Samsung are a sponsor of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament that starts this weekend with Spanish tennis superstar David Ferrer tweeting to his 350,000+ followers of his pleasure of using the new Samsung Galaxy S4, except he sent it from his iPhone.

Ferrer tweeted the above tweet, which when translated to English says that he is very happy with his #GalaxyS4 and that he was "configuring S Health on my new #GalaxyS4 to help with training @SamsungMobile". Ferrer was obviously not aware that his tweet would say "via Twitter for iPhone" and I'm sure Samsung won't be happy with this negative publicity now.

I'm sure he was probably taking a run using the new S Health app with his good friend Alicia Keys.

It was just a week ago that applications opened up for Mars One, a manned one-way mission to Mars. Mars One is on the search for two men and two women from different nationalities on a one-way mission to the red planet in 2023.

After just a week, there have been over 20,000 applications with 600 applications coming in from China alone. Requirements for candidates are as follows: If you show resilience, adaptability, and curiosity, you might qualify. Scientific and astronaut's skills, however, are not required. In the last twelve months, 10,000 people from 100 different countries have expressed interest in the one-way ticket to Mars, with many applications coughing up the application fee submitting and sharing their one-minute videos which you can watch on the Mars One website.

Two months ago, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer banned employees' abilities to work from home, while she built a nursery in her office for her child. Well, she has pulled a 180-degree turn and not offered double the maternity leave for new parents.

Yahoo are doubling the amount of paid maternity leave new mothers can take, from 8 to 16 weeks leave. New fathers will even receive eight weeks of paid leave. Yahoo said in a statement:

Over the last several months, we've introduced new benefits like free food to make Yahoos' days easier, new smartphones to encourage innovation, and updated computers to speed productivity. Recently, we rolled out some new and improved benefits to support the happiness and well-being of Yahoos and their families.

Yesterday we reported that BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins expected to sell tens of millions of BlackBerry Q10 units, but now there's some more juice to this story. The BlackBerry CEO has said that in five years "I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore".

Another point from Heins' talk with Bloomberg, is that he said: "In five years, I see BlackBerry [being] the absolute leader in mobile computing - that's what we're aiming for. I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat".

I kind of agree with Heins, but not to the extent that they'll be dead. I think we'll see a move toward wearable computing, with something like Google Glass exploding in the consumer space. I barely use a tablet now, and rely solely on my smartphone, but as soon as Glass drops, I'll shift to that immediately.

Google has updated Chrome OS with a new Managed Public Sessions feature so that Chromebooks can more easily be set up as public kiosks. The new feature allows users to surf the web without requiring any sort of login, all the while providing Administrators the tools they need via a web-based management console.

Google points to examples of where this could be useful. For instance, a retail store could set up a kiosk so customers could order out-of-stock merchandise. They could also be used in the business center of a hotel. The uses are really quite endless.

Administrators can easily customize any Chrome device to be a public session device using the web-based management console. The features that you'll find in the console include the ability to set the default sites and apps a user sees at login, custom brand the homepage, block sites and apps that shouldn't be accessed, configure device inputs and outputs, and set timed log-out sessions. For security reasons, public session data is cleared on logout so the next user starts fresh.

Today, Digg disclosed the results of a survey it ran last week. The survey contained questions trying to gauge user interest in various features that Digg might implement in a replacement for Google Reader. The survey also asked if a respondent would be willing to pay for the service.

As you can see above, 40 percent of respondents said they would be willing to pay for a Google Reader replacement. This then makes me ask, why doesn't Google charge and continue their own reader? As seen in the graph below, many users use E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to share links. Digg plans to include "seemless sharing" to all of the services seen below.

Free products on the Internet don't have a great track record. They tend to disappear, leaving users in a lurch. We need to build a product that people can rely on and trust will always be there for them. We're not totally sure how pricing will work, but we know that we'd like our users to be our customers, not our product. So when we asked survey participants whether or not they would be willing to pay, we were pleased to see that a majority said yes.

From the quote above, you can see that it appears Digg is leaning towards a paid product, but this causes them to lose out on 60 percent of those who responded to the survey. We should know more as we approach the beta in June.

