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Review: Apps to make holiday shopping easier (AP) : Technet |
- Review: Apps to make holiday shopping easier (AP)
- Australian court clears sale of Samsung Galaxy tab (AP)
- Twitter, mixi form Japan tie-up as Facebook gains (AP)
- NASA plans first space washing machine (Yahoo! News)
- Scientists optimize 3D printer to create new bones (Yahoo! News)
- What the Facebook FTC Settlement Means for Social Media (Mashable)
- Blackstone, Bain plan Yahoo bid: source (Reuters)
- Reports: Blackstone, Bain mulling joint Yahoo bid (AP)
- Instagram takes to your desktop nicely with these Web apps (Digital Trends)
- 30 percent of iPhone 4S owners paid the iPhone 4 early termination fee (Digital Trends)
- Sen. Rockefeller ‘not a great fan of Facebook’ (Daily Caller)
- Summary Box: Review of smartphone shopping apps (AP)
- Infinity Blade II cuts above any other game available on Apple’s iDevices (Appolicious)
- FCC Merger Report Release "Improper," AT&T Claims (NewsFactor)
- Spotify Aims to Amp Up Music with Apps (NewsFactor)
- Another iPhone reportedly goes up in smoke, sleeping woman wakes in time (Digital Trends)
- ESRB games rating board to bring parental advice to apps, but not Google or Apple (Appolicious)
- Keeping Data Off U.S. Servers Won't Prevent the Government from Snooping (The Atlantic Wire)
| Review: Apps to make holiday shopping easier (AP) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 03:42 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – Even if you love to shop, it can be a pain this time of year. Stores are crowded, gift options seem endless and it's hard to determine if you're getting the best prices. If you have a smartphone, though, there's a simple solution: Apps. There are tons of mobile apps to help you save time and cash this holiday season. Most of them are cheap or free. I tried several apps meant to ease holiday shopping frustrations and found a bunch that make the task easier — and a few that make it more fun. Price Check by Amazon and RedLaser (free, available for iPhone and Android) — With these two apps on my phone, I felt like a low-price-finding machine. Both let you search for items by typing in the name or by scanning a barcode. With Price Check, you can also search for items with your voice or by taking a photo of things like books and DVDs. RedLaser, owned by eBay Inc., is great for finding items online and in nearby bricks-and-mortar stores. I found myself checking prices on everything from watches to collapsible water bottles, sometimes just for the heck of it. I used it at a local Sur La Table cookware store to compare prices on a set of water glasses before buying them, and was pleased to see the $19.99 price was lower than at some online retailers and a nearby Bloomingdales department store. RedLaser also includes a handy feature for making simple shopping lists, and a history feature that records all the items you've looked up, so you can go back and find things later on. Price Check's layout is slightly more attractive than RedLaser's, though it's limited to the Web since it gives online-only results from Amazon.com and companies that sell through Amazon.com Inc. I really like the way Price Check displays search results, with the product at the top of the screen and three tabs that let you quickly scroll through prices, a description and user reviews. And if I found an item's price was lower online than in the store, it would be simple to buy it through the app. The best part about Price Check is the abundance of product reviews (the same ones you see when you go on Amazon.com or use the Amazon Mobile app). They're indispensable for looking up potential gifts and helping me think twice before making purchases. Gift Plan ($2.99, available for iPhone) — If you have a hard time organizing your gift list, or tend to misplace it after writing it out, you'll like Gift Plan. The app lets you make elaborate gift lists for family and friends. You can set up lists of potential presents, jot down people's likes and dislikes and — even more helpful for those of us who never remember such things — their clothing sizes. The app's "Occasions" tab shows you upcoming holidays or birthdays, and a "Shopping" tab helps you track gifts you plan to buy. Gift Plan denotes each gift-giving occasion with a different color, which makes it easy to spot them on the app's built-in calendar, and you can choose when and how often you want to be notified about upcoming events. Another cool feature: You can set up a passcode to keep sneaky loved ones from snooping at your list. Shopkick (free, available for iPhone, Android) — Shopkick essentially turns shopping into a game, where you get real-world rewards for going to local stores. If you hate shopping, this can make a painful activity more fun. If you adore shopping, the app may be harmful to your wallet. The app shows a list of nearby stores, each of which you get a certain number of "kicks," or points, for visiting. Click on a listed store and you can see available deals and opportunities to pick up more kicks (if I stopped at a local Best Buy, for example, I could get 75 kicks for scanning photos of three different GPS devices). You can also link your Visa debit or credit card to your shopkick account so you'll automatically get points for certain purchases. Collect enough "kicks" and you can get rewards such as gift certificates to Target or Best Buy. I quickly got sucked into visiting as many nearby stores as possible, including some I rarely enter, simply