Tech Week in Review 8-19-2011

Google Acquires Motorola

Google is set to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The company that has popularized the Droid brand and helped propel Android to over 150 million devices worldwide will now be protected under the Google umbrella. According to Google, they will continue to operate independently. Most see this move as a way to protect Android against the patent warfare being waged by competitors Apple and Microsoft. In acquiring Motorola, Google gains access to some 17,000 patents and with another 7,500 pending. Until now, Apple and Microsoft have been trying to pick off Google’s partners individually, but they must now face Google head on. It’s the main event, folks. It will definitely be interesting to see what this means for Android. See my full analysis here.

via Google

LinkedIn Updates Mobile Apps

Hot off their IPO, LinkedIn is growing fast and has completely redesigned their mobile apps to meet the demand. The mobile app now focuses on 4 areas: Updates, Inbox, your profile, and groups. Notable here is the ability to interact with groups and add new contacts via the “people you may know” feature. With a cleaner and simpler interface, the apps are also 2 to 10 times faster in most features. Linked in also has an HTML5 mobile interface in the works which should have features comparable to the native apps.

via TC

BART Blocks Cell Service. Gets Hacked by Anonymous.

This is a bit of a convoluted story. BART (not Homer’s son, but the Bay Area Transit Authority) shut down cellular service amid rumors of a protest regarding the shootings of Charles Hill and Oscar Grant by transit police. In attempting to shut down the protest by shutting down cell service, BART apparently awakened a sleeping giant. Anonymous hacked the BART website, exposing identifiable contact information of over 2,000 employees and passengers. They went further, organizing real life protests, and  bringing 100 people out chanting slogans. This resulted in 4 stations being shut down for a brief period. BART is also being investigated by the FCC to figure out whether they overstepped their bounds in shutting down service in the first place.

I’m actually amazed  they would do such a thing. It sounds like a story that would happen in some other country run by a dictator. The question is, how did they even go about shutting down cellular service? The answer is quite simple according to Scientific American. Underground, BART operates a network of wireless access points that provide cellular service. They act as the middleman so that passengers can access data and make phone calls. They simply cut the power to this underground network, making it impossible to organize a protest or even dial 911. The carriers had nothing to do with the shutdown.

via TC

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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