Samsung working on a bendable smartphone screen
Samsung, looking for a competitive edge in the smartphone market, is reportedly set to roll out devices with bendable display screens.
The South Korean tech giant is working on display screens made with plastic that could make phones "unbreakable," a report by the Wall Street Journal says.
Samsung isn't the only company to do work on flexible displays, but according to the report, the company has entered the final stage of development and hopes to be the first player to begin mass production of the technology.
The plastic screens use OLED technology to emit images because they are thin and can be put on flexible displays, the Journal says.
By using plastic rather than glass, Samsung could be able to create lighter phones with more durable displays.
The company told the Journal that already there are some consumers sampling the displays. According to an unnamed source in the report, Samsung hopes to bring phones featuring the displays to market in the first half of 2013. Read More: latimes.com
Research in Motion is optimistic and realistic, CEO says
Research in Motion is gearing up to launch its all-new operating system, BlackBerry 10, as it looks to hold on to its most loyal customers and convince others to come back to the fold. That includes one of the company’s most important customer segments: government workers.
Research in Motion currently has 1 million government customers in North America, who have stuck by the brand because of its focus on security. But even with its most loyal customers, the company has lost market share. Apple’s iPhones and phones running Google’s Android phones breached Hill offices long ago. Now, even the U.S. Department of Defense has said that it too will drop RIM’s exclusivity and explore other options.
“We’ve got to face that competition,” RIM chief executive Thorsten Heins said in an interview with The Washington Post. He said while he’d like to see RIM keep its exclusive relationship with government agencies, the company has to be “realistic” about the pressure this puts on his company. The company knows that to keep its foothold in the market, its devices must be attractive to consumers, not just businesses.
The bring-your-own device trend, Heins said, has hurt the company. When businesses and agencies issued BlackBerrys, they often set a high default level of security for all employees. But when employees pick phones or purchase their own for work, companies often put in graded levels of security based on how much employees actually need to have protected. Therefore, other consumer-focused attributes such as an easy user interface or wide availability of apps become far more important. To address that shift, Research in Motion rebuilt its entire system to be more focused on the user experience.
The company’s development team has had laser focus on solving the problem of how to move easily between users’ personal and professional lives without compromising security.
The new system allows users to set up essentially two phones on the same device. Users can have a section for games, personal e-mail and appointments as well as one with company-approved software, messaging and documents. A toggle switch allows them to choose which experience they want at a given time and users are even able to lockdown the business half of their phones when they aren’t using it.
Heins said the system should solve an all-too-common problem in Washington — juggling personal and work devices.
“We’ll hopefully solve that problem of two devices with no compromise to the user experience,” he said.
The company also made a strategic focus on productivity, creating a multitasking system that allows users to run e-mail, messaging, social updates and their calendar in the background at all times while also running up to eight active applications at once.
Speaking of applications, Heins said the company’s decision to build a new platform from the ground up meant it built a system around a developer wishlist. While he acknowledged other platforms may offer a wider variety of apps, he believes RIM’s will be more “meaningful.”
He still expects that the company will have between 70,000 and 100,000 applications when it launches the new system at the end of January.
The split design of BlackBerry 10, he hopes will address some of the major complaints RIM hears from its existing customers. He’s also optimistic that the company will be able to expand its user base in the future.
“Government business is extremely important to us,” he said. “We want to not just maintain that. We can really win and grow.”
Read More: washingtonpost.comResearch in Motion currently has 1 million government customers in North America, who have stuck by the brand because of its focus on security. But even with its most loyal customers, the company has lost market share. Apple’s iPhones and phones running Google’s Android phones breached Hill offices long ago. Now, even the U.S. Department of Defense has said that it too will drop RIM’s exclusivity and explore other options.
“We’ve got to face that competition,” RIM chief executive Thorsten Heins said in an interview with The Washington Post. He said while he’d like to see RIM keep its exclusive relationship with government agencies, the company has to be “realistic” about the pressure this puts on his company. The company knows that to keep its foothold in the market, its devices must be attractive to consumers, not just businesses.
The bring-your-own device trend, Heins said, has hurt the company. When businesses and agencies issued BlackBerrys, they often set a high default level of security for all employees. But when employees pick phones or purchase their own for work, companies often put in graded levels of security based on how much employees actually need to have protected. Therefore, other consumer-focused attributes such as an easy user interface or wide availability of apps become far more important. To address that shift, Research in Motion rebuilt its entire system to be more focused on the user experience.
The company’s development team has had laser focus on solving the problem of how to move easily between users’ personal and professional lives without compromising security.
