Top Tech Story of the Day
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Apple Fans Mark First Year Without Steve Jobs |
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He has been gone now for a year.
Yet in the time since Steve Jobs lost his battle with
cancer, the Apple (AAPL) magic he became synonymous with continues to flow as if
he were still here, jumping around like a kid, refusing to suffer fools gladly,
dreaming up the next insanely great thing that none of us would see coming but
that few of us would be able to live without.
"I get goose bumps when I think about what he did for
the world," said retired college professor Francina Nur. "In a way, through his
amazing products, he will live forever."
Nur had just composed a remembrance note on one of the
100 sheets of 8x12 typing paper a stranger had taped early Friday to the front
of the Palo Alto Apple Store. Suddenly a makeshift shrine to the Apple
co-founder, this is a spot not far from Jobs' home, a place he'd visit often and
always to the delight of his adoring fans lucky enough to be on hand. "You are
still the best Apple ever had," Nur wrote. "No replacement yet."
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Latest Tech News Headlines
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 Samsung Sells 58mn
Smartphones, Posts Record Profit |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Samsung had a good third quarter. The company recorded
its best-ever profit, earning $7.3 billion. It marked the fourth straight
quarter of record profits for the Korean electronics maker. Samsung's results
were buoyed by sales of its Galaxy smartphones.
Samsung doesn't report hard sales figures of its cell
phones, but analyst estimates put the number between 58 and 60 million. As many
as 18 to 20 million of those unit sales are Samsung's flagship Galaxy S III
smartphone, which has been on sale since May. As a point of comparison, Samsung
sold about 50 million handsets during the second quarter of 2012.
Samsung's smartphone business is responsible for about
two-thirds of the company's $7.3 billion profit.
The strong sales of Samsung's cell phones helped to
offset losses in other businesses. For example, profits from its DRAM (dynamic
random access memory) chip business dropped 14% during the third quarter thanks
to fewer orders from its customers. Falling demand for its laptop and other
computers dampened third-quarter earnings further.
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Foxconn Workers
Strike Over iPhone 5 Demands |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
 Thousands
of factory workers at Foxconn went on strike Friday to protest their working
conditions on the iPhone 5's production lines, according to a report from an
independent workers' rights organization.
Workers at Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou, China, were furious after management
enacted "overly strict demands" for production of Apple's new iPhone 5,
according to a report late Friday from China Labor Watch (CLW), a New York-based
advocacy group that works closely with sources in China.
The strike began at 1 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) on Friday, CLW said, and the
majority of its participants were from the on-site quality control line for the
iPhone 5. It remained ongoing into the evening, causing a work stoppage that
"paralyzed the production lines," the group said.
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Apple Quietly
Improving Its iOS Maps Data |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Apple appears to be fixing its in-house maps software
with new additions and corrections.
A week after pledging to improve the quality of the
software, some locations are already showing signs of attention, notably
corrections to points of interest and improvements in detail, including 3D
representations.
Macrumors today points to some notable improvements and
expansions in 3D data, including a 3D view of New York's Statue of Liberty,
which appeared as a flat areial shot in the initial public release, and has
since been given the 3D flyover treatment. Other changes appear in parts of the
U.S. and the U.K., the site says.
Shortly after criticism on the new feature, which
replaced Google's mapping data in iOS 5, Apple said it would be "continuously
improving" the product. "The more people use it, the better it will get," a
company spokeswoman told CNET at the time.
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Acer Iconia W700
Windows 8 Pro Tablet |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Three days after HP announced the business-oriented
ElitePad 900, Acer's formally announced flagship Windows 8 Pro-based tablet --
the Iconia W700, sporting Intel's Ivy Bridge processors gets pricing details. It
is right where Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer suggested for Microsoft Surface.
Coincidence or not?
The new Acer Iconia W700 boasts an 11.6-inch 1080p IPS
display with an 1920 by 1080 resolution powered by an integrated, Intel HD
Graphics 4000 video card paired with a Core i3 or a more powerful Core i5 Ivy
Bridge processor, with a yet undisclosed amount of RAM. For storage it uses a
64GB or 128GB SSD that reportedly boots up in as little as 6 seconds, with
resume from standby happening in just 1.5 seconds. On the back there is a 5MP
auto-focus camera capable of 1080p video recording and on the front what appears
to be a less than 2MP camera; that is known to record 720p video. And there's
more...
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FCC Lifts Ban On
Exclusive Cable Channels |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
The Federal Communications Commission voted on Friday to
lift its rules requiring cable operators that own programming to make those
channels available to their rivals.
The rules, first put in place by the Cable Act of 1992,
helped to pave the way for competition from satellite TV providers.
