If you search for “Yelp” on Google from your mobile phone the top paid result, even above the organic result to Yelp.com, takes you to Zagat.  I am only seeing this on mobile searches. While it is a common practice for companies to advertise against their competitors’ names in search advertising, in this case it is Google itself which is bidding for that search term and taking the top spot.  A classy move.

Google bought Zagat last September to shore up its local reviews for Google Places, which is its answer to Yelp.  Google Places and Yelp have a contentious history, with Google borrowing liberally from yelp to help build up its local directory.  Now with Zagat, Google finally has a large corpus if its own review, in addition to the ones people are slowly adding to Google Places.  By redirecting some of the people who are looking for Yelp to Zagat, Google is keeping up its pattern of punching Yelp in the face every chance it gets.

Remember, at one point Google almost bought Yelp back in 2009.  But that didn’t work out, and the gloves have been off ever since.  (Sound familiar, Groupon?)

Google is really hitting Yelp where it hurts.  During an antitrust hearing last September, Yelp revealed that 75 percent of its traffic comes from Google in one way or another. A big chunk of that is from organic search.  If Yelp is not the top spot when someone searches for “Yelp” that could have some impact on Yelp’s traffic.  Yelp might have to respond by bidding on its own name on AdWords.  One way or another, Google’s aggressiveness in pushing Zagat is going to cost Yelp.






Crunchbase





YELP
ZAGAT
GOOGLE






Company:
Yelp


Website:
yelp.com


Launch Date:
January 7, 2004


Funding:
$56M



Another company founded in 2004 by two former PayPal employees.

Yelp is a local reviews website covering the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands; Yelp drew an audience of more than 50 million unique visitors in March 2011.

Yelpers have written more than 18 million local reviews, making Yelp the leading local guide for real word-of-mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists.






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Company:
Zagat


Website:
zagat.com



ZAGAT.com features over 30,000 of the best places to eat, drink, and stay worldwide. The site is published by and based on the renowned 30 years, Zagat Survey (a survey-based restaurant guide).

ZAGAT.com provides access to ratings and reviews for restaurants, nightspots, hotels and attractions in hundreds of cities worldwide. It features menus, photos, virtual tours, updates on the latest openings and closings with ZAGAT BUZZ and connect with other ZAGAT.com members in our bustling Discussion Boards.






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Company:
Google


Website:
google.com


Launch Date:
July 9, 1998


IPO:

NASDAQ:GOOG



Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information....






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Samsung‘s new mobile device lineup will feature flexible screens starting in 2012, the company announced today.

In its quarterly earnings call, Samsung’s vice president of investor relations, Robert Yi, told investors, analysts and press, “The flexible display we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part. The application probably will start from the handset side.”

After flexible-screen mobile phones roll out, the company plans to introduce the same technology for tablets and other devices.

In January 2011, Samsung purchased Liquivista, a strategic acquisition that will allow it to produce the kinds of displays that were announced today. Liquivista made electrowetting display technology, which is used to create mobile and other consumer electronic displays that are bright, low-power, flexible and transparent.

Flexible screen technology was also a focus of Samsung’s in March, when Yongsuk Choi, director of Samsung Mobile Display, gave an overview of the company’s future mobile device plans. At that time, Choi said most of the flexible-display technology Samsung was working on was still in very early stages.

Flexible displays have been on the fringes of up-and-coming mobile technologies for some time. For example, we saw a bendable e-reader from Plastic Logic back in 2008.

More recently, Sony, in particular, has shown some interesting work in the field, demonstrating its first flexible display at CES in early 2009 and showing off advanced, thinner, more flexible displays just last year.

Still, flexible screens aren’t something we’re seeing on the mass market yet; we wonder if consumers will warm to the idea when Samsung takes the wraps off these new devices.

Samsung recently surpassed Apple as the top smartphone manufacturer, shipping 27.8 million smartphones last quarter. Altogether, Samsung’s current share of the smartphone market is 23.8 percent.

Filed under: mobile

Our Apps Coverage is brought to you by Intel AppUp℠ center. Join the Intel AppUp℠ developer program to develop and sell your apps on the Intel AppUp℠ center.

Restaurant guide Zomato in a recent post on its blog has revealed that the highest user adoption for its mobile app comes from Blackberry users, followed by Android and iPhone. Zomato’s apps are also available on Nokia, Blackberry playbook and Samsung’s Smart TV devices. It also revealed platform wise analytics based on internal download and usage tracking data for daily downloads, average visits per months, time spent per visit, number of restaurants viewed per visit, reviews per visit, and average length of reviews.

The analytics indicate that a lifestyle app such as a food/restaurant guide like Zomato is popular in terms of downloads on Blackberry, which could also be because of the platform’s reach. Note that the entry price barrier for Blackberry devices is much lower compared with iOS. The cheapest Blackberry device costs less than Rs 10,000, while the cheapest iOS device costs around Rs 20,000. However, in terms of user engagement, iOS users are the most active and use the app more often, browsing more listings. We’re also assuming that Android is more popular than Nokia/Symbian since Zomato chooses to showcase numbers for the platform.

- Downloads per day: According to Zomato, the highest number of organic downloads i.e without counting ad links and app store promotions, come from Blackberry, followed by Android and iOS.

- Average visits per month: iOS users are the most active in terms of using the app, followed by Blackberry and Android.

- Time spent per month: Android users spend the highest amount of time browsing inside the app, followed by iOS and Blackberry, which implies that Blackberry users spend less time per visit.

- Number of restaurants viewed per visit: iOS users browse through more restaurants compared to Android and BlackBerry users. This also means that they choose or skip restaurants more quickly. Blackberry users browse less number of restaurants.

- Number of reviews per visit: iOS users tend to post more reviews, however, this analysis was relative and since Blackberry has the largest installed base, more reviews are posted by users of Blackberry devices.
*Reach India’s Digital Industry Decision Makers: Advertise on MediaNama. Contact sales@medianama.com. For more info, click here.

Another batch of Microsoft patent applications have trickled into public view, and these ones may be even cooler than the last bunch. They describe “flinging gestures,” interaction with 3D virtual objects, and even throw it back a bit to describe a new email view format.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Grasp Simulation Of A Virtual Object
Applied for back in April of 2010, this patent application outlines something strikingly similar to some of the technology we saw in Microsoft’s video portraying their version of the future. It describes user input on a 2D surface, which is then simulated as direct contact with a virtual 3D object. Said virtual 3D object is meant to move or be manipulated based on the user’s physical input.

In the video from this morning, users were able to input gestures without ever touching the device, as shown when the traveling businesswoman draws a heart into thin air, which is then translated onto the screen and relayed back to her kitchen wall. Perhaps this patent is a bridge between what we have now and Microsoft’s envisioned future, but either way I hope this one makes it to reality.

Changing Power Mode Based On Sensors In A Device
The next patent application on our list was filed for much more recently — in July of this year — and is basically meant to make it easier for us to turn on handheld computing devices. You know, since pushing a button is too strenuous. The patent outlines a way to power on a device, whether it be a mobile phone or a tablet (or any computing device you can hold, really), by holding said device in portrait orientation.

The patent discusses certain specifications that must be met in order for the function to work, like the degree at which the device must be held, or the amount of time the device must be held that way before it powers on. We’re glad to see it, too, as it would be totally annoying for a tablet to turn on each time it was in portrait orientation. The patent also covers a device that can perform this magical portrait boot action, along with the method by which one would do so. Way to cover your bases, Microsoft.

Email Views
This April 2010 patent application is a bit old-school, or at least it feels that way compared to a day full of both lofty and modest future predictions. But it may make my least favorite mode of communication — and MG’s least favorite thing ever — just a bit more bearable.

