SnappyLabs

Jan 11, 2014

Samsung is looking to expand its presence in automobiles. This initiative could include windows that are made of transparent flat panel displays , along with sensors to monitor the health of the driver. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Pirates Took A Bite Out Of Beyonce's New Album Beyonce is one of the most successful recording artists in America. Like so many others, she is a major target for piracy. Pirates downloaded 240,000 illegal copies of her new, self-titled album during its first week of availability. This may sound extreme, but Gregory Mead, the CEO of Semetric (a data insight and analytics company that focuses on music, video games, movies and TV), told Benzinga that Beyonce's rate of Piracy was "not that bad. " "The general trend line is a big spike on release and then it just goes down," Mead told Benzinga . "I have a very strong feeling that the number of shares will gradually decline over time. It'll decay. That's the common trend we see with all major releases. I wouldn't say it will peak any higher. " Apple 'Snapped' Up Its First 2014 Acquisition Apple loves startups almost as much as Yahoo. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant made its first 2014 acquisition earlier this week. This one, a one-man shop called SnappyLabs, might be the smallest company Apple has ever acquired. SnappyLabs produced SnappyCam, a cheap app that enhances the iPhone's camera software. Apple is expected to integrate SnappyCam's features into future versions of iOS. Mobile Device Sales To Rise 7% How popular are mobile devices? Gartner thinks that sales of all mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc. ) will increase by seven percent in 2014. By comparison, mobile device sales rose only four percent between 2012 and 2013. Gartner expects mobile phones, feature phones and smartphones to dominate with combined annual unit sales of nearly 1.9 billion. IBM Investing More Than $1 Billion In New Watson Group Some tech companies invest in startups. Others invest in their own technology. IBM will spend more than $1 billion on its new Watson Group. The group will focus on R&D and IBM's goal to bring "cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services" to the market.