A quick burst of 12 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Gartner's iPhone, Android predictions radically revised in a year and a half >> Apple Insider

"Just a year and a half ago, t[Gartner] made similar bold predictions about the smartphone industry that suggested the same dramatic turn around for Microsoft. In fact, the only real similarity between the company's 2009 predictions and its 2011 predictions is the idea that Microsoft would be selling about 68m phones by 2012, and taking around 12% of the smartphone industry.

Every other predicted element in Garner's outlook has changed significantly in the last year and a half. Nokia's Symbian, once seen as holding on to the lion's share of smartphones in 2012 (with more market share than it managed to retain last year) is now expected to dry up and blow away, given Nokia's plans to drop support for it and focus on WP7 later this year. "

350,000 Google Android devices being activated daily; 16% increase from a few months ago signifies rapid acceleration in mobile advertising opportunities says executive director at UBS investment bank >> Yahoo! Finance

"We have seen Google is now activating 350,000 Android devices daily. That's up from 300,000 several months ago and roughly 60,000 a year ago, so a significant acceleration in mobile. We are seeing Google also serve over two billion ad impressions a day through AdMob, which serves display advertising into applications on mobile devices. We are seeing Google post over $1 billion in revenue from mobile alone, over $2.5 billion in display, so we think display advertising is also at a big inflection point as companies like Procter And Gamble (PG) and other consumer products companies are opening up their budgets and spending more online. Twelve years ago that money may have gone to Yahoo! or AOL."

Olive Garden food photo tagged you on Facebook? It's a viral scam >> Naked Security

We make that two new scams circulating on Facebook that day.

Is Amazon Stealing Android from Google? >> Tim Bajarin

"I have been watching Amazon's recent moves involving Android with great fascination. Two weeks ago, it launched the Amazon Appstore that focuses on Android apps, and last week it announced a cloud-based music service with a special version just for Android. Although Google has its own Android Marketplace, Amazon is bringing a more structured store to Android with room for users comments and reviews--a key step to vetting the apps it carries.

"This is a very strategic move by Amazon, and it could actually bring some sanity and consistency to the Android development community and all Android users. At the moment, Google's approach to creating Android is scattered. There are so many versions of this OS floating around that the OEMs who license Android are increasingly frustrated with Google's lack of discipline in laying out a consistent roadmap for Android that they can follow."

Browsers market share visualised >> Behance Network

A slightly better visualisation than Monday's, we think.

Why "post PC" doesn't mean "sans PC" >> Michael Gartenberg

Michael Gartenberg, who has seen tons of consumer gadgets come and go: "So, why so much hype about the post-PC world? Because historically, as PCs have become increasingly sophisticated, they've also become increasingly complex. Users become empowered by new features while simultaneously being forced to contend with complex systems..

"This is one reason why devices like the iPad have become popular. No, they can't do everything a PC can do today--but that's not a bad thing. The iPad performs some tasks quite well, all while keeping those tasks simple--and that means an iPad can replace that second or third PC someone was thinking of buying.

As we transition into a post-PC world, the ability of devices to balance new technology and features against complexity for a given set of functions will help drive purchases. The key will be for users to figure out just what device best matches the appropriate skill set or need. Need to decode the human genome? There's no app for that just yet."

Apple files patent for hybrid e-ink and LCD screen >> Macworld UK

"The display would be smart enough to evaluate the content you're viewing and automatically switch between e-ink for reading and a full colour display for video and other content. The device may also have the ability to separate different sections of the screen into e-ink and full colour displays allowing you to view different content types at the same time, according to the patent application."

Intriguing.

Which antivirus finds the latest Flash zero-day vuln? >> Virustotal

The results of a scan for the latest Adobe zero-day vulnerability shows that only one out of 42 virus scanners presently detect it. And it's probably not one you've heard of.

New Adobe Flash Zero Day Being Exploited? >> Krebs on Security

"Attackers are exploiting a previously unknown security flaw in Adobe's ubiquitous Flash Player software to launch targeted attacks, according to several reliable sources. The attacks come less than three weeks after Adobe issued a critical update to fix a different Flash flaw that crooks were similarly exploiting to install malicious software.

"According to sources, the attacks exploit a vulnerability in fully-patched versions of Flash, and are being leveraged in targeted spear-phishing campaigns launched against select organizations and individuals that work with or for the U.S. government. Sources say the attacks so far have embedded the Flash exploit inside of Microsoft Word files made to look like important government documents."

Introducing developer drop-ins >> theguardian.com

"Throughout May, the Guardian is opening its offices to developers as part of our commitment to the developer community. Each day from 4pm, you'll be able to turn up with your laptop and coffee, meet other developers, collaborate on projects or simply have somewhere to work for a few hours."

Note that you will need to sign up in advance.

There Is No Post-PC Era >> Manan Kakkar

"Let's [go] back a few years when people used to buy PCs and use them for email, multimedia and light work. Ever since the iPad came out everyone claims that the iPad does all of this, essentially tasks that the PC does but in a smaller form factor with a touch friendly UI. But still doing what a PC does, I don't see how a device that does what the PC does become a post-PC device."

On this basis GUIs aren't different from CP/M devices, and laptops aren't different from desktops. Or are they? That's the crux of this ongoing argument.

Alliance Data may face high Epsilon breach costs >> Reuters

"Alliance Data Systems Corp could face costs and lost sales of $100 million or more as it tries to recover after hackers stole reams of names and email addresses from its Epsilon marketing unit."

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