share
Latest
Sony formally quits Sharp LCD joint venture, takes back every yen it invested
After Sony cut off its supply of capital to the ill-fated Sakai production plant that it jointly owns with Sharp, it became clear that the final goodbye may be little more than a formality. And here it is, in the form of a cold, resolute press release stating that Sony is selling its seven percent stake back to Sharp and taking back the 10 billion yen ($126 million) it originally invested. The only reason given is the "rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions," which is a polite reference to the fact that profits from big TVs are well below what these companies predicted back in the heady days of 2008 and early 2009, when the impact of the global economic crisis loomed without yet being fully apparent. Fortunately for Sony, which is in the delicate stages of reform, the solid pre-nuptial agreement it had in place with Sharp should protect the company from having to revise its financial forecasts for the coming year -- not that those were particularly great in the first place.
Nielsen: Over 50 percent of US mobile users own smartphones, Android and iPhone sitting pretty
Smartphones crossed an important milestone in March, based on Nielsen's estimates. Just over half of cellphone owners in the US -- 50.4 percent, to be exact -- had a smartphone of some kind, making dumbphones the minority for the first time. The smartphone tale of the tape shows that the OS split has largely tapered off since February. Android has only moved slightly and still sits atop the heap, claiming 48.5 percent of users, but Apple hasn't had to worry given that 32 percent of smartphone owners use an iPhone. As is increasingly becoming the familiar story, other platforms trailed well behind: RIM's BlackBerry sat at 11.6 percent, while Windows Mobile, at 4.1 percent, was more popular than its Windows Phone successor's 1.7 percent. Apple can still claim to be the top-selling individual smartphone maker in the country, suggesting Samsung hasn't translated its worldwide lead to the US just yet.
Google+ Share button gives you another option aside from plain 'ol +1s
Although Google's had its +1 button all over the web for some time now, helping folks show their allegiance to things they like, it's lacked a dedicated button just for sharing content. That's now changed, as the Google+ development team recently let loose the Share button. The button is similar in appearance to its +1 sibling, but rather than just being a shortcut for quickly slapping content with a virtual high-five, it gives you a way to easily share pages on your Google+ profile. (Yes, you could share through the +1 button, too, but consider this one a bit more focused). Best of all, the Google+ Share button is ready to roll, so move your cursor to the source link below if you'd like to put it on your site or find out more. Happy Liking Sharing!
New Diablo III launch site collapses under the weight of fans
With just over a month left until Diablo III is released, Blizzard launched its new Darkness Falls, Heroes Rise minisite to get people excited. Fans can enter an art contest with some big prizes or create a banner to unlock an exclusive in-game banner sigil that will never be given away outside this event. The site is one big social media campaign, with exclusive content that unlocks when players share enough contest entries on Facebook and Twitter. Fansite DiabloFans revealed that the unlocks will include developer diaries, wallpapers and more. Once the share meter reaches 100%, a final epic unveiling will occur that Blizzard's Bashiok says "is going to melt people's brain meats." When the site first launched, fans reported everything from PHP errors to lost connections and 404 pages. The site has since been stabilised but doesn't appear to be working as intended. The galleries are no longer updating, confirmation emails are not being sent for entries, and the unlock level hasn't budged from 0%. As we'll need just under 3% per day to meet the 100% goal, players are concerned that if the meter isn't broken, then expectations may have been set too high.
Twitter's Android and iOS app get updates; out on Kindle Fire now, Nook soon
The official Twitter app has just received an update on iOS and Android, bringing new features to both platforms, plus an "optimized" Ice Cream Sandwich experience as seen above. The app is also currently available on Amazon's Appstore for the Kindle Fire now, and the company says it will pop up in the Barnes & Noble Nook Store February 23rd. For both Android and IOS the app has brought back / added a swipe gesture to reply to, reweet or favorite something without leaving your timeline, plus a notification on the Find Friends feature that it will be uploading their address book to Twitter's server -- a welcome change after the Path fiasco. The iOS-specific changes are the return of copy and paste, more options to share or save links in tweets, a mark all read for DMs and configurable font sizes. While it is optimized for ICS, on our CyanogenMod 9 tablet, the layout still looked reminiscent of the Gingerbread version instead of the iPad's richer layout. Hit the source links below to give it a look yourself and let us know if it's beating out your favorite mobile app yet.
