Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS mobile platforms together accounted for a record 92 per cent share of all smartphones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to new data from Strategy Analytics.

Android, the undisputed leader of the industry, captured an impressive 70 per cent share of the global smartphone market in Q4 2012, up from 51 per cent a year earlier, the research firm said. Apple’s iOS took 22 per cent during the period, and all other smartphone platforms combined accounted for the remaining 7.9 per cent.

“The worldwide smartphone industry has effectively become a duopoly as consumer demand has polarized around mass-market Android models and premium Apple designs,” Scott Bicheno, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

Phone makers shipped an estimated 152.1 million Android smartphones globally in Q4 2012, up from 80.6 million units a year earlier. For the full year, almost half a billion Android smartphones were shipped worldwide.

“Android’s challenge for 2013 will be to defend its leadership, not only against Apple, but also against an emerging wave of hungry challengers that includes Microsoft, Blackberry, Firefox and Tizen,” Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Apple grew 29 per cent annually, shipping 47.8 million smartphones worldwide in Q4, and 136 million in all of 2012, according to Strategy Analytics.

Overall, global smartphone shipments grew 38 per cent annually, totalling 217 million units in Q4 2012 from 157 million units a year earlier, the research firm said. For the full year, smartphone shipments reached a record 700 million units, increasing from 490.5 million units in 2011. Shipment growth slowed from 64 per cent in 2011 to 43 per cent in 2012 as smartphone penetration began to mature in developed regions like North America and Western Europe.

In other news, recent research from IDC revealed that while Samsung and Apple lead the market, Huawei and ZTE both made gains to earn a spot among the top five smartphone vendors in Q4.

by Angela Moscaritolo

Twitter rang in Data Privacy Day by updating its transparency report with another round of numbers and some changes in how it presents the figures.

The report gives a view on the number of user information requests made by governments around the world. Also included are requests to remove illegal content and copyright violation notices the company receives.

As for the changes, the transparency info was moved to a new homepage. Twitter made the data more visual, and the new site is littered with graphs and charts to help users digest the info.

The social media site also added more detailed information on how the United States asks for this data, whether through subpoenas, court orders or search warrants.

Tweet the police

This is the second transparency report from the social network since it started releasing this sort of data in July. The first report focused on the first half of 2012.

Just like last time, Twitter gave the global numbers while the information is broken down by country for users to sift through.

From July to December of 2012, Twitter received 1,009 requests for users’ information from governments around the world. That’s up from 849 requests made in the first half of the year.

To put that into context, Twitter has about 200 million monthly active users, according to an official tweet from last month.

These information requests are generally for criminal investigations, but are also sometimes used in emergency cases.

Of those 1,009 requests, 57 percent produced at least some information to authorities. Of the 849 requests from the first part of 2012, at least some data was produced about 63 per cent of the time.

The company received 42 request to remove illegal content in the last part of the year, compared to six removal requests from January to June of last year. In later 2012, Twitter got 3,268 copyright notices, down from 3,378 earlier in the year.

For some perspective, Google reported its transparency numbers last week. The search engine received about 21,000 user information requests in the last half of 2012, producing some data 66 per cent of the time.

Ask Google

But Twitter isn’t the only company taking note of Data Privacy Day. Google also published a new Legal Process FAQ on its own transparency site, which Twitter emulates.

The new FAQ is a guide through the legal processes involved when governments request user data. It explains what Google does when it receives these requests and what governments need to do to get access to the data.

One of the more informative sections breaks down what types of data the U.S. government can request through different legal processes. For example, a subpoena can force Google to disclose a user’s registration info on YouTube, and a court order can reveal the contents of Gmail messages.

It’s a good breakdown of the whole legal process involved and gives an insight into how companies in general deal with these requests. It’s also a good place to start if you know you were targeted by one of these requests.

But, as both Google and Twitter noted in blogs, these reports are more about starting conversations than reporting numbers.

“It’s our continued hope that providing greater insight into this information helps in at least two ways: first, to raise public awareness about these invasive requests; second, to enable policy makers to make more informed decisions,” Jeremy Kessel, Legal Policy Manager, wrote on the Twitter blog.

Ooo, “invasive.” We like the language.

By Clint Demeritt 

Before: Pyongyang (Picture: Google)

Google is starting to compile a clearer picture of North Korea after releasing an updated map of the secretive communist state.

The internet search engine giant’s Google Maps page for North Korea was largely a blank canvas up until now with its access to the east Asian country limited.

Users can now access detailed images of the country ruled by supreme leader Kim Jong-un and explore some of its famous landmarks after Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt paid a visit to the country.

Even some of the country’s infamous prison labour camps have been marked by people who used the Google Map Maker tool to compile the maps, including the Bukchang gulag for political prisoners.

Google Map Maker executive Jayanth Mysore said the update was ‘a crucial first step towards helping people access more information about parts of the world that are unfamiliar to them’.

‘The goal of Google Maps is to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate, and easy-to-use modern map of the world,’ she said in a blog post.

‘As part of this mission, we’re constantly working to add more detailed map data in areas that traditionally have been mostly blank.

