After being forced to admit that its two million Galaxy Tabs last fall were just inventory and not actually sales to consumers, Samsung is now being accused of paying actors to pretend to be Galaxy Tab buyers and faking its claim that its redesigned tablet will be thinner than iPad 2 as originally claimed.
An exposé by Harry McCracken of Technologizer pointed out that the company's "Galaxy Tab Interview Project" purported to depict real consumers from "a variety of backgrounds," but was actually a staged presentation hiring paid actors to feign interest in its tablet products.
At the introduction of the company's revised Galaxy Tab, the company presented two stories of what appeared to be very satisfied Galaxy Tab owners, albeit voicing clumsy and phony sounding comments.
Joan Hess, described as a freelance travel writer, said "I would mostly use it communicating with people all around the globe when I'm on the move," before giggling "it's sexy, like me!"
A second spot with independent film director Karl Shefelman presented the filmmaker using the yet unreleased Galaxy Tab 10.1, a product originally announced in February and then sent back to the drawing board for a June release after Apple debuted iPad 2.
"Thinnest tablet on the market" not actually thinnest, nor on the market
After taking a moment between what were described as "true life stories," Samsung's chief product and technology officer Omar Khan introduced a revised Galaxy Tab 10.1, which he called the thinnest and lightest tablet "in the market," a clear shot at Apple's iPad 2.
However, despite describing the new Galaxy Tab design, slated to become available in June, as being 0.2 millimeters thinner than Apple's currently shipping iPad 2, reviewers at InformationWeek comparing the new Galaxy Tab prototype against iPad 2 have since published photos that show that the iPad 2 is actually thinner than the nonfunctional cases Samsung demonstrated.
After asking Samsung for comment, the report stated, "there was really no official Samsung response other than to say that the specifications are 8.6 mm. He was at a loss for words."
Acting! Genius! Thank You!
A third interview introduced Joseph Kolinski as a real estate CEO, referring to him as a "consumer" who had "picked the Galaxy Tab 8.9," a second version of the company's revised tablet lineup which also won't be available until June.
Kolinski said "I'm not very tech savvy," then recited a story about how he was skeptical of "toys," until the Galaxy Tab 8.9 helped him to stay on top of his busy schedule, noting how he was "surprised how productive he was able to be with it."
Given that the device does not actually turn on yet, real gains in productivity would be rather surprising. McCracken investigated the real life stories and found that Hess and Kolinski are actually New York actors, while Shefelman, "works for a New York production company, one that’s done work for Samsung."
This all happened before
Samsung's "real life story" charade is reminiscent of two Microsoft ad campaigns, one featuring Laura, who said she picked a Windows PC because she "wasn't cool enough for a Mac." It was later revealed she was actually an actress.
A second Microsoft ad, published in response to Apple's "Switcher" campaign, was entitled "Confessions of a Mac to PC convert," and featured a woman describing why she had decided to move from a Mac to a Windows PC.
The print ad portrayed her as saying "Yes, it's true. I like the Microsoft Windows XP operating system enough to change my whole computing world around. [...] Windows XP gives me more choices and flexibility and better compatibility with the rest of the computing world."
It was later revealed that an advertising copywriter for Microsoft simply made up the woman's comments and that the woman herself was actually just a stock photography model.
In the latest round of patent battles in the smartphone arena, an International Trade Commission judge has ruled that Apple did not infringe five patents belonging to Nokia.
A report by Reuters noted that ITC Judge James Gildea has ruled "in his initial determination that Apple did not violate the Nokia patents."
Nokia's charges were filed in December of 2009, and broadly applied to iPhones, iPods and Macs, including user interface, camera, antenna and power management technologies.
Last winter, the ITC began formally investigating the charges, which Nokia sought a billion euros ($1.415 billion) in damages and could have resulted in an import ban of Apple products into the US.
Apple brought its own counterclaims against Nokia based on 13 patents of its own. In November, the ITC staff sided with Nokia in determining that Apple had not provided enough evidence to establish a patent violation.
While both companies have ongoing disputes with the ITC (due to its power to block imports into the US, offering heavy-handed bargaining leverage), there are often parallel cases filed in US district court aimed at winning financial damages as well as additional cases filed in Europe, the Reuters report stated.
Nokia has dramatically lost market share, giving up large portions of its once dominant Symbian platform installed base to Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android platform. The company has recently partnered with Microsoft to begin efforts to release new smartphones using Windows Phone 7 software.
The official Twitter app for iPad has been updated to version 3.3.2, and it now allows you to take and share photos and videos directly from your iPad 2. This functionality was already in there for the iPhone, of course, but now that the iPad is outfitted with a camera, Twitter has made it easy to take and share video directly from Apple's magical and revolutionary device.
The update has a few bug fixes, including a fix that helps location sharing work a little better. What the new version doesn't do is get rid of the trending topics quickbar, a feature that still has some users up in arms after it was added into the app a little while ago. But that fight aside for now, I look forward to seeing some iPads putting video and pictures on Twitter.
Apple on Friday released iOS 4.3.1, a minor security and maintenance update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, addressing issues related to connecting to some cellular networks, among other issues.
The udpate is available for the GSM iPhone 4, but no update has been made for the CDMA iPhone 4. That device is still on iOS version 4.2.6, released in January.
The iOS 4.3.1 update is also available for the iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and the third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. According to Apple, the update includes:
Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on iPod touch (4th generation)
Resolves bugs related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks
Fixes image flicker when using Apple Digital AV Adapter with some TVs
Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services
This week, it was rumored that Apple would issue iOS 4.3.1 within two weeks, making Friday's release somewhat unexpected. The accompanying notes make no mention of battery issues reported by some users of iOS 4.3, nor does it say whether a security hole exposed at a recent hacker conference has been patched.
News of iOS 4.3.1 came earlier this month via the Pwn2Own hacking contest, when security researcher Charlie Miller revealed that Apple has a fix in the works for a flaw in its Safari mobile Web browser. Miller exposed the flaw at the contest, and privately shared the exploit with Apple to help the company patch its software.
Also Friday, Apple released Xcode 4.0.1, also a minor update. Changes to the software, according to Apple, include:
Improved Assistant editor logic when switching among different file types
Fixed a bug in "Install Xcode.app" that hangs at 99% complete, never finishing
Fixed a bug that prevented indexing of some projects
Fixed a bug related to nil settings in the Core Data model editor
Fixed a bug that prevented automatic download of iOS documentation
Fixed a bug in LLVM GCC 4.2 and LLVM compiler 2.0 for iOS projects
Newer models of the iOS device line have offered excellent-quality video out for some time using Apple's VGA connector cable. Now, Apple's 30-pin to HDMI adapter pushes quality even further. Today, FireMint Games announced its updated Real Racing 2 HD will support full 1080p output with (breathless cut-and-paste-from-press-release-excitement!) "rock-solid frame rates, with an unbeatable hands-on, precision control method that'll have your console green with envy."
Sounds pretty cool? We think so too. Real Racing 2 has already won bunches of awards and this new update makes us want to get racing. Click "read more" to see a video of it in action. Hat tip, Federico over at MacStories
