Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.0 first impressions
Staggering fact of the week for me was the news at the Google music launch that the number of Android devices has doubled in the past six months – from 100m activated to 200m.
Add another one to that total. I have just registered the latest and greatest Android smartphone – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – the first to feature the new Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 version of Android. Read more
Romney looks to Twitter for fans
President Barack Obama famously used Twitter to energise his followers during the 2008 campaign. Now Mitt Romney, a leading candidate for the Republican nomination, is seeking to conjure up the same magic. Read more
The unexpected impact of Facebook’s “seamless sharing” on newspaper sites
Mark Zuckerberg said in September that Facebook’s new sharing tools for music, video and news would “transform” the media world, with the social network “rethinking the whole way the news industry works”.
A few weeks in, there are early hints he might be right. Music services such as Spotify and Deezer had shared 1.5bn “listens” as of last week, while Rdio has seen a 30-fold increase in new user registrations from Facebook.
But the transformation is not necessarily what Facebook’s founder or his new partners in the news industry might have expected. A surge of Facebook traffic to years-old stories may be forcing news sites to reassess the importance of, well, news. Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Citigroup’s research department says that Amazon is set to follow on from the launch of its Kindle Fire tablet computer with its own mobile phone, AllThingsDigital says. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney writes:
Based on our supply chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in 4Q12. Based on our supply chain check, we believe FIH is now jointly developing the phone with Amazon. However, we believe that Amazon will pay NRE (non-recurring engineering fees) to FIH but the device and multiple components will actually be manufactured by Hon Hai’s TMS business group (the same business group that makes Amazon’s E-reader and the 8.9” Amazon tablet).
DataSift tames Twitter firehose
DataSift’s full launch this week comes in the nick of time for those seeking to filter out trends and sentiments in Twitter’s ever-expanding tweet stream.
Nick Halstead, DataSift and TweetMeme founder, says Apple’s integration of Twitter in iOS5 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has sent traffic soaring in recent weeks. Read more
Kindle Fire fights Nook Tablet
No tablet maker has made much of a dent in the iPad’s share of the market, so why should we expect more from a couple of eReader makers looking to expand beyond books?
Price is the key reason. The Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are more than 50 per cent cheaper than the cheapest iPad and could win a new audience looking for value and pure content consumption, if only in the US. I have had a limited time using both in their launch week and initial thoughts are after the jump. Read more
Toshiba Portégé Z835
Competition in the Ultrabook category of laptops resembles a runway cat fight among skinny supermodels, as these thin and light devices battle it out over looks and vital statistics. The models from Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard, and a hybrid alternative from Asus, all excel but the right option will depend on your needs.
Zynga’s pre-IPO management shuffle
Zynga has announced that Owen Van Natta, the former Facebook executive and chief executive of MySpace, has resigned from his position as Chief Business Officer at the leading social gaming company ahead of its IPO, surrendering 4.64m share options in the process.
The news came in a regulatory filing detailing management changes and new numbers on users – the kind of detail requested by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a public offering nears. Read more
FBI working with NSA, CIA on cyber threats
The FBI must work more closely with the major US intelligence agencies in order to combat threats in cyberspace, its director said on Thursday, likening the government response to that against terrorism. Read more
US solar company looks to Europe
The collapse in solar panel prices has not been bad news for everyone: installers are having a field day. But how do you create a large-scale business quickly in an industry that has always favoured local operators?
US solar installer Sungevity has one answer – it is about to venture into Europe, making it the first to make the move. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
