Is Apple treading new roads?
Google’s policy regarding adult content available on its online stores has come under scrutiny after it was found that pornographic content depicting incest, rape and bestiality can be accessed without proper age checks.
The company’s Play store offers a number of adult ebooks as well as “picture ebooks” containing pornographic images. Although the company’s books policy asks that publishers curb unwarranted access of mature content by setting the preview pages to “0% viewable” and charging “at least $1.00 or the local equivalent”, The Independent found that searches for adult terms returned ebooks with “free samples” of explicit content. A spokesperson for Google said “We regret that some inappropriate sexually graphic books made their way into Google Play. We have a strict policy to remove books that violate our guidelines and we are taking action to improve our processes.”
Although just as with book shops on the high street the sale of adult content is legal, the lack of oversight associated with digital content issue will continue to attract attention until thorough safeguards are introduced. THE INDEPENDENT Apple Inc is looking at cars and medical devices to diversify its sources of revenue as growth from iPhones and iPads slow, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, met with Tesla Motors Inc founder Elon Musk at the company’s headquarters last year around the same time analysts suggested that Apple acquire the Model S electric car maker, the newspaper reported on Sunday, citing a source. The company is also exploring medical devices and sensors that can help predict heart attacks by studying sound blood makes at it flows through arteries.
The company’s senior vice president of operations, Jeff Williams, has met with U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg and Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, who oversees the agency’s approval for medical devices, to discuss “mobile medical applications,” the paper reported, citing FDA records.
Investors hope that Apple, which last came out with a new device — the iPad — in 2010, has something up its sleeve for 2014. Speculation currently revolves around a smartwatch or even a longrumoured TV product.
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6, a mid-range smartphone, and may also launch wearable devices such as iWatch, in the second half of the year.
Apple reported lower-thanexpected iPhone sales for the holiday shopping quarter and gave a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast. REUTERS