Bob Mansfield to Focus on New Products, Other Execs Take Over Management Duties

Earlier this week, Apple executive Bob Mansfield stepped down from his management duties at Apple in order to focus on 'special projects' -- reportedly working on the development of entirely new products for the company.

Now, 9to5Mac has additional details about how the shake-up affects other executives.

Dan Riccio, who was promoted to lead Apple's hardware engineering teams when Bob Mansfield first retired last year, will gain oversight of the company's antenna design teams in addition to his current leadership of Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod engineering.

Jeff Williams, who, as Senior Vice President for Operations, has been Tim Cook's right hand man for years, will take over the job of managing Apple's special projects engineering teams, while Mansfield gets to continue working with Apple's newest and most cutting edge designs without the distraction of management.

 According to a source familiar with the former Technologies team, there has been a lack of formal internal communication regarding the reasoning behind the management shift. However, the company did make the new executive roles clear to these employees. Even with the lack of communication, sources say that the change is not unprecedented. Over the last couple of months, Mansfield is said to have been increasingly focused on chips (and some aspects of wireless) while delegating his other teams to other executives.

9to5 goes on to note that though Mansfield would like to retire at some point, he will likely never fully leave the company. Given the lengths that Tim Cook went in order to keep Mansfield at Apple, it's likely he will be given free reign to work whatever hours and on whatever projects he wishes.

Source: Mac Rumours

Apple proposes new terms in e-books battle

Hours after the Department of Justice and 33 U.S. states proposed a set of remedies for Apple to comply with following its July loss in the e-books price-fixing case, the company came back with its own set of terms and called the government's proposals vague, overreaching, and unwarranted.

In a brief filed Friday, the company called the government's proposed measures a "draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business, wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm."

Apple maintained that it did not violate antitrust laws, and that an earlier settlement struck with publishers means the behavior that the court found to be anticompetitive has already ended and can't recur.

But if the court does issue an injunction, Apple said, it recommended that it place "reasonable limitations on Apple's ability to share information," prohibit agreements with publishers from having "most favored nation" pricing pacts that give Apple the best price, and "reasonable antitrust training obligations for Apple, lasting a reasonable term."

Earlier Friday, the Department of Justice proposed a remedy that would require Apple to terminate its existing agreements with five major book publishers, staff a court-appointed monitor to keep an eye on internal antitrust compliance policies, and allow competing companies like Amazon to link to purchasable content within their e-book apps.

A plan from either side still requires court approval. The court will hold a hearing on proposed remedies on August 9.

Last April, the Justice Department sued Apple, along with five of the six largest book publishers in the U.S., accusing all parties of conspiring to set e-book prices and break Amazon's hold on the market with its Kindle e-book reader. Apple became the sole defendant in the case after the publishers made deals with the Justice Department.

A federal judge last month ruled that Apple violated antitrust laws, following a trial in the Southern District of New York. Judge Denise Cote said the Justice Department proved that publishers conspired together to eliminate price competition for e-books, and that Apple played a central role in that conspiracy. Apple has said it plans to appeal the decision.

Source: CNET

Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused.

"I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We push back."

A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'"

Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts...

Read the full story here. Source: CNET

Chromecast: Google's best weapon to breach the TV biz

When it comes to its ambitions for television, Google's hoping that the third time's the charm.

This morning the company unveiled Chromecast. Google's latest foray into the television is a low-cost stick that plugs into a HDMI input to let a wide swath of smartphones, tablets, and devices using the Chrome browser seamlessly fling what they're playing onto the TV.

Google argues that it is solving a unique problem, but it really isn't. In fact, a myriad of devices already exist to do just that. But by coming out with a cheaper, more innovative offering, Google fired its loudest shot across the bow of Apple TV and all of the other streaming TV peripherals with the Chromecast. And at $35, it claims to have a winner.

