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Australian court extends ban on Galaxy tab sales (AP) : Technet |
- Australian court extends ban on Galaxy tab sales (AP)
- Thomson Reuters CEO to end decade-long reign (AP)
- YouTube renovates website with a new look, format (AP)
- DIY Braille label printer makes accessibility more accessible (Yahoo! News)
- Toads could be used to forecast earthquakes days before they happen (Yahoo! News)
- Your Laptop's Wi-Fi Might Cause Male Fertility Problems (Mashable)
- Google in talks to take on Amazon in retail: report (Reuters)
- Google Chrome Passes Firefox In Global Browser Market (NewsFactor)
- Chrome moves into second place in global browser usage (Digital Trends)
- Senator demands privacy info from software firm (Reuters)
- Zynga plans up to $1 billion in IPO: report (Reuters)
- Sony's Bravia TV goes social with firmware update (Digital Trends)
- Google Catalogs tops Android Apps of the Week (Appolicious)
- Berlin's fears over T-Mobile's U.S. disposal grow: FT (Reuters)
- Napster's Seven Lives Are Finished (The Atlantic Wire)
- Sharp develops world's thinnest 12.1 MP CMOS camera module (Digital Trends)
- Apple's Siri irks abortion rights advocates (Reuters)
| Australian court extends ban on Galaxy tab sales (AP) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:03 PM PST SYDNEY – Apple Inc. won a small victory on Friday in its global patent battle with rival Samsung, after Australia's highest court temporarily extended a ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers in the country. Samsung Electronics Co. is desperate to begin selling the Galaxy in Australia in time for Christmas sales, but the High Court's decision means the device can't go on the market until at least Dec. 9. Apple took Samsung to court in Australia after accusing the Suwon, South Korea-based company of copying its iPad and iPhone. In October, a Federal Court judge ordered Samsung to halt sales of the device ahead of a trial. Samsung appealed, and on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court threw out the earlier ruling and said Galaxy sales could resume on Friday. But Apple immediately appealed that decision to the High Court, which on Friday said the temporary injunction against sales would be extended for another week while it considers Apple's latest arguments. "Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court," Samsung said in a statement. The legal back-and-forth is all part of a larger, international battle over the technology giants' competing tablets. Cupertino, California-based Apple struck first when it sued Samsung in the United States in April, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of the Galaxy "slavishly copy" the iPhone and iPad. Samsung hit back with lawsuits accusing Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology. The companies have now filed lawsuits in 10 countries. Courts in several nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, have issued rulings that favor Apple. Apple spokeswoman Fiona Martin declined to comment on Friday's ruling, instead issuing a general statement blasting Samsung. "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," Apple said in the statement. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas." |
| Thomson Reuters CEO to end decade-long reign (AP) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:40 PM PST NEW YORK – Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer is stepping down and will be replaced by an executive with closer ties to the family that owns a controlling interest in one of the world's largest news and information companies. The change in command, announced Thursday, will take effect Jan. 1 when James Smith becomes Thomson Reuters Corp.'s new CEO. It is Smith's second promotion of the autumn; he was promoted to chief operating officer in late September. Thomson Reuters has been shaking things up during the past six months amid dissatisfaction with the performance of its markets division, which accounts for more than half of the company's revenue. The company's overall earnings have risen this year. But the markets division, which primarily sells data and analytical tools to financial institutions, hasn't been growing fast enough to please investors. The company's stock price, which closed Thursday at $26.88, has dropped 29 percent so far this year. The decline translates to a nearly $5 billion loss on paper for the Thomson family, which owns a 55 percent stake in the company through the Woodbridge Co. Glocer's departure was described as a retirement. But Glocer, 52, didn't sound ready to leave in September when Smith was anointed as his heir apparent. "I'm going to stay for a good long time to fix and thrive under this business," Glocer said in an interview with Reuters' own news service at that time. In a Thursday statement, Glocer said he had achieved his goals. "By the end of this year, the organizational, strategy and budget work I have been leading will be complete, and the transition plan I launched last summer will have achieved its objectives," Glocer said. In addition to giving up the CEO job, Glocer is resigning from Thomson Reuters' board of directors at the end of the year. Glocer became the first American to lead Reuters Group when he became CEO in 2001. He quickly won over investors by cutting thousands of jobs to boost the company's earnings and then oversaw improvements in its financial trading products to be more