Tech Roundup: Nov 18, 2012
Keep yourself updated on US drone attacks with Dronestagram:
The USA, we all know, conducts drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in the name of its war on terror and according to data compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), there have been more than 4000 civilian casualties spanning over the last decade. James Bridle, using this data and juxtaposing their locations using Google Maps, has put up Dronestagram, a Tumblr blog which shows the places hit by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the likes.
It may be notable that Apple recently rejected a similar app (Drones+) citing objectionable content. The iPhone app, which was developed by Josh Begley, showed data about the latest drone strikes based on information from BIJ. An activist group has even launched an online petition seeking Apple to stop blocking the app. "Drone wars continue because the U.S. public is unaware what is being done in our name with our money. We are interested in knowing where our government is using drones and has killed people, not in celebrating that killing," said a statement.
BlackBerry 10 devices to launch on Jan 30, 2013:
Struggling handset maker Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that its devices running on the upcoming BB10 OS will be officially launched on January 30 next year. The event is likely to see the launch of a completely touch based L-series smartphone and a QWERTY keypad N-series phone both running on BB10 OS.
Apple and HTC now patent pals, Sammy is not remotely interested:
Apple and HTC struck a surprise patent licensing deal last week and according to latest reports, Apple is set to make about $6 to $8 on each smartphone sold by HTC starting next year. That translates to about $180 million to $280 million based on estimated shipments of 30 million to 35 million handsets. Apple is expected to follow the same path with Samsung and Motorola as well. But Samsung's mobile chief J. K. Shin has said it has no intention of settling the case with Apple when asked if it would agree to a patent deal with Cupertino.
Google set for a settlement with FTC over privacy violations:
A federal judge in California has approved a record $22.5 million fine imposed by FTC on Google over a privacy breach in Safari browser which enabled it to track users's online activity to display personalized ads. It may be recollected that the fine amount was decided back in August. While FTC has welcomed the move, troubles don't there for the Mountain View company, which is facing an ultimatum once again from FTC and European Commission over its alleged anticompetitive practices.
Windows head departs Microsoft:
Microsoft has announced that Steven Sinofsky, the executive in charge of Windows, is leaving the company with immediate effect. His departure comes just weeks after the launch of the company's latest desktop operating system Windows 8. In an interesting parallel with Apple's now ex-employee Scott Forstall, Sinofsky is said to have been aggressive and a difficult person to work with and additionally putting up roadblocks for products that would have any potential to diminish the Windows (and therefore his) power, according to The Verge. Julie Larson-Green, who has been at Microsoft since 1993 and was responsible for user interface design, and research on Windows 7 and 8, will take his place.
HTC's obsession with flagships:
The Taiwanese handset maker may be beset with poor sales of its phones, but that doesn't stop the company from launching new phones in hopes of turning around its future. After unveiling One X and One X+, it has announced its next flagship phone HTC Droid DNA in the US (Droid Deluxe elsewhere in the world except Japan where it's called J Butterfly). Boasting of a 5-inch 1080p display, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP rear camera, 2.1 MP front-facing camera, 2,020 mAh battery and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the phone is definitely a smartphone of epic proportions and could be a serious contender to iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S III.
But I can't help question HTC moves. Has it decided its previous flagships to be already outdated? While the One X was plagued by a mediocre battery life and non-expandable 16 GB internal memory, they were rectified with the One X+, only to be now bested by Droid DNA or whatever. It's high time HTC takes a leaf out of Samsung and Apple, both of which announce only one flagship smartphone per year (well in Samsung's case, it's two - one smartphone and one phablet).
The curious case of fragmentation in Android:
Google Nexus phones have always been the first to receive Android updates. But surprisingly Nexus S and Motorola Xoom will be left out from now on. According to head of AOSP Jean-Baptiste Queru, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean will not be available for both the devices and will continue to remain on Android 4.1.2. While there are no clear-cut reasons for this, the fact that they have crossed the upgrade period of 18 months could be the most obvious. In another attempt to put a stop to the fragmentation issue on the platform, Google has modified its Android SDK legal agreement by explicitly including a clause that warns developers from making any step that could potentially lead to further fragmentation.
"You agree that you will not take any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android, including but not limited to distributing, participating in the creation of, or promoting in any way a software development kit derived from the SDK," reads the newly added caveat. As per latest stats, Android 2.3.X Gingerbread still continues its dominant share running on 53.9% of all Android phones despite it being released two years ago. When no handset maker and wireless carrier is serious about ensuring the 18 month upgrade cycle, this should hardly be a surprise.
Foxconn and robots:
Taiwan based electronics manufacturer Foxconn is reportedly said to be installing robots in place of manual workers at its plants. The robots, named Foxbots, and amounting to 10,000 in number have arrived in at least one of its factories with 20,000 more to be procured by the end of this year. After facing criticism over its labor practices and having to deal with worker suicides, the electronics giant would have thought it best to replace humans with robots to solve the crisis. Read the full story from CNET here.
