Apple Announces March 7th iPad Event Something to see and touch

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Apple this morning issued invitations to a special event in San Francisco at which the next iteration of the iPad will debut.
And it will indeed be held on the March 7th. The showcase will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like this. And judging from the art on the invitation, it is indeed the next iPad that will be the topic. We will, of course, be covering it here at Tech-Sanity.
In a cheeky bit of timing, the Apple invitation went out just as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt was delivering his keynote at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Quad-core smartphones, battery issues and ecpensive

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Smartphones with quad-core processors that are able to deliver PC-like performance have finally been announced, but high prices and battery issues could potentially stymie adoption, analysts said on Monday.
Quad-core smartphones will be faster than dual-core mainstream phones, which are now flooding the market. However, the smartphones could be priced at a premium because of higher chip costs, and multitasking and running power applications could strain battery life, analysts said.


HTC’s One X smartphone

Quad-core smartphones with Android 4.0 were announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and are expected to reach market later this year. HTC’s One X, LG’s Optimus 4X HD and ZTE’s Era are based on the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip, and Huawei’s Ascend D is based on its own homegrown chip.
But beyond performance, the smartphones need to be competitive on power and price, analysts said. As dual-core smartphones take over from single-core phones, quad-core smartphones will likely be targeted at high-end users.
Quad-core chips are generally costlier than dual-core chips, and that will be reflected in the higher prices of smartphones, said Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat. Buyers may consider quad-core smartphones if they need performance, or are looking to use it as a hybrid PC device.
Smartphone shipments are growing through subsidies offered by carriers with contracts, and dual-core smartphones are taking over that market, McGregor said. In developing countries where phones aren’t subsidized, quad-core smartphones could be priced at a premium, which could stymie adoption in those areas.
Quad-core chips could also strain battery life, McGregor said. Smartphones are already burning battery with 4G radios and high-definition screens, and running resource-intensive applications through quad-core processors and other accelerators could usurp power, McGregor said.
Multiple cores in smartphones will ultimately be important, but it has to be appropriate to the phone design, said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. Applications need to use the four cores to squeeze out the best performance, battery life and user experience.
“If you are a high end gamer on your phone, and the application you run and the OS powering it actually know how to use the multiple cores properly, you’ll certainly get a benefit,” Gold said.

Video hands-on with the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity

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The ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity sees ASUS building on the Transformer Prime with a higher-resolution screen and a slightly redesigned chassis. Transformer Prime owners will already be familiar with much of what the device has to offer, but the bump up to a whopping 1920x1200 gives this device a clear lead in terms of image quality. We spent a little time getting to know the Transformer Pad Infinity over at the ASUS booth at MWC, and we've got a quick video tour waiting after the jump.
The Transformer Pad Infinity will be available in Wifi-only and LTE flavors, with the LTE version being powered by a Snapdragon S4 chip instead. Our video shows the Wifi-only Tegra 3 version.

FTC Chairman: New Google Privacy Plan Forces Consumers to Make a “Brutal Choice”

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It’s just a few days now until Google’s new privacy policy goes into effect. And lawmakers and regulators continue to raise eyebrows over the agreement, which will grant the company greater license to share user account information between a number of services. The latest to do so: Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz.
Asked about Google’s new policy, which goes into effect on March 1, during an episode of C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers,” Leibowitz offered this assessment:
“It’s a fairly binary and somewhat brutal choice that they are giving consumers. I think I can’t say much more. But we’re aware.”
A brutal choice.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of these new privacy settings that Google contends are in everyone’s best interests.
And while Leibowitz concedes that Google is offering consumers a clear disclosure on its plans, his characterization of it suggests some discomfort with its implementation.
That’s something that concerns others, as well. Last week, an alliance of 36 state attorneys general sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, demanding assurances that the policy doesn’t jeopardize consumer privacy. Prior to that, some House lawmakers criticized the company for failing to answer some important questions about how easy or difficult it is for users to protect their privacy and control how their personal information is shared across Google’s services.
“Our updated Privacy Policy will make our privacy practices easier to understand, and it reflects our desire to create a seamless experience for our signed-in users,” Google said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We’ve undertaken the most extensive notification effort in Google’s history, and we’re continuing to offer choice and control over how people use our services.The privacy policy change mainly affects users with a Google Account, and you can continue to use many of our services — including Search, Maps and YouTube — when you are logged out.”

Microsoft's 'Illumishare' 3D desktop. A virtual computing environment at your fingertips

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In yet another TechForum reveal, Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group has demonstrated a new interactive 3D desktop prototype. The system uses a transparent OLED screen made by Samsung along with Microsoft Kinect sensors to create a virtual desktop environment that users can manipulate with their hands in real-time. A keyboard beneath the transparent screen allows a user to type as they would with a normal computer, and then when they need to interact with the desktop — to say, flip through a stack of files — they simply reach up and move the virtual objects with their fingers.
The Kinect sensors not only track the motion of the user's hands, but they also track head and eye position as well, allowing the screen to provide a 3D image with perspective and depth customized to the user's exact position. If you're thinking this sounds a little similar to Norman Jayden's Additional Reality Interface from Heavy Rain, you're not the only one, but to get a real sense of the system in action, check out the video below.