competitive with Bloomberg and Dow Jones, which is now owned by News Corp. Those efforts helped lead to Reuters' sale to Thomson Corp. for about $16 billion in 2008. The Thomson family thought so highly of Glocer's performance that he became CEO of the combined company. "Tom will be remembered as the individual who turned around Reuters 10 years ago, led the company to growth and guided its sale to form Thomson Reuters," company Chairman David Thomson said in a statement. Smith, 52, has a long relationship with the Thomson family. He joined the Thomson Newspaper group in 1987, where he remained until 2000 when that business was sold. He then moved to the Thomson Corp., where he worked his way up to chief operating officer leading up to the Reuters deal. David Thomson, the third generation of his family to be involved in the company, said Smith "has earned the respect and confidence of his colleagues and the board alike." As part of its latest reorganization, Thomson Reuters is creating five business units whose top executives will report to Smith. They are: David Craig, president of financial and risk: Mike Suchsland, president of legal; Chris Kibarian, president of intellectual property and science; Brian Peccarelli, president of tax and accounting; and Shanker Ramamurthy, president of global growth organization. Steven Adler, the top editor at Reuters news service, also will report directly to Smith. The news service has been expanding its coverage recently. The changes at Thomson Reuters will result in a charge against its fourth-quarter earnings, according to the company. Excluding those charges, the company affirmed its guidance for that period. Through the first nine months of this year, Thomson Reuters earned $1.2 billion on revenue of $10.2 billion. At the same point last year, the company had earned $708 million on revenue of $9.6 billion. |
| YouTube renovates website with a new look, format (AP) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:32 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – YouTube has reprogrammed its website to make it easier for viewers to find and watch their favorite channels. The facelift, unveiled Thursday, is the latest step in YouTube's attempt to make the Internet's most popular video site as easy to navigate and as compelling to watch as cable TV. In the process, YouTube owner Google Inc. hopes to make money selling ads. As part of the redesign, YouTube is replacing its staid white background with a touch of gray. The changes are part of the biggest renovation that YouTube has undertaken since Google bought the site for $1.76 billion five years ago. Although Google has been steadily adding more frills to YouTube since that acquisition, the videos on the site often were stitched in a crazy quilt that often required visitors to do a lot of searching to find what they wanted. Google also has been sprucing up other products in recent months, including its Gmail service and news section. YouTube's website has been reorganized to display three main vertical columns instead of scattering clips in horizontal rows. The left of the page is devoted to a column that can be customized to feature a viewer's favorite channels and monitor the videos being posted by their friends on social networks, including Facebook — a rival to Google's own Plus service. The effort to highlight channels comes a few weeks after YouTube agreed to invest $100 million in original programming from about 100 celebrities, media companies and video entrepreneurs. Most of these channels will debut next year. YouTube hopes additional advertising will enable it to reap a profit from the investment. The middle of YouTube's new home page is where videos can be played. The selection will change as viewers click on a different channel included in their lists in the left column. The far right column will recommend other videos, based on what kind of clips that viewers have watched in the past. Bringing more professionally-produced content and more organization to YouTube has become more important since last year's introduction of Google TV — an attempt to seamlessly blend conventional television programming with Web surfing. YouTube's more streamlined look might make the site more attractive to watch on large-screen TVs using Google's product or other connections to the Internet. Google TV has struggled so far, partly because major Hollywood networks such as News Corp.'s Fox and The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC have blocked their content from the platform because they think it will undercut their advertising revenue and fees from pay-TV distributors such as Comcast Corp. and DirecTV. ___ Online: YouTube's explanation for the redesign: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/ |
| DIY Braille label printer makes accessibility more accessible (Yahoo! News) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:04 PM PST |
| Toads could be used to forecast earthquakes days before they happen (Yahoo! News) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:36 PM PST |