so I could rack up more points. Somehow, I also ended up buying several items for myself — fleece pajama pants at Old Navy, a white sake bottle and matching cups at Crate & Barrel — even though I was supposed to be buying gifts for others. Lemon (free, available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone) — As you spend, receipts pile up. For me, this means a wad of disorganized paper slips in my wallet and digital receipts lost in the bowels of my email inbox. Lemon offers a sweet solution. Once you download the app and sign up with its corresponding website, Lemon.com, you can scan your receipts with your phone's camera and the service will automatically identify the name and location of the store along with the amount you spent and the purchase date (if you want to see the whole receipt image, that's saved, too). Lemon is good for online shopping, too: If you buy anything on the Web, you can have online retailers send the receipt to your lemon.com address so they'll be easier to keep track of. And if you want to back up some old e-receipts with the service, just forward them there yourself. You can use preset labels like "personal" and "credit card" to add details to your receipts, or add your own. I made a "gift" label to identify holiday items and was happy to see I could also view them by category. The holidays can be stressful, but with a couple of these apps on your smartphone you'll likely find gift-giving less so. Your wallet might even thank you for it, too. ___ Rachel Metz can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rachelmetz |
| Australian court clears sale of Samsung Galaxy tab (AP) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 06:45 AM PST SYDNEY – Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that sided with Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone. The Federal Court's decision is a victory for Samsung in its bitter, international patent war with Apple Inc., and might be just in time for the Suwon, South Korea-based company to capitalize on the Christmas shopping season in Australia. The ruling Wednesday said evidence fails to show that the Galaxy tablet infringes Apple's touch screen patent and that Apple Inc. would be unlikely to win if the case went to a trial. It blasted the earlier decision in Apple's favor as "clearly wrong." In October, Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett granted Apple's request for a temporary injunction against sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, preventing Samsung from selling the device in the country in its current form. Samsung quickly appealed that decision, and on Wednesday, the court agreed to lift the injunction and allow Galaxy sales to go ahead. Still, Samsung will have to wait a few more days before it can begin selling the Galaxy, after Apple indicated it would appeal to the nation's High Court. Federal Court Justice Lindsay Foster agreed to keep the injunction in place until Friday while that issue is pending. The battle began in April, when Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung in the United States, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of Samsung's Galaxy devices "slavishly copy" the iPhone and iPad. Samsung responded by filing its own lawsuits that accused Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology. The fight has spread to 10 countries, with courts in several nations — including Germany and the Netherlands — ruling in favor of Apple. It has highlighted the perception that Samsung — the global No. 1 in TVs and No. 2 in smartphones by sales — is more of an imitator of clever technologies than an innovator in its own right. Apple, by contrast, is generally viewed by consumers as highly original and inventive. In her October ruling, Justice Bennett said she was siding with Apple in part because she felt the company had a sufficient likelihood of winning at trial against Samsung. But on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court argued that Bennett did not include in her written decision any assessment of the strengths of Apple's case, as she was required to do before granting the injunction. "In our view, her decision was clearly wrong and should be set aside," the panel wrote. The justices also said they believed Apple was unlikely to succeed at trial, writing that current evidence fails to show that selling the Galaxy in Australia infringes on Apple's touch screen patent. In a statement, Samsung said it was pleased with the court's decision and said it would soon announce when the Galaxy would be available in Australia. "We believe the ruling clearly affirms that Apple's legal claims lack merit," the company said. Apple representatives did not immediate respond to requests for comment. |
