Somethings from Astronomy

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, took $4.3 million in the fiscal year 2013

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took nearly $4.3 million as a compensation package for the fiscal year 2013 which ended in September. This compensation package is marginally higher than his compensation for the previous year that was about $4.2 million.

According to the regulatory filing, Cook's compensation package in the fiscal year 2013 included nearly $1.4 million in base salary along with a cash bonus of $2.8 million. Moreover, the compensation package also included $52,721 in company contributions to Cook's 401(k) account; and other incentives such as life insurance premiums, and a vacation cash-out.

From The Mac Observer;

Looking to 2014, Tim Cook has another 205,000 shares of $AAPL that will vest in August and September, both in Apple's fiscal 2014. Those shares would be values at $113.7 million at Monday's closing price of $554.52, but again should be looked at in the context of the years over which they vested.

Overall, Apple Inc. stock performed poorly during the fiscal year 2013 and went down by about 26%. Despite this decline, Apple Inc. was still the world’s highly valued company based on market capitalization.

Sources:

Preliminary proxy statement of Apple Inc. - SEC (http://goo.gl/9A7jvz)

Apple’s Stock Performance Cost Tim Cook $4 Million, at His Insistence - The Mac Observer (http://goo.gl/4S7BdP)

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro would come in U.S. via AT&T

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro - a new Samsung mega tablet - would make its way to U.S. through AT&T as reported by Evleaks. This variant would have the model number SM-P907A.

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro would be presented at the CES next week. According to TDG, Samsung Galaxy Note Pro has a 12.2 inch screen with 2560×1600 resolution display. It has 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, an 8MP camera on the back, a Snapdragon 800 SoC, Android 4.4 KitKat and a huge battery.

From TDG,

It appears that Samsung is looking to tap into the netbook segment with the Galaxy Note Pro and it might succeed to a large extent if priced appropriately. With the company’s goals to emerge as a major player in the tablet segment next year, this could just be the tablet to kick start its merry run.

Sources:

@evleaks – Twitter

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro could launch via AT&T in the U.S. - TDG (http://goo.gl/K9Z5ct)

Facebook planning to come freely on mobile phones

Facebook on mobile phone (Credit: DigitalTrends)

Facebook is planning to come on every phone and the company has started working on it by coming on U.S. phones without data plans.

According to The New York Times reports, T-Mobile’s GoSmart Mobile, a low-cost offshoot offering prepaid services, will start giving free access to Facebook’s social network and instant-messaging service with almost all of its mobile plans and services.

“This is something that no one else is offering in the United States,” said Gavin Dillon, T-Mobile’s vice president of partner brands, in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s really about providing more value for GoSmart’s cost-conscious customers.”

 “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected, and we’re delighted that GoSmart subscribers, many who don’t have data access, will be able to use Facebook for free,” Chris Daniels, vice president of partnerships at Facebook, said in a statement.

However, according to the report, this would have minimal effect on Facebook usage but this would show the ambition of the company to bring people of the world online.

Source:

Free Facebook, Common Globally, Finally Comes to American Mobile Phones - The New York Times (http://goo.gl/sWOCJ4)

Samsung Galaxy S4 has serious security flaws, research from Israel

Samsung Galaxy S4, best selling smartphone by the company, has such a system that is seriously vulnerable to hacking allowing the malicious software to check the emails and other data, as reported by cybersecurity researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

This report of security flaw comes after the release of Knox security platform by Samsung Electronics Co. to prospective customers such as those at the U.S. Department of Defense and other government and corporate entities, in order to compete with BlackBerry Ltd., which is popular for security services for its devices.

"The new unveiled vulnerability presents a serious threat to all users of phones based on this architecture, such as users" of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Dudu Mimran, the lab's chief technical officer, said in a statement.

Samsung "takes all security vulnerability claims very seriously" and it will work on the claims by the company, according to a spokesman of the company.

Source:

Samsung Phone Studied for Possible Security Gap - WSJ (http://goo.gl/k2ZHRM)

A holiday gift for Google+ users on the ending of year

Google has already introduced the #AutoAwesome feature in its Google+ enabling the users to see the falling snow through a picture showing some ice or such things in it. Now the company has announced one more feature, the “#AutoAwesome year in review.”

In the feature, Google will automatically sort through the photos, select the best content and develop a slideshow composed of photos and videos from the year of the user. User will be “notified whenever an awesome (and private) version is ready to share.”

“Of course: many people have been saving and sharing their photos and videos on Google+ all year long. And for those select users we’ve got one more holiday gift: an #AutoAwesome year in review. You’ll get notified in the next week or so if you have one of these movies waiting for you.”

Previously, Facebook introduced the Year in Review feature enabling users to see the noticeable moments on their Facebook life.

via +AnilSabharwal

iOS 7’s jailbreak team has been compensated by a Chinese app store

Taig, a Chinese app store written in Chinese, is rumored to sponsor $1 million to "evad3rs" - jailbreak development team - to jailbreak for Apple’s iOS 7.

The jailbreak team has noted in an open letter on its website that they have received compensation from Taig,

“Yes, we have benefitted financially from our work, just as many others in the jailbreak community have, including tweak developers, repo owners, etc. Any jailbreak from us will always be free to the users but we believe we have a right to be compensated in an ethical way, just as any other developer.” And the compensation is rumored to be about $1 million.

Source:

Rumor: Chinese company pays $1 million to sponsor jailbreak for Apple's iOS 7 - AppleInsider (http://goo.gl/2qdJu7)

iPhone 6 and iPad would come in bigger sizes in 2014

iPhone 6 concept design by ADR studio

Apple Inc. would launch iPhone 6 and next generation iPad with bigger screen in May, i.e. sooner than expected, and October 2014, respectively. These changes in sizes and timings are possible as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has recently planned big changes for the company as noted in a holiday email to employees.

According to the reports of Digitimes, Apple would launch a 5-inch iPhone 6 “phablet”. Moreover, it would have 20nm processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The “sources from the upstream supply chain” have also noted that Apple would “release a 12.9-inch tablet in October 2014, targeting North America's educational market”.

Tim Cook noted, "We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind's deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you."

Source:

Apple large-size tablet rumored for launch in October 2014 - Digitimes (http://goo.gl/KVGMcu)

Apple CEO Teases Product Shakeup In 2014 - InformationWeek (http://goo.gl/EsKhWk)