Samsung faces complaint to FTC over Smart TV 'surveillance'

From InfoWorld: A complaint filed by a privacy group to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged that Samsung's Smart TVs intercept and record private communications of consumers in their homes, violating a number of rules including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

The Electronic...

Spotify adds song lyrics, gets more social on PCs

From PC World: First Bing, then Google, now Spotify. The popular music streaming service is tweaking its desktop app to display song lyrics as you listen. Spotify's new music lyrics feature is powered by Musixmatch, one of the most popular apps in Spotify's catalog.

The streaming service is also...

Microsoft trims price of Xbox Live Gold membership to $40

From CNET: Microsoft has cut the annual cost of an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

Instead of paying the usual fee of $60 a year, you can become an Xbox Live Gold member for $40. The fine print doesn't indicate whether this is a temporary promotion and, if so, when the sale might end.

Want do you get...

Google buys mobile wallet technology from Softcard

From InfoWorld: The tap-and-pay mobile payments market in the U.S. is getting a little less confusing.

On Monday, Google said it had reached a deal with three of the country's major cellular carriers to acquire "technology and capabilities" from Softcard, a competing mobile wallet app developed...

Microsofts pulling Facebook, Google chat from Outlook.com

From PC World: Pretty soon chats in Outlook.com are going to be all Skype, all the time. Microsoft is pulling the plug on Google Talk and Facebook chat in Outlook.com. The company recently sent out email notifications to Outlook.com users to let them know about the change.

Microsoft doesn’t explain...

Jury orders Apple to pay $533 million in iTunes patent case

From CNET: Apple has been ordered to pay $533 million in damages after losing a patent lawsuit case tied to iTunes.

A federal jury in Texas found Tuesday that Apple infringed on three patents held by patent licenser Smartflash, Bloomberg reported. The patents in question concern digital rights...

Google Preps Pixel 2 ChromeBook, New X Server Replacement "Freon"

From DailyTech: It's been two years since Google Inc. (GOOG) announced the Chromebook Pixel, a 12.85-inch high-resolution, ultrathin laptop which debuted at $1,299 USD. At the time of its launch in Feb. 2013, the device appeared ahead of its time with a number of unique ideas like its 3:2 aspect...

ARM, IBM offer starter kit for making IoT devices

From ComputerWorld: ARM and IBM want hobbyists to make their own connected devices in a matter of minutes with a new development kit announced Monday.

The ARM mbed IoT Starter Kit -- Ethernet Edition will allow users to make cloud-ready Internet of Things products that could receive or transmit...

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