As expected, Instagram and Facebook will begin sharing the data they collect about users with each other. Some changes have already been made to Instagram's privacy policy, but the real updates will take effect one month from today.

Instagram will soon begin sharing your personal data with Facebook, according to an update on the photo-sharing service’s privacy policy. While you won’t have a choice whether Facebook has access to the information about you gathered by Instagram (or vice versa), the company assures users that your photo-sharing settings will remain in your control.

“We’re updating our Privacy Policy to highlight this new collaboration, but we want to make sure you understand that you still have control over who sees your photos,” writes Instagram. “You still get to choose who can see your Instagram photos, and you still get to choose whether you post your photos on Facebook.”

In a blog post about the policy change, Instagram reiterates this point, saying, “Nothing has changed about your photos’ ownership or who can see them.” The company says greater sharing of data between Facebook and Instagram “means we can do things like fight spam more effectively, detect system and reliability problems more quickly, and build better features for everyone by understanding how Instagram is used.”

Instagram has already updated the “Parties with whom we may share your information” portion of its privacy policy to read:

We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of, or that become part of that group (‘Affiliates’). Affiliates may use this information to help provide, understand, and improve the Service (including by providing analytics) and Affiliates’ own services (including by providing you with better and more relevant experiences). But these Affiliates will honor the choices you make about who can see your photos.

“Affiliates,” of course, refers to Facebook. Also note the “better and more relevant experiences” line. This type of vague, subjective language in a legal document (i.e. the privacy policy) may give cautious users pause, as it is impossible to decipher whether “better” means better for you, or better for Instagram and Facebook, or both. Point is, we just don’t know what that means. We have reached out to Instagram for clarification, and will update this space with any response we receive.

These changes to Instagram’s privacy policy should come as no surprise; Facebook effectively announced that it planned to share and collect more data from Instagram when it put its own policy changes up for a vote in November. Facebook users who voted on the changes overwhelmingly opposed them. Because less than 1 percent of Facebook users voted on the policy changes, however, Facebook still put them into effect.

Thought some changes are already in place, the full versions of Instagram’s new privacy policy and terms of service will go into effect January 16, 2013.

Remember the Sony Xperia Yuga? It’s been mentioned a few times in the past as a possible 1080p smartphone from Sony. It’s been spotted in FCC filings and more. But now we also have an alleged photo of the device.

In the past we’ve had similar “leaks” only to discover that they were photoshopped images. This image could certainly turn out the same way, so take this all with a grain of salt. Based on what we (think) we know, the phone might have a somewhat minimalistic design but has a fancy glass backing that is similar to the LG Nexus 4.

We don’t know everything about Sony’s big-screened beast, but we do believe we know it will feature a 5-inch display and will be powered by a Qulacomm chipset, most likely the S4 Pro.
When are we going to see the phone show up? More than likely at CES 2013, if we had to take a bet.

If this all proves legit, would you be interested in a 5-inch Sony handset or not?

Need to keep tabs on the location of a cellphone of any kind? Consult this guide for tips and tricks on how to do it.

If you need to track down a cell phone, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re simply trying to track the location of your lost phone, or you’re a secret agent and you need to gain intel on the day-to-day whereabouts of a crooked diplomat, we’re here to give you the information you need to get the job done. It’ll be easier if you’re tying to track a smartphone, but there are ways to locate older phones as well, so don’t give up hope if you’re still rocking a first-gen Motorola RAZR or a Samsung Juke – we’ve still got your back.

Tracking your phone before you lose it

If you’re here just to prepare for the day that you lose your phone (which is inevitable, really), then  you’re ahead of the game. If you’ve got a smartphone, consider installing the apps listed below

For smartphones of any kind, we recommend Prey. It’s a free and open-source anti-theft application that can be used for both computers and mobile phones. After you sign up for the service, you simply sync your devices with it, sit back, and relax. The day that your phone goes missing, all you’ll have to do is find a computer, log into your account, and start tracking. It runs discreetly in the background and won’t track your phone’s location until you tell it to, so there’s no need to worry about your privacy while the phone is in your possession. We recommend this for any Android or iOS device, as well as any Mac, Windows, or Linux PC.

For non-smartphones that can’t run apps or connect to the web, we recommend using Google Latitude. It’s a free service that uses your phones built-in GPS to track the location of your phone. Most modern cellphones are GPS enabled, so as long as your phone isn’t over eight years old, you should be fine. When the day comes that you can’t locate your phone, just log in to Latitude from any computer and it’ll immediately show you the location of your phone.