The television is "the most immersive experience in the house," said Sundar Pichai, Google's head of Android, Chrome, and apps at the breakfast unveiling Wednesday in San Francisco. He noted more than 200 billion online videos are watched globally by users every month, and Netflix and YouTube combined represent nearly half of peak downstream Internet traffic in North America.

"It's very difficult to get your online media onto your television in your house," said Pichai.

True enough. It has been difficult, but largely only for Google...

Read the full story here. Source: CNET

For Facebook, it still comes down to making money on mobile

When Facebook checks in with Wall Street for its quarterly review on Wednesday, it will hand in results for mobile advertising for just the fourth time and reveal its first full-year report card on revenue from mobile ads.

By most accounts, Facebook is expected to do well on the mobile front and make close to one-third of its advertising revenue from mobile placements, according to analysts' consensus. It would be a remarkable achievement, one that comes just in the nick of time to save Facebook from a decaying desktop business.

From zero to last-minute hero

RBC Capital Markets is particularly bullish on the subject and expects Facebook to pull in $487 million from mobile, which would be good enough for 34 percent of the firm's projected $1.43 billion second-quarter ad revenue estimate. Goldman Sachs holds a more conservative perspective and is predicting that Facebook will make $425 million in mobile ad revenue.

Whatever the number Facebook reports, it will be a marked improvement from the infinitesimal amount that Facebook made from mobile advertising at this time last year. Then, Facebook said it was bringing in $500,000 per day from mobile ads. Now, Facebook's mobile revenue may come in as high as $5.4 million a day, or up 980 percent from the year ago quarter...

Read the full story here. Source: CNET

San Francisco District Attorney Impressed by iOS 7's Activation Lock Feature

After news that government officials would be testing the efficiency of iOS 7’s Activation Lock against thieves, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has come out in support of the feature, saying that “clear improvements” have been made to stop criminals, according to the San Francisco Examiner. 

Last week, Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought in security experts from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center to test out Apple’s Activation Lock feature as well as Absolute Software’s Lojack service on the Samsung Galaxy S4 in order to determine how effective they are against thieves.

"I'm very optimistic that they came and were willing to share their technology with us," Gascón said in a statement, also noting that Microsoft and Google had not yet come forth with their plans to combat theft. Gascón did not detail how the specific features work, explaining that they were not yet finished.

Both attorneys called for the tests as a part of the Secure Our Smartphone (S.O.S) program that aims to stop the theft and black market resale of stolen mobile devices. While carriers have already established a database to track stolen phones, it has proven to be largely futile. Prior to these tests, Gascón and Schneiderman called for smartphones to have a kill switch that would disable them in the event of theft. 

Announced at WWDC, Activation Lock is set to be included in iOS 7, which is expected to be released to consumers this fall.

Source: Mac Rumours

T-Mobile on AT&T Next: You're paying twice for that phone

The claws are out now.

T-Mobile executive Andrew Sherrard fired back at AT&T's new early upgrade plan, calling it a "poor imitation" that actually costs the customers more than they think.

Earlier Tuesday, AT&T introduced its AT&T Next plan, which lets people pay for their mobile devices in 20 monthly installments and allows them to upgrade each year. But the new plan doesn't include a key component -- a lower-cost service plan -- which T-Mobile said is its crucial standout feature in its early upgrade plan, Jump. As a result, T-Mobile claims AT&T Next is actually more expensive than ever.

"They're charging you twice on the same phone and calling that a good deal," Sherrard told CNET on Tuesday.

In addition to paying the full price of the phone over the monthly installments, AT&T Next customers also pay the same service plan rate they had been paying -- a rate that was designed to work with subsidized phones. When T-Mobile introduced its no-contract monthly installment plan, it cut the rate of its plan to reflect the lack of a subsidy.

An AT&T representative told CNET that Next represents a a new offer and different choice for customers.

"We're not taking away anything," he said. "We're just giving people choice by removing the upfront cost and allowing them to upgrade their phone."

AT&T wouldn't discuss the direct comparisons between Next and Jump, but noted that it offers a larger 4G LTE network.