‘For a long time, one of the largest places with limited map data has been North Korea. But today we are changing that with the addition of more detailed maps of North Korea in Google Maps.’

The updated records were compiled on Google’s Map Maker, a collaborative community effort aimed at improving mapping details in countries where the data is not available.

As our lives increasingly move to the cloud, the need for stronger passwords is more important than ever. But aside from avoiding easy-to-guess birthday/pet name passwords, what else can be done?

Google is now investigating alternatives to the password – like a USB-based card from Yubico that would sign you into your Google account when inserted into a device.

In a paper that will be published in IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine this month, Google vice president of security Eric Grosse and engineer Mayank Upadhyay explore the various ways that people might use passwords in the years to come.

Grosse and Upadhyay gave Wired a sneak peek at their paper, which includes the option to use a cryptographic card from Yubico to log into Google services like Gmail, Drive, or Chrome. As Wired noted, the Googlers had to make some changes to Chrome in order to get the cards to authenticate, but once that was in place, it did not require any additional installation – registration can be completed in one click.

“We’re focused on making authentication more secure, and yet easier to manage,” a Google spokesman said in a statement. “We believe experiments like these can help make login systems better.”

Those who work in industries that handle secure information – like banking – have long used authentication tokens to log into their work accounts. But consumer services like Google have stuck to the password approach for ease of use.

The paper also discussed options like a “smart ring” or a smartphone that could authorise a new PC with one tap. Ultimately, these devices could mean the end of passwords you’d have to remember. They acknowledged, however, that it can’t live inside a Google bubble.

“Others have tried similar approaches but achieved little success in the consumer world,” they said, according to Wired. “Although we recognize that our initiative will likewise remain speculative until we’ve proven large scale acceptance, we’re eager to test it with other websites.”

What happens if you lose your Google password gizmo? Yubico tweeted today that “many apps can bypass the YubiKey login if it is lost or issue a temporary token code.” Multiple tokens can also be used – “it depends on the application and security selected,” Yubico said.

The company maintained that the YubiKey is hard to lose since it fits on a keychain “like a key to your door.”

by Chloe Albanesius,

Job hunters, rejoice: Fortune has released its list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, which includes Google and Microsoft.

The Mountain View-based search giant again topped the list, while Microsoft took a step up in the rankings to land at 75, joining other tech companies like Qualcomm (11), Cisco (42), Hitachi (63), and Intel (68).

Last year, Google jumped three spots from number four in 2011 to number one. But what makes Google so great?

According to Fortune, “The Internet juggernaut takes the Best Companies crown for the fourth time, and not just for the 100,000 hours of subsidized massages it doled out in 2012. New this year are three wellness centers and a seven-acre sports complex, which includes a roller hockey rink; courts for basketball, bocce, and shuffle ball; and horseshoe pits.”

Sounds like a slice of California employment heaven.

But Google is more than spa treatments and recreational team sports. The company also claimed $37.9 billion (£24 billion) in 2011 earnings.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the list, saying only that “we’re letting the ranking speak for itself.”

Things haven’t been all hunky dory for Google lately, though. While the organisation produced Android-based gadgets and self-driving cars, a social network and augmented-reality glasses, it was recently chastised by the FTC over patents and certain search tactics.

Meanwhile, at the 75th best place to work, Microsoft posted 2 per cent job growth, with a total 55,455 US employees, and another 38,835 overseas. The company logged $73.7 billion (£46 billion)  in 2011, and boasts a new on-campus health centre with primary care, a pharmacy, a chiropractic clinic, lab tests, and wellness coaching, according to Fortune.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It doesn’t take a keen eye to notice that technology kings Apple, Facebook, and Amazon are missing from this year’s list, and every other one since as far back as 2006.

by Stephanie Mlot

A US court has approved the sale of Kodak’s digital-imaging patents to a group of technology interests which include Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

The other members of the collection that bought Kodak’s patents include Adobe, Research In Motion, Samsung, a unit of HTC, Fujifilm, Facebook, Huawei, a unit of Amazon, and Shutterfly – which purchased Kodak’s online photo services last year for $23.8 million (£14.8 million).

The $527 million (£328 million) deal, which should take about 45 days to close, was settled for much less than the company wanted, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Kodak originally hoped to take home $2 billion (£1.2 billion). As a result, Judge Allan Gropper of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan called the deal “disappointing.”

“The amount in transactions, which are complicated and integrated, are the highest and best value available to the debtors,” said a Kodak lawyer.

The sale of 1,100 Kodak patents is expected to help the company pull itself out of bankruptcy in the first half of 2013. The patents include 700 related to digital camera LCD viewfinders and 400 for image capture and manipulation and network-based services.

“With the Court’s approval of the sale of our digital imaging patent portfolio, we have achieved one of Kodak’s key restructuring objectives, while positioning our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success, and enabling Kodak to repay a substantial amount of its initial lending,” a company spokesman said.

On 19 January, 2012, the famed photography and film brand announced that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as well as sue Samsung for patent infringement in an attempt to restructure debt.

