Tech Roundup: Aug 17, 2012

Social networking giant, Facebook, has got embroiled in another controversy after an investigation by US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) broke the news that the company did nothing to verify the security of applications it was paid to review. Facebook was paid $95,000 by developers to get its approval but it apparently straightaway awarded the ‘verified’ status to those submitted apps (indicating the app was secure and safe to use). The ‘Verified Apps’ program was shut down in Dec 2009 six months after its launch and now Facebook has agreed to an independent watchdog privacy inspection for the next 20 years. In addition, the FTC has also accused the Pao Alto based firm of indulging in deceptive privacy settings and changes and disclosure of user information to advertisers in a 19-page document.

I am not done with Facebook yet. Germany has recently re-opened an investigation into Facebook’s use of Photo Tag feature through facial recognition. The feature is basically opt-out, meaning it is enabled by default which you can turn-off in the privacy settings. According to the probe, Facebook has gathered a database of users’ faces without their consent for photo-tagging suggestions. Since they were collected on an opt-out (and not opt-in) basis, German data privacy officials have termed them as illegal and a violation of European law. Facebook faces a maximum fine of $30,000 if found guilty of the offense.

***

We are less than a month away from the next iPhone launch, if grapevine is to be believed. But what about the strongly rumored iPad Mini? The late Steve Jobs, who was publicly disapproving of a 7-inch tablet, terming them as "dead on arrival", seemed to have been "very receptive" of a device sporting such a form factor, as per internal documents revealed during the Apple vs. Samsung trial. Especially in the light of the success of Amazon Kindle Fire, all these rumors only add weight. The latest update on this is that the iPad Mini will look like a large iPod Touch with thin vertical bezels and will be thinner than the iPad (or same thickness as the iPod Touch). Meanwhile, a new name that has cropped for the 7-85-inch device is the iPad Air, owing to its lightness.

***

Goodbye Flash! Flash for Android saw its end of the day (Aug 15) after new installs were disabled on the mobile devices. Adobe stopped subsequent developments to Flash Player last November when it realized it was clearly not winning the war against HTML5. Apple, from the very beginning, has not incorporated Flash on its devices (citing battery life and security concerns) and went on to state that HTML5 was the future. However, things suddenly seemed to look bright after Google's Android emerged as a strong contender to Apple.

Unfortunately for Adobe, YouTube adopted the HTML5 standards to encode its videos thereby negating the need for Flash. Things continued to hit a wall after Chrome for Android, the default browser since Jelly Bean, dropped its support for the plugin. Even Microsoft's upcoming Internet Explorer 10 is said to have limited support on Metro version of Windows 8 (Windows Phone never supported Flash for that matter). The company had earlier come out in favor of HTML5 stating it was the "best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."

***

Come to think of it, apart from Apple and Samsung, no other company seems to be doing well in the phone business. HTC was one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in 2010 (remember the original Desire phone?), but things have been going downhill for the Taiwanese company ever since it launched a barrage of similar phones last year, virtually indistinguishable from one another. This year it decided to streamline its products and came up with the One Series (X, S and V). The firm, whose quarterly results have taken a serious beating, has forecasted a poor Q3 2012 and is taking steps to avert this slide from getting into a full-blown disaster. According to the Wall Street Journal, CEO Peter Chou has sent out a memo to his employees explaining the current uncertainty and stating that multiple areas needed improvement while outlining the company’s strengths.

***

Last week it was rumoured that Nokia is planning to announce its Windows Phone 8 phones next month and now it’s officially confirmed. Mark your calendar; it’s on the 5th of September when Nokia and Microsoft will be holding a joint Windows Phone 8 press conference at New York City. The date comes exactly a week ahead of the next iPhone launch on the twelfth. Will this sway you from buying the iPhone 5? Going by Nokia sales chief Chris Weber’s remarks, I think they do have something solid up their sleeves. He had taken a direct jibe at Samsung through his Twitter account stating “Samsung take note, next generation Lumia coming soon. #nokia”. Nokia is visibly displeased at Samsung for usurping its position as the #1 phone manufacturer!