Samsung executive says 'we're not doing very well in the tablet market'

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Manufacturers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona may be generally upbeat about their succeses, but at least one executive from Samsung has a more sobering perspective on his company's situation: as CNET reports, Samsung executive Hankil Yoon admitted earlier today that "honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market." It's not fully clear what Yoon meant by the comment as no specific sales benchmarks were mentioned, but it might have something to do with the fact that even HP sold more tablets than Samsung in 2011. Nonetheless, he seems optimistic that Samsung will perform well this year — Yoon says that the company expects to ship 10 million Galaxy Notes and that he hopes the 5-inch phone will "cannibalize" the original 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab. He says that "the best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products," and that "we want to stay competitive in the market." And with a new 5-inch, 7-inch, and 10.1-inch tablet in its portfolio, Samsung will have plenty of products to kill down the line if its stays true to Yoon's strategy.

Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD has quad-core K3 processor, 1920 x 1200 display

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It was barely an afterthought in Huawei's MWC press conference, but the company is also getting ready to launch a seriously high-end tablet. The MediaPad 10 FHD has a 1920 x 1200 display, an 8-megapixel camera, and Huawei's new and impressive K3 processor — and it all fits in a body that's just 8.8mm thick. The device is still in its early stages (reps told us the model on display was hand-made for today's event), but even now it's already impressive. The pixel-rich 16:10 display looks fantastic, with great viewing angles and sharpness to spare. It's running Android 4.0, and we zipped around the browser and Gallery apps, plus a few games, without so much as a hiccup.
The tablet's due to be available in the second quarter of this year, though reps wouldn't say how much it would cost or where it will initially be on sale.

HTC One X hands-on

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If you thought HTC's phones of the latter half of 2011 were good, wait till you get a load of the first half of the 2012 crop. The flagship model for HTC's new "HTC One" line is the HTC One X. Code named Endeavor, it's sporting a 4.7-inch 720p Super LCD 2 display that looks as good as you can imagine (especially in the horrible lighting we had to endure).
The back, home and multitasking buttons are capacitive and aren't a part of the screen, so you actually get more real estate than you might expect. That's a double-edged sword because it can make it that much harder to reach from corner to corner. The phone is made of a special polycarbonate -- basically meaning it's plastic, but it's bad-ass plastic. It feels pretty good, though it is a tad slick.
The One X is either running a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, or a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, depending on whether it's got an LTE radio. (AT&T's version will rock Snapdragon.) The 1800 mAh battery on the One X is not removable. 
The real stars of the show, however, are the 8MP rear camera with HTC's new ImageSense technology, and Sense 4.0. The former means you can take better pictures (and take them faster). And the latter means you get more of a stock Android experience, while retaining that feeling that you're using an HTC. The menus are nicely skinned, and widgets go on the home screens more like previous versions of Android and Sense, and not like default Ice Cream Sandwich.

Hands-on with the Sony Xperia P and Xperia U

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Sony today announced the Xperia P and Xperia U -- two new additions to its Xperia NXT range, which bring the aesthetics of its 2012 flagship to mid and entry-level smartphones. Both devices feature dual-core CPUs and the familiar angular design from the Xperia S, in a smaller form factor with a couple of interesting new personalization quirks.
We've got early video walkthroughs of the Xperia S and Xperia P after the break, along with first impressions of both phones from Sony's pre-MWC event today.
The Xperia U replaces last years Neo as Sony's entry-level smartphone. Aside from the design changes, Sony's brought some impressive hardware to the table, with a 1GHz dual-core Ericsson chip and a 3.5-inch WVGA "reality display" screen. Followers of high-end Android hardware might turn up their noses at WVGA on any device, but on a 3.5-incher, photos, videos and the UI still look crisp, and color quality is among the best out there.
Sony's touting personalization as one of the major selling points of the Xperia U. The color of the notification light bar at the bottom of the phone can be changed to match whichever skin you're using, and Sony plans to sell replaceable bottom caps for the phone in several colors (we saw yellow, white and black at Sony's event today).
The Xperia P sits between the U and the S in Sony's 2012 line-up. It's powered by the same dual-core chip as the Xperia U, but sports an aluminum chassis that feels great, and fits really nicely in the hand. With 4 inches of qHD resolution, the Xperia P's screen should represent a nice balance for mid-range buyers, too. Speaking of the display, Sony's introducing its new WhiteMagic technology with the Xperia P, which is designed to improve visibility in bright sunlight. Little information was on offer about how this actually works, but the results when the device was placed under a high-intensity lamp were plain to see -- icons and text in the UI remained clearly visible.