Amazon's Send to Kindle lets you send stuff to your Kindle
Do you like Amazon Kindles? Do you like PCs? Do you like documents? Would you like to send documents from your PC to your Kindle? Fantastic, because that's totally what you can do with Amazon's new Send to Kindle software. You might wanna take this opportunity to grab a notepad, because it's sort of complicated: download the program for free, fire up Windows Explorer, find a document, right-click it, and choose Send to Kindle. You can also save documents to download at a later date and synchronize your bookmarks, notes and highlights across all (non-PDF) documents, which is pretty wild, if you think about it. Windows users can dramatically change their lives at the source link below. Mac users will have to wait a little longer.
BitTorrent harnesses technology for friendly filesharing service, Share
Want to send large files, without the whole world catching on? BitTorrent's going the DropBox route, with the launch of the simply -- and friendly -- named Share, a desktop app that allows you to transfer HD movies, photo collections, et al. by dragging and dropping files. The service, which is built on top of BitTorrent's much loved technology, doesn't impose any size limits and stores the content in the cloud, so you can share with offline users. Share also lets you set groups for transfers, so the rest of the world doesn't get a crack at your files. And, because you can't launch a service without some manner of social functionality these days, the aforementioned recipients can comment on the transferred files, Facebook-style. No word yet on any plans for boy band tie-ins.
Apple grabs a third of all-in-one PC sales for Q3 2011
Apple managed to sell more all-in-one PCs that any other manufacturer in Q3 of 2011, with its iMac range claiming just under a third of the 14.5 million all-in-ones sold worldwide. According to DisplaySearch's estimates, people are still buying into the big screened monoliths, with the overall market growing by 39 percent. Lenovo claims second place with a 22.7 percent market share thanks to a strong showing in China, while the beleaguered HP bagged third with 21.4 percent. The research firm also suggested that there's plenty of space for more all-in-ones, with the potential to reach over 23 million by 2014. Looks like it's not all about the Ultrabooks -- at least, not just yet.
Google offers updates for Google+ this holiday season, fruitcake en route
If Google's idea of a stocking stuffer is tweaking Google+, its engineers are getting the gift-giving over with a few days early. Today, the company announced that it'll be introducing a few new features to its social network, including new controls that adjust how posts from a given circle are blended into the overall stream of posts, along with which posts are highlighted for your attention. The outfit also says it's working on refining its toolbar to highlight newer posts and see how widely your posts have been shared. For advertisers, up to 50 named managers can now administrate a Google+ Page, and a fix to the photo side of the site allow for improved navigation and better tagging. Head past the break to see full clips of the changes in action, and since Google bought out Santa's operation, expect to hear Eric Schmidt's footsteps on your roof come the 24th. Update: The Google+ Android app has also seen an update tonight, gaining the ability to start a hangout from a Messenger conversation, new photo album design and more. Hit the Android Market for more details.
Pogoplug Cloud offers 5GB of free mobile storage, a home for your Beatles collection
Is that 2GB of free storage from Dropbox just not enough to house all of your mobile music habits? Don't fret, as Pogoplug Cloud now offers 5GB of secure space for all your storage, sharing and streaming needs. The service offers Dropbox-esque folder sharing and automatic uploads for all those vacation pictures without time lost to manual syncing. If that's not enough extra space for your coveted Jericho episodes (and the Season 3 comics), you can spring from the 50GB and 100GB paid plans at $9.95 and $19.95 per month. You'll also be able to post your cloud activity, should you so desire, to Facebook, Twitter or Google+ via native smartphone apps. All of the aforementioned services are available now via the coverage link below -- after you install the free Android or iOS app, of course.
