China, the world's largest mobile phone market, has not been easy for Apple, which is grappling with a lawsuit from a local firm over the iPad name and issues at its suppliers' factories over wages and working conditions.
With the number of mobile subscribers set to top 1 billion in China this year, there is cut-throat competition among South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Nokia, Apple and local firms Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp.
While Apple regained its top spot as the world's largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter and for last year as a whole, it slipped to 5th place in China, overtaken by ZTE. Apple's China smartphone market share slid to 7.5 percent from 10.4 percent in July-September.
In the last quarter, Samsung knocked Nokia off the top slot, taking 24.3 percent of the market, more than three times Apple's share, data from research firm Gartner showed. Nokia's market share more than halved last year, from above 40 percent in the first quarter to below one fifth by the fourth quarter.
"Chinese handset makers have been actively promoting their smartphones with China's three telecoms operators, so we saw ZTE and Huawei gain significant market share," said Taipei-based Gartner analyst CK Lu.
Gartner said this week it expected Apple's iPhone market share to slip for a couple of quarters as the novelty of its latest 4S model wears off.
In the first quarter of last year, ZTE had a market share of just 3 percent, but ended 2011 ranked 4th with more than 11 percent market share.
Chinese firms are gradually shifting up towards the higher end of the market, unveiling more feature-packed smartphones.
"If you want to sell handsets to the mass market, a simple rule of thumb in China is that the handset price has to be close to 70 percent of the monthly salary," said Jayesh Easwaramony, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan in Singapore.
"Today, an iPhone is more than two months salary."
This, said Easwaramony, gives the likes of Huawei and ZTE the opportunity to cater to a mass market that is captivated by the iPhone, but doesn't have the purchasing power for it.
VALUE FOR MONEY
"The quality of Huawei's phones is quite high and it's good value for money compared to the iPhone," said Dale Dai, a 28-year-old sales executive from Beijing.
Dai, who uses his Huawei phone to write weibo, or Chinese microblogs, surf the Internet and make calls, recently bought a new Honor smartphone for 1,800 yuan ($290), almost a third of the price of a new iPhone 4S at 4,988 yuan.
But given the sheer size of the Chinese market, just targeting the highest end users should be enough for Apple, though it's not always been a smooth ride.
Last month, shoppers in Beijing threw eggs at the Apple store and fought with police when they were told the iPhone 4S would not be on sale as scheduled.
In Shenzhen, some genuine iPhones and iPads are smuggled in from Hong Kong, while sellers also take advantage of Apple's popularity by packaging fake iPhones in iPhone 5 boxes - even before the 4S was launched.
In Hong Kong, Apple resorted to an online lottery reservation system for the 4S model after crowd control issues disrupted initial sales.
Analysts expect Apple to stem its slide in market share in China by signing up another carrier.
China Unicom, the country's No.2 telecoms operator, is currently the only carrier to officially carry the iPhone. It has not officially given its iPhone sales, but analysts estimate it has sold around 3 million iPhones since signing a contract with Apple in 2009.
China Telecom Corp Ltd, the third and smallest operator, is expected to be next to clinch a similar deal with Apple later this year, and analysts predict it would sell about 1.4 million iPhones this year if it can reach a deal with Apple by May, rising to 2-4 million new iPhone users in 2013. (Reuters)
SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter on Thursday announced it has finished rolling out overhauled pages crafted to boost the appeal of the message-sharing service to users around the world.
"At the very core there are fewer places you have to click and less you have to learn," Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said as he and other executives unveiled the changes at the startup's San Francisco headquarters in December.
"We've done a lot of user testing and it has proven to be much simpler," Dorsey added.
Overhauled navigation features take advantage of the fact that Twitter symbols such as @ and # are making their way into common culture, showing up anywhere from text messages to advertising billboards and television.
Twitter designed Connect navigation tools that essentially turn those symbols into new age URLs, or web addresses, to let people find all posts or other information being fired off about topics.