Tracking your phone after you lose it 

If you didn’t have the foresight to install a device recovery app on your phone before you lost it, don’t worry. There are still some easy ways to get it back. 

Android users can download an application called Plan B. Even though your phone is gone, you can log into your Google account on any computer install the app from Google Play. When you click install, the app will begin downloading to your missing phone, and when the download is complete it will send your phone’s location info to your Gmail account. To retrieve the phone’s whereabouts again when you’re away from a computer, just text the word “locate” from a friend’s phone and you’ll receive a text with location info.

iPhone users can download the infamous Find My iPhone application. If you’re rocking a phone with iOS 5 or later, then this app will come preinstalled on your device. If not, just borrow a friends iDevice, install Find My iPhone on it, and log in with your Apple ID. Once you’re all logged in, the app will display your phone’s location on a map. You can even remotely trigger your phone to make a loud noise for two minutes, which makes pinpointing it a snap when it’s nearby.

Non-smartphone users are a bit out of luck in this case. If you didn’t register your phone with Google Latitude or any other service, you don’t have many options other than calling your service provider and hoping they can help. Most providers offer GPS location services for a fee, and if your phone is GPS-enabled, finding it is sometimes just a matter of activating the GPS chip.

Tracking someone else’s phone with their permission  

If you want to track somebody’s phone with their permission, there’s always the option of calling them and asking where they are. No fancy GPS apps are necessary if the person doesn’t mind you knowing where they are. Then again, if you do it this way there’s always a chance that they could lie to you. So if you can’t always trust the word of the person you’re trying to locate, then we recommend using Google Latitude. After you’ve installed the app, just add your friends’ phone numbers and Google will send them an invitation to start using the service. They have to approve the request first, but once they do you’ll have complete access to their whereabouts on Google Maps. This option is especially useful for parents who need to keep an eye on their kids.

Tracking someones phone without their permission

It’s best to be upfront about tracking somebody and respect their right to privacy, but if you absolutely must track a phone without the owner’s consent or knowledge (if you’re a parent), here are a few tips how to do it.

Tracking a smartphone user is relatively simple. The easiest method is to install a tracking app on the person’s phone whenever you get a chance to do so discreetly. Do it when they’re sleeping or they leave to go somewhere – and don’t forget to hide the icon of whatever app you install. You can place it in an obscure folder and hope they don’t notice it too soon, or you can also install an app hider program (like Poof for example) to make the icon disappear entirely.

Non-smartphone tracking can be a bit more difficult. If the phone is GPS-enabled, it’s the same drill as above – just wait until the person leaves their phone unattended for an extended period of time, and send them an invite to use Google Latitude from your phone. Approve the request on their phone, and hide the evidence as best you can.

If the phone you’re trying to track isn’t GPS-enabled, however, you’ll have to pull a James Bond maneuver and install a GPS chip on the phone before you can pinpoint its location. This might be a bit of an arduous task, as you’ll have to figure out which particular archaic model of phone they have, find and purchase a GPS chip that’s compatible with the device, and then successfully install the chip without their knowledge. Try going to a specialty electronics shop or spy gear retailer to find the right hardware. The other option is locating the phone in question via triangulation, but doing it this way means gaining access to cell phone tower data – and the feds probably wouldn’t approve of that.

In conclusion, we know that there are tons of other great tracking apps we didn’t mention here, so we invite you to share your favorites with us in the comments. 

The LG Nexus 4 is a beautiful and powerful piece of hardware. It is an excellent phone and one of the best Android phones on the market right now– if you can actually managed to get your hands on it.

Recently LG reported that the massive shortages for the LG Nexus 4 were because their was “simply too much demand”. Now Google’s managing director for the UK and Ireland has spoken up about what he feels is really going on.

According to Dan Cobley, they are working on the situation and trying to fix it– but it is pretty much LG’s fault. Here is his exact words:

Dear all, I know that what you are going through is unacceptable and we are all working through the nights and weekends to resolve this issue. Supplies from the manufacturer are scarce and erratic, and our communication has been flawed.

Cobley has in the past stating he was looking into the issue for his customers, but eventually he landed on the conclusion that problems working with LG is the root of it all. So what’s going on at LG? It’s hard to say for sure.

If there is a shortage on components or assembly supply, its likely that LG is favoring its own LG Optimus G (which is basically the same phone, more or less) over Google’s Nexus 4. Again, it’s hard to say why there was a shortage in the first place.

Do you think this is all simply LG mishandling the situation, or do you believe that Google plays a big role in the shipping blunders for the Nexus 4 as well?