The patent describes a way of formatting your email view into different categories, rather than a list of names and subjects. The system would interpret the content of emails, and filter them into certain categories, like from friends, from family, videos and images, documents, invitations, and missed IMs. From there, the user has multiple interface options through which they can view their inbox in varying layouts.

The technology described is in no way revolutionary — Google’s been combing your email content to target ads for years, and their Priority Inbox is pretty similar, too — but it may add a little “delight” to the email experience, which is something Microsoft seems to aim for.

Throwing Gestures For Mobile Devices

Don’t let the title of this patent application fool you — there will be no phone throwing over at Microsoft, or anywhere else hopefully. Applied for in July, the “Throwing Gestures” patent describes a way of jerking your phone around to perform certain actions, including switching from one image to the next and closing applications. Like the “Changing Power Modes Based On Sensors In A Device” patent, Microsoft has also included a device which would use this technology.

Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t include any images of the actual flinging motion in its patent application, so that’ll have to be one for our imaginations to figure out. I imagine people walking down the street waving their phones around like they’re throwing frisbies, but I guess that’s no stranger than the masses of people now having conversations with their brand new iPhones.

Note that these are only applications and have not been granted as yet.

[via Microsoft-News]






Crunchbase





MICROSOFT






Company:
Microsoft


Website:
microsoft.com


Launch Date:
April 4, 1974


IPO:

NASDAQ:MSFT



Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured.

Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market.

Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and...






Learn more

Is the iPhone more data efficient than its Android rivals? Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says it is.

During an earnings call Wednesday, Hesse claimed iPhones use about half the network resources required by Android handsets, a feature that weighed heavily in the carrier’s decision to add Apple’s device to its portfolio.

“There is a misperception that our launch of the iPhone will increase the load on Sprint’s 3G network and require us to spend more 3G capital,” Hesse said. “The reverse is true. iPhone users are expected to use significantly less 3G than the typical user of a dual-mode 3G, 4G device. Even adjusting for more total new customers being added to the network, we believe they will put less load on our 3G network than they would have if we did not carry the iPhone.”

In other words, Sprint believes the iPhone is so data efficient that it will help the company continue to offer unlimited data plans for its smartphones — even following the debut of iCloud, whose services are presumably on the data-heavy side. Evidently, Apple’s strict network efficiency requirements, which prohibit apps from pinging networks as often as those on other operating systems, and the iPhone’s ability to quickly offload data onto Wi-Fi goes a long way toward reducing network congestion.

So the iPhone will likely be a big boon for Sprint, though one that’s not without risks. The carrier says the device’s benefits won’t exceed its costs until 2015. And in the meantime it may need $7 billion in new financing to cover up-front and network costs related to it.

Hello Nokia, we’ve missed you.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced the company’s flagship Windows Phone device, the Lumia 800, during his Nokia World keynote earlier this morning. The Finnish phone maker also announced a lower-end option, the Lumia 710 as well as several low-end phones running its aging Series 40 software. Unfortunately, neither of the Windows Phone devices will hit the US this year.

Details about the Lumia phones leaked yesterday, which sort of put a damper on Nokia’s big reveal. Still, it’s nice to see Nokia actually deliver new devices after rocking the mobile world in February with the news that it would be moving to Windows Phone, thereby abandoning the company’s creaky Symbian software and more ambitious MeeGo plans. (Nokia later announced the N9 MeeGo phone, which seems to have been released as a sort of curiosity.)

As a Nokia fan who has been disappointed by the company’s trajectory over the last few years, the Lumia 800 seems like a breath of fresh air. It exudes the company’s hardware expertise (it actually looks about the same as the N9, which can’t be faulted for its style), while also finally pairing a Nokia smartphone with powerful and modern touchscreen software. The Lumia 800 is stylish enough to make Nokia a hip brand once again, and it just may help to push Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform beyond its current also-ran status.

The Lumia 800′s official specs differ from those that were leaked yesterday. It sports a 1.4 gigahertz single-core CPU (dual-core Windows Phones are expected next year, Microsoft says), 3.7-inch AMOLED display, 16 gigabytes of storage, and an 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 720p high-definition video. The phone weighs just five ounces and is 12.1 millimeters thick, and Nokia rates its 3G talk time at 9.5 hours. And of course, it’ll run Windows Phone Mango, also known as Windows Phone 7.5.

The Lumia 710

Not content to offer just one new Windows Phone device, Nokia also unveiled the Lumia 710, a cheaper alternative to the flagship Lumia 800. It also features a 3.7-inch display and 1.4 gigahertz CPU, but it packs in less storage (8 gigabytes), a lower-quality 5 megapixel camera, and slightly less battery life (6.9 hours of 3G talk time).

Nokia is aiming for lots of color with both of its new Lumia phones. The 800 will be available in black, cyan, and magenta, while the 710 will feature those colors along with yellow and white. The 710′s rear covers will also be swappable, allowing you to mix and match your color scheme.

“I’m left with many questions after the announcements,” said Jack Gold, founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. “How do the new devices fit into a diverse environment in an enterprise setting? Where are the enterprise tools to deploy, activate, secure and manage them? What is the Nokia Value Add on top of plain Windows Phone? What did they do to enhance the Windows Phone platform beyond what Microsoft offers? Nokia seemed to show once again that they understand how to make appealing hardware, but fell short in service offerings that could differentiate them in the market, especially with the important business user.”

In addition to its Windows Phone lineup, Nokia showed off four new inexpensive Asha phones, running its Series 40 feature phone software. While none of those phones will ever be mistaken for a high-end smartphone, it’s still nice to see Nokia innovating at the low-end, a market that it needs to win back from cheaper Asian handsets.

The Lumia 800 will retail for  €420 (around $580), and you can pre-order it now for a November shipment in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The  €270 (around $375) Lumia 710 will hit Asia before Europe, and will be available in India, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, and Taiwan by the end of the year.

The company hasn’t mentioned a US release for the devices specifically, but it did say that it’s planning a “portfolio of products” in the US in early 2012, reports This is my next. Nokia also promises to support LTE and CDMA technology with its US phones (the company has stubbornly refused to make CDMA phones for year, which hurt its US prospects).

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

There’s a lot of debate about Near-Field Communication (NFC) as the future of mobile payments. While the likes of Google and Nokia are pushing the technology hard, others are skeptical.

What’s the fuss all about? In short, NFC has the potential to reshape the way payments are done by replacing your physical wallet with your phone.

But NFC is not the only story out there. Swiff, a Singapore-based startup that was started in 2010, wants to be the future of mobile payments too. It give merchants a cheaper way of accepting credit card payments — just using their mobile phones. The founders are Jerome Cle, Etienne Van den Bogaert, and Lionel Steinitz — all possess a background in banking and finance.

Here’s how their product works: After merchants sign up for an account, they will receive a small, black Swiff card reader which they can plug into the headphone jack of their iOS mobile or Android devices. They can then swipe credit cards right away, as long as there’s a wi-fi or 3G connection. No bulky, expensive payment terminals.

Merchants are charged a one-time set-up fee, annual fees, and transaction fees for using the product. The first two applies in some cases only.

Swiff is actually very similar to US-based Square, which is doing well — they’ve secured US$169m in funding since 2009. If the company gets its execution right, it could take off in Asia, where there isn’t a similar service that has achieved prominence yet.

The founders of Swiff have not given me a firm timeline for launch, although said we can expect an announcement “in a few months”. Their services are being made available in Singapore and Malaysia, with a planned expansion to Europe, the USA, Canada and South America.

