Samsung Galaxy Note 3 specs and features

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is official. And it looks pretty damn good. Coming in nine colours, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is radical re-thinking of Samsung’s traditional Note device. It’s also got a larger display, and all the usual Samsung software fluff.

Introducing the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 

 

Following the official launch on Wednesday, Samsung has now published a promo video to its YouTube channel detailing the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in all its glory.
In the video you’re treated to “real world” examples of the Note 3 in action, as well as some of its new features – Air Command, a new S-Pen attribute, is a particular favourite of ours.
Initial reactions to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 seem positive. KYM’s Paul Briden – now well into day three of his IFA 2013 saga – was very impressed by the handset, lauding Samsung’s choice of build materials and new S-Pen functionality.
“Despite having a daft name suggesting remote control of an aircraft carrier, its similar to Air Gesture in that you bring up a radial control wheel for various S-Pen functions, simply by hovering the pen and tapping the button. It works really well and I’d love to see more features like this in future iterations,” said Paul in his first look.
Check out the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 promo below, and scroll down for more details about specs, pricing and availability.
Check out the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 promo below, and scroll down for more details about specs, pricing and availability.

The 5.7-inch Full HD 1080p Super AMOLED display is larger than previous versions, but Samsung says the savings it has made with the overall proportions of the device mean that it doesn’t necessarily feel any bigger.

The handset runs Android 4.3 out the box and features 3GB of RAM. Multitasking has also been improved allowing users to run two applications at once side-by-side. During the Note 3's launch, Samsung execs showed off two ChatOn conversation bubbles running simultaneously side-by-side.
'Users can also run one application in two windows at the same time. For instance, users can read the news in one browser while conducting a web search in another, or send an instant message through ChatON to a friend while reading a message from another friend,' said Samsung.'Using Drag and Drop mode within the new Multi Window, you can easily drag and drop content such as a text or image from one window to the other in an instant.'
Samsung has fitted a larger 3200mAh batter (200mAh more than the Sony Xperia Z1), so battery life should be exemplarily.
Perhaps most startlingly Samsung has dropped the plastics. Instead the Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s back panel is finished in leather, complete with stitching – how very Gordon Gecko of you, Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: It's not real leather!

But don't worry all you vegans out there, it's not real leather. Instead, Samsung has opted for a something we like to refer to as "pleather" – it's a composite material that looks like leather and feels like leather but doesn't quite smell like leather. We don't know for certain but we'd wager it is the same stuff that cheap trainers and football boots are made out of. Either way, Samsung assures us that it is perfectly suitable for vegans and that it also wipes clean very easily. Excellent stuff.

There’s a 13-megapixel snapper on the back and a 2-megapixel round front. With regards to connectivity you have: LTE, HSPA+, WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, an infrared blaster for using the Note 3 as a universal remote, MHL 2.0, and GPS/GLONASS.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will get a release date on September 25.
Samsung has also done plenty of work to the S-Pen. The stylus is now more a part of the Galaxy Note 3 than ever before.
‘The S-Pen is now the key that unlocks all the power, functionality and features of the Galaxy Note 3.’
Air Command – hold the S-Pen on the Galaxy Note 3’s display and it brings up five Quick Commands in a fan-type menu. The idea here is to allow for quick note taking from anywhere in the Galaxy Note 3’s UX.
But it's not just Air Command. No, Samsung also detailed the following new attributes of its S-Pen at launch:

• Action Memo allows users to handwrite a note and automatically execute a function or convert that handwritten information into formatted content. Action Memo can instantly initiate a call, add to contacts, look up an address on a map, search the web, save a task to a to-do list, and more
• Scrapbook enables users to organise or track down content and information from various sources including the web, YouTube and Gallery in one place so that users can easily look back at collected content all at once. When consumers save content for future use, Scrapbook also collects source material or URLs allowing them to easily refer back to the original source
• The Screen Write feature captures the full screen image of the current page on the device and allows users to write comments or additional information onto the captured image
• S Finder allows users to expansively search for content on their device regardless of the type. By putting in keywords or filters such as date, location and content type, users can search related documents, events, communication threads, and even the Help page – all in one place. In addition, users can also search for hand-written content in their Notes and memo applications, as well as symbols and formulas
• Pen Window allows users to use the S Pen not only for drawing sketches or writing notes, but now also for opening a small application window for a true multitasking experience. Simply by drawing a window of any size, anywhere on the screen, users can easily and quickly open another application window such as YouTube, calculator or Browser without pausing current activity on the screen

