Zoë Fielding
Samsung Electronics Australia will open its first local flagship store in August, just a block away from rival Apple’s multi-storey concept shop on Sydney’s George Street.
The Samsung brand store will occupy 213 square metres of space vacated last weekend by fashion brand French Connection at 432-450 George Street, by the Myer entrance.
The store will be the technology company’s first permanent retail outlet in Australia. It previously relied on other retailers to sell its products to people who wanted to buy from physical shops.
The company has been battling for its share of the smartphone market with Apple, which opened its first Australian concept shop at 367 George Street in 2008.
Last October, Samsung launched a temporary shop on George Street two doors from the Apple store to ambush its rival’s launch of the iPhone 4S.
From the pop-up shop, which was open for just one week, Samsung offered its Galaxy SII smartphones for sale for $2 to the first 10 people in line each day. People queued for days to buy the phones.
Samsung has lodged a development application with the City of Sydney council to spend $120,000 on a shopfront display and signage for the store, which is part of Westfield Sydney, although separated from the main shopping mall.
A spokesman for Samsung declined to comment on the company’s plans for Australia, but it is understood to be finalising its retail strategy and deciding which products to offer through the shop.
Sydney’s George Street and neighbouring Pitt and King streets have been attracting luxury and international fashion brands, while local retailers struggle with weak sales.
British brands Topshop and Topman are preparing to open in the old Gowings building, across Market Street from the Samsung store.
Six global retailers opened shops in central Sydney last year, including Zara, Burberry and Louis Vuitton. Others, such as Point Zero, H&M and Uniqlo, are expected to follow.
Samsung Galaxy Tabs getting Android 4.0 in coming weeks - Gigaom.com
Google introduced Android 4.0 in October, choosing the Galaxy Nexus smartphone to demonstrate the improved user experience and new feature set. Relatively few devices have seen the software upgrade since then, however, and new devices have only recently begun to ship with the software in the past few months. The eight models of the Galaxy Tab slated for the update include both the Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Tab 7.7, Tab 8.9 and Tab 10.1.
If history is a good predictor, all of the upgraded tablets will still rely on Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface; other upgraded devices from Samsung have hidden Android 4.0 with TouchWiz. That’s to be expected, but I’m wondering what, if any, of Samsung’s new features found on the Galaxy S III might be included as well. The company’s newest smartphone is packed with software and sharing features that could greatly improve the Galaxy Tab experience.
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The Pirate Bay says BT block already breached - BBC News
BT has joined other UK internet service providers (ISPs) in blocking access to The Pirate Bay, a ban the group says users have already circumvented.
TalkTalk, Sky, Virgin, O2 and Everything Everywhere have already cut off access to the site, which hosts links to pirated music and video.
A High Court ruling in April ordered ISPs to prevent users accessing the site.
BT customers attempting access receive the message: "Error - site blocked".
Boosted trafficBT has also cut off access to other addresses, known as proxy sites, made available by The Pirate Bay.
But a representative of the UK Pirate Party - a political group that opposes the bans - told BBC News more proxy sites had been made available "within minutes".
“Start Quote
End Quote The Pirate PartyOur internet policy is not being run by our elected representatives, it is being dictated by the music industry”
About 10% of traffic to its proxy sites now seemed to be coming from BT customers, 30% from VirginMedia customers, 15% via Sky, 6% via TalkTalk and 3% via O2, he said.
BT declined to comment on reports the block had been circumvented.
The Pirate Party spokesman said public interest in the service following the ban had also boosted traffic to the party's website.
Democratic process"This increased traffic isn't just about The Pirate Bay; it seems that the proxy has sparked an interest in the Pirate Party itself, and we are seeing a significant uptick in membership and people navigating the rest of the site," he said.
"The volume of emails and phone calls into the party has also increased markedly."
The spokesman added: "Blocks on Pirate Bay have effectively short-circuited the democratic process.
"Our internet policy is not being run by our elected representatives, it is being dictated by the music industry."
Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X compared - CNET News
How well does the HTC One X stack up against the Samsung Galaxy S III?
(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)If you're a loyal AT&T subscriber, love Android, and need a new phone badly, you've got a tough choice ahead. Both of today's hottest handsets, the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X, are yours for the taking.
The problem is figuring out which one is a better option. These two superphones are each winners in their own right, but if push comes to shove and you had to select just one, which AT&T device is truly worthy of a place in your pocket? Let's get down to brass tacks and find out.