The new system allows users to set up essentially two phones on the same device. Users can have a section for games, personal e-mail and appointments as well as one with company-approved software, messaging and documents. A toggle switch allows them to choose which experience they want at a given time and users are even able to lockdown the business half of their phones when they aren’t using it.
Heins said the system should solve an all-too-common problem in Washington — juggling personal and work devices.
“We’ll hopefully solve that problem of two devices with no compromise to the user experience,” he said.
The company also made a strategic focus on productivity, creating a multitasking system that allows users to run e-mail, messaging, social updates and their calendar in the background at all times while also running up to eight active applications at once.
Speaking of applications, Heins said the company’s decision to build a new platform from the ground up meant it built a system around a developer wishlist. While he acknowledged other platforms may offer a wider variety of apps, he believes RIM’s will be more “meaningful.”
He still expects that the company will have between 70,000 and 100,000 applications when it launches the new system at the end of January.
The split design of BlackBerry 10, he hopes will address some of the major complaints RIM hears from its existing customers. He’s also optimistic that the company will be able to expand its user base in the future.
“Government business is extremely important to us,” he said. “We want to not just maintain that. We can really win and grow.”
Google, Facebook and Twitter face fresh UK tax scrutiny
Google, Facebook and Twitter are facing renewed scrutiny of their UK tax arrangements after a Labour MP criticised the companies' lack of social responsibility and called for them to help fund anti-cyberbullying measures.
In a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday, shadow culture minister Helen Goodman said social media firms were placing an extra burden on the UK public purse through the workload of teachers, police and social workers dealing with threats and harassment on social networks. "These firms are putting a new and costly burden on the public purse but they are not acting as responsible corporate citizens," Goodman said. "The government can't stand back and ignore this. Ministers need to ensure that [tax authorities] use all the weapons at their disposal and if necessary legislate further to crack down on these avoidance devices."
Goodman reiterated concerns over what she called artificial devices designed to depress profits, referring to the royalty that Google UK paid to its parent company for use of its search and advertising technology. She cited Facebook's UK advertising sales of £175m in 2011 and accounts showing it paid only £238,000 tax, while Twitter filed no UK accounts. Google paid £6.09m UK tax on 2011 revenue of £395m.
"[Google's] strategy is to minimise our tax and make up for it with a bit of corporate social responsibility – but in the grand scheme of things it's titchy. Are we going to accept that?" Goodman asked.
"We can carry on as we are, the industry can decide it is in its own interests to change its behaviour, or the government can set a coherent strategy that runs across departments."
Google, Amazon and Starbucks have been called to a Commons public accounts committee hearing on Monday along with tax inspectors, where MPs will grill both sides on corporate business contributions, but Google said its UK managing director Matt Brittin could not attend on that date. A government spokesman said the hearing could be delayed. .
In a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday, shadow culture minister Helen Goodman said social media firms were placing an extra burden on the UK public purse through the workload of teachers, police and social workers dealing with threats and harassment on social networks. "These firms are putting a new and costly burden on the public purse but they are not acting as responsible corporate citizens," Goodman said. "The government can't stand back and ignore this. Ministers need to ensure that [tax authorities] use all the weapons at their disposal and if necessary legislate further to crack down on these avoidance devices."
Goodman reiterated concerns over what she called artificial devices designed to depress profits, referring to the royalty that Google UK paid to its parent company for use of its search and advertising technology. She cited Facebook's UK advertising sales of £175m in 2011 and accounts showing it paid only £238,000 tax, while Twitter filed no UK accounts. Google paid £6.09m UK tax on 2011 revenue of £395m.
"[Google's] strategy is to minimise our tax and make up for it with a bit of corporate social responsibility – but in the grand scheme of things it's titchy. Are we going to accept that?" Goodman asked.
"We can carry on as we are, the industry can decide it is in its own interests to change its behaviour, or the government can set a coherent strategy that runs across departments."
Google, Amazon and Starbucks have been called to a Commons public accounts committee hearing on Monday along with tax inspectors, where MPs will grill both sides on corporate business contributions, but Google said its UK managing director Matt Brittin could not attend on that date. A government spokesman said the hearing could be delayed. .
Google said: "We make a substantial contribution to the UK economy through local, payroll and corporate taxes. We also employ over 2,000 people, help hundreds of thousands of businesses to grow online and invest millions supporting new tech businesses in east London. We comply with all the tax rules in the UK," Google said.Facebook and Twitter declined to comment. Both companies are headquartered, for accounts purposes, in the Republic of Ireland, which is known for its generous corporation tax. Read More : guardian.co.uk
Facebook faces fine of up to £80k
Facebook could be fined up to €100,000 (£80,000) if it does not comply with the orders of Irish regulators within four weeks.