So what exactly is the big fuss about Swiff?

For one, it has the potential to disrupt the payment solutions market. Brick and mortar operations are still big in Asia (and the world), and it’ll continue to play a big role in highly urbanized cities.

With existing payment terminals being either too expensive, restrictive (since it’s tied to phone lines), or bulky, Swiff could solve all three problems. Setup is potentially much easier and cheaper. Furthermore, it allows merchants to send receipts via email to the customer.

Stephanie Yeo, head of marketing and communcations at Swiff, adds that the company does one thing better than Square — security.

“Square’s hardware does not encrypt the credit card data. Hence, a rogue developer could install an app running in the background to capture all credit card data. With Swiff, the credit card data is never available in the app itself, it is encrypted in the reader and sent in encrypted format to the gateway for payment processing,” she says.

“Therefore, Swiff also only accepts Swiff-approved hardware to ensure full end-to-end security, something that Square does not offer. It is possible to use the Square with a third-party reader.”

Their target market includes F&B entrepreneurs who want to streamline operations, the services and supply industry, and individuals like insurance agents or doctors who need a cost effective solution to collect payment.

There’s a lot of promise in the payment method offered by Swiff and Square, but I wonder how it’ll compete against NFC and its wealthy backers.

While Swiff still requires the use of physical credit cards, NFC has the potential to do away with them altogether – Google Wallet is already touting itself as a replacement for physical wallets.

It lets users for a product by simply tapping their phone on an NFC reader — the app then automatically sends payment information to the merchant. It will even process any loyalty, gift, or discount programs they’re participating in.

NFC has uses beyond mobile payments as well — it lets smart phone users share content, business cards, and play multiplayer games, simply by tapping their phones together. Marketers can even embed NFC tags in outdoor advertisements or movie posters to share content or special deals.

These uses have a knock-on effect for apps like Google Wallet: The more accustomed smartphone users are to using NFC for whatever purposes, the more likely they are to use it to pay for groceries.

But while NFC holds tremendous promise, it requires commitment from a multitude of partners: Credit card companies, mobile operators, mobile phone operators, NFC hardware and software vendors, merchants, and customers.

With so many moving parts, mass NFC adoption could be two or three years off at least, even if credit card companies promise free installation of point-of-sales terminals for merchants.

This leaves the window open for companies like Swiff and Square to operate: Their product only requires buy-in from merchants and credit card companies, since customers are still swiping their credit cards — a familiar process.

Also, there will definitely be a niche group of merchants who would be deterred from adopting NFC, especially those who are constantly on-the-go or unable to afford the technology.

But suppose NFC does become ubiquitous, there’s nothing stopping Swiff from integrating the technology alongside its existing credit card reader.

Dag Kittlaus — the co-founder and CEO of the company that created the Siri voice control feature, which Apple launched to much acclaim recently — has left the company, according to sources.

There were several reasons for the departure, which was amicable and has been planned for a while, sources said. They included Kittlaus’s family being in Chicago, a desire to take time off and an interest in brainstorming new entrepreneurial ideas.

Kittlaus has led the speech recognition efforts for Apple since Apple bought Siri in April of 2010. He had been Siri’s CEO since 2007. Before that, the Norwegian-born Kittlaus was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Stanford Research Institute and had also worked at Motorola.

Kittlaus apparently left just after the launch of the iPhone 4S, in which Siri’s speech recognition technology was the highlight, but sources said other key execs from Siri are expected to remain at Apple.

I have queried Apple PR and am waiting for a response.

Here is a video of Kittlaus demoing Siri at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in 2009:

[ See post to watch video ]

Facebook has quietly released a new feature in Facebook for iPhone 4.0 update that could create new opportunities for marketers. If users click or enter a URL that uses the fb://page URL scheme and have the official Facebook for iPhone/iPad app installed, the corresponding Facebook Page will be opened in that app. Before the 4.0 and later software updates, fb://page URL scheme links would load a blank screen in the apps.

For example, if you click the link of or enter the URL fb://page/7844589738 in an iOS device that has Facebook for iPhone/iPad installed, that app will launch and bring up t he official Facebook Page for InsideFacebook.com (7844589738 is the Facebook ID of the Page for Inside Facebook). Marketers could distribute URL scheme-linked text via email or mobile site, and users wouldn’t notice the strange URL, they’d just click on a link and suddenly see the Facebook app open.

This new functionality could let marketers instantly bring users to their Page where they can Like it or write on its wall, rather than forcing them to open the m.facebook.com site where they might not already be logged in. Marketers could attach this link to a QR code to promote their Page and gain Likes from iOS device users. The fb://page URL scheme could become even more important if users gain the ability to access Page tab applications from mobile devices in the future.

 

iOS URL schemes allow specific first- and third-party iOS applications to be launched with special URLs. They can also be used to immediately perform certain functions such as setting a recipient for a new text message, showing directions in Google Maps, or add a shortened URL to a tweet in Tweetie or Twitterific. However, if the user doesn’t have the corresponding app installed, neither the app or a browser version will load.

Previously, URL schemes could be used to open a specific photo album, Event, or user profile in Facebook for iPhone. With the latest major Facebook for iPhone and iPad software updates, official Pages and Places Pages can now be opened with URL schemes as well. Page use the “fb://page/[Page ID]” URL scheme while Places use “fb://place/[Place ID]“.

There may be a URL scheme suffix that allows the info or wall tab to be loaded specifically, though none of the logical suffixes I tried worked. Android devices have their own URL scheme, and some developers have found ways to open user profiles in the Facebook for Android apps, though I haven’t seen a solution for opening Pages.

Facebook for iPhone/iPad has 52.3 million daily active users and 92.7 million monthly active users according to AppData, many of which stay logged in on the app at all times. This creates a large audience that can utilize the Facebook Page URL scheme to quickly gain access to a Page from a logged in state, allowing them to Like it or leave a wall post.

iOS app developers could use the Page URL scheme to send their users out of their app and to their Page so they can gain Likes. Similarly, marketers could distribute a Page URL scheme as an “iOS only” link to gain Likes.

In the physical world, marketers could also tie the URL scheme link to their Page to a QR code and display in their brick and mortar store or distribute through print materials. Users could then scan the QR code to launch their Facebook app and Like the Page. This could become a way to speed up in-store promotions where users who show they’ve Liked a business’ Page get a discount or free gift.

Those trying to take advantage of the URL scheme functionality should be sure their audience is likely to have an iOS device with the Facebook app installed. Otherwise providing a standard browser link that’s accessible across devices and to those without the Facebook app is a safer bet, even if it means users may have to log in to Facebook again before they can Like the Page.

Facebook recently launched its mobile app platform that allows users to access canvas apps built in HTML5 from their mobile devices. Page tab applications cannot be accessed from mobile yet, judging by the fact that some Page tab app developers such as RootMusic have begun building in HTML5. Once Page tab apps are opened to mobile, Page URL scheme links could become a powerful way to drive traffic to them as well as helping Pages gain Likes.

[Thanks to Sam Cornwell for the tip]

Speaking today at Web 2.0, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was boisterous as usual. In a rousing talk with John Batelle, Ballmer talked about how, since last being on stage at Web 2.0 three years ago, Bing has doubled its market share, Microsoft hasn’t completely given up on competing with Google+ and social, the tech giant bought Skype for a boatload, among other topics of interest for Microsofties and Windows aficionados.

In what was both a stroll down memory lane, and a calibration of Microsoft’s roadmap going forward, Batelle raised the question of whether or not Ballmer was glad that Microsoft didn’t buy Yahoo for $44 billion back in 2008.