In case you missed it earlier, here's your chance to re-watch the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3:

“We introduced the original Galaxy Note in 2011 and launched a whole new smart device category. The undeniable success of the Galaxy Note strengthened our conviction that consumers want higher quality features for smart devices and they want those new features to make their lives better,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics.
“Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a powerful, original approach that enables users to tell the stories of their lives through dynamic and seamless expressions of their passions across work, play and life experiences. With a simple click of the S Pen button, users can unlock opportunities for self-expression, features that transform everyday activities into extraordinary events and access to new experiences delivered to them on Note 3’s larger screen”.

Locked up like Fort Knox

Keen to continue its growing presence in the global BYOD market space, Samsung has outfitted the Galaxy Note 3 with its Enterprise-grade KNOX software. Previously controlled by BlackBerry, the enterprise space is now wide open and both Apple and Samsung have made strong gains in the space during the past 12 months or so.

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best Android phone you can buy, June 2013

We're six months down the road from our last "best Android phones" roundup, and the smartphone landscape has altered dramatically. Back in December we crowned the Samsung Galaxy S3 king of all Android phones, on account of its responsiveness, broad availability and excellent performance across the board. A generation later, the Android space is dominated by two new heavyweights -- the Galaxy S4and HTC One, with other contenders including the Xperia Z and ZL from Sony and LG's Nexus 4.

In mid-2013, buttery-smooth performance, beautiful screens, high-quality cameras, 4G LTE connectivity and Jelly Bean out of the box come as standard at the high-end. Competition is more fierce than ever, and that's resulted in some of the best Android hardware we've ever seen.

But there can be only one winner. Join us after the break to find out which phone takes the prize.

The best of the best - HTC One

We really have reached the point where the top of the Android smartphone market is blanketed by some highly impressive devices. It's tough to go wrong. There's something for everyone, be it form factor or features or gimmicks and gizmos. But for our money, there's currently no better phone available than theHTC One.

There's a lot to like here. The (mostly) all-aluminum body looks and feels more sophisticated than a plastic phone, and the gentle curve fits the hand nicely. While we've still got our quibbles with the Sense user interface, Sense 5 is the most stylish version yet, and most important is that it doesn't exhibit the lag that we've seen in the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The front-facing stereo speakers change the way you experience music and videos on a smartphone. Games and movies are much more immersive and are a downright pleasure to play and listen to. There are a few times when the speakers may be too loud, but there are many more times when you're amazed you're getting that sort of sound from a smartphone.

HTC's camera also brought forth a bit of a paradigm shift. It's not the best all-around camera -- it suffers from contrast issues, and if you need something with a higher total resolution for enlarging pictures, you'll need to look elsewhere. But the introduction of Zoes -- the 3-second video clips -- and the introduction of automatically composed Video Highlights are something that nobody else is doing, and they make up for a lackluster camera application.

The HTC One also has been released on three of the four major U.S. carriers, as well as seeing wide availability worldwide -- and we're expecting Verizon to get its own variant this year as well.

In the months we've been using the HTC One, it's continuously caught the eyes of those around us and continued to impress us with its performance -- and for that it ranks as our best smartphone for first part of 2013.

The runner-up - Samsung Galaxy S4

If ever there was a phone to beat, it was this one. Samsung took everything that was good in the Galaxy S3 and made it better in its successor, the Galaxy S4.

Well, maybe not quite everything. The plastic body remains a turn-off for many, and it's certainly not as chic as the aluminum HTC One. It's also lost a bit of the curve of the Galaxy S3. And while Samsung has managed to squeeze a 5-inch display into the same size as the slightly smaller Galaxy S3, the IPS or Super LCD displays on other phones perform better in sunlight and seems to better handle shifts in brightness. The TouchWiz user interface has been refined a bit, but it's still flat in places and doesn't match the sophistication of other UIs.

Samsung's camera, however, remains the best in the business, as far as everyday use is concerned. It's filled with features, and the camera app itself is a joy to use, having been adapted from the high-endSamsung Galaxy Camera. You might not use features like the animated gif creator every day, but they're fun to have, even if they're not all that innovative.