As you can see from this handy dandy chart, both the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X can hold their own. They do differ in several ways, which makes picking one over the other that much more difficult.
Design
Sculpted from a single block of fancy polycarbonate plastic, the HTC One X is a lovely handset for sure. Its all-white chassis is also pretty striking, plus it feels smooth yet grips fingertips well. Despite its massive 4.7-inch screen, the One X is thin too (0.36 inch) but not quite as trim as the Galaxy S III (0.34 inch).
The Galaxy S III's design outdoes the One X in other ways too, with Samsung's latest flagship phone packing both a microSD card slot and removable battery. Samsung Galaxy phones have also gained a bad rap for their cheap-feeling plastic construction. Not so with the Galaxy S III, which sports smoothly rounded curves that fit hands like a glove. And while the Galaxy S III is indeed made from plastic, it has a more premium paint job than its predecessor.
HTC takes care in the One X's premium plastic construction.
(Credit: CNET)
Samsung also upped its design game with the Galaxy S III.
(Credit: josh MIller/CNET) Display
It's hard not to be entertained by the Galaxy S III's massive 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen. It boasts a high 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution and flaunts colors that pop and blacks that are lusciously deep. The HTC One X's 4.7-inch Super LCD is a contender as well. It too offers a sharp 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution, and while the screen's colors aren't as saturated, its hues are more lifelike. Additionally, images and text are more crisp on the One X, plus the display is much brighter. Of course, which of the phone's displays you prefer comes down to your personal preference. Frankly I hear echos of the old plasma versus LCD HDTV debate.
Features and performance
Samsung threw all the bells and whistles into the Galaxy S III. The cutting-edge device comes with a boatload of special software and interface enhancements, some of which work better than others. Real standouts, though, are Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and S Beam for transferring content between phones such as photos and video by bumping them together. Running the Galaxy S III's show is a fast 1.5GHz dual-core processor paired with a whopping 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard memory.
The HTC One X is no slouch either, equipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC's latest Sense 3 UI, which is both intuitive and powerful. Sure, the One X may not come with the amount of ambitious gesture or voice controls as the Galaxy S III. I'd argue, though, that too many snazzy enhancements and special functions may be overwhelming or have limited value. A 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 chip pushes the One X's software along at a quick clip. That said, the phone's RAM tops out at 1GB, though 16GB of ROM is included.
Camera and network
Both the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X pack formidable 8-megapixel cameras with backlit sensors. The dueling phones also take advantage of Ice Cream Sandwich's new burst shot feature and can capture images with machine gun rapidity. Still, the Galaxy S III wins by a hair in the camera department, capturing clearer and more pleasing HD video. It also has a higher resolution 2MP front-facing camera compared to the One X's 1.3MP vanity image sensor.
When it comes to network connection, the two handsets, thankfully, link to AT&T's swift 4G LTE infrastructure and both delivered similar data speeds on our tests. We recorded average download speeds north of 15Mbps with peaks exceeding 20Mbps. Of course, your particular experience will vary depending on the usual variables such as the time of day, location, and the proper alignment of celestial bodies. We also conducted data testing for the Galaxy S III in San Francisco and the HTC One X in New York.
Verdict
I have to say it's a close call and you'll be served exceptionally well by either of these two phones. If you absolutely must have a bleeding-edge device and want the option of swapping out batteries in a pinch or if your power cell fails, the Samsung Galaxy S III is the way to go. I do know that HTC handsets flaunt a distinctive soul all their own, right down to their elegantly crafted interface and quality craftsmanship. If you fall into this camp, only the HTC One X will float your boat.
How neo-Nazis are making money from YouTube advertising - The Guardian
Neo-Nazis are using YouTube's revenue-sharing system on adverts to obtain payments from companies such as Virgin Media, BT and O2 without their knowledge or consent.
By putting videos on YouTube, extremist groups including Blood & Honour and Combat 18 have been benefiting from the automatic addition of ads to their videos. Revenue-sharing agreements under Google's Adsense programme allow YouTube members posting non-copyrighted videos to benefit from ads that appearin a panel to the right of the videos.
Some of the ad revenue is paid to the video owner and extremist groups have used this aspect of Google's business model to generate funding. When it was alerted to this, Google deleted the videos – but there is no indication it has put in place any protections to prevent a repetition.
