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New Facebook-Branded Android Coming?
Earthquake Retrofit writes "The Register reports that 'Facebook has sent out invitations to an event at its Menlo Park headquarters next week that many believe will see the launch of a new, Facebook-branded smartphone...' I have lately become disillusioned with Google having so much power over my phone and the usual privacy concerns, so this announcement means I now have a choice. Oh, wait..."
who actually wants this?
It will probably be one of the only qwerty keyboarded android phones available.
Hilarious, a lot of the creepy Google privacy concerns are there because they've seen how far Facebook pushes the envelope and think they can too.
I'm under no doubt Facebooks phone will be sending constant tracking data to Facebook and they'll sell that data to anyone who wants it for any reason, and simply bury some button down in the privacy settings that defaults to consent.
Seriously though, any young teen who's already Facebook obsessed probably wouldn't think twice....not like some graybeard's privacy concerns matter (until they're that age, sigh..)
More tracking.
The only thing that google has, frankly, is the best mapping service on the planet. This is the only thing that keeps a smart phone from going google free.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
It is said that people are buying samsung phones, not google phones
No people are buying Android (Which is Googles first Party Applications) phones...and Samsung make some best one [and advertise them successfully] , we have already seen HTC which rose on the back of Android, and fell from grace, because of successful *competition* from Samsung. For Samsung to cut Android (and its value) out of that equation its quite difficult. I suspect they will make a more serious push with Tizen.
There are not a billion humans on Facebook, sorry but that is absolutely wrong (though I don't doubt someone has posted that stat and that you believed it). There may be a billion accounts, but wholly shit man, use your head! A large portion of those accounts are people that quit using Facebook, but of course still count in the stats since their data is never deleted. A huge chunk of those accounts are businesses, not people. Some people may have 4-5 businesses so 4-5 facebook accounts (think Authors, Artists, Musicians). A huge percentage of those accounts are spam/bot accounts. And the largest percentage of real humans are not really users. They may log in once a month to read family updates, but that's not regular enough to be a user on any other system so should not be considered such on Facebook.
The real number of people actively using Facebook across the world is probably closer 100-150 million or so.
If you doubt my math, remember that the highest populated countries (China and India) have the largest populations living in poverty with no access to the Internet at all. It's maybe 1 in 100 people in China and India that have regular Internet access. Those other 99 out of a hundred would not have time to surf on the public computers, if they did they would starve. Now add in most of Africa, which has very smaller percentages of the population with Internet access. Some large portions of the Middle East also have no internet access.
If your number was correct, that would mean that 1 in 7 people in the world are Facebook users. Stop and think about how unrealistic that number is for a minute.
Hell, my estimate considers that the US has 10% of the population using Facebook, which is extremely generous. Out of my family (100 or so people) I can think of 3 people that are Facebook users. Only 20 or so have a Facebook account at all, many of which were created by the 3 regular users. It's not like my family is all out scratching dirt for a living, they just have no interest in surfing the Internet at all, let alone using Facebook.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
" Remember, we're addressing over a billion human beings at Facebook."
http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/united-states
I think that's unlikely, Facebooks users represent 71% of US internet users... which is basically impossible, more likely 20% accounts, 20% fake accounts, 20% dead accounts, 11% robots.
Similar problem with their UK numbers, they claim 29 million active users... out of 43 million UK Internet users. Unlikely.
I'm kind of suspicious of FB, their numbers don't add up and they keep getting caught and admitting a little bit of their scams.
e.g. The 'likes' problem, BBC has researched quite a few of these games. e.g. their virtual bagel company seemed to be getting fake likes from the advert despite doing nothing at all, and being a fake company:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18870170
Or the US researcher who spotted they were incrementing likes for comments:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19832043
Why would they need to do that if they have 71% of Internet users???? Dodgy.
So they'll come out with a phone that does Facebook (that would be all phones now), with Microsoft services (Bing etc.) yet that's what the Nokia phone is and its not selling, so why would FB's? I'm sure the phones Facebook page will get a lot of likes mind you!
