Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on January 20, 2007 by CyberNet.

Opera has decided to take the route that other software companies are taking to improve the user experience. They are now asking people to download an experimental build of Opera (version 9.12) that will test a new reporting function that they have implemented. Like most other usage reports, this one is not designed to steal any personally identifiable information from you.

After you download and install the new experimental build of Opera you’ll get a popup window similar to the one above when you start the browser. It is just giving you a heads up that they will be collecting some information from you along with a quick way to disable this “feature.” The report is stored as an XML file in your profile so that you can review exactly what is being sent to them, but I noticed that the report is only created/modified when you close the browser.

In case you’re wondering what information they’ll see I have went ahead and attached my report here (I used a clean profile so there aren’t many stats in it). As you can see they only store numbers (excluding Visa and MasterCard numbers as they pointed out ), but it is actually quite a bit of information. Here is a quick run down on what they are collecting:

• Wand: whether it is enabled and how many logins/pages.
• Mail: number of searches, filters, total messages, unread messages, and number of accounts.
• Feeds: number of feeds.
• History: number of pages visited last week.
• Workspace: minimum/maximum number of tabs you have had open, minimum/maximum number of windows you have had open, average number of tabs, and browsing time.
• BitTorrent: number of downloads.
• Bookmarks: number of bookmarks and folders, along with the last time you created a bookmark.
• Contacts: number of contacts and folders, along with the last time you created a contact.
• Widgets: number of widgets and folders, along with the last time you created a widget.
• Notes: number of notes and folders, along with the last time you created a note.
• News: number of accounts.
• Chat: number of accounts.
• General: date/time when Opera was first installed.

That is pretty much all of the information that they take from you, but I guess I did fail to mention that they retrieve every preference as well. While this is a lot of information I don’t think it is the end of the world, and if anything it will really help the Opera team by seeing which of their features are used the most so that they can focus on making those better. I was reading through their comments and it looks like people are excited to see Opera collecting this information to make the browser even better.

If, however, you decide that you don’t want this feature enabled just go to the address bar, type in opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableUsageReport and uncheck the box to disable the usage report from being sent.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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SRI unveils Taurus, DaVinci’s bomb-defusing little brother originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An unnamed Samsung official says we should expect 2GHz dual-core before 2012.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Whoa! In the world of big-time lawsuits, this must be just about the biggest. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has sued Samsung Electronics for copying “the look and feel” of its iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. This relates to the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the iPhone 3G / 3GS models, and the slightly less obvious Epic 4G, Nexus S, and Galaxy Tab (presumably the older 7-inch model, since the newer ones aren’t out yet) devices. The claim for intellectual property infringement is phrased as follows:

“Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California on Friday and seeks injunctions against Samsung, damages (both actual and punitive), and a finding that the infringement was willful. Lest we forget, the rarest outcome in such legal tussles is for an actual judgment to actually be handed down, so the greatest likelihood is that this will just lead to another round of grudging handshakes and licensing going one way with money going the other way, but still, it’s fun to see the big dogs barking at each other.

Another aspect to these proceedings that shouldn’t be overlooked is that, on the software front, they boil down to iOS versus Android (again). When Apple calls Samsung uninventive in its user interface, it’s talking more about Android’s perceived imitation of the iPhone’s interface than whatever TouchWiz tweaks Samsung has slapped on top. And hey, if you’re going to sue Google indirectly, you can’t leave a major player like Samsung outside the courtroom, it just wouldn’t be fair.

Apple sues Samsung for ‘copying’ the iPhone and iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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