Growing smartphone battle seen hitting vendors' profits

An increasingly heated battle in the global smartphone market is set to weigh on handset vendors' profit margins during the remainder of the year, analysts said on Friday. All top cellphone vendors, including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Research in Motion, are rolling out new smartphone models for the holiday sales-fueled fourth quarter.

Via Reuters

GetJar claims 3M daily downloads, names Facebook as most popular app

GetJar has strengthened its claim to be the world’s second-largest mobile app store with news that it is achieving up to three million downloads per day and has hit over one billion downloads to date. The store also named Facebook Mobile as its most popular app download.

Via Mobile Business Briefing

Google cleared in Britain over collection of private data

Britain's data protection watchdog said Thursday Google had probably not captured "significant" private details in the country when its Street View cars grabbed data sent over wireless networks. The Internet giant is being investigated in a number of countries after the cars, which drive around taking photos for Google's free online mapping service, mistakenly picked up the private information.

Via AFP

Satellite quantum communication circles closer

Communications protected by quantum encryption systems offer unconditional security – if you know which way is up. A new quantum protocol is the first that promises to work independently of orientation, which will prove vital if quantum communications are ever to be sent via satellites. Many quantum encryption protocols work by measuring the "up" or "down" spins on pairs of entangled photons shared between a sender and a receiver . The two members of an entangled pair of photons always have an opposite spin from one another. If an eavesdropper were to intercept one, the very act of reading it would affect the entangled pair in a detectable way.

Via New Scientist

The future of concert ticketing

In June, The Pixies teamed up with digital-music marketing agency Topspin Media to perform an interesting experiment in London. The Pixies--who didn't have an e-mail list before they started working with Topspin - sent an e-mail message to their fans advertising two upcoming gigs at a venue called The Troxy. All tickets cost the same - 30 pounds - and were available from a special one-time Web site. The show had no promoter and no ticket broker.

Via CNET

'Smart dust' aims to monitor everything

In the 1990s, a researcher named Kris Pister dreamed up a wild future in which people would sprinkle the Earth with countless tiny sensors, no larger than grains of rice. These "smart dust" particles, as he called them, would monitor everything, acting like electronic nerve endings for the planet. Now, a version of Pister's smart dust fantasy is starting to become reality.

Via CNN

read more