But what landed the Galaxy S4 as our No. 2 is the laggy user interface -- we've experienced delays and stutters on a number of versions of the phone -- as well as the anemic storage situation. Samsung's 16-gigabyte version of the GS4 only has about 9 gigabytes of storage available to the end user. And while Samsung likes to say you can add another 64 gigabytes with a microSD card, that's a different kind of storage. Good luck keeping your larger games and apps on there. The sin isn't so much that Samsung's using all that space for the hundreds of features on the phone -- and it's got some really good preloaded apps and settings. The sin is that in 2013, that sort of deceptive marking and, for many, a lack of larger storage options, is unacceptable.

Would we recommend someone buy the Galaxy S4, which is available on just about every carrier on Earth? Absolutely. It just might not be the first phone we suggest.

The best oversized phone - LG Optimus G Pro

The other South Korean manufacturer -- LG -- has a bit of a dark horse on its hands with the Optimus G Pro. It's a 5.5-inch phone -- in the same class as the wildly popular Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but without the pen input. It also improves on the Note with a higher-resolution display, updated internals and a slightly narrower body.

LG's user interface still leaves a bit to be desired, but it's also come a long way in a short time. The Optimus G Pro has a more-than-capable camera, and it's the first outside of the Nexus line to sport the Photosphere feature.

Hamstringing the Optimus G Pro, however, is availability. In the United States, it's only available on AT&T, and it's seen limited release worldwide as well, though that's beginning to change. We're also expecting Samsung to at least match the Optimus G Pro's specs and features later this year. But for now, it's a pleasant addition to the oversized phone market.

from : androidcentral,androidfr,androidtalks,samsung galaxy,

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Best Mac OS X Themes

are you not satisfied with your Mac OS X default theme or looking for something to change the look of your desktop into a clean and refreshing one that is more of your style? Here are our top 5 gorgeous themes for  you Mac OS X Desktop/Laptop (Leopard and Snow Leopard).

SOG Theme:

SOG theme is designed for Snow Leopard 10.6 which completely replaces the system user interface with its own shady interface.

Download

Soliq Black

Another stunning dark theme for Snow Leopard created by Deviant Art user dineinhell.

Download

Snow Leopard White Theme

Download 



Vitae Theme

A classic theme for  Snow Leopard

Download

Aqua Extreme 3

If you have a black monitor then this theme is great for you cause its menubar blends very well with it!

Download

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Windows 8 upgrade diary: the buying experience

There were balloons. There were streamers. There were brand new Ultrabooks, members of staff unfurling banners, and -- once other customers started to arrive -- there was even a vibe of genuine excitement for today's official launch of Windows 8 in the UK. But whichever aisle I scanned, nowhere was to be found what I had come to buy: a Windows 8 disc for desktop upgraders. It was a faltering start, but it was also strangely symbolic of my mission -- namely, to explore what Microsoft's latest operating system can do for regular desktop folk. People who, in other words, aren't yet looking to invest in touch-enabled monitors or laptops or all-in-ones; who rarely get the chance to lean back with a media-consumption tablet; and who simply want to upgrade their traditional tower PC before getting on with their lives. Read on past the break and you can begin this potentially short, hopefully sweet journey with me, starting with a quick rundown of my test rig (which also happens to be my mission critical work computer) and an anti-climactic revelation about whether, in the end, I ever found the software box I was looking for.

There it was. Concealed in a plastic security carton on a poorly lit section of shelving, somewhere between Random Accountancy Software and Pass Your Driving Test on CD-ROM. It was bluntly titled "Windows 8 Pro," and I assumed it was the upgrade edition even though the word "upgrade" wasn't mentioned anywhere on the packaging. I bought it for fifty hard-earned British notes ($80) after lots of umm-ing and ahh-ing over the fact that Currys -- one of the biggest electronics chains in the UK -- didn't stock the more expensive System Builder OEM version that can be installed on a blank-slate drive, and which I had originally thought I might buy. Anyway, having made my purchase, I was abruptly sent on my way by an employee who objected to me taking photos, but even if that little incident hadn't happened, my primary emotion as I left the store would still have been the same: uncertainty. To understand why, you only have to glance at my existing rig, and particularly the storage section at the end:

Processor: currently an old Sandy Bridge i5 running on a Gigabyte motherboard, but soon to be upgraded to Ivy Bridge (and with a separate AMD-based system in the works too)

Cooler: Gelid Tranquillo Rev. 2

RAM: 8GB of Crucial XMS3

Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 7970 on a Sapphire board

Sound card: ASUS Xonar Phoebus

Case: NZXT Switch 810

Display: three 1080p ViewSonic VX2336S LED monitors arranged as an Eyefinity group (which I honestly use mainly for blogging purposes, but which also permits the occasional spot of Metro 2033 when I feel like being petrified).

