Lacking hard numbers (because Samsung doesn’t release them anymore) most analysts assume that the bulk of the Korean manufacturer’s mobile sales come from its low-end phones. According to Raymond James’ Tavis McCourt, Samsung’s high-end Galaxy smartphone line outsold the iPhone only once — in the summer of 2012, when many of Apple’s (AAPL) customers were holding out for the iPhone 5.

“The iPhone app will bring in an incredible amount of revenue this year … mobile will be the majority in Q2,” Lerer told VentureBeat after the panel. “It’s a beast. This is where our guys are.”

According to the report, Thrillist’s annual revenue is in the vicinity of $40 million. That’s a lot of iPhone activity.

He said they have an Android app too, but it doesn’t create nearly the same amount of activity as the iPhone app.

“The only hope for Apple and its suppliers is the possible launch of a low-cost iPhone later this year, which may help the U.S. company to gain market share in fast-growing emerging markets such as China,” said Capital Securities analyst Diana Wu.

They found an analyst that heaps praise on Samsung while shitting on Apple. How unusual.

No shit.

Warby Parker did it for eyeglasses, offering style at a discount. Now one of the co-founders of the trendy retailer is tackling something almost every guy needs: razors. Warby Parker co-founder Jeff Raider and his longtime friend Andy Katz-Mayfield have built Harry’s, a startup selling more than just blades and handles, but what they are calling “shaving experiences.”

My wife the optician really likes Warby Parker, which sells trendy, high-quality eyeglasses and offers really great customer service without charging their customers through the teeth. So it’s great to see Jeff Raider try to duplicate his success with shaving products.

We’ve heard people say that RSS is a thing of the past, and perhaps in its current incarnation it is, but as daily (hourly) users of Google Reader, we’re convinced that it’s a product worth saving. So we’re going to give it our best shot. We’ve been planning to build a reader in the second half of 2013, one that, like Digg, makes the Internet a more approachable and digestible place. After Google’s announcement, we’re moving the project to the top of our priority list. We’re going to build a reader, starting today.

Zite, Digg. In a few weeks, no one is going to care that Google Reader is shutting down.

Nvidia passed on its hardware being used in the PlayStation 4 due to the “opportunity cost.”

“I’m sure there was a negotiation that went on,” Tony Tamasi, Senior VP of content and technology at Nvidia told GameSpot, “and we came to the conclusion that we didn’t want to do the business at the price those guys were willing to pay.”

AMD (which bought ATI several years ago) provides the graphics hardware used in the forthcoming Sony console.

But that’s how news reporters increasingly are treating the state of the industry. The desire for the “Oh, how the mighty Apple has fallen” narrative is so strong that the narrative is simply being stated as fact, evidence to the contrary be damned. It’s reported as true simply because they want it to be true. They’re declaring “The King is dead; long live the King” not because the king has actually died or abdicated the throne, but because they’re bored with the king and want to write a new coronation story.

I think John Gruber is absolutely spot on.

Microsoft Corp. has sold about 1.5 million Surface devices, people with knowledge of the company’s sales said, a slow start in its bid to crack the fast-growing tablet market to make up for slumping personal-computer demand.

A stunning surprise. Not.

We at Zite were sad to hear about Google Reader’s impending demise. Google Reader and Zite have always been complementary products: GR providing news from sources you’ve subscribed to manually and Zite giving you news algorithmically-targeted from the whole web.

Since Google Reader is dying, we created a replacement in Zite that doesn’t depend on Google’s infrastructure. From start to finish, in six hours.

People were worried about what would replace it when Google announced that it was killing Reader. Doesn’t look like there was much to worry about. Zite’s one of the first out of the gate with a replacement, but I doubt that it’ll be the last.

Hello World:

Go outside, be present with the people you love when you’re with them, or go make something. Staring at your little screen isn’t doing anything for you.”

Take a look at the fascinating photo comparison on the linked web site. What do you think? Does the 2013 photo represent a good thing, a bad thing or just the nature of the world we live in?

Let’s start by separating the “lazy parent” argument from the “kids shouldn’t have devices” argument. You can be a good parent and let your kids play on the iPad, and you can be a bad parent with a house full of encyclopaedias.