| Twitter, mixi form Japan tie-up as Facebook gains (AP) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 04:10 AM PST TOKYO – Twitter Inc. and Japan's biggest homegrown social networking site mixi Inc. joined forces Wednesday to strengthen their ground against a rapidly expanding Facebook. For Twitter, the partnership with a local social network could point to a new strategy as the San Francisco-based microblogging service seeks to accelerate global growth. Japan is the company's second-biggest market after the U.S. and has served as a key international testing ground of sorts. Japanese was Twitter's first foreign language platform, and it opened its first overseas office in Tokyo earlier this year. In April, the company hired James Kondo in Japan as its first international country manager. Kondo said he didn't know if Twitter would forge similar partnerships in other countries. But the company is keen to see what happens with the experiment, which launched with a limited Christmas-themed application, he said. "This is going to be an interesting case," he told The Associated Press. "We're going to see what works and what doesn't work, and we're going to build on top of that as opposed to throwing out something that may not work." For mixi, the announcement couldn't have come at a better time. The seven-year-old Tokyo-based company had been the dominant social networking platform in Japan. Despite its massive popularity elsewhere in the world, Facebook failed to make much of an impact in the country. That is, until this year. Data released this week from Nielsen NetRatings Japan showed that mixi stood in third place behind Twitter and Facebook in terms of unique visitors in October. More than 14.5 million users visited Twitter, and 11.3 million went to Facebook, according to the Nielsen report. In contrast, about 8.4 million visited mixi. Google's social networking service was a very distant fourth. Facebook has surged over the last year in Japan, in part due to the popularity of the hit movie "The Social Network." The Nielsen data indicates that it surpassed mixi midway through the year. Growing social gaming services GREE and DeNA also pose threats to mixi. Twitter and mixi said they offer contrasting — and mutually beneficial — services. While Twitter is a public platform with real-time information, mixi is a closed network. Most users limit their networks to a small group of their closest friends. Mixi hopes that by partnering with Twitter, it can better integrate public information and conversation into its tight-knit communities. "Mixi rightly had a choice to do it themselves or partner with someone who's good at this," Kondo said. "And we're glad that they thought that Twitter would be a good partner. I think we can provide value that's distinctive." Kenji Kasahara, mixi's founder and president, said that the two companies started talking after the March earthquake and tsunami. Both services were used extensively as critical information lifelines in the wake of the disaster. Twitter in particular gained credibility in Japan after the earthquake. New users flocked to the site for real-time information about the nuclear crisis, electricity blackouts and aftershocks. "Had our services been connected during the disaster, we would have been able to provide much better service for our users," he said at a joint press conference at mixi headquarters. But for starters, mixi has created a "mixi Xmas 2011" page, through which its users can share holiday messages on both platforms and send "social gifts" to friends. Other new joint products are also in the works. The companies said they hope to cooperate on emergency communications during disasters, location-based applications, advertising and business services. ___ Follow Tomoko A. Hosaka on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomokohosaka |
| NASA plans first space washing machine (Yahoo! News) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 06:04 PM PST |
| Scientists optimize 3D printer to create new bones (Yahoo! News) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 05:54 PM PST |
| What the Facebook FTC Settlement Means for Social Media (Mashable) Posted: 29 Nov 2011 02:49 PM PST |
| Blackstone, Bain plan Yahoo bid: source (Reuters) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 08:19 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are preparing a bid for all of Yahoo Inc with Asian partners in a deal that could value the Internet company at about $25 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The potential bid by the consortium, which would include China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, has not yet been finalized, the source and two other people familiar with the matter said. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose primary interest is in buying back a 40 percent stake owned by Yahoo, is keeping its options open and said it has not decided whether to participate in a bid for all of Yahoo. "Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole company bid for Yahoo," Alibaba Group spokesman, John Spelich, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. Yahoo's shares, which closed at $15.71 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, gained 6.4 percent to $16.72 in after-hours trading, valuing the company at more than $20 billion. "Alibaba definitely wants to get its stake back from Yahoo, so whatever that can make that happen, they will try for it," said Hong Kong-based JPMorgan analyst, Dick Wei, adding Alibaba may finance the deal by taking on more debt or finding a strategic buyer. Alibaba, run by its founder and billionaire CEO Jack Ma, has ties with some of the world's most prominent private equity funds and a group of investors including Silver Lake purchased a 5 percent stake worth $1.6 billion in early November. A bid for Yahoo at more than $20 per share would mean a deal value of about $25 billion based on 1.24 billion shares outstanding, potentially making it the largest leveraged buyout in recent years. Blackstone, Bain and Softbank declined to comment, while Yahoo representatives were not immediately available to comment. HEAT ON THE BOARD Although a bid for all of Yahoo is not yet on the table, the latest twist turns up the heat on Yahoo's board, which has received at least two offers