Now it's not only Nokia which wants to steal limelight from the next iPhone, Motorola too has jumped into the bandwagon by announcing a September 5 event alongside Verizon. The invite goes on to add that it will be the day's main event. Nokia, are you listening?

***

Apple and Samsung may be gridlocked in a raging battle at present, but there seems to be no end to such patent wars any time soon. Motorola has filed a fresh case of patent infringement against Apple for violating its seven patents and has asked the US International Trade Commission to levy an import ban on the iPhone and iPad, the devices that allegedly violates its patents. Apple has hordes of money no doubt, but how long would it continue wasting them on litigation?

***

News agency Reuters became the latest victim of a hack attack for the third time (on Aug 15) in a fortnight. The agency stated unknown hackers illegally gained access to one of journalist’s blogs and then published a false story stating Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister had died. The previous attacks that happened on the 3rd and 5th involved publishing a false interview with a Syrian rebel leader and hacking into its Technology Twitter account to post pro-Syrian government messages respectively.

Google / Android:
4000 employees of Motorola Mobility to be laid off as part of reshuffle; to cut operations in Asia and India.
Google acquires travel brand Frommer’s from John Wiley & Sons.
Competition Commission of India begins its probe into Google’s anti-competitive practices.
Google+ gets custom URL's for brand and celebrity profiles and pages.
Samsung launches Galaxy Note 10.1, Wi-Fi models available at $499 (for 16GB).
Samsung sells 10 million Galaxy Notes worldwide since launch.
Android Jelly Bean coming to Samsung Galaxy S III in another two weeks.
Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi launches its Android super-smartphone; packs in Jelly Bean with 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, a 2 GB RAM and a 4.3-inch 720p display.
Google Play store gift cards in the anvil, reports Android Central.
Sony Xperia P Android 4.0 update rolling out now.
Google Voice update adds support for 13 more languages, taking the total count to 42.
Google Play store update brings smart update feature, downloads only portions of the .apk file (Android package file) unavailable in the previous versions.
Sony Xperia S to get vanilla Android flavor as part of Android Open Source Project (AOSP) experiment.

Microsoft / Windows / Windows Phone:
Windows 8 RTM version now available to download for MSDN and TechNet subscribers; general public gets a 90-day trial version.
Outlook.com notches 10 million signups two weeks after launch.
Cloud Service SkyDrive gets a taste of Modern UI (previously Metro), Android app coming in the next few weeks.
Windows Phone Marketplace hit by a download bug, subsequently fixed.

Apple / iOS:
Apple to start pre-orders for iPhone 5 on the day of its launch (Sept 12), reports iMore.
Apple in talks with cable operators to provide a set-top box for showing television content, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Google+ for iOS updated to allow opening URL’s via Safari or Chrome using a choice popup.
Five year old iOS SMS Security flaw exposed; Apple responds by asking people to use iMessage.

RIM / BlackBerry:
Research in Motion throws up possibility that it upcoming OS, BB10, can be licensed for use by other companies.
BlackBerry 10 OS devices to come in two screen resolutions – 1280x720 and 720x720; notifies app developers to accordingly update their apps to ensure compatibility.

Social Media:
Facebook adds ‘Expecting a Baby’ life event to Timeline.
Pinterest's iPad and Android apps now available for download.
Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone launch two social networking sites Medium and Branch.
Instagram 3.0 update for Android and iPhone brings Photo Map, shows all your photos on a world map for easy browsing.
Facebook implements 'max-age' policy for photo deletion; promises to delete your photos from its servers within 30 days.
Twitter tightens its control over third-party Twitter clients with an updated API.
Facebook shares plunge to a record low of $19.05 (Aug 17 close) after the end of 90-day lock-up period, CEO Zuckerberg says share price fall 'painful' to watch.

Other:
New species of insect, Semachrysa jade, discovered via Flickr.
PlayStation Vita gets its native YouTube app, allows using your smartphone as a remote.
Free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, prepping for a major overhaul with the Athena Project; aims to solve many usability problems within all modes of operation – mobile, tablet and desktop.

Tech Roundup is a weekly recurring feature on the latest trends in Technology.