Twitter also expanded profile pages, letting users tell more about themselves or, in the case of companies, their brands.
The Twitter overhaul completed on Thursday includes new Timeline that brings together all Twitter chatter or content related to a particular "tweet." (AFP)
"Cisco does not oppose the merger, but believes the European Commission should have placed conditions that would ensure greater standards-based interoperability, to avoid any one company from being able to seek to control the future of video communications," Cisco said on Wednesday.
Cisco launched its apppeal in the EU's General Court in concert with Italian fixed-line and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone provider Messagenet SpA, a Skype rival.
Microsoft (MS) said it was confident the decision would stand up on appeal.
"The European Commission conducted a thorough investigation of the acquisition, in which Cisco actively participated, and approved the deal in a 36-page decision without any conditions," a spokesman said.
The Luxembourg-based General Court generally backs the Commission in antitrust cases, but it has on occasion overturned decisions.
Nevertheless, challenging the Commission's decisions in EU courts is risky, with the last successful appeal dating back to 2002.
"It is a huge uphill battle; there has only been one successful appeal by a third party against a merger cleared by the EU Commission, but if the companies can raise good arguments, it may stand a chance," said an antitrust lawyer who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.
The court, known then as the Court of First Instance, annulled in 2006 the Commission's clearance of the 2004 merger between the Sony Music and BMG record labels after a challenge by Impala, an independent group of music producers. However, Europe's highest court subsequently overturned the ruling.
Cisco said it has asked for the court to speed up the process, which would still run to about a year.
Cisco, whose core business is routers and switches that manage the Internet, is betting on future growth in video, which Chief Executive John Chambers has said will be the future of communication.
Cisco argued that Microsoft's plan to integrate Skype exclusively into its Lync Enterprise Communications Platform could lock-in businesses that want to reach Skype's 700 million account holders to a Microsoft-only platform.
"Imagine how difficult collaboration would be if you were limited to calling people who only use the same carrier or if your phone could only call certain brands and not others," Cisco said.
According to Cisco, interoperability between devices and systems is key to speeding up innovation, creating economic value and increasing choice for users.
The video communications market is also very lucrative, with double-digit growth expected to continue through 2015, according to Infonetics research.
Microsoft gained EU approval in October last year to buy Skype for $8.5 billion in its largest-ever acquisition.
Investors initially questioned the wisdom of Microsoft's acquisition, especially its high price tag, but have been warming up to the decision, thinking Microsoft would be making a smart move buying advanced communications technology it could put into its products, along with acquiring a ready base of users.
Skype, which appointed ex-Cisco manager Tony Bates as its chief executive officer in 2010, popularized the VoIP method of using a computer as a telephone. It is the clear leader in the market, with 145 million users who sign in at least once a month.
The European Commission has said it did not see any competition concerns arising from the deal because there were numerous players in the market, including Google Inc.
The US Federal Trade Commission cleared the deal in June. (Reuters)
The Cupertino, California-based company said the updated operating system, called Mountain Lion, will be available to Macintosh developers immediately and Mac owners can upgrade to the new software in late summer.
Apple said Mountain Lion includes a new Messages application which replaces iChat and allows a user to send unlimited messages, photos and video from a Mac to another Mac or a device running iOS software such as the iPad or iPhone.
It also includes integration with Twitter allowing users to sign in and tweet directly from Safari, Photo Booth and third-party applications, Apple said.
Game Center allows for live multiplayer games to be played across iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch devices.
Mountain Lion is the first Mac operating system built with the Internet "cloud" in mind, Apple said.
"More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices," Apple said.
A new security feature called Gatekeeper protects the computer against malicious software by giving the user control over what applications can be installed and downloaded, Apple said.
With AirPlay Mirroring, a Mac user can wirelessly send video from a Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the new Macintosh operating system takes advantage of features popular on the iPad and iPhone.
"We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here," Cook said of the iPhone. "Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac."
