Smartphone ownership in US continues to grow, led by Android OS

Smartphone ownership in the USA continues to grow with 50.4 percent of mobile subscribers now owning a smart device, according to a Nielsen study published May 7. 

The study found that from December 2011 to March 2012 the percentage of US mobile subscribers owning smartphones increased for 47.8 percent to 50.4 percent.

Among  those smartphone owners in the USA, Android was the most popular OS accounting for 48.5 percent of the market, Apple's iOS was the second most popular with 32 percent of the market, followed by Blackberry's RIM in distant third with 11.6 percent of the market.

According to a report on financialpost.com smartphone ownership is also growing in Canada, increasing by 13 percent from August 2011 to January 2012, with more than one third of Canadians now owning such a device; as with the USA Android is the most popular OS in Canada. 

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Top new tech products: Samsung Galaxy S III, LG Optimus LTE2

High-tech product releases announced the week ending May 9 include the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HP Envy Spectre XT, the world’s first smartphone for seniors, a waterproof Android smartphone, and a tough camera from Olympus.

A powerful and sleek ultrabook with Beats Audio
Computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) showed off a barrage of new laptops this week, among them the new HP Envy Spectre XT -- an ultra mobile premium ultrabook. HP’s new thin, light and ultra portable laptop boasts an all-metal design, Beats Audio, a HD webcam, a 13.3” HD display with slim bezel, 128GB of solid state storage, up to eight hours of battery life, a 14.5mm profile and a price tag of $999.99. The HP Envy Spectre will hit stores in the US on June 8.
http://www.hp.com

A flagship Android smartphone with voice commands, eye-tracking and lag-free photos
Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone comes with an improved user interface, software optimization, exclusive on-board features and consumer-pleasing specs. The device sports a huge 4.8” HD Super AMOLED (1280x720) display, a 1.4 GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor, an 8MP camera, a 2,100mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. It runs on a customized version of Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and offers added features including Siri-challenging voice commands (S Voice), cloud storage, eye-tracking and lag-free photo taking. The Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone will launch in Europe on May 29 before a wider rollout in global markets. Pricing has not been announced.
http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxys3/

The world’s first Android smartphone for seniors
The Doro PhoneEasy 740 is an Android smartphone that’s built for seniors. Not only does it sport large buttons, loud sounds, large fonts and a magnifier with light, it also makes the smartphone experience easier for technophobes. It features both a dial pad and a touch screen, plus easy navigation with large, clear icons. The smartphone offers a range of different applications designed for older users including a stripped down version of Facebook. The device is due out in September. No price has been announced.
http://www.doro.com/

A feature-packed point and shoot built for adventure
The Olympus TG-1 iHS is the world’s first rugged camera to incorporate an ultra-bright, high-speed f2.0 lens. It’s the camera you want to take on your thrill-seeking adventures as it’s waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof, crushproof and dustproof. It features a high-speed 12MP backlit CMOS sensor, 8x optical zoom, onboard GPS, full HD 1080p video recording and a converter ring that enables you to use Olympus’s waterproof Fisheye Converter Lens and Teleconverter Lens. The Olympus TG-1 iHS is priced at $399.99 and will be available in June.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1621

An Android smartphone made to meet the demands of real life
Kyocera’s Hydro Android smartphone is waterproof to one meter for up to 30 minutes. It features both a high-resolution 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive 480x320 IPS LCD touchscreen and runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 2GB ROM, 512MB RAM and a 3.2MP camera. The Kyocera Hydro will be available in the second half of 2012. Pricing has not been announced.
http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/

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Twitter passwords bared online

Twitter on Tuesday said that it was trying to figure out how user names and passwords from thousands of accounts apparently wound up posted at an online file sharing website.

Information posted on Pastebin.com pages appeared to be from about 35,000 Twitter accounts, not counting about 20,000 that seemed to be redundancies, according to a message "tweeted" by the San Francisco firm.

"We're looking into the situation and have pushed out password resets to potentially affected accounts," Twitter said.

Twitter, which rocketed to popularity by letting people fire off short text messages to limitless numbers of people using smartphones, recommended users change their passwords.

The list at Pastebin included spam accounts and incorrect login credentials, according to Twitter.

The evident data breach came as Twitter challenged a court order to turn over to law enforcement data on one of its users involved in Occupy Wall Street.

The motion filed Monday in a New York state court said the order would require Twitter to violate federal law and denies the user the ownership rights to his Twitter messages.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday applauded Twitter's action, saying the company was standing up for free speech.

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PAGASA website hacked

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) website was hacked on Wednesday.

The hacker did not leave any identification, only the words: “Hacked by Net user! Team:X-fuck ! E-mail:794399786@qq.com!”

A PAGASA official said computer experts are now investigating the incident. In the meantime, an alternative website can be accessed via www.kidlat.pagasa.dost.gov.ph.

Several government websites have been hacked or attacked in recent weeks following the standoff between the Philippines and China over Scarborough Shoal near Zambales, which started April 8.

The University of the Philippines (UP) system website has been hacked allegedly by Chinese, and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website has been attacked by hackers from China.

Alleged Filipino hackers have retaliated against some Chinese websites.

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Samsung reveals Galaxy S III Olympic Edition with Visa Paywave

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung will release a limited edition Olympic Galaxy S III handset that will have Visa Paywave technology.

Don't go getting too excited, though, as Visa has said that the 'mobile wallet' won't go on sale to the general public yet, as it will be made available only to sponsored Olympic athletes.

According to Samsung the Paywave enabled smartphone will enable users to "buy merchandise with a wave of the device at thousands of retail locations throughout London", which given that the athletes are unlikely to have to pay, or even want to purchase merchandise, makes the device seem a little unnecessary.

Still, DJ Lee, EVP and head of Sales and Marketing for Samsung's Mobile Communications Business remains optimistic. He said, "Mobile payment services enabled by NFC technology are gaining momentum around the world. The Samsung Galaxy S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind and is the ideal device to showcase the ease and convenience of Visa's mobile payment application at the London 2012 Olympic Games".

Sandra Alzetta, SVP of Mobile at Visa Europe claims that the limited edition device will change the way we pay for goods, saying, "The future is mobile and cash usage will only continue to decline as people use their mobile devices to manage their money, shop and pay."

"This summer our partnership with Samsung will showcase all the advantages of the future of payments: security, convenience, speed and flexibility being forefront among them."

We're not sure that offering a device exlusively to athletes is a good way to push forward NFC payments, since obviously we won't use it if we can't get it. µ

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