They What? AT&T Has Decided to Stop Tracking Your Phone

By Osvaldo Nunez 

AT&T Mobility, the nation's second largest cellular provider, will no longer track its users surfing the net on smartphones.

The change basically removes a hidden string of code attached to customers' service line. The line made it easier for AT&T to track subscribers on the Internet, an opportunity for advertisers to gather valuable information.

Most AT&T users were probably not even aware that their own provider was tracking them. AT&T was able to sell our data and according to their spokesperson, it was apart of a test program. Their spokesperson, Debra Lewis, said that "As with any program, we're constantly evaluating, and this is no different,"

If they do decide to bring the scheme back: "customers will be able to opt out of the ad program and not have the numeric code inserted on their device."

Not only was AT&T using this scheme, but also Verizon. Verizon is still evaluating the scheme and that they are doing it differently, keeping users' information secure, and instead using history to feed ads.

"Everything you wonder about, and read, and ask the Internet about gets this header attached to it. And there are ad agencies out there that try to associate that browsing history with anything that identifies you," said aid Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, a senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil-liberties organization that opposed the practice.

For users, it's not easy to get real online privacy. It would probably be costlier if users actually had their independence on the Internet. For example, users may be hit with hundreds of dollars worth of termination fees if they try to leave the carrier.

ProPublica discovered that Twitter was using Verizon's tracking codes as well.

To check if your phone is being tracked as well, go to ProPublica.

FCC questions AT&T’s decision to “pause” its fiber optic rollout

By Tech

The Federal Communications Commission has sought clarification from AT&T regarding its decision to “pause” the company’s roll out of high-speed fiber optic lines across the US.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, ended up landing squarely on the FCC’s radar for comments he made about the temporary shutdown of the company’s fiber optic plans. The CEO said that in the face of uncertainty about the future of net neutrality AT&T can’t afford to invest in the project “without knowing the rules” that will govern that network. Meanwhile, the FCC has sent a letter to AT&T on Friday asking for clarification about the company’s plans regarding the technology to be used in the roll out and how many households it plans to connect.

The FCC has AT&T in a bit of a bind; while the telecoms provider has a vested interest in the net neutrality decision the Commission is currently mulling over, it also needs approval from the FCC for the nascent plan to acquire satellite television provider DirecTV for $48.5 billion. The approval for that business move is already on the back burner until consumer protection provisions are ironed out, and AT&T has said that it’s dedicated to working with the FCC in any way it can.

AT&T’s original plans for the fiber optic roll out, which would bring data transfer speeds as high as 1 gigabit per second to consumers, were to reach 100 cities across the US by the end of 2015. However, Stephenson intimated that the deployment could be limited to just the 2 million homes that were part and parcel to the DirecTV deal instead.

The FCC wants more than just information about the roll out plans when it comes to the fiber optic technology. The Commission says that it needs to determine if the investment plan AT&T is relying on would be profitable or not, and also wants to see if it would be a profitable venture to roll that fiber service out to those 2 million homes. The FCC also requested any and all documents related to those plans in the wake of the DirecTV acquisition.

Facebook to cut unpaid posts by marketers on news feeds

By Vindu Goel

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook's executives are not terribly worried about upsetting people these days.

Flush with profits and a high stock price, Facebook recently shocked investors by saying that it planned to spend billions of dollars on projects that might never generate any profits.

And on Friday, the company told marketers that if they really wanted to reach their customers on Facebook, they needed to buy an ad.

Even for big names

The social network announced that starting in January, it would reduce the number of posts made by brand pages, such as pitches to install a new mobile app or tune into a TV show, that appear in the news feeds of its 1.35 billion global users.

That is likely to mean that fewer fans of a retailer will see its notice about a big sale and fewer fans of a video game company will see a post promoting its latest app.

Unpaid posts will drop out of the news feed even for big advertisers that spend millions of dollars on Facebook ads. But Facebook, which dominates social media advertising the way Google dominates search, has so much power that they don't have much choice but to switch to paid ads.

"It's a clear message to brands: If you want to sound like an advertiser, buy an ad," said Rebecca Lieb, a digital advertising and media analyst at the Altimeter Group, who was briefed ahead of the announcement.