Video hands-on with the Huawei Ascend D quad

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We're live at Huawei's Ascend D series announcement, where the manufacturer's just taken the lid off its first quad-core smartphone, the Ascend D quad. The device sees Huawei challenging top-tier Android manufacturers with a device offering super high-end specs in just about every area. Read on to find out what we thought of the phone, along with the first video of it in action.
Central to the D quad's power is its quad-core CPU, a custom part created by Huawei and its partners -- this promises high performance power when needed, and energy efficiency when idle. Physically, the device is your typical black slab -- unassuming enough to be easily mistaken for the Galaxy Nexus, but good looking, and it feels good in the hand thanks to the soft touch back. The Ascend D quad is pretty thin, but not excessively so -- Huawei's already got that based covered with the Ascend P1 S. Interestingly, though, it's offering a version with an extended battery as standard alongside the regular D quad -- the D quad XL, promising multiple days of use on a single charge.
In terms of software, Huawei has kept things pretty close to vanilla Android. There are a few changes to be sure, but the manufacturer hasn't messed with Google's well-crafted user experience. In our brief time with the device, what we saw was a very fast smartphone that also works well as a gaming device. We got a brief look at Riptide, and the combination of the 330ppi 720p display and that quad-core CPU resulted in a beautiful, fast gaming experience.
Read more below for gallery

LG Optimus 4X HD

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Welceome to a new era for LG, folks. The LG Optimus 4G HD brings the manufacturer's first quad-core smartphone, and it's a beauty. As fast as you'd expect, as thin and light as you'd demand.
On paper the LG Optimus HD is a killer. Consider:

• 4.7-inch IPS display
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Tegra 3 quad-core processor at 1.5 GHz, with that NVIDA 4-PLUS-1 technology that brings a fifth companion core into the mix, to handle the light loads and extend battery life.
• 8MP and 1.3MP camera.
• A 2150 mAh battery

It's all full of sexy.
As a matter of use, you've got a mix of LG's custom UI and the gorgeousness of Ice Cream Sandwich. It can be a little tough to tell where one stops and the other begins, and that's a good thing. Throw into the mix the gorgeous display and unmatched power, and you're going to want to get your hands on this thing.
We've got some more pics and a video after the break.

iPad 3 rumored to be shipping from factories on Feb. 26, arriving in U.S. March 9, available for pre-order sometime

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Adding to the mountain of iPad 3 rumors is word that shipments of Apple’s next generation tablet will be leaving Foxconn factories in China on February 26 for arrival in the U.S. on March 9.
Friends broke the news: Chengdu International Airport at major international cargo charter flights, cargo owners demanding security, from CTU takeoff by stop PVG Shanghai, and then directly to ORD Chicago, the JFK New York, LAX in Los Angeles, March 9, completed before transport. According to the privately disclosed the Chengdu F production for the U.S. A company’s latest products… Received friends inside information, Chengdu International Airport night cargo charter flights, said the owner of the security demanding, and in private that the Chengdu Fu X Kang new products. Takes note of the location of the United States (ORD Chicago, JFK New York, LAX in Los Angeles)
Looks like there may be some components, including storage chips, being shipped as well, according to photos found by Sonny Dickson. iMore previously heard that Apple was planning their iPad 3 event for March 7 and BGR has reported that iOS 5.1 was scheduled for March 9.
Apple released the last 2 iPads on Fridays, so that’s consistent, however at 2 days it’s also a far shorter period of time than last year’s 9 days (announcement on March 2, launch on March 9). A GM version of iOS 5.1 hasn’t even been released to developers yet, let alone a version that supports additional features presumed to be coming with the iPad 3. If Apple releases the GM seed of iOS 5.1 at the iPad 3 event, we’d expect at least a week between that and final release, a couple days before the product launch.
Furthermore, 9to5Mac‘s Marc Gurman has heard there may be pre-orders for the iPad 3, which would also indicate a slightly longer timeline. While the iPad 2 didn’t have pre-orders, the iPhone 4S did (announcement on October 4, pre-orders on October 7, launch on October 14).
Gurman has also heard more talk of the iPad 2 sticking around at a lower price point.
Additionally, our sources are pointing to the discontinuation of all iPad 2 WiFi + 3G models and all iPad 2 WiFi-only models (except the black and white 16GB units – at least initially) when the iPad 3 launches. This would refute rumors of Apple launching the Retina Display-packing iPad 3 as an extension of the iPad 2 line, and would seem to back up rumors of Apple keeping the 16 GB iPad 2 around at a lower price point. This iPad 2 model discontinuation information is based on Apple product supply checks.
If that proves accurate, it could take some air out of the lower end, Amazon Kindle Fire and BlackBerry Playbook market.
Source: Weiphone, Apple.pro, 9to5Mac, @SonnyDickson

Samsung introduces Galaxy Beam, an Android smartphone with built-in projector

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It's only 4AM in Barcelona, but the Mobile World Congress news is already popping — Samsung just took the wraps off the Galaxy Beam, an Android 2.3 smartphone with a built-in HD projector. Outside of the projector, the phone's other specs are fairly pedestrian. There's a 4-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5MP back camera with flash plus a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and 8GB of storage onboard (plus a microSD slot). As for connectivity, it'll run on GSM networks thanks to quad-band HSPA+.
While the specs are unexciting, the projector is the real draw here. It's rated at an "ultra-bright" 15 lumens and can project onto surfaces in HD up to 50 feet wide. There's also some custom software on board -- it sounds like the project doesn't just output whatever is on your screen but instead uses a "project dedicated" application to let users share specific pieces of content like photos, video, or games. We'll surely get to see this handset at MWC and will let you know our impressions.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) officially announced at MWC, 3.1 extra inches of Ice Cream Sandwich

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We already saw Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) just over a week ago, and now the company has come clean with its 10.1-inch variant (along with a new Galaxy Beam smartphone). Aside from bumping up the screen resolution of its LCD to 1280 x 800, from 1024 x 600 on the 7.0, the 10.1 features the same 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, front and rear cameras (VGA and 3-megapixels, respectively) and 21Mbps HSPA+ connectivity if you opt for the 3G model instead of WiFi. The 10.1-incher notably comes equipped with a 7,000 mAh battery (up from 4,000 on the 7.0), which will hopefully ensure stamina that's similar to its predecessor. The slate is unsurprisingly loaded with TouchWiz-flavored Ice Cream Sandwich, and will be offered in 16 and 32GB models (expandable by up to 32GB if you supply your own microSD card). There's no word on pricing just yet, but Sammy plans to start selling all 10.1-inches of this treat during March in the UK -- and you can bet we'll get our own in-person hands-on while we're traversing the show floor here at MWC. For now, you'll find full details about the slate in the press release after the break and press images in the gallery below.