"As people dig into this, they'll find it's a much better deal to go with Jump," T-Mobile's Sherrard said. He added that Jump includes insurance, which AT&T Next does not.

Verizon Wireless is expected to introduce a similar plan to that of AT&T, and Sherrard said he felt equally good about how Jump stacks up against the reported Verizon Edge plan.

Sherrard said he was happy that the industry was reacting to T-Mobile's moves. He called the competitors' moves "a response, not a strategy."

Sherrard said that as the challenger in the industry with the lowest market share among the big four U.S. carriers, T-Mobile can afford to be more aggressive to pursue growth. The big two companies can't follow because they have higher profit margins to protect.

"We're glad to change the game a little bit," he said.

Source: CNET

Star Trek Science Fiction & Science Fact Navigraphic

Join us as we boldly go where no man has before and beam up to three replica Enterprise bridges, carefully re-created using original Paramount Star Trek footage, screen stills and archive images. Once you've clicked 'Engage' you'll be able to beam your way to the Earth Space Dock from the Next Generation, to the Drydock from the Original Series or London, Earth in Alternate Reality.

Join Music Magpie on this voyage of discovery by clicking here.

Once there, you'll be able to discover how many light years we are away from inventing real-world equivalents of the famous Star Trek technology! Explore how close we are to replicating La Forge's VISOR or Dr Leonard McCoy's favourite piece of medical kit. Compare how touch-screen computers of today match up to the Starship's Control Interface! Not only that, but it also features the original and iconic Star Trek sounds and images, so you'll soon feel part of Captain Kirk's crew!

Google chairman says relationship with Apple improving

During the annual Allen and Co media conference held in Idaho, Google chairman Eric Schmidt has revealed that the once very frosty relationship between Apple and Google is starting to improve. The two companies, which are simultaneously rivals and business partners, have been conducting “lots and lots” of meetings at often very high levels. According to the comments made by Schmidt,  Google’s Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora has been leading many of the discussions.

Emphasizing the better relations between the companies, Schmidt said that the two are in “constant business discussions on a long list of issues.” He also praised Apple saying it was a “proud, well-run” company – as is Google. But that they are two very “different companies.”

Google’s relationship with Apple has been a real roller-coaster of a ride. At its high point Apple made Google the center of its online service offerings including search, maps and email. Eric Schmidt was even a member of Apple’s board. However when Google launched Android things turned sour. Jobs is quoted, in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple co-founder, as saying, “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

After Schmidt left Apple’s board the relationship has been bumpy with Apple suing Google and Google’s partners over Android. Last year Apple tried to ditch Google Maps, which was – until then – the default navigation app on iOS and replace it with its own maps service. However Apple’s new map service wasn’t fully ready and caused lots of negative publicity for Apple. Earlier this month Apple also announced that it was dropping Google as the default search engine for Siri, instead it would use Microsoft’s Bing.

The initial benefits of an improved relationship between Apple and Google would probably be felt most by iOS users, who might see Google re-instated as the first choice of online services. However since Google now owns Motorola and the firewall between the two, which ensures that Motorola doesn’t get any special treatment, could be taken down if needed, it looks like Google and Apple will also remain both rivals and partners, in a complex but dynamic relationship!

Source: Android Authority

Microsoft Forced to Slash Surface RT Prices Despite Vigorous Anti-iPad Ad Campaign

Microsoft is planning to drop the prices of its Surface RT tablets by $150, reports The Verge. The lower prices, which will go into effect on Sunday July 14, are likely the result of lackluster sales. 

Bloomberg reported in March that Microsoft had sold just 1.5 million Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets since they debuted in October of 2012 and February of 2013, respectively, with 400,000 of those sales attributed to the Pro. HP experienced similarlypoor sales with its TouchPad, which was heavily discounted and then discontinued.

The Surface pricing change comes just after Microsoft announced a restructuring of the company, aiming to enhance collaboration and unify its product lineup. Microsoft has heavily marketed Windows 8 tablets in recent weeks, pitting several different tablets against Apple's iPad in a series of ads that highlight the iPad’s inability to multitask and its lack of built-in productivity software. 

