Apple Wins Big in Samsung Suit

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The technology world is currently all abuzz over the recent judgment of the patent trial Apple brought against Samsung. The South Korean manufacturer was found guilty in copyright and trademark infringement of products made by the Cupertino, California tech giant that resulted in a settlement of $1.05 billion. The jury in the trial came to the conclusion that much of the innovative technology created by Apple was stolen by the South Korean company.
 
According to reports, Google, which is the Android partner of Samsung, had warned the company not to copy the American company and use its patents. Although Apple originally sought $2.5 billion, the victory is still quite harmful to the competing company.
 
Part of the lawsuit saw the Cupertino tech manufacturer demanding that the Seoul company remove the majority of its smartphones and tablets from the United States market. Attorney Harold McElhinny claimed that the South Korean manufacturer faced a “crisis of design” after the launch of the original iPhone in June 2007, and that its executives illegally cashed in on the success of the device.
 
The Galaxy line of smartphones made by Samsung have been the biggest rivals of the Cupertino company’s products. The Galaxy S and Galaxy S II in addition to the Galaxy Tab 10 were deemed to be directly modeled after the iPhone and iPad in a very blatant manner. The South Korean manufacturer countered by claiming its competitor didn’t invent the design of a rectangle with rounded edges.

 
The settlement amount in the judgment has forced the Korean company to think fast on its feet. As eight smartphones are slated to be banned across the United States market, a spokesperson has stated to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, August 28, 2012that the company plans to modify devices so that they can continue to sell them.

 
The Seoul tech giant had also filed a suit against the American manufacturer, but the jury determined that there was no trademark or copyright infringement there. Although the Cupertino, California company did not win every claim it made, it still walked out a big

winner. It remains to be seen how this will affect the tech world and competition in the market.

"Brain Hacking" - Another Unintended Consequence of Technology

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Written by Bill Pojunis on 27 August 2012. Posted in Internet Technologies

Brain Hacking  - Another Unintended Consequence of Technology?

 

Game developers came up with headsets to use with playing video games on computers for "hand-free gaming" - really cool, right? I mean, talk about sci-fi becoming reality! I remember "Firefox" a 1982 movie  with Clint Eastwood, where he played a pilot who stole a super-secret Soviet plane that fired weapons using mind control by the pilot - in other words, all he had to do was to think a command, and the plane responded, firing the aforementioned weapon. Way out there, right? Well not so fast, Bippy - remember the pearl of wisdom from Napoleon Hill - "What the mind of Man can conceive, and believe, it can achieve" (probably not meant in this scenario, but it seems to fit). Leave it up to Video Game developers to come up with something to require even less physical activity, and we have "hands-free gaming" just think your commands using a headset which "reads" your thoughts, and BAM! you're annihilating your competitor with your MIND!

OK on the serious note, researchers from Oxford, Berkeley and Geneva produced "On the Feasibility of Side-Channel Attacks with Brain-Computer Interfaces" - (seriously, that is the title!), which found that subjects could reveal personal information, including PIN numbers, addresses, known people, all through spikes in brain activity when the subject recognized something familiar from a test group of data. Admittedly, this is still kind of sketchy, with about a 40% accuracy rate, but as the devices (headsets) improve their sensitivity and quality, higher results are expected.

According to the researchers, their motivation was to determine whether participants would inadvertently reveal private information while wearing one of these devices for another purpose, say, playing video games. During the testing, participants wore brain-wave reading devices and were shown a list of people, possible PIN numbers, and the likely location fo their home. Spikes in brain activity P300 (which activates  when familiar information was recognized) occurred and the researchers were then able to guess the correct information contained within the lists shown to the participants. Preliminary results showed that the correct first PIN number was identified 20% of the time, their home's regional location 30%, their month of birth 60%, and their bank's ATM branch location 30%.

As the devices (headsets) and technology are improved, this raises the flood of applications and possibilities - consider this one - Law Enforcement Officers can use this technology in interrogation (same with the military) for various reasons, like identifying accomplices, collaborators, etc. as well as potential ambush sites - you get the idea. But, what if Facebook was now able to tell if you REALLY know that person to whom you are sending a "friend request" can you imagine that?

However, let's not forget the 800 pound gorilla in the room - the abject invasion of privacy of our MINDS! Will we inadvertently reveal our innermost secrets and private information, potentially harmful, by wearing one of these devices to play a video game?