“Times change”, the CEO said. “You ask any CEO who didn’t buy something big before the market crashed [in 2008, they'll probably say], ‘Hallelujah!’”. But, in a twist of fate, the U.S. economy dipped into one of the biggest recessions in history in 2008, and had Yahoo accepted Microsoft’s terms, perhaps ironically, the deal would have been settled right around the time that Lehman collapsed, he said.

“Sometimes you are lucky”, Ballmer admitted, grinning.

When asked if Microsoft is punting on social, Ballmer said that Skype and Xbox “seem social” to him and likely represent entry points into the broadly “social” market, and that, going forward, Microsoft is looking to add connectivity into its core products, specifically as its Skype product integration continues.

Then, regarding Microsoft’s play in apps in the cloud?

Ballmer, channelling Charlie Sheen, chanted: “We’re winning, winning, winning”.

When asked who Microsoft is beating?

Google.

Lastly, all those gathered couldn’t let Ballmer go without asking about mobile. In reference to how Microsoft is competing with Android, the skyrocketing young upstart in the mobile market, Ballmer seemed optimistic about the prospect of Windows tablets, and phones specifically.

Windows Phones have a leg up from the average consumer’s perspective, he said, because “you don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows phone”, the CEO quipped.

Zing!






Crunchbase





MICROSOFT
STEVE BALLMER






Company:
Microsoft


Website:
microsoft.com


Launch Date:
April 4, 1974


IPO:

NASDAQ:MSFT



Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured.

Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market.

Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and...






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Person:
Steve Ballmer


Website:


Companies:
Microsoft


Steven A. Ballmer is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. Since then, Ballmer’s leadership and passion have become hallmarks of his tenure at the company.

During the past 20 years, Ballmer has headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In July 1998, he was promoted to President, a role that gave him day-to-day responsibility for running Microsoft. He was named...






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Samsung on Wednesday launched ChatON, its answer to Apple’s iMessage and RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger.

Unlike those services, though, ChatON is designed to work across different phone operating systems. The service, announced back in August, is for now available as a download from Samsung’s app store and on the Android Market.

In addition to conventional text-based instant messages, ChatON also allows multimedia and animated messages using a combination of audio, scribbled text and a background image, Samsung said. It also supports group chat.

Samsung plans to preload the software on smartphones running its Bada operating system starting later this month, and will make it “gradually” available for other operating systems by the end of the year.

The Korean electronics giant showed off the service last month at the IFA trade show.

“Through its multi-platform and global availability, ChatON heralds a new age of mobile communication,” Samsung Senior VP Kang Min Lee said in a statement.

Well it would seem that NTT DoCoMo, one of the largest wireless carriers in Japan, has let slip the Samsung Galaxy Nexus announcement just a couple hours early.

According to a tweet, “the latest Android OS smartphone with Google and Samsung Electronics [will be] announced on October 19 in Hong Kong tomorrow. DoCoMo is almost equivalent to the fastest in the world, scheduled for release in November. More later.” (Anyone who’s fluent in Japanese, please feel free to add clarity that Google Translate can’t.)

Although we’re still waiting to confirm specs that have already been leaked, an Italian blog called Android HDBlog seems to have an official image (full-size version after the break).

We’re not sure that this is 100 percent the real deal since we’d expect text in the image to be in Chinese. (The official announcement will be in Hong Kong.) Still, the blog claims that this comes straight out of Japan where what they call “the Japanese operator” has confirmed availability for November 20.

According to Android HDBlog, these are the specs we’ll be seeing on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus:

Dimensions: 5.4in x 2.7in x .35in (which is insanely thin, however the blog also mentions that its .45 inches at its thickest part)
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 processor
4.65-inch 720×1280 AMOLED HD display (which may just be the Italian translation for Super AMOLED Plus)
5-megapixel CMOS rear camera with LED flash, capable of video capture in 1080p
1.3-megapixel CMOS front-facing camera
NFC!!
1GB of RAM, 16/32 GB of on-board storage

We’re still unsure whether or not there’s support for a microSD card, but I would be kind of shocked if there wasn’t.

Developing…

[First image via Ameblo.jp]






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GOOGLE







Company:
Google


Website:
google.com


Launch Date:
July 9, 1998


IPO:

NASDAQ:GOOG



Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information....






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Over the weekend, Nokia launched a suite of casual games developed at Nokia Research Center which are meant to demonstrate how NFC can enable new forms of mobile gaming. The three new games include Nokia World Flags, Nokia Shakespeare Shuffle and Nokia Nursery Rhyme Shuffle. All can be played now on any Nokia Symbian NFC-enabled phone including the Nokia C7 Astound, C7-00, 600, 603, 700 and 701.

Nokia calls the games “tangible” mobile games because of the way they interact with physical objects in the real world using NFC tags. The games don’t have to read or write to the tags in order to work – they only need to detect the tags’ presence. That means they will work with blank NFC tags or even “contactless” credit cards, transit cards or ID cards, the company explains.

Frankly, the user interfaces for the games are only so-so, but to be fair, these are more akin to demo apps than “real” games meant to attract thousands of users. Instead, it’s the idea behind these games that’s meant to be the focus of this news.

For example, one game involves NFC-tagged playing cards which are used to play a digitized version of a child’s simple matching game. Traditionally, you would play this game by flipping over cards to find the matched pairs. With the NFC game, however, you tap the card with your phone. While I’m not sure if a game like this is screaming out for NFC, the concept of combining playing cards with NFC in new ways has some appeal. Imagine playing a NFC-enabled version of one of those “Magic: The Gathering” type games where with a tap you could actually see the battles between wizards animated on your phone’s screen, while the mobile app also kept score for you. That might be cool (well, for nerds, wink wink).

The two other Nokia games now available involve tapping cards to mix up either nursery rhymes or Shakespeare quotes. They look pretty boring.

In a video, Nokia shows off a fourth concept (not available) where you tap different parts of a stuffed animal with an NFC phone to launch different games. That could provide toy makers a new avenue for upselling that was previously limited to ads that appear on their toys’ boxes and in their instruction manuals. Still, as much as I personally love technology, the idea that my child’s teddy would simply serve as an avenue to toddler’s first gaming addiction kind of makes me sad. Whatever happened to actually playing with your toys? (Maybe I’m just getting old.)

Nokia, it should be noted, is not the first to have ideas about NFC-enabled gaming. One high-profile example comes from Rovio, which, launched an NFC-enabled version of Angry Birds called Angry Birds Magic earlier this year. That game also works on Symbian.

Widespread NFC adoption is several years out, and is still waiting on Apple’s participation. That means opportunities for NFC-enabled gaming are few and far between today.

Nokia is often early to the smartphone space with innovative concepts, but it’s not until Apple executives upon them do they really reach the mainstream. Something tells me that NFC mobile gaming will be just another example of this ongoing trend.






Crunchbase





NOKIA






Company:
Nokia


Website:
nokia.com


IPO:

NYSE:NOK



Nokia is a Finnish multinational communications corporation. It is primarily engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries.

They make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more.

Nokia is the owner of Symbian operation system and partially owns MeeGo operating system.






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Police in Abu Dhabi and Dubai said the number of reported traffic accidents plunged during Research In Motion’s recent three-day BlackBerry outage. According to The National, accidents fell 20% in Dubai and 40% in Abu Dhabi. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim from the Dubai Police department said his force saw the largest decrease among young drivers and men. “The accidents that occur from the use of these devices range between minor and moderate ones, but at times they are deadly,” Tamim explained. “Absolutely nothing has happened in the past week in terms of killings on the road and we’re really glad about that,” Brigadier General Al Harethi, from Abu Dhabi’s police department said. “People are slowly starting to realize the dangers of using their phone while driving. The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.” According to The National, there is typically a fatal accident in Abu Dhabi every two days and an accident every three minutes in Dubai.