| Your Laptop's Wi-Fi Might Cause Male Fertility Problems (Mashable) Posted: 30 Nov 2011 03:29 PM PST [brightcove video="1303335080001" /] [More from Mashable: Personal Computers: A History of the Hardware That Changed the World] Men beware. The Wi-Fi from your laptop could be hurting the health of your sperm. A new study, published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility by researchers from Argentina and the U.S., found that semen samples placed a little more than an inch under a Wi-Fi-connected laptop experienced more DNA damage and mobility issues than regular sperm. The samples were taken from 29 healthy men with an average age of 34. [More from Mashable: Wi-Fi Day Is Here: What's the Best Network Name You've Encountered?] After just four hours sitting under a Wi-Fi-connected laptop, 25% of the sperm samples were no longer mobile and nine percent showed DNA damage. Meanwhile, only 14% of the samples stored away from the computer were inactive, and they showed minimal DNA damage. "Our data suggest that the use of a laptop computer wirelessly connected to the Internet and positioned near the male reproductive organs may decrease human sperm quality," the report said. "At present we do not know whether this effect is induced by all laptop computers connected by Wi-Fi to the Internet, or what use conditions heighten this effect." The study also tested the sperm next to laptops that were not connected to Wi-Fi. They showed some damage -- though less than the connected laptops. This suggests heat may also be a factor in impacting the health of your swimmers. This is not the first time a study revealed that laptops might be harmful to sperm. A widely-reported 2010 study found that men who keep their laptops on their laps may be hurting the quality of their sperm due to scrotal hyperthermia -- that is, elevated temperatures in the testes. The latest study noted that more research needs to be conducted to learn the true effects of electromagnetic radiation generated by a laptop's Wi-Fi connection -- since it was conducted in an artificial setting. Male infertility is not uncommon. In fact, about one in six U.S. couples have difficulty conceiving. According to the American Urological Association, a man's fertility is a factor in 50 percent of these cases. This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| Google in talks to take on Amazon in retail: report (Reuters) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:10 PM PST (Reuters) – Google Inc is pondering an Internet service to help consumers shop online and take advantage of same-day delivery, hoping to stanch the loss of Web traffic to Amazon.com Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Internet search leader is in talks with major retailers and shippers, including Macy's, Gap Inc and OfficeMax, to set up the service, the newspaper cited people familiar with the matter as saying. Google declined to comment and Amazon did not return calls for comment. A Gap spokeswoman declined to comment, while Macy's and OfficeMax were not available for comment. Google may be casting a wary eye on the popularity of Amazon.com's Prime service -- which offers free two-day shipping for $79 a year in the U.S. -- fearing it will entice away the Web traffic it depends on from its own sites. About 40 percent of Google's revenue comes from retail sources, according to Scot Wingo, chief executive of e-commerce company ChannelAdvisor. Amazon Prime has been such a big success in recent years that it has begun to threaten this big chunk of Google's revenue, Wingo explained. "Once a consumer joins Amazon Prime, their searches for products at Google have to decrease precipitously," Wingo wrote in a blog on Thursday. He owns Google and Amazon shares. "As a Prime user, I only look for products on Google and other channels if I can't find it on Amazon," Wingo added. "Amazon has created a lock-in and they have the world's best product search engine. That's 40 percent of the Internet that Google really can't afford to lose serious share on." Google's plan under consideration stops short of selling directly to consumers, the Journal cited a person familiar with the matter as saying. Google will instead work with retailers' websites, combining an existing product-search feature that directs shoppers to those sites, with a new shipping service that it intends to create and oversee, the Journal reported. That new feature is designed to determine if a nearby physical store has a desired product in stock. Google could then offer the consumer an option to receive their goods within a day or two, for a fee, the newspaper said. Google plans a test trial in the San Francisco Bay area for the new initiative, which could also involve United Parcel Service Inc, the Journal added. Google still dominates when shoppers are searching for products to buy on the Internet. Handling the next steps, such as purchasing and getting items delivered, makes sense, said Eric Best, chief executive of e-commerce firm Mercent. However, Amazon owns inventory and runs a massive chain of warehouses, so it tightly controls the process of taking orders and delivering goods. Google would instead rely on third-party logistics companies to handle these fulfillment steps, Best said. "Ensuring third-party partners perform to high service levels will be the biggest execution risk," Best added. "Consumers will need to have a similar experience to what they already get with Amazon." (Editing by Phil Berlowitz) |
