iPhone 5, Bad Apple, Maps, FaceTime, Telcos, Google, Search Results, YouTube, Facebook, Tech Death

iPhone 5

• First Look: iPhone 5
• iPhone 5 Problems: Users' Biggest Issues With Apple's New Handset
• How AT&T paid me $173.82 to go to Verizon
• Verizon iPhone 5 Unlocked Thanks to FCC?--Their units have been confirmed to work with AT&T SIMs.
• UPS to iPhone 5 buyers: You're not getting it early--The stench of self-entitlement.
• Here's the Chip Apple Is Using to Stop You from Buying Cheap Cables--That's for the new "Lightning" connectors.
• 5,000 police sent to quell mass Foxconn brawl

Bad Apple

• Apple granted a patent to wirelessly disable cameras on iPhones in certain locations--"Recording, communicating during protests, political events could be restricted."
• Apple's secret plan to join iPhones with airport security
• Apple patents universal iBattery charging system, forgets all about USB--More proprietary lock-in.

Maps

• New iOS 6 Apple maps app angering users and upsetting business owners--Check out the amazing maps.
• Apple Maps App Takes Reality Distortion to a Whole New Level
• Why Apple pulled the plug on Google Maps--Why they didn't release the app as "beta" is a mystery.
• Google exec: not yet offered new map to Apple--Isn't this considered a duplicate functionality that has led to apps being rejected before?
• Google Maps War With Apple Is Over - Google Won--This was written before the troubles with iOS Maps started.

Facetime

• AT&T's FaceTime Blocking Hurts the Deaf
• Verizon to allow cellular FaceTime use across all data plans
• AT&T's FaceTime blocking draws formal complaint to FCC from interest groups

Telcos

• Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is 'going by the wayside'
• Verizon must allow Android tethering apps, can't charge fee, FCC rules
• Google Fiber Issues Public Challenge: Get Up To Speed!

Google

• Meet the Man Who's Rewiring Google From the Inside Out
• Tech Confessional: The Googler Who Looked At The Worst Of The Internet
• Google is Planning to Penalize Overly Optimized Sites--Sites that have been SEO'd to death, that is.
• As Google Tinkers with Search, Upstarts Gain Ground
• Has your G+ account been suspended? Don't seek shelter from Google
• Banned From Google & No Support in Sight
• Acer pull device launch press conference following Google "concerns"

Search Results

• Google sued for not removing ugly photo of Miami Heat owner
• Tycoon sues Google on defamation claim
• Why Suing Google to Remove Results About Your Alleged Orgy Will Never Work
• Defamation Case By Bettina Wulff Highlights Double Standard At Google
• Japanese man sues Google over rape reference
• Plaintiff Unhappy With Search Results Can't Sue Yahoo
• Emma Watson Is 'Internet's Most Dangerous Search Term'

YouTube

• YouTube Brings Its Skippable Video Ads To Mobile
• How To Unlink Your YouTube Channel Name From Your Google Plus Profile
• Video: YouTube complaints

Facebook

• Is Facebook dying?--"Sure, it's got nearly a billion members. But I for one am dealing with a serious case of Facebook burnout. And I know I'm not alone."
• Facebook stock plunges 9.1% as doubts rise again
• Facebook Reveals the Sleazy Business of Fake 'Likes'
• Reality Check: 10-15% Of Brand' Social Media Fans, Likes And Reviews Will Be Fake By 2014, Says Gartner
• Developers say Facebook could face mobile disruption--A survey may point to why Facebook bought Instagram and dumped HTML5.

Tech Death

• RIM's BlackBerrys Losing Shelf Space, Mindshare Among Carriers
• Oracle Makes More Moves To Kill Open Source MySQL
• The scale of startup ambition--Buzzword bullshit bingo.

User Privacy, Facebook, Oracle vs. Google, Patents, Fail-book, Tech Death

User Privacy

• Anti-SOPA, PIPA lawmakers want Internet Bill of Rights--"Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa say they want a Bill of Rights to protect Web users against censorship and those that would limit their online freedoms."
• Online privacy: Home Office to write blank cheque for 'snoopers' charter'--"Internet and phone companies will be forced to track email, Twitter, Facebook and other online data under new legislation."
• IE10's 'Do-Not-Track' Default Dies Quick Death
• Airtime curtails privacy for the sake of safety
• Worst Companies at Protecting User Privacy: Skype, Verizon, Yahoo!, AT&T, Apple, Microsoft
• Credit agency causes outcry over data privacy--"Germany’s biggest credit assessment agency has stirred public concern about data protection. It announced plans to gather information from social media websites such as Facebook to measure users’ creditworthiness.".
• Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Facebook