Touch-Optimized Version Of Adobe Photoshop Available In App Store - For A While

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In just a snap, shortly after we posted about a probable Feb. 27 release for the iPad version of Adobe Photoshop Touch, the hotly anticipated app has already hit the App Store. 9to5Mac reports that Photoshop Touch, which was initially released in the Android Market, was made available for App Store customers in New Zealand for a short while. The App Store availability of the app was expected to propagate to other countries in the next few hours, but it was eventually pulled to be released as originally scheduled, on Monday.
While the basic Adobe Photoshop Express has long been at the disposal of iPhone and iPad users, it’s only now that a dedicated and feature-rich iOS companion to Adobe’s popular photo-editing program is made available. Photoshop Touch for iPad inherits many of the core features of Photoshop for Mac and PC. It supports layering, tool selection, adjustments and filters, all of which utilize the iPad’s multitouch capabilities.
A couple of special features are highlighted in the app. There’s the Scribble Selection tool, which allows for selecting parts of an image to retain or remove by merely scribbling in and around the image. There’s also an instrument called Refine Edge, which makes zeroing in on hard-to-select elements much easier. Watch the video overview below for a demonstration of these features by John Nack, Principal Product Manager for Photoshop Touch.Of course, Adobe would be terribly amiss not to include a social layer to the app. It has options to share images on Facebook and viewing comments directly on the app, but there’s no mention of any sort of connectivity with the other trendy social network, Twitter. Creative Cloud, Adobe’s paid storage service, is also integrated in the app, as well as image searching and downloading through Google Images.
Photoshop is the first in a projected series of six tablet apps based on Adobe’s Creative Suite software; Adobe Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler and Proto should be coming soon. Before you purchase Photoshop Touch, though, be aware that it is compatible only with iPad 2 units that are running on iOS 5. Another limitation to note is the maximum supported image resolution, which is set at only 1600 x 1600 pixels.
You can download Photoshop Touch for iPad for $9.99 in the App Store beginning Monday.

Facebook adds a few Timeline features to Groups

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Facebook isn't being shy about rolling out its Timeline interface to as many of the corners of its site as it can. In addition to the rumored addition of the Timeline to Brand Pages, the social network is also adding Timeline features to Facebook Groups. The most obvious change is the new full-width top image, though if the administrator doesn't set a lead image it defaults to a collage of the profile images from group members. There are also clearer sections for group topics, links, members, and events. The new topic prompts, "What should people post in this group?" is apparently designed to make it less likely that groups will be filled up with the kind of chatter than can result in annoying notifications.
The features are available now to all users.

Apple issues firmware update for 2011 Mac models

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If you bought a Mac in 2011, you’ve got some firmware to download. Apple on Thursday issued four EFI firmware updates, one for each Mac model released by the company last year.
Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.6 covers Mac mini models released last summer. MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.4 targets the laptops that came out in mid-2011. iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.9 is intended for the desktop machines that debuted last May, while MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.7 covers laptops released in both early 2011 and later that year.
All four updates promise to improve stability in the targeted systems while fixing several issues. Specifically, the release notes for each firmware update state that the download will improve the reliability of booting from the network and address an issue that can prevent HDCP authentication after a reboot. The updates also tackle an issue with boot device selection when you’ve got a hot-plugged USB storage device.
The updates are available from Mac OS X’s Software Update or on Apple’s Support website. The updates require Mac OS X 10.7.3

Apple Acquires Chomp to Recreate App Store Search and Discovery

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Apple is acquiring three-year old startup Chomp and plans to use the company's technology and expertise to improve the App Store's search and app discovery technology, according to a report from TechCrunch.


We first covered Chomp in November 2009 to announce their seed funding. Since then, they’ve grown their scope to include not only iPhone apps, but Android apps as well. In fact, Chomp currently has a deal with Verizon to power all of their Android-based app searches. That relationship, obviously, is going to get a bit awkward with this acquisition.

My understanding is that such deals will remain intact for now but are likely to end once the Chomp team and product transitions over to Apple. The same is likely true for Chomp’s stand-alone products.
The terms of the deal haven't been disclosed, but TechCrunch reports that the deal isn't merely about talent -- Apple wants Chomp's technology as well. Chomp has raised more than $2.5 million in funding and apparently all investors are very pleased with the outcome. Chomp's 20 or so employees are reportedly all headed for Apple.

Apple generally prefers to make small to medium size acquisitions of talent and technology, rather than spending huge sums of its $100 billion cash hoard. Earlier this year, Apple paid some $390 million to acquire Israeli flash memory firm Anobit.