As a tech-savvy parent wanting to raise tech-savvy children, I’ve certainly heard pushback from well-meaning but ultimately wrong-thinking friends and relatives who think that my children’s use of technology, whether it be iPad, iPod or whatever, makes them soft or is an example of lazy parenting.

Marshall talks about how his daughter’s exposure to technology and media has helped her develop more critical thinking skills, patience and reinforcement of good behavior. That parallels my own experience.

“When they replaced sharing with +1 on Google Reader, it was clear that this day was going to come,” he said. Wetherell, 43, is amazed that Reader has lasted this long. Even before the project saw the light of the day, Google executives were unsure about the service and it was through sheer perseverance that it squeaked out into the market. At one point, the management team threatened to cancel the project even before it saw the light of the day, if there was a delay.

Nice article from Om Malik.

I like the people at Feedly and the service. This could be a good alternative to Google Reader and they’ve promised to work with developers, so hopefully apps like Reeder will support the service as well.

“I appreciate children are their target audience but it is not right and there needs to be specific controls in place to stop this from happening.”

There are, dipshit. Check your settings.

Our long global nightmare is over, folks.

Great news. You’ll now know the viewing preferences of your friends’ kids on Netflix, thanks to the service’s foray into social sharing via opt-in Facebook integration, announced earlier this morning. Because the company rushed to launch the feature ahead of a product release, which would allow family members and other shared account holders to set up their own profiles, that means parents will be inadvertently opting their children in to sharing their preferences for “Rugrats,” “My Little Pony,” and “Dora the Explorer.”

This is a great point I hadn’t considered when Netflix announced the service yesterday. Like Sarah Perez, I’m not the only Netflix user in the house – my kids use it too, since Netflix works on the Wii. When my 12 year old has sleepovers, he and his friends will often cue up cartoons, anime or action movies they want to watch.

I readily admit that not every Netflix user is in the same boat as Sarah Perez and me, but I don’t think we’re edge cases either.

Just like Amazon regularly tells me about products that I don’t want, Netflix makes recommendations based on “my” viewing I don’t care about, and here’s the thing – I don’t care enough to curate.

Do I mind people thinking that I’ve watched an entire season of Soul Eater? Not particularly. But if the goal here is to enable Facebook friends to see what each other likes on Netflix, the results are going to get skewed for parents and other people using shared accounts.

Apple recently updated its online store to reflect availability of a new VESA mount-compatible iMac, with the tweaked version of the thin all-in-one costing in at $40 more than standard models.

Just the thing if you want to hang your new iMac on the wall or on an articulated arm.

According to several sources, Google has started sending notifications to developers with ad-blocking software in the Google Play Store regarding these apps’ removal. Players like AdBlock, AdAway, AdFree and more are being whisked away.

Anyone surprised? Google will let all the Malware in the world in the store, but not ad blocking software.

Schiller did an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

One of Google’s most useful products. Gone.

ShellyBlog:

Each year’s SXSW conference turns my hometown into a giant carnival of music, food, and strangers from strange lands.

My contribution to SXSW coverage is a listing of free music downloads and samplers, featuring bands who will be in or near Austin next week.

A lot of techies may not realize that while the first five days of SXSW is a tech conference, there’s a huge live music component too. Even better, a lot of these undiscovered bands make their music available for free online. Shelly Brisbin has collated some of the links to these gigabytes of MP3s.

Jim and Dan talk about truth in reporting, trusting the news and news agencies, android users in the air, twisting numbers, Rubin stepping down, “cheap” guitars, and more.

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME3 for 30% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME3 for 10% off).

Fast forward to today. The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work. Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android—and with a really strong leadership team in place—Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Andy, more moonshots please!

Andy Rubin started Android back in 2003, before it was acquired by Google. Google CEO Larry Page, who wrote the blog post we’ve linked to, didn’t offer details on what Rubin is doing next.

Sundar Pichai is taking over Google’s Android efforts. He’s a senior VP at Google who also heads up their Apps and Chrome efforts.

Heavily weighted to American readers, but there’s some good general info in there about how to have a political discussion with someone without turning into a raging asshole.

I think Kate pretty much nailed it.

Also: “Hee Haw Folks” made me laugh.