The Tech Update

Image courtesy of http://geeky-gadgets.com.

AT&T’s new Android-based smartphone, the HTC First has dropped to $0.99 within its first month of sales.

The HTC First launched on April 12 priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract with AT&T. The Android phone is pre-loaded with Facebook Home, a software suite that allows select Android users to replace their phone’s home screen interface with features from Facebook (such as status updates and images). HTC heavily advertised the seamless integration of their phone and Facebook – which in essence, made the HTC First attractive to Facebook users around the world.

Judging by the fact that Facebook’s most recent user total is approximately 1.11 billion, at first glance the First seems like a very innovative phone. However, news outlets and blogs (including Mashable , CNET and Time) have been speculating average to negative things about this price change – from lackluster sales to Facebook’s future business opportunities with other phones.

The reason for the price change is seemingly for promotion. That’s fine with us. To most consumers, the price of $0.99 for a quality smartphone is a pretty good deal.

So, if you’re in need of a phone or are nearing the end of your contract for your current one, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out the HTC First. Tech Update readers, what do you think about this price change?

According to T-Mobile’s earnings report released today, they’ve sold no less than 500,000 iPhones since they officially added Apple’s latest gadget to their lineup.

Revenue for the first quarter came out to be $4.68 billion, 7 percent less than the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings were $1.2 billion, up 12.4 percent from the fourth quarter, but down 7.5 percent from last year.

The 4th most popular phone company in America right now (behind AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel, respectively), T-Mobile added 579,000 net new customers during the first quarter and sold approximately 500,000 iPhones, eWeek reported.

The growth came with some strings attached, however – in this past quarter, 199,000 branded postpaid customers decided to quit T-Mobile (though still a 61 percent improvement over the same quarter a year ago). However, they gained 202,000 prepaid customers and added 3,000 branded customers, T-Mobile said in a May 8 statement. They also reported that this quarter made for its “first branded customer growth since first quarter 2009,” a big step for the phone carrier.

After this quarter, T-Mobile boasts 34 million active customers, and about half a million of them have iPhones now. But they made a number of changes over this past quarter in order to attract and retain those customers. Chief among them was its switch to the “un-carrier” approach, which saw T-Mobile ditch monthly contracts.

It seems things are in motion for T-Mobile to start picking up its pace; the phone carrier finally completed their merger with MetroPCS last week, and their phone sales seem to have no end in sight – at least not iPhone sales.

YouTube Introduces Regional Metric Tool Trends Map

YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing website, released their TrendsMap feature – which maps out metrics regarding which specific demographics (age and gender) are viewing videos in certain regions of the U.S within the last 12-24 hours.

By filtering results to focus on demographic groups’ when it comes to searching internet clips, many web surfers can use this new tool as a guide to view the latest trends. From online businesses, social media experts, SEO specialists to video bloggers, TrendsMap can offer new ideas and insight for hot topics developing in precise locations.

YouTube Trends’ FAQs states that the Trends Dashboard was introduced in 2010 to allow users to compare the most viewed and shared videos across a variety of locations and demographics. TrendsMap uses Google-based analytics to differentiate the various gender and age groups viewing what videos – tracking information reported by registered, logged-in YouTubers. According to TrendsMap as of May 7, 2013, True Blood‘s Season 6 trailer is trending around the U.S. – especially for women of all ages.

Online users don’t solely rely on Google or Bing. According to Advanced Web Ranking, YouTube is frequently referred to as the world’s second largest search engine. Using TrendsMap, web surfers should utilize this tool not only to keep up with current events and news but to pursue trending themes in order to increase internet exposure. By combining YouTube Trends, other various analytical tools, PR campaigns and online marketing, online users have the resources to be successful in the internet world.

Tech Update readers, what can you do with YouTube’s new feature?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that self-driving cars are the way of the future and are the next step in car technology.

Tesla motors, pioneers of zero-emission electric cars like the popular Model S, have apparently been talking to Google about creating “autopilot” systems for cars and automobiles. CEO Elon Musk, 41 year old billionaire California resident, claims technologies that can take over for drivers are a logical step in the evolution of cars. And what better partner could such a pioneer ask for than the infamously gadget-giddy Google.

