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Back in December, we reported that one of the most popular apps in the Google Play Store, "Brightest Flashlight," which has been downloaded over 50 million times and reviewed over 1 million times, had been sanctioned by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for sneakily selling your personal information to advertisers.

The app, built by GoldenShores, sent your location and a unique ID to advertisers who could then better target their marketing. Users were aware of this, but opting out through the application's settings did not change whether data was sent or not.

At the time, the FTC proposed a settlement with GoldenShores, run by just one individual (Erik Geidl), and the final terms have been revealed this week.

Geidl and GoldenShores are banned from collecting app user's geolocation data without a very clear explanation that they are doing so and who will be seeing such information. Additionally, the company will have to keep records that the FTC can inspect at any time, and the FTC must be notified of any new business Geidl starts in the next decade. Most importantly for phone users, all the data already collected must be deleted in the next ten days.

Amazon will unveil their first smartphone in June, with an expected release in September, say sources, yet another timeframe for the oft-rumored device that has never been officially confirmed.

The device has been demoed to developers in the past weeks, say the sources, and when launched will compete directly with Apple, Samsung and other high-margin OEMs.

As previously rumored, the device will have a 3D-capable display without the need for glasses, using four front-facing cameras for retina tracking.

Using the technology, text and images can move as a person head moves (or the phone moves), and could certainly be ideal for visual gaming, thanks to the added depth perception. The smartphone will most likely run on the Android-forked Fire OS, and have access to Amazon's curated version of the Google Play Store.

Amazon has reportedly set up an initial order of 600,000 units, with mass production slated to begin in May. While consumers may not want to try a smartphone run directly on Android or iOS, Amazon will have the ability to price their device with no margins, as CEO Jeff Bezos has long said the company would rather make money on content via their ecosystem rather than on the hardware.

According to a new report, Sprint and Spotify are preparing to team up in an effort to get the carrier's customers set up with the unlimited streaming music service.

The wireless carrier will start off with free trials to Spotify for its subscribers, allow for paying via their monthly carrier bill, and will also offer discounts to the streaming service for some of its users. Spotify Premium costs $9.99 per month and allows for streaming on mobile devices.

If you are on a "Framily" plan, you can get Spotify Premium at a discount, to be shared between the group.

Reportedly, Sprint and Spotify will jointly announce the partnership at a press event on April 29th. Any such deal would require record label approval, so the 29th date is tentative.

Spotify has 8 million subscribers around the globe, and Sprint has 54 million subscribers, making it the third largest carrier in the nation.

According to a new report, 44 percent of Twitter's registered users have never tweeted, a huge number that cannot make the microblogging service happy.

The WSJ claims that the company has 974 million accounts, meaning a full 429 million accounts have never been used for actual tweeting. There is a good chance that millions of these accounts are used to read and follow others, with no need for their own input and there is also a good chance that millions of accounts have lost or missing passwords that cannot be recovered by the original owner.

Twitter, by its own admission, has nearly 250 million active users, but "active" means that they at least log in a couple of times a month.

Other data has shown that only 13 percent of accounts have over 100 tweets over their lifetime, and 30 percent have between just one and ten tweets.

As Twitter continues to evolve, and continues to search for more ad revenue, it is clear it will have to find a way to engage all of its dead accounts.

DreamWorks Animation (DWA), is reportedly looking to buy a stake in music video giant Vevo, expanding outside of its blockbuster animated movie business.

Sources say CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg wants part of the service that is currently owned by Universal Music, Sony Music and Abu Dhabi Media. It is unclear how big of a stake the company is looking to invest in.

Vevo is very popular, generating 55 billion views last year, mainly through YouTube. The service does have its own site and other platforms can traffic Vevo, as well, like the Xbox, Roku set-tops and smart TVs.

The company is valued at over $600 million and it generated over $250 million in revenue last year. Investors need be weary, however, as YouTube, music publishers and the video's owners take 90 percent of any revenue generated from the videos being played.

If a move is made, it will be the second time in the last year that DWA has expanded outside of their core business. The studio purchased YouTube channel AwesomenessTV for $100 million last year, expanding into content.

Source:
Re/code

Billionaire and 'Shark Tank' investor Mark Cuban has put forward $250,000 of his own money to help the "PowerPot" succeed, a pot that lets you charge your smartphone with boiling water.

Cuban paid $250,000 for a 12 percent stake in the company, a seat on the board of directors and 3% in "adviser options." With the investment, the company is worth over $2 million, seemingly a good value given that they have supposedly already sold $300,000 worth of the devices.

The founders have been marketing the device towards campers, but have also been testing it in developing nations in Africa, where villagers have been using it to light their huts.

A 5-watt model and 10-watt model are available, starting at $149.

Check the pot in action:

Google is making installing apps on your Android device a bit more secure by offering malware scans during installation for apps installed from outside of the Google Play Store.

Moving forward, the service will also continuously scan to ensure that all apps are "behaving in a safe manner, even after installation."

Chrome users will be familiar with continuous app checks, as their Chrome-based apps use the same scans from Google.

Google's current "Verify Apps" service has been used over 4 billion times, says the company and only 0.18 percent of installations occurred after seeing the warning, making them very effective.

Of course, you are not likely to ever get these warnings if you download directly from the Google Play Store, which accounts for only 0.1 percent of all malware. Most of the malicious apps come from third-party stores or from pirated downloads.

After weeks of rumors, LG's upcoming flagship (likely the G3) has been unwittingly confirmed by Sprint.

Even though the company already released the G Pro 2 this year, it was always supposed to be place marker for the company's real flagship and successor to the G2.