Read

As the iPhone 4S hype has peaked and is returning back to stable levels, users from the other school of thought are getting pumped for their own massive event. Ice Cream Sandwich, and the next purely Google phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, are due to make an appearance in just two short days.

Though we’re sure to get some clarification on already-leaked specs at the debut, we might have access to launch dates and pricing just a bit earlier than that.

According to an anonymously leaked Verizon document published by Engadget, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Vigor (codenamed Rezound) are going for a minimum advertized price of $299.99 on-contract. Both phones are also slated for a November 10 to May 10 MAP period, suggesting they may launch as early as November 10. But before we go any further, it’s worth practicing a little cynicism in this case, since this leaked document could have been whipped up in Word in about five minutes. Then again, the model numbers seem to make sense, so we’ll just venture forward with caution.

As far as that November 10 launch date goes, nothing’s set in stone. Even if that’s when the Galaxy Nexus and Vigor’s MAP period begins, the actual launch may come a bit later as we’ve already seen Ice Cream Sandwich and the Nexus event get pushed back once. Either way, it should give you a little extra time to start saving up.






Crunchbase





GOOGLE
VERIZON






Company:
Google


Website:
google.com


Launch Date:
July 9, 1998


IPO:

NASDAQ:GOOG



Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information....






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Company:
Verizon


Website:
verizon.com


IPO:

VZ



Verizon Communications Inc. delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s largest wireless network that serves nearly 102 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers converged communications, information and entertainment services over Verizon’s fiber-optic network.






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With the popularity of the iPad, operators in a few different countries have been experimenting with subsidized tablets as a way of hooking users in. Last year Japanese operator Softbank started offering the Apple tablet for free with a contract, while in Britain many operators sell 3G iPads below the normal retail price in exchange for long-term contracts.

In France, subsidies are being targeted on a very specific market: students.

With a publicity push from the country’s Ministry for Higher Education, college kids from Paris to Perpignan are being offered a slew of deals to tempt them onto tablets. First market leader Orange started offering iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tabs for just €1 ($1.30) as part of an education package; now Bouygues Telecom, France’s third-largest mobile operator with around 10 million subscribers, is running its own version of the deal.

The Bouygues offer, which is being launched in partnership with the French government’s ministry for higher education, isn’t for those mainstream tablets yet — but instead focuses on the Archos 80 G9, an 8-inch tablet running Android’s Honeycomb OS.

The device itself is only so-so: one CNet reviewer said that while it’s not bad, users should “consider very carefully whether the relatively low price is worth the design and performance problems”. But it is now officially dirt cheap: for €19.90 each month (that’s about $27) students can buy the Archos –which usually costs $299 — for a single euro, and get 1GB of 3G data and unlimited access to the company’s network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

With similar iPad deals on offer, it seems unlikely that deals like this will help competitors like Samsung and Archos wrestle some market share away from Apple, but it may help increase the overall market for tablets, which still has plenty of room to grow. And that is particularly important for Android devices, because while it can claim 30 percent market share on paper, the reality is likely to be far lower, as Kevin pointed out this summer.

This is not to say that subsidies are a slam-dunk, however. When Orange UK started offering cut-price iPads with a 24 month contract at the end of last year, it expected massive take up: in fact, it reportedly sold less than 1,000 contracts in the first week.

But targeting the student market is smart. It’s a big group of potential buyers: in France, around 1.4 million people are enrolled in universities out of a total population of 62 million. And cash-conscious college goers are happy to amortize the costs of a device over the lifetime of a contract, rather than pay up front. And they are voracious consumers of technology: you only have to look at the prevalence of Apple products in universities to see how brand matters to them — plus, if you get them hooked and they may stick around.

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Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continuesThe rise of tablets in the enterpriseMobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T

It’s not a shocker, but the availability of the iPhone 4S gave Sprint its best sales day ever.

The company, which is investing heavily to at long last get the iPhone on its network, said it broke its record by 1 pm ET on Friday. Sprint is also now selling Apple’s iPhone 4 after years of going without an Apple phone in its lineup. (The iPhone’s existing carriers, AT&T and Verizon, also reported impressively strong sales; see updates below.)

“Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4,” Sprint product chief Fared Adib said in a statement. “The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed our expectations and validates our customers’ desire for a truly unlimited data pricing plan.”

The iPhone went on sale on Friday at Apple’s retail stores as well as other locations including Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint stores. Apple said that it quickly sold 1 million phones during a pre-order period and all three U.S. carriers said they sold through their preorder allotments.

Update: A Verizon representative told AllThingsD that it is seeing strong traffic in its stores.

“Stores nationwide are reporting steady traffic as early-morning shoppers make purchases before heading to work,” said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney. “We are seeing a nice mix of people who are first-time smartphone purchasers as well as those who are switching from competitors.”

Demand was particularly strong very early and during the lunch hour, Raney said. “Our customers were clearly excited to get their new iPhone 4s on the Verizon Wireless network,” Raney said. “We’re looking forward to a busy weekend.”

Update: And here’s the word from an AT&T spokesman: “As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network -– and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day.”

It’s a bit surprising that Google’s smartphone and tablet platform didn’t find a use for the @Android handle on Twitter until now, but that problem has now been rectified.

You won’t find much to read just yet, but if you want to follow the future adventures of iOS’ biggest nemesis, hop on over to @Android and hit the follow button.

The official account of the Android developer team is still over at @AndroidDev.

In one of its first tweets, the Android Twitter account posted a video of Google employees erecting a 10-foot tall Ice Cream Sandwich statue; check it out below.

More About: android, Google, Mobile, smartphone, social networking, Twitter
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BlueStacks, a start-up focused on allowing Android apps to run on Windows PCs, said it is ready to start public testing of its software.

The company is making an alpha, or early test version, of its software available to the public. Long-term, the company aims to make available both free and paid versions of its software, and to have it loaded on new PCs. The alpha version allows most Android titles to be loaded on a PC, but prohibits some games, such as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, that will ultimately be a part of the paid version.

“We’re happy with the degree to which apps work,” BlueStacks VP John Gargiulo said in an interview. “Not every app will work perfectly.”

The company’s app will ship with several Android apps preloaded, and users will also be able to push programs from their phone or tablet to the PC from a program that will be available from the Android market.

The appeal of the software may be challenging to understand for some who grew up with PCs. But CEO Rosen Sharma says it will be immediately obvious to the next generation, which has grown up with smartphone apps.

“Their first computing device is a phone,” Sharma said in a telephone interview. Indeed, BlueStacks had its idea for virtualization technology long before it had the idea to do Android on Windows. That specific implementation, Sharma said, came when one of his colleagues got back from a trip to Switzerland. On that trip, the colleague’s young daughter had played a lot of Android games. Back home, she wanted those same programs to run on the PC. With that, BlueStacks had its business model.

BlueStacks raised $7.6 million in Series A funding earlier this year from backers including Ignition Ventures, Radar Partners, Helion Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The company has slightly more than two dozen workers at its headquarters in Campbell, Calif., and at offices in India, Taiwan and Japan.

Ready to find the Higgs boson particle? A newly released Google Android app which provides live results from the Large Hadron Collider has debuted thanks to scientists at Oxford University and the application is 100% free to use.

The CERN approved application provides a live feed into what particles are being smashed at the moment and imagery is shown using computer-generated 3D models which allow users to see the particles from every angle.