for a minority stake in the company according to people familiar with the matter. One offer came from a consortium of Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp, and another from TPG Capital. Silver Lake, Microsoft and TPG have declined to comment. Meanwhile, private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo, people familiar with the matter told Reuters previously. Providence Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman are also interested in a potential Yahoo deal. Thomas H. Lee, Providence and Hellman & Friedman have declined to comment on the situation. Bain and Blackstone have a track record of teaming up for joint investments. In 2008, the two buyout firms, in partnership with NBC Universal, bought the Weather Channel. In 2006, the private equity firms teamed up for a $6 billion buyout of Michaels Stores Inc, the biggest U.S. arts and crafts retailer. Internet pioneer Yahoo has seen its growth stagnate in recent years due to competition from Google Inc and Facebook and is currently without a permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance. Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started a strategic review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, the board and shareholders. Yang has been exploring a deal with private equity firms to take the company private, according to sources, in part because that would represent his best chance of remaining involved with the company. (Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim in New York and Melanie Lee in Shanghai; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Carol Bishopric and Matt Driskill) |
| Reports: Blackstone, Bain mulling joint Yahoo bid (AP) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 07:48 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are discussing whether to team up with two major Asia companies in a bid to buy Yahoo for more than $25 billion. The possibility was floated late Wednesday in media reports that quoted people familiar with the matter who were not identified. Both Reuters and Bloomberg News said Blackstone and Bain Capital could bid more than $20 per share if they pursue a joint bid with China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp. That would translate into more than $25 billion, based on the 1.24 billion shares that Yahoo had outstanding as of Oct. 31. Yahoo's stock price hasn't topped $20 during the past three years, mainly because the company's revenue has been slipping as it loses ground in the rapidly growing Internet ad market to Google Inc. and Facebook. Yahoo and Bain Capital declined to comment Wednesday. Blackstone didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Although the media reports emphasized nothing has been finalized, the prospect of a takeover bid tantalized investors. Yahoo shares surged more than 6 percent to $16.72 in extended trading. It's the latest speculation to surface about Yahoo's fate since the Internet company fired Carol Bartz as its CEO in early September. Yahoo's board has been reviewing a possible sale of all or part of the company since then. The company's nine directors haven't publicly disclosed a timetable for its decision on whether to pursue a deal or pursue a different strategy under a new CEO. Tim Morse, Yahoo's chief financial officer, has been the company's interim leader since Bartz's ouster. Private equity firms Blackstone and Bain are just one of several potential suitors flirting with Yahoo. Others reported to be interested in at least buying a major stake in Yahoo include Silver Lake Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Microsoft Corp. also has signed a confidentiality agreement to gain access to Yahoo's books, but the world's largest software maker doesn't appear to be in interested in buying the entire company like it was in 2008. At that time, Microsoft offered as much as $33 per share, or $47.5 billion, before ending the talks in frustration over Yahoo's indecision. This time around, Microsoft's main motive is protecting a 10-year deal it signed in 2009 to provide Yahoo with its search technology. Alibaba CEO Jack Ma already has publicly said his company is interested in buying Yahoo. If Alibaba joins in a successful bid for Yahoo, it would represent a turn of the investment tables. Yahoo currently owns a 42 percent stake in Alibaba, an investment it acquired for about $1 billion in 2005. Ma had hoped to buy back Yahoo's stake from Bartz, but couldn't persuade her to sell. The rocky relationship between Ma and Bartz contributed to investors' growing dissatisfaction with her leadership before Yahoo's board ended her 32-month reign. Softbank also is an investor in Alibaba, which has established itself as one of China's most valuable Internet companies. Some analysts have estimated that Yahoo could sell its stake for more than $10 billion. By joining in a joint takeover bid, Alibaba would be able to get back the stake it wants from Yahoo and leave the other pieces of the company to be divvied up with its buyout partners. Both Yahoo and Softbank are major shareholders in Yahoo Japan. Wednesday's media reports said Blackstone and Bain are eyeing Yahoo's U.S. operations. |
| Instagram takes to your desktop nicely with these Web apps (Digital Trends) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 03:08 PM PST
Thankfully, its open API has made for some inspired innovation. But if all you want is a desktop view for your filter-heavy feed, look no further. Here are our favorite Mac and PC desktop Instagram clients.
