Google and other leading advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of unknowing Safari users, reports the Wall Street Journal. Using “a special code,” the companies were able to bypass the browser’s privacy restrictions and install cookies on a user’s computer, even when such actions were supposed to be blocked. Companies such as Google use cookies to track browsing habits across websites that it places advertisements on. Apple’s Safari Web browser blocks...

Nielsen on Thursday ushered in a new era of mobile device usage reporting brought about by customer metering software installed on thousands of iOS and Android devices around the U.S. Rather than relying on survey results as is typical in the industry, Nielsen is now able to directly measure consumer behavior with its metering software — installed on consumers’ devices with their approval, of course — and report extremely accurate data. This first report examines Android owners’ usage of apps...

Twitter on Wednesday took the wraps off a redesigned version of its mobile website that has already begun rolling out to select users. The new design, most agree, represents a marked improvement over the inefficient, cartoony mobile site design found on the company’s current mobile web app. Twitter’s mobile web redesign looks much more like its native iPhone app, which makes sense considering the company’s recent promise to create a more unified experience across platforms. We still far pref...

In tandem with its announcement that it will move to a paid subscription model for online content, The New York Times said Thursday that it will also begin to sell subscriptions for news content in its mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. As per Apple’s iTunes App Store terms, The New York Times will also have to fork over 30% of the revenues from each subscription sold. Users will be able to access the “Top News” content for free, but will have to subscribe for access to other...

In a scathing one page response, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn cut Verizon Wireless to its knees by saying the answers the wireless carrier provided in response to the FCC’s investigation were “unsatisfying and, in some cases, troubling.” The commissioner chided Verizon for the fluctuating rationale behind its early termination fee, which has been expanded to include not only the cost of the device itself but operating and retail costs as well. She pointed out that high voice and data cost...

On Friday afternoon, Verizon Wireless issued its response to the FCC complaint which investigated the carrier’s increased early termination fees for advanced devices and the spurious charges some customers incur when accidentally accessing the Mobile Web. As expected, Verizon defended the increased ETF and dismissed the accusation that it charges customers $1.99 for accidentally connecting to the Mobile Web. Verizon justifies its increased ETF by claiming that the fee is not limited to the recovery of t...

The FCC has taken notice of Verizon Wireless’ new $350 early termination fee that applies to all advanced devices purchased after November 15th, 2009. The governmental agency sent an inquiry letter to Verizon Wireless asking them answer several questions regarding this increased fee. The questionnaire focuses on Verizon Wireless’ disclosure of the ETF to customers and the rationale behind the increase. The FCC also does the math and calculates that a customer with a $350 ETF will still have $120 ...

AdMob, a leading mobile ad service provider, issues mobile metrics and analysis each month and today it has released April data. Key points from AdMob’s press release:While Gartner estimated global smartphone sales represented 12 percent of total device sales in 2008, 35 percent of AdMob’s worldwide ad requests in April 2009 came from smartphones. This means that smartphones accounted for nearly 3 times more usage than their relative market share.The iPhone OS had 8 percent of the smartphone market, b...

In all of the hubbub surrounding Google’s recent revival and transformation of GrandCentral, one of the greatest aspects of the service was lost in the fray by most — mobile access to google.com/voice. Along with a new web-based UI and a handful of awesome new features such as free SMS and voicemail transcriptions, Google introduced new mobile sites that provide on-device access to all of Google Voice’s core functions. Users now have access to inboxes (voicemail transcriptions and SMS, each ...

Remember the great concept video of Firefox Mobile we showed you? The one that had us oh so excited for a Mozilla-powered browser experience on our mobiles? Well it might just be the most you see of the highly-anticipated mobile browser for quite a while unfortunately. According to The Register’s interpretation of some comments made by Mozilla Foundation Chairperson Mitchell Baker, Mozilla doesn’t plan to release its mobile browser product until 2010. That… would not be cool. While The Regis...

If you didn’t see this coming, it might be time for a new pair of glasses. We know, we know – you’re as sick of reading about Chrome as we are. At the same time, the fact that Google is preparing to inject its own proprietary web browser into its mobile OS is pretty big news. Chromedroid? A quote from Sergey Brin, the Googliest of all Googlers:Probably a subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack… My guess is we’ll have ‘Chrome-like’ o...

Google has launched its new Gears Geolocation API for mobile and desktop browsers. Websites using this API can provide targeted information based upon your current location. The API determines your location using GPS or cell phone triangulation for cell phones and the IP address for desktop browsers. If you are in the UK, you can see the Gears Geolocation API in action on supported Windows Mobile devices at the European Travel site, lastminute.com, and the social discovery tool, Rummble. Point your mobile bro...

This, people, is a smart service. Schmap, provider of interactive online maps with guide and tourism info, has just pushed an innovative iPhone-friendly solution into public beta. The service allows users to quickly and easily publish iPhone-friendly contact details with a map on their websites. When we say “Quickly and easily” we mean it. First of all, no registration is required and the service is completely free. Secondly, the setup from beginning to end takes about two minutes. The user need o...

News of the latest build of Opera’s ever-popular Opera Mobile browser has been floating around for a while now as anticipation grew. Now it’s here and well, it’s looking really good. Opera has given version 9.5b a pretty extensive overhaul both inside and out. Some highlights from Opera’s site:Pan and zoom – Using the same technology found in Opera Mini, Opera Mobile 9.5 defaults to full Web page viewing and allows users to pan and zoom into their desired content in just a few cl...