• Facebook ordered to unmask online 'trolls'--The anonymous tormentors have stepped up their game.
• Facebook privacy policy vote in: users don’t press 'Like'--"Despite voters’ overwhelming preference for the former policy, Facebook said the number of users who voted was too small to be representative of the entire Facebook community and said it would go ahead with the proposed changes."
• Judge says bank can’t use Facebook to reach defendant — try local paper instead

Oracle vs. Google

• Jury: Google did not infringe Oracle patents with Android
• Google wins crucial API ruling, Oracle’s case decimated
• Judge William Alsup: Master of the court and Java
• The Oracle v. Google aftermath: APIs stay free, cost of business soars
• Oracle must pay Google’s costs after Java complaint fell apart

Patents

• Intellectual Ventures' Nathan Myhrvold defends patent trolling, calls tech industry immature
• Apple scourge Lodsys continues patent rampage against developers, corporations
• Oracle sues Lodsys, hopes to invalidate all its patents
• Apple And Microsoft Behind Patent Troll Armed With Thousands Of Nortel Patents
• U.S. Judge Cancels Motorola, Apple Patent Trial

Fail-book

• How Facebook panicked and botched its IPO
• Henry Blodget: New Details On How Morgan Stanley Is Blaming The Facebook IPO Scandal On Me!
• 40% of accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are spam
• Why Facebook may soon cost you money
• Facebook 'boring'? 1 in 3 users are tuning it out
• Why Facebook Doesn't Have Mobile In Its Founding DNA - and Why That Spells Disaster
• Wising Up to Facebook NYT

Tech Death

• How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet
• RIM halts stock trading, will 'likely have an operating loss' in Q1--They've asked J.P. Morgan and RBC to evaluate their business.
• Groupon now worth less than the $6 billion Google offered
• Goodbye to Windows Live (and Whatever It Meant) NYT
• R.I.P. Zune NYT

Patents, Software, Oracle vs. Google, Casebook, Hacking, Telco Bilking, Bad Reception

Patents

• Jury strikes down Eolas' 'Interactive Web' patent--Thank FSM this particular patent troll didn't prevail or it would have been the end of the web as we know it.
• Twitter introduces the Innovator's Patent Agreement
• Microsoft seeks patent on monetizing buttons of TV remote
• Oops! Yahoo blunders in Facebook patent squabble--"Yahoo claimed Facebook had fraudulently filed some of its patents, but Facebook hit back by proving Yahoo hadn't even checked the records to see if it was right."
• Uncommon Sense: Goliath v. David, AAC style
• Empirical Evidence Of Just How Much Patent Trolling Hinders Innovation
• Top judge: ditching software patents a "bad solution"--Is he out of touch?

Software

• Adobe backpedals, will now patch software for free--"Changes tune after customers, security pros condemned Adobe's advice to spend hundreds on upgrades to get fixes."
• Microsoft to charge customers $99 to remove OEM 'crapware'
• Australia to Investigate Software Price Disparities

Oracle vs. Google

• Oracle v Google Judge Is A Programmer!--Schools tech-impaired lawyer.
• Oracle and Google Agree to Copyright Truce (For Now)
• Oracle v. Google: the road ahead

Casebook

• Don't 'Like' This Post Or Your Boss Can Fire You
• Facebook Asserts Trademark on Word 'Book' in New User Agreement
• Woman sues over Facebook ads--"A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook in B.C., with a Vancouver woman alleging the social media giant misused her image — and those belonging to other members — in linking it to advertisements."

Hacking

• From Hackers to Slackers--"How a federal law can be used to prosecute almost anyone who uses a computer."
• Court Rebukes DOJ, Says Hacking Required to Be Prosecuted as Hacker
• Blast from the Past: With lawsuit settled, hackers now working with MBTA--This is what the MBTA should have done rather than denying the problem exists and having the courts muck up the issue of 'full disclosure', which they wisely cleared up.

Telco Bilking

• AT&T Argues That More Competition Is Bad For You & Leads To Higher Prices
• AT&T, Verizon look to further squeeze subscribers as earnings soar
• Verizon to kill unlimited data plans for existing subscribers--Only if they get new subsidized devices (NYT).
• Verizon's and Comcast's data caps: Who wins and who loses?--It seems that Verizon plans to raise its rates.
• FCC to Verizon: what's wrong with that spectrum you never built out?--"Verizon wants to sell spectrum it never bothered to use, and buy some more."

Bad Reception

• Couple Dead After Bad Cellphone Connection Foils Chance of Rescue--After 9 dropped calls, they dropped dead. But will telcos actually spend to help those in need?
• Unconscious Carroll man found after 11-hour search--"It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous."
• BART defends mobile service shutdown to the FCC--"Digital rights groups, however, say the harms of a disruption of mobile service outweigh the benefits."