Pinterest faces trademark battle in Europe over use of name
What comes to mind when you hear the name Pinterest? It's probably the famous content sharing site that enables users to pin their online finds to a virtual pinboard. But a British firm has proved in court that it registered the Pinterest trademark in Europe two months before the more famous Pinterest had even registered the name in the US. Premium Interest -- which feasibly shortens to Pinterest -- is a news aggregation service based in London founded by Alex Hearn.
The startup registered the Pinterest trademark in Europe in January 2012, but it wasn't until two months later that Pinterest filed for the trademark in the US. The ruling was made by the European Commission’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, Trade Marks and Designs Division "rejected in its entirety" Pinterest's claim to the name in Europe. The court made its decision back in November, but the ruling has only just been made public.
Yahoo inadvertently spreads malware via ads
It seems not a day goes by when there isn't some sort of news about a security breach or malware. And lately, those have become more high profile -- Target not too long ago had customer information leaked and Snapchat just surrendered data, with the latter not even bothering to apologize to its customers.
Now a report from security researchers at Fox IT claims that Yahoo has been spreading malware through the ads served on the site. "Clients visiting yahoo.com received advertisements served by ads.yahoo.com. Some of the advertisements are malicious", the company notes.
Google takes Timely alarm clock developer Bitspin under its wing
Google may have just announced the closure of Flock and Bump, but it's not all about closures -- there are also acquisitions taking place as well. The latest addition to the Google fold is Bitspin. The name of the company may not be immediately familiar, but this is the company behind the Android alarm clock app Timely. At this stage it is not clear whether the company has been bought outright by Google or if there is a partnership in the cards, but there is certainly something afoot.
An announcement on the Bitspin website says:
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week: December 29 -- January 4
The start to any new year is always slow, and 2014 is no different. As the tech world struggled to shake off its New Year hangover, it was a pretty quiet week. The pace should start to pick up again, though, as CES is just around the corner!
The New Year wasn't the only cause for celebration; it was also Linus Torvalds' 44th birthday. Tablet makers were popping the champagne corks as it was revealed that such devices were among the most popular Christmas presents. Microsoft was also celebrating Windows 8 gaining a 10 percent market share, but Windows 7 also continues to grow in popularity.
Music download sales decrease for the first time ever
Music is my favorite hobby. Actually, calling it a "hobby" is probably a gross understatement. Whenever possible, I listen to music; before bed, while I write, in the car -- everywhere. When I think back to how much money I spent on music over the last few decades, it is actually depressing. Surely, I could have started an IRA instead and been on my way to retirement; no, I wouldn't trade my memories of listening to and buying music in record stores for anything.
However, the state of buying music has had its ups and downs over the last decade and a half. File-sharing services like Napster and BitTorrent sites have made music piracy easy. Ultimately, the music industry paid the price with a decline in CD sales. Many people blame the industry for its own woes, due to obscenely high CD prices in the late 90's and early 00's. However, all has not been lost -- there has been a digital-download purchase renaissance happening since the launch of Apple's iTunes in 2003. Year after year, sales of downloadable online music has increased -- until now. In 2013, online music sales have decreased for the first time ever. Oh noes!
Google does it again -- kills Bump and Flock
It's becoming quite a trend with Google. Buy up an interesting company or service, sit on it for a little while… and then shut it down. The latest victims of Google's seemingly never-ending cull are Flock and Bump. Bump was only acquired back in September, but it is already on the kill list. At the time of the acquisition, there was debate about whether the service might be rebranded, but as of the end of January it will be no more.
Bump was, in its day, quite an innovative tool, seen by many as the precursor to NFC. It enabled files to be quickly transferred between devices by bumping them together. Flock was a similar tool, but concerned solely with photo sharing. However as of 31 January, both apps will disappear from view, as announced in a blog post by CEO and co-founder of Bump, David Lieb:
Best iOS apps this week
First in a series. Every week thousands of great new iOS apps arrive in the App Store. These range from big name games to tiny gems hoping to build up a following by word of mouth. A trip into the app store can be a world of discovery, but it’s an area we’ve somewhat neglected in the past here at BetaNews.
