Tech Roundup: Oct 20, 2012

Big announcements from the three biggies!

Much awaited refreshments from Apple, Google and Microsoft:

AllThingsD's report last week was bang on target. After endless rumours about the new iPad Mini, Apple has finally confirmed to be holding an event on October 23. They may just have 'got a little more to show' us, but in addition to the iPad Mini, a minor refresh to the current generation iPad with the new lightning dock connector is being talked about as well.

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Google's new Nexus phone has not been sitting idle either. Google has sent out invites for an October 29 Android event where it's rumoured to be releasing the LG Nexus 4 smartphone and a 32 GB version of Nexus 7 tablet. In midst of all this, leaked photos of a Sony Nexus X smartphone sent rumourmills into a tizzy as to the search behemoth's multiple Nexii initiative. But, to much disappointment, it was found to be a fake!

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Microsoft must be having butterflies in its stomach. The month end is seeing the release of Windows 8, Windows 8 RT, Windows Phone 8 and its Windows 8 based tablet Surface. With the desktop operating system radically redesigned, reports that it requires a huge learning curve have surfaced. But the tech giant is going out all guns blazing to promote its products and its first ever tablet aka Surface, which was up for pre-order at $499 or $599 with the Touch Cover keyboard in eight countries, has already sold out and is reported to be shipping in the coming weeks starting October 26. And once the WP8 is out, the next month is expected to witness a deluge of Windows Phone devices from Nokia, HTC, Samsung and Huawei.

Google Play's much need feature out now:

I have tried out innumerous apps on Google Play and so would have you. But the downside to this was the accumulation of all those unwanted apps with no way to get rid of them. Not anymore! An update to the Play store adds the feature to remove apps from the 'All Apps' list. There is even a multi-select option for easy wipe-out. So what are you waiting for!

Newsweek goes completely digital next year:

Eighty-year old US weekly magazine Newsweek has unveiled new plans to stop print publication and go completely digital starting next year. The final print edition will be published on December 31 and the transition is expected to bring in an unspecified number of job cuts.

Apple all set to promote Samsung:

The UK High Court of Justice recently ruled that Samsung tablets did not infringe on Apple's patents and Cupertino was ordered to run ads (on its UK website and certain newspapers) tendering public apology stating this fact. Apple, wanting to do no such thing, quickly appealed the decision. Now it has lost the appeal too and will now have to run those ads. "The acknowledgement must come from the horse's mouth," the appeal court judges said. "Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely." Samsung has no doubt welcomed the move. "We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art," said a Samsung spokesperson.

Apple removes Java from web browsers:

An OS X update to Macs removes Java from its web browsers after a security vulnerability (the Flashback trojan) discovered earlier this year put 600,00 Mac at risk. Post the update, users will be redirected to Oracle website to download the plug-in.

Are iOS apps getting bigger?

The answer is yes. And be prepared to weed out unnecessary apps from your app tray if you have bought the meagre 16 GB version of iPhone or iPad. Recent research on the iOS iTunes App Store has revealed that the average app size across the ecosystem was 23 MB, up 16% from what it was in March. Looking at the Games category alone, the size has averaged at 60 MB, up 42% from March. In contrast, Android average app size increased by a small 10% for the same time frame. Developing apps to ensure iPhone-iPad compatibility and support the gorgeous Retina Display have been cited as the obvious reasons for this increase. Hopefully Apple will phase out the 16 GB version altogether. But a rumoured 8 GB configuration of the upcoming iPad Mini is pretty regressive!

In other news:

• Google outs standalone calendar app on Google Play.
• Microsoft unveils Xbox Music to take on Spotify and iTunes; to be available for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
• Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner successfully completes free fall from 128,000 feet above the Earth; achieves Mach 1.24 speed thereby becoming the first person to go beyond the speed of sound without a vehicle.
• Indian Android developers can finally put up paid apps on Google Play.
• Number of smartphone users hit 1 billion, according to a report by Strategy Analytics.
• AOL announces new email web client Alto.
• Apple significantly reduces Samsung's share in its A6 chip production.
• Facebook has 65 million active users in India; surpasses population of Gujarat.
• Sony's 2011 Xperia phones to not get Android Jelly Bean; 2012 lineup to receive the update next year.
• Apple granted a new design patent on the original iPad.
• Yahoo! to close South Korea operations after losing its fight against local competitors.
• Foxconn admits to using underage workers (as young as 14) in its China plant as part of its student internship program; game console maker Nintendo begins its investigations.
• HTC unveils a new flagship in Japan - a 5-inch 1080p HTC J Butterfly; packs in 2 GB RAM, a quad-core processor, 8 megapixel rear camera and Android Jelly Bean with Sense overlay.
• Android 4.1.2 update for the Galaxy Nexus now rolling out.
• Windows 7 to get preview version of Internet Explorer 10 mid-november.
• Google, Microsoft and Nokia's quarterly earnings down.
• Twenty-year old French hacker arrested for stealing about 500,000 euros ($651,000) from approximately 17,000 people using malware embedded in phoney apps.

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