Leaked by Sprint through a User Agent Profile XML document, the LS990 (G3) will have a QHD screen at 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution. So far, no major manufacturer has reached such a resolution for their smartphones, but Oppo and Vivo recently unveiled new phones with QHD for release in the coming months.

The screen's size is unknown, but the specs reveal 3GB RAM and a quad-core Snapdragon 800, which could be inaccurate given how old that chip is. The device runs on Android 4.4, has 32GB internal storage and on the camera side, dual 13MP/2.1MP sensors.

A peer reviewed study from the Federation University in Ballarat has confirmed what nearly everyone knew, that ads placed on piracy sites are high risk and should never be clicked on.

As defined in the study, "high risk" categories are pornography-based (sometimes child), malware or complete scam and fraud sites.

The study had researchers analyzing the "top 500 Google-upheld copyrighted complaints for movies and TV distributed by major Hollywood studios and then analyzing 10 sites from each complaint sampled for all ads displayed," notes Mumbrella.

Only one percent of ads on the illicit sites were found to be for mainstream brands such as banks and retailers, with the most often found advertiser being Quibids.com, the legitimate auction/bidding site.

To avoid re-targeting during the study (where a user's cookies and other past history helps bring up targeted ads), the researchers did not store cookies. "We eyeballed all the ads and classified it as either mainstream or high risk. In terms of methodology every time we took a new page capture we didn't store any cookies. There was nothing in a virtual browser which recorded where we had been eliminated that potential for retargeting by Google etc."

As demand for its high-end devices stagnate, Samsung is offering up to $600 worth of freebies with its new Galaxy S5 flagship device.

Among the offerings are a PayPal voucher, a LinkedIn premium account and multiple fitness apps. In addition, other packages include six months free to the WSJ, 12 months free for Bloomberg Businessweek and other applications, as well.

Samsung says it expects S5 sales to hit 10 million units within 25 days, basing that figure on its pre-orders.

"The Galaxy S5 was designed to offer consumers the most advanced tool to help improve their everyday lives," Shin Jong Kyun, CEO Samsung Mobile, said in a statement. "These new partnerships perfectly compliment this mission with a comprehensive offering of some of the world's best mobile resources to suit people's active lives."

Last year, it was reported that Microsoft was working on a "Mini" version of their Surface tablet, one that would be between 7 and 8 inches in size, just like the standard bearer in the market, the 7.9-inch Apple iPad Mini.

According to a new report, the new Surface is already produced and ready to ship, but Microsoft is still working on how to market the tablet.

The device will look just like the full-sized 11.6-inch Surface tablets, potentially even including the built-in kickstand that allows for easier viewing.

While other tablets in the size range market themselves as media consumption devices (think iPad Mini, Nexus 7), Microsoft is said to be considering marketing the device as the "ultimate" in note-taking, adding OneNote and digital pen support.

It is unclear when the device will be officially launched, it is a safe bet that it Microsoft decides to go with the note taking route, then it will be available in time for the fall college semester.

For at least the last three years, LG has been working on its own ARM-based system-on-a-chip (SoC), and it appears that the chip may finally be headed to market.

The "Odin" octo-core SoC is rumored to run on four 2.2 GHz Cortex-A15s, along with an additional four Cortex-A7s, clocked at 1.7 GHz or lower.

LG is said to be using TSMC for production of Odin, which will use the standard 28nm manufacturing process.

If accurate, the company will send the chip into "mass production soon," although that time frame is unclear. The company supposedly had some issues with the final design, and stayed away from including the SoC with its flagship G3.

The Dutch Ministry of Security has ruled that downloading content from unauthorized sources is illegal, and does not fall under the Netherland's private copying regulations.

Downloading pirated content causes damages to copyright holders and also encourages broader sales of pirated works, says the court.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) was asked to make the decision after the Netherlands introduced a new levy on blank DVDs/Blu-rays, smartphones, set-tops and tablets as a way to compensate content holders for when consumers do private home copying of copyright protected content. The levy is three cents on discs, and up to €5 for devices.

Dutch film makers have argued that the levy is a good start, but cannot reverse the damages caused by unauthorized downloading and sharing. Film makers applauded the new ruling.

As of today, all downloading from illegal sites and other sources is now banned in the nations.

Google is using tax day to offer up its Glass Web-connected eyewear to the public for the first time.

On Tuesday, April 15th, the company will make a limited quantity available to the public, the first time the glasses are available to anyone outside of the Glass Explorer program.

"Every day we get requests from those of you who haven't found a way into the program yet, and we want your feedback too," Google said. "That's why next Tuesday, April 15th, we'll be trying our latest and biggest Explorer Program expansion experiment to date. We'll be allowing anyone in the U.S. to become an Explorer by purchasing Glass."

Google has never given a set time frame for a full consumer release of the glasses, but they are expected to launch the headset this year.

The launch should be a boost for manufacturers like Himax, who build the LCOS micro-displays used by Glass.

Nikon will be updating last year's first try at an Android point-and-shoot digital camera, showing off the new Coolpix S810C.

The camera is a successor to the S800c, and it should be an overall upgrade to its older brother. The new S810c runs on Android 4.2.2, has a 300mm equivalent zoom, 16MP sensor, a slimmer design and a larger 3.7-inch touchscreen display. The device also has a headphone jack

Most importantly, the camera can access the Google Play Store, giving users the ability to download apps, play games, check their emails, and edit photos easier (or upload them to Instagram).

In its previous incarnation, Nikon put forward a lackluster effort, with most consumers claiming the lag of the screen and the apps was intolerable. Hopefully, the company has executed better this time around.

The device will sell for $350 starting next month.