regular iPhone app store that will allow you to take panoramic pictures without jailbreaking your phone.

This hidden feature is part of a series of updates to the camera on the updated iOS operating system,including gridlines for better photo-taking and an in-built photo editor.
Apple declined to comment on why the feature is not accessible as part of the iOS 5 release.

Meanwhile, Apple said that Siri will not be ported to older phones, such as the iPhone 4 or the 3GS.

Though hacks have enabled both predecessors to run the voice-activated intelligent assistant, it is thought that the boosted hardware specifications of the latest Apple smartphone is what enables the device to run smoothly and consistently.

Having said that, it has been shown in videos to run relatively smoothly on older iPhone devices, questioning why Apple has not been forthcoming over the reason why not.
Source:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/secret-iphone-4s-panoramic-photo-taker-uncovered/63095

iPhone 4S Siri App Leaves Scottish Speechless Says 2u.co.uk

Siri, the latest app for the iPhone 4S, allows users to make voice commands to send messages, schedule meetings and place phone calls. Siri is designed to understand what the user says and means.

Unfortunately Siri fails to understand the Scottish accent, leaving Scottish iPhone users frustrated and struggling to be understood. Now it is set for release in Ireland too, Irish users may not fare any better says 2U Ltd

When Apple launched their latest innovation, the eagerly awaited iPhone 4S, in early October 2011, it looked like their new voice recognition app was set to be the winning new feature. For most users it probably still is, but for many with accents it is currently not working to its full potential, as Scottish iPhone users have discovered to their cost.

After paying out in excess of £500 for the new iPhone 4S, some of Apple’s Scottish customers are being misunderstood by Siri says 2u.co.uk

The voice command simply doesn’t understand the Scottish accent and many customers are showing their increased frustration by posting their efforts to be understood by Siri on YouTube. One Scottish iPhone user filmed seven attempts to get Siri to understand his request to simply ‘create a reminder’. Siri translated this into “Create Aramane” and “Create Aramanda”.

Judging by sketches on Scottish television comedy show ‘Burnistoun’, voice recognition devices and the Scottish accent are generally not getting along and now Apple, the world’s leading technological giant, has not got it right either. Siri, the much heralded feature of the iPhone upgrade simply isn’t working for everyone at the moment.

Those with Australian and Asian accents are also missing out on one of the main benefits of the new iPhone 4S says a spokesperson for 2U Ltd.

With its release in Ireland imminent, will Irish iPhone users have more success than the Scottish and what can buyers do if they are unhappy with it? According to Apple, Siri will be enabled on the 4S in every country including France and Germany, but some users with accents may still experience problems as it is configured to UK, US and Australian English.

Grant Burrows from 2U Ltd; an iPhone insurance comparison company, says “Anyone buying the iPhone 4S specifically for the Siri voice recognition should check it responds appropriately to their accent before they buy it. If it is unsuitable it can be returned to the supplier within the return period. The fact that Siri is not functioning properly because it doesn’t understand a user’s accent is not a malfunction of the device itself so it’s not possible for the customer to claim on insurance for a fault at a later date if they are unhappy with it.”

iPhone 4S’ proximity sensor is designed for Siri

Thanks to the iPhone 4S teardown at iFixit, there may now be an explanation for why Apple restricts theSiri intelligent assistant feature to the iPhone 4S. Apparently, it is indeed a hardware related issue, or at least partly, as the iPhone 4S uses a new infrared LED proximity sensor specifically designed to work with Siri.

Since Apple launched Siri last month as an iPhone 4S exclusive, many have been questioning the motivations behind that restriction. It didn’t help that hackers were able to tinker around to get Siri working to some degree on both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. But now, there’s at least one good hardware reason why Apple would not want Siri on older devices.

The iPhone 4S uses a new proximity sensor that seems to be constantly active. In contrast, the proximity sensors on older iPhones only switched on during calls. This may have something to do with Siri’s “Raise to Speak” feature that lets you raise your device towards your face to initiate Siri queries. This would require the proximity sensor to be active almost all the time to constantly attempt to detect the phones distance to your face.