| Google Chrome Passes Firefox In Global Browser Market (NewsFactor) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:05 PM PST Chrome has moved past Firefox to become the world's second-most popular Web browser after Internet Explorer, according to StatCounter. Chrome grabbed a 25.69 percent share of the global browser market in November -- a major increase from the 4.66 market share it held two years earlier, the Dublin, Ireland-based Web metrics firm said Thursday. In the United States, IE currently holds a 50.66 percent market share, a slight increase from one year earlier. By contrast, Firefox usage among U.S Web users is 20.1 percent -- down from 26.75 percent in the same month last year, StatCounter said. Google's popular browser -- which held a 17.3 percent share of the U.S market at the end of November -- is clearly benefiting from Firefox's slide. At the beginning of 2011, only 10.9 percent of all U.S.-based Web users were using Chrome. "We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen Thursday. Stalled Firefox Growth On a global basis, however, Chrome's gain of 7.5 percentage points in browser market share during 2011 has come at Microsoft's expense, primarily. However, the latest data from Net Applications shows Firefox has also lost 1.5 percentage points on the desktop so far this year. Net Applications shows that IE's global market share, which stood at 52.6 percent at the beginning of December, has fallen by more than 6 percentage points this year. Unlike StatCounter, the U.S.-based Web metric firm still shows Firefox in second place with a 25.7 percent global market share, followed by Chrome at 18.2 percent. Despite Mozilla's decision earlier this year to emulate Chrome by introducing more frequent and more automated browser updates, the growth rate for Firefox has stalled. The shorter development cycles for Firefox may be attractive to individual users but in the enterprise space it usually takes a while for corporations to accept and implement software changes, noted Net Applications Vice President Vincent Vizzaccaro. In fact, the shorter development cycles for Firefox may even be inhibiting the browser's enterprise growth, Vizzaccaro said. This may especially be the case "if older versions are not supported for a long period of time," Vizzaccaro added. An Opportunity For Microsoft StatCounter currently pegs IE's global market share at 40.6 percent, while Net Applications reports that 52.6 percent of the world's desktop PCs and laptops are running a version of IE. The big difference between the two firms' statistics is due in part to recent changes in the way that Net Applications calculates browser market share. According to the U.S.-based firm, mobile devices now account for 6.7 percent of all browsing activities worldwide. Apple's Safari browser currently leads the pack with a 55 percent share of the global mobile browser market, followed by Opera Mini at 20.1 percent and Google's Android browser at 16.4 percent. Microsoft sees an excellent opportunity ahead for the company to reclaim a substantial number of browser users worldwide through the release of its next-generation operating system. The software giant believes that many users who already have Windows running on their PCs, laptops and netbooks will see the advantage of having the same OS running on their media tablets. Though Windows-based tablets have not been a hit to date, Microsoft believes that many customers, especially business clients, will find the cross-platform design of Windows 8 attractive enough to adopt compatible media tablets when the new OS is ready for launch next year. If Microsoft's strategy succeeds, IE usage will also grow as well -- especially among business users at enterprises where IE is currently the browser of choice. |
| Chrome moves into second place in global browser usage (Digital Trends) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:50 PM PST
Based off a report from Ireland-based research firm StatCounter, the Google Chrome browser has moved into second place globally for the first time. While Microsoft's Internet Explorer still remains at the top, Mozilla's Firefox browser continued on a downward trend that started at the end of 2010. The research firm reported that Chrome took a 25.7 percent market share in November 2011 while Firefox fell to 25.23 percent. Just two years ago, the Google Chrome browser was barely over 4.5% and was tied with browsers like Apple's Safari and Opera. Microsoft's Internet Explorer surprisingly maintained browser share and hovered around 40 percent of all browsers across the globe. Regarding mobile browsers on smartphones and tablets, market share continued to fluctuate between Android and Opera Mini. BlackBerry and Symbian also each garnered three percent of the market. Safari remained at the top of the pack with 55 percent of market share due to use on the iPhone and iPad devices. Console browsing usage was still dominated by the PlayStation 3. Other console browsers included Opera, WebTV and Microsoft Internet Explorer. For more about Google Chrome, check out our Beginner's Guide to Google Chrome. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends Internet Explorer usage to plummet below 50 percent by mid-2012 Google Chrome on track to overtake Firefox in 2011 Google Chrome overtakes Firefox in UK browser market Internet Explorer users have lowest IQ of all web surfers, study shows [updated] |