“I like the word autopilot more than I like the word self- driving,” Musk said in an interview. “Self-driving sounds like it’s going to do something you don’t want it to do. Autopilot is a good thing to have in planes, and we should have it in cars.”

The idea of driver-less cars has been around for decades, and has become popularized in movies and films. However, how soon can the world expect to see such a groundbreaking innovation on the streets?

According to Bloomberg news, product manager for Google’s self-driving car project Anthony Levandowski claims the company expects to release the technology within five years. However, one of the biggest problems of this endeavor isn’t so much creating the system, but making it affordable to consumers.

“The problem with Google’s current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive,” Musk said. “It’s better to have an optical system, basically cameras with software that is able to figure out what’s going on just by looking at things.”

Though many companies have tested the waters of driver-less cars, it seems the Tesla-Google duo could be the most authentic attempt we’ve seen in this realm of technology. However, it may be some time before we see anyone we know being driven around by their own automobile.

“Creating an autopilot for cars at Tesla is an important, but not yet top priority,” Musk announced over Twitter. “Still a few years from production.”

We’ve all heard it before – Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media were considering switching their services to paid. According to some recent rumors, paid-only YouTube channels might begin as early as May or June. Which begs the question again:

Would you pay for play?

YouTube’s paid subscription feature would allow them to better compete with such services like Hulu and Netflix. Even though they’ve been known to surpass 2 billion video views a day, there’s still money to be made for the video behemoth.

Adage has announced that these channels would initially cost between $1 and $5 a month. The added pressure for YouTube to keep viewers on their site for longer than the latest 45-second video of a cuddly cat has risen, and these paid services would some ensure some added revenue to the largely-social-media video website.

YouTube recently told the Washington Post that it is “looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our partners with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer.”

Large sums of revenue are offered to users who can garner millions of views on videos. Youtube partners make $2 to $5 per thousand views on their videos. That means if a video has 100,000 views it would earn $200 to $500 according to the payout and the ad clicks.

YouTube’s monetary incentives to their partners might seem trivial to one of the most popular websites on the internet, but over time, YouTube can pay a lot of money out to successful video-makers. The popular “Gangnam Style” video has garnered over 1.23 billion views and counting, and has reportedly made nearly $1 million dollars in revenue from YouTube ads alone.

There are plenty of viral videos out there that have made large sums of cash – the infamous “Charlie Bit My Finger” video of the 2 adorable young brothers was reported to have earned the parents about $160,000 – enough for a college education and maybe even a nice car, but not enough to break YouTube’s bank.

Still, with viral videos constantly being created, whether from hilarious news reports or some dorky guy dancing on a stage, YouTube needs to keep paying out with each view. Only time will tell whether their paid-channels will start to bring in the bucks, or drive users looking for a funny gag away.

Last month, Google informed the lucky beneficiaries of the first shipment of the highly-anticipated Google Glass (Google calls them “Explorers”) that they’d be receiving their glasses within the week.

The tech world has been buzzing nonstop since Google first announced its newest toy barely 6 months ago. With such a highly-anticipated gadget coming out, those who can afford the $1,500.00 toy will definitely be expecting some innovative ways to share and brag about their purchase in the world of social media, and it seems that Twitter is eying to meet that need.

Twitter has been on the forefront of social media for years (logging a drop-dropping 400 million user tweets a day), and commandeering the latest medium of social media (“smart glasses”) seems all but fitting for the tweeting behemoth.

A recent report of TechCrunch cited that Twitter user Jonathan Gottfried (@jonmarkgo) posted a picture via another Twitter user (@MogroothMuddler) with a convincing picture from the “Official Google Glass App” bearing a hashtag #throughglass.

Twitter has declined to comment when asked if they are in fact working on a Google Glass-friendly app for Google’s latest toy, but the Twitter account the picture originated from has been deleted, suggesting that the picture might have been posted prematurely.

Twitter’s latest app called “Vine” (which lets users record and tweet up to 6-second long videos) could also be a massive hit with Google Glass, letting users tweet a first-person perspective video through their glasses.
Google has already bragged that their latest gadget will allow users to Tweet and send messages into the social media sphere with a mere voice command or even with a blink of an eye (the future is now, people), and Twitter would seem to be a perfect candidate for a killer app featured on Google Glass.

