Every week is a huge week in gadgets, with mobile devices and more standard gadgets fighting for attention, market share and plain old consumer use every single minute. As such, this gives us a lot of news to look into, so that's why on the weekends we distill it down into a potent little executive summary with our TechZone360 Week in Review. So strap in, settle down, and let's take a look at the high points of the week in tech!
First came some controversy from industry name and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who expressed some doubt about the concept of the cloud. The Woz, as he's sometimes known, found the idea of protecting individual ideas in a cloud-based environment extremely difficult, and projected "a lot of horrible problems in the next five years" as a result of more systems migrating to the cloud.
Then came an examination of Microsoft's (News - Alert) Surface tablets and the ultimate fate of the Zune media player. More specifically, the examination tried to determine whether or not the Surface tablet would find itself overmatched by its competitors, especially its Apple competitors, much like the Zune was against the iPod. That's the suggestion of a Canalys research analyst's recent note, but there are significant differences between the Zune and the Surface that the Canalys note doesn't seem to consider.
Next came Facebook's (News - Alert) latest response to the issue of losing mobile advertising revenue. This time, Facebook took its case directly to the developers themselves. It's currently being pitched as a test project, but the idea of offering up mobile ad capability for apps offers a new measure of not only providing value for the mobile developers, but also for Facebook and its shareholders, who are likely getting a little disgruntled with their purchases so far. The developer push focuses on ease of use, and on using Facebook's growing mobile audience as a means of providing value.
Then came a report about the mobile business in the United States, which finds itself under increasing pressure and growing instability. Some even refer to this instability in light of possible changes, including large-scale restructuring, despite the fact that such a move had recently been tried in the failed AT&T purchase of T-Mobile (News - Alert). Costs are expected to surpass revenue for some operators in the next three years or so, and this could change the landscape of mobile service as we know it.
Finally came news that Google (News - Alert) is set to pay a record-breaking fine of $22.5 million to the FTC (News - Alert) in the face of a recent move on Google's part. Google was said to have misrepresented the use of tracking cookies and targeted ads to Safari users, and as such, the FTC found Google to be in violation of an earlier privacy settlement. Though this $22.5 million settlement was the largest one ever received by the FTC, its impact on Google itself will be minimal, as Google earns $22.5 million dollars approximately every 12 hours.
From record fines to the mobile phone industry, to the fate of the Surface and word from The Woz himself, it's no surprise that it was a huge week in technology by any standard. Our global online community is always keeping watch for the latest in news on this front, and as such, is always bringing back impressive stories like this one to keep up on what's going on. So keep it right here next week for all the big news in technology, and every weekend, for the TechZone360 Week in Review!