By Cynthia Herbert :: 11:35 AM
While one’s mind doesn’t normally think of “Sony” when top-of-the-line Android handsets are mentioned, the company is hoping to change that perception when it introduces its new line of smartphones at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week.
Sony’s Japanese PR arm has leaked pictures of the new Xperia Z (Yuga) and the Xperia ZL (Odin) handsets, and they look like they could give Samsung a run for their money.
See Sony’s current smartphone lineup
According to earlier industry rumors, the larger Xperia Z and its slightly smaller companion, the ZL will probably sport 5-inch 1080p LCD displays, Snapdragon quad-core 1.5GHz chips with 2 GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera.
Unfortunately, further details are scant at this time. Sony’s CES debut press event will be held on Monday of next week, so if these leaks are on track, more will be clear at that time.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 5:02 PM
Samsung looks like it will not disappoint at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, as it has teased out that it is coming up with an unprecedented new shape and design for an HD television set. PR images released by the South Korean electronics manufacturer show a rectangle shape that appears to be a widescreen HDTV flipped on its side, into a sort of portrait mode.
Last year, Samsung made a splash at the Las Vegas electronics mecca when it introduced new HDTV sets
The picture below is taken from Samsung’s recent press announcement, and though vague, does hint at a new shape in HDTVs.
By Gilbert Falso :: 4:49 PM
Pinterest, the social networking site with the virtual pinboard interface, was the subject of a lawsuit filed last week by Theodore F. Schroeder that claims early Pinterest investor Brian Cohen stole the idea for the sharing service.
The lawsuit claims Schroeder came up with the ideas “that led to the popular, ever-growing Pinterest website.†It goes on to outline the development of a site called Redezvoo, and a spinoff site, Skoopwire, that operate on very similar premises. Those two sites were developed by Schroeder and two classmates from Columbia Law School.
“The lawsuit against Pinterest is baseless and we will fight it aggressively,†read a statement released by Pinterest.
Rendezvoo was a site where people could share ideas and concepts, and included two pin-type concepts that later wound up incorporated into Pinterest as boards for sharing content. Another issue was the infinite scrolling feature of Pinterest, where users are not forced to switch from page to page by clicking links to load additional content.
Read the full text of the lawsuit here:Â http://www.scribd.com/doc/118264663/Pinterest-lawsuit
By Cynthia Herbert :: 3:39 AM
The new Samsung Galaxy
According to details leaked to the website, Samsung’s new smartphone will surpass features that came on the Galaxy S3 and its main rival, the Apple iPhone 5. The S4 will be much thinner, with its screen stretching nearly from edge-to-edge on the front of the handset.
The phone will feature a ‘projected keyboard’, which beams a keyboard image onto a nearby flat surface where the user can then type on the projected keys. In addition to the virtual keyboard, it will also come with an updated stylus.
As exciting as these features sound, they are all still – at this point – just rumors. It should be noted that despite a projected availability date of April, 2013, the S4 will not be making an appearance at CES next month. However, there is an outside chance that the company will schedule an event for February’s Mobile World Congress. Stay tuned!
By Gilbert Falso :: 10:44 PM
Foursquare announced today that it will be making changes to its terms of service and privacy policy. The amended terms will take hold on January 28, 2013.
The location-based social networking service sent an e-mail to users earlier today – it carried the subject line “We’ve released a ton of new features in 2012 and have a lot more planned for 2013. Here are the updates to our privacy policy.” It seems as if the privacy policy updates part of that message was meant to be lost in your e-mail reader.
The e-mail announced a high-level document that the company considers a “Privacy 101†text. It describes how Foursquare privacy works, and while not designed to replace the legal text and complete description of the privacy practices, the company hopes it better explains privacy issues in layman’s terms.
At the top of the privacy changes list is this major announcement -Foursquare will now display your full name to everyone on the network, regardless of whether you are friends with them on the service or not.
Currently, Foursquare will sometimes show your full name and sometimes show only your first name and last initial. On January 28th, full names will be be public. If you do not want your full name publicized, you can change it by logging on to Foursquare and going to the settings page at: Â https://foursquare.com/settings.
In addition to making full names public information, Foursquare is also increasing the amount of data and names that it provides to businesses who have established locations on the service. Businesses will now be able to see more of their recent customers who have checked in.
Currently, a business using Foursquare can only access the names of customers who have checked in in the last three hours With this change, Foursquare will display more check-ins, instead of just three hours worth. If you want to keep businesses from seeing when you check into their locations, you can uncheck the box under ‘Location Information’ at: https://foursquare.com/settings/privacy.
Although Fourquare seems to be very up-front and proactive about these terms of service and privacy policy changes, it picked an interesting time to announce them. Perhaps in the shadow of the Instagram terms of service debacle earlier this month, a quiet Sunday afternoon preceding the last work day of the year and then a holiday will give Foursquare a chance to avoid the brunt of some Internet outrage over its changes.