“After considering the advantages of Chapter 11 at this time, the board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” CEO Antonio Perez said last January.

In August, Kodak announced that it would sell its film business. A month later, the company cut 1,000 jobs.

In the year since, Kodak has fought an ongoing battle with Apple over digital imaging patents, with both companies claiming they owned the patents in question. Kodak reported $3 billion (£1.9 billion) in earnings from licensing the patents, while Apple said it owns 10 of the patents due to work the businesses conducted together in the 1990s.

by Stephanie Mlot

“Olympic tickets” came second in Google’s annual zeitgeist report, which lists 2012′s most searched-for terms.

London was the most searched-for city in the UK, while Rio, host of the next Summer Olympics, was the most searched-for travel destination.

Skyfall reflected its box-office success, as the top trending movie.

Singer Whitney Houston, who died in February, was the most searched-for person, followed by “Kate Middleton”, the Duchess of Cambridge.

The people list looked very different on rival search engine Bing, which revealed its top 2012 searches a few weeks ago.

Topping its global list was reality TV star Kim Kardashian, followed by singer Justin Bieber. Kim Kardashian also topped Yahoo’s most searched-for list.

Sprinter Usain Bolt was the most searched-for Olympian, according to Google, while the most searched-for British star of the Summer Games was tennis player Andy Murray, followed by diver Tom Daley and athlete Jessica Ennis.

On Bing’s list, Bolt only made it in at number nine, with tennis player Serena Williams, athlete Lolo Jones and basketball player LeBron James making its top three.

Nostalgia trip

Cyclist Victoria Pendleton was the most searched-for reality TV star, following her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, while Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt beat London Mayor Boris Johnson to the top politician’s spot, according to Google.

Cbeebies show Mike the Knight beat US hit Homeland to the number one spot for TV shows, with another home-grown hit, the Great British Bake Off, also making the top 10.

Some of the most interesting results are revealed in Google’s more esoteric searches.

Topping the “what is” poll was “love”, followed by the far less romantic “iCloud” and “3G”.

The “how to” list revealed the growing trend of reigniting old skills with “knit” and “crochet” making the top 10, alongside “draw”, “kiss” and “hack”.

From December 1 2012 the price for up to 1TB of storage will be reduced by $0.025 per month to $0.095. This is $0.025 cheaper than Amazon’s equivalent S3 storage cloud.

Barak Regev, European head of Google’s Cloud Platform, said the company can now host data in the EU. Google’s Cloud Platform now meets EC data compliance regulations, but Google’s expansion into Europe also means data traffic is closer to where it is needed by European users.

The European datacentre supports Google App Engine, Google Cloud Storage and Google Cloud SQL. The Compute platform, for hosting virtual machines is not yet available.

Google has introduced a lower-priced storage service called Durable Reduced Availability storage. Regev said Durable Reduced Availability storage is designed for non-operational class data storage.

Google has also added a way to protect data from being accidentally deleted. The Object Versioning feature automatically keeps a history of old versions of data.

Google has also expanded its Cloud SQL database to support data sets up to 100GB and has increased the number of compute platform configurations available in the Google cloud to 36 types of workload. Virtual machines with up to eight cores and 30TB of memory are available.

Google provides Ubuntu but Regev said Google is planning to provide Red Hat and SuSE Linux support.

Companies using Google’s IaaS cloud computing platform include a manufacturer running simulations on a high performance computing (HPC) workload based on 10,000 cores for one hour.

Regev added: “We have customers running Hadoop, batch processing.”

BigQuery, Google’s own big data analysis tool, is being used at Centerparcs to analyse big data to accommodation pricing across Europe.

Bioinformatics company, DNANexus, is using Google storage to store 350TB of DNA data.

By Cliff Saran

Google is set to expand on its existing technologies to create an open platform wireless streaming service to rival Apple’s AirPlay.

In an interview with Gigaom, Google product manager Timbo Drayson outlined the company’s plans to develop an alternative to Apple’s proprietary wireless media suite that allows for content sharing across a wide range of third-party devices.

The recently upgraded Android version of the YouTube app - which allows users to transfer content from a mobile device to Google TV – is being heralded as a strong step towards the aforementioned goal.

The application also allows enabled devices to adopt remote control functionality – another key component to Google’s future plans for a wireless service, as a central control would give the user a single interface by which they could operate multiple devices with ease.

In addition, the search leader appears to be looking to learn from past mistakes, as it hopes to incorporate features from the troubled Nexus Q in to its forthcoming AirPlay competitor. The Android-powered media platform allowed for auto-discovery of enabled hardware – much like AirPlay, which facilitates instant syncing of content between Apple TV and mobile devices likethe iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

The key difference is that the proposed Google service will offer universal connectivity to third party hardware, a relationship that will allow for a more genuine two-way exchange of information.Drayson believes that such a facility would give developers the ability to “build second-screen experiences that correspond to what’s happening on live TV” – similar to the functionality found in Microsoft SmartGlass and the relationship between Apple products, but for a wider range of devices.

“The more companies participated in these efforts, the better,” said Drayson. “We really want to move the whole industry forward.”

by Oluseun Alufa