AT&T still home to majority of U.S. iPhone owners, report says

Verizon Wireless and Sprint have yet to knock AT&T off of its throne as the most prominent iPhone carrier in the United States. According to new data from Localytics, 56% of iPhone 4S owners are on AT&T, 32% are Verizon Wireless subscribers and just 12% are on Sprint. “Looking at the iPhone 4 distribution as a comparison, Sprint seems to have eroded more of Verizon’s market share than AT&T’s — of the previous generation handset, 60% are on AT&T versus 40% on Verizon,” Localytics explained in its report. The firm noted that AT&T’s share is larger because it has an existing base of iPhone users. “Many longer-term AT&T users, especially those holding iPhone 3GS and earlier devices, are off-contract or nearing the end of their contract,” Localytics explained. “AT&T has been aggressively leveraging the iPhone 4S to sign these customers to new two-year contracts, and the data in this study suggests that tactic may be working.”

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Couple’s Break-Up at Burger King Becomes Twitter Spectacle

Breaking up is hard to do. It’s even harder when you discover that, unbeknownst to you, your emotional moment was broadcast live across Twitter, for all the world to see.

That’s the lesson learned by two now-former lovers who had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to prolific Twitter user Andy Boyle at a Burger King in their hometown of Boston.

As the young couple’s argument last Monday over ending their marriage became heated enough to catch the attention of their fellow restaurant patrons, Boyle, a Web developer for the Boston Globe, took to Twitter.

“I am listening to a marriage disintegrate at a table next to me in this restaurant. Aaron Sorkin couldn’t write this any better,” he tweeted.

Boyle broadcast photos, videos and even a description of the background music playing in the fast food chain where the relationship’s demise played out on the micro-blogging site. His live-tweets documented the couple’s tearful exchange about cleaning responsibilities, lying and cheating.

“These kids must be 21, tops. His main complaint? She doesn’t clean the dishes when his mom asks her to,” Boyle tweeted.

His account of the drama was limited to 140 characters or less, but still, like any good Shakespearean story of love, took viewers on an emotional roller coaster.

Boyle’s retelling included a beginning: “She is sobbing quite loud. He gets up and walks out. She stays. We all feel quite awkward. Do we console her? No one does anything.”

A dramatic peak: “I don’t want to hear it!” she shouts. The tables are turned: She is now accusing him of lying, of what we do not know.”

And a passionate end: “Why did you even marry me?” he asks. “Because I loved you,” she responds.

Lest Boston-area restaurant goers be concerned that they too could fall victim to Boyle’s affinity to tweet, this instance, he vowed via Twitter, of course, was a one-time affair.

“I want my 75 new followers to understand that I don’t regularly live tweet failing marriages at Burger King,” he wrote.

Heavy D tributes flood Twitter

(CBS) The news of Heavy D's death has sparked an outflow of tweets from fans, fellow music artists and other celebrities. Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz and Rob Thomas are among the celebrities paying Twitter tribute to the late rapper, who died Tuesday at the age of 44.

"how would you feel knowing prejudice was obsolete & all mankind danced to the exact beat" - rip heavy d .... You are in my heart 4ever" -- Jennifer Lopez

"I am so saddened by the passing of Heavy D. My condolences go out to his family. Rest in peace my friend. Guns and Roses. Lenny." -- Lenny Kravitz

"@heavyd My heart goes out to the family and love ones of Heavy D I am sooo sorry for your lost. You will be in my prayers." -- La Toya Jackson

"the passing of heavy d really got me messed up. yall pls pray for his daughter & family." -- Producer and artist Timbaland

"song of the day: NOW THAT WE FOUND LOVE - HEAVY D AND THE BOYZ" -- Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas

"I am at NAN talking with our Chairman Dr. W.F. Richardson about the death of Heavy D. I still can't believe it. A great artist and good guy." -- Reverend Al Sharpton

"This is crazy. @heavyd such a beautiful person. He did and will continue to inspire me" -- Entertainer Nick Cannon

Raul Castro’s daughter opens Twitter account, gets into war of words with dissident

HAVANA — Raul Castro’s daughter and an anti-government Cuban blogger have engaged in a prickly back-and-forth on Twitter, which has a small but growing presence on the island despite scarce Internet connectivity.

Mariela Castro’s debut on the social media service began smoothly enough when she sent her first tweets Tuesday talking about a visit to the Netherlands and her work as the country’s leading gay rights activist.

hen dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez fired the first salvo.

“They tell me Mariela Castro opened a Twitter account,” Sanchez wrote. “A question for her, ‘When will we Cubans be able to come out of other closets?’”

Two more tweets directed at the first daughter quickly followed: “Welcome to the plurality of Twitter ... here nobody can shut me up, deny me permission to travel or impede entrance,” and “How can one ask for acceptance only in one area? Is tolerance total or not?”