With the discount, Microsoft's pricing will be as follows: 

- Surface RT 32GB: $349.99 
- Surface RT 64GB: $449.99 
- Surface RT 32GB with Touch Cover: $449.99 
- Surface RT 64GB with Touch Cover: $549.99 

Staples has confirmed the pricing cut in a weekly promotional ad that says the new pricing will be available as of Sunday. Despite the pricing cuts, Microsoft has suggested that new versions of both the Surface Pro and the Surface RT are in the works, along with a number of new accessories.

Source: Mac Rumours

'Deus Ex: The Fall' Prevents Players With Jailbroken iOS Devices From Firing Guns

Gamers with jailbroken iOS devices who have purchased or otherwise acquired the new game Deus Ex: The Fall are running into a problem when they attempt to play: they can't fire any guns, a key part of the game.

Eidos, the development firm behind Deus Ex: The Fall likely implemented the measure to deter piracy, as jailbreaking is a requirement to pirate software, though not all users who jailbreak choose to pirate software.

As a result, users who choose to jailbreak for other reasons but pay for their software get caught in the same net as the pirates. It's not the first time that developers have resorted to similar tactics to stop pirates, although it is unusual for such a high-profile developer to target not just pirates but all jailbroken users.

Earlier this year the publisher of Game Dev Tycoon encoded features into the game that would bankrupt players who didn't pay for their copies, while DirecTV prevents users with jailbroken devices from using its app at all.

Deus Ex: The Fall is available on iPhone and iPad for $6.99 from the App Store. 

Source: Mac Rumours

Why No BIG Giveaways?

Over the past few weeks, we have seen a growing trend in the number of emails here at Geekanoids HQ asking why we don't do big giveaways. Many of them citing other channels that give away smartphones, tablets & laptops on a semi-regular basis. Wherever possible, all emails get a response, but a couple asked us to make a video response. Whilst this subject does not really warrant a video, we are happy to cover the subject here.

From the outset, the Geekanoids Channel was put together to share valuable information about the latest technology to hit the scene. The primary goal of most videos is to help prospective buyers make an informed purchasing decision. There is nothing worse than buying a piece of tech, only to find it either under-delivers or does not have the features you were expecting. We hope that the videos that appear on the channel help give you the info you need.

As Geekanoids grew, it became possible for us to fund our own smaller giveaways and also publish sponsored videos whereby the prize was supplied to us. When we run these videos it is for the sole purspose of giving back to you, the viewers. It is our way of appreciating you watching and more importantly being part of our community. Think of it as an 'exclusive club' where you are all really appreciated. In fact just recently, with some hard behind-the-scenes work, we managed to secure three new sponsors, so we are able to share some really nice products with more of you.

When you see channels doing large giveaways, of course, enter, you would be silly not too. If you win a nice new smartphone then congratulations. We would even enter these on occasion, in the hope we would win and be able to give the prize away to someone who has supported Geekanoids. What I would be wary of though is channels that do this purely to build viewers & subscribers. The reason I mention this is that we still live in an online society where numbers matter. When approaching PR companies for products, the often look at the number, rather than the community & engagement the channel offers. If you see a channel that is just running big giveaways time after time, just bookmark them as such, enter & move on (oh and good luck).
There are some exceptions to this, for example TechnoBuffalo run regular giveaways. These are sponsored though and their other content speaks for itself, backing up that they are a trusted source of information. 

In closing, the question still remains unanswered… why don't Geekanoids run big giveaways. Well, it is not to say that we never will. If the opportunity arises to give away a nice sponsor prize that will perhaps kickstart a budding video producers career, that would be epic and we would jump on it. However, for the timebeing, we are happy with where the channel is. With previous, current & future giveaways, we have helped so many people with YouTube related products and will continue along that path as it is truer to our overall vision of our community.