They call it "ecosystem", but "Walled Garden" or "Prison" is a more apt term. They're not selling hardware; they're selling a gift-that-keeps-on-giving... to the seller. An Iphone (that isn't jailbroken) can only buy apps from Apple's approved store, with Apple getting its 30% cut. MS and Google and FB etc, etc want in on that scheme.
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
FB has to try this because the media says they do, and thus, so do their investors. And when it flops, because it will, this will be the final step in FB's rise to prominence and the first media -identified step on their path to being the next Myspace.
Besides... HTC? Really? That's like betting your future on a brand that may cease to exist any moment. What is FB thinking? Maybe they can blame any flop on the poor choice of partner.
Sig for hire.
Google specifically doesn't do it, so I don't know why you're lumping them in the same basket. You can get applications from non-official sources straight off, no rooting or hacking involved. Alternative markets? Sure, there's plenty. Plain and simply download and install an app? Yep, that too. If there's one thing you can't accuse Google of, it's trying to make a walled garden. At worst, it's a slightly overgrown garden with the sign "beware of the leopard" on the unbarred exit.
http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-gb/bing/default.aspx
"We collect information when you register, sign in and use our sites and services. We may also get information from other companies. We collect this information in a variety of ways, including from web forms, technologies such as cookies, web logging and software on your computer or other device.
When you conduct a search, Microsoft collects the following:
Search term and time and date of your search
IP address, browser configuration and approximate location
Any unique identifiers contained in the cookies"
and...
"we may use search query data for the purpose of personalising the ads we display to you as you use our services or those of our advertising partners."
and...
"Using our sites, applications and services - We collect information that tells us how you interact with our applications or services, including the browser you’re using, your IP address, location, cookies or other unique IDs, the pages you visit and features you use.
Data from other sources - We may get additional information about you, such as demographic data we purchase from other companies. As discussed in the Facebook Personalization section below, we may also obtain certain information from Facebook to enable personalization features."
We all know here than Microsoft is using a Double standard here, and is a more oppressive company.
Windows Phone
No Windows phone is terrible,in every way. The latest saga of bribing developers to set up RSS web site applications to artificially inflate their App store numbers is a disgrace. Windows phone 7 actually gained some positive reviews and since then its just been burning through that karma. As for Privacy, Microsoft is a disgrace, I think the way they acted in china says it all. http://searchengineland.com/google-china-congressional-praise-38796
While I think a lot of people would want this and buy this (the facebook addicts who are constantly posting that is), Facebookstrikes me as the web company with the worst outlook to privacy out of the lot. They seem to change their T&Cs to suit them and only apologise when they are caught in something nefarious.
The problem is that (I cannot see) a useful alternative. Facebook and Google have integrated themselves so into the general internet that even Slashdot seems to have Google and Facebook login options. Google seems to be slightly better with regards to privacy, but their recent actions have made me actually switch from Chrome back to Firefox. I've even started investigating moving some of my 'services' to smaller brands, running services on my Synology NAS, or even thinking of hosting my own virtual server for privacy.
I even found an extension called Ghostery which disables advert tracking in Firefox and it is quite astounding how much tracking gets done on the internet. Whilst I appreciate you can't get something for nothing, we (as a society) seem to now throw our privacy more and more out the window without realising the implications. Facebook's alledged phone is just another nail in the coffin of our privacy.
No, what got me was Googles change of privacy policy linking all the data together ...
the way I can't like a site using a gmail account unless I agree to sign up to G+
so you're upset that you can't use features of G+ without signing up to G+ and wish you could just use your gmail account. you think it would be better if they just merged the two into say, one single account?
i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
It might be helpful here to know that Microsoft was an early investor in Facebook, and retains a significant stake.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Google's "garden" isn't exactly "walled". It's more like a chest-high hedge with broad openings on every side. You know, what with being able to install software not explicitly approved by Google or listed in their marketplace and all -- a system that we should hope makes a comeback in other places.
If you're on Facebook they already have facial data, retina data, associations, extremely accurate psych profile and now you can let them track and store your position with a phone and get a voice sample too.
Maybe they will include a free fingerprint scanner app in the for "security".
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."