Castro, who is the head the National Sex Education Center, shot back at Sanchez by name, saying, “Your approach to tolerance reproduces the old mechanisms of power. To improve your ‘services’ you should study.”

Creeping Featurism Will Kill Twitter

Twitter is headed down a ruinous path and there is no reason for it. The simplicity of the service— short microblog posts to be seen by followers—drew a crowd and remains a practical way to inform and to be informed. By making the service more and more complex, the company risks losing momentum. Heck, it risks killing itself.

This was not something I was going to write about until something big happened. That something big happened today when news hit the streets that the service was implementing another new feature. TechCrunch's headline reads: Twitter Rolling Out Activity Streams That Make The Home Page A Dashboard.

Really? A dashboard? Can we turn the service into a Silicon Valley cliché? Dashboard? Please. The article in TechCrunch continues with this:

Smartphone gaming revenues to surpass Nintendo, Sony’s

It’s been a rough year for Nintendo, which saw a weak debut for its 3DS handheld player, forcing it to slash the price by a third less than six months after its release. One big factor behind the soft launch has been the rise of mobile gaming on smart phones and tablets, especially on Apple’s iOS platform. iOS games typically cost a buck or two at most, compared to $40 for big 3DS games, and can be played on devices that increasing numbers of Americans already own.

Meanwhile, sales of Sony’s PSP are slowing in the run-up to the February launch of the Vita, its next-generation handheld console, and observers are questioning whether it will face a 3DS-like reception.

It turns out that 2011 will be a tipping point for mobile gaming. According to market research firm Flurry, sales of iOS and Android games will exceed sales of games handheld consoles by Nintendo and Sony for the first time. iOS and Android are expected generate $1.9 billion in revenue, compared with $1.4 billion for Nintendo and Sony.

“An abundance of digitally distributed free and $0.99 games, available on hardware that is both comparably priced and more powerful than traditional portable game devices, better appeals to many consumers,” Flurry noted in its post. “As a result, the days of paying $25 or more for a cartridge at a retail store may soon end.”

Perhaps the most surprising detail in Flurry’s report is how rapidly smart phone games have overtaken Nintendo and Sony, which have dominated the mobile gaming market for more than two decades. As recently as two years ago, Nintendo alone had 70 percent market share in the portable gaming market. Today, its market share has fallen to 36 percent.

Strategy Analytics: Samsung dominating mobile shipments in three of six regions globally

Samsung’s smartphone success has seen the company become the top mobile handset maker in three of six regions globally, overtaking Nokia in its traditionally favourable markets, a new report by research firm Strategy Analytics suggests.

According to the findings, Samsung was the biggest mobile vendor in Western Europe, North America and Central & Latin America between July-September period, capturing market shares of 30%, 38.1% and 25.6% respectively. This saw the company overtake Finnish mobile giant for the first time in the Central & Latin American region, as Nokia slipped in North America and Western Europe.

Nokia remained the top handset maker in the remaining three regions including Asia, Central & Eastern Europe and Mideast & Africa with shares of 28.1%, 46% and 52% respectively.

Samsung’s growth has seen it ship more than 89.5 million handsets worldwide between July and September, up 25%, with Nokia posting flat yearly growth with 106.6 million handset shipments – ensuring that the Finnish company was able to retain top position in the global handset market in the third quarter with market share of 27.2 percent. Samsung’s share reached an encouraging 22.8 percent.

Strategy Analytics puts Samsung’s rapid growth down to increased demand in smartphone devices, particularly its Galaxy-powered Android smartphones, which have only seen Apple’s iPhone handset rival it in terms of sales. This led the research firm to label Samsung the “King of developed markets”, whilst Nokia remained the ”king of emerging markets.”

This Rumored Windows 8 Samsung Series 7 Could Be a Dream Machine

As rumors go, it's a small one. But today's Bloomberg report that Samsung may be putting Windows 8 in its sleek and shinySeries 7 marks the first time in a long time I've gotten all jittery about a laptop not called MacBook Air.

The Series 7 may technically be business-focused, but it's a gorgeous rig at a not-insane price point. Windows 8 may technically not be out yet, but all reportspoint to its being as refreshing and innovative as Windows Phone has been. That, combined withthe heavy shrug that OS X Lion arrived with, has me thinking that this little bitty rumor might grow into my next PC purchase.

Too early to say, of course, and even if it weren't we wouldn't see an actual Windows 8 Series 7 until the second half of next year. Still, I'm clearing out some space on my 2012 Christmas list just in case. [Bloomberg]

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Thursday, 10 November 2011