A user claims that his LG Smart TV is sending his viewing information to LG.

He found an LG video pitching to potential advertisers:

LG Smart Ad analyses users favourite programs, online behaviour, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men, or alluring cosmetics and fragrances to women.

Furthermore, LG Smart Ad offers useful and various advertising performance reports. That live broadcasting ads cannot. To accurately identify actual advertising effectiveness.

The TV settings has an option to turn “Collection of watching info” ON or OFF. But he found that the data was still transmitted regardless of the setting.

When he asked LG for comments about it, the company directed him to the retailer he bought the TV from instead:

The advice we have been given is that unfortunately as you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns would be best directed to the retailer. We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T’s and C’s at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions.

Apple launches “Life on iPad” section on its website to showcase how the iPad has changed people’s lives.

We designed iPad to be the best tool for all the things you do. But we never imagined where you’d end up taking it. Here are just a few stories.

This is a continuation of the theme raised by the video showed at the iPad event in October 2013.

The Business Insider reports on the hidden features in the new Twitter iPhone and Android apps.

TV trends:

The basis of the TV trends section is that you can chat about your favorite show with other fans but that seems to be about it.

Timeline sort by prominence:

This element of the app is timeline that displays the most prominent trends of the day. Filters factor into this again since it scans your surrounding area and provides insight into nearby events and conversations.

More details in compose page:

When composing a message, it asks for a location to add more depth to searching for local content.

The Washington Post reports on how IBM and Microsoft lobbied to stop software patent reform.

But large software companies had other ideas. A September letter signed by IBM, Microsoft and several dozen other firms made the case against expanding the program. The proposal, they wrote, “could harm U.S. innovators by unnecessarily undermining the rights of patent holders. Subjecting data processing patents to the CBM program would create uncertainty and risk that discourage investment in any number of fields where we should be trying to spur continued innovation.”

Of course, advocates of the program disagree. They point out that software patents are disproportionately responsible for the recent rise of patent litigation. The fact that technology startups almost inevitably face patent threats is itself a significant disincentive for innovation. So it’s far from clear that subjecting software patents to greater scrutiny would be bad for innovation.

Other notable companies involved include 3M, Adobe, Dolby, DuPont, Eli Lilly, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm and Xerox. View the letter and list of companies opposing CBM expansion.

Reuters reports that Samsung is saying it has sold 800,000 Galaxy Gear, making it the world’s most popular smartwatch.

Does the figure exclude Galaxy Gear sets that consumers get for free when they buy a Galaxy Note 3? I think not.

Update: I forgot to link to an earlier article about poor sales of the Galaxy Gear. The article reports that “this product has cumulative sales under 50,000, with daily sales of only 800-900 units”. Samsung’s figure is the number of Galaxy Gear shipped, not the number sold.

Microsoft launches its “Scroogled” merchandise line.

This anti-Google smear campaign does more to make Microsoft look bad than it does to mock Google.

Check out the full range of products.