But in a unanimous decision, the commission concluded
that the pay-TV marketplace is now competitive enough that the rules are no
longer necessary.
The order allows the FCC to continue to review video
distribution agreements on a case-by-case basis.
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Google Settles Epic Lawsuit With Publishers |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
The settlement involves one of a handful of actions
involving Google, U.S. publishers and authors and digital rights. It only
resolves issues between Google and the publishers. "There are a number of
arrangements that could exist depending on the work, individual arrangements
between authors and publishers, and the industry sector," said AAP spokesperson
Andi Sporkin.
The American Association of Publishers, whose members
are 300 of America's largest publishers, has settled its 7-year legal dispute
with Google over the latter's digitizing of books for its Google Books project.
The settlement will give Google access to publishers'
journals and books that are in copyright, for its Google Library project.
The Google Books Library Project is Google's effort to scan and make searchable
the collections of major research libraries. It's part of the Google Books
project.
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Facebook Users Pass
1 Billion Mark |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Facebook passed the 1 billion user mark in September, a
level of global penetration that is a remarkable achievement for an 8-year-old
social network and a heightened challenge to its quest for sustained growth.
Facebook, which has endured a bruising four months in
the stock market since a haphazard May 18 initial public offering, has
acknowledged that a slowdown in new-user acquisition is inevitable as its
worldwide reach expands.
But doubts over whether the company can squeeze more and
more dollars out of each network member - given well-publicized struggles to
monetize the growing ranks of users who access Facebook from mobile devices -
have shaved more than 40 percent off Facebook's value since its IPO, although
shares still trade at a lofty 45 times projected 2012 earnings.
Thursday's announcement that Facebook crossed the
billion threshold on September 14 confirmed expectations on Wall Street that
growth is actually trailing off.
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Google Maps Street
View Now Available In Safari On iOS |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Good news for Dora the Explorer and other map fans:
Google Maps now, for the first time, offers Street View when you access the
service from Safari on an iOS device.
iOS users were long accustomed to having easy access to
Google's Street View, thanks to the fact that it was available within the native
Maps app since late 2008. As you may have heard, however, the Maps app in iOS 6
sheds its former Google-reliance; it's instead powered directly by Apple's own
mapping data, which the company assembled from a variety of sources. Said
mapping data isn't without its flaws, and Apple has suggested that you keep
using it more so that you can report problems, which Apple in turn can fix. And
CEO Tim Cook published an apology for the app's occasional flaws and
frustrations.
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AT&T To Sell New
Nokia Phones In U.S. |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
AT&T T Thursday said it will sell Nokia Corp.'s latest
Windows-running Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 smartphones in the U.S. from November,
but didn't say how much they will cost.
It may be crucial for loss-making Nokia. The Espoo,
Finland-based company had 1.3% of the U.S. phone market in the second quarter,
according to an estimate by International Data Corporation. That's down from a
19.7% peak in the first quarter of 2006.
"The US market is critical to investor sentiment, so
securing AT&T as a lead carrier partner is an encouraging development for
Nokia," Ben Wood, an industry analyst at CCS Insight, said.
AT&T is the first U.S. carrier to publicly announce that
it will support Nokia's new devices.
Nokia has been criticized for not giving enough detail
on pricing and availability for its new devices, and following AT&T's
announcement, shares in Nokia fell in Helsinki.
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iPad Mini Moves Into
Production |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
With the launch of the iPhone 5 behind it, Apple is
turning its attention back to the production of a smaller iPad tablet,
informally referred to as the iPad Mini.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which
quoted unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation, Apple’s Asian suppliers
have begun mass production of the smaller tablet. Two of the sources claimed the
device would have a screen size of 7.85 inches and a lower-resolution display
than the 9.7-inch high-definition Retina display found on the full-size iPad.
The sources also told The Journal that LG Display of
South Korea and Taiwan’s AU Optronics have begun production on the device’s LCD
panel. This is not the first time rumors about the production of an iPad Mini
have surfaced.
Although Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away
last year, had famously derided the concept of a 7-inch tablet, a slew of
low-priced competing devices from Amazon, Google and others could prompt Apple
to offer consumers a device in the $200 range. The full-size iPad currently
starts at $499, while Amazon’s recently released 7-inch Kindle Fire tablets
start at $159 and Google’s Nexus 7 tablet starts at $199.
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Sprint Might
Challenge T-Mobile, Go After MetroPCS |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
T-Mobile USA and parent company Deutsche Telekom
probably thought the most difficult part of securing their just-announced merger
with MetroPCS would be getting it through the regulatory process. Don't look
now, but competition could be in the offing.