According to Android Market statistics more than 10,000 people have already downloading the application.

Writing about the application Dr. Alan Barr wrote on the University of Oxford’s science blog:

“For ages I’d been thinking that with the amazing capabilities on modern smart phones we really ought to be able to make a really great app—something that would allow everybody to access the LHC data,” while adding, ”We’ve squeezed in a bunch of cool features. If you want to learn about the science of the LHC, then you can play with the animated tutorials. Then you can stream videos to your phone about the construction of the detector, and its operation.”

Users should be aware that not all data will be shown because the Large Hadron Collider uses several gigabytes of data every second.

According to PCMag:

One notable feature is called “Hunt the Higgs,” a game that sees the user try to find the Higgs boson, the so far never-seen particle that physicists predict will help explain how matter has mass (the LHC may find evidence of its existence in 2012). The game involves looking at slides of reactions and trying to discern which particles are present. It’s just a game, however—not actual research.

At this time the application is only available for Google Android based devices and programmers for the application have no plans to release an Apple iOS version.

 

 

Large Hadron Collider Debuts Google Android App, Says No Thanks To iOS is a post from: The Inquisitr

For those still looking to pre-order the iPhone 4S, Sprint would like you to know that they aren’t totally sold out, although they have gone through their pre-sale allotment of the entry-level model.

“We do have the 32GB and 64GB versions, as well as the 8GB iPhone 4, available in both colors at this time,” Sprint representative Michelle Leff Mermelstein told AllThingsD.

The company said it won’t take backorders once it sells out on a model. “Sprint is committed to delivering devices to our pre-order customers on or very near the time of launch and also making these devices available for purchase on launch day – Friday, October 14,” Leff Mermelstein said. “Apple and other carriers may continue to take pre-orders that will be delivered to the customer at a later time.”

Apple has said it sold more than 1 million iPhone 4S pre-orders on the first day. AT&T, meanwhile, has said that it sold 200,000 devices in about 12 hours on launch day, while Sprint had previously said that sales had surpassed expectations.

Although all three carriers — Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless — are selling the exact same iPhone 4S, there are differences both in the features of each network as well as the carriers’ billing plans. Sprint is focusing on the fact that it is the only carrier offering unlimited data plans to new iPhone customers.

Google and Samsung were set to debut a Samsung Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus) on Oct. 11 at CTIA Fall in San Diego, but now the two companies have decided to delay the phone’s big introduction.

They sent the following statement this morning to VentureBeat:

Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We would ask for the understanding of our clients and media for any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.

Not only had Samsung posted a promotional video teasing a “big” smartphone that looks like the Nexus Prime, but Google apparently leaked when Ice Cream Sandwich would launch through a YouTube livestream placeholder. With all this pre-established hype, it’s strange that the two companies have decided to delay the launch.

Three possibilities come to mind for why the companies decided to postpone: First, they may not have attracted enough press to attend the event at CTIA in San Diego and decided to push it back to a New York launch where attendance will be higher. Second, perhaps Google needed a little extra time to polish the Ice Cream Sandwich OS. Third, the companies could have decided at the last minute to distance the launch of their flagship Android phone from the iPhone 4S launch by more than a week .

We don’t expect to wait long for another date to be set, though, because Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said Ice Cream Sandwich would launch before November. I absolutely believe that timeline because Google and Samsung will want to take advantage of increased holiday sales.

The Nexus Prime’s leaked specs do sound pretty impressive and could attract consumers disappointed by the iPhone 4S introduction. The smartphone will feature a massive 4.65-inch display with curved glass, a 1.2-gigahertz dual core processor and LTE 4G connectivity through Verizon.

Update: Google and Samsung have reportedly moved the debut of the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich to London with an Oct. 27 launch. We will see if this event turns out.

Filed under: mobile

Well now. Samsung’s teaser video hinted at something big making its debut on October 11, but a new leak may have blown the whole thing wide open. BGR claims to have received the full spec sheet for Samsung’s long-awaited Galaxy Nexus (nee Nexus Prime), and if true, it’s a sight to behold.

Before we go forward, I should caution you to have your grains of salt at the ready. We’re about to step into some murky territory.

The spec listing confirms a few things we were already expecting to see, like the inclusion of Ice Cream Sandwich and a huge 4.65-inch display. BGR’s sources go on to say that the Galaxy Nexus will sport a TI OMAP 4460 processor, which clocks in at 1.2 GHz, and 1 GB of RAM. It also packs a 5MP camera (with support for recording 1080p video), 32 GB of internal storage, an NFC chip, and an LTE or HSPA radio into a body that’s only 9mm thick.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Nexus is said to be a Verizon exclusive at least for the time being. With their data caps firmly in place, it may be a good thing that Ice Cream Sandwich is reportedly able to track data use on an app-by-app basis. It’s also worth mentioning that the Galaxy Nexus is a pure Google Experience device, so users won’t have to deal with carrier or manufacturer tweaks.

Skeptic though I may be, these specs seem just average enough to be legit. It doesn’t pack a stupid fast processor, nor a crazy camera, nor anything that at first glance seems to good to be true. Even the design may be more sober than first anticipated.

An enterprising Redditor named Greyhaven7 (a.k.a. Eric Hedden in real life) took a still from yesterday’s teaser video and cleaned it up substantially. The end result looks less like a phone that was bent in half, and more like a subtle evolution of the Nexus S’s design language.

Either way, the official reveal is coming in less than a week.

Trigger-happy investors have historically been prone to trading on Apple whenever news about its head honcho, Steve Jobs, arose. But in the wake of his death yesterday, shares of Apple have only risen 1.5 percent as of 7:30 a.m. today, only dropping 0.12 percent at their lowest level from the company’s opening price.

Apple, the most valuable technology company in the world, is back to vying with Exxon-Mobil to claim the title of most valuable company overall, although it’s value fell on Tuesday when the company unveiled an incremental upgrade to its iPhone smartphone lineup instead of a much-anticipated major upgrade.

Apple is also noticeably absent from the options market, where a move like this would typically send traders into a frenzy of speculation over what direction the company will go in. Only two significant put orders (a bet that the company’s share price will fall) crossed the Chicago Board Options Exchange as of 7 a.m. Thursday — each for fewer than 700 shares and at a modest strike price. At the same time, a much larger call order has already crossed the wire at a strike price of $385.

“This is business as usual for Apple, it would be a mistake to count them out,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told VentureBeat. “Yes, the tech world has lost a significant icon and a visionary, but Apple is more than just one person — Jobs built something truly special that was much greater than himself.”

Jobs was known as a visionary, creating products that he knew people would be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on. They were products you didn’t even know you needed: the tablet market was basically non-existent before the introduction of the iPad, and the iPhone is now one of the most popular smartphones in the world and is an industry standard. Jobs arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and its associated App Store. ”It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it’s an Internet communicator — are you getting it yet?” he said on stage when he unveiled the iPhone.

His track record is undeniable. As VentureBeat’s Dylan Tweney wrote yesterday, “The Macintosh was the first commercially successful computer to use a graphical user interface and a mouse, a decade after the technologies had debuted at Xerox PARC and SRI. The iPhone threw out the book on how to make a smartphone and reoriented an entire industry around touchscreens and apps, well after touchscreens first appeared in PDAs like the PalmPilot. The iPad succeeded in making a popular tablet computer after Windows-based computer manufacturers had tried to do so for nearly a decade.”

Apple regularly smashes expectations for its quarterly performance and its press events are almost Hollywood-esque, with live reporting and glamour. In Silicon Valley, working for Apple — like Google, Twitter and others — is worn as a badge of honor, like attending an Ivy League school.