Samsung: Mobile Quadcore Processors

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Samsung will soon officially announce its first quad-core mobile processor, a successor to its current Exynos chip. At the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Samsung offered a look at the new processor, which comes in dual- and quad-core format and will use 32nm rather than 45nm technology. The chip is supposed to have 26 percent higher performance than its 45nm predecessor, and Samsung promises a 34 to 50 percent improvement in battery life. It's also supposed to improve video framerates by about a quarter.
With this chip, Samsung is apparently optimizing for battery rather than pure performance, with an eye towards more efficient smartphone power use and heat management. When the chip is released, it will be competing with Nvidia's quad-core processor, which was announced last year. We'll also be waiting to see if it's officially unveiled at MWC.

What! DRM, are we in the 80's - Google, Microsoft and Netflix want DRM-like encryption in HTML5

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HTML5 is supposed to set the web free. Free to deliver and shape online media in any web browser. However, several of the standard's greatest champions want to be able to restrict the use of audio and video tags through encrypted media extensions. A draft proposal has been submitted by Google, Microsoft, and Netflix to the W3C -- the curators of HTML5 -- to add encrypted media extensions to the web standard's spec. The proposed system works using a key-based content decryption system controlled by applications, thusly providing the copy protection that so many content owners desire. Naturally, the proposal specifically states that "no DRM is added to the HTML5 specification" if it's adopted, but letting apps lock up audio and video content sure sounds like digital rights management to us. However, there's already some discord amongst the W3C's members as to whether the proposal will work as promised, so its addition to HTML5 is far from assured. You can read the full proposal at the source below, and check out the more coverage links for some added perspective.

Keyboard Patent Shows How Apple Could Make MacBooks Even Thinner

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Slimming down the keyboard could help Apple shave off a few precious millimeters from future MacBooks. Image: Free Patents Online

Apple is like the Vogue of the tech world. Not only are its models some of the best-looking and most fashionable — they also seem to just keep getting skinnier and skinnier.
A new patent application filing from the Cupertino company certainly doesn’t do anything to deter this trend. The patent, called “Single Support Lever Keyboard Mechanism,” describes a few different ways Apple could trim some of the fat from existing notebook keyboards, making them more slender.
The keyboard design comes from a need to create computing products that are “attractive, smaller, lighter, and thinner while maintaining user functionality,” according to the patent application.
Current notebook keyboards often utilize a scissor-switch design, with two plastic support levers that slide outwards when a key is depressed (this is shown in Figure 1 in the illustration above). Another is the dome switch, where a key presses down on a rubber dome beneath it to connect two circuit-board traces.
Apple’s method would have the keyboard’s key caps held in place by a single rigid support lever made of stainless steel or aluminum, which could be implemented in a few different ways. Instead of collapsing horizontally, a single lever could rotate downwards when a key is pressed. Or, a more flexible material could be used as this lever so when a key is pressed, the key would just bend downwards slightly. Apple posits that with this method, the top portion of the key cap could be made of materials normally thought of as unsuitable for a keyboard, like wood, glass, or — wait for it — “polished meteorite.”
Is this going to be a MacBook for the 1%?
Keyboard implementations nowadays have a travel distance, how far the key moves when pressed, of 2 mm at a minimum, and up to 3.5 or 4 mm in some cases.

Google to Oust Motorola Mobility Chief, Replace With One of Its Own: Report

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Just a few weeks after winning the U.S. government’s approval for its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a new report says Google will replace sitting Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha with one of its own top executives as soon as the deal goes through.
Google aims to tap Dennis Woodside as Jha’s replacement, according to anonymous sources who spoke with Bloomberg News. Woodside has spent most of the past decade working in Google’s ad sales departments focused on Europe and the Americas. Woodside left his position in ad sales when Google announced the Motorola deal last August, Bloomberg reports.
Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick declined to comment on the report, as Motorola’s acquisition has not been closed.
Motorola had a few more words to say, although it didn’t confirm nor deny the report. “Sanjay is fully engaged, focused on running the business and getting the deal closed,” said Motorola spokeswoman Becki Leonard in an e-mail.
The report comes after what seems like a slam dunk acquisition for Google, after both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union just recently granted approval of the Motorola deal, citing no reason for antitrust concerns. Currently, Google is awaiting approval in a handful of other countries, including China and Israel, before the deal can fully go through.
But the potential replacement of Motorola’s Jha with a Googler could raise competitive concerns from Google’s other smartphone partners. As the Android OS is an open platform, hardware manufacturers are free to load Google’s software on their phones (provided the hardware companies abide by a certain set of stylistic guidelines). To date, no one company has been seen as Google’s preferred partner in Android phone manufacturing.
The Motorola deal could change everything. Google could give preferential treatment to its own device division, treating its other partners as secondary or even leaving them out in the cold. Google had initially pledged that it wouldn’t treat Motorola any differently from any other hardware partner. But it can’t replace any of its other partners’ CEOs.
This has to be unwelcome news to companies like HTC, Samsung and LG, all of which have placed big bets on Android as the operating system to take on Apple’s iOS. It seems discordant with Google’s initial reasoning for the acquisition: to secure Motorola’s treasure trove of patents.
Buying Motorola was a protection play that could shield Google in ongoing litigation beween itself, Microsoft, Apple and a host of other companies. “Having the portfolio will keep Android an open and vibrant platform, one that lots of companies can take advantage of,” said Google chief legal officer David Drummond in a conference call when the acquisition was first announced.
Installing a Google-bred leader in a newly acquired company, then, could signal a sea change of how the company will run post-acquisition — a more integrated business, not the separate one first trumpeted by CEO Larry Page last August.

