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11/27/2012

09/20/2012

CNN) -- A day after reports that Samsung plans to announce a follow up to its popular Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone in February, the Korean company has taken to Twitter to deny them.
The Samsung Galaxy S4, a new iteration of the phone that has established itself as the chief rival to Apple's iPhone, will be introduced in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, according to The Korea Times.
A day after that report surfaced, though, Samsung took to its Korean Twitter account to deny it.
"Please note that some media reported speculation that the Galaxy S's subsequent models will be released," the tweet read in Korean, calling the report "a simple rumor [that] is not true."
The report from the Times, the oldest English-language newspaper in South Korea, cites unnamed company officials and parts suppliers in the region.
Among the Galaxy S4's features will be a 5-inch screen, slightly larger than the display on the popular Galaxy S III and a full inch bigger than the iPhone 5, the report said.
It will have more powerful hardware and software and will "definitely use" 4G LTE networks, a parts supplier told the paper.
The perils of sleeping with your mobile phone
Phones running Google's Android operating system have been outselling the iPhone for some time. But that's a fragmented field that includes dozens of phones of varying quality. No single handset has established itself as a serious rival to Apple's phone.
The Galaxy S III has made perhaps the best claim. Last month, the company announced it had sold more than 20 million units in three months, making September the first month since the release of the iPhone 4S that it wasn't the world's top-selling smartphone.
Snap reviews of the iPhone 5 have been somewhat mixed, at least among the tech media. Many who got a hands-on demo at Apple's Wednesday announcement praised its slimmer, lighter design, bigger display and faster processor. Others said the device failed to produce groundbreaking advances at a moment when Apple, perhaps for the first time ever, finds itself needing to catch up with features available on other phones.
Customer response, however, has been overwhelming.
Pre-orders of the iPhone 5 "sold out" almost instantly (an admittedly arbitrary feat considering Apple controls the supply), with orders topping 2 million in the first 24 hours. That's double the 1 million for last year's iPhone 4S in the same time period.
The phone hits stores Friday in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It rolls out in 22 other countries on September 28.
The S4's release would mark Samsung's biggest salvo since a federal court in California ruled that Samsung violated multiple Apple patents in the release of its own products. After the ruling, Apple asked the court to add the Galaxy S III to the list of products that are in violation.
The case was just one of roughly 50 patent disputes in different countries. Some of the other courts have ruled in favor of Samsung.
According to the South Korean news report, Samsung is working with U.S. carriers on modified designs the company said will eliminate any questions about patents.
The report said Samsung plans to fire back in another way, too. Samsung is asking Apple to pay more for the processors it produces at an Austin, Texas, plant and is promoting itself as "the only firm that can guarantee on-time delivery, output commitment and better pricing for mobile application processors," one executive told The Korea Times.