“There are few people who could build something so successful and so magical and do more than (Jobs,)” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told me. “It’s humbling as an entrepreneur, more than anything else, to see what he’s done.”

Filed under: mobile

If your smartphone fell into the wrong hands right this very moment, imagine the types of information that person would have instant access to.

If you're like me, that unthinkable list includes things like your personal email, work email, Mint.com account, Google Docs, and all of the data you have stored in Evernote and Dropbox. If they were feeling particularly mischievous, they could post embarrassing updates to Facebook and Twitter under my name and avatar, and even publish something wildly inappropriate on ReadWriteWeb.

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Fortunately, I keep my phone locked with a four-digit PIN number. Thus, in the rare event that my iPhone ever leaves my sight, it can't be accessed should somebody else pick it up. While this may sound like common sense, I'm actually not in the majority in this case, according to a recent survey conducted by Confident Technologies.

More than half of consumers do not lock their smartphones, the survey found. Of those, 44% said it was "too cumbersome" to bother with. Thirty percent say they're not concerned about the security risk. All of this is despite the fact that about half of them use their smartphones for banking or some other financial purpose.

This has risky implications not just for individuals and their private data, but for the companies those people work for. As smartphones become more popular among consumers, people are increasingly using them to access work email and networks, even in cases when the device is not company-owned or administered by the corporate IT department.

Mobile security will only get more important moving forward, as the line between our work and personal lives continues to blur and as the eventual mainstream adoption of NFC turns our phones into a substitute for our wallets, our keys and much else. If you think the idea of losing your phone is nightmarish now, just wait a few years.

Discuss

Image of an HTC Evo via Wikipedia

If you’ve got one of HTC’s popular Android phones, such as the Evo 4G, Evo 3D or Thunderbolt, your phone may be giving apps you’ve installed a huge amount of personal data — information that you didn’t authorize those apps to have access to.

The reported vulnerability, according to Artem Russakovskii of AndroidPolice.com, comes about due to a flawed logging application contained within the most recent version of the HTC Sense user interface, a custom skin that HTC includes with its Android phones.

When you grant apps access to the phone’s internet capabilities (permission that would ordinarily only allow the app to access the web for uploading and downloading data), HTC’s logging application also grants access to a whole host of other data. That data, Russakovskii says, includes:

active notifications in the notification bar
build number, bootloader version, radio version, kernel version
network info, including IP addresses
full memory info
CPU info
file system info and free space on each partition
running processes
current snapshot/stacktrace of every running process and thread
list of installed apps, including permissions used, user ids, versions, and more
system properties/variables
currently active broadcast listeners and history of past broadcasts received
currently active content providers
battery info and status

“Theoretically, it may be possible to clone a device using only a small subset of the information leaked here,” Russakovskii adds.

Apparently, HTC installed a suite of logging tools — for a purpose that’s still unclear — but neglected to secure the data that was being logged. The discovery was made by Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher.

“It’s like leaving your keys under the mat and expecting nobody who finds them to unlock the door,” Russakovskii writes.

We contacted a HTC spokesperson today, who provided this response: “HTC takes our customers’ security very seriously, and we are working to investigate this claim as quickly as possible. We will provide an update as soon as we’re able to determine the accuracy of the claim and what steps, if any, need to be taken.”

Removing the vulnerability is not possible without rooting the device, removing the HTC Sense software, or waiting for an update from HTC, Russakovskii says. He has also provided a proof of concept app that you can install to determine if your phone is susceptible.

For more details, see the Android Police blog post.

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

Amazon’s Kindle Fire won’t ship until Nov. 15, but already it’s the retailer’s top-selling gadget. Buoyed by a surge of preorders, the $199 upstart tablet is No. 1 on Amazon’s list of the 100 most popular electronics items. Numbers two through 10? All Kindles in different configurations.

Earlier today, Microsoft and Samsung disclosed that they reached a cross-licensing agreement over patents. The key point: it’s a bad blow to the notion that Android is free. Instead, it’s more like “free” with huge Android OEM partners like HTC and now Samsung agreeing to pay Microsoft to use Android. Google must be pissed off.

And they are. Here’s their statement:

“This is the same tactic we’ve seen time and again from Microsoft. Failing to succeed in the smartphone market, they are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others’ achievements and hinder the pace of innovation. We remain focused on building new technology and supporting Android partners.”

Yes, they used the word “extort”. Wow.

Today’s maneuver is only the latest in a series of moves by Microsoft to destroy Android, or get paid trying. CEO Steve Ballmer is on record as saying that Android isn’t free, you have to pay Microsoft for the patents it violates. And Microsoft has gone out of their way to ensure they maintain the patent upper hand. It’s either evil, or evil genius.

Google’s move to buy Motorola gives them some leverage, but clearly not enough if Samsung is still willing to enter into an agreement like this. You have to wonder if there is something else Microsoft is throwing in to sweeten the deal.

This back and forth will not be over anytime soon.

Update: Microsoft Responds To Google’s Extortion Claim: “Waaaah.”






Crunchbase





MICROSOFT
GOOGLE






Company:
Microsoft


Website:
microsoft.com


Launch Date:
April 4, 1974


IPO:

NASDAQ:MSFT



Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured.

Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market.

Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and...






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Company:
Google


Website:
google.com


Launch Date:
July 9, 1998


IPO:

NASDAQ:GOOG



Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information....






Learn more

While most of the attention surrounding Amazon’s about-to-be-introduced tablet is around its feature set, it will also be interesting to see if the device raises any patent issues.

Oracle, Microsoft and Apple have all sued over Android, albeit in different ways. Oracle has sued Google directly, while Microsoft and Apple have sued particular hardware makers.

Microsoft and Apple both declined to comment ahead of any product introduction by Amazon. However, Microsoft’s deal with Samsung — and its related comments — reiterate the company’s position that it believes it is owed royalty revenue on each Android device sold.

Also, Microsoft and Amazon do have a patent deal covering the existing Kindle line and Amazon’s Linux-based servers.

The devil, of course, is in the details of just how Amazon does and doesn’t use Android. And there is always the question of what deals might quietly be in place, and which relevant patents Amazon might hold that it can claim are being infringed by any potential litigant.

Pandora, LinkedIn, Box.net and many others are moving to HTML5 to give users a cross-platform, rich media experience. The latest to participate in this tend is SlideShare, a sharing platform for business documents, videos and presentations.

SlideShare lets anyone share presentations and video and also serves as a social discovery platform for users to find relevant content and connect with other members who share similar interests. The company also has a huge enterprise following, and companies like IBM and others use the platform to curate content from all of their employees and partners on a branded page.

Considering the trend towards content discovery on mobile platforms, it would make sense for SlideShare to have mobile offerings. But the startup has not offered any native apps and until today had a flash-based site that could be reached via the browser. Co-founder Jonathan Boutelle tells us that using the Flash-based site was a barrier for users accessing SlideShare from iOS sites. And when determining whether to build a native app for go HTML5, Boutelle said that building a mobile optimized site made the most sense because of the cross-platform capabilities to work on iPads, iPhones and Android devices.

The new HTML5 SlideShare site now renders 30 percent faster and users can view, share, and interact with presentations. Boutelle says the latest version of the SlideShare site uses a patent-pending document conversion technology that renders all the details of a PowerPoint or Word document using nothing but HTML5.

The site also allows visitors to take advantage several features that were previously available only on the desktop version of the site including the ability to copy and paste text; keyboard navigation; full-screen view; and the ability to view embedded documents. Registered users can also view private content, to view content from friends, and favorite content. Any user viewing a slide view page now has visibility into metadata such as the number of views, embeds, and favorites for each presentation, as well as related content and content by the same author. And the homepage now displays a list of featured presentations.