Facebook is looking for volunteers to use its new beta app and recommend changes to make it better. The announcement was made via the Windows.com blog and calls upon "all tinkerers" who "love Facebook and enjoy playing around with pre-release software."

The app is available through the Windows Phone Store, though it won't show up in normal search results. You'll need to use this direct link to the app to be able to download and use it. They note that those who don't like app crashes should steer clear of this app as it is a beta product.

As you'll see, the app is undergoing a major redesign and now includes several much-requested features, including new support for high-res photos, post sharing, and Facebook Timeline. Once you've put the beta app through its paces, we hope you'll pass along bug reports, feature requests, and other feedback by going to Settings>About in the app. You can also post a Store review. Your comments and suggestions will inform future releases.

Google refuses to settle with good enough and has instituted a fairly major change to its search today. Google has announced that app activities will be brought to Google Search, meaning searches for an app or site will bring with it popular in-app content, provided the app is integrated with Google+ Sign-In.

The service will be rolling out over the next few weeks to desktop searches. For now, it will not be coming to mobile search. The app integration will be initially limited to Deezer, Fandango, Flixster, Slacker Radio, Songza, SoundCloud and TuneIn, though more apps will be added over time.

Google provides the following example: "Searching for Fandango, for example, will show the top movies among Google users. And when you click on a movie, you'll go directly to its page on Fandango."

Late last August, a jury awarded Apple with damages amounting to just over $1 billion, saying that Samsung infringed upon Apple's patents. Just this March, Judge Lucy Koh struck $450 million from those damages saying that the jury didn't fully understand the patent issues.

A new court date has been set for November 12, at which time Samsung and Apple will go at it again to argue damages. All of the evidence for this trial will be limited to that which was shown in the original court battle. Samsung could end up having to pay less, but they could also end up being on the hook for more, though it shouldn't go above the original $1 billion awarded.

A further court battle will occur in March 2014 over additional patent infringement claims. Why can't we just be friends?

WMPowerUser received an anonymous tip that Instagram would finally be making the jump to Windows Phone 8 alongside the Nokia Lumia 928 launch. The report says that Microsoft is planning to release INstagram, Temple Run 2, and Jetpack Joyride to Windows Phone devices when the Lumia 928 is launched.

We expect the Lumia 928 to make its appearance sometime next month, so hopefully these apps will also materialize. These three apps would mark significant improvements to the app ecosystem over on Windows Phone, though Windows Phone is still lacking many popular apps that are on iOS and Android.

As with all rumors, it's best to take this with a grain of salt until an official announcement is made.

AT&T has announced a new program in which you can receive a credit for trading in one of your old smartphones when you upgrade. The program officially starts tomorrow, May 1 and AT&T says that this is a limited time promotion, so you might want to take advantage of it early on.

Beginning May 1, consumers who trade in their current smartphone to AT&T* will be eligible to receive at least $100 off the purchase of a new smartphone, including the new Samsung Galaxy S 4, BlackBerry Z10 or 32 GB HTC One. These devices are normally $199.99 with a qualifying two-year agreement** but, with this limited time promotion, they will be available for $99.99.

 

This promotion applies to any smartphone AT&T sells, and gives customers access to the latest devices at a fraction of the cost or, in the case of smartphones priced under $99.99**, for free. To take advantage of this offer, customers are encouraged to visit any AT&T company-owned retail store or participating authorized dealer with their previous smartphone that is no more than three years old and in good, working condition. In stores, upon trading in their old phone, customers will receive the $100 credit on-the-spot and can use it immediately. ***

 

Some trade-in phones may have a value higher than $100. In this case, customers will receive the credit at the higher value.

Social traffic and mapping app Waze is looking for beta testers ahead of its launch on the Windows Phone platform. For those who don't know what Waze is, let me explain. Waze is a social traffic app that allows users all over the country and world to report accidents, police, and hazards so others can avoid them.

Waze is one of the major apps that is available on Android and iOS and by working on a version for Windows Phone, it signals some belief in the Windows Phone platform. In order to apply for the program, you'll need to head over to waze.centercode.com. Note that applying does not guarantee a spot in the beta.

In order for Windows Phone to be successful, it needs to have some of these killer apps that are available on the competing platform. Waze is certainly one of them, but there are plenty more that Microsoft needs to bring over.