Sony Xperia ICS beta ROM adds radios, new UI and more

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Sony has released an updated beta ROM for a selection of its 2011 Xperia phones, based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This latest (and unsupported) release builds on the alpha version released back in December with new functionality. This includes elements of the "UXP NXT" user interface powering new phones like the Xperia S -- you'll notice the new app dock and live wallpaper in today's video -- and familiar ICS features like camera shortcuts and music controls on the lockscreen.
Certain radio firmware has also passed certification since Sony released the alpha ROM, meaning mobile data and FM radio support is now enabled, though Wifi and Bluetooth are still unavailable. And needless to say, as it's a pre-release ROM, Google apps (including face unlock) are not included. Nevertheless, we expect it won't take too long for enterprising hackers in the Android community to shoehorn this functionality back into the device.
If you want to get in on the pre-release action, you'll need an Xperia Arc S, Xperia Ray or Xperia Neo V that's fully up-to-date with the latest official software. For download and installation instructions, check the source link -- or if you want to see how the ICS update is shaping up without messing with your device, we've got the official preview video after the break.

Microsoft readies final Windows 8 Consumer Preview build 8250

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Microsoft is on the verge of signing off the final version of its Windows 8 Consumer Preview. That is the word from a number of sources who tell us that the company has stopped compiling beta builds of Windows 8. The final build will be signed off officially on Friday and is expected to be numbered 8250.
Microsoft will unveil its Windows 8 Consumer Preview work during a special event at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next Wednesday. We are told that the company will release the preview to the public at the beginning of the event, which kicks off at 3PM CET (9AM ET). Build 8250 includes a number of preinstalled games and applications, as well as the new Windows 8 logo. Microsoft has also removed the traditional Start button orb in build 8250, replacing it with the new logo on the charms bar. We will be reporting live from Microsoft's MWC event, so stay tuned for the full details on Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Proview Loses Bid to Ban iPad in Shanghai

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A major setback for Proview in its battle with Apple over the rights to the iPad trademark in China.
The Pudong District People’s Court has denied the company’s request for an injunction that would have temporarily halted iPad sales in Shanghai.
“We had requested an injunction that would force Apple to stop sales of the iPad on the grounds that they are infringing upon Proview’s trademark, but the court has rejected our request and decided that it will not hear the case,” said Proview attorney Xie Xianghui.
The decision doesn’t end Apple’s contentious battle with Proview, but it’s an important victory for the company, nonetheless. It keeps the iPad on the shelves of Apple’s three flagship stores in Shanghai, and postpones further proceedings until the Guangdong Provincial High Court hears its appeal on the broader trademark dispute. And it sets a tough precedent for Proview, which hopes to squeeze Apple for more money to turn over the China trademark.

Apple, Proview trade barbs during Shanghai trial

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Apple claims iPad sales are 'national interest'
Lawyers for Apple and Proview exchanged heated words today in a Shanghai court hearing, according to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. Proview is seeking a ban on iPad sales in the city as a part of its ongoing trademark dispute with Apple. "Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name," said a lawyer for Proview Shenzhen, Xie Xianghui. Proview once sold a product called the IPAD, or Internet Personal Access Device.
The product has been unavailable for years however. "Proview has no product, no markets, no customers and no suppliers. It has nothing," a lawyer for Apple told the court. "Apple has huge sales in China. Its fans line up to buy Apple products. The ban, if executed, would not only hurt Apple sales but it would also hurt China's national interest."

Outside of court, Xie told reporters that both Apple and Proview have a "willingness" to negotiate. "Official negotiation hasn't started yet, and both sides will submit their plans before the talks. A settlement outside the court is quite possible," he explained. Proview has previously said that it will continue legal actions against Apple while pursuing a settlement at the same time. A ruling in the Shanghai case could take weeks or months.

HP x86 Windows 8 PCs will be available by the holidays.

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On HP's earnings call today CEO Meg Whitman told reporters that the company "will be well positioned on Windows 8 x86 by the holidays" — confirming that the world's largest PC maker will release a product that runs the new operating system by years' end. With HP's less-than-stellar quarter, the CEO noted the company's dependance on Windows, saying that the better Windows 8 is, the better the computer manufacturer will do. While Windows 8 availability isn't yet known, it's expected to be released around October of this year. Meg Whitman hopes Microsoft sticks to that schedule, saying that "we're rooting for a fantastic Windows 8 product that's out on time for holiday." The CEO only mentioned x86 systems, so it's not known if the company has any plans to join Microsoft in support oflow-powered ARM chips in Windows 8.