FinFisher Software receives angry letter from Mozilla Firefox

UK-based company Gamma International appears to be selling spyware camouflaged as Mozilla Firefox to dozens of countries around the globe, including the US.

The software was developed by FinFisher, a software surveillance company. Also known as FinSpy, this particularly-elusive surveillance software has been used in the past by governments to monitor and spy on dissidents and criminals. The software could very well have been pulled from the latest James Bond movie; able to grab screen shots from users, record video Skype conversations, turn on microphones and cameras, this spyware can even even log keystrokes from unknowing computer users. A spyware version of Firefox designed to fit all major mobile phone browsers was also discovered recently.

According to a report by the The Citizen Lab released yesterday, FinFisher’s spyware software could be active in 36 countries, if not more. Mozilla announced yesterday that they sent a stern cease and desist letter to Gamma International “demanding that these illegal practices stop immediately.”

Interestingly, the software isn’t designed to infect or even affect the browser – it has a more sinister motive. The point of this phony-Firefox seems to be solely to record and monitor users, stealing passwords and encrypted information. Mozilla commented that the spyware “uses our brand and trademarks to lie and mislead as one of its methods for avoiding detection and deletion” and is “used by Gamma’s customers to violate citizens’ human rights and online privacy.”

However, it seems that this spyware has been used mainly by governments seeking to spy on and monitor potential criminals or dissidents; in a released email from Martin J. Muench, a Gamma Group managing director, he claimed the Gamma Group sold FinSpy to governments only to monitor criminals and that it was most frequently used “against pedophiles, terrorists, organized crime, kidnapping and human trafficking.”

In terms of practical dangers, there has already been one negative example: The Citizen Lab report says FinFisher’s spyware has also been used to target Malay language speakers by “masquerading as a document discussing Malaysia’s upcoming 2013 General Elections.” This revelation could have a major impact on such an election, potentially exposing the results from many citizens who wish to keep their opinions private.

Firefox (and Firefox-users in 36 countries) are still waiting for the end of this malicious and deceptive Spyware attack.

In today’s popular electronic world, the line between work and play has become increasingly obscure. Many of our work gadgets are now able to house some form of entertainment, whether that is in the form of music, video, gaming or just general internet surfing.

So with Microsoft’s new announcement, could this be the start of the end to that distinct line of work and play? We have already seen instances like this, on a less broad subject, in the form of Facebook.

Facebook, designed to keep you and your friends in a virtual social circle, to enable you to keep close to relatives that live far away, and of course, to ask that girl you’ve liked for the past year out. However, the reality of Facebook’s success has been very different to what the creators initially wanted.

Facebook is now being seen as a tool by various businesses, in terms of advertising, media exploitation and (this one may freak you out a little) keeping an eye on some of their employees. Yes, that’s right, it’s a well known fact that employers have now started to check and judge their potential employees and current workers by things that happen on their Facebook.

So with that gross intrusion, what could be next? Skype.

Skype has been the tool to use for video conferences, both personal and business, I myself have used it on a near daily basis, both for work contacts, and for keeping in contact with the fiancée when we lived apart.

Earlier this year, we saw the integration of Skype and Microsoft’s Outlook services, allowing users to call and video chat through their Outlook email system. Here’s a quick video if you are confused on how this may work;

That’s not all though! Microsoft have really been pushing Skype since they purchased the communication company for $8.5 billion. Their next step, has been rumoured to be that they plan to merge Xbox Live accounts with Skype and Outlook accounts, creating a freely diverse contact list, for both work and play.

Currently, Microsoft are working at getting Skype to work on the Xbox 360 console, and may consider this merger later on in development.

Is this a good thing? Well, that is down to a matter of opinion, I’d love to see what you all think about this, is it an intrusion? Or is it simply a great way to maintain contact without constant logging in and out of different services?

Shape shifting has been something popular in Sci-Fi films, fantasy games and something that has always been a dream of children. Is it possible that today, is the day we find out that it is, in fact, here?

