Monthly Archive:: August 2013

‘Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users’

Thom Holwerda 2013-08-01 Wireless 23 Comments

Apparently, an advertising agency hired by Samsung is trying to buy people to post questions about the company on StackOverflow. This is what Delyan Kratunov was asked to do (he declined):

All we need you to do is talk about the SSAC (Samsung Smart App Challenge) and get the word out. How? We were thinking about 4 questions on Stackoverflow over the span of a month..... as well as replies to posts made by other members. Don't worry about finding the questions to reply to because we will send you links.

Stay classy, Samsung.

Google extends Windows Phone syncing until December 31st

Thom Holwerda 2013-08-01 Windows No Comments

The Verge:

Google has granted new Windows Phone users another extension to access its Sync service until December 31st.

Good on both Microsoft and Google. I hope the resolution of this situation starts a new trend where companies do their best not to let their petty squabbles hurt ordinary consumers.

Regarding the ITC’s exclusion order against Apple

Thom Holwerda 2013-08-01 Legal 49 Comments

Recently, the ITC ruled in favour of Samsung, issuing an exclusion order against certain Apple products, barring them from being sold in the US. Several people have called upon president Obama to step in and overrule the decision (e.g. this guy) - however, not only would this set a very bad precedent for non-US companies, it would also simply be incredibly unfair if you actually look at the ITC ruling itself. Because of this, it is quite unlikely that Obama will step in.

Improved smartphone sales pushes Sony to profitable quarter

Thom Holwerda 2013-08-01 Wireless 29 Comments

Like LG, Sony's smartphone division is now also doing quite well:

In the three months between April and June of this year, Sony saw both a "significant increase in unit sales" of its Android smartphones and an improved average selling price per handset. That's at the heart of the company's improved profitability.

The common parlance that only Samsung is profiting off Android is, as I've said before, simply no longer true. All it took for companies like LG and Sony to become profitable with Android is to, you know, stop making crap phones, and start producing good ones.

Shocker.