WiFi Tracking

For a long time, law enforcement agencies and hackers have been able to track the identity and location of mobile users by setting up fake cellular network towers and tricking their devices to connect to them. Researchers have now found that the same thing can be done much more cheaply with a simple Wi-Fi hotspot.

The devices that pose as cell towers are known in the industry as IMSI catchers, with the IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) being a unique number tied to a mobile subscriber and stored on a SIM card. IMSI catchers can be used for tracking and in some cases, for intercepting calls, but commercial solutions, such as the Stingray used by the FBI, are expensive.

Researchers Piers O'Hanlon and Ravishankar Borgaonkar from the University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science found that, for the purpose of tracking only, Wi-Fi networks can also be used to trick mobile devices into exposing their IMSI numbers.

Play Store Changes

Alphabet Inc's Google is redoubling efforts to help developers of Android mobile apps build their businesses as concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation.

Under the leadership of Sameer Samat, who rejoined Google earlier this year after a spell as president of wearable tech firm Jawbone, the company is sharpening Google Play store recommendations with artificial intelligence and expanding support for various payment platforms, among other initiatives.

Google's efforts in some way mirror those of arch-rival Apple Inc, which revamped its App Store this year with quicker review times for new apps and an increase in the cut of revenue that goes to developers.

Both companies face a chorus of complaints from developers who say they are struggling to stand out in a jam-packed field.

Many smartphone users, meanwhile, appear to have tired of downloading apps altogether, especially as messaging services like Snapchat perform more of the functions that once required a separate app.

Games remain a focus of the Google Play store, and Nintendo Co Ltd is building a version of its popular Super Mario Run game for Android, said Samat, who leads product management for the Google Play store.

Environmental Impact

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday it was reviewing options to limit the potential environmental impact from the firm's discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.

The remarks come after environmental group Greenpeace issued a statement earlier this week demanding the world's top smartphone maker find a way to reuse rare materials such as cobalt, gold, palladium and tungsten in the discontinued smartphones that Samsung is taking back.

"We recognize the concerns around the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7 and are currently reviewing possible options that can minimize the environmental impact of the recall in full compliance with relevant local environmental regulations," Samsung said in a statement

Pepcom

By Bayle Emlein

I’m sure that, even as a virtual entity, you’ve noticed recent increases in traffic and crowd congestion. Looking at the positive side, the implications are that the economy has made significant improvements.

For example, look at Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular in San Francisco at the end of October. Full of people, full of vendors showing off stuff to buy and gift (as they say in the New Economy) to others or Self. Fifty (51?) vendors, many of whom had multiple items that needed my attention, which did not get distributed evenly over the mere three hours allotted. Looking over my experience, the most impressive is that nothing I looked at or asked about was “about to be announced” or coming out next quarter or maybe second quarter next year. Everything was available right now. When else would anyone want anything? Some items had been announced earlier in the day, some had been around for a while, as-is or in continual upgrade mode.

Details follow, in abundance. Just when the Patent Office thought it could close up shop because everything that could be invented had been invented, along came the Holiday Spectacular to prove government prognostications wrong once again. The Internet is full of things we didn’t know we needed until we saw them. And new needs created when those needs get met. I think I’ve found the definition of infinity.

Politics

In mid-October, not long after Donald Trump drew attention for his 3 a.m. tweets, I received an email from Hillary Clinton’s campaign inviting me to help canvass voters in Iowa, a short drive from my home in Chicago. The message noted that “1,500 of Hillary’s best supporters” had headed to neighboring states the weekend before, and now they wanted me to do the same.

While that email may not have earned as much notice in the media as those early-morning tweets, it was arguably more strategic. The real innovations in digital communication in political campaigns are happening behind the scenes and on the ground.

As the former digital director of Organizing for Action (OFA), the political advocacy group that built on the digital-engagement model Barack Obama pioneered in 2008 and 2012, I’m often asked if companies can learn from the way political organizations use technology.  I believe they can. Political campaigns, by definition, have shorter time horizons than companies. But the intense, results-oriented focus of campaigns offers some lessons on how companies can create effective digital engagement at scale.

The "Maturing" Tablet Market

Apple's share of the tablet market has been sliding for a while, but it's making a comeback... if not for the reasons the company might prefer. Strategy Analytics estimates that the iPad climbed from 19.1 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2015 to 19.9 percent a year later. However, that's mainly because the market as a whole shrank 10 percent. The analysts believe that many tablet manufacturers' shipments dropped year-to-year, and that Apple simply experienced a smaller decline than most. The one major exception is Amazon, whose $49 Fire tablet helped its shipments more than double.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Apple is on the wrong track. Strategy Analytics argues that the iPad Pro line puts Apple "on the path to recovery" by giving the company a laptop-like tablet that wasn't an option before. However, it does show that Apple is consciously veering away from the strategies of its peers. Many of its Android rivals are shifting attention to 2-in-1 Windows tablets, like Lenovo's Yoga series or Samsung's TabPro S. Researchers say that Windows hybrid and tablet shipments jumped 25 percent year-over-year in the third quarter -- some of those are bound to be from companies no longer convinced they can sell Android tablets as full-on computer substitutes.

The data suggests that the tablet market isn't so much dying as maturing. Basic mobile tablets will still have an audience among those who just want to read books or watch video, but higher-end slates are taking hold. People want "everyday computing devices" that really can fill in for a conventional PC, according to analysts, and they're willing to pay more for these devices.

Selfie Phones in Demand

Competition is intensifying in South Korea's market for smartphones equipped with high-quality front cameras to meet the booming trend of selfies, company officials said Monday.

A smartphone's high-quality front camera, mainly used to take selfies, is increasingly appealing to plenty of young consumers, they said.

Earlier this month, SK Telecom Co., the nation's top mobile carrier, began selling its Luna S smartphone, fitted with a 13-megapixel front camera.

Also this month, Sony Corp. unveiled its Xperia XZ smartphone with a 13-megapixel front camera for selfies.

Samsung Electronics Co.'s mid-range Galaxy A8 featured an 8-megapixel front shooter, while LG Electronics launched the U smartphone with an 8-megapixel front camera Monday.

"For young people who take a lot of selfies, they put their priority on camera capabilities when choosing a smartphone," said an official at a mobile carrier.