Verge: Google, Renesys and others are pointing to an Internet blackout in Syria during its ongoing conflict. There has been no official word on what has prompted the cutoffs or when communications might be back online. The country’s Internet was also cut off last year when it remained offline for two days before being restored.
Facebook introduces Facebook Home
NBC News: Facebook has unveiled Facebook Home, a new launcher the social network will offer for Android phones. The service, available for download April 12, works with apps already in your phone. Most Android phones will have access to the free software. However, HTC and AT&T will release the first phone with Home pre-installed, the HTC First.
Photo: Facebook Home screen. (via Facebook)
Facebook announces new search feature, Graph Search
JUST IN: Facebook says it will be releasing a new search feature for its site called Graph Search.
Graph Search is designed to take a precise query and deliver an answer, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. He said it isn’t a Web search service, and that user privacy has been taken into consideration, according to The Next Web.
Wall Street Journal: Apple is said to be working on a lower-end iPhone, according to people briefed on the matter. While Apple has explored the possibility of such a device for years, the plan has been progressing, the sources say.
One of them says the less expensive version of the device could launch as soon as later this year.
Google to license mobile patents in FTC antitrust settlement
JUST IN: Google is agreeing to license certain patents to mobile phone rivals and stop a practice of including snippets from other websites in its search results, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says.
These moves are part of a settlement to end a 19-month investigation into the search leader’s business practices, the AP reports. U.S. antitrust regulators say they have found no evidence to claims that Google unfairly favors its own services in search results.
Photo: A Motorola phone displays the Google search page. (Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters)
FTC: Most mobile apps for kids secretly collect, share information
Los Angeles Times:A study from the Federal Trade Commission finds that most mobile apps for kids are secretly collecting information from children, including device IDs and other private information without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
Nearly 60% of apps reviewed from the Google Play and Apple App stores transmitted the device ID.
The FTC said Monday it is launching investigations to determine whether certain mobile apps developers have violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Photo credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
T-Mobile USA has just announced that it’ll finally bring Apple products to market in 2013, making it the last major carrier in the US to do so. The company slipped this major news into a press release detailing T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom’s financial plans for the years 2013 through 2015. It didn’t specify specifically which Apple products it would carry
Apple to manufacture Mac line in the US
NBC News: In an interview with Brian Williams airing tonight on “Rock Center,” Apple CEO Tim Cook says one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the US next year.
Cook says he believes it’s important to bring more jobs to the US. “We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the US,” he says.
Photo credit: NBC News
AP:Two US-based Internet-monitoring companies say that Syria has shut down the Internet throughout the country. Syrian activists reached by satellite telephone confirmed the blackout.
Syria has partially shut off Internet connections during the uprising against President Bashar Assad. A nationwide shutdown is unprecedented.
Microsoft launches Windows 8, Surface tablet
Microsoft has launched its new Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet. The Wall Street Journal reports Windows 8 is a critical product for PC makers counting on the software to rekindle sales of PCs.
More updates on BreakingNews.com.
Photo: Microsoft’s new Surface tablet computer is displayed at its unveiling in Los Angeles, California, on June 18, 2012. (Reuters / David McNew)
Apple formally announces Oct 23 event
CNBC:Apple has announced that it will host an event Oct. 23. The company is expected to reveal a smaller iPad, along with a smaller MacBook Pro with retina display.
Reports indicate the company will unveil the smaller iPad, dubbed ‘iPad mini,’ with a screen that is slightly larger than 7 inches. The current iPad is slightly more than 9 inches.
Invitation via CNBC
iPhone 5 preorders top 2 million in first 24 hours
CNET: Apple says the iPhone 5 got more than 2 million preorders in its first 24 hours, doubling last year’s 4S launch. Apple says demand exceeded the initial supply. While a majority of orders will be fulfilled on Sept. 21, the company says many are scheduled to be delivered in October.
Photo: The iPhone 5 is seen next to an iPhone 4S. (James Martin / CNET)
UPDATED: Amazon unveils new Kindle devices
[Updated at 3:43 p.m. ET]
Amazon has unveiled new Kindle devices, including the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, a new Kindle Fire priced at $159, Kindle Fire HD in 2 models (7-inch and 8.9-inch), and another Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE wireless at 8.9 inches and 32 GB. It will cost $499.
Read more about the company’s Kindle announcements at BreakingNews.com.
Photo: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos walks members of the press through the features of the new Kindle Fire HD. (Rosa Golijan / NBC News)
From CNBC: Apple announces special event for September 12
AP:
Google is paying a record $22.5 million fine to settle allegations that it broke a privacy promise by secretly tracking millions of Web surfers who use Apple’s Safari browser.
The penalty announced Thursday by the Federal Trade Commission matches the figure that The Associated Press and other media outlets had reported last month. It’s the largest fine that the FTC has imposed against a company for violating a previous agreement with the agency.
![UPDATED: Amazon unveils new Kindle devices
[Updated at 3:43 p.m. ET]
Amazon has unveiled new Kindle devices, including the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, a new Kindle Fire priced at $159, Kindle Fire HD in 2 models (7-inch and 8.9-inch), and another Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE wireless at 8.9 inches and 32 GB. It will cost $499.
Read more about the company’s Kindle announcements at BreakingNews.com.
Photo: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos walks members of the press through the features of the new Kindle Fire HD. (Rosa Golijan / NBC News)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9xx2joAm21qj5rqko1_r1_500.png)
