Archive for August, 2009
French consumer groups are investigating reports of iPhones that explode or crack spontaneously.
An 80-year-old from the Paris suburbs was among eight people who said their phones’ screens were affected, according to the AFP news agency.
Consumers in the UK, Holland and Sweden have reported similar problems, prompting an earlier EU investigation.
Apple said it was aware of the reports and was waiting to receive the handsets from the affected customers.
Microsoft has unveiled new technology that will allow standard, non-"smart" phones to run applications such as Facebook or Twitter.
Designed for emerging markets, the OneApp software can be downloaded just like a new ringtone.
Rather than an application store like those offered by many manufacturers and networks, OneApp will offer a standard set of apps decided by operators.
Storage for the apps will be maintained by the operators, rather than users.
A short-term study of Twitter has found that 40% of the messages sent via it are "pointless babble."
Carried out by US market research firm Pear Analytics, the study aimed to produce a snapshot of what people do with the service.
Friendships can be inferred with 95% accuracy from call records and the proximity of users, says a new report.
Researchers fitted 94 mobiles in the US with logging software to gather data.
The results also showed that those with friends near work were happier, while those who called friends while at work were less satisfied.
Microsoft has underlined support for its Internet Explorer 6 web browser, despite acknowledging its flaws.
The software giant said it would support IE6 until 2014 – four years beyond the original deadline.
Facebook has turned up the heat on Google by purchasing content-sharing service FriendFeed, say industry watchers.
Many expected Google or even Twitter to buy the company, which has been praised for its "real-time" search engine.
This type of search is valuable because it lets you know what is happening right now on any given subject.
"Google look out, Facebook knows the real money is in real-time search," said respected blogger Robert Scoble.