The social media site was warned last year to make widespread changes by the office of the Irish data protection commissioner (DPC), which included tightening its privacy practices and deleting unneeded data sooner.
The DPC carried out an audit on Facebook Ireland (FB-I) as the international headquarters is responsible for millions of users outside the US and Canada.
The internet giant – which went public on the stock market in May – still has to comply with several recommendations in relation to targeted advertising utilising sensitive data, the retention of data on inactive or deactivated accounts, and educating users over settings.
Commissioner Billy Hawkes confirmed that the maximum penalty was a €100,000 court fine if enforcement action had to be taken.
But he stressed he was satisfied the internet giant had made clear commitments to comply with its data protection responsibilities in line with Irish and EU laws.
"I am particularly encouraged in relation to the approach it has decided to adopt on the tag suggest/facial recognition feature by in fact agreeing to go beyond our initial recommendations, in light of developments since then, in order to achieve best practice," Hawkes said.
The feature has already been turned off for new users in the EU and templates for existing users will be deleted by 15 October, but will not be changed for users in the US and Canada.
The DPC review found the majority of its recommendations were fully implemented, particularly in the areas of:
• better transparency for the user in how their data is handled
• increased user control over settings
• the implementation of clear retention periods for the deletion of personal data or an enhanced ability for the user to delete items.
Deputy Commissioner Gary Davis, who led the initial audit and followup review, warned the office would use enforcement powers if needed.
"There were a number of items on which progress was not as fully forward as we had hoped and we have set a deadline of four weeks for these matters to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion," he said.
"It is also clear that ongoing engagement with the company will be necessary as it continues to bring forward new ways of serving advertising to users and retaining users on the site.
"The value of such engagement to identify and deal with any data protection concerns prior to launch of new products and services is fully accepted by FB-I."
Facebook said it was confident it could continue to resolve the outstanding issues given the progress it has made on other matters in recent months.
It also vowed to continue to work with the Irish regulator to ensure it remains compliant with European data protection laws as new products and features are created.
"As our regulator in Europe, the Irish office of the data protection commissioner is constantly working with us to ensure that we keep improving on the high standards of control that we have built into our existing tools," said a spokesman.
"This audit is part of an ongoing process of oversight, and we are pleased that, as the data protection commissioner said, the latest announcement is confirmation that we are not only compliant with European data protection law but we have gone beyond some of their initial recommendations and are fully committed to best practice in data protection compliance."
Read More guardian.co.uk
Facebook agrees to delete European users' facial recognition data
Facebook Inc. has agreed to delete all the facial recognition data it has collected from European users and switch off the feature in Europe by Oct. 15.The move follows a review of the facial recognition feature that prompts users to "tag" friends in photos uploaded to the service.
Ireland’s privacy regulator Billy Hawkes said Facebook would not turn it back on without agreeing with his office on "the most appropriate means of collecting user consent." He said Facebook was "sending a clear signal of its wish to demonstrate its commitment to best practice in data protection compliance."
Hawkes' office, which began reviewing Facebook's compliance with Irish and European Union data protection rules in 2011, has urged Facebook to give users a better understanding of how their personal data is handled and increased control over privacy settings. He said that the "great majority" of the recommendations had been implemented to the regulator's satisfaction.
"This audit is part of an ongoing process of oversight, and we are pleased that, as the Data Protection Commissioner said, the latest announcement is confirmation that we are not only compliant with European data protection law but we have gone beyond some of their initial recommendations and are fully committed to best practice in data protection compliance," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an emailed statement.
Germany's Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection also issued an administrative order that Facebook can only create and store facial recognition data with the consent of users.
The German data protection official reopened an investigation into Facebook's facial recognition technology in August, saying that Facebook was saving images of users’ faces in a database without their explicit consent in violation of European privacy laws. At the time, Facebook said it notified European users of the data collection. Read More latimes.com
NetPlenish Launches Amazon Prime-Like Price Comparison Service On Everyday Products
We’re all familiar with price comparison shopping on high value items but less so on day-to-day consumables like groceries or household items. In effect it feels like just too much work and most of us do online grocery shopping with one store. Amazon Prime is looking at disrupting this space and ShopRunner has been aggregating stores for a while. However, NetPlenish thinks it can crack this market.Picked out by the TechCrunch Disrupt audience today as the best startup from the Startup Alley, NetPlenish offers a service on an Andorid, iPhone and Web app for shopping that finds the best prices on everyday items like toothpaste and toilet paper. We’re talking price comparison plus automatic replenishment on everyday products. The new product they launched today is NetPlenish Premier.
