1 Million Galaxy Notes Shipped Worldwid, Samsung Galaxy S III to Be Announced in February & Does Microsoft Really Need A Windows Superphone?

1 Million Galaxy Notes Shipped Worldwide, US Fans Throw Money at Their Screens
The Galaxy Note, Samsung’s unconventional powerhouse, has managed to ship 1 million units in under two months. While eager US customers still wait for the 5.3-inch tabletphone hybrid to arrive on their shores, the Galaxy Note has apparently struck a chord in Europe and Asia.
Engadget

Rumour: Samsung Galaxy S III to Be Announced in February, Have a Quad-core Processor, LTE and Possibly a 3D Display
Let the rumours start for the next high-end Samsung device to be welcomed into the growing Galaxy family. The Galaxy S and the Galaxy SII have sold well over 30 million units worldwide, but latest unconfirmed word around the web has Samsung set to unveil the Galaxy S III, possibly having the model number of GT-I9500.
MobileSyrup

HP Reportedly Tried to Offload Palm Assets for $1.2 Billion
HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion in April of last year, killed webOS hardware, and then reportedly tried to sell Palm and the dead operating system for $1.2 billion, VentureBeat said Wednesday.
BGR

Does Microsoft Really Need A Windows Superphone?
A leaked Windows Phone roadmap made the rounds earlier today, and if its contents hold true, then Microsoft will be going big on hardware when it comes time for Windows Phone Apollo to take the stage. Even though the budget-friendly Tango update will hit devices first, Microsoft has apparently made the development of “superphones” a priority for next year.
TechCrunch

How to Practise Safe Boxing Day Shopping, Future Shop’s Sale Starts on December 24 & Here Are Wind Mobile’s Boxing Day Specials

How to Practise Safe Boxing Day Shopping
The point is that to get great deals on Boxing Day, you need a strategy. Just wandering over to the local mall at 11 a.m. could result in frayed nerves, too much money spent and buying a bunch of stuff you don’t really want or need.
Moneyville

Future Shop Once Again Starts Boxing Day Sale Online December 24
Future Shop’s Boxing Day sale starts on December 24 at 8:00 p.m. EST at Futureshop.ca, with the majority of stores opening at 6:00 a.m. on December 26. Future Shop has Canada’s hottest electronics deals for Boxing Day: Monster Turbine Pro in-ear headphones for $99.99; BlackBerry 16GB PlayBook with Wi-Fi for $199.99.
Digital Journal

Here Are Wind Mobile’s Upcoming Boxing Day Specials
WIND Mobile’s upcoming Boxing Day specials are titled “99 Ways to Love WIND”. The focus is clearly on the $99 number and everything is effective December 26th-31st, 2011. In total there are 3 “lead offers” and a couple “door crashers”
MobileSyrup

Amazon, Apple and Google Offer Discounted Albums as Low as $4.99
Looking for an inexpensive way to treat yourself this holiday season? Amazon, Apple and Google might have what you desire with deals on albums and singles. The limited-time deals vary depending on the company, and the discounted MP3s could be nice additions to your still fairly fresh cloud music services — that is if you use Amazon Cloud Player, iTunes Match or Google Music.
Mashable

Apple Could Sell Almost 200 Million iPhones in 2012, Meet 7 Language Translation iPhone Apps & RIM Says BlackBerry 10 Phones Won’t Arrive Until Late 2012

Apple Could Sell Almost 200 Million iPhones in 2012
Apple could sell as many as 190 million iPhones next year according to a survey conducted by AlphaWise for Morgan Stanley. The survey results also suggested Apple will sell 31-36 million iPhone handsets this quarter, almost 30% more than estimates from other Wall Street analysts.
BGR

Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T to Ditch Exynos, Sport 4G LTE?
Rumour has it Sammy’s bringing a branded variant of the 5.3-incher, purportedly the SGH-I717, to AT&T’s lineup sometime in early 2012. We’d already seen the Note pass through the Commission’s gates and had anticipated a U.S. debut would soon follow, but that version — the GT7000B — might simply be a color variant of the currently available international model.
Engadget

7 Language Translation iPhone Apps for the Digital Traveler
While some language apps are limited in scope or sometimes wildly inaccurate, there are several proven educational options out there. These seven such iPhone apps will aid you through the process of language education and translation. But keep in mind, quality translation comes at a price.
Mashable

RIM Says BlackBerry 10 Phones Won’t Arrive Until Late 2012
Research In Motion today indicated during its quarterly earnings press call that its next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphones will not appear until “the latter part of calendar 2012.” RIM had previously suggested that they’d reach the market in the first half of 2012, so the delay is a significant one.
PhoneScoop

Nokia Rolls Out First Update for Lumia 800, Instagram Is Coming to Android and Galaxy Nexus Officially Available from Bell and Virgin Mobile

Nokia Rolls Out First Update for Lumia 800, Offers up New Features for Web-based 3D Maps on the Side
Its 3D Maps, available in 25 cities, have been given new navigation functions, sharing and search options. You’ll have to install a browser plugin to get your hit of pop-up cartography, but Google Earth addicts should be suitably impressed.
Engadget

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Officially Available from Bell and Virgin Mobile
If you’re looking to score this Android OS 4.0 powered device you can go forth over at Bell and Virgin – Rogers and TELUS will follow in January. The price starts at $159.95 at Bell, Virgin has it for $159.99 on a 3-year.
MobileSyrup

Facebook for Android Receives Major UI Overhaul
Facebook has totally overhauled its Android application to better align with the UI available on the iPhone and the iPod touch. There’s a left navigation sidebar for quick and easy access to your messages, profile, friends and more.
BGR

Instagram Is Coming to Android
Instagram, the hugely popular iPhone photography app that evokes 1970s style, has announced it’s finally developing an Android app. The company believes its membership base of 50 million could double with its Android launch.
Mashable

At Le Web, Crowley Hints At Foursquare’s Future In Recommendations For Everything

At Le Web Foursquare Co-Founder and CEO Dennis Crowley expanded on the future direction for the company and product, signalling how check-in data is becoming less important than the recommendations it is capable of producing for users.

