NSA extracting data from mobile app leaks 

The news about the NSA's reach into our personal devices is becoming more and more harrowing each day. Recently leaked documents from the government agency show that the NSA has been successfully extracting data from our mobile applications for years.
The NSA, through analyzing and zeroing in on the configuration data of said mobile apps, are able to find location data (based on GPS), ethnicity, age, and other personal data.
 
The document also delineates clearly how agents can tap into our personal data that mobile applications send to ad networks. One such popular app that is referenced in the documents is Angry Birds. NSA agents were able to capture the data the game was sending to advertisers as it was in transit.
Mobile apps aren't the only smartphone features that the NSA is able to exploit. Google map queries are also susceptible. Every time you pull up the map application, the NSA is able to pinpoint your location, as your GPS information is provided without encryption. The documents revealed that this is especially the case with Android smartphones.
Even scarier is the NSA's ability to enable “hot mic” recording, meaning that they can turn on your phone's microphone without your knowledge and listen in on your conversations. They also possess the ability to access files that are stored locally on your phone in addition to other data such as text messages, pictures, calendar dates, emails; anything, really.
This certainly sounds quite scary to those of us concerned about their privacy, but here's hoping that the NSA only uses these powers only in extremely critical cases.

Nokia X specs include a dual-core processor and 4" display 

The Nokia X, a.k.a. Nokia Normandy, has been talked about for some time now. The latest information regarding Nokia's first ever Android smartphone comes again from evleaks, who has provided some of the key specs of the device.


One of the leaked specifications is a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Exact SoC is unknown but previous reports had suggested the Snapdragon 200 8225Q, although that is a quad-core chip. The phone will also have 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage memory.
Other specs include a 4.0-inch, WVGA (800 x 480) display, 5 megapixel camera, dual-SIM support and a 1,500mAh battery. If there was ever doubt that this is going to be a low-end device, this should take care of it.
The Nokia X will have Nokia's own application store on board, just like Amazon has on its Kindle Fire devices but you will also be able to install third party apps by sideloading them. The phone will allegedly be available in six colors.

Samsung to reportedly drop Windows notebooks in 2015, will only make Chromebooks 

 

It seems Samsung is ready to give up on Windows notebooks, if a report by Digitimes is to be believed. According to their sources at a Taiwan-based supply chain, Samsung will no longer release conventional Windows based notebooks from next year.  


So will it be dropping out of the notebook business altogether? Not quite. The report also states that Samsung will switch to only making Chromebooks from 2015. Samsung already has one model on sale right now and many more will be coming in future.  


This move comes after Samsung failed to meet its own goal for notebook shipments in 2013. The company had planned on shipping 17 million units when it actually only managed around 12 million. Now, the company has set a goal of just 7 million for the year 2014, according to the same sources.
Whether the move to Chromebooks will be beneficial to Samsung or not remains to be seen. The Chromebooks do seem to be doing relatively well at the low end of the market while Windows 8, on the other hand, not being the success that Microsoft expected. For someone like Samsung, it makes sense to skate to where the puck is going to be, rather than where it has been.

Apple reports record revenue from the fiscal Q1 of 2014 

Apple announced its financial results for the fiscal Q1 2014. The Cupertino giant achieved record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion. Net profit hit $13.1 billion or $14.50 per diluted share during the period which covers from October to December of last year. Apple’s Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $3.05 per share of its common stock .
Apple’s revenue number shows an increase over the same period of last year, while the net profit has remained mostly the same. The company’s gross margin was 37.9%, while international sales brought 63% of the revenue during the fiscal quarter.

Thanks to the new product launches and busy holiday season, Apple sold a record number of iPhone and iPad devices in Q1. The company moved 51 million iPhones and 26 million iPads – impressive figures considering the size of its product lineup. The sales of Apple iPod devices decreased to a tad above six million, while the Mac range is responsible for a little over 4.8 million units.
Going forward, Apple expects the revenue in fiscal Q2 2014 to reach between $42 billion and $44 billion. Gross margin is expected to remain between 37% and 38%.

