Plus a browser to keep you safe online, Samsung GS5 rumours stay plastic, HTC hints at tablets and wearables, and more
A burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
Why 'Android first' is a myth >> steve cheney
In mobile, particularly in consumer markets, there has been an ongoing debate about when or if Android will become the first platform that sophisticated startups develop for. Often times, this argument is wrongly centered around vanity metrics for Android such as worldwide shipments or installed base of each platform.
The reality is that platform constraints at the engineering and financing levels tell a much different story. "Android-first" faces structural and financial barriers which are unlikely to be overcome. iOS will remain the primary platform that startups develop for regardless of how much more quickly Android grows share. Here are the reasons why:
Cheney's argument is about startups, not established firms; and certainly applies most strongly to the US. Commenters provide some useful counter-evidence (though also reinforcements). This isn't about why or whether your bank would write an app for one of the other platform first.
(And is it nearly two years since Eric Schmidt said that in six months developers would be writing for Android first? Yes, it is in December.)
Neurio: Home Intelligence by Energy Aware Technology Inc. >> Kickstarter
Neurio is a home intelligence™ technology that makes your ordinary appliances smart and your home more efficient. Using a WiFi power sensor and a cloud service with some smart pattern detection algorithms, Neurio monitors your home's electricity to figure out what your appliances are up to - without the need to install sensors on every device.
It's the last bit that's important; adding sensors to devices is utterly boring. Enough pledges, and they'll go for CE certification.
Why iTunes doesn't support FLAC files >> Kirkville
Supporting FLAC in iTunes and on iOS devices could be a legal nightmare for Apple. Many open source software algorithms can be targets of patent trolls. While no one cares much about FLAC use in small apps and hardware devices, were a big company such as Apple – or Microsoft, who doesn't support FLAC either – to start supporting that format, it's very likely that someone would dredge up a patent and seek copious damages.
Ah, the American patent-legal complex again.
Introducing WhiteHat Aviator – a safer web browser >> WhiteHat Security Blog
Robert Hansen:
I want to share publicly for the first time some details about WhiteHat Aviator, our own full-featured web browser, which was until now a top secret internal project from our WhiteHat Security Labs team. Originally, Aviator started out as an experiment by our Labs team to test our many Web security and privacy theories, but today Aviator is the browser given to all WhiteHat employees. Jeremiah, myself, and many others at WhiteHat use Aviator daily as our primary browser. We're often asked by those outside the company what browser we use, to which we have answered, "our own." After years of research, development, and testing we've finally arrived at a version that's mature enough for public consumption (OS X). Now you can use the same browser that we do.
Built on Google's Chromium, it blocks ad-tracking, among others.
Why does Windows have terrible battery life? >> Coding Horror
Jeff Atwood has been looking at the Surface 2's battery life, which is better, but not stellar:
here's what really bothers me:
1) The Windows light usage battery life situation has not improved at all since 2009. If anything the disparity between OS X and Windows light usage battery life has gotten worse.
2) Microsoft positions Windows 8 as an operating system that's great for tablets, which are designed for casual web browsing and light app use – but how can that possibly be true when Windows idle power management is so much worse than the competition's desktop operating system in OS X – much less their tablet and phone operating system, iOS?
Galaxy S5 Specs: Case may be plastic and pleather, not metal >> BGR
According to a report from GalaxyS5Info, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 handset will not feature a metal case as had been previously rumoured. Instead, the site says Samsung will continue to use plastics for the device's housing. Specifically, Samsung will supposedly carry the leather-look plastic from the Galaxy Note 3's case over to the new Galaxy S5.
While GalaxyS5Info is an unproven source, the report was relayed by the often-reliable SamMobile.
The report goes on to say that Samsung is indeed working on a new metal phone, but it will belong to a new premium smartphone line referred for the time being as to as "Galaxy F".
SamMobile simply sources the GalaxyS5Info site and has no idea whether it's right, but hey.
HTC hints at life beyond smartphones >> FT.com
Tim Bradshaw and Sarah Miskin:
[CEO Peter] Chou insists HTC's problems are different because its flagship device, the HTC One, is doing well. "The market share loss is mostly coming from the mid- and entry-level segment," he says. With his renewed focus on products, he plans to revamp HTC's midrange portfolio…
In spite of its acquisition of Nokia, Microsoft is keen for HTC to keep producing Windows Phone devices. But HTC's sales of Windows devices have been "pretty small", Mr Chou says. "First we have to figure out how we do the business side, and how we position a Windows Phone product in the market."
Mr Chou and Ms Wang seemed far more animated by ideas for new devices beyond simply smartphones, hinting that HTC has both a new tablet computer and a wearable device, which might compete with Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch, in development.
Wearable technology is "a critical segment for us", Mr Chou says. "It matches what we do today as a mobile experience overall. That is one area we are excited about."
(Subscription required to read full article.)
Analysis: What's the future for Google's plunging $12.7bn AdSense business? >> ZDNet
Tom Foremski points out that AdSense (Google ads that appear on third-party sites) showed zero revenue growth in Q3, against 22% for AdWords (which appears beside Google searches):
In Google's Q3 conference call with analysts, CFO Patrick Pichette said, "advertising policy changes" were to blame for the change in AdSense performance.
With three quarters of sequential decline in revenues the future of the ad network is uncertain — especially since it shares about 80% of the revenues with its network but keeps 100% of AdWords revenues.
The AdSense network has large, legitimate publishers but it also has smaller sites filled with spam, or content stolen from other sites. Google has been criticized for aiding such content theft by allowing pirates to profit from their actions through AdSense, and then sending them traffic through search — effectively making Google an accessory.
A blip? Or something longer-term?
Google's iron grip on Android: controlling open source by any means necessary >> Ars Technica
Ron Amadeo:
Google has always given itself some protection against alternative versions of Android. What many people think of as "Android" actually falls into two categories: the open parts from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which are the foundation of Android, and the closed source parts, which are all the Google-branded apps. While Google will never go the entire way and completely close Android, the company seems to be doing everything it can to give itself leverage over the existing open source project. And the company's main method here is to bring more and more apps under the closed source "Google" umbrella.
A tour de force showing how Google has intentionally left AOSP to rot, and closed essential functionality and APIs. A must-read, especially for those who think Google Android is "open"; it's increasingly as closed (and locked) as iOS.
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