Apple sold 5.2 million Macs last quarter. (AFP)
JAKARTA: "Angry Birds", the most-downloaded mobile app of 2011, was catapulted to the world of Facebook on Tuesday in a bid by its Finnish maker Rovio to get one billion people playing the addictive game.Fans were able to test the new Angry Birds Facebook app online Tuesday morning ahead of its official global launch in Jakarta, the world's most Facebook-connected city.
"With the great success of the Angry Birds game on smartphone platforms, Rovio intends to reach more fans and be on every screen and every platform," Rovio Asia senior vice president Henri Holm said in a statement.
"Therefore, the company developed Angry Birds on Facebook to reach more than 800 million Facebook users worldwide."
In the game, players fling colourful and grumpy wingless birds from a slingshot into smarmy egg-stealing pigs.
It has been downloaded more than 700 million times since it launched in 2009 and the birds have become a global phenomenon, featuring on a huge array of merchandise and in popular culture. (AFP)
NEW YORK: Apple Inc raised the stake in an intensifying global patent battle with Samsung Electronics by targeting the latest model using Google's fast growing Android software, a move which may affect other Android phone makers.Apple has asked a federal court in California to block Samsung from selling its new Galaxy Nexus smartphones, which use Google's newest version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, alleging four patent violations including new features such as a voice-command search function.
Galaxy Nexus, the official debut of which was delayed by Samsung in October to pay respect to Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, is the first phone running on the newest Android version before the platform is widely adopted by hardware manufacturers such as HTC Corp and Motorola Mobility. HTC and Motorola are also in separate patent disputes with Apple.
In a lawsuit filed last week in San Jose, Apple said the Galaxy Nexus infringes on patents underlying features customers expect from Apple products. Those include the ability to unlock phones by sliding an image and to search for information by voice.
"Google cannot deny its undivided responsibility for any infringement findings. A preliminary injunction would not prohibit the sale of a Galaxy nexus just because it's called Galaxy Nexus or looks like one: it's all about which patents it infringes on," said independent patent expert Florian Meuller.
"I am absolutely certain that...for the preliminary injunction motion the Galaxy Nexus was singled out because it's so new, and important."
Samsung said in a statement on Monday that it is aware of the filing by Apple in the California court.
"We continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple's claims to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business," Samsung said in a statement.
With the new lawsuit, Apple is opening up another legal assault on the South Korea-based company after taking Samsung to the same court in April of last year. In the earlier case, Apple alleged that Samsung illegally copied iPhone and iPad design features and the look of its screen icons. That case is still going on, although in December Apple lost a bid for a preliminary bar against Samsung for selling Galaxy phones and tablets.
Apple acknowledged the setback in the new action and said now it is suing over new products and different patents.
In addition to the California cases, Apple and Samsung are waging more than 20 legal fights in at least 10 countries in their war for global leadership of smartphone and tablet markets.
The new case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, et a 12-00630. (Reuters)
NEW YORK: Security researchers said they found a vulnerability in the Google Inc mobile payments platform which is currently available in phones sold by Sprint Nextel Corp.Mobile payment services that allow consumers to pay by waving their phone at a check-out terminal, instead of using a credit card, have long been available in Japan and some other countries but are only just emerging in the United States.
Isis, a venture of Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA, is expected to launch an offering to compete with Google but has yet to announce a launch date.
The alleged vulnerability in the Google Wallet was identified by Joshua Rubin, a senior engineer with zvelo, a closely held security firm in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
Rubin developed an app dubbed Wallet Cracker that he says can break the four-digit PIN required to launch the Google Wallet app. He demonstrated how it works in a video on his blog (bit.ly/zgO2L6)
Rubin said that he had disclosed his findings to Google and that the company "was able to confirm the issue and agreed to work quickly to resolve it."
Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow in an emailed statement said "We are working to resolve the issue," even as he took issue with the study that prompted the allegations.
"The zvelo study was conducted on their own phone, on which they disabled the security mechanisms that protect Google Wallet by 'rooting' the device," Nancarrow said.
