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Apple ‘s behind-the-scenes Foxconn factory tour for ABC’s Nightline has aired, leaving the company’s fans and critics arguing over whether the “privileged” access unlocked any secrets or alleviated concerns over labor treatment. Many of the more astonishing figures surround the production processes for Apple’s most coveted devices, the iPad and iPhone, which are for the most part built by hand by an ever-growing team of Foxconn workers.
Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have long counted on the rise in smartphone usage to help fuel their growth: that trend, however, seems to also be taking a toll on mobile carriers — specifically in the form of revenues. The analyst firm of Ovum , part of the Informa Group, has estimated that operators lost $13.9 billion in SMS revenue in 2011, as a result of their customers using services like Twitter and Facebook to message each other instead of the carriers’ own text messaging services.
Storify has become one of the best ways to create stories from social media — the startup says it has been used by 22 of the top 25 news sites in the United States, and that its users have curated a total of more than 3 million social objects. Now, you can do that curation from your iPad.
A device that almost got lost in the CES 2012 hooplah, the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G has finally been given a more pinpointed release date for T-Mobile. The device’s most notable feature is the fact that it will run on T-Mobile’s super fast HSPA+ 42Mbps down network.
Samsung introduces the new GALAXY Ace 2 and GALAXY mini 2 Welcome to Samsung’s AndroidTM experience with the two new members of GALAXY smartphones SEOUL, Korea – February 21, 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced two new additions to the GALAXY smartphone range: GALAXY Ace 2, which will be available in UK from April, and GALAXY mini 2, which will be available in France from March before being rolled out globally. Building on the market success of GALAXY Ace and GALAXY mini since their release last year, GALAXY Ace 2 and GALAXY mini 2 are ideal devices for users with active lifestyles who value individuality and style without compromising on performance or affordability.
Samsung has partnered with Blockbuster to stream thousands of movies to the company’s smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, laptops, smart TVs and Blu-ray players, reports Smarthouse . The service will reportedly be rolled out in the United States and Europe in the first half of 2012, with an Australian scheduled to take place by early September.
Things are beginning to look even dimmer for LightSquared. Just one day after satellite network operator Inmarsat announced that LightSquared had defaulted on a $56 million payment, new reports indicate that the company plans to slash its workforce by 45% in an effort to cut costs and keep fighting.
The PlayBook is an awesome piece of hardware and one of the funnest things to do with your PlayBook, aside from playing some of the recently launched premium games, is to read. The PlayBook is novel size, making it a great reading device for news as well as eBooks.
Canonical plans to turn future Android phones into Ubuntu desktops , which could eliminate the need to carry a laptop. The company announced the news on Tuesday and will be demonstrating the solution later this month at the Mobile World Congress event.
Today Nokia has silently released a video showing off a teaser of what’s to come at Mobile World Congress 2012 , in it several panning shots on fabulously high definition photos. This teaser shows off what they’re saying is “Pure View” for a future smartphone we must assume, as Nokia’s big drive this season has been and will continue to be Windows Phone hero devices.