Interviewed on stage by blogger Robert Scoble, Crowley went in to the Explore feature of the product and how the sheer number of check-ins are adding to the recommendations Explore can give and feeding back into the other new feature, Radar. It’s this ability for to “technology to generate serendipity” that is at the core of what Foursquare is about he said.

And although “a lot of developers see the headline stuff like check-ins” plenty were “deciding our API is the best for location,” said Crowley, because of the social context behind the location data. “With a keyword and a user-ID you can target services more accurately,” he added.

Crowley also signalled that Foursquare would start to “push back”on getting more data out of third party app in return for the location data they are giving out. That could well signal a change in the relationship with developers.

One example of this is the Save to Foursquare button recently launched which could be used to ‘check in’ to an article about Munich in the New York Times, and have Foursquare buzz you when you check in to Munich airport as you land. “This idea of bridging the online world with the real world is the big idea here.”

He also said new users were using other people’s check-ins and not necessarily checking in themselves, which is changing the behaviour on the platform. Foursquare now has data on over one billions check-ins.

“Successful services change user behaviour. Tweeting about going to the gym just wasn’t something people thought about doing a few years ago. Likewise, we’re now seeing users check in just to get the recommendations and not sharing it.”

Crowley also said growing the company was a challenge, but it wasn’t about numbers but about “getting the ratio right” between product people, engineers and others.

The profitability question also does;t come up much internally, so much as monetisiation.

The future for Foursquare will also involved machine learning and big data as the startup Explore and Radar start to produce large amounts of data. “We’re making the app start to recommend the things you should be doing. We’re getting pretty good at it. This time next year, it should be pretty good.”

( Picture by Paula Marttila)

Rogers Galaxy SII LTE Price Drops Continue, Starbucks Does $110m in Mobile App Revenue & Teen Sexting Not as Common as Once Thought

How to Find Out if Carrier IQ is Installed on Your Phone in One Tap
Carrier IQ software is installed by carriers in an effort to “collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to devise solutions to use and connection problems,” according to Carrier IQ’s website. The software logs a tremendous amount of sensitive data however, and it gives carriers access to all or most of it.
BGR

Rogers Samsung Galaxy SII LTE Price Drops Continue, Now Available for a Low $19.99 on 3-Year
Rogers originally priced the GSII LTE at $199.99 on a 3-year, then dropped it to $179.99 and the price cuts are continuing. This is currently sitting at $149.99 on a 3-year – 25% cheaper than its launch a month ago.
MobileSyrup

Teen Sexting Not as Common as Once Thought
“In the teen survey, 90% of youth said the images they created did not go beyond the intended recipient. Even in the cases where the images came to the attention of the police, two-thirds of the images stayed on cell phones and never circulated online.”
Mashable

Starbucks Does $110m in Mobile App Revenue on 26 Million Payments
Starbucks today announced that it has processed some 26m payments from its mobile apps since the beginning of the year, accounting for $110m in revenue. That’s only a drop in the bucket compared to the $11.7b it did in revenue last year, but it still represents five percent of the total Starbucks card business for the year.
The Verge

Carrier IQ Tracking Scandal Spirals Out of Control, “Canadians Should Receive the Same Services Wherever They Live” & Android Smartphone Round-Up

Carrier IQ Tracking Scandal Spirals Out of Control
In October, researcher Trevor Eckhart discovered that Carrier IQ is recording, among other things, your every keystroke and possibly sending it back to Carrier IQ’s servers. Carrier IQ responded by sending Ekchart a cease & desist letter and publishing a media alert, in which it claims the company is “not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools.”
Mashable

Android Smartphone Round-Up: November Edition
Changing Leaves. Black Friday. And Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. These are the cornerstones of the month of November. Releasing new phones, however, is not. Unfortunately, this means that our Android Smartphone Round-Up for November is a bit lean, but we’ve still managed to pick out a few handsets worth your valuable consideration.
TechCrunch

Industry Minister Says “Canadians Should Receive the Same Services Wherever They Live”
Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, took the stage at the International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada Conference in Ottawa today. He presented “an update on measures taken to support the digital economy in Canada”, specifically stating that “Our government believes that Canadians should receive the same services wherever they live”, signalling that he might announce auction plans – but unfortunately not.
MobileSyrup

Lenovo Will Launch a Windows Phone in the Second Half of 2012
Product manager Chen Yue told iMobile that Lenovo’s now aiming to release a Windows Phone in the second half of next year. Well, that was apparently all Mr. Chen revealed — no specs, no prices, and no mention of international launch.
Engadget