The change to the news feed is the latest blow to businesses that try to reach customers through their Facebook pages.

Over the past two years, the social network has repeatedly tweaked the system that decides what people see in the news feed to cut way back on the number of unpaid posts from businesses.

The company argues that people would rather see videos, photos, news stories and updates from their friends and family.

At the same time, Facebook has aggressively promoted its advertising products, such as ads that pop up on its users' mobile phones urging them to install a new app. In the third quarter, Facebook reported a 64 percent increase in advertising revenue to $2.96 billion and said ad prices rose 274 percent compared with the previous year.

Response to complaints

Brian Boland, a Facebook vice president who oversees marketing of ad products, said the latest changes were not motivated by a desire to increase ad revenue but to make Facebook users happier, which helps everyone, including advertisers.

He said Facebook surveyed several hundred thousand users, who complained that they were seeing too many junky promotional posts in their news feeds. While some of those annoying promotions were paid ads, about two-thirds were posts from brand pages, so Facebook decided to downgrade their chances of bubbling up in the news feed.

Boland said Facebook's ads, which can target users by a range of factors, are a better way to reach the customers most likely to be interested in a particular pitch. "An ad maker doesn't want to serve content to people who don't want to see those posts."

BlackBerry, Samsung Join Forces on Mobile Security

By 

BEN DUMMETT

Partnership Could Help Both Companies Win More Enterprise Customers

Samsung, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, stands to benefit from BlackBerry’s stronger reputation for mobile security

BlackBerry Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. agreed to sell each other’s mobile-security technology in an effort to win more enterprise customers.

The deal was the highest-profile of several partnership and distribution agreements BlackBerry announced Thursday to drive sales of its new mobile-security software—dubbed BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12. BES12 is the anchor of the company’s strategy to double revenue from software sales to $500 million and return to profitability in its next fiscal year by winning back corporate and government business.

BlackBerry also announced deals with customer-management software provider Salesfore.com Inc., mobile-device distributor Brightstar Corp. and several wireless carriers including Orange SA, Verizon Wireless, and Vodafone Group PLC, all aimed at getting BES12 in front of as many potential customers as possible.

BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market has shrunk to a sliver, and the Canadian company is losing ground to rivals in sales of mobile-security software. The tie-up with Samsung, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, will give BlackBerry access to a larger customer base to sell BES12, and comes as many companies seek one security solution to manage their employees’ various mobile devices.

“We have slipped,” BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen said, but BES12 gives the company an opportunity to “recapture that [lost share] and build on it.”

Samsung, meanwhile, stands to benefit from BlackBerry’s stronger reputation for mobile security. That could help the South Korean electronics company accelerate its efforts to expand in the enterprise market, where it has struggled to gain traction.In an interview, Mr. Chen also said more than 90% of BES12 licenses will sell as subscriptions to ensure a source of recurring revenue. “I want a business that is not only growing but predictable,” he said.

Selling more devices to corporate customers could also relieve some pressure on Samsung as its dominance in the consumer market comes under attack from less-expensive handsets made by Xiaomi Inc. and other Chinese vendors.

Samsung and BlackBerry are often characterized as rivals in the enterprise market, but their security technologies can be complementary. Samsung’s security platform, Knox, comes embedded in certain Samsung Galaxy devices, allowing users to separate personal and work data to ensure corporate security and employee privacy. Meanwhile, BlackBerry’s technology allows companies to remotely manage devices to prevent security breaches and data loss as content and applications move between those devices and corporate networks.

BES12 works on non-BlackBerry operating systems, including Apple Inc. ’s iOS, MicrosoftCorp. ’s Windows and Google Inc. ’s Android, which is used by Samsung devices. That means BlackBerry can win business from sales of the software even if business customers don’t use its devices.

The partnership will allow BlackBerry and Samsung to generate revenue from companies that choose to adopt Knox-embedded Samsung devices for their workers and want BES12 to manage these devices. BlackBerry and Samsung will split the revenue from these sales, but the companies didn’t disclose how.