The Backdrop

Researchers of Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab have brought up the issue that many modern day features of silent mode ringing on most phones often go unnoticed to the receiver. To combat this, they have announced the prototype of The MorePhone. The MorePhone is potentially the start of a whole new trend of smart-phone features. The MorePhone will shape shift to announce a call or alert for SMS and E-Mail services, as opposed to the ever annoying vibrate mode, or the inconspicuous silent mode.

The MorePhone

Whilst able to shape shift, the MorePhone is also a fully functioning smart phone, enabling apps, calls, SMS functioning as well as E-Mail notifications. The shape shifting will be used to provide the user with an alert, simply put, it will curl up when you receive a call, and curl back up to three of it’s corners when you receive an alert (such as email, SMS or an app based alert).

The MorePhone will still be able to function as a Smart-Phone

Users will be able to designate corners for different alerts, for example, having your top left corner curl inwards for an SMS alert, and top right corner for your E-Mail alerts. The MorePhone is one of three separate idea’s that are floating out of Queen’s University, with other idea’s such as the PaperTab and the PaperPhone being announced.

How does it work?

The MorePhone works, by being made out of a thin, electrophoretic material, created by a British company which is able to send commands to each of the corners of the phone, whilst maintaining a flexible appearance (hence the shape shifting potential!)

We can expect to see this in the next 10 years

When can we get it?

The egg heads at Queen’s University have predicted that we could see these flexible tablets and smart-phones being mass produced and sold to a wide consumer market within the next five to ten years. Later this week, visitors of the Computer-Human Interaction Conference in Paris will be able to grab a glimpse at the prototype.

If unfortunately, you are not near the area, or are un-able to attend, here is a little trailer to let you see the MorePhone in action!

Sources: http://www.hml.queensu.ca (Queen’s University)

A start-up business has multiple trends to choose from when it comes to the smooth running of operations, and they don’t have to come at a huge expense. One of them can be the use of business apps, which are growing in importance for any startup business as they provide means of cost-effective and reliable communication with customers, investors, staff members and anyone else involved in the venture.

The seamless communication is powered by high internet speeds on 4G Wi-Fi networks and connections like CLEAR wireless internet.

If you’re a startup business owner looking for some useful apps, here are some that you may find useful:

1.  Workshare

It might be possible that you were pitching an idea through a presentation in your new business location to present staff members. When the office hours were over, you left for home, but forgot the flash which had the presentation in the office.

Workshare app would come in handy in this case. It allows you to upload files to the Workshare platform. The platform can be synced with any smartphone, allowing you and your staff members to access the files on the platform from any remote location. Users with access to the platform also get real time notifications whenever new comments are made or files are updated.  Workshare works on iOS and Android.

2.  DoubleDutch

DoubleDutch Events app provides an idle solution to start-up business owners who want their staff members, investors, and prospective customers to engage with the content created by the company. The app comes with top-notch security, and the app’s features also allow it to be used as an interactive social network.

There are several features such as offline mode, event registrations system integration, interactive maps and two-way schedule sync. The DoubleDutch events app is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

3.  Google Calendar

Already, there are various web 2.0 calendar apps to choose from such as Planzo and CalendarHub, but Google Calendar stands out from the rest because it’s the easiest to setup and get started.

Startup business owners can make different calendars for multiple clients and projects, and there’s also an option to link the created calendars with public calendars, which helps to synchronize the owner with the activities for clients and customers. If you’re always on the go, you can take out your Android or iOS device to check the schedule, even via text messaging.

4.  HootSuite

It’s very important for start-up businesses to be present on social media from Day 1. While you may decide to target social media through the web, there is HootSuite mobile app that you can use to manage Facebook and Twitter on the go.

This app will allow you to respond immediately when someone leaves a comment on Facebook or a Tweet on Twitter. You can also use the app to schedule status updates and tweets in advance from anywhere. The HootSuite app is available on Android and iOS.

5.  CardCloud

There’s one thing on the mind of a start-up business owner; keep expenses low wherever possible. Well, CardCloud brings a business card for your smartphone, and the contacts you send the card to will have your business contact details stored automatically.

It’s not necessary for others to have CardCloud installed themselves. This business card app works both on iOS and Android platform.