Google, he added, recommends that people not install Google Wallet on "rooted" devices and that they should set up a screen lock as an additional layer of security.
Sprint representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Google's Wallet partners also include Citigroup Inc and payment network MasterCard.
Emily Collins, a Citi spokeswoman, said no Citi cardholder information is stored in the Google Wallet nor are cardholders liable for unauthorized transactions.
Jimmy Shah, a security researcher for security software specialist McAfee, said on Friday that the vulnerability did not appear to be a very easy one to exploit.
But he said it was theoretically possible if a hacker was able to physically steal a user's phone.
Shah said that a hacker would need time to install the Cracker app and to install another piece of malware to disable the phone's security system before being able to run the Cracker app to retrieve the PIN number.
The hacker would also still need the phone itself in order to be able to make payments using the stolen Google Wallet.
"It's a nice theoretical attack but it's not a very simple attack," Shah told Reuters.
McAfee is owned by chipmaker Intel Corp. (Reuters)
Germany has delayed signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) following concerns from its justice ministry.A foreign ministry spokesperson revealed that the nation's authorities requested more time for "further discussions" on the controversial anti-piracy treaty, AFP reports.
ACTA, which aims to establish international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement, was signed last month by 22 EU member states, including the UK.
The move coincided with the resignation of its rapporteur Kader Arif, who claimed that the agreement "lacked transparency".
Last week, Latvia delayed putting its signature to the legislation. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have also delayed ratification.
ACTA has sparked international protests, with critics warning that it could impinge on civil and digital rights, such as freedom of expression and communication privacy.
Official websites supporting the international agreement have been hit by cyber-attacks from individuals allegedly acting on behalf of Anonymous.
The European Parliament is yet to ratify the ACTA treaty, and is due to hold a debate on the matter in June.
Source: Digital SPy
Users of the TELESAR V don special equipment that allows them not only to direct the actions of a remote machine, but also to see, hear and feel the same things as their doppelganger android.
"When I put on the devices and move my body, I see my hands having turned into the robot hands. When I move my head, I get a different view from the one I had before," said researcher Sho Kamuro.
"It's a strange experience that makes you wonder if you've really become a robot," he told .
Professor Susumu Tachi, who specialises in engineering and virtual reality at Keio University's Graduate School of Media Design, said systems attached to the operator's headgear, vest and gloves send detailed instructions to the robot, which then mimics the user's every move.
At the same time, an array of sensors on the android relays a stream of information which is converted into sensations for the user.
The thin polyester gloves the operator wears are lined with semiconductors and tiny motors to allow the user to "feel" what the mechanical hands are touching -- a smooth or a bumpy surface as well as heat and cold.
The robot's "eyes" are actually cameras capturing images that appear on tiny video screens in front of the user's eyes, allowing them to see in three dimensions.
Microphones on the robot pick up sounds, while its speakers allow the operator to make his voice heard by those near the machine.
The TELESAR -- TELexistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot -- is still a far cry from the futuristic creations of James Cameron's "Avatar", where US soldiers are able to remotely control the genetically engineered bodies of an extra-terrestrial race they wish to subdue.
But, says Tachi, it could have much more immediate -- and benign -- applications, such as working in high-risk environments, for example the inside of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, though it is early days.
"I think further research and development could enable this to go into areas too dangerous for humans and do jobs that require human skills," he said.
Japan's famously advanced robot technology was found wanting during the crisis at Fukushima, where foreign expertise had to be called on for the machines that went inside reactor buildings as nuclear meltdowns began.
Tachi said a "safety myth" had grown up around atomic technology, preventing research on the kind of machines that could help in the wake of a disaster.
But he said his kind of robot technology could help with the long and difficult task of decommissioning reactors at Fukushima -- a process that could take three decades.
A remote-controlled android that allows its user to experience what is happening far away may have more than just industrial applications, he added.