07/19/2012

(CNN) -- Some young adults are so fond of their expensive smartphones that they take a cheaper backup phone with them to bars and leave their fancier phones at home where they are safe from spilled vodka tonics, pickpockets and uncoordinated drunk people.
That's according to consumer-behavior expert Laura Krajecki of the Starcom MediaVest Group, who stumbled upon the trend while researching beer and shared it with AdWeek. "They take what they call their 'drunk phone' ... because they don't want to lose their smartphone," she said.
CNN's independent research yielded different results, however.
An exhausting, though hardly exhaustive, survey of bar patrons in San Francisco this past weekend turned up zero people who had opted to carry a be**er phone out with them on a night of drinking. Nor did any interview subjects know other people who had ever done such a thing.
But as seasoned bartender Jerome Bishop put it, "I've never heard of anybody doing that, but it doesn't mean they don't."
It's possible the people in watering holes visited by this reporter were not young enough (are college students more likely to binge drink and lose things?), well-off enough (a stream of secondary phones can add up), or beta testing top secret phones for their Silicon Valley employers.
Interestingly, while the mythical back-up phone was nowhere to be found, carrying multiple phones was not uncommon. Two friends at Churchill bar were hauling around their assigned work phones -- both BlackBerrys, of course -- in addition to their personal handsets.
Many people admitted to having lost their phones while drinking in the past but were still set on taking their smartphones with them on nights out.
"Sh** breaks, it's expensive. If you're not ready to take ownership of it, don't buy it," advised Eric, a guest at a costume party in the Lower Haight neighborhood. Eric recently lost his iPhone at Bay to Breakers -- a boisterous alcohol-soaked run through the city -- but quickly bought a new one. It was stashed safely away in a pocket under his pirate ensemble.
Nathan also knew the pain of losing an expensive smartphone after one too many.
After buying the first iPhone just days after it was released ($600 for the phone plus the $150 to cancel an existing Verizon contract), Nathan took it to a bar where he showed it off to friends. When he awoke the next morning, his phone was nowhere to be found. He bought a new one and hasn't lost sight of it since.
Asked whether he'd consider swapping it out for a "dumb" phone if it was available, he said, "No, I'd probably still take my iPhone. I need my maps. And Shazam."
It seems smartphone features have become too integral to too many people's lives to just leave behind, whether it's the camera for documenting good times or GPS for getting home from good times.
"I always want to have my good phone with me. If you get into an argument, you want to be able to look the answer up. I need my smartphone," said Bishop.
But if Krajecki's data is to be believed, some think a "drunk phone" is a sound idea whose time has come. So how do you go about getting your very own companion phone?
The easiest way to receive all your calls on a secondary phone isn't to mess with SIM cards or contracts -- just buy the least expensive prepaid phone you can find. After all, this is a phone you're wagering could be left behind in a roadhouse latrine somewhere.
The cost of a phone jumps as soon as you try to get it without a contract, but there are still plenty of steals to be found. You can pick up a used phone on Craigslist or eBay, but if you're after that new-phone smell, you can drop $10 on a Samsung Trackfone at Best Buy.
To receive your calls on this second phone, our friends at Time.com's Techland suggest a service such as Google Voice. However, it's probably easier to just turn on call forwarding on your smartphone before you head out. Take a few minutes to enter the key phone numbers into your second phone -- the local cab company, your preferred late-night romantic dial.
This brings us to one of the unexpected advantages of taking a secondary phone on the go. You can decide ahead of time, while you're still sober and of sound body and mind, whose number you should have in your phone.
If you're using a truly dumb phone, there is no Twitter or Facebook, no work e-mail and no ex-boyfriend on speed dial (assuming you haven't memorized his digits). You've greatly decreased the chances of accidentally humiliating yourself after a third martini.
At Nova, a bar in San Francisco's startup-filled SOMA district, Bishop sees plenty of phones left behind. He holds on to them and waits for the owner return or to call their own phone. Maybe those handsets should be called "drunk phones," too.
So do you carry a "drunk phone" when you go out for a night of revelry? Or can you not part with your valuable smartphone? Are there other times and places you'd opt to take a cheaper phone? Share your communications strategy with us in the comments section below or go to iReport.

07/19/2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Those pesky pop-up ads from the '90s are back, but this time they're holding your smartphone hostage.
Tens of thousands of smartphone apps are running ads from rogue advertising networks that change smartphone settings and take contact information without permission, according to a new study released Monday.