Samsung claims top spot in global smartphone shipments for Q3 2011, Apple slips to number two
On this edition of As The Smartphone World Turns..., we've got Samsung violently snatching victory from the jaws of Apple, claiming its spot at the top of global smartphone vendors once more. Dramatics aside, the latest shipment figures tallied up by Strategy Analytics are showing that worldwide smartphone shipments are up 44 percent year-over-year, reaching a staggering 117 million units in Q3 2011. Digging into that a bit, we're told that Samsung has overtaken Apple from a units-shipped standpoint, with Sammy moving 28 million smartphones and claiming 24 percent of the market share. If you'll recall, Apple briefly grabbed hold of numero uno last quarter, but has now fallen a rung with 15 percent of the global pie. Of course, things could be dramatically different when we see Q4 2011 figures roll out -- remember, Q3 2011 was the last quarter in a long string with the aging iPhone 4 as Apple's "newest" device. Stranger still, Nokia is slotted third with just 14 percent of the global share, representing a precipitous drop from 33 percent a year ago. Similarly, Nokia's fortunes are apt to change with both the N9 finally out and its spate of Windows Phone devices heading out in short order. Hop on past the break for the full breakdown.
Daily Mac App: Sound Cloud
You're a SoundCloud user. You love playing tracks on your Mac and love the idea of SoundCloud, but hate the fact that your poor old Mac sounds like a jet engine whenever you play a track thanks to Flash. SoundCloud app to the rescue. The official SoundCloud app brings "the full SoundCloud web experience to your Mac" allowing you to play tracks directly from your SoundCloud account, search, favorite and create playlists all using a native app. The sounds stream pretty instantly, while tag search is also supported so you can go exploring either through keyword search, through users or tags and save the good stuff for later. You can even drag-and-drop SoundCloud URLs onto the SoundCloud dock icon to create playlists. The SoundCloud app also supports the built-in Mac media keys, so you can pause and skip tracks like you would with iTunes. Growl support is bundled too, so if you've got Growl installed it'll notify you of track changes. The only disadvantage of using the desktop app over the in-browser SoundCloud site is that only tracks which have been made available for 3rd party applications within SoundCloud will appear in the app. For the rest you'll have to resort to the website. For me that didn't make much difference as my favorite stuff was all present in the app without issue. Recording your own stuff is a doddle with the desktop app thanks to the nice big "Share Your Sound" tab in the top left that reveals a massive "Rec" button that you simply hit to record from your Mac. If you're into SoundCloud, but hate that you have to use Flash, then check out the SoundCloud desktop app -- it's free and works pretty well.
Android Gingerbread has growth spurt, grabs 38.2 percent device share
Gingerbread has apparently made a substantial mark on Android users, with new figures showing it holds a 38.2 percent share of all Google OS-powered devices. That's some kind of growth from the one percent sliver it held earlier this year. Froyo still remains dominant at 45.3 percent, but fragmentation continues to shrink, with 95.7 percent of all Google-coated devices now running Android 2.1 or above. These figures, taken from Android Market statistics over the last two weeks, give a pretty good illustration of the gulf between Android smartphone and tablets, as well, with Honeycomb versions accounting for a meager 1.8 percent. But the tablet version will likely get a boost from Ice Cream Sandwich -- which, as we all know, is just around the corner.
More proof of growing Mac OS X acceptance
Chart by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, CNNMoney, from Net Applications data With all the attention on Apple iPads and iPhones, you might have missed reports that OS X is steadily increasing its share of web traffic, which means there are more and more Macs out there. Net Applications reports a 25 percent increase in Apple global desktop share in Fiscal 2011. The firm thinks the bump may be because students and parents are getting ready for school, and notes that there was a similar jump in September 2010, but that increase was much smaller than what the research is showing now. Net Applications puts OS X with a 13.7 percent share here in the US, and 6.45 percent worldwide. Those numbers are record highs for Apple. This reports parallels similar research from Chitika which shows similar gains for Apple in September.
Flickr unveils Android app, introduces real-time Photo Session feature (video)
The Android community may be awaiting its very own Instagram app, but at least Flickr has now stepped up to fill the void. Yesterday, the photo-sharing service unveiled its very first Android app, along with a new social feature known as Photo Session. Available for free on the Android Market, the app allows users to snap, filter and upload their photos directly to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, all from the comfort of their own handset. It also features an array of camera functions like flash, ratio selection, and shutter focus, along with ten high-quality filters. Photo Session, meanwhile, allows you to browse through images with your friends in real-time. All you have to do is round up your online comrades, start a session and begin flipping through a photostream. Every time you move on to the next image, your friends will, too, effectively turning any browsing affair into a collective, Don Draper-like slide show. For more details, check out the source links below, or trot past the break for a video run-down of Photo Session.
