Tech Roundup: Jan 20, 2013
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| What's with the iPhone 5? |
As tech companies continue to expand, they look to new business avenues that can help them boost their revenues. One such is Facebook's Graph Search. Released last week as a beta at a scheduled press event where a smartphone was widely anticipated, the search tool enables its users to locate stuff more easily, albeit only within the social network.
For instance, you can search for things like 'Photos of my friends in New York', 'Friends who like Inception' and so on, and the results will be delivered right to you. The takeaway from this is that the more data you (or your friends) share with Facebook, more effective is the search result as the service mines through all your interests, likes, photos, location check-ins and eventually even your status updates. I guess it's time to fine-tune your privacy settings if you are getting unnerved by all this.
In fact, Graph Search makes searching about yourself, your past and your friends so easy that if there isn't a proper privacy setting, your likes and interests will be broadcasted to the entire world. As this Gizmodo article points out, some are plain embarrassing!
While Facebook has encroached on Google's turf, this is no way a replacement to Google Search, which searches the whole of internet irrespective of who your friends are. Coincidentally developed under the leadership of two ex-Googlers, the service - powered by Microsoft Bing (can it get more ironical?) - is definitely a powerful platform for social search, content discovery and a great way to find out more about your friends (which Google Search cannot offer). A no-brainer considering the gargantuan amount of data being databased each day - close to 50 Terabytes as per latest statistics.
Google had not been sitting idle either. It too craves for all the interpersonal info people put up on Facebook, and that was one of the reasons for it to open its own social network. Knowing what two people share among each other is very powerful as opposed to an individual's personal interests and likes. And as far as personal data is concerned, Google already has enough of them obtained through several means - Android smartphones, Google Now and so forth. It also launched a similar social search tool Search, plus Your World last year which basically does the same. But so far, success has been pretty elusive to the Mountain View company.
Imagine this, you search for the best Chinese restaurant nearby in both Google and using Graph Search. Google search results will be most likely a list of restaurants near to your location (though it does have reviews, but that's quite different as those reviews need not be necessarily from your friends) whereas Graph Search will again a list a set of restaurants, but which have been liked and recommended by your friends. Which is more useful? Definitely the latter, isn't it?
Now given that Facebook's search results are better, are they really useful? It depends. Well you see, 'liking' a certain restaurant doesn't mean a person really endorses the brand. He or she may have liked it just for the sake of it. Likewise one may have liked a movie simply because he is an ardent fan of the one of the lead actors or the director. So the bottom line is that the results need not necessarily (and accurately) reflect your friends' opinions. That's something Facebook will have to deal with.
Yelp, a company that specializes in local directory search and user reviews, has been the most affected so far with its shares crashing by 6% post the announcement. It remains to be seen if this opportunity strikes gold for the social network behemoth but reactions have been so far mixed. Analysts seem to have been expecting much bigger things but all it managed to out was a beta service. But let's give it some time and who knows, this may be Facebook's next big thing!
Is iPhone 5 demand waning? Apple shares crash:
Apple is no longer innovative. Apple is no longer the trend-setter. Apple has begun to follow the herd. Apple has lost its way after the demise of Steve Jobs. These are pretty much the statements going around over the last couple of months. As proof of these statements came the iPhone 5 and iPad mini last year. Apple stocks which hit a record high of $705 on the eve of iPhone 5 announcement have since then fallen and hit hard.
In addition to losing close to $40 billion of its market value, its shares tumbled to a 11 month low of $485.92 last week following reports from the Wall Street Journal that Apple is cutting back on orders for iPhone 5 and iPad screens by 50% citing weaker then expected demand. It has purportedly reduced the orders for other components as well. The market has definitely not absorbed this news well. With faster product refresh cycles in tow, Apple is said to be in the works for new models of iPhone and iPad mini alongside iOS 7 this summer as it battles intense competition from Samsung and Google's Android in general. All eyes will be on the tech giant when it announces its quarterly results on January 23.
My humble request to Samsung, please fix the Galaxy S III:
Samsung is undoubtedly gearing up for the launch of Galaxy S IV, its next super-smartphone to rule Android for the coming whole year. But it needs to fix its predecessor, the Galaxy S III (which by the way has estimatedly sold a whopping 40 million in the last seven months). The phone was all fine, fast and smooth till the day I upgraded to Jelly Bean. Since then, it's been only woes, woes and woes. Not only is the phone sluggish (it's a quad-core processor for God's sake!), there have been umpteen random reboots. I have unearthed the culprit to be the RAM usage which is unusually hovering high at over 750-800 MB even with minimal usage.
Neither a factory reset nor repairing the software has solved the issue and I have now made it a practice to restart my phone on a daily basis to avert this disaster. Another workaround that seems to work for me is to have the least amount of widgets or shortcuts on the homescreen. If you can cut short the number of homescreens itself, the better. Android is all about customization and it hurts to know that doing so can hinder daily usage. The problem is quite widespread (just google 'Samsung Galaxy S3 slow jelly bean update' to know what I mean) and I hope an upcoming update fixes this!
In other news:
- Windows 8 RT 'jailbroken' to run unapproved Microsoft apps and an early version of Apple Mac OS X; Microsoft lauds the effort stating the exploit would be patched in a future update.
- Worldwide PC shipments fall by 4.9% to 90.3 million in Q4 2012; Dell the hardest hit.
- Struggling PC manufacturer Dell reportedly in talks to go private.
- Microsoft Office 2013 productivity suite set for a January 29 launch.
- Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro upgrades to cost $120 and $200 respectively starting February 1.
- Samsung touts sales of over 100 million Galaxy S series smartphones since May 2010.
- Samsung confirms Android Jelly Bean rollout for Galaxy S II.
- HTC M7 and LG Optimus G Pro shots leak; launch expected at Mobile World Congress next month.
- RIM opens BlackBerry 10 app submissions; amasses 15,000 apps in two days.
- Redesigned MySpace now out for public; coincides with launch of investor, singer and actor Justin Timberlake's comeback single Suit & Tie.
- Instagram's revised Terms of Service go live as of January 19, 2013; allows it share your data with its new parent Facebook.
- PC maker Lenovo enters the Chromebook market with ThinkPad X131e.
- Opera to take on Google Chrome and Apple Safari with a new WebKit based Ice mobile browser.
- Kim Dotcom launches a new file-sharing service Mega on the first anniversary of Megaupload's takedown.
- Amazon MP3 store debuts on Apple App Store.
- Sequel to the famous Temple Run game now available on iOS; Android variant expected this week.
- Dutch court rules against Apple; says Samsung's tablets do not infringe on Apple's design patents.
- Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets suffer from numerous operational problems; company halts pending deliveries.
- 2012 is the ninth warmest year since 1880, says NASA.
- Crabs and other crustaceans can feel pain, says a new study.
- Scientists discover the largest structure in the universe, a large quasar group (LQG) that spans almost 4 billion light-years at its widest point.
- Researchers create a drug that restores partial hearing in mice.
- Reddit co-founder and internet activist Aaron Swartz commits suicide at the age of 26; family pins blame on MIT and overzealous prosecution.
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