Aggressive ad networks can disguise ads as text message notifications or app icons, and sometimes change browser settings and bookmarks. Often, the ads will upload your contacts list to the ad network's servers -- information the ad network can then sell to marketers
Sounds scary? It's not a giant problem yet, but it's a growing one. As many as 5% of free mobile apps use an "aggressive" ad network to make money, according to Lookout, a San Francisco-based mobile security company.
With millions of mobile apps in stores, that small sliver adds up to a big number. The study found that 19,200 of the 384,000 apps it tested used malicious ad networks. Those apps have been downloaded a whopping 80 million times.
PhoneLiving was one of the most prevalent app developers to use these kinds of ad networks, according to Lookout -- their dozens of talking animal apps have been downloaded several million times.
PhoneLiving says it has mended its ways. The company acknowledged using invasive techniques to make money from its apps, but says it dropped those methods at the start of this month because of bad reviews and declining downloads.
"We have removed all of the notification/icon ads from all of our talking apps," a company spokesman said. "We have made this switch to benefit our users despite the lower profits involved in other types of ads."
The most popular type of apps that use aggressive ad networks are "personalization" apps, which include wallpapers. Comic, arcade and entertainment apps are also among the most likely to have rogue ad networks running behind the scenes.
Like aggressive pop-ups on PCs, the bad software isn't easy to shed. Though the damage can typically be reversed by deleting the app, it can be hard to pinpoint which app is causing the problems.
"Sometimes you download 10 apps at a time, so you don't know which is responsible," said Kevin Mahaffey, Lookout's CTO. "It's not unlike adware in the early PC days."
When developers create free mobile apps, they usually make money through ads displayed within the app. That free version of Angry Birds didn't cost you anything because of the pop-up ad that appears right as you're catapulting the red bird at its target.
The vast majority of ads run on well-known ad networks like Jumptap, Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iAd and Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) AdMob. They collect some information about their users, but they don't go to the extremes of uploading contact lists and changing settings.
The appeal of the ad networks that Lookout calls "aggressive" is that they generate more revenue for app developers.
Android ad network Airpush, for example, places ads in users' notification bars and home pages. That generates more clicks -- and more money for developers -- since even inactive users can view the ads.
Lookout has criticized Airpush in the past for being overly aggressive with its marketing techniques. Airpush remains the second-biggest ad network for Android devices.
Airpush gives customers the option of opting out of its push notification ads, and users are notified the first time they launch an Airpush-equipped app about the app's advertising methods. All of Airpush's ads include the name of the app transmitting the ad, the company says.
An Airpush representative says the company plans to move within the next two weeks to "an affirmative opt-in" system for its push notification ads.
App makers don't usually disclose what ad network they're using, which makes it hard to avoid the known offenders. The best defense is to read reviews and avoid downloading apps that have attracted a trail of complaints.
Lookout's Mahaffey says bad actors are more prevalent on Android phones than iPhones, because the Google Play app store has fewer restrictions and gatekeepers than Apple's iTunes app store.
But the iPhone isn't immune: Other ad networks Lookout considers aggressive include Moolah Media and Leadbolt, which publish apps for both Android and iOS.
Correction: A photo caption on an earlier version of this story incorrectly suggested that Airpush takes contact information from users' phones; the company does not. The story has been updated with a response from Airpush. Also, Lookout initally cited Mocean Mobile as an aggressive network, but later retracted that classification and called it an error. Mocean Mobile is an ad-serving platform, not an ad network.

07/18/2012

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com

June is only now upon us, but it’s already a brand new year for Apple. Their product packed Keynote presentation yesterday not only delivered a brand new, iPad-themed machine aimed squarely at professionals, they also peeled the cover back slightly on iOS 6, the mobile operating system which runs on all things “i.”

Though iOS 6 isn’t slated to arrive until the “fall”—likely a few days before we see the new iPhone—Apple has already distanced themselves from their competition in more ways than one. With their new revised Maps app, Apple is finally able to move out from underneath Google’s umbrella, taking on the task of compiling this data on their own, while their Intelligent Assistant Siri finally makes her competition look like technology from an 80’s science fiction novel.

Steve Jobs was beaming with pride to announce their partnership with Google when the first iPhone arrived in 2007. Not only did the Safari browser feature Google searches, they also pushed Google Maps, presenting them with a seat of honor on the then sparsely populated home screen. While Apple had always been in control of how the app was designed, they had always relied on Google Maps data for their back-end server work. Even now, these maps are preinstalled with every iPhone sold. Not so come fall, as Apple finally announced their own mapping service, a project which has been in the works for a couple years. Apple began to acquire mapping services, such as C3, Placebase and Poly 9, not-so-subtly suggesting they were planning to cut ties with Google. Then, during “location-gate” last year, Apple made mention of a new traffic service they had in the works. We only had to wait for today to see in unveiled.

The new version of Maps will have Siri integration, real-time traffic information and turn-by-turn directions. The real demo-worthy aspect of the new app is their 3D “flyover” mode, which allows users to look over their favorite cities as if they are flying over them, looking for points of interest. Although this feature is very slick, it’s not yet seen how useful it will be when it launches, as Apple has only modeled 20 cities to date.

When Siri launched last October with the iPhone 4S, she came with one glaring blemish, best identified on Apple’s own website. A bright orange warning tag sits on the top left corner of Siri’s profile which reads “Beta,” more or less an admission that she may act up once in a while. As such, Siri has oft been ridiculed and downplayed as a niche feature. When she works, she works incredibly well, but when she doesn’t—and she doesn’t more often than she should—she can be a real pain in the neck. Samsung introduced an eerily similar version of Siri when they announced the Galaxy S III, complete with similar microphone icon and functionality. Even the name—“S voice”—smacks of Siri likeness. Samsung’s S-Voice offers users voice command functionality. Meaning, there is a set of specific voice commands that S-Voice listens for in order to start working, turning your voice more into a remote control.

