Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 21 February 2019

In this Nov. 6, 2013 file photo, the Twitter bird logo is on an updated
phone post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Associated Press
Twitter tightens up

EU political ad rules

ahead of election In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019, photo from left are the new Samsung Galaxy S10, the S10+ and the

S10e during a product preview in San Francisco.
LONDON (AP) — Twitter base showing how much Associated Press
said Tuesday it is tightening was spent, how many times Samsung folding phone is
up rules for European Union it was seen and the demo-
political ads ahead of bloc- graphics of the people different – but also almost $2,000
wide elections this spring, who saw it.
following similar moves by Facebook and Google
fellow tech giants Face- have put in similar systems By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and “Get ready for the dawn of Samsung, Apple and other
book and Google. ahead of the EU vote in ANICK JESDANUN a new era,” declared DJ top manufacturers.
The social media company May, as the U.S. tech com- AP Technology Writers Koh, who oversees Sam- “These phones are all varia-
said it is extending restric- panies respond to criticism SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — sung’s smartphone division. tions on a theme we have
tions already in place for they didn’t do enough Samsung unveiled a highly The new phone, he said, already seen,” Llamas said.
federal elections in the to prevent misuse of their anticipated smartphone “answers skeptics who said “It’s the same song with a
United States. platforms by malicious ac- with a foldable screen in an everything has already slightly different verse.”
Under the new rules, which tors trying to sway previous attempt to break the inno- been done.” With the pace of smart-
will also apply in Australia elections around the world. vation funk that has beset If Samsung is right, the phone innovation seem-
and India, political adver- “This is part of our overall the smartphone market. Galaxy Fold will spur more ingly locked in baby steps,
tisers will need to be certi- goal to protect the health But it’s far from clear that people to upgrade their consumers are holding on
fied. of the public conversation consumers will embrace phones. Overall smart- to their existing devices for
It’s also taking steps to in- on our service and to pro- a device that retails for al- phones sales peaked in longer periods than they
crease transparency. Ads, vide meaningful context most $2,000, or that it will 2017 ; Samsung saw its have in the past. Com-
in the form of “promoted around all political entities provide the creative cata- smartphone sales fall 8 pounding that reluctance
tweets,” from the past sev- who use our advertising lyst the smartphone market percent last year, based to upgrade is smartphone
en days will be stored in a products,” the company needs. on estimates from the re- sticker shock, which the
publicly accessible data- said in a blog post .q The Galaxy Fold, an- search firm International Galaxy Fold seems unlikely
nounced Wednesday in Data Corp. Worldwide, to alleviate. Prices for some
California teen charged with San Francisco, will sell for smartphone sales dropped existing phones models
have soared above $1,000
$1,980 when it is released 4 percent in 2018, accord-
creating ‘Banana Plug’ drug app April 26. ing to IDC. .Samsung is offering a
Consumers willing to pay But most analysts see a lim-
slightly smaller S10 model
that hefty price will get a ited market for foldable- for $750 in an attempt to
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A device that can unfold like screen phones, at least in make smartphones more
Northern California college a wallet. It can work like a the early going. Phones like affordable, but the higher-
freshman is facing felony traditional smartphone with the Galaxy Fold “are likely end models sell for $900
charges for allegedly cre- a 4.6 inch screen or morph to sell to a very limited mar- and $1,000.
ating an iPhone app he into something more like a ket of technology aficio- Two of Samsung’s new
dubbed the Banana Plug mini-tablet with a 7.3 inch nados who like big screens models, the S10 and the
to sell illicit drugs. screen. and have big wallets,” said S10 Plus, are largely incre-
Collin Howard on Tuesday When fully unfolded, the IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. mental upgrades of last
pleaded not guilty to fed- device will be able to si- Samsung also released new year’s S9 and S9 Plus, al-
eral drug charges in San multaneously run three dif- Galaxy S10 phones that though they are designed
Jose after a grand jury ferent apps on the screen. boast fancy cameras, sleek differently. They are about
indicted him on Feb. 14. The Galaxy Fold will also screens covering the entire the same size as last year’s
Howard, 18, had earlier boast six cameras: three in front of the devices and at models, but will have more
pleaded not guilty to simi- versity campus police of- the back, two on the inside least 128 gigabytes of stor- display space, as Samsung
lar drug charges in Santa ficer noticed one of many and one on the front. age — important features found additional ways to
Cruz County where he was posters hung on campus After spending nearly five to consumers shopping for eliminate waste around
arrested in his dorm room advertising an app called years developing the tech- phones. the edges. As a byprod-
at the University of Califor- Banana Plug, prosecutors nology underlying its fold- But those improvements uct, the top right of the
nia, Santa Cruz on Nov. 28. said. The school’s mascot is able-screen phone, Sam- aren’t a big leap from the display has a circle or oval
The investigation began the banana slug and plug sung is clearly hoping for a smartphones released dur- cut out for the front-facing
in November when a uni- is slang for a drug dealer.q big payoff. ing the past few years by cameras.q