Storage: a 1TB Samsung 5,400 rpm hard disc (primary) and a brand new SanDisk Extreme 240GB SSD (secondary)

My plan is to install Windows 8 Pro as an upgrade, but set it to dual-boot from the SSD -- effectively migrating my active system over to the superior flash storage while keeping Windows 7 Ultimate and all my data on the spinning drive in case things go haywire. At this point, I have no idea if this is even possible with the product I just bought, but I'm about to find out. So, stay tuned for the next installment, in which I'll tackle the installation process from end-to-end.

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Infographic: Who's making the move to Windows 8?

Whether to make the move to Windows 8 is a huge question facing companies right now. TechRepublic conducted an independent survey of over 1,100 tech pros to see where they are on this decision. Here are a few data points from the survey. The entire survey and a discussion of its results, including the reasons companies give for upgrading or not upgrading,  will be released next week.

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Amazon 10-Inch Kindle Fire May be Delayed

amazon may hold off on announcing a 10-inch Kindle Fire at a press event next week, instead focusing on tablets that are smaller than Apple's iPad.

Although a 10-inch Kindle Fire has been expected since last year, All Things Digital reports that the tablet is “definitely not a done deal,” citing several anonymous sources. However, Amazon could still announce a version with an 8-inch or slightly larger screen, in addition to a revamped 7-inch Kindle Fire.

This isn't the first we've heard of a medium-sized Kindle Fire tablet. Last year, Digitimes reported that Amazon was preparing an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire, and last month, Staples US Retail President Demos Parneros said to expect five or six Amazon tablets, which could leave room for something in the 8-inch range.

I'll be a bit disappointed if Amazon doesn't announce a 10-inch Kindle Fire at its press event. Cheap 10-inch tablets are hard to come by unless you're willing to buy last year's hardware. If previousspeculation is accurate, a large Kindle Fire would likely be inexpensive, while also offering specs on par with the latest devices, such as a quad-core processor.

But if the device isn't ready, a delayed launch is for the best. After all, the original Kindle Fire suffered from buggy, sluggish software at launch, along with some hardware design quirks, which in turn resulted in lukewarm reviews. If Amazon plans to challenge the iPad head-on, it needs to take the time to get it right.

In the meantime, the company may feel that it can claim some new territory with a slightly smaller Kindle Fire. We've seen a few tablets with 8.9-inch screens over the last year or so, includingSamsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9 and LG's T-Mobile G-Slate, but none have proven particularly popular.

One other interesting tidbit from All Things Digital's report: Sources say to expect some sort of mobile broadband connectivity option for Amazon's new tablets, but how that will work is unclear. Amazon already sells e-readers with 3G connectivity, but doesn't allow Web browsing over mobile networks for newer models. Short of some radical new approach to wireless tablet data, we may Amazon go the traditional route and require users to sign up for data plans.

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How cell phones get their names

Welcome to Smartphones Unlocked, my new monthly column designed to explain the ins and outs of smartphones to help you better understand how they work. The world of smartphones is fast-paced and can sometimes be confusing and difficult to keep track of all the new technology in these devices, particularly if you're new to them, so if there are any topics you'd like to see covered here, please feel free to e-mail me at bonnie.cha@cnet.com.

 

Last month, my colleague Jessica Dolcourt wrote a great two-part series on how cell phones are born, along with some behind-the-scenes confessions from the handset designers. The articles provided a great insider's look at the cell phone design business, but there's another part that's always intrigued: how do cell phones and smartphones get their names?

In my seven years of reviewing phones, I've come across some great names and some that have come from the department of "What were they thinking?" Samsung has had its fair share of both, so for this month's column, I reached out to the handset manufacturer to shed some light on the subject. What follows is a Q&A session with Paul Golden, vice president of strategic marketing for Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile).

