Find out the week’s top mobile stories from around the world.
This week.. Facebook may face multi-billion dollar fine, mobile networks call for 5G security inspector, how mobile app developers can benefit from blockchain and much more.
Facebook may face multi-billion dollar fine for Cambridge Analytica scandal
Ars Techinca
Facebook may have to pay a multi-billion dollar fine for violating its users’ privacy, or face a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC has been investigating Facebook and is negotiating with the company “over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation,” The Washington Post reported yesterday, citing “people familiar with the probe.” New York Times sources also confirmed that the current negotiations “could amount to a record, multibillion-dollar fine.”
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Mobile networks call for 5G security inspector
BBC
The mobile network industry has called for a new European security testing scheme to check the safety of 5G equipment before it is deployed.
Several countries have stopped individual companies supplying equipment for their next-generation networks, citing security concerns.
Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE have both faced intense scrutiny.
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How Mobile App Developers can Benefit from Blockchain Technology
CIOreview
Technology has gatecrashed into the digital space with the most reliable and secure features. Many global business giants are leveraging this technology to provide a more robust solution for their customers.
The blockchain technology is increasingly becoming a mainstream technology for app development in the business world. Here are a few ways in which blockchain technology can help in mobile app development:
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Smart but Vulnerable IoT Devices Present an Opportunity for Home Broadband Providers
Telecoms.com
As the Internet of Things continues its advancement, our world is becoming smarter and smarter. Consumer televisions and security cameras are already connected to the internet. Adoption of connected thermostats, lights, security systems and voice assistants is growing fast, particularly in North America. Soon homes will have connected washing machines and toasters as well.
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Amazon Moments lets mobile developers offer digital and physical incentives
gamesindustry.biz
Today, Amazon has announced the launch of Amazon Moments, a tool that allows mobile developers to use the company’s services to fulfill digital and physical reward incentives for actions taken within their apps.
Moments integrates with apps by allowing developers to set up campaigns that establish what actions they want users to take, then once those actions are taken, Amazon will fulfill the established digital or physical rewards from anything available in its catalogue. Because the tool is through Amazon, it includes features such as two-day shipping for Prime users and tracking information on physical goods.
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New phone designs aim to shake up MWC 2019
CNet
Samsung will have already announced the Galaxy S10 before MWC — the largest mobile show on the planet — has even begun. But mark my words, this will be a busy, exciting show, and one Samsung won’t miss using as a platform to show off the Galaxy S10, foldable Galaxy X/GalaxyF/Galaxy Fold and every other thing it announces just days before Mobile World Congress 2019 kicks off.
Samsung won’t be alone. Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone maker behind Samsung, is rumored to show off its first-ever foldable phone.
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Mobile health tools should be studied using new methods
Science Nordic
By analysing how patients use mobile health technology it is possible to understand the health affects of the apps and those who they affect. Researchers believe that traditional research methods are not suitable.
Patients with diabetes type 2, who register their blood sugar, diet and physical activity on mobile phones, have the possibility to reduce their long-term blood sugar levels. This is one of several results of a study conducted by researchers at the Norwegian Centre for E-health Research and Oslo Metropolitan University.
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5 hurdles RCS messaging has to overcome for universal adoption
Martech
Rich Communication Services messaging has been widely anticipated as a replacement to the clunky and outdated text message functionality that comes installed on mobile phones by default.
When it eventually arrives, RCS will allow us to do much more than send and receive plain text without needing a third-party app like iMessage and WhatsApp. It has the potential to be a far more engaging, responsive and immersive evolution of SMS with interoperable text- and media-based messaging across all mobile devices and networks right out of the box.
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Congress challenges T-Mobile, Sprint on merits of merger
Fierce Wireless
The leaders of T-Mobile and Sprint today testified before the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and answered questions from lawmakers about the merits and potential impacts of their proposed merger.
The points of contention—namely jobs, rural coverage and reduced competition in the market—have been debated since the merger plan was first announced in April 2018, but today’s hearing effectively underlined the ongoing rancorous debate as the FCC and Department of Justice near final decisions.
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Why video content marketing is the next frontier in SEA
Tech In Asia
Video content was massive in 2018. According to the new Global Internet Phenomena Report by Sandvine, video streaming accounted for nearly 58 percent of the total downstream volume of internet traffic around the world.
Video has also changed the state of social media. In 2016, Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn boldly predicted that Facebook “will be probably all video”in the next five years. That comment may have raised eyebrows then, but today, Facebook is quickly catching up to YouTube as the preferred video content platform of global users (67 percent vs 83 percent, according to HubSpot).