Microsoft Surface sued for storage space, or the lack of it:
Surface tablet is a gorgeous piece of device no doubt. But trouble seems to be cropping up as far as its storage space is concerned. It has been found that the 32 GB Surface has only 16 GB of free space while the 64 GB version has 45 GB free, with the remaining memory taken up by the operating system and preinstalled apps. Aghast at seeing his 32 GB Surface filled up so quickly, a California lawyer has now sued the company claiming the tablet he bought doesn't have all the storage space the company advertised.
Goodbye LinkedIn?
LinkedIn has enjoyed great popularity as a professional social network, but it's position is threatened by none other than Facebook, which has launched a job hunting app in the US in association with US Department of Labor. While the app just aggregates job listings from various online job search websites like Monster.com and so forth, Facebook has a lot of potential to make this one a success especially when taking its huge user base into consideration.
Nokia sues HTC over 32 patents:
Just when dust seemed to be settling for HTC, Nokia has kicked off a new patent battle with the Taiwanese manufacturer over 32 patents covering different technologies at five different venues. Nokia, facing the heat from HTC in its Windows Phone only strategy, has apparently found the correct opportunity to strike its opponent. It is being that Nokia will win the case and that it "will most likely receive a higher per-unit royalty from HTC than Apple receives from HTC". Catch the full report from FOSS Patents.
In other news:
The USA, we all know, conducts drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in the name of its war on terror and according to data compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), there have been more than 4000 civilian casualties spanning over the last decade. James Bridle, using this data and juxtaposing their locations using Google Maps, has put up Dronestagram, a Tumblr blog which shows the places hit by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the likes.
It may be notable that Apple recently rejected a similar app (Drones+) citing objectionable content. The iPhone app, which was developed by Josh Begley, showed data about the latest drone strikes based on information from BIJ. An activist group has even launched an online petition seeking Apple to stop blocking the app. "Drone wars continue because the U.S. public is unaware what is being done in our name with our money. We are interested in knowing where our government is using drones and has killed people, not in celebrating that killing," said a statement.
BlackBerry 10 devices to launch on Jan 30, 2013:
Struggling handset maker Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that its devices running on the upcoming BB10 OS will be officially launched on January 30 next year. The event is likely to see the launch of a completely touch based L-series smartphone and a QWERTY keypad N-series phone both running on BB10 OS.
Apple and HTC now patent pals, Sammy is not remotely interested:
Apple and HTC struck a surprise patent licensing deal last week and according to latest reports, Apple is set to make about $6 to $8 on each smartphone sold by HTC starting next year. That translates to about $180 million to $280 million based on estimated shipments of 30 million to 35 million handsets. Apple is expected to follow the same path with Samsung and Motorola as well. But Samsung's mobile chief J. K. Shin has said it has no intention of settling the case with Apple when asked if it would agree to a patent deal with Cupertino.
Google set for a settlement with FTC over privacy violations:
A federal judge in California has approved a record $22.5 million fine imposed by FTC on Google over a privacy breach in Safari browser which enabled it to track users's online activity to display personalized ads. It may be recollected that the fine amount was decided back in August. While FTC has welcomed the move, troubles don't there for the Mountain View company, which is facing an ultimatum once again from FTC and European Commission over its alleged anticompetitive practices.
Windows head departs Microsoft:
Microsoft has announced that Steven Sinofsky, the executive in charge of Windows, is leaving the company with immediate effect. His departure comes just weeks after the launch of the company's latest desktop operating system Windows 8. In an interesting parallel with Apple's now ex-employee Scott Forstall, Sinofsky is said to have been aggressive and a difficult person to work with and additionally putting up roadblocks for products that would have any potential to diminish the Windows (and therefore his) power, according to The Verge. Julie Larson-Green, who has been at Microsoft since 1993 and was responsible for user interface design, and research on Windows 7 and 8, will take his place.
HTC's obsession with flagships:
The Taiwanese handset maker may be beset with poor sales of its phones, but that doesn't stop the company from launching new phones in hopes of turning around its future. After unveiling One X and One X+, it has announced its next flagship phone HTC Droid DNA in the US (Droid Deluxe elsewhere in the world except Japan where it's called J Butterfly). Boasting of a 5-inch 1080p display, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP rear camera, 2.1 MP front-facing camera, 2,020 mAh battery and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the phone is definitely a smartphone of epic proportions and could be a serious contender to iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S III.
But I can't help question HTC moves. Has it decided its previous flagships to be already outdated? While the One X was plagued by a mediocre battery life and non-expandable 16 GB internal memory, they were rectified with the One X+, only to be now bested by Droid DNA or whatever. It's high time HTC takes a leaf out of Samsung and Apple, both of which announce only one flagship smartphone per year (well in Samsung's case, it's two - one smartphone and one phablet).