Originally pitched as an “Intelligent Assistant,” Siri is supposed to be as natural and lifelike as talking to a real assistant. Instead of using a select set of voice commands to control her, Siri is able to parse what you ask of her, then turn your phrase into actionable items. In iOS 6, Siri has not only gotten smarter, but assumedly more stable as well. Vice President of iPhone software Scott Forstall began showing off Siri’s new functionality by asking a series of sports questions, then moved on to some movie trivia. If Siri works as well as she did in the demo, she’ll be able to turn many of your questions into real answers rather than simply guiding you to a web search. Siri will also be able to take control of date night, booking restaurant reservations and buying movie tickets, all at your behest. While she may have been a fun game to play at the bar when she first made her way to our world, it seems she has now matured and is ready to reliably show up to work on time. Apple’s WWDC continues on through this week, and iOS 6 will be available sometime “this fall.”


redOrbit (http://s.tt/1edhu)

07/18/2012

(CNN) -- Facebook may be more populous, but Google+ is better-liked.
That's the message from a new set of data released Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Google+, the 1-year-old social network that pundits declared dead last year, ties Wikipedia at the top of the list of social media sites, with a score of 78 out of 100.
Facebook is the least-liked social network on the list, with a score of 61 on the group's ranking of e-businesses.
That's down nearly 8% from Facebook's previous ranking, indicating a drop in popularity of the social network that is by far the world's most populous, with more than 900 million active users. By contrast, Google+ has about 150 million monthly active users.
"If Facebook doesn't feel the pressure to improve customer satisfaction now, that may soon change," ForeSee's CEO, Larry Freed, said in a news release. ForeSee is an analytics firm that partnered with ACSI to create the report.
This was the first year Google+ was included in the ranking, which is based on interviews with consumers. ACSI, which releases monthly reports in a variety of business categories, says it interviews 70,000 people a year.
With a rating of 63, LinkedIn, another popular network, barely scored higher than Facebook in terms of customer satisfaction in Tuesday's report. YouTube, which is owned by Google, received a 73; Pinterest a 73; and Twitter a 64. (MySpace, in case you're wondering, isn't part of the list anymore).
Some people who use Google+ weren't surprised by the ranking.
"Makes sense," one user wrote in response to a CNN question about the news. "I'm sure a lot of people use Facebook because they genuinely love it, but a huge number are also using it because they feel forced to -- because everyone else they know is using it, or they think they need to have a business presence there. So there are many people using Facebook on a regular basis who don't actually like it and have plenty to complain about. Whereas the majority of people using Google+ regularly only bother to do so because they really prefer it over other sites like Facebook."
ACSI says Google+ is strong in areas where Facebook is weak.
"According to the report, Google+'s strong showing is a result of an absence of traditional advertising and what is seen as a superior mobile product," the group says in its news release.
"Google+'s strengths may be Facebook's weaknesses, as users complain about ads and privacy concerns. However, the most frequent complaints about Facebook are changes to its user interface, most recently the introduction of the Timeline feature."
The index was founded at the University of Michigan and gets support from ForeSee for its e-commerce and e-business rankings.
Are you surprised to see Google+ ranked above Facebook? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

06/29/2012

Google confirms Chrome bug is causing crashes on latest MacBook Air
A minor update disables GPU acceleration while Google and Apple find a fix.

by Chris Foresman - June 29 2012, 11:32am EDT
OS X
29
If you have the latest MacBook Air and run Chrome as your primary browser, you may have been the victim of numerous kernel panics that require a reboot. Google has now confirmed that a resource leak related to GPU acceleration is triggering the kernel panics, and an update released Thursday afternoon temporarily disables some acceleration features until a full fix is ready.

The problem seems to have first been discovered early last week, according to reports in Apple's support discussion forums. The common thread among users experiencing crashes was the use of Chrome, which seemed to cause a kernel panic related to the drivers for Intel's HD4000 integrated graphics.

It turns out that Chrome's use of GPU acceleration for plug-ins—in particular, Flash—leaked resources. A side effect of that leak, however, is that the drivers for the HD4000 cause a kernel panic, requiring a hard restart to recover.

Google says it has filed a bug report with Apple concerning the driver issue, "since it should not be possible for an application to trigger such behavior," the company told Gizmodo. Chrome developers continue to work on a fix for the resource leak, but in the interim, Google has pushed out an update to Chrome that disables GPU acceleration on Macs with HD4000 graphics until the issue is resolved.

06/14/2012

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