Author: Brad Reed

In what’s sure to be a controversial proposal, several law enforcement groups are pushing Congress to pass a law requiring wireless carriers to store all their customers’ text messages so they can be accessed by police during investigations. CNET reports that the proposed law is similar to one pushed recently by “a constellation of law enforcement groups, including the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, the National District Attorneys’ Association, and the National Sheriffs’ Association” late last year.

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People-centric ads have done wonders for Samsung (005930) over the past year and now Google (GOOG) is trying to get in on the action with a new ad for the Nexus 10 that depicts the tablet as a perfect helper for prospective parents. The ad shows two expecting parents using the tablet to help them pick out names, to read books on parenting, to film videos of their baby shower and even to watch relevant comedies such as Knocked Up. While the new ad does fit in with the well-established convention of tablet ads that give laundry lists of applications, it focusses more than most on telling a coherent story and of showing how the tablet can make life easier for people in a specific situation. A video of the entire ad is posted below.

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Microsoft (MSFT) may soon find itself in some significant legal trouble now that federal officials are investigating whether the company allegedly worked with firms that bribed foreign government officials into accepting Microsoft software contracts. Unnamed sources have told The Wall Street Journal that “lawyers from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining kickback allegations made by a former Microsoft representative in China, as well as the company’s relationship with certain resellers and consultants in Romania and Italy.” The Journal’s sources say that the investigation is still in a “preliminary” phase and that the government has yet to accuse the company or its overseas partners of any wrongdoing. The Journal also writes that the investigation is “one of dozens being conducted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that prohibits U.S. companies and companies that trade on U.S. stock exchanges from paying bribes to foreign officials.”

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Chromebooks haven’t exactly taken the world by storm so far, but that doesn’t mean Google (GOOG) is giving up on its vision for browser-centric notebook computers anytime soon. In a new piece over at Time’s TechLand blog, Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin says that Google’s upcoming merger of Android and its Chrome operating system makes it much more likely that Chromebooks will become attractive to consumers going forward.

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If sales of the Surface have been disappointing so far, then where does that leave sales of Google’s (GOOG) Chromebooks? Unnamed sources have told Digitimes that sales of Google Chromebooks have only totaled around 500,000 so far, which gives the Chrome OS less than a 1% share of the notebook market. Digitimes‘ sources also say that Chromebooks could struggle to gain any traction against Windows-based notebooks for at least the next two years because Google “will still need some time to integrate” Chrome and Android in order to broaden Chromebooks’ appeal for consumers. Google recently tried to generate more hype for Chromebooks by releasing its own Chromebook Pixel that features a 12.85-inch, 2560 x 1700-pixel touchscreen display and hefty $1,300 price tag.

One disappointment with Apple’s (AAPL) iPad mini was that it didn’t come with the high-resolution Retina display that the company first used in its third-generation iPad models. While many Apple fans were hoping that the company would release a Retina-equipped iPad mini this spring, a new report from Chinese website CNYes suggests that we might have to wait until the third quarter of 2013 to see an upgrade for Apple’s smaller tablet. The good news for Apple is that the lack of a Retina display hasn’t hurt demand for the iPad mini at all since CNYes says that Apple plans to ship 55 million units this year alone. Given that Apple shipped more than 13 million iPad minis in the fourth quarter of 2012 and that smaller tablets are expected to grow even more popular throughout 2013, Apple likely feels no need to rush a second-generation iPad mini as long as the first-generation model keeps selling well.

The BlackBerry PlayBook was not one of BlackBerry’s (BBRY) more successful products, which is why CEO Thorsten Heins is understandably wary about producing a sequel in the near future. Australia’s Herald Sun reports that while speaking at the BlackBerry Z10 launch in Australia this week, Heins said that he didn’t want to produce a followup to the PlayBook until the company figured out how to make it “not just… another tablet.” Heins also said that the tablet market had become so competitive that it was hard to earn a decent profit from selling them, and that he owed it to “shareholders to provide a return on investment.” So for the moment, it looks like BlackBerry will be all about smartphones first.

Tim Cook is still well-loved by Apple (AAPL) employees — he’s just not as well-loved as he was a year ago. Glassdoor’s most recent CEO approval ratings show that 93% of Apple workers approve of the job Cook is doing, down from the 97% approval rating he had last year when he was ranked as the most popular CEO in the world. Cook now sits in the 18th slot. Taking his place atop Glassdoor’s list this year is Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who scored a 99% approval rating from employees to stand alone as the world’s most favored boss. Other popular tech CEOs on this year’s list include Qualcomm (QCOM) CEO Paul Jacobs, who ranked 8th among all CEOs with a 95% approval rating; Google (GOOG) CEO Larry Page, who ranked 11th with a 95% approval rating; and Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, who ranked 16th with a 93% approval rating.

Netflix (NFLX) just got an intriguing competitor this week now that Verizon (VZ) has brought its Redbox Instant video streaming service out of beta and has made it available to the general public. Redbox Instant, which is available to everyone regardless of whether they’re a Verizon customer, is initially offering a range of 7,500 “streaming and transactional movie titles” for $8 a month. The service works on Macs, PCs and the Xbox 360, which entered into a deal with Verizon earlier this year to become “the exclusive gaming and entertainment console launch partner for Redbox Instant.” Verizon is currently offering a free one-month trial for the new streaming service.