"This could be used to talk with your grandpa or grandma living in a remote place and deepen communications," he said. (AFP)
Chief executive Meg Whitman confirmed that the firm's 600-strong webOS will be given autonomy to take advantage of the 750,000 HP Touchpads on the market, as well as Palm smartphones.
"By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices," said HP in a statement.
HP acquired webOS when it bought out Palm in a $1.2bn deal last year. The operating system was partly responsible for a $2bn write-off in the company's last fiscal quarter.
However, Whitman said that HP will not release any devices running webOS in 2012. The company is developing two Windows 8-powered tablets for launch next year.
"In 2012 as you know we're bringing two Windows 8 tablets to the market, we're excited about that, we're going to be working with [Microsoft] constructively, but there may be an opportunity in 2013 to think of a different device, maybe come back to tablets," she told AllThingsD.
"Let's just see how it goes, but obviously HP would be one of the likely suspect hardware manufacturers for webOS."
Source: Digital Spy uk
Oil company executives warned that attacks were becoming more frequent and more carefully planned.
"If anybody gets into the area where you can control opening and closing of valves, or release valves, you can imagine what happens," said Ludolf Luehmann, an IT manager at Shell Europe's biggest company .
"It will cost lives and it will cost production, it will cost money, cause fires and cause loss of containment, environmental damage - huge, huge damage," he told the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.
Computers control nearly all the world's energy production and distribution in systems that are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks that could put cutting-edge fuel production technology in rival company hands.
"We see an increasing number of attacks on our IT systems and information and there are various motivations behind it - criminal and commercial," said Luehmann. "We see an increasing number of attacks with clear commercial interests, focusing on research and development, to gain the competitive advantage."
He said the Stuxnet computer worm discovered in 2010, the first found that was specifically designed to subvert industrial systems, changed the world of international oil companies because it was the first visible attack to have a significant impact on process control.
But the determination and stamina shown by hackers when they attack industrial systems and companies has now stepped up a gear, and there has been a surge in multi-pronged attacks to break into specific operation systems within producers, he said.
"Cyber crime is a huge issue. It's not restricted to one company or another it's really broad and it is ongoing," said Dennis Painchaud, director of International Government Relations at Canada's Nexen Inc . "It is a very significant risk to our business."
"It's something that we have to stay on top of every day. It is a risk that is only going to grow and is probably one of the preeminent risks that we face today and will continue to face for some time."
Luehmann said hackers were increasingly staging attack over long periods, silently collecting information over weeks or months before attacking specific targets within company operations with the information they have collected over a long period.
"It's a new dimension of attacks that we see in Shell," he said.
NOT IN CONTROL
In October, security software maker Symantec Corp published a report on a mysterious virus, discovered and named Duqu by Hungary's Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security, that contained a code similar to Stuxnet.
Experts said it appeared to be designed to gather data to make it easier to launch future cyber attacks.
Other businesses can shut down their information technology (IT) systems to regularly install rapidly breached software security patches and update vulnerable operating systems.
But energy companies cannot keep taking down plants to patch up security holes.
"Oil needs to keep on flowing," said Riemer Brouwer, head of IT security at Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations
(ADCO).
"We have a very strategic position in the global oil and gas market," he added. "If they could bring down one of the big players in the oil and gas market you can imagine what this will do for the oil price - it would blow the market."
Hackers could finance their operations by using options markets to bet on the price movements caused by disruptions, Brouwer said.
"So far we haven't had any major incidents," he said. "But are we really in control? The answer has to be 'no'."
But the threat of a coordinated attack on energy installations across the world is also real, experts say, and unlike a blockade of the Gulf can be launched from anywhere, with no U.S. military might in sight and little chance of finding the perpetrator.
"We know that the Straits of Hormuz are of strategic importance to the world," said Stephan Klein of business application software developer SAP.
"What about the approximately 80 million barrels that are processed through IT systems?," said Klein, SAP vice president of oil and gas operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
Attacks like Stuxnet are so complex that very few organizations in the world are able to set them up, said Gordon Muehl, chief security officer at Germany's SAP, but it was still too simple to attack industries over the internet.