The curious case of fragmentation in Android:
Google Nexus phones have always been the first to receive Android updates. But surprisingly Nexus S and Motorola Xoom will be left out from now on. According to head of AOSP Jean-Baptiste Queru, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean will not be available for both the devices and will continue to remain on Android 4.1.2. While there are no clear-cut reasons for this, the fact that they have crossed the upgrade period of 18 months could be the most obvious. In another attempt to put a stop to the fragmentation issue on the platform, Google has modified its Android SDK legal agreement by explicitly including a clause that warns developers from making any step that could potentially lead to further fragmentation.
"You agree that you will not take any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android, including but not limited to distributing, participating in the creation of, or promoting in any way a software development kit derived from the SDK," reads the newly added caveat. As per latest stats, Android 2.3.X Gingerbread still continues its dominant share running on 53.9% of all Android phones despite it being released two years ago. When no handset maker and wireless carrier is serious about ensuring the 18 month upgrade cycle, this should hardly be a surprise.
Foxconn and robots:
Taiwan based electronics manufacturer Foxconn is reportedly said to be installing robots in place of manual workers at its plants. The robots, named Foxbots, and amounting to 10,000 in number have arrived in at least one of its factories with 20,000 more to be procured by the end of this year. After facing criticism over its labor practices and having to deal with worker suicides, the electronics giant would have thought it best to replace humans with robots to solve the crisis. Read the full story from CNET here.
Microsoft Surface sued for storage space, or the lack of it:
Surface tablet is a gorgeous piece of device no doubt. But trouble seems to be cropping up as far as its storage space is concerned. It has been found that the 32 GB Surface has only 16 GB of free space while the 64 GB version has 45 GB free, with the remaining memory taken up by the operating system and preinstalled apps. Aghast at seeing his 32 GB Surface filled up so quickly, a California lawyer has now sued the company claiming the tablet he bought doesn't have all the storage space the company advertised.
Goodbye LinkedIn?
LinkedIn has enjoyed great popularity as a professional social network, but it's position is threatened by none other than Facebook, which has launched a job hunting app in the US in association with US Department of Labor. While the app just aggregates job listings from various online job search websites like Monster.com and so forth, Facebook has a lot of potential to make this one a success especially when taking its huge user base into consideration.
Nokia sues HTC over 32 patents:
Just when dust seemed to be settling for HTC, Nokia has kicked off a new patent battle with the Taiwanese manufacturer over 32 patents covering different technologies at five different venues. Nokia, facing the heat from HTC in its Windows Phone only strategy, has apparently found the correct opportunity to strike its opponent. It is being that Nokia will win the case and that it "will most likely receive a higher per-unit royalty from HTC than Apple receives from HTC". Catch the full report from FOSS Patents.
In other news:
- Google fined $208 million in Australia for defaming a Mr. Milorad Trkulja after displaying search results that might have caused users to link him to mobsters, reports CNET.
- Internet Explorer 10 Preview for Windows 7 is now available for download.
- Apple rumored to be launching new versions of iPhone, iPad along with Apple TV early next year (I know it's getting ridiculous!).
- US's Titan becomes the world's fastest supercomputer; capable of performing 17,590 trillion calculations per second.
- Sony sells 70 million units of PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide since launch in 2006; on par with Xbox 360.
- Native Google Maps for iOS with turn-by-turn navigation in external testing phase, reports Wall Street Journal.
- SkyDrive mobile and desktop apps updated with selective sync feature; Android app can now upload any file from your SD card.
- Twitter adds ability to email tweets.
- Facebook mobile apps updated with Share option for sharing posts; adds pages-only news feed on its desktop version.
- SMS usage shows first signs of decline in the US.
- HTC announces Jelly Bean upgrade plans; 512 MB RAM phones left out citing incompatibility reasons.
- Android 4.2 update rolling out with lock screen widgets and multi-user support for tablets.
- Datawind launches low-cost tablet Aakash 2 at Rs. 2,263; has a 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 7-inch capacitive display, 4 GB internal memory with support for SD card, Wi-Fi, a front-facing cam and runs on Android 4.0.
- Skype fixes a security flaw exploiting users's registered email address.
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak bemoans the lack of innovation at the company; states improving is not innovation and that Microsoft may have the upper hand when it comes to creativity.
- Google planning to launch its own wireless carrier, according to Wall Street Journal.
- Israel and Hamas indulge in Twitter war amid escalating Gaza conflict.
- Windows 8 PC sales disappointing and well below Microsoft's internal projections, says Paul Thurrott; blame put on company's strategy and floundering global economy.
- Apple and Google game for resolving its patent problems through arbitration.
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