Boutelle says SlideShare continues to see growing engagement, and expects the HTML5 platform to increase usage as well. He explains that HTML5 made sense because the company wanted a lightweight experience for users and wanted documents, fonts, and more to look the same on various browser types. As we mentioned above, this is SlideShare’s first mobile presence and currently the startup doesn’t have any plans to expand to native apps. “We’re doubling down on HTML5 and making this better and bette so it works for everybody,” says Boutelle.

Currently, the site’s 60 million users upload tens of thousands professional presentations every day. SlideShare has raised $3 million in funding from Jonathan Abrams, Mark Cuban, Dave McClure, and Venrock.






Crunchbase





SLIDESHARE






Company:
SlideShare


Website:
slideshare.net


Funding:
$3M



SlideShare is a community for sharing presentations. Individuals or organizations can upload and share PowerPoint, PDF, or OpenOffice presentations. Anyone can find presentations on their topic of interest. Users can tag presentation, and download or embed them into their own websites or blogs. Users can also share their documents privately. SlideShare lets its users to join groups to connect with SlideShare members who share similar interests. Business presentations make the most of...






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I could swear that I’ve had a dream about this before, or at least written about it*, but it looks like Microsoft beat me to the patent office. On September 22, Microsoft filed the “Mobile Communication Device Having Multiple, Interchangeable Second Devices” patent, which basically describes a slider-style phone that has replacement components to swap in for the slider keyboard.

What’s cool is that the mobile phone should be able to communicate with any of the secondary devices, whether they’re docked in the phone’s little slide-out drawer or not. Within the picture, you can see a QWERTY keyboard, an Xperia Play-style gaming controller, an extra battery, and an alternate screen. Though they aren’t included in the drawings, Microsoft also included “expansion storage devices, solar panels for charging a battery of the first device, or for directly powering the first device, or medical sensors (surface thermometers etc.)”

The patent goes on to say that “the game controller and keyboard can each comprise a speaker and a microphone to enable mobile phone handset operation. The first device can simultaneously communicate with one or more of the multiple second devices.”

In other words, Microsoft wants to make your phone a Swiss army knife. And the possible implementations of this are pretty far reaching. The game controller is an obvious choice — throw a kickstand on the phone and you have yourself a nice little portable gaming station. And with the Xbox Live integration baked into Windows Phone Mango, it’ll definitely be worthwhile. But something as simple as an extra battery (or possibly solar panels) can make a huge difference in the way we use our devices.

Granted, lots of phones allow for interchangeable batteries, but none let you pop ‘em in to the slider dock. Most of the time you’re trying to get into that back panel while you’re on the go, and the process becomes super tedious. So much so that you, like myself, may actually use the phone less just to avoid it. This technology has the potential to make one of the bigger problems in the mobile world (battery life) a little less difficult.

Of course, Microsoft and others apply for patents all the time, and many of them sit untouched in a vault unless some competitor brings the technology/design to market. However, I’ve been keeping up with some of the latest Microsoft patents and it’s become clear that this detachable dual-screen slider dream is obviously a focus over at Redmond. We’ve already heard about a patent that improves the design of a slider phone to make the keyboard and screen sit evenly. But past that, Microsoft also filed a patent* in July that again describes a mobile phone with a detachable second screen, wherein both components can communicate with each other, detached or not. In fact, some of the same drawings are duplicated within that patent and this most recent one (like the image displayed on the right).

This obviously isn’t proof of anything, but it’s surely a sign that Microsoft is thinking long and hard about this idea.

[via Joystiq]






Crunchbase





MICROSOFT






Company:
Microsoft


Website:
microsoft.com


Launch Date:
April 4, 1974


IPO:

NASDAQ:MSFT



Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured.

Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market.

Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and...






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If Samsung really does plan to take a bolder stance in its intellectual property battle with Apple, it best clean up its own operations first. Because it’s tough to take the company’s claims of commitment to innovation and distinctive design seriously when it really does seem to have a penchant for … er … referencing the work of others.

Consider the wall of apps in this photo of the company’s new shop-in-a-shop in Italy’s Centro Sicilia, which appears to feature not only the iOS icon for Apple’s mobile Safari browser, but the icon for the company’s iOS App Store — three instances of it.

Embarrassing, particularly given Apple’s allegations that Samsung “slavishly” copied the design of its iPhone and iPad devices. It’s hard to imagine there’s a reasonable explanation for this. Samsung phones don’t support iOS apps and I can’t imagine Apple is making the company a version of Safari.

Now it’s possible this was a display left over from some other event or product, but still.

Samsung has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Facebook has updated its mobile site m.facebook.com with the hybrid news feed launched for the web version of the site that it had launched on Monday. Since the Facebook for iPhone and Android apps both pull the news feed from the mobile site, the 93 million daily active users of the two apps now also see a single feed with Top Stories followed by Recent Stories. Users of these mobile interfaces no longer have the option to view separate Top News and Most Recent feeds.

For most users, there’s now no escaping the sweeping changes Facebook implemented this week. While those who never realized they could switch between relevancy-sorted and reverse-chronological feeds will now be more likely to see fresh, compelling updates, others who grew accustomed to bouncing between the feeds may be displeased that they need to alter their behavior.

At the top of their feed, mobile users will see now Top Stories, followed by Recent Stories, and finally “From Earlier Today” which includes older Top Stories and Recent Stories. Since the two popular smart phones apps pull the news feed from the mobile site, Facebook was able to make just a single code changes to update both the iPhone and Android app interfaces without requiring users to download a software update.

Facebook uses a variety of signals to determine what updates become Top Stories, denoted with a blue triangle in the top left corner. On the web version users can mark and unmark updates as Top Stories. Mobile users don’t have this option, and must accept the decisions of the EdgeRank news feed sorting algorithm.

However, users can filter the news feed according to type of update, such as Status Updates, Events, or Photos. Facebook has also made its new Smart Lists available as mobile news feed filters in addition to all of a user’s manually built Friend Lists. These give users some options if they’re not content with what they’re seeing in the new default “All Stories” feed.

The hybrid news feed feels a bit more natural on mobile, where a quick, lightweight experience works better than having a ton of options like on the web. While many users are still complaining about the web interface changes and the introduction of the Ticker, we believe some of the announcements made later today at the f8 conference will illuminate the importance of the recent redesign.

Users shouldn’t expect the mobile changes to stop, as we hear Facebook may release a major redesign of its popular smart phone apps. It might also launch the standalone mobile photos app that leaked in June. We’ll be providing deep analysis of what the announcements at f8 mean to users and developers, so check back later today.

This prompted me to check my usage, which you can do in the Settings app by tapping General > Usage, and then scrolling down to the Cellular Network Data section and adding the two numbers there.

Apple is obviously leaving money on the table here. They could easily charge $999 as the starting price and have hundreds of people lined up outside every Apple Store ready to buy one on day one. Then they could drop the price later in the year, as the holiday season approaches.

Clearly they’re more interested in unit sales than per-unit margin. The mobile computing landscape is in land-grab mode, and Apple is trying to stake out a long-term dominating position.

It will allow you to broadcast your location to select friends, family, and colleagues based on the coordinates of your cell phone. India included.

The iPhone's location-aware features will help pinpointing your location on a Google Map (which iPhones already do), tracking your friends when you go out, or giving you a heads-up on the best place to eat within a three-block radius.

The Question Box is a project from UC Berkeley's Rose Shuman to bring some of the benefits of the information on the Internet to places that are too remote or poor to sustain a live Internet link.