Golden, whose responsibilities include coming up with brand and marketing strategy for new product launches, advertising, media, consumer and in-store promotions, walked me through how the company names its cell phones and smartphones. As I've learned since starting this column, the process is much more involved than I thought, so read on to see what's in a (cell phone) name.

Question: When do you begin the process of coming up with a name for a phone? Is it during the development process? Once a phone is complete? Somewhere in between?
Golden: As you might imagine, the product naming process and protocol is not the same for every phone Samsung manufactures. I can tell you that on average, the product naming process takes about five to seven weeks to complete, starting with the initial idea brainstorm and reaching completion once our team and our respective carrier partner for that device give their final approval. 

How do you come up with them? What influences the decision?
Golden: We develop a positioning statement for each product that articulates the consumer benefit and key support features. The positioning statement will act as a guideline to define the best product name.

How difficult is it coming up with a name? What challenges are there?
Golden: It is definitely a challenge to match the right name with the right product. First, we have to make sure that the product name is not already taken by a competitor or a very similar version of that product name. It can also be difficult to find a product name that has a balance between being memorable and descriptive, while also being relevant, quickly understood, and recognizable to consumers.

How long does the process take? What are the different stages and who gives the final approval?
Golden: There are typically six stages that a product will go through over a five- to seven-week period before its final name is selected and confirmed. The first phase is creative development where hundreds of names are provided from an extended brainstorm period. In the second phase, we take those potential product names to a legal pre-screen to determine possible conflicts with current or future products from our competitors and make significant cuts to the initial list.

The third stage involves taking a list of about 10 to 20 leading product name candidates to our carrier partners to get their impressions. The fourth stage moves those 10 to 20 product names into a full legal search for any conflicts or potential liabilities and risks. From there, the list is whittled down to the fifth phase, which is an even shorter list of product names that are submitted to our legal team to ensure the remaining options are defensible and legally protected.

In the sixth and final phase, one product name emerges as the selected go-to market name, complete with the legal research findings and all of that information shared with the carrier for confirmation.

Do you have a team or is there a dedicated person whose job it is to come up with names?
Golden: Samsung does have a dedicated individual whose chief responsibility is to manage the product name process through the six phases, including the feedback from our legal team and the product naming/branding counterparts at each carrier Samsung works with. It's important to note that iconic devices, such as the Galaxy S, receive more product naming attention and research and go through a more in-depth approval process with our senior executives.

Are focus groups ever involved?
Golden: Focus groups are generally not used, but we do conduct market testing research with consumers to help identify which product attributes and features would likely resonate the strongest when people are shopping for a new phone. Our ultimate goals in naming a product are driving Samsung's business and building an emotional and loyal connection with consumers.

What part do the carriers play in the naming process?
Golden: Some carriers do own product names that evolve into specific brands across multiple manufacturers, such as Verizon and its Droid brand. But more often than not, Samsung conducts the product naming process for our phones and accessories and own the intellectual rights to that product name and potential future generations of products that share all or part of a older product name.

How much influence do the OEM's have? Can you tell the carrier that you want a phone to keep its original name/branding (e.g., Samsung Galaxy S II) or if you don't agree with a name, can you push back?
Golden: Naming a product is definitely a collaborative process between Samsung and our carrier partners. Let's face it, if the carrier is a big fan of a product name that we choose to bring to market, the better our overall synergy will be with the carrier in marketing, launching and promoting the product both in advance and after retail availability begins.

How different is the naming process for the U.S. and other parts of the world? When do you change the name of the same phone for different countries?
Golden: Many of the phones that we sell in the U.S. are unique to the U.S. market. In those cases the names will also be unique. For global devices, our preference is to use common naming as much as possible in order to leverage global media. In today's media world, there are no real borders so consumers get exposed to online and social media that we do globally as well as in the U.S. The more consistent we can be in our naming globally, the better. In some cases, we may have different strategies for product branding in the U.S. than other parts of the globe.

Does Samsung check a proposed name to see what cultural or religious meanings it has in other countries or societies?
Golden: Being a global company, Samsung and our legal counsel are very sensitive and careful to avoid introducing product names that could offend consumers here in the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. That is one of the reasons that our product naming process goes through multiple waves of legal reviews. Our legal agency checks names against other languages (always Korean) to ensure there are no potential hidden meanings. The Samsung HQ intellectual property team also will ask the meaning of a name if it is a coined name, such as APTOS, which combines apt and operating system.