The deal “isn’t about one company displacing the other,” said John Sims, head of BlackBerry’s enterprise business. “This is about one and one makes three.”

For Samsung, the BlackBerry deal is the latest in a string of alliances it has forged with enterprise players, most recently in a partnership with German software company SAP SE announced on Tuesday to better integrate Samsung’s range of mobile devices with SAP’s enterprise mobile offerings.

“Combined with BES12 we will offer more options for customers,” Injong Rhee, a Samsung senior vice president, said in a prepared statement.

Annual global revenue from enterprise mobility-management software is expected to more than quadruple to $5.75 billion in 2018, driven by greater use of mobile devices at work, a surge in mobile apps and increased security threats, according to Radicati Group Inc., a market-research firm.

But BlackBerry has been losing share in this market. Last year it led the enterprise mobile-management sector with an estimated 14.4% share of the market, according to International Data Corp. But rivals, including MobileIron Inc., VMware Inc. -owned Airwatch and Citrix Systems Inc., are eating into BlackBerry’s business.

BlackBerry wasn’t “on a growth path from 2012 to 2013” and it appears it will see declines this year, said Stacy Crook, an IDC analyst. Revenue could stabilize in 2015 if BES12 proves to be a hit, she said.

Samsung’s Knox has also struggled, partly because it is considered too costly, some analysts said. In addition to the extra cost companies pay to have Samsung devices installed with Knox, they also need to adopt mobile device-management software to oversee the devices on the corporate network. Samsung in May indicated that it had 87 million devices installed with Knox, but only 1.8 million were actively using the platform.

BlackBerry’s challenge is to ensure BES12 lives up to its billing. BlackBerry’s current mobile-management offering, BES10, also is meant to work across device types, but it isn’t as effective for non-BlackBerry devices, according to some companies and analysts.

The Canadian arm of U.S. broker Investment Technology Group Inc. uses BES10 software for the BlackBerry phones on its network, but relies on Citrix technology to manage its employees’ iPads, since Citrix allows users to more effectively separate personal and work data on Apple devices, said Daljit Bhartt, the unit’s information-technology head.

ITG’s Canadian arm would consider adopting BES12 for all devices used by the firm’s 105 employees, provided it works equally well across operating systems. “If we can consolidate the [mobile device management] solution, we will take a look at it,” he said.

BES12 won’t replicate BES10 problems, BlackBerry’s Mr. Sims predicted. “BES12 was built from the bottom up to be a cross-platform solution,” while BES10 was built to manage BlackBerrys before additional features were added, he said.

—Jonathan Cheng contributed to this article.

Nokia will not make smartphones anymore

by Luke Jones 

Today could spell truly an end of an era, not just in mobile but in the tech world as a whole. It seems that Finnish company Nokia will not be making mobile phones again, despite being able to in 2016. Nokia's new CEO Rajeev Suri said "We are not looking to a direct consumer return to handsets per se," during a talk today. However, should we really be saying goodbye to the Nokia brand?

Nokia was one of the first manufacturers of mobile phones and during the late 1990's boom in mobile technology was well placed to ride the crest of a wave. And that's what the company did, becoming the world's largest mobile phone vendor for several years. The age of the smartphone hit the company hard as it stuck with Symbian while consumers raced to Android and iOS. Nokia's market share collapsed and the company struck an alliance to build Microsoft's Windows Phone devices. It was a good accord for both companies and Nokia proved itself by putting the platform on the map and continuing to build good products.

Microsoft announced its intentions to buy Nokia's devices division in September 2013 and closed the deal earlier this year, for a reported $7.7 billion. The result was a new subsidiary called Microsoft Mobile and the writing being painted on the wall. During the summer Microsoft announced that it would ditch Nokia branding with future devices, starting with this week's Lumia 535. The Nokia name was left in limbo, but per the agreement with Microsoft, the company could start building devices again in 2016, under the Nokia name or something else, but there had been no confirmation of that.

Suri confirmed today that Nokia would not be making devices anymore, although his words had a short term feeling about them. I still personally hold the hope that Nokia will return to the spotlight with some new handsets. While Suri suggests otherwise, he did say that the company would "will return to the consumer world." That could mean that the Finnish giant licenses the Nokia brand to other manufacturers to build the hardware, and they supply the software and services.