LG Optimus 3D Max

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LG has today unveiled the Optimus 3D Max, another 3D smartphone for Korean and International markets. Last night the company announced the Optimus 3D Cube, and we're struggling to find differences between the two handsets right now. Both are powered by 1.2GHz dual-core processors, have a 5MP dual-lens camera, LG Tag+ NFC, and run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The Cube has 16GB storage and a 4.3-inch Nova IPS display, whereas the Max has 8GB storage and "LG's exclusive brightened" WVGA 4.3-inch display. The Optimus 3D Max will go on sale in Korea this March and gradually roll out to other markets starting in Europe, and LG says it will be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich "shortly after the launch." Given LG has yet to announce availability for the Optimus 3D Cube beyond Korean carrier SK Telecom, it's likely that the 3D Max is simply a variant for international release. We'll bring you a hands-on with the 3D Max and the rest of LG's 2012 lineup from MWC next week, so stay tuned!

NEC's new trio of Android 4.0 LTE phones includes an inside-out Tablet

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NEC is showing off a trio of new Android 4.0 LTE handsets in Japan today before it brings them to Barcelona next week for MWC. From left to right, the first is the folding dual-screen "Best Cloud Device," which promises to be easier than anything else for accessing cloud services. Unlike Sony's Tablet P, the screens are on the outside when folded, allowing you to use the tablet as a smartphone, and can be unfolded to provide a larger screen for web browsing, etc. The device is also said to have an extra large battery to power the two screens. The second new device is the "Large Screen in One Hand" model. It has a large, high resolution display, with a thin "Ultra Narrow Edge Structure" bezel. Lastly, NEC also showed off its "The Most Stylish" device, which features a fast-activating camera, water resistance and expandable functionality with the addition of a special jacket, though what kind of functionality that might be is a mystery.

Microsoft Accuses Google, Motorola Mobility of FRAND Patent Abuse

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Allegations of standards-essential patent abuse are piling up against Motorola Mobility.
This morning, Microsoft said it has filed a complaint with the European Commission against the company alleging it is not offering some of its standards-essential patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory) terms.
“In legal proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic, Motorola is demanding that Microsoft take its products off the market, or else remove their standards-based ability to play video and connect wirelessly,” Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel Dave Heiner wrote in a blog post today. “The only basis for these actions is that these products implement industry standards, on which Motorola claims patents.”
Heiner notes that Motorola is demanding royalties of $22.50 on every midrange laptop that makes use of its portfolio of 50 patents on the H.264 video standard. In contrast, Microsoft pays a group of 29 companies just two cents per laptop for license to use their pool of 2,300 H.264 patents. His implication: Motorola’s FRAND terms are vastly inflated compared to the rest of the industry.
Which is something we’ve heard before. Apple recently lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Motorola Mobility claiming the company was demanding royalites of 2.25 percent of Apple’s sales of wireless devices for use of certain standards-essential patents — terms Motorola Mobility’s new owner Google has endorsed. It alsopetitioned the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to create for the telecom industry a consistent licensing scheme that would set “appropriate” royalty rates for the patents necessary to make wireless devices.
“Motorola has broken its promise,” Heiner concluded. “Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the Web, and Google as its new owner doesn’t seem to be willing to change course. … For a company so publicly committed to protecting the Internet, one might expect them to join the growing consensus against using standard essential patents to block products. … Google’s unwillingness so far to make this commitment is very concerning.”
Reached for comment, Google criticized Microsoft for the move. “We haven’t seen Microsoft’s complaint, but it’s consistent with the way they use the regulatory process to attack competitors,” a company representative said. “It’s particularly ironic, given their track record in this area and collaboration with patent trolls.”
Motorola issued an even more terse response: “We are yet to receive a copy of the complaint, but Motorola is committed to vigorously defending its intellectual property.”

Google Sued by Apple Safari-User Over Web-Browser Privacy

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Google Inc. officials are being sued for violating users’ privacy rights on Apple Inc.’s Safari Web browser by bypassing computer settings designed to block monitoring of consumers’ online activity.
Google, the world’s biggest Internet-search company, has been dodging privacy settings in Safari, and IE. Lawyers for an Illinois man who uses the Safari browser said in a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Delaware.
“Google’s willful and knowing actions violated” federal wiretapping laws and other computer-related statutes, attorneys for Matthew Soble said in the complaint.
Google has drawn regulatory scrutiny and pressure from consumer advocates for the way it handles personal information. Last year, it agreed to settle claims with the Federal Trade Commission that Google used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy policies when it introduced its Buzz social- networking service in 2010.
Chris Gaither, a spokesman for Mountain View, California- based Google, said in an e-mail that the company declined to comment on the suit’s allegations.
Researchers at Stanford University said today Google programmers developed codes that allowed them to avoid privacy settings created by their rivals at Cupertino, California-based Apple.
Privacy Circumvented?
The settings were designed to block cookies, or small pieces of code, that can be used to follow users’ activities on the Web. The Wall Street Journal reported Google’s actions in bypassing the privacy settings earlier this week.
Soble is seeking class-action status for his suit, which was filed on behalf of individuals “whose default privacy settings on the web browser software produced by Apple, known as Safari, were knowingly circumvented by Google,” according to the suit.
Google’s actions also prompted Consumer Watchdog to send a letter to the FTC today demanding action against the Internet- search provider.
“Safari users with the browser set to block third-party cookies thought they were not being tracked,” John Simpson, privacy project director of Consumer Watchdog, said in the letter. “Nonetheless, because of an element invisible to the user, but designed to mimic a form, DoubleClick was able to set tracking cookies in an obvious violation of the set preference.”
Lawmaker Attention
The allegations that Google bypassed Apple’s privacy settings to gather information on user’s Web browsing habits also have drawn attention from lawmakers.
“I fully intend to look into this matter and determine the extent to which the practice was used by Google and other third parties to circumvent consumer choice,” West Virginia Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement.
“We are taking immediate steps to address concerns, and we are happy to answer any questions regulators and others may have,” Google’s Gaither said in an e-mailed response.
The case is Matthew Soble v. Google Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Microsoft Bolsters up Skydrive with new features to combat Apples iCloud,