Well that’s set to change. Every Friday I’ll highlight the best new apps of the week -- both free and paid -- for iPhone and iPad. I’ll cover the biggest releases, naturally, but also endeavor to pull out some new or recently updated apps that you likely won’t be aware of.
Best Windows 8 apps this week
Sixty-second in a series. The overall count of new apps that were published to the US Windows Store stayed well below the 2,000 mark for the second week in a row. Just 1,326 were published to it this week .
That's a slight decrease of 17 apps when compared to last week, and likely still caused by year-end festivities.
Unchecky now helps you avoid even more adware
Unchecky, the clever tool which adjusts setup programs so they don’t install adware by default, has been upgraded to version 0.2.
Core improvements start with support for many more installers. There have also been more than 20 issues resolved, some significant, which means this release is far more stable.
Snapchat blames feature 'abuse' for phone number and username leak, issues no apology
Snapchat has received quite a bit of publicity after allegedly turning down buyout offers of billions of dollars from Facebook and Google. Now, the service is in the spotlight once again following a leak which exposed 4.6 million phone numbers and usernames.
Snapchat has responded to the leak in a blog post, which explains that the culprit is actually an abuse of the Find Friends feature. According to the service, "it was possible for an attacker to use the functionality of Find Friends to upload a large number of random phone numbers and match them with Snapchat usernames. On New Years Eve [sic], an attacker released a database of partially redacted phone numbers and usernames. No other information, including Snaps, was leaked or accessed in these attacks".
Touch this! Acer C720P Chromebook white
Consumer Electronics Show 2014 starts next week, and that means tech companies tripping over one another to get the goods front and center early. No one really waits for Day One anymore, and Acer picks Day -4 to announce another touchscreen Chromebook -- this one in Moonstone White. Moonstone? Does it light up the Google cloud at night?
The white C720P joins the darker sibling launched in late November. Touch is the C720P's defining characteristic for the price. Google is the only other company selling a touchscreen Chromebook, and it starts much higher -- $1,299. Anyone looking for the feature on a budget laptop running Chrome OS, Acer C720P is it.
Acer unveils a pair of small and affordable Android tablets -- Iconia A1 and B1
When Apple released the iPad, it was a game-changer. The 9.7-inch form factor became the effective and default industry tablet size. In other words, a tablet was that size because the iPad was, and it wasn't challenged. However, Google disrupted this thinking and released the Nexus 7 in 2012. Not only did the 7-inch tablet become wildly popular, but it created the belief that a small tablet was usable and desired. Heck, even Apple jumped on the smaller-tablet bandwagon with iPad Mini.
Sadly, the small Android tablet market that was carved out by the Nexus 7 has become littered with trash. You see, many manufacturers have made the small tablet form factor synonymous with both low cost and low-quality. Today, Acer announces two small tablets that are inexpensive, but definitely not trash -- the Iconia A1 and B1.
Archos announces two affordable 4G LTE Android smartphones
As mobile operators across the globe continue to roll out 4G LTE networks, more consumers will be able to take advantage of faster data speeds. By 2017, market research firm Strategy Analytics predicts that the technology will reach 1 billion connections. The main requirement, on the user side, is a compatible, 4G LTE device.
Nowadays, 4G LTE smartphones are increasing in number and availability, but without mobile operator subsidies consumers may still be put off by the cost. Luckily for price-conscious buyers, more vendors are lowering the admission bar by offering even more affordable 4G LTE phones. French consumer electronics company Archos just revealed that one of its latest such devices can be had under the magical €200 mark.
Why Apple needs an iPad Pro
I have previously explained the concept of tablet market tiers and the pattern of upmarket competition among Android vendors as they continue to fight for reasonable hardware margins.
Recent tablet install base data from ABI research seems to support this hypothesis and describes the same pattern we saw in the smartphone market. This also helps explains why Apple needs an iPad Pro.
Sound Valley adds audio scene composer
Last November we took a look at Sound Valley, a fun program which plays the sounds of nature -- birdsong, rain, wind in the trees and more -- in the background, while you just sit back and relax.
We suggested at the time that it really needed a way to customize the existing scenes, perhaps create new ones, and it appears that the developer was listening: an update has just appeared with the beta of a new Scene Composer tool.
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