Author: Dan Graziano

AT&T Galaxy S4 arriving in stores ahead of schedule on April 27th

AT&T will be moving up the release date of Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S4 smartphone. The carrier opened preorders for the device last week with a ship date of April 30th. AT&T is now notifying customers to tell them that some preorders will arrive on April 25th. The company also revealed on its Twitter page that the smartphone will be available in stores two days later on April 27th, the same day as Sprint.

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April 23, 2013
ITC rules iPhone doesn’t infringe Google’s patents

The United States International Trade Commission on Monday evening ruled that Apple’s iPhone does not infringe on technology Google gained when it acquired Motorola Mobility in 2011. The company had been seeking an import ban against the iPhone 4 because it allegedly uses Motorola’s protected technology. A panel of judges upheld an earlier decision, however, that found the proximity sensor patent Motorola was asserting is invalid. A Google spokesperson told Reuters that the company was “disappointed with this outcome and are evaluating our options.” The decision can now be appealed the to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

April 23, 2013
Netflix may change policies to prevent customers from sharing accounts

For a monthly fee of $7.99, Netflix customers have access to a wide variety of TV shows, movies and original content. More often than not, however, users frequently share accounts between family members and friends due to the company’s relaxed policies. Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities believes chief executive Reed Hastings should try to squeeze more profit from his 33.3 million customers by “cracking down on piracy” or even raising prices. The analyst claims that as many as 10 million people are accessing the service without paying, which is ultimately hurting Netflix’s potential revenue.

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April 22, 2013
Google Now may be coming to Google’s homepage

Google’s award-winning intelligent personal assistant Google Now may be heading to the company’s homepage. The unofficial Google Operating System blog recently discovered the new feature mentioned in a series of code. Google Now is currently only available on Android smartphones and tablets running version 4.1 or later, and is rumored to be heading to iOS and Chrome in the near future. Adding Google Now to the company’s homepage will allow the feature to be utilized by billions of people worldwide. The source code suggests that Google Now on the Web will share the same features as on Android, allowing individuals to set a home and work location to show relevant information like weather, traffic conditions and nearby locations. Google could debut the new version of Google Now at its annual I/O Developers Conference on May 15th.

April 22, 2013
Investors advised to cash in on Apple stock crash, buy shares while they’re cheap

Shares of Apple have tumbled more than 35% since reaching an all-time high of $705 last September. Earlier this week, the company’s stock fell below $400 for the first time since 2011 on fears that demand for the iPhone and iPad has begun to slip. Some investors have begun to dump Apple’s stock, however not everyone is abandoning ship just yet.

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April 22, 2013
Google chairman Eric Schmidt warns of ‘the dark side of the digital revolution’

Google chairman and former chief executive Eric Schmidt recently embarked on a highly publicized, and criticized, trip to North Korea. The executive’s visit to one of the world’s most unplugged nations left an everlasting impression on him. Schmidt explained in an article published by The Wall Street Journal that it isn’t possible to have a modern society without access to the Internet, noting that every country, except North Korea, has embraced the Internet in some form. The Internet brings freedom; freedom of speech, freedom of information and in some cases, as we have seen with the Arab Spring, revolution. Schmidt warned, however, that there is also a dark side to the digital revolution.

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April 22, 2013
Google’s X Phone, Nexus 5 reportedly won’t debut at Google I/O

Google’s annual I/O Developers Conference is just around the corner and expectations are at an all-time high. In the past, the company has unveiled a number of flagship projects and devices at the event, such as Google Music, Google Now and the Nexus 7 tablet. Earlier rumors have suggested that, among other things, Google would announce a followup to its Nexus 4 smartphone and even the rumored Motorola X Phone at this year’s event, but a new report suggests this may not be the case.

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April 22, 2013
Google fined for illegal data collection

The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information has issued a fine of €145,000 to Google for illegally accessing and recording data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Regulators called the company’s acts “one of the most serious cases of violation of data protection” in German history. It was discovered that between 2008 and 2010, Google accessed insecure Wi-Fi networks with its Street View vehicles and illegally downloaded large quantities of personal data including emails, passwords and photos. The company has admitted wrongdoing and has since deleted the data from its servers. Regulators still aren’t satisfied, however.

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April 22, 2013
HTC reportedly prepping ‘metal-alloy’ smartphone for June launch

HTC is rumored to be preparing to release a mid-range variant of its critically acclaimed One smartphone. Earlier reports claimed that the device, codenamed M4, was similar to the HTC First without the integration of Facebook Home, however this my not be the case. According to Digitimes, the M4 will be equipped with a “metal-alloy chassis” that is being supplied by Catcher Technology. The latest rumors suggest that the mid-range smartphone will feature a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor and an “Ultrapixel” rear camera. The device may also include 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and Sense 5 atop Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Shipments of the HTC M4 are reportedly scheduled to begin in June with wider availability in the third quarter.

April 19, 2013
Nintendo executive claims digital sales are soaring

Nintendo’s new Wii U has been labeled a flop with estimated sales of only 55,000 units domestically in the month of March. Nintendo of America’s chief executive Reggie Fils-Aime isn’t worried, however. The executive told GamesIndustry.biz that digital downloads are soaring and fast becoming a “notable contributor” to the company’s bottom line, a trend he believes will continue.

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April 19, 2013
Blackstone withdraws Dell bid, points to company’s ‘deteriorating’ PC business

Blackstone Group has withdrawn its bid for Dell less than a month after proposing a last-minute offer for the struggling computer company. The private equity firm withdrew its bid after “discovering that Dell’s business was deteriorating faster than previously understood,” Bloomberg reported. Blackstone previously offered the company $14.25 per share to counter a previous bid from founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management’s amounting to $13.65 per share. Investor Carl Icahn is also interested in the company and offered to purchase an additional $2 billion worth of Dell’s stock at $15 per share, and to provide $2 billion of cash equity financing.