Videos uploaded to neo-Nazi channels often appear to have the intention of rallying support by inciting hatred against minority and ethnic groups, despite YouTube's rules stating: "We do not permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity)."
Google said the volume of uploads – with 60 hours of video uploaded every minute – meant nearly 10 years' worth of content was uploaded to the site every day. It does not screen content; instead it relies on users of the website to flag inappropriate videos as a form of self-regulatory crowd-sourced control.
"YouTube's community guidelines prohibit hate speech, and we encourage our users to flag material that they believe breaks the rules," a Google spokesperson said. "We review all flagged videos quickly, and we promptly remove material that violates our guidelines.
"Videos with ads showing because of content claims created by YouTube's automated content ID system are subject to the same removal policies after they've been flagged by users."
However, Combat 18 members or sympathisers who view the video would have no incentive to flag the content, so repeated viewings would benefit the group through revenue sharing. Under the terms of AdSense, if non-copyrighted videos prove popular the user is invited to join Google's partner programme. YouTube channels are used to provide links to extremist materials and neo-Nazi websites, where discussion groups and literature can be accessed.
Included in these links are: the Turner Diaries, linked to a number of hate crimes such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 by Timothy McVeigh; and the diaries of the white supremacist Kevin Harpham, sentenced to 32 years in prison in December for planting a backpack bomb on the route of the Martin Luther King Jr Day parade in Washington.
German police have been investigating the YouTube account of one of the National Socialist Underground members arrested in February concerning the murder of 10 Turkish immigrants in a series of racist killings spanning almost 10 years. David Copeland, the London nail bomber, and Anders Breivik, who carried out the 2011 Norway attacks, are known to have sourced ideas and suspected to have received support from online communities.
When told its ads were being associated with neo-Nazi content, Virgin Media said: "Virgin Media has a strict policy on its ad placement, so we are concerned about ads appearing against unrelated and unsuitable content on YouTube. We are currently engaged with our advertising partners and Google to understand what measures can be put into place to prevent these occurrences going forwards."
In December, the actor and TV presenter and writer Stephen Fry – whose mother's aunt and cousins died in Auschwitz – tweeted: "Disturbing that such blue chip companies are, in a way, supporting neo-Nazi YouTube content."
Robert Levine, the former executive editor of Billboard magazine who writes about copyright technology, says it is an ethical problem: "I've looked at these videos. It's very disturbing stuff.
"Like Google in general, YouTube hides its corporate irresponsibility behind freedom of speech. But there are times when it seems more interested in its own freedom to sell advertising."
The science fiction author and columnist Cory Doctorow argues against intervention. "I don't know if I agree with the underlying 'dangerous and irresponsible' premise. I'm a free speech advocate, and I believe that the answer to bad speech is more speech," he said.
"Despite having hailed from Canada, where we have hate speech laws, I've concluded that they're generally worse than their alternatives, and are generally used by powerful people against people with less power and that actual 'hate crimes' are generally crimes per se and don't need further 'supercrime' status in order to successfully prosecute them."
Apple violated a Samsung patent, Dutch court rules - The Guardian
A Dutch court has ordered Apple to pay damages to Samsung over a patent violation in the Netherlands, the latest twist in the global legal battle waged by the two rival phone and computer makers.
Apple and Samsung have been suing each other in about a dozen countries over the past few years as they compete globally for consumers in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet computer markets.
The US company has accused Samsung of slavishly copying the iPhone and iPad tablet through products that run on Google's Android software. The Korean firm has counter-sued with claims accusing Apple of infringing its patents.
A court in The Hague ruled Apple had violated a Samsung patent used in some of Apple's phones and tablets to connect to the internet, and said damages should be based on certain iPhone and iPad sales in the Netherlands.
The violation applies to iPhones 3G, 3GS and 4, as well as iPad 1 and 2, the court said.
Damages should be based on Dutch sales figures since 4 August 2010, which the court said was the date when Apple could have known it was violating Samsung's patent.
A Samsung spokeswoman said she did not know whether the ruling had any international implications, nor did she know how much money Samsung would ask for.
An Apple spokesman had no immediate comment.
The Dutch court dismissed three other patent infringements claimed by Samsung.
Apple has a complex relationship with Samsung, a conglomerate that makes computer chips, Galaxy smartphones and televisions.
While Samsung's smartphones and tablet computers run on Android and compete with Apple's products, Samsung is also a key components supplier to Apple.
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