| Senator demands privacy info from software firm (Reuters) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:40 PM PST (Reuters) – Senator Al Franken asked software maker Carrier IQ to respond to claims by an independent security researcher that its products collect and transmit potentially sensitive data about millions of mobile phone users. Carrier IQ makes software that companies including AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel install in mobile devices. It runs in the background, transmitting data that the software maker says its customers use to better understand their devices and networks, which allows them to improve their service. Hacking expert Trevor Eckhart last month began publishing research on its functionality, saying it tracks user locations, and this week released a 17-minute YouTube video showing it collect data from an HTC smartphone. A firestorm of criticism has erupted in online forums and on Twitter, where users complained that the software was violating their privacy. The video shows a piece of software tracking Eckhart as he turns his phone on and off, punches numbers to make a call and records text message in plain text. "The revelation that the locations and other sensitive data of millions of Americans are being secretly recorded and possibly transmitted is deeply troubling," Franken said in a statement. "Carrier IQ has a lot of questions to answer." In his letter, he asked the company for details on the types of data its software collects and what it does with that information. AT&T and Sprint Nextel both said they use the software in their devices to collect information that helps them improve network and service performance. "We do use carrier IQ, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, etc., as some have speculated," said Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge-Walsh. A spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless said that her company did not currently use the software but was not sure if the company had previously been a customer. Apple Inc said that some devices, including iPhones, that run on its iOS 4 operating system use the Carrier IQ software, but that it does not work with the newer iOS 5. (Reporting by Jim Finkle and Alastair Sharp, additional reporting by Diane Bartz and Poornima Gupta and Tarmo Virki |
| Zynga plans up to $1 billion in IPO: report (Reuters) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:39 PM PST (Reuters) – Facebook games developer Zynga Inc will sell about 15 percent of its common stock in an initial public offering, Bloomberg said, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. Zynga plans to sell shares for $8.50 to $10 apiece in its initial public offering to raise as much as $1 billion, valuing the company at as high as $7 billion, the agency said. Dani Dudeck, a spokeswoman for Zynga, declined to comment to Reuters on the Bloomberg report. Zynga rose to prominence on viral games such as "Farmville," which is still among one of the most popular games on the Facebook social network. While its games are free, Zynga makes money from selling virtual items such as tractors and weapons that people use in its game worlds. (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) |
| Sony's Bravia TV goes social with firmware update (Digital Trends) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:13 PM PST
Released within a firmware update earlier today for Europe and Asia, Sony added widgets that enable Bravia TV owners to check updates on Twitter and Facebook as well as improve the quality of YouTube videos. With the new Facebook widget, Bravia owners can log into an active Facebook account and pull up a feed similar to the design of Facebook Mobile on a smartphone or other mobile device. Besides scrolling through various status updates from friends, users can view photos and videos in high definition in addition to opening URL links, posting status updates and sending messages to friends. The YouTube improvement allows Bravia owners to watch the high definition version of YouTube videos and Sony claims to have included image-enhancing technology to clean up the video quality. Another addition includes a program called "Remote Keyboard Lite" that allows users to enable a PC to control actions on the television screen. For instance, a Bravia owner could use a laptop to type out a Facebook status update while watching a movie. While no date has been announced for these new features to reach all Bravia owners in the United States, customers in Europe and Asia can download the update through an Internet connection on the television or download the update on a USB drive to load manually onto the Bravia television. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends One third of employees use Facebook while at work StumbleUpon accounts for half of all U.S. social media traffic on the Web LinkedIn CEO says Google+ can’t coexist with other social networks Television and social integration: What exactly do consumers want? |
| Google Catalogs tops Android Apps of the Week (Appolicious) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST |
| Berlin's fears over T-Mobile's U.S. disposal grow: FT (Reuters) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:52 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) – The German government, Deutsche Telekom AG's (DTEGn.DE) biggest shareholder, is growing increasingly worried the company's disposal of its T-Mobile USA subsidiary may run aground over antitrust concerns, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. In its online edition, the newspaper cited government officials as saying Berlin was all but resigned to the deal with U.S. telecommunications group AT&T Inc (T.N) falling through or to Deutsche Telekom attempting to reconfigure it. Officials declined to comment on alternative options, but said Deutsche Telekom had not been provided with an early and comprehensive picture of the regulatory risks surrounding the sale of T-Mobile USA, the fourth largest U.S. cellphone company, to AT&T, the number two player, according to the article. The German government, which has a 32 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom, declined to comment on the FT report. People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA's parent company Deutsche Telekom were still battling to save their $39 billion merger and were not in talks about a network-sharing alternative. AT&T is still holding discussions with more than one party over the possible sale of a multibillion portfolio of assets and has been talking in recent weeks to potential buyers such as Leap Wireless International Inc (LEAP.O), MetroPCs Communications Inc (PCS.N) and Carlos Slim's TracFone about the disposal of assets in potentially concentrated markets, the FT reported. The newspaper cited people familiar with the parties' thinking as saying that, while talks over potential remedies will continue, the case is likely to be decided in court in February. Regulators oppose the merger of T-Mobile with AT&T because they think it will damage competition. A Federal Communications Commission staff report released on Tuesday took issue with many of AT&T's touted benefits and said the companies failed to prove the transaction was in the public interest. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; editing by Andre Grenon) |
| Napster's Seven Lives Are Finished (The Atlantic Wire) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST Instead of mourning Napster's last day on this Internet planet, we thought we'd point out Napster's many deaths. Most things get one life, die, get one overly kind eulogy and then stop living, forever. Death is kind of final like that. Not Napster, though. The Internet relic has been dying and living and dying pretty regularly over the last decade. We're just going to make the bad joke: It's no coincidence that it's logo was a cat. Related: Say Goodbye to Napster's Kitty Logo First Death: February 2001 After a long drawn out lawsuit, a judge ruled that Napster in its original form was illegal. "Ding, Dong, Napster's Dead" proclaimed the New York Post. Related: Dave Chapelle's Return to TV; Prada's Shrinking IPO Related: How Much Are Your Used MP3s Worth? Related: The Hits and Misses at Coachella Related: Beastie Boys Meet Action Figure Zombies in Spike Jonze Video Sixth Death: March 2010 After launching a free version of its service (again) in March 2006, that died, after getting shutdown in March 2010. Seventh Death: December 1, 2011 As a result of the Rhapsody deal, today Napster will no longer exist on the Internet. At all. And we mourn. But we wouldn't be surprised if it came back two more times. |
| Sharp develops world's thinnest 12.1 MP CMOS camera module (Digital Trends) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:58 PM PST
And now Sharp has fueled the fire with the announcement that it has developed the world's thinnest 12.1-megapixel CMOS camera module. The RJ63YC100 (rolls right off the tongue) measures in at 11x11x5.47 millimeters and packs image-stabilization, a backlit sensor, standard AF, and full 1080p HD video capture. The best part is we don't have to wait: this isn't some product that Sharp is testing and is simply showing off. Mass production of 100,000 units a month will begin in January. One of the largest hardware pieces in smartphones is the camera module, and if Sharp's product is as capable as it sounds, we could easily be seeing thinner phones in the near future. In fact, according to some new rumors, Apple and Sharp could be striking a business relationship for manufacturing parts. While this speculation was specific to the fabled iTV, it could spill over into iPhone camera parts. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends Apple brings us closer to quality camera photos with iOS 5 Finding a photo-sharing platform for you |
| Apple's Siri irks abortion rights advocates (Reuters) Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:11 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc is facing its first major controversy over well-received voice software Siri, as the cutting-edge iPhone search service ran afoul of abortion rights advocates. Siri - one of the most popular features of Apple's new iPhone 4S - drew the ire of bloggers and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League when it could not locate abortion clinics when asked. NARAL's president, Nancy Keenan, dashed off an email to Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook in which she complained: "In some cases, Siri is not providing your customers with accurate or complete information about women's reproductive-health services." But Apple said Siri's inability to pull up information was not intentional, blaming the flaw on the fact it was still in beta, or testing, phase. "Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said. "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that, as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks." Cook responded to Keenan with a similar statement, according to the group's website, which posted the email. Apple uses a variety of online resources to search for information and relies mainly on review website Yelp for local businesses. (Reporting by Poornima Gupta; editing by Andre Grenon) |
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