Tech Roundup: Sept 15, 2012

Following a wave of anti-American protests in the Muslim world after the release of a controversial video showing Prophet Muhammad in poor light, the Obama administration has asked YouTube to block its access and review it to see if it violates their terms. The movie titled Innocence of Muslims has sparked widespread outrage among the Muslim community for showing their religious leader in an offensive manner leading to violent protests and several diplomatic mission attacks in Libya and Egypt. YouTube has in the meanwhile temporarily censored the video in several countries like Libya, Egypt, India and Indonesia given the sensitive nature of the videos.

The director of the amateur movie, earlier mentioned as Sam Bacile, has now been identified to be Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an American of Egyptian origin. Two 14-minute video clips, initially uploaded to YouTube in July, were re-uploaded with Arabic dubbing, ultimately catching the attention of an Egyptian Islamist television channel last week. The actors have disavowed the movie stating they were 'grossly misled about its intent and purpose' and that significant portions of their dialogues have been overdubbed. Update: Google has rejected US officials' request to take the video off the Web. "This video - which is widely available on the Web - is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube," Google has said in a statement.

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Yes, the biggest news of the week was decidedly the much-anticipated launch of the next-gen smartphone from Apple. Yet the biggest takeaway from the event was the gigantic failure of the company to plug the rumours. Even weeks ahead of the launch, almost every single aspect of the phone (including the name and its features through its own website) was revealed and there was considerably a muted excitement when the announcement actually came. Plus, this has come at a time when CEO Tim Cook had previously said there would be attempts at doubling down its secrecy. So much for the efforts, things were leaking like a sieve.

And as for the product itself, there is no doubt that the device will sell like hotcakes (latest news is that pre-orders for the iPhone 5 have sold out in less than an hour beating records set by its predecessors). The lack of 'wow' could be possibly attributed to the accurate leaks and also perhaps because of failing to include a bigger display, 4G amongst other features, which many users were eagerly expecting. With its latest iteration of the iPhone, Apple has no doubt played catch up with Android this time. The Lightning dock connector is another attempt from the company to push its proprietary standards when it could have very well embraced the micro-USB (low power is likely the reason). The design of the phone too remains largely unchanged much to the disappointment of those who were anticipating a totally new look. However safe it may be, the company's approach has been more evolutionary than revolutionary. Is it becoming complacent and unwilling to risk?

It's an advantage that their offerings cut across several devices and offer seamless integration, and Cook's statement that "what sets them apart and what places us way ahead of the competition is how well they work together" echoes the same sentiment. But with its competitors closing the gap very fast, it really has less time in its hand. A quote from the late Steve Jobs comes to my mind - "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." Sadly Apple has failed to live up to its own rules! Meanwhile, watch the hilarious parody of iPhone 5 here. (So true!)

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The Apple iPhone 5 is out. But any thought on the workers who sweat it out in the Foxconn factories to meet the deadlines? A journalist for the Shanghai Post reportedly entered a Foxconn plant undercover where he was recruited by the company (of a total 20,000) to meet the September targets for the new iPhone. According to Wang, "(a)n iPhone 5 back-plate run through in front of me almost every 3 seconds. I have to pickup the back-plate and marked 4 position points using the oil-based paint pen and put it back on the running belt swiftly within 3 seconds with no errors. After such repeat action for several hours, I have terrible neckache and muscle pain on my arm. A new worker who sat opposite of me gone exhausted and laid down for a short while. The supervisor has noticed him and punished him by asking him to stand at one corner for 10 minutes like the old school days. We worked non-stop from midnight to the next morning 6 am but were still asked to keep on working as the production line is based on running belt and no one is allowed to stop. I'm so starving and fully exhausted."

Whilst Apple alone can't be held responsible but with the revenues it's earning, it certainly can do much better by improving the working conditions. Read the complete article from the Guardian here.

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Nearly 12 million unique apple device identifiers were reportedly stolen from an FBI agent's laptop last week by the hacker group AntiSec. But new details reveal that they have been taken from a digital publishing company called Blue Toad. After comparing the million UDIDs posted by the hackers with its own data, the company's CEO Paul DeHart has apologised for the leak and said that "(i)t's our data" but refused to divulge further details citing an ongoing investigation. He also added that the company stopped collecting UDIDs on Apple's suggestion earlier this year. That's one mystery cleared up now!

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Nokia has been pretty much vocal about supporting its existing Lumia Windows Phone lineup and as further proof it has announced that the said devices (Lumia 800/900/710) will receive new features like Cinemagraph (the GIF-maker app announced at the Nokia event previous week), Bluetooth file transfer, upgrades to contact sharing and camera group shot apps in addition to getting a ringtone maker app in select markets.

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In his first public appearance post IPO, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, gave the company morale a much needed boost when he stated that the company is equally concentrating on making money as well as succeeding in its 'mission' of creating a more interconnected world. Admitting that the stock performance had been 'disappointing', Zuckerberg added they may likely get into the search business following a revelation that the company was receiving 1 billion search queries a day.

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Apple and Motorola's patent war in Germany ended in Cupertino's favor when a Munich court ruled that Motorola devices infringe on Apple's bounce-back patent, the bouncing effect that happens when the user scroll pasts the end of a list. However, current versions of Android incorporate a blue glow instead of this behavior and Motorola doesn't seem to have adopted it yet. In other patent related news, courtesy Apple, the company has sued a Polish retailer A.pl for - you guessed it - sporting a similar name, thus using its reputation. How ludicrous can it get!

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Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba and Acer's new smartphone launch was spoiled by Google after the search giant cited concerns over Alibaba's newly developed mobile operating system based on Android. The Aliyun OS, according to Google, seems to be an incompatible version of Android (which could potentially lead to further fragmentation) and Acer, being a partner of Google in the Open Handset Alliance, could do nothing but accept the company's dictum. As The Verge points out, "(t)his is the first time in recent memory (if ever) that we've seen membership in the OHA actually have repercussions." Amazon has also modified Android in a major way, but Google can do nothing about it as it is not part of the OHA.

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Microsoft researchers in China have warned that cybercriminals are installing malware in brand new desktop and laptop PCs before they leave the factory. In addition, they found that many of them run on forged versions of Windows operating system. The malware infected PCs seem to be becoming a part a botnet (a group of infected computers) which are used in several cybercrimes.

In other news:

• Sony Xperia V uses 'sensor-on-lens' in-cell display technology.
• 500 million Android devices activated globally, 1.3 million device activations a day.
• Windows Phone Marketplace rebranded as Windows Phone Store; search results now powered by Bing.
• E-commerce giant eBay revamps its brand logo after 17 years.
• Windows Phone 8 development reported to be complete; to be handed over to manufacturers.
• Web service GoDaddy goes down due to a technical glitch; subsequently restored.
• Instagram rumoured to be coming to Windows Phone devices.
• British industrial designer Bill Moggridge, known for creating the original computer laptop shape (the clamshell design), dies at 69.
• HP plans 29,000 job cuts, 11,500 layoffs by the end of this year.
• Twitter allows photo uploads via mobile sites on Android 4.0 and 4.1 and Apple iOS6.
• Nokia announces a new version of City Lens augmented reality app for its next gen Lumia devices.
• Google releases new YouTube app for iPhone and iPod; available on the App store.
• HP rumored to be prepping an Android smartphone code-named Bender, according to leaked benchmark details.
• Nokia launches Lumia 900 in India for Rs 32,999.

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