Apple widens its lead on Samsung in the US

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From comScore market research firm:

133.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (57 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in February, up 8 percent since November. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 38.9 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 3.9 percentage points from November). Samsung ranked second with 21.3 percent market share (up 1 percentage point), followed by HTC with 9.3 percent share, Motorola with 8.4 percent and LG with 6.8 percent.

And Apple is making ground on Google:

Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 51.7 percent market share, while Apple’s share increased 3.9 percentage points to 38.9 percent. BlackBerry ranked third with 5.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.2 percent) and Symbian (0.5 percent).

So, let me get this straight. Apple is widening the gap on Samsung, but analysts think Apple should be more like Samsung. Not only that, it’s closing the gap between iOS and Android, even though it’s competing with hundreds of Android devices.

And Apple is losing how?

Facebook Home lingo

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Christina Bonnington gives us a rundown on all the new terms you’ll need to know in order to understand Facebook Home. My favorite is “Chat Heads.” And by “favorite” I mean I don’t really give a shit.

Facebook redesigns home screen for Android devices

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Jordan Golson for MacRumors:

Facebook claims users turn on their phone 100 times per day, and, among other things, is redoing the lock screen on the Android phone to give users a slideshow of photos and updates from their Facebook News Feeds.

This isn’t a bad idea for Facebook and it’s users. Facebook is making itself the center of the user experience and that could work very well for them.

iMessage encryption too good for the Feds

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An internal Drug Enforcement Administration document seen by CNET discusses a February 2013 criminal investigation and warns that because of the use of encryption, “it is impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices” even with a court order approved by a federal judge.

Safari dominates mobile Web browsers

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Safari for iOS was responsible for 61.79% of total mobile internet traffic during the month of March, an increase from 55.41% in February. Safari’s closest competitor for mobile browser dominance was Google’s Android browser, which had a 21.86% share of Web traffic in March.

Once again this brings up the obvious question — what are all the Android people doing with their phones?

Who owns the digital music you buy?

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Often, you’re not buying the song so much as the license that lets you hear the song.

I believe that if I pay for it, I should own and that should include the ability to resell it if I want.

Note: I linked to the print version because Businessweek was using popups and multiple pages to show the story.

Google numbers

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Google is just crazy, but they’ll get away with it and it will look better for Jelly Bean adoption.

Çingleton 3

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I just noticed the dates for the Mac Developer get together have been announced for October 2013. You can sign-up on the Web site to be kept up-to-date.

Velvet Revolver: Slither

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I always thought that the Slash/Scott Weiland was one of the best in rock. They wrote some amazing songs.

Tough going at J.C. Penney

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J.C. Penney shares have plunged nearly 60% over the past year as Johnson — a former Apple executive who spearheaded the tech giant’s retail strategy — has struggled to lead a turnaround effort. He took over at J.C. Penney in November of 2011 and has since announced a series of new initiatives including overhauled prices, redesigned store layouts, and even free haircuts for kids.

So far, the results have been dismal.

Selling iPhones wasn’t so bad after all.

Facebook phone

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Kevin C. Tofel:

There’s little doubt that Facebook will unveil a new phone on Thursday, but the star of the show will be software, not hardware, in this battle between Facebook and Google for user engagement.

Converting audio to MIDI

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It’s been years since I’ve used Ableton’s Live, but this looks like a really great feature to have at your disposal.

Court says you can’t resell digital music files

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In a judgment filed Saturday, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan sided with Universal Music Group’s Capitol Records, which had sued ReDigi for copyright violation.

Sullivan’s argument, in a nutshell: Unless the copyright owner gives you explicit permission to do so, you can’t resell a digital media file.

That doesn’t make sense to me.

R.I.P. Phil Ramone

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Bobby Owsinski:

By now you’ve all heard that the legendary producer Phil Ramone has passed. If you read any of the obituaries, you’ll notice that they all quote his many Grammys and the superstars he worked with, which indeed placed him above the majority of his contemporaries. Phil was more than that though. He was a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker on the technical side as well, always eager to embrace new technology.

Pebble smart watch review

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Stephen Hackett got his Pebble and posted his review. With everything I’ve heard about this watch, I was a little surprised with the conclusion.

Rating Apple analysts

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Ernie Varitimos:

Ask yourself, how many times have you tried to make sense of an analyst’s statement, where they’ve demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of Apple culture, the ecosystem, or the fan base. This isn’t universal of course, some analysts are very knowledgeable and huge Apple fans, but even a respected Apple bull like Gene Munster ranks only in the middle of the pack, well behind several amateur analysts. Some of the most influential analysts rank near the bottom of the pack, like Charlie Wolf and Kathy Huberty.

I have little to no respect for financial analysts.

Doxie – A Better Way To Go Paperless [Sponsor]

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Doxie IRS Loop

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Available now: the rechargeable Doxie Go for just $199.

Fools of the Year

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Much respect to The Macalope for a great list. I might have given Eric Schmidt two or three spots though.