IDC: Over a billion smartphones were shipped in 2013 

In line with its prediction  from November last year, IDC announced that more than a billion smartphones were shipped during 2013. According to the global market intelligence provider, smartphone vendors dispatched 1,004.2 million units worldwide last year – up 38.4% from 2012. 
Demand for  large-screen and low-cost smartphones were among the leading forces behind the staggering growth of the segment. Cheap devices were pointed as the key difference maker – they made huge part of the shipments in large markets such as India and China.
Samsung retained its double-digit leadership position among the smartphone vendors. Thanks to strong demand for it
Huawei and Lenovo are ranked third and fourth respectively among the vendors. Huawei achieved the biggest increase on an annual basis, while Lenovo finished fourth despite its lack of presence in key markets such as North America and Western Europe.
s high-end models, as well as a wide selection of mid and low-tier devices, the Korean giant shipped 313.9 million units for a market share of 31.3%. However, IDC data shows that the company lost ground in Q4 last year to its rivals.
Apple came in as the second largest vendor, hot on the heels of its record-breaking fiscal Q1. Expansion of markets and healthy interest towards the latest iPhone lineup led the Cupertino giant to a 2013 market share of 15.3% with 153.4 million units shipped. The company had the lowest year-over-year increase among the vendors, but its official arrival on China Mobile gives it plenty of room for growth in 2014.
LG took fifth place, barely edging ZTE on its way there. Thanks to a dramatically improved product portfolio, the Korean company posted growth rate which beat the market.
Overall, the market for mobile phones (including smartphones and feature phones) grew by 4.8% on its way to over 1.82 billion units.

Samsung hints a big push with big screens on phones and tablets, improved S Pen and display tech in tow 

At its quarterly earning conference call with analysts, Samsung execs hinted that they are planning a big push with big screens this year, both in regards to phones, and to tablets. 

For the phone realm, it mentioned more phablets are on the way, with screens in the 5"-6" range, and the first of those might be the rumored Note 3 Lite edition, with a 5.5" HD display, hexacore Exynos, and an S Pen stylus tucked in. Hyunjoon Kim, senior vice president of Samsung’s mobile business said that when it comes to the big-screen handsets, also known as phablets, “these large smartphones were a space or category that we ourselves created in 2011…and we are the leaders in this segment... each Note generation has greatly outsold the previous generation. This reflects market awareness that large smartphones equals Samsung.” 

 

No arguing there, but the Korean tech giant also plans an equally big push in the large tablet arena, obviously not intent to stop at the 12" NotePRO for your business needs, but gearing up for slates as big as 20". These would also sport very high resolution, he mentioned, so if you are a graphics designer, you might want to wait and see what Samsung is planning on in that category this year.  

 

Mr Kim also reiterated that there will be improved screen sensitivity in its big-screen devices, like the multi-hover we heard about and the multi-window mode, as well as advanced stylus functionality for the S Pen itself. 

 

source: ZDNet.co.kr via G4Games

South Korea's 5G network to be fully rolled out by 2020, will allow entire movies to be downloaded in a second 

What is at least 10 times faster than 4G LTE-Advanced? 5G, of course! The theoretic speeds that 5G can muster are still not even ironed out, though we're told to expect a peak of at least 10Gbps, even though Samsung only managed 1Gbps a while back, when testing the new tech. Of course, much of the world is still struggling to even get normal 4G LTE up and running, but that doesn't stop network pioneer South Korea from starting work on the new generation. 

According to the country's science ministry, $1.5bn have already been invested into the vision of having theoretical down link high enough to pull a full-fledged movie in seconds. Referred to as the most-wired country in the world, South Korea has put its goals forth -- initial rollout, starting 2017, and a full rollout by 2020. The ambitious plan will obviously entail much more than just $1.5bn, but it's still impressive to see how forward-thinking the country is: 

 

"We helped fuel national growth with 2G services in the 1990s, 3G in the 2000s and 4G around 2010. Now it is time to take preemptive action to develop 5G," said the science ministry in a statement. "Countries in Europe, China and the US are making aggressive efforts to develop 5G technology ... and we believe there will be fierce competition in this market in a few years." 

 

 

The country's carriers and handset makers, including SK Telecom and Korea Telecom, and LG and Samsung, are all expected to cooperate with their own share of investment. Of course, while downing a 800-megabyte movie in just a second is mighty impressive compared to 40 seconds on 4G (according to the ministry's statement), it's still important to point out that such speeds don't necessarily reach consumers, as the bandwidth ceiling is just too low for hundreds of people to surf on such lightning-fast speeds.  

 

 

 

source: AFP, CNN