And they laughed about the idea of "tin foil hats" - maybe those folks were the ones really onto something way before its time - just sayin'!

Tell Me Again Why Capitalism is So Evil? Just Ask Apple, Why Doncha!

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Tell Me Again Why Capitalism is So Evil? Just Ask Apple, Why Doncha!                                                                                        

As reported today, Apple's Market cap of $623 BILLION makes it the largest US publicly traded corporation, surpassing the previous highest tally - $618.9 Billion, Microsoft, way back in 1999. OK, ok you purists, adjusted for inflation, Microsoft would be $850 - but remember that date I mentioned -1999? You might recall that was at at the height of the tech bubble!

Since 1999, Apple has gone on such a wild ride it would make your head spin! In 1999, Apple's market cap stood at about $9 billion, up from  a paltry $2.3 billion just two years earlier, in 1997. To put Apple's run in perspective, what about some other billion$ companies from 1999 - how have they fared? Let's start with a few fairly well-known companies in that category - Cisco, AOL, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Dell Computers, Nokia, Yahoo.

The rankings of these companies in 1999:
#1 - Microsoft - $618.9 billion market cap
#2 - Exxon   -  $267.02 billion
#3 - Cisco Systems - $350 billion
#9 - Nokia - approximately $200 billion
#12 - AOL - also around $200 billion

Sun and Oracle were both similar, Oracle around $137 billion, Sun a little less at $116 billion.

Yahoo was high on the totem pole at that point, #39, market cap about $100 billion.

Dell rolled in at # 30, market cap was $122 billion.

So much for thie historical base point - what about today, and why should Apple be the subject of an article like this? Did I mention Apple is now the highest valued publicly traded American corporation today? I thought so. While this is remarkable, whre do those others I mentioned above fall now?

Cisco's market cap is near $100 billion; Nokia's - $8 billion and falling; AOL - today is $3 billion, but in the interim they bought Time Warner for $162 billion, and this acquisition turned around and spun off AOL!

Oracle bought Sun for 7.4 billion; Yahoo today has a market cap of roughly $18 billion; Dell has lost $100 billion, current cap is $22 billion.

What has Apple done in the same time? Only increased their market cap $614 BILLION, that's what!
As I mentioned at the outset, none of these  accomplismments are possible in anything other than a capitalist system. The OWS types can scream all they want about "fairness" and "social justice" and "equality", but excuse me, where would all those employees of these "evil corporations" be without the innovation, the at-risk  initial captial investments, the vision to create an enterprise, and yes, the profits which fueled the expansion and the increases of numbers of employees, the benefits paid, the taxes paid, the infrastructure, the construction workers required to erect the facilities where these companies produced their products, the suppliers who provide the supporting casts of thousands of materials used to manufacture the end products - funny, but I don't see any socialist/communist/statist systems capable of such production - correct me if I'm wrong!

Wake up, America! The Occupy movement is intent upon bringing DOWN our system which has produced results such as these, and offer NOTHING with which to replace it except empty rhetoric and vague generalities couched in unproven and unrealistic pipe dreams created from smoke and mirrors. I'll take the reality scenario anytime! $623 billion worth of reality scenario!

Do Consumers Trust Your Web Site More Than Social Networks?

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Do Consumers Trust Your Web Site More Than Social Networks?
Recently I came across two articles which surprised me, in the fact that  both suggest that consumers trust e-commerce websites more than social networks. Maybe it isn’t such a surprise.

One was reporting  on a new survey which found that 55% are "mostly willing" to provide shopping preferences to trusted retailers in exchange for an enhanced shopping experience, while 52% stated they are "much more concerned" or "somewhat more concerned" about providing the same information on social networks.  (This survey conducted by the consultancy The E-Tailing Group and personalization services vendor MyBuys Inc of 1,000 consumers).

The second article, (big surprise) found that visitors to social networks go there to socialize, not to “interact with brands”, then further stated that if consumers want information about a purchase decision, they were four times more likely to go directly to the company’s website! Credit this to research by social marketing firm Get Satisfaction and analyst Incyte Group. From their survey: "when customers want information to make purchase decisions, they are more than four times as likely to go to the company’s website (89%) as they are to use a social network (21%)."