Google has posted up a short How-To introduction for Glass. The video, which only has a runtime of just over a minute, shows how to control Glass with the touchpad. It also gives a brief introduction to the UI, which are called cards. Take a look at the video for yourself:

It would definitely appear that more Google Glass How-To videos will be coming soon. These videos are definitely a great way to get the general public interested in the rather expensive headset. I know this got me extremely excited for Glass.

The video does stay away from situations that could result in some embarrassment, such as giving voice commands to Glass. I'll be really interested to see more of these videos. What did you think of it?

In a disappointing announcement, NASA has said they have renewed a contract with Russia. The contract with Russia is for Rocosmos to transport US crews to the International Space Station and has been used since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011. The extended contract will cost NASA $424 million.

NASA believes they will be able to send up US crews in US ships sometime in 2017, as long as they get the funding proposed in Obama's 2014 budget.

NASA is committed to launching U.S. astronauts aboard domestic spacecraft as soon as possible. Full funding of the administration's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request is critical to making these domestic capabilities possible by 2017.

It's rather sad that the United States has to rely on our allies to send up our astronauts to space. Many good inventions have come out of the NASA space program and it's a shame to see funding cut.

Nintendo has suffered from piracy for a while now, with devices being built to allow pirated games to be played on the Nintendo DS and a device to allow games to be played on the Wii through the USB port. The creators of the Wiikey have announced they have successfully built a new device to allow games to be played on the Wii U through the USB port.

The new device is known as the WiikeÜ and appears to be a method to allow piracy. The creators claim the device works on devices from any region without the need to solder any chips inside the device. The Wii U, which is already have issues selling, partly due to a lack of games, might be further hampered by this new device.

Rockstar Games, as promised, has posted up three new trailers for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V. Each of the three trailers detail one of the main characters for the upcoming game, allowing you to get some insight into what you can expect. First up is Michael:

Analysts seem to love projecting what a company will do, with Apple being a particularly popular subject of speculation. Today sees Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies, predicting, or rather proclaiming, that Apple will launch a larger iPhone device sometime next year, specifically June, 2014.

Tim Cook has consistently shut down rumors that Apple was planning a device with a larger screen, saying that Apple would not build a larger iPhone until the current trade-offs no longer existed. That hasn't stopped people and analysts alike from predicting that we will see a larger iPhone this year or next.

Of course, Apple does engage it a bit of misdirection. Apple could very well be planning a larger iPhone. At the same time, analysts aren't perfect and Misek could easily be wrong. For now, take this with a bit of skepticism.

This morning we are hearing rumors that Nokia is planning on investing in Pelican Imaging, the firm behind the shoot now, focus later Lytro-style cameras.

The technology uses an array of small 'plenoptic' cameras in a single module to take images with multiple focal points and thus allows the photographer to adjust the images focus point at a later time. This frees up the user to focus more on what is around them and less time worrying about getting the perfect point of focus at the time of shooting.

Nokia is probably the number one leading innovator in smartphone camera technology, and has brought to market other revolutionary camera tech to the smartphone scene in the past. Most recently the firm managed to cram a 41 megapixel camera into its PureView 808 smartphone, and is rumored to be working on stuffing a similar camera into its next-generation Lumia smartphone.

This morning Nintendo announced several new title additions to its Virtual Console for the Wii U. Included in the announcement are titles like Megaman, Xevious, Balloon Fight, Super Ghouls 'n Ghost, Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter II and The Legend of Zelda: A link to the past.

The announcement came via the above video, which was posted on YouTube. While no release date has been announced for the new games, the ever growing list of Virtual Console games is seriously making me consider buying a Wii U.

Shutterfly announced this morning that it has bought photobook software developer MyPublisher for an undisclosed amount. MyPublisher has been developing photobook making software for the past 18 years and is considered one of the leading innovators in the field.

In an interview with TheNextWeb, Shutterfly CEO Jeffrey Housenbold said:

"Shutterfly photo books continue to delight customers, bringing more consumers online to tell their stories and connect with friends and family in creative ways.

 

By combining MyPublisher's best in class software client with Shutterfly's industry leading cloud based platform, we will continue to drive growth and set the standard for design, choice and quality in the personal publishing and social expression category."