Nintendo shares drop 5 percent following TGS showcase
It seems Japanese investors weren't too thrilled by the presentation Nintendo put together for last night's Tokyo Game Show press conference. Despite revealing a new Mario Tennis, another Monster Hunter title, a firmware update and a different 3DS color, Nintendo's share price dropped to ¥12,290 by the end of trading yesterday -- a five percent day-to-day drop which some investors chalk up to a lineup that doesn't compete with the cheaper offerings of iOS and Android titles. Speaking to Reuters, Ichiyoshi Investment manager Mitsushige Akino said, "Nintendo succeeded by pulling in people who weren't gamers and their needs now are no longer being filled by Nintendo, they are happy playing games on their mobile phones." We suppose Nintendo could combat further losses by making 3DS games cost 99 cents. Whatever they do, they should do it quickly, as Nintendo's stock has fallen 84 percent from its all time high of ¥70,500 in November 2007.
Ticketmaster's interactive seat map brings Facebook stalking to concert venues
You desperately want to attend Katy Perry's raucous San Antonio concert, but your kid sister has absolutely zero interest in tagging along, and the mere thought of going stag strikes fear into your heart. All seems lost, but worry not -- because Ticketmaster and Facebook have just joined forces to create a new feature that weds concert-going with social networking. As of today, users purchasing tickets to select events can easily find out whether any of their Facebook friends are also attending and where they're seated. All you have to do is connect to Ticketmaster with your Facebook account, find your concert of choice and use the interactive venue map to tag your own seats, or to see those of online friends who've already tagged themselves. From there, you can buy tickets right next to your intended targets and act totally surprised when you bump into them at the show. For now, the feature is only available for 300 venues (encompassing some 9,000 events), but you can find more information in the video and press release after the break.
BMW's Ultimate Drive app lets you share your favorite routes, crowdsources day tripping
Are you driving to get somewhere, or are you driving to drive? That's the fundamental question behind BMW's Ultimate Drive -- a new app that allows iPhone and Android users to share and rate their most enjoyable routes. With this arrow in your smartphone's quiver, you can create and upload your favorite paths using Google Maps, while evaluating other user submissions based on traffic, scenery and that ever-elusive thrill factor. As CNET points out, the app won't let you upload maps from your computer, nor does it allow for Yelp-style ratings of locations along the way, though those features may only be an update away. Check out the source links to download the free app and enjoy the journey. Full PR after the break.
Apple now the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, Samsung checks in at number two
We make our own truth. That's how IDC can come up with roughly the same numbers as fellow research firm Canalys and crown Apple the king, when its rival called Android top dog -- it's all about how you slice it. See, where as Canalys bundled all Android handset makers together, IDC has broken them up, which leads to a rather interesting twist -- the largest smartphone maker in the world is now Apple. Cupertino's growth of 141.7-percent in shipments year over year was enough to push it past Nokia (which slipped to number three) and Samsung (which climbed two spots to take the silver medal), while RIM and HTC rounded out the top five. That being said, no one is running away with the lead here, and Sammy's continued stratospheric rise should keep Apple on guard. Check out the full report after the break.
Google chart shows huge growth in Gingerbread use, the other desserts get jealous
If you've spent more than a split-second of your life wondering how many Android devices are running this or that version, you probably wasted too much of it. Still, Google HQ likes to produce a monthly graph that shows exactly what percentage of its devices are using each type of firmware. The king of the hill is Froyo, which is no stunner, but we were much more interested to see that Gingerbread grew leaps and bounds by five percent over the past month. It sure sounds like a small amount, but when you consider this was at a paltry four percent last month, it's much more awe-inspiring to see it skyrocket up to nine. Can we expect these numbers to grow even more next month, since we'll get inundated with Gingerbread on both new and old handsets alike? We're expecting so, but don't tell Honeycomb -- it's getting a bit jealous.