So, e-commerce merchants – what should you do now? Ignore social media and concentrate solely on your website? Hardly! What you should do is to adopt a policy regarding social media that serves to engage and inform your potential customers, like offering them the opportunity to participate in surveys, offer feedback and comment on your offerings, explain the differentiation between your competitors and your business. But, do these things on your own website, rather than on social networking sites – use them to drive traffic to your website!

 

Your website can be fine-tuned to use social media effectively – create communities, offer ratings and reviews, and encourage your customers to share their experiences through an online forum –all these are great opportunities to enhance the value of your website to your customer base, if done well. Bear in mind that the purchase decision occurs on your website, not on your fan page, and allocate your resources accordingly.

Look at social networks from a personal perspective – what do you like about them yourself, and what annoys you about them? Then structure your efforts according to what you would like to see as a consumer, rather than from the perspective of a provider or seller. Ask yourself, would you become a “fan” of your own page? Why or why not? Then you have some basis to evaluate what you should do.

The bottom line – if you provide social networking “tools” on your own website, which allow customers to share content, it is likely that some of them will do just that!
Social media may not yet have attained the "be-all, end-all" of 21st century marketing,  but you cannot deny its impact and potential to generate additional sales, when properly executed and deployed as part of your overall strategy.

The takeaway for small business is this – remember the priority of your online presence is your web site, but never overlook the potential benefit of social network applications, use both in your planning.

Samsung Announces Galaxy Note 10.1

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Monday Samsung announced the awaited arrival of the Galaxy Note 10.1, stating that the tablet will be available around the world by the end of this month .

Dual cameras, a forward facing 1.9 megapixel and a 5 megapixel rear-facing are features, as well as the the 1.4Ghz quad-core Exynos processor that powers the 10.1-inch Android tablet.

Originally announced at Mobile World Congress in February, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has upgraded to a faster processor as well as other updated specs hoping to make it more competitive with other tablets on the market. It will launch with the Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" OS.

For those of you in New York City, Samsung is holding an event  on August 15, which will probably introduce the launch of the tablet. 

The tablet  has a multitasking feature, allowing you to run two apps simultaneously on the screen, which could be used to surf the web or take notes during the presentation. Or various other uses creative minds will find useful!

Why Ecommerce Businesses Should be Using Facebook for Market Research

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Why E-commerce Businesses Should be Using Facebook for Market Research

Using Facebook’s marketing data may prove to be essential to e-commerce sites. Any e-commerce site that is currently not using Facebook for market research is potentially missing out on significant information that could be beneficial to their bottom line. Sociable Labs explores how technology can be used in innovative ways and recently conducted a survey of over 12 e-commerce sites in different markets. They discovered half of visitors to e-commerce websites are logged on to Facebook. Businesses need to know more about their customers’ interactions with Facebook because of its significance in the day-to-day lives of current and future customers. 

Facebook allows e-commerce businesses to conduct market research in a way that is highly targeted. Businesses can use the data they collect on Facebook to create more effective ad campaigns. These campaigns can be spread across multiple platforms including social media sites and also help businesses create more effective copy for their websites. If businesses are able to determine exactly what their customers need and want they will be in a better position to increase sells and brand loyalty. The days of untargeted ads are coming to an end. People want products that cater to their specific needs and any e-commerce business that can figure how to do this is bound to have lasting success online.

Using social media in particular to market means being relevant. E-commerce companies need to be able to cut through all the noise that individual consumers are bombarded by during their online experience. The average Facebook user spends an average of 15 minutes on Facebook each day. Highly targeted ads to these customers on Facebook alone could be a very effective and economical way for businesses to spread the word about the brand and products. Sociable Labs creates different services to help businesses better understand the response they are receiving from customers on their social media marketing campaigns.

Having relevant and highly targeted information about target audiences and demographics can help businesses create more effective ads for their general audiences and sub-niches within their core audience. Products that are better positioned to sell can also be created based on market research and information received from Facebook’s platform. Companies should be using the Facebook Business Pages to conduct research. The built-in metrics on Facebook’s platform can help businesses make better decisions for the future and understand want their customers are looking for. Companies can also conduct polls as a way to interact with their fans and gather information as well. Including services that help monitor customer response like the ones developed by Sociable Labs can also be a very important component of an e-commerce businesses marketing plan.