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Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service is set to receive some substantial upgrades this year, according to news from both official and unofficial channels. File synchronization, secure remote access, and Windows 8 integration have been demonstrated by Microsoft, and rumored improvements include paid storage upgrades, secure storage of BitLocker keys, a new Mac client, and support for OpenDocument (ODF) files.
Pictures leaked by Brazilian site Gemind showed off the paid storage options, allowing an extra 20, 50, or 100 GB to be added to SkyDrive's base 25GB, for $10, $25, or $50 per year. The same pictures also encourage users to download a SkyDrive client for Windows or Mac OS X.
LiveSide.net followed Gemind's pictures with some of its own, showing options to store BitLocker recovery keys in SkyDrive, support for OpenDocument spreadsheets, documents, and presentations from within the Office Web Apps, and URL shortening and easier sharing of files via Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.
Also on LiveSide.net were images demonstrating remote file access, and an increase of the maximum file size (with LiveSide claiming it had grown to 300 MB per file). These two features were almost immediately confirmed by Microsoft in a post on its Building Windows 8 blog, though it looks like LiveSide.net got one detail wrong: the maximum file size has been increased to 2GB per file.
Microsoft's post demonstrated SkyDrive's integration into Windows 8, allowing files to be seamlessly saved and opened to SkyDrive as easily as if it were local storage. Systems running the SkyDrive client (Microsoft confirmed that this would be available for Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, with the Mac client remaining a rumor at this point) will also be accessible remotely, giving access to files that haven't been synced to the cloud.
Currently a similar feature is found as part of Microsoft's Live Mesh product—the company has slowly beenintegrating Live Mesh's features with SkyDrive, and this is the latest step towards fusing the products.
SkyDrive is becoming an increasingly important part of the company's "three screens and a cloud" strategy. Windows 8 users will be able to share their settings and preferences across machines via SkyDrive, and SkyDrive will power synchronization of files, music, and videos between Windows 8 machines and Windows Phone 8 handsets.

Microsoft alleges Google dodged IE privacy settings too.

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Microsoft's Corporate VP for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch, made allegations Monday that Google was bypassing Internet Explorer's privacy settings, not just Safari's measures. After checks, he claimed that Google's cookie text files, meant to allow +1 actions for those who were signed into Google, were skirting the P3P Privacy Protection standard as it was implemented in Internet Explorer 9. The technique supposedly made IE9 take third-party cookies that it would block by default while keeping the action a secret.
To honor P3P, Google was supposed to send a set of policy tokens indicating how the cookie's information would be shared. Google was supposedly exploiting a P3P clause that skipped users' preferences if the policies weren't defined. Any browser that used P3P interpreted the message that the token was "not a P3P policy" as a sign to allow the cookie, letting Google have its intended +1 effect but also possibly allowing third-party ads despite the usual blocking settings.

The executive implied this wasn't just a casual trick, since Google would have had to use "technically skilled" staff with "special tools" to see the P3P descriptions.

Microsoft had developed a cookie blocking list update for IE9 (link only working inside the post) as "protection" from the cookies and suggested that those concerned could implement a complete block of all Google cookies, although this would break all account-based Google activity. Hachamovitch wasn't clear on whether it would change its own software to prevent what Google allegedly did outright, but he implied that Microsoft was considering taking a recommendation from P3P founders that the spec be changed such that undefined tokens be rejected outright, not let through.

Google hadn't responded to the new accusations as of Monday afternoon.

The claims if borne out would point to Google using multiple browser-specific tricks to push the +1 allowance regardless of a visitor's browser choice or their security settings. Google has already said that the cookies weren't intended for any other purpose, although at least the Safari implementation allowed multiple third-party advertisers.

Some skepticism has emerged over Hachamovitch's post given Microsoft's tendency to exaggerate Google's privacy position for the sake of its own search market share. While more technically sound, the reaction is still based around getting users to drop all their Google services rather than arguing for a measured reaction.

Google hit with FTC complaint, says circumventing Safari privacy features accidental (Yeah Right!)

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This cookie was an accident
The Consumer Watchdog advocacy group today asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google violated a previous privacy agreement with the FTC by tracking cookies in a way that circumvents default privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser.
Google's method of getting around Safari's default blockage of third-party cookies was detailed today in astudy by Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer and in two articles in the Wall Street Journal. One Journalheadline calls it "Google's iPhone tracking," but the technique actually works across iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, and desktop computers. After being contacted by the Journal, Google disabled the code that had allowed it to install tracking cookies on Safari, even though the browser is designed to block such cookies by default.
Google says it was unintentional, but this is also concerning—the advertising cookies spread without Google even realizing it.