Instagrille This desktop app from Pokki integrates Instagram into the very heart of your PC routine. You can forego the browser entirely via this slick and easy-to-access icon. Clicking the app pulls up a window into your Instagram feed letting your view popular images, as well as your personal account. It is somewhat limiting however: you can't view it fullscreen, search for users, or edit your account settings.
Inkstagram Inkstagram is arguably the most well-known browser-based Instagram option. And it's simple enough: you view your feed, personal photos, and likes in a grid format. This application also gives you the ability to search and create hashtag albums. You can additionally search for users.
Visual Grub This is a new addition to the Instagram-at-the-desktop category for Macs. It's a free download from the Mac App Store that streams your feed, popular photos, and your favorites in real-time. Clicking on an image will pop it out from the desktop app so you can comment or like it. Offline viewing is also an option.
Instadesk Easily one of the most popular Mac-based Instagram clients, there is no application more fully-featured than this. The download issues you an iTunes-like service that showcases your photos, friends, feed, popular photos, and lets you take your insta-addiction to new heights. You can create slideshows, enable desktop notifications, dub contacts your "favorite friends," download and share images, and browse tags. It's $4.99 from the Mac App Store.
Carousel Carousel is another Mac-only application, and this one is more style than substance. With a minimalist UI, you view photos in a single column and can choose between different themes as a background to contrast them against. You can get a 15-day free trial of Carousel, which is $4.99 for keeps.
Extragram With quite a few similarities to Inkstagram, it's difficult to distinguish these two. Most of the details lie in subtle UI distinctions, but overall they are just simple, accessible ways to view Instagram. You can choose how you view photos via Extragram, whether in a simple grid, a filmstrip with thumbnails below, or by location. There's also PicPlz integration and discovery options.
Gramfeed Gramfeed's UI is a little overwhelming, but if you can look past the distractions there are some pretty interesting features in there. Google Maps integration displays where the photos in your feed are coming from, in addition to the feed itself, which hovers users' photos on top. You can switch between your likes, photos, and popular images as well. There's also a search bar to look for photos, users, and places. You have the option of keeping your Gramfeed specific profile private. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends Discover what’s tracking your Internet activity with these Web apps Flavors.me evolves from personal landing page and shows off its social aspirations |
| 30 percent of iPhone 4S owners paid the iPhone 4 early termination fee (Digital Trends) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 08:24 PM PST
According to a survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the research firm found that 30 percent of iPhone 4S owners upgraded from the iPhone 4. Since the iPhone 4 was released during June 2010, anyone upgrading to the iPhone 4S approximately 16 months later would be subject to the early termination fee issued by wireless service providers like Verizon and AT&T. For instance, the early termination fee on smartphones for AT&T is set at $325 per line minus $10 for each month of service. Anyone upgrading to the iPhone 4S that previously purchased an iPhone 4 at launch would have paid around $175 to get their hands on the new model. Verizon customers likely paid around $270 to upgrade since the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 was released during February 2011. Approximately 37 percent of the respondents switched carriers to purchase the iPhone 4S. Forty-nine percent of the respondents purchased an AT&T phone, 34 percent purchased a Verizon phone and 17 percent picked up the Sprint version. The research firm also found that females prefer the white version of the iPhone 4S over the black model and the purchase of an iPhone leads to interest in other Apple products like the Macbook, iPad and Apple TV. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends iPhone 3GS free with contract at Best Buy on August 22 Sprint iPhone still in the works, possibly available this summer? Report: Verizon iPhone 4 drops fewer calls, but customer satisfaction even with AT&T |
| Sen. Rockefeller ‘not a great fan of Facebook’ (Daily Caller) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 08:36 PM PST |
| Summary Box: Review of smartphone shopping apps (AP) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:56 PM PST APP-Y HOLIDAYS: A number of cheap and free smartphone apps can ease holiday shopping, and some can even make it more fun. SOME WINNERS: Price Check by Amazon and RedLaser (free, available for iPhone and Android) make it easy to search for the best prices on items by typing in a product's name or scanning a barcode. ---Shopkick (free, available for iPhone and Android) makes shopping like a game by giving you points when you visit local stores. They can be redeemed for rewards like gift certificates. ---Gift Plan ($2.99, available for iPhone) simplifies the process of making gift lists and helps you keep track of gift-giving occasions. |