What are some of the legal issues you have to deal with with coming up with names?
Golden: Aside from the obvious problems associated with launching a product name that is the same as a competitor, we also have to be aware of product names that could unintentionally mislead consumers into thinking that our phone or tablet has a specific feature or capability that it does not actually possess. Also, the mobile phone product industry is growing with more manufacturers and products every day. More products in the telecom industry creates a smaller number of original product names for Samsung and our competitors to choose from.

Once you come up with a unique name, is that exclusive to Samsung? Do you own it or can other companies use them?
Golden: Once a product name is registered as Samsung's intellectual property, our rights typically extend to exclusivity among the consumer technology industry. However, other consumer product industries, from cars to food or airlines all have the ability to use a name of one of our products, as long as their legal counsel can prove there is minimal to no chance that a consumer will confuse our product with the product from a completely unrelated industry.

Why do you use the model number for some devices?
Golden: We still use numbers on some entry-level feature phones where consumers are looking more for economy and basic functionality.

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Amazon: We're testing a redesign

Can you remember a time when there wasn't an Amazon?

The site seems to have been around since pages took 30 minutes to load. And it's always seemed the same. Some blue, some orange, and as utilitarian as a dustpan and brush.

So how strange it would be if Amazon suddenly looked, well, 21st century. I cannot guarantee that this will happen, but the company has admitted to The Wall Street Journal that it is testing a redesign.

Oddly for a site that is spectacularly easy to use, this redesign is intended to make it even easier. What could this mean? You could just whisper at the screen and your wishes are granted within 12 seconds?

(Credit: John Falcone/CNET)

Well, just take a look at the before and after screenshots. There are fewer products, more white space, and therefore, dare one suggest, a dangerous increase in the site's level of sophistication. (Retailers always worry about being too sophisticated.)

Look how much larger the search box has become. But please remember, Amazon doesn't really want you to buy CDs and books. It wants you to buy all the more virtual, gadgety things. They're far less bother. Indeed, the concealment of the list of departments on the left of the page might suggest the site will personalize itself even more to your most modern needs.

This all may just have something to do with the promise of a new Amazon tablet, which might even be called--breathe deeply now--Kindle. This, its alleged iPad rival, may reportedly retail for as little as $250.

Not everyone is currently privileged to view the new design. An Amazon representative told the Journal: "We are continuing to roll out the new design to additional customers, but I can't speculate on when the new design will be live for everyone."

There will, no doubt, be those who will whine. That's what people do. But a good redesign makes you forget the old very, very quickly.

Online retail sites are beginning to discover that the principle of filling every last square inch of space with product--just as some department stores love to do--may not be the best way of maximizing your business.

Sometimes, people need to relax before they buy.

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Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5B

Google said today it has agreed to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, giving the search giant valuable intellectual property and getting it directly into the handset business.

Google will pay $40 a share in cash for Motorola, a 63 percent premium over the company's closing stock price on Friday. The acquisition will "mildly" add to earnings once the deal closes by year's end or early 2012, Google said.
The deal simultaneously lends stability to and shakes up the Android world. With Motorola, Google gets a treasure trove of patents to defend itself and its partners against a rising tide of legal opposition. Over the past few months, major technology players such as Apple and Oracle have sued either Google or its partners in an attempt to slow down their competitors and extract licensing fees.
"We believe we'll be in a very good position to protect the Android ecosystem for all of our partners," David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said today during a conference call. He declined to provide specifics on the company's future legal strategy.
At the same time, the deal puts Google in the awkward position of competing against many of its partners. For the first time, Google will have a direct hand in the mobile business that it fostered from a distance. While Google creates the Android operating system critical to running millions of smartphones and tablets, it has yet to get into the design and manufacturing business itself, aside from a few experimental models with handset partners such as HTC and Samsung.
Google Chief Executive Larry Page said during the conference call that Motorola will be run as a separate unit and reiterated Google's commitment to keeping Android open. He declined to get into specific dynamics of how Motorola will compete with other Android vendors such as Samsung, HTC, or LG Electronics.
Instead, Google focused quite a bit on the protection it will gain from the deal.
In the same vein, Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha had talked up the strength of his company's patent portfolio during its most recent quarterly conference call and suggested that he was willing to step into the legal fray as well. Motorola already has an outstanding dispute with Microsoft and Apple. Last month, billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he was pushing for Motorola to sell its patent portfolio because the need for intellectual property has reached at an all-time high.
On today's call, Jha touted the company's 17,000 patents and 7,500 pending patents. They include many non-essential patents that aren't core to a phone's operations but can be used to improve features such as voice quality. It's unclear whether Android partners will get access to those patents, or whether Motorola's patent portfolio will simply offer legal cover.