Only a few years ago hacking was confined to skilled computer programmers, but thanks to online video tutorials, breaking into corporate operating systems is now a free for all.
"Everyone can hack today," Shell's Luehmann said. "The number of potential hackers is not a few very skilled people -- it's everyone." (Reuters)
Noyce, known as Bob, was one of the early pioneers of the famous belt in California which is now home to numerous technology firms, including Google, Apple and Facebook. Keep Reading this story
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| Photo by Reuters |
But Monster.com, the career search website, hopes to change that with BeKnown, a professional networking app that allows users to build their professional identities within the Facebook.
“People are spending so much of their time on Facebook and at the same time companies are trying to find creative and productive tools to connect with potential talent,” said Tom Chevalier, global product manager for Monster Worldwide.
With BeKnown jobs are displayed based on a user’s work experience and network connections.
When the app identifies a potential job the user can state their interest, which is relayed to the employer using information from the profile.
Within the app users can earn badges, or visual emblems, based on their work experiences, accomplishments and strengths from the site or from colleagues to serve as aids for recruiters to highlight their accomplishments.
“You can have your connections giving you a skill endorsement, which is really a stamp of approval,” said Chevalier.
Launched in June, the app has been updated to introduce college pages for users to network with past alumni and to find jobs that have been posted by them.
“Users want to congregate around the affinity they have for their schools, and they want to form relationships amongst students and alumni,” said Chevalier.
When a job is posted in BeKnown it is automatically posted on the page of the college that the job poster attended.
“Users will see that job opportunity and can start to have a conversation with those people in a professional way,” he said.
Chevalier said that it’s important that BeKnown maintain an explicit divide between a user’s social and professional lives by keeping the two networks entirely separate.
“That’s really important, both for users’ expectations of social networking versus what they might want to do as professionals, but also to establish boundaries that people can feel comfortable with,” he explained.
The updated app also lists jobs directly on a company’s Facebook pages.
Similar apps for Facebook include BranchOut, which was released last year.
BeKnown has been configured to work with iPhone and Android.(Reuters)
The new version of Twitter, which the company is gradually making available starting on Thursday, will feature a new look and feel and faster performance, the company said.
The redesigned website comes as Twitter is taking steps to introduce more advertising on the site and as Twitter faces increased competition from Web giants Facebook and Google Inc .
"We have to provide the simplest and fastest way for people around the world to connect to everything they care about," Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo said as he introduced the new version of the site at an event at the company's future headquarters in San Francisco.
Costolo appeared alongside Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who returned to the company in March as executive chairman to oversee the company's product design and development efforts.
Twitter allows people to send 140-character messages, or "tweets," throughout the network of over 100 million users. It is one of the Web's most popular social networking services, along with Facebook and Zynga.
In October, Apple Inc integrated Twitter's service directly into the software that powers the popular iPhones. Since then, Dorsey said, the number of monthly sign-ups for Twitter have increased 25 percent.
Even as Twitter continues to grow, it faces fresh competition from Google, which introduced a social networking service with capabilities similar to Twitter earlier this year.
On Thursday, Facebook, the world's No.1 social networking service, announced a new feature that allows its users to visit a website and "subscribe" to updates from celebrities, journalists and other public figures.
The new version of Twitter seeks to simplify the service and to make it easier for new users to understand various Twitter-specific features, such as the # symbol that is used to search for topics on the service.
"Twitter should be useful by those who know the shortcuts, and also equally useful by those who don't really use the shortcuts," said Dorsey.
A new "Discover" section of the website highlights the most popular topics on the site based on each user's location and interests.
The new version of Twitter also features a revamped profile page, in which a company can customize the look of their brand and highlight specific content, such as videos or photos. Previously, the profile pages displayed a chronological list of the company's most recent Tweets.
