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Submission + - Samsung Galaxy S4 Allegedly Explodes and Burns Down Apartment

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: It appears the batteries in the latest smartphones pack a powerful punch. A Hong Kong man alleges that his brand new Galaxy S4 exploded into flames as he was playing a quick game of Love Machine. He promptly threw it onto his couch and ran out of the house. The ensuing fire engulfed the entire apartment and destroyed everything. Full details of the incident can be found here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/samsung_phone_burns_down_house/. Pictures of the damage can be found at this (Chinese) site: http://xianguo.com/article/2104424FB1DC2D9945E97B777F425C78

Could this have been caused by cheap 3rd party chargers that may have also caused the death of an iPhone user, http://www.firstpost.com/tech/after-two-deaths-in-china-the-question-arises-can-your-iphone-kill-you-989411.html, discussed last week?

Submission + - Star of Apple Retail experience, Ron Johnson, fired as CEO of JC Penney

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Ron Johnson was famous for coming up with Apple Store retail experience that a lot of people have grown to love. They became hip hangout joints where people could try out Apple products and learn about using them. These stores also generate the greatest revenue per square foot of any retail space out there. He was hired by JC Penny to turn around the beleaguered company in 2011 as CEO after being scooped from Apple. However, it appears he has failed miserably in his task of attracting the young hip crowd while at the same time alienating the base that frequently shopped at JCP. He failed spectacularly at JCP for all the same reasons he succeeded at Apple. Time lists the 5 reasons for his ouster in this article: http://business.time.com/2013/04/09/the-5-big-mistakes-that-led-to-ron-johnsons-ouster-at-jc-penney/ It is a really interesting read about what not to do.

It appears the SVP of Retail position remains open at Apple. Will he return?
Android

Submission + - FTC Probes Android And Google Search (wsj.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: The FTC is investigating claims that Google prevented Android smartphone vendors from using competing services (covered previously), whether Google preferentially places its own services above others on the search results page, and whether Google scraped content from competitors for use in its own services. FTC lawyers are also asking how Android may be helping Google maintain its massive web search lead. Google denies all allegations and blames jealous rivals for the growing number of probes. The European Commission's own antitrust probe is ongoing.
Apple

Submission + - Which company is the largest? (arstechnica.com) 2

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Apple and Exxon are fighting it out to be the company with the largest market cap. Yesterday, Apple pulled ahead. It is hard to believe a tech company can beat out an oil giant, but is the market cap really the measure of the size/influence of a company? It is certainly the simplest metric to consider. Ars is running an excellent article on how to measure the size of a company. They discuss different metrics such as cash balance, revenue, number of employees, etc. It is a great read. So is Exxon or Apple the biggest company? You decide.
Government

Submission + - Global Warming Effect On Polar Bears Questioned (humanevents.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: A report on drowning polar bears that galvanized environmentalists in 2006 and led to the bears' classification as an endangered species is under federal investigation due to questions about the math as well as the bears' cause of death. Biologist Jeffrey Gleason, a contributor to the report, told investigators that the four bear corpses, observed from an altitude of 1,500 feet during flights, were never recovered and that they likely died in a sudden windstorm rather than from drowning. Lead researcher Charles Monnett, who was placed on administrative leave on July 18, told investigators that nobody came forward with contradictory data. Said Monnett: “Well, that’s not scientific misconduct anyway. If anything, it’s sloppy.”
HP

Submission + - WebOS chief: Don't fret over TouchPad reviews (cnet.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: HP released their much trumpeted enterprise tablet, TouchPad, last week. This device was also the first to showcase WebOS in a tablet. The tablet received some harsh reviews with some stating that the OS showed potential. Most of the criticisms surrounded the sluggish software and the lack of apps. As reported by CNET, WebOS chief, Jon Rubenstein, rallies his troops by comparing the WebOS's debut to that of Mac OS X, which had significant teething pains. However, it is not entirely clear if the comparison is appropriate since WebOS has existed since 2009, and OS X had the ability to run most classic OS 9 apps during the transition period. Nevertheless, one can certainly argue that the situation is similar in spirit.
Cloud

Submission + - Are Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player legal? (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Earlier this year both Google and Amazon introduced cloud music storage where users could upload their music and listen to them wherever they had an internet connection. The music industry, however, was up in arms because they believed that Google and Amazon had to pay additional licensing fees for their music storage services. Tim B. Lee at Ars has written an excellent write-up on the legal issues surrounding these services. His ultimate conclusion is that Google and Amazon would probably withstand any legal assaults, but that still remains a tough call.
Android

Submission + - Mystery of the Missing Honeycomb Apps (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: PC World's Brent Rose investigates the reason behind the dearth of Honeycomb apps even though the OS was released in February with the release of the Xoom. One would have expected an explosion of Android tablet apps like that seen with the iPad but the Honeycomb-optimized apps remain in the low hundreds. The answer, it turns out, is not that simple. The main contributing factors appear to be the low demand for Honeycomb tablets and the difficulty in discovering Honeycomb-optimized apps in the Market. Hopefully, this will be rectified in the near future.

Submission + - Using crowdsourcing to identify Vancouver rioters (globaltvbc.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: The Canucks' loss of the final game of the Stanley Cup resulted in complete mayhem in downtown Vancouver. Everything from upturned cars set alight to looting was common place. Unfortunately most of the perpetrators were able to maintain their anonymity by disappearing into the crowds. Fortunately, due to the digital age bystanders took several pictures and videos of the carnage. Now websites (in both Facebook and have been set up to use crowdsourcing to identify the hooligans.
HP

Submission + - HP sues Oracle for dropping Itanium support (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: HP is suing Oracle for a breach of contract, claiming that Oracle was contractually obliged to continue supporting the Itanium architecture, which they recently nixed support for. Oracle has fired back that Itanium is essentially a dead architecture and will soon be discontinued by Intel. And so the blood feud continues between Oracle and HP.
The Internet

IsoHunt Petitions Canadian Court For Copyright Blessing 217

Posted by timothy from the petition-to-the-courts-not-petition-online dept.
A Cow writes "As an act of self-defense, the popular BitTorrent site isoHunt has decided to file a petition to ask the Court of British Columbia to confirm that isoHunt — and sister sites Torrentbox and Podtropolis — do not infringe copyright. isoHunt owner Gary explains to TorrentFreak: 'Our petition summarizes BitTorrent technology, its open nature and a whole ecosystem of websites and operators that has developed around it, that CRIA does not own copyright to all files distributed over BitTorrent or on isoHunt websites, and we seek legal validation that we can continue to innovate within this emerging BitTorrent ecosystem on the Internet.'"

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