Motorola, along with HTC, has been a major early supporter of the Android operating system. Jha chose to scrap Motorola's other projects and focus solely on Android, which paid off immensely when Verizon Wireless chose the original Droid to push as its flagship phone during the 2009 holiday-shopping season. AT&T more recently chose Motorola's Atrix as a flagship phone. Motorola has also renewed its ties with Sprint Nextel. Last month, it reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and hinted at a strong fourth quarter.
But the company has struggled recently too. While the Atrix was heavily promoted by AT&T, it wasn't a breakout hit. Motorola's first tablet, the Xoom, failed to make a dent in the market, even after a price cut. The 4G capability for its Xoom is still unavailable despite hyping the feature at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. And the company's long-delayed Droid Bionic for Verizon Wireless isn't expected until next month.
Page, however, said that Motorola continues to have "tremendous opportunity for growth," adding that he likes Jha's vision for future products. Beyond smartphones and tablets, Motorola has a television set-top box business and has relationships with carriers and cable providers, an area where Google can push its connected-TV ambitions. Likewise, Jha said he sees the opportunity for more convergence between the set-top box and mobile devices.
"We'll be able to deliver products that will delight customers," Jha said.
Drummond said he expects that the deal will require regulatory approval and added that he is confident it will be approved.
"Android is clearly adding competition, innovation, and user choice," he said. "Protecting that ecosystem is pro-competitive almost by definition."
Google, meanwhile, will be attempting to maintain its neutral stance in Android land even after the deal.
"Our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community," Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google, said today in a statement. "We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."
Rubin added on the call that the other major Android vendors showed "enthusiastic support" for the deal.
Google offered a Web page listing comments from other vendors.
"We welcome today's news, which demonstrates Google's deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem," J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, said on the page.

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Facebook launches security bug bounty program

Facebook has launched a security bug bounty program that rewards security researchers for privately and responsibly informing the company of website vulnerabilities.

Facebook has launched a program for compensating security researchers that discover vulnerabilities in the website’s code. To cash in, hackers must sign up at Facebook’s new whitehat hacking portal, called Information for Security Researchers, over at facebook.com/whitehat and report the issues directly to Facebook’s security team.

Facebook offers a base payment of $500 (one bounty per security bug) but says it is willing to pay more if the discovered flaw is a major one. The company says this new program is one of the ways it shows appreciation to the security researchers who help it keep the service safe and secure for everyone. It is allowing security researchers to create test accounts on Facebook in a way that doesn’t violate the website’s terms of use and doesn’t impact other Facebook users.

In order to qualify for a bounty, Facebook says that hackers must:

• Adhere to its Responsible Disclosure Policy by giving the company a reasonable time to respond to a report before making any information public and make a good faith effort to avoid privacy violations, destruction of data, and interruption or degradation of the service during research
• Be the first person to responsibly disclose the bug
• Report a bug that could compromise the integrity or privacy of Facebook user data, such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF/XSRF), and Remote Code Injection
• Reside in a country not under any current US Sanctions (such as North Korea, Libya, Cuba, and so on)

Previously, Facebook has focused on simple recognition by putting the security researcher’s name on its security page under a list of White Hats (at the time of writing, there were 42 individuals listed). The company also often sent them Facebook merchandise, and even offered jobs based on their disclosures or their security work elsewhere (infamous hacker Geohot was hired three months ago). Now the portal has been upgraded so that security researchers can sign up, log in, and report bugs.

That being said, there are some exceptions that Facebook lists right off the bat:

• Security bugs in third-party applications
• Security bugs in third-party websites that integrate with Facebook
• Security bugs in Facebook’s corporate infrastructure
• Denial of Service Vulnerabilities
• Spam or Social Engineering techniques

Since Facebook has more than 750 million users, vulnerabilities can potentially affect a huge number of people. As a result, this security bug bounty program, while not new (Mozilla and Google offer one as well), help hackers make a positive impact on the website.

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