| Infinity Blade II cuts above any other game available on Apple’s iDevices (Appolicious) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:45 PM PST |
| FCC Merger Report Release "Improper," AT&T Claims (NewsFactor) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:27 PM PST AT&T expressed its dismay Tuesday over the release of a new Federal Communications Commission report concluding that the carrier's proposed merger with T-Mobile raises significant competitive concerns due to the increased likelihood of unilateral and coordinated effects. Though AT&T withdrew its merger application before the FCC last week, the commission nevertheless released its preliminary report on Tuesday. The U.S. wireless operator called the action "troubling." According to AT&T Senior Vice President Jim Cicconi, the report merely raises questions of fact that would have been addressed in an administrative hearing if AT&T hadn't already withdrawn its application. "It has no force or effect under law, which raises questions as to why the FCC would choose to release it," Cicconi said Tuesday. Cicconi also complained that the FCC had not provided AT&T with a copy prior to its release. "We have had no opportunity to address or rebut its claims, which makes its release all the more improper," Cicconi said. According to FCC member Mignon Clyburn, however, this week's release of a preliminary report on AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile was entirely proper. Among other things, he said, it "promotes federal agency transparency." Pricing Consumers Right Out of Broadband According to Clyburn, the U.S. wireless industry in general deserves to know what the FCC's staff had concluded. "Several outside parties have spent considerable time and resources to respond," Clyburn noted, "and they deserve to see the staff's analysis of the record." In light of AT&T's continuing efforts to acquire T-Mobile's assets through negotiations with U.S. antitrust authorities, Clyburn said both wireless carriers would benefit from knowing what the FCC staff had learned after seven months of research. From AT&T's point of view, however, the FCC report has made its path to a successful merger even more daunting due to the scope and number of the potential objections it raises. For example, the report expressed concern about the competitive effects that T-mobile's merger with AT&T would have on wireless markets ranging from roaming, wholesale and resale services, to backhaul access and handset availability. What's more, T-Mobile's current business model specifically targets budget-conscious consumers, and there would have been no guarantee that the proposed merger would have continued to serve the needs of lower-income Americans. "Many consumers may find themselves priced right out of broadband," said FCC member Michael Copps. "That is not a direction the country can afford to go." Unlikely To Benefit Consumers Among other things, the FCC's preliminary report was unable to conclude that the proposed merger would have created any new jobs for Americans. "Despite repeated claims that this transaction will be a significant job creator, the staff, after thorough review, could make no such finding," Copps said. The FCC's staff members also were skeptical about the proposed merger generating any of the cost synergies that AT&T had been touting. And even if the carrier's oversimplistic assumptions were realized, they would not likely benefit consumers, the FCC report concluded. By contrast, if the deal had gone through as originally structured, Americans would no longer have had access to T-Mobile -- an independent network that currently offers U.S. consumers lower prices than its other nationwide wireless rivals, the report said. "Our review of this merger has had a clear focus: fostering a competitive market that drives innovation, promotes investment, encourages job creation, and protects consumers," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday. "These goals will remain the focus if any future merger application is filed." |
| Spotify Aims to Amp Up Music with Apps (NewsFactor) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 03:35 PM PST Spotify is amping up its streaming service with a platform that lets third-party developers build music-based apps. Dubbed Spotify Platform, the company is calling it the next big step in musical enjoyment. Time will tell if the free apps live up to the hype. Currently, there are 16 partner apps to choose from in the U.S. Twelve of them are available now and come from some of the biggest brands in music, including Billboard and Rolling Stone. "Once you take a look, you'll see why we believe this is truly the beginning of something game-changing for digital music," said Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek. "We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun. It's what our users have been asking us for." Beyond Facebook Spotify is announcing the new apps on the back of its integration with Facebook. Spotify started streaming music via the Facebook platform in September. That gave Spotify a quick membership