CEO David Compton of the California-based startups says the company is vendor agnostic, and while you may well have heard of Amazon and not NetPlenish, you have probably heard of their partners: Walgreens, Walmart and Target. Let’s face it, if those guys don’t have the everyday items you need then nobody will.
He reckons he can cut down your average store visiting time from 45 minutes to 45 seconds. How? NetPlenish looks at bundles not just individual items which helps with getting better deals. Users don’t leave site to do the transaction, there’s just one form to fill in.
Like Amazon Prime, NetPlenish Prime has free shipping but, they claim, they have 40% better product reach, better produce selection, better head to head pricing and better cart pricing.
They also incentivise shoppers with a 1% cash back rather than Amazon’s offers on products. Shoppers make lists then move their choices from list to cart.
The company has been live for the last two months and is seeing an uptick in early users. They have closed a $1.9 million seed round, and is raising a further round right now.
In Q&A on stage judges questioned whether consumers would value price over speed of shipping, but NetPlenish said they were confident of their model based on early user feedback.
Read More techcrunch.com
Commercial real estate in Russia
Last year was a record year for Russian real estate market in terms of investment. Their volume increased by 70% compared to 2010 and reached $ 9.5 billion, calculated as a consultant with SA Ricci. This boom has occurred in the segment of commercial real estate: the share of investment in it has grown from 4 to 34%. At the same time in 2011, foreigners have invested in Russian facilities are five times more than in 2010.
According to the report S.A. Ricci, a record increase in investment in commercial real estate was primarily due to transactions in the segment of commercial real estate: in 2010 they accounted for 4%, in 2011 - already 34%. In monetary terms, this figure reached almost $ 3 billion and the share of transactions has grown in the regions (outside of Moscow and Moscow region), from 7% in 2010 to 26% in 2011. Last year, foreign investors are more active. The share of investment increased from 11 to 34% in absolute terms the volume of transactions with foreign capital rose by more than five-fold, from 630 million to 3.2 billion dollars, experts say SA Ricci. Such a significant increase in investment in 2011 was due to stability in Russia, including political, avtoryobzora sure. Surge in foreign investment experts explain by the fact that it was in 2011 it was realized some long prepared sdelok.V last year were actually closed many transactions, which in 2010 were at the negotiation stage, confirms the director of commercial real estate markets, analysts and investment Jones Olesya Cherdantseva Lang LaSalle. It is estimated that investment in commercial property in 2011 amounted to $ 8.4 billion with the fact that last year was a record year for commercial real estate market in Russia, agrees and CEO of Colliers International Gasiev Maxim. According to him, the volume of investment amounted to about $ 10 billion
The largest transaction in S.A. Ricci called the purchase of Fort Group assets of the group "Makromir" for $ 700 million buyer received six shopping centers. The Moscow market, Mr. Gasiev calls home purchase transaction Ritz Carlton Hotel on Tverskaya Street Kazakh company "True capital" for $ 700 million according to Jones Lang LaSalle, the share of investment in commercial real estate rose from 9.1% in 2010 to 39 , 8% in 2011.
According to the report S.A. Ricci, a record increase in investment in commercial real estate was primarily due to transactions in the segment of commercial real estate: in 2010 they accounted for 4%, in 2011 - already 34%. In monetary terms, this figure reached almost $ 3 billion and the share of transactions has grown in the regions (outside of Moscow and Moscow region), from 7% in 2010 to 26% in 2011. Last year, foreign investors are more active. The share of investment increased from 11 to 34% in absolute terms the volume of transactions with foreign capital rose by more than five-fold, from 630 million to 3.2 billion dollars, experts say SA Ricci. Such a significant increase in investment in 2011 was due to stability in Russia, including political, avtoryobzora sure. Surge in foreign investment experts explain by the fact that it was in 2011 it was realized some long prepared sdelok.V last year were actually closed many transactions, which in 2010 were at the negotiation stage, confirms the director of commercial real estate markets, analysts and investment Jones Olesya Cherdantseva Lang LaSalle. It is estimated that investment in commercial property in 2011 amounted to $ 8.4 billion with the fact that last year was a record year for commercial real estate market in Russia, agrees and CEO of Colliers International Gasiev Maxim. According to him, the volume of investment amounted to about $ 10 billion
The largest transaction in S.A. Ricci called the purchase of Fort Group assets of the group "Makromir" for $ 700 million buyer received six shopping centers. The Moscow market, Mr. Gasiev calls home purchase transaction Ritz Carlton Hotel on Tverskaya Street Kazakh company "True capital" for $ 700 million according to Jones Lang LaSalle, the share of investment in commercial real estate rose from 9.1% in 2010 to 39 , 8% in 2011.