April 19, 2013
Microsoft offsets tanking PC sales with Windows 8 upgrades, Surface sales

Despite PC sales recently experiencing their steepest decline ever in a single quarter, Microsoft managed to increase overall revenues from its Windows division. The company reported Windows revenue of $5.7 billion for the first three months of 2013, up 24% from the $4.633 billion it reported in the same time period from last year. The Windows division is still extremely important to Microsoft and as a whole generated 27% of the company’s total revenue and 45% of its profits. The question remains, however: How did Windows do so well when the PC industry tumbled to all-time lows?

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April 19, 2013
Galaxy S4 mini reportedly delayed until mid-July

A new report suggests that the scaled-down version of Samsung’s flagship smartphone has been delayed until later this year. According to SamMobile, the mid-range Galaxy S4 mini will not be released until mid-July. Earlier rumors claimed the handset will be available in two versions: a single-SIM model and a dual-SIM version. The Galaxy S4 mini is said to be equipped with a 4.3-inch qHD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera and Android 4.2.2 under Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. The single-SIM version will reportedly include a quad-core processor, while the Galaxy S4 mini DUOS will feature a dual-core processor.

April 19, 2013
Xbox 360 leads console sales for 27th consecutive month

Microsoft’s gaming console has remained the best-selling system in the United States for the 27th consecutive month, according to new data from NPD Group. The Xbox 360 sold 261,000 units in the U.S. in March, beating out Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii U. As a whole, physical sales were down 10% year-over-year from $1.1 billion in March 2012 to $992.5 million in March 2013. Software sales remained almost flat at $554.8 million, only inching down just 1% from a year ago. The steepest decline came from hardware sales, which dropped a whopping 32% to $221.6 million. Portable consoles are said to have experienced a “stronger decline” than traditional ones, however sales of the Nintendo 3DS grew an estimated 9% year-over-year.

April 19, 2013
Driverless cars expected to go mainstream by 2025

Google has been testing a fleet of autonomous vehicles on U.S. roadways for quite some time now, and other companies such as Mercedes-Benz are adding more advanced technology to aid drivers. We now have cars that can automatically stop, parallel park themselves and even detect when another car is in a blind spot. Google executives have previously said that they would like to see self-driving vehicles on the road within three to five years, however it may not happen that quickly. Industry experts believe that by 2020, car computers will handle much of the work when traveling at high speeds and five years later, we could finally see fully autonomous vehicles arrive “in meaningful numbers.”

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April 19, 2013
LulzSec hacker sentenced to one year in prison for Sony hack

A hacker affiliated with LulzSec, a spin-off of hacking group Anonymous, has been sentenced for breaching computers belonging to Sony Pictures Entertainment and distributing information to other members in 2011. A U.S. District Judge in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced 24-year old Cody Kretsinger to a year in prison, followed by home detention and 1,000 hours of community service, Reuters reported. The hacker, who was known online as “Recursion,” pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of unauthorized impairment of a protected computer last April. Sony has said that Krestinger and other LulzSec members cost the company more than $600,000 in damages.

April 18, 2013
Hulu reportedly hires firm to assist with sale

A new report suggests that online movie and TV streaming service Hulu may be looking to sell. According to Reuters, Hulu, which is a joint venture between ABC and Fox, has hired financial services firm Guggenheim Partners to advise the company on a potential sale. Hulu had previously hired the firm in 2011, however it was unable to find a buyer that was willing to pay the $2 billion asking price. In addition to advising the company, Guggenheim Partners is said to be interested in making a bid for Hulu, which may pose a conflict of interest. The firm created a separate Guggenheim Digital Media unit in January that is headed by former Yahoo CEO and News Corp executive Ross Levinsohn, who is reportedly interested in a deal with the company. In 2012, Hulu generated revenues of around $700 million from more than 3 million premium subscribers.

April 18, 2013
Sprint sets up special committee to evaluate Dish offer

Sprint’s board of directors has set up a special committee to evaluate Dish Network’s proposed $25.5 billion acquisition, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The company is also said to be looking to hire an investment bank to help it assess the offer. Dish’s bid is a counter offer to Japanese carrier Softbank’s planned merger with the wireless company. Sprint’s decision to establish a special committee shows that it is at least considering Dish’s offer. Both deals involve cash-and-stock options, and while Sprint’s board had initially backed Softbank’s proposal, two significant Sprint shareholders recently voiced their support for Dish’s bid, further complicating the planned merger with Softbank.

April 18, 2013
LG’s curved OLED TVs coming in second half of 2013

LG announced on Thursday that its “world-first” curved OLED TVs will launch in the second half of this year, Engadget reported. The company unveiled its curved displays at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and promised that they deliver wider viewing angles than standard OLED TVs with an improved panoramic experience. The display was showcased with a 55-inch OLED panel that included a paper-thin design, 1080p full HD resolution and 3D support. LG hopes its new curved TVs will help it boost falling TV sales, however the price of OLED technology is still a major hurdle the company must overcome.

April 18, 2013
Samsung may turn to key Apple supplier for DRAM chips

Samsung is considering the use of mobile memory chips from South Korean rival SK Hynix in its upcoming mobile products, Reuters reported, citing statements made by Samsung’s mobile chief J.K. Shin. One of SK Hynix’s current DRAM customers is none other than Apple, and a supply deal with Samsung might help the company’s profit following reports of waning demand for the iPhone and iPad. Samsung has previously relied on internal components for most of its products, however increased demand has forced the company to seek help from competitors such as Qualcomm and now SK Hynix. The Galaxy S4, which is scheduled to be released later this month, is expected to sell 10 million units in its first month of availability.

April 18, 2013