boost. The company reports adding more than 7 million new users in just more than two months because of the deal. The integration lets Facebook users find friends who also use Spotify and subscribe to their friends' playlists and send songs in a tweet or Facebook message. In short, Facebook integration made Spotify more social. Now, the Spotify Platform aims to make it more social and mobile. As Ek suggested, the ultimate goal of Spotify Platform is to drive innovation on top of music and add more layers of music enjoyment in the process. Spotify hopes DJs will create the best lists and virtual clubs where people can gather together to hear them, dance and sing along. Spotify wants fans to get closer to their favorite artists. Spotify's other global partners are Fuse, The Guardian, Last.fm, Moodagent, Pitchfork, Songkick, Soundrop, TuneWiki and We Are Hunted. Top10 and ShareMyPlaylists apps are coming soon. Spotify also has three Nordic partners launching local apps, including Tunigo in Sweden, Gaffa in Denmark and Dagbladet in Norway. Getting Critical Mass RIM has tried to make music more social and mobile with its BBM service. Apple has tried with Ping. Can Spotify do what others haven't? Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, isn't sure but he sees Spotify's move outside of music as a smart one. "We've got a lot of music vendors in the space and it's very easy to get lost in the noise. This might be a way for Spotify to dig out and discover a new opportunity," Enderle said. The key is going to be to get people to use the apps. Social-mobile music initiatives have largely failed, he said, because vendors approach the problem with technology rather than social engineering. "You are trying to engineer something around people, but using people who are trained with technology and not with people," Enderle said. "The services that have failed so far have thrown concepts at the market but they haven't really thought through how people will use it. For any type of social engineering effort to work, you have to get the critical mass." |
| Another iPhone reportedly goes up in smoke, sleeping woman wakes in time (Digital Trends) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 08:22 PM PST
According to Brazil's techtudo website, a woman by the name of Ayla Mota had her iPhone 4 plugged in to charge overnight when it allegedly began to emit sparks and smoke as she slept (no, the picture on the right is not of the actual incident). The fact that the phone was on Ayla's bedside table meant the indoor fireworks display was kicking off only a short distance from her head. Upon waking, it seems that Ayla was able to deal with the situation without coming to any harm, though she was reportedly shaken up by the event. The incident comes in the same week that another iPhone 4 device was said to have spontaneously combusted, this time on board a passenger plane in Australia. In that incident the phone was reported to have emitted dense smoke and a red glow. A quick-thinking flight attendant used a fire extinguisher to deal with the emergency and no one was hurt. Australian airline authorities are looking into the incident. Apple has yet to publicly comment on either case, though no doubt the company will be keen to cast its eye over the results of any investigations. It's hardly time for iPhone owners to start sleeping with a bucket of water under the bed though. These are extremely isolated incidents and with Apple having sold so many of its smartphone device, what are the chances of yours going up in smoke? If, however, multiple reports start coming in of iPhones spontaneously combusting here, there and everywhere, then perhaps that’ll be the time to start filling up the bucket. But one hopes it won’t ever come to that. [via Mashable] [Image: Aleksander Skakun / Shutterstock] This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends What’s missing from the iPhone 4S? Turns out plenty The When, Where, and How of selling your old iPhone |
| ESRB games rating board to bring parental advice to apps, but not Google or Apple (Appolicious) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 10:25 AM PST |
| Keeping Data Off U.S. Servers Won't Prevent the Government from Snooping (The Atlantic Wire) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 12:17 PM PST If the U.S. wants to get a hold of foreign data in any cloud -- American or not -- it has legal ways of getting it. The PATRIOT Act, or at least the idea of it, is giving foreign cloud computing firms a competitive advantage over American services, reports Politico's David Saled Rauf. Foreign competitors warn that putting data on U.S. services like Google or Microsoft will subject that data to the government restrictions on gathering data in America vis-a-vis the Patriot Act. "Put your data on a U.S.-based cloud, they warn, and you may just put it in the hands of the U.S. government," writes Rauf. But, it's kind of a moot point: U.S. spy laws are more lenient about foreign data as it is and have no legal barriers to monitoring non-citizen information. Related: Google Music Will Actually Have Music
Related: Does Thomas Drake Owe the Media His Freedom? Related: Google Music's Surprise: It's Free |
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