Indeed, services is an avenue Nokia is now focused on pursuing. Networks, Technologies, and Mapping are three businesses the company is pushing and while it will issue software for all platforms, having a dedicated device to drive its software seems logical. So maybe Nokia will return in smartphone phone, but it will not be built be Nokia.

Forget the app; Microsoft rolls out Skype for Web

By Sharon Gaudin

Beta version means users will no longer need an app to videochat with friends

Microsoft announced today that it's launching a beta of Skype for the Web, allowing browser-based video chats that don't require a separate app.

"We've made Skype available on computers, mobile phones, TVs and even games consoles," wrote Jonathan Watson, Skype product marketing manager for Microsoft, in a blog post. "Expanding to different platforms has helped us grow to over 2 billion daily minutes (that's over 33 million hours) of voice and video calls.... Now, not only can Skype be used on just about any screen you lay your hands on, but you can also enjoy Skype on a browser."

Skype for Web, which is expected to roll out in the coming weeks, will be available via Internet Explorer, Chrome on Windows, Firefox or Safari.

"If you already use Skype, go to Skype.com and sign in to see all your contacts and latest conversation history," wrote Watson. "We're making Skype for Web available to small number of existing and new users to begin with, and gradually rolling out worldwide in the coming months -- look out for an invite when you sign in to your Skype account on Skype.com."

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research, said this is a good move for Microsoft because it opens Skype up to more users in more places.

"The requirement to have a client means one might not always be able to use Skype," he said. "For example, if I'm on a shared computer, say in an airport, I can't use Skype.... Maybe I can't get on the airport Wi-Fi, but there's a public Internet terminal or I might want to use a friend's computer. But with Skype Web, now I can. So now Skype can be pervasive across all devices, not just ones that I happen to own."

However, Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, said this is a better move for Microsoft than for Skype users. By enabling people to access Skype on Web browsers, there's less pressure on Microsoft to quickly keep various apps updated.

Skype, for instance, has to maintain apps for Apple's iOS platform -- both on tablets and smartphones. There are also apps for Windows XP, touch Windows 8, Windows 7, Xbox and Android phones and tablets.

"You have no idea how many implementations of Skype apps are out there," said Moorhead. "You're maintaining the code and you're constantly having to make changes and invest dollars into making the experiences good and consistent between so many platforms. Instead, you could put your development dollars into making it run really, really well in a browser, with just minor changes for the different browsers."

He added that Microsoft has worked hard on all of Skype's different apps, but they still vary slightly between environments.

Beam Messenger App Shows Your Friends' Texts as They Type

By John Nassivera


A new messaging app debuted Thursday with the goal of forcing you to be honest with the texts you send to your friends. (Photo : Facebook )

A new messaging app that was designed to show bring honesty and real-time expediancy to texting debuted this week and it's already making people nervous. With the Beam messenger app, your friends will be able to see everything you type in a text as you type it, such as corrections and what you choose not to send, according to The Daily Mail.

Users won't have to wait for the texter to send a message. They can comment or inject themselves iinto conversations in real-time and ultimately be able to talk to their friends without actually sending their texts. And the texts aren't stored on a network, so the conversations will remain secure.

Toronto-based Beam makes sure the texts are readable with help from an error-checking mechanism, which will allow users to send texts without spelling or grammar mistakes, Daily Mail reported. The encryption part of the error checking is currently in development to prevent information from being leaked in case a third party intercepts the texts.

Alec Gordon, CEO of Beam, said the messages sent by the user aren't monitored, and the company said users won't experience any delays between typing and seeing the words appear on the screen, giving them the chance to "beam in" and interrupt or comment within conversations.

"While you are texting inside a bubble, without breaking, you are allowed to backtrack and jump forward at will," Beam said. "Also you may delete the whole text altogether, gone from both devices in true real time fashion."

Gordon said Beam is almost 65 percent done with an iOS version for the app, and that app fans should expect to see a PC version as well, The Huffington Post reported.

Those who own an Android device can download the Beam Messenger app now for free.