Apartments in London
City of London may be the new fashionable residential area. Against the backdrop of massive cuts in the banks are rapidly emptying office buildings, and to save on rent, while at the same time to diversify its asset portfolio, developers rebuild the working area of luxury accommodations.
According to the National Statistical Service of the UK in mid-2010
resided in the City 11.7 thousand people. We would like to have lived in the City and more people. It
question of balance, and be sure that the small residential areas do not destroy the business cluster
- Said the Lord Mayor, David Wootton. Over the past year due to massive job cuts in the City lost 8.5% of white-collar workers, writes Bloomberg. In this case, according to forecasts Center for Economic and Business Research, 2014, employment in the financial sector will remain below the levels in 1998. In 2011, the annual cost of renting an office in general has increased in London by 8% to 1978 Euro per 1 sq. m. m However, in this year's JP Morgan Chase analysts predict a fall in rents in the City by 4%. A number of leading developers, who have recently acquired office buildings in the financial center of London, have already expressed their desire to restructure or even break down to their place to build new housing complexes. Thus, Berkeley Group Holdings plans to convert an office building near Moorgate station in the complex with 90 apartments, Heron International to build a 36-storey residential complex next to the Barbican, and Hammerson to invest in the construction of 253 apartments near Liverpool Street. Now advantageous to work with the housing, said the head of development Bedhem Harry Berkeley, noting that market prices above the office of 10-15%. When a lot of suggestions, and demand is falling, developers are moving into housing. According to Knight Frank, prices in the metropolitan housing luxury grew past 14 months, which should appease developers. According to analyst Neil Jones Lang LaSalle Chegviddena, prices for housing in the city square meter ranging from 650 to 1350 pounds. The most expensive area of London is Knightsbridge, where the average price per square meter exceeded two thousand pounds, while the fashionable Belgravia and Mayfair came close to this mark. And the desire to save money for residents of the capital will be one more argument in favor of moving closer to work. The desire of developers to develop the housing market in the City, it seems logical also because more than half of the office buildings in the City and the surrounding area for over 15 years.
City of London may be the new fashionable residential area. Against the backdrop of massive cuts in the banks are rapidly emptying office buildings, and to save on rent, while at the same time to diversify its asset portfolio, developers rebuild the working area of luxury accommodations.
According to the National Statistical Service of the UK in mid-2010
resided in the City 11.7 thousand people. We would like to have lived in the City and more people. It
question of balance, and be sure that the small residential areas do not destroy the business cluster
- Said the Lord Mayor, David Wootton. Over the past year due to massive job cuts in the City lost 8.5% of white-collar workers, writes Bloomberg. In this case, according to forecasts Center for Economic and Business Research, 2014, employment in the financial sector will remain below the levels in 1998. In 2011, the annual cost of renting an office in general has increased in London by 8% to 1978 Euro per 1 sq. m. m However, in this year's JP Morgan Chase analysts predict a fall in rents in the City by 4%. A number of leading developers, who have recently acquired office buildings in the financial center of London, have already expressed their desire to restructure or even break down to their place to build new housing complexes. Thus, Berkeley Group Holdings plans to convert an office building near Moorgate station in the complex with 90 apartments, Heron International to build a 36-storey residential complex next to the Barbican, and Hammerson to invest in the construction of 253 apartments near Liverpool Street. Now advantageous to work with the housing, said the head of development Bedhem Harry Berkeley, noting that market prices above the office of 10-15%. When a lot of suggestions, and demand is falling, developers are moving into housing. According to Knight Frank, prices in the metropolitan housing luxury grew past 14 months, which should appease developers. According to analyst Neil Jones Lang LaSalle Chegviddena, prices for housing in the city square meter ranging from 650 to 1350 pounds. The most expensive area of London is Knightsbridge, where the average price per square meter exceeded two thousand pounds, while the fashionable Belgravia and Mayfair came close to this mark. And the desire to save money for residents of the capital will be one more argument in favor of moving closer to work. The desire of developers to develop the housing market in the City, it seems logical also because more than half of the office buildings in the City and the surrounding area for over 15 years.
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