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FTC issues app privacy guidelines, proposes ‘Do Not Track’ for mobile

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated November 9, 2023

A patchwork of online privacy measures should be standardized to form a 'Do Not Track' list for mobile app users. In guidelines issued Friday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone "facilitate unprecedented amounts of data collection."

Both devices and app developers should obtain users' consent before obtaining personal information such as location, photos or contacts. The set of guidelines accompanied Path's $800,000 settlement with the FTC over grabbing iOS users' personal address books without their consent...

App Store income 3.5x Google Play’s in December

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 31, 2013

Examples keep appearing of how Apple is able to squeeze more revenue from its iPhone and iPad than rival Android. The latest data shows Apple's App Store earned 3.5 times more than Android's Google Play in December. Did I mention this happened despite Google Play doubling its quarterly revenue? The reason, according to App Annie, is the iPhone 5 and iPad mini - both popular holiday gifts and natural driver of App Store sales...

Adoption rate: iOS (60%) vs Android Jelly Bean (10%)

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2013

I just stumbled upon a nice post by Doug Hamlin highlighting how Android fragmentation seriously derails Google's ability to deploy the latest and greatest version of its mobile operating system to as many devices as possible, especially compared to Apple's iOS software. At the time of this writing, and based on Google's own numbers, Jelly Bean (both Android version 4.1 and 4.2) powers a total of 10.2 percent of devices in the wild. By contrast, 300 million Apple devices (out of 500 million) upgraded to iOS 6 and above in just five months...

Apple drops from top 20 privacy ranking

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 30, 2013

Are consumers loosing trust that Apple will keep personal information private? That's the implication from new rankings showing the iPhone maker fell out of the top 20 most-trusted firms in 2012.

The firm fell to number 21 after being among the top 20 companies viewed as protecting customer data. Mozilla, the maker of open-source web browser Firefox claimed the number 20 spot, according to privacy watcher Ponemon Institute.

Consumer credit firm American Express again took the number one position in the 2012 privacy rankings. Computer maker Hewlett-Packard and Amazon, creator of the Kindle, ranked number two and three. Amazon improved its ranking, rising to third place in 2012, up from the fifth spot in 2011. Although Apple had ranked as high as number 8 in 2009, confidence in the firm's privacy stance has been shaken over the past year...

Rumor: retooled Nexus 7 with 1080p display and iPad mini style bezels due in May

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 29, 2013

More tablet news for you this morning. After Apple officially announced via a press release that the new 128GB iPad 4 option is launching on February 5 (is it too pricey? You tell us!), we're hearing now that Google and its manufacturing partner Asus are working on a 2nd gen Nexus. The re-tooled version of the popular low-cost tablet is said to sport a display with 1080p resolution (1,920-by-1,080 pixels) and the skinnier side bezels akin to Apple's iPad mini.

It should cost the same as the first-generation model (between $199-249, depending on networking and storage options) and will run Google's upgraded Jelly Bean-based Android operating system...

Google Drive update brings multiple media uploads, QuickOffice integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 28, 2013

Five days ago, Google updated Drive for Android with the ability to create, edit, comment and present Google slides in offline mode. Today, the search firm has given some love to its iOS counterpart by adding a few new features you should know about. These include pinch-to-zoom on slides, multiple media uploads, QuickOffice integration and more. Additional information after the break...

Talk about duopoly: Apple, Android ship 92 percent of all smartphones

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 28, 2013

We've said it before, and yet another analyst confirms it: the smartphone market is a duopoly of Apple and Android. The two firms control 92 percent of the market, according to Strategy Analytics researchers. What does this mean? Of the 217 million smartphones shipped during the final quarter of 2012, 200 million were powered either by iOS or Android.

The concentration of the smartphone market in two hands is just the latest indication of an industry-wide consolidation. After mobile consumers in North America and Western Europe spent 2011 shifting from simple handsets to more capable phones, global smartphone growth in 2012 slowed to 43 percent from 64 percent...

12 Apple users in UK sue Google over Safari tracking

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Although US District Judge Susan Illston recently approved the $22.5 million fine Google agreed to pay in order to settle the FTC claim that it illegally bypassed user privacy settings in Safari, the Internet giant is not yet off the hook over in the United Kingdom, where a group of twelve disgruntled users decided to take the search behemoth to the court over the scandal. A group called "Safari Users Against Google's Secret Tracking" hired a law firm to file a complaint conveniently timed ahead of the sixth annual Data Privacy Day in the country...

Pressure mounts on Apple to reveal iOS source code

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2013

Samsung's first crack at cornering Apple into providing the iOS source code came in November 2011, when it argued at an Australian court it needed to take a look into the iPhone 4S firmware in order to determine the extent of an alleged patent infringement.

And on its own turf in South Korea, the Galaxy maker is putting pressure on the Cupertino, California firm to reveal the iOS 6 source code to judge whether Apple's mobile operating system - specifically, the Notification Center feature - infringes its technology patents.

To say that Apple wasn't impressed would be an understatement: lawyers for the iPhone maker called Samsung's request “insane” and argued its rival is trying to force it into revealing its “most important data”...

Google upgrades YouTube Capture with 1080p video uploads

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0sOzdXce6o

When Google in December released the YouTube Capture iOS app, the company instantly goy my attention. I love its sleek design, simplified user interface and the effectiveness of having an app dedicated to recording and uploading video clips to YouTube. It would be a must-have if not for the inexplicable lack of support for 1080 uploads - the software would limit any upload to 720p.

Not anymore. Today, a new maintenance released has been pushed which now lets you upload footage in the full HD 1,920-by-1,080 pixel resolution, along with a few other tweaks. More details right after the break...

Google contemplating making own smartwatch

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2013

Yesterday, Pebble Technology started shipping the first round of watches to its Kickstarter backers (a companion iOS app went live this morning). We also spotted a number of promising smartwatches at CES, like the iOS-friendly Cookoo, Casio's G-Shock and lots more. Even Apple is rumored to be collaborating with Intel on an iWatch and now Google is apparently considering making one as well...

Google had 5 of 6 top mobile apps in 2012

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 24, 2013

Although Apple did not make it into the top six mobile apps in 2012, Apple Maps prevented Android-maker Google from capturing all six positions, according to Internet research firm comScore. As it is, the Mountain View, California search firm captured five of the six slots, it's Google Maps mobile app falling to No. 2 after briefly being dropped by Apple.

Social media giant Facebook claimed the number one spot in a list of top apps for 2012, pushing Google Maps into second place, Internet researchers announced Thursday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg might consider sending Apple a thank-you note, as the iOS Maps debacle is now seen as the reason for Facebook overcoming its rival...