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Motorola XT912 Leaked – Not the “X-phone”

Written By samizares on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | Wednesday, March 13, 2013


A few weeks ago Google’s CFO told us that Motorola won’t release any products that will “wow us” by Google’s standards, as the company is still stuck with its old pipeline of products, that were planned since around 18 months ago. And now we get this leak about a new Motorola phone that looks much like a Nexus-styled smartphone with round edges.
The phone’s codename seems to be XT912, and it seems very unlikely that it would be the X-phone. While I think the phone doesn’t look too bad (I’d buy it if it came with Android 5.0, and I was going to buy a new phone soon), there’s also not much that unique about it. It also seems to be made out of regular plastic, and I’d prefer if it was made out of some kind of metal, or at the very least polycarbonate (unibody) or (very) hardened glass.
The phone is supposedly going to have an S4 Pro processor with Adreno 320, or possibly even an S600 (I would hope so because S4 Pro is getting old), 2 GB of RAM, and “only” a 720p AMOLED display that could be 4.3″ or 4.5″, which makes me think that the phone isn’t really meant as Motorola’s flagship device for this year, but more of a mid-range phone, or some kind of “intermediary” flagship.
The OS looks a lot like stock Android, which makes me happy, because I think this is exactly the thing Motorola needs to do to get back on track, and be loved by the Android community once again. Google should put stock Android on all of Motorola devices from now on. All of Motorola devices should be Nexus-like devices. The phone does look to have some extra Motorola widgets, but I wouldn’t mind that so much. I think it’s a very good way to differentiate without changing the core of Android.
I would also expect these devices to get at least 18 months of updates, just like the Nexus devices, although I really wish Google would make the upgrade cycle 24 months. That should mean about 4 major upgrades instead of just 3, like for Nexus devices. Since they are owned by them and not by others, it should be easier to do that, too. The only question is if they will want to support them for that long.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | 0 comments | Read More

Google hit by $7m Street View fine in US


Google has agreed to pay a $7m (£4.6m) fine for collecting people's personal data without authorisation as part of its Street View service.In a settlement with 38 US states, the internet giant agreed to destroy emails, passwords, and web histories.
The data was harvested from home wireless networks as Street View cars photographed neighbourhoods between 2008 and 2010.
Google said it was pleased to have resolved the issue.
"We work hard to get privacy right at Google. But in this case we didn't, which is why we quickly tightened up our systems to address the issue," the firm said in a statement.
"The project leaders never wanted this data, and didn't use it or even look at it. We're pleased to have worked with Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and the other state attorneys general to reach this agreement."
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the legal settlement.
"Consumers have a right to protect their vital personal and financial information from improper and unwanted use by corporations like Google," he said.
"This settlement addresses privacy issues and protects the rights of people whose information was collected without their permission."
As well as agreeing to delete all the harvested data, Google has also been required to launch an employee training program about privacy and data use which it must continue for at least ten years.
It must also launch a public service advertising campaign to educate consumers about how to secure their information on wireless networks.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook facelift! Social network launches new version of News Feed

Written By samizares on Friday, March 8, 2013 | Friday, March 08, 2013

The social networking company unveiled a redesign that allows users to control what types of posts will appear in the feeds. The new feed will also have space for more photos and videos.

 Facebook Inc introduced a visually richer, mobile device-oriented “newsfeed” on Thursday, in the most significant changes to date for the social network’s most recognizable feature. The changes to the newsfeed, whose look and feel has remained largely unchanged since its inception, include a division into several sections, with separate areas for photographs and music.

 They will begin rolling out in limited fashion from Thursday. The overhaul, which standardizes the feed across mobile devices and desktop computers, is designed to keep users active and interacting as well as appeal to advertisers, as Facebook battles Google Inc for Internet market share. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had singled out the feature as in need of a makeover as recently as January, when the company introduced “graph search” to address inadequacies in allowing users to trawl for information across the world’s largest social network.

 Facebook’s newsfeed, an ever-changing stream of photos, videos and comments uploaded from friends, is the first page most users see upon logging in. It is one of three “pillars” of the service, along with search and user profiles. The last major update to the feature occurred in September 2011.

 Since then, the company has incorporated ads directly into the feed and has shifted its focus to creating “mobile-first experiences,” because more people now access the social network from smartphones and desktops than from desktop computers. 

 The addition of advertising, however, prompted complaints from users who preferred an unblemished stream of personally relevant comments, underscoring the difficulty in balancing advertiser-friendly formats - such as larger images - with keeping its 1 billion-plus members engaged.
Friday, March 08, 2013 | 0 comments | Read More