Members of Sprint's board of directors will get on a
conference call Friday and mull the possibility of presenting a counter offer
for America's fifth-largest wireless provider, "people familiar with the matter"
told the Wall Street Journal.
The combination of T-Mobile and MetroPCS would hurt
Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint, which is the country's third-largest provider
in terms of subscribers. Some subscriber estimates of a combined T-Mobile-MetroPCS
put the newly formed company ahead of Sprint. The Journal reports that Sprint
almost had an agreement with MetroPCS last winter, but its board put the kibosh
on the move.
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Nook Media Receives
Microsoft Funds |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Microsoft Corp. has completed the investment of $300 million in a
newly created subsidiary of Barnes & Noble Inc. called Nook Media LLC, the
companies said Thursday.
The new company consists of Barnes & Noble's digital businesses,
including its Nook e-reader and tablets, as well as its 667 college bookstores.
Microsoft's investment translates into a 17.6% stake in Nook Media, with Barnes
& Noble owning the remainder. It is possible that Nook Media will attract
additional outside investors.
"This further fuels the growth of the digital content business and
allows us to do things like expand internationally," said Barnes & Noble Chief
Executive William Lynch in an interview. "We will be in 10 international markets
with the Nook digital bookstore by June 2013."
He said Nook Media will generate more than $3 billion in annual
revenue and is debt-free. In addition to its equity investment, Microsoft has
committed another $305 million to the company over the next five years.
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Facebook
Scans Private Messages To Hand Out Public 'Likes' |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
Facebook doesn’t just rely on its users to hit the
“Like” button around the Web to tell the world that they endorse a product, news
article, hotel, or LOLcat. It scans their private messages to friends, and when
it sees a link to a ‘Likeable’ page, it doles out ‘Likes’ accordingly. Two
‘Likes’ per private message sent, to be exact. This is a fascinating find by
security researcher Ashkan Soltani, writing for the Wall Street Journal:
"A recent online video shows that the social networking
site scans the links you’re sending – registering them as though you “Like” the
page you sent. … The video, which was posted this week on Hacker News, showed a
person who sent links in Facebook messages in order to inflate the number of
“Likes” a page had received. Each time the link was sent, the page’s “Like”
count went up by two, something that the Hacker News poster said allows people
to “pump up to 1,800 ‘Likes’ in an hour.”
I tested it myself. When I sent a link to Soltani’s test
page in private messages to my sisters, Soltani’s page registered two extra
“Likes” with each message. When I sent the link to both sisters at once, the
page still got just two “Likes.” His page also got two more “Likes” when I
posted a link to it on Soltani’s wall (publicly). I tried the test again sending
a recent article I wrote to my sister. It jumped from “5 shares” to “7 shares”
after I sent her the message.
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Samsung Galaxy S III Mini Could Get Revealed Next Week |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
It’s clear by now that the Galaxy S III is an extremely
popular smartphone, so it’s no wonder we’ve been hearing rumors of a new version
of the handset – dubbed the Galaxy S III Mini – off and on for a while. Today
we’re hearing new rumors of such a device, although this time around there’s
some lovely photographic evidence to go along with it. Samsung has apparently
started sending out invitations to an October 11 event in Germany, and with
them, the company is teasing something tiny.
According to the folks at UnwiredView, the text on the
invitation (pictured below) says something along the lines of “Something small
will be really big,” and, “Get ready for a little sensation.” Of course, it’s
impossible to know for sure what Samsung is talking about in this invitation,
but we can clearly see the “S” that Samsung has always used in the branding for
Galaxy S devices pictured in the center. So, at the very least, we should be
hearing about a new Galaxy S device at this event on October 11.
The text on the invite, however, suggest that this
device’s size is one of the main talking points. That’s leading some to believe
that the long-rumored Galaxy S III Mini will be revealed at this event, but even
though the evidence is pointing toward such a reveal, we’re hesitant to say that
it’s a sure thing. In short, take any rumors about a Galaxy S III Mini with a
grain of salt until Samsung makes the announcement it’s teasing in this invite.
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Samsung Motions To
Add iPhone 5 To Patent Case |
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Tech Junkeez Latest Tech News
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. says it has filed
a motion with a U.S. court to add Apple's iPhone 5 to their ongoing patent
battle.
Samsung says it filed the motion Monday with the
California court, alleging that Apple's new phone infringes on eight of its
patents.
The two companies are locked in a struggle for supremacy
in the global smartphone market, leading to legal cases in courts across the
globe.
Samsung released a statement Tuesday saying, "We have
always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products,
rather than in courtrooms. However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal
measures that will limit market competition."
It said it had "little choice but to take the steps
necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights."
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