Twitter said that 21 brands, including General Electric and Pepsi, have already revamped their profile pages to take advantage of the new capabilities. Twitter will gradually make the new profile page features available to all its users.
"For marketers, this is something that they've been asking for of us for a while," Adam Bain, who leads Twitter's revenue efforts, said in an interview after the briefing.
Twitter is taking steps to build a profitable business on top of its popular service. The company began showing ads on limited parts of the service in 2010 and is expected to generate about $140 million in ad revenue this year, according to estimates by industry research firm eMarketer.
The company said it has more than 2,400 advertisers and it expects to launch an advertising system early next year that will allow companies to quickly create marketing campaigns on Twitter.
Twitter hosted Thursday's event at its future headquarters in San Francisco, which are currently under construction and which Twitter plans to move into this summer. The building will accommodate far more than the company's current staff of 700 employees, Costolo said.
"It holds thousands of people," he said of the office. "We're going to need all this space to scale the company to support the growth of the product we've been experiencing over the last year." (Reuters)
To enrich the enthusiasm for Galaxy-Y, Samsung has launched a thrilling online campaign, full of exciting activities to keep the fans hooked-on to the Samsung Pakistan facebook Fan-page from 17th November till 31st December, 2011. Thus the participants can raise their chances to win a Free Samsung Galaxy-Y Smartphone, along with lots of other valuable prizes and surprise gifts. On this Fan-page, the youngsters are able to; play games, get the details on their favorite Samsung products, and even watch the product demos.
The Galaxy Y weighs only 96.8 grams, featuring a 3” TFT touchscreen (QVGA resolution). The CPU is ARMv6 unit, providing; 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, a solid browser, a doc viewer, 2 Mega Pixel camera, a loudspeaker, a 1200mAh Li-Ion battery, 3.5mm audio jack, MicroUSB port and access to microSD card.
This smartphone can run the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with TouchWiz 3.0 and Social Networking applications like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. It also has an on-screen QWERTY keyboard, a preloaded Swype keyboard and its camera also offers geotagging, smile shot, image effects and scenes. Moreover, the Android Market also offers plenty of games, handy tools and productivity apps for the Galaxy-Y users. Read more
Motorola Mobility, the Android smartphone maker acquired by Google in August for $12.5 billion (£7.7bn), had accused Apple of infringing its patented wireless technology in its iPhones and 3G iPads.
The court in Manheim, Germany today found in Motorola's favour, and granted requests for an injunction and damages.
The company could now demand that Apple remove the features from its products in Germany, or halt sales entirely.
As usual, Apple has not commentated on the ruling, but it is widely expected that the US firm will appeal the decision. Read more
In a post on the official Gmail blog titled "Gmail and Contacts get better with Google+," Engineering Director Mark Striebeck laid out the more advanced entanglement of Google+ and Gmail. For example, whenever you open an email, you will see the sender's most recent post to Google+ on the right sidebar and will have the option to add that person to your Google+ circles. Read more
Wikipedia is investigating allegations of content manipulation by public relations firm Bell Pottinger.Jimmy Wales, founder of the online encyclopaedia, confirmed that a team of volunteers is looking into reports of a breach of conflict of interest on the lobbyists' part. Keep Reading
The California Internet titan worked with more than 150 publishing partners for the US launch of "Google Currents," which is also integrated with the Google+ online social network challenging Facebook.
"Content is optimized for smartphones and tablets, allowing you to intuitively navigate between words, pictures and video on large and small screens alike, even if you're offline," product manager Mussie Shore and technical lead Sami Shalabi said in a blog post.
People were invited to download the application and subscribe for free to publications which include Forbes, The Atlantic, ABC News, The Guardian, and Al-Jazeera English.
"Great content needs a great audience, which is why Google Currents is integrated with Google+ so users can share articles or videos they've enjoyed with their circles," Shore and Shalabi wrote.
The Flipboard-style magazine application was released the same day that Google meshed its popular free Gmail service with its nascent social network.Via The News