Galaxy Watch4 owners continue to complain about the poor performance of the Samsung Health service and the reduction in fitness monitoring features

After an avalanche of critical reviews in the forums of owners of the latest Samsung wearable devices based on WearOS 3 from Google, user dissatisfaction manifested itself even on such a well-known Internet portal as XDA-developers. Buyers of rather expensive Galaxy Watch4 note the deterioration of the proprietary health monitoring service and the disappearance of a number of useful functions that are available on previous models using the TIZEN operating platform. Panellists wonder why the Galaxy Watch4 advertised on every corner went on sale with so many bugs and stripped-down features. Increasingly, there are voices about class-action lawsuits against the manufacturer for the apparent inconsistency of advertising promises with the real possibilities of this "miscarriage", born of the "marriage" between Samsung and Google. It is no less surprising that both corporations are proud to announce the "great collaboration", and Google has even begun to advertise Samsung smartphones.

The negative tone of discussion regarding the Galaxy Watch4 also prevails on other Internet resources, where problems are honestly discussed without regard to advertising chatter. On the official website of Samsung Russia ( https://www.samsung.com/ru/watches/all-watches/ ), it is easy to notice that all previous models of wearable devices of the Gear and Galaxy families using the proprietary TIZEN platform receive only good and excellent reviews (4-5 points out of 5 possible). At the same time, the average score of the Galaxy Watch4 is 1-3 points lower.

I wonder if Samsung will draw at least some adequate conclusions from this, rather than artificially raising the customer rating with the help of paid bots?

Владельцы Samsung Galaxy Watch4 продолжают жаловаться на плохую работу сервиса Samsung Health и сокращение функций мониторинга физического состояния

После целого ряда критических отзывов на форумах владельцев новейших носимых устройств Samsung на базе WearOS 3 от Google, недовольство пользователей прорвалось и на такой известный интернет-портал как XDA-developers. Покупатели довольно дорогих Galaxy Watch4 отмечают ухудшение работы фирменного сервиса мониторинга здоровья и исчезновение целого ряда полезных функций, которые доступны на предыдущих моделях, использующих операционную платформу TIZEN.

Участники дискуссии недоумевают, почему рекламируемые на каждом углу Galaxy Watch4 поступили в продажу с таким количеством программных ошибок и урезанных функций. Всё чаще раздаются голоса о подаче коллективных исков к производителю за явное несоответствие рекламных обещаний реальным возможностям этого "выкидыша", родившегося от "брачного союза" Samsung и Google, о чём с нескрываемой гордостью сообщают представители обеих корпораций.

Для русскоязычной аудитории нашего блога мы публикуем перевод дискуссии на XDA-developers:

Golum 666: They removed it because it's far from accurate and they are shielding themselves from possible lawsuits.

Они удалили его (непрерывный мониторинг сердечного ритма - ред.), потому что это далеко от реальных показаний, и они защищаются от возможных судебных исков.

splus: If you are interested in health tracking then do NOT buy a Samsung smartwatch! Their app is utterly useless, and now even more than before. Every other app that you can use with cheap Xiaomi and Honor bands will give you MUCH more detailed health data, you can zoom into the graphs, see all the details. You can't do anything in Samsung's Health app, all the data is hardly accessible.

Если вас интересует отслеживание состояния здоровья, НЕ ПОКУПАЙТЕ смарт-часы Samsung! Их приложение совершенно бесполезно, а теперь даже больше, чем раньше. Любое другое приложение, которое вы можете использовать с дешевыми трэкерами Xiaomi и Honor, предоставит вам НАМНОГО более подробные данные о состоянии здоровья, вы можете увеличить графики, увидеть все детали. В приложении Samsung Health ничего не сделаешь, все данные недоступны.

Alastair Stedman: So basically whoever is running the show at Samsung is a complete and utter moron. A babbling imbicile that has less brains than a teaspoon. S Health is practically useless now. First they remove weight management. Arguably the most useful feature on S Health. And now this. The utter incompetence is inconceivable.

По сути, тот, кто руководит продвижением продуктов в Samsung, - полный идиот. Это болтливый имбицил, у которого мозгов меньше, чем у чайной ложки. S Health сейчас практически бесполезен. Сначала они убирают контроль веса. Пожалуй, это была самая полезная функция в S Health. А теперь это (удаление возможности непрерывного отслеживания пульса - ред.). Немыслимая и полная некомпетентность.

Golum666: Their HR monitoring is not accurate at all while scanning continuously. They removed it to avoid possible lawsuits in the future.

The HR monitor on the Galaxy watches is not good at all. All my friends, me I clouded were getting weird results, like 400 bpm while standing up and doing exercises.

Их мониторинг частоты сердечного ритма не является точным при непрерывном сканировании. Они удалили его, чтобы избежать возможных судебных исков в будущем.

Монитор пульса на часах Galaxy вовсе не так хорош. Все мои друзья, которых я опросил, получали странные результаты, типа 400 ударов в минуту, хотя они делали упражнения, стоя на месте.

Alastair Stedman: But on the flip side the monitor in the Fit 2 is actually pretty damn good and tracks accurately with my Wahoo tickr. So the rest of us have to suffer? Eventually with the way Samsung is cutting features out of S Health its just going to be a blank page when you open it. First weight management and now this. Honestly they don't know what they are doing.

Но, с другой стороны, монитор в Galaxy Fit 2 (фитнес-браслет, работающий на другой операционной системе от Samsung - ред.) на самом деле чертовски хорош и точно отслеживает показания. Значит, всем остальным придется страдать? В конце концов, если Samsung так выпиливает функции из S Health, это станет пустым местом. Сначала исчез мониторинг массы тела, а теперь и это. Честно говоря, они не ведают что творят.

Примерно такой же тон дискуссий присутствует и на других ресурсах, где честно обсуждаются проблемы без оглядки на рекламную трескотню. На официальном сайте Samsung Russia нетрудно заметить, что все предыдущие модели носимых устройств семейств Gear и Galaxy, использующих фирменную платформу TIZEN, получают только хорошие и превосходные отзывы (4-5 баллов из 5-ти возможных). В то же время средняя оценка Galaxy Watch4/Watch4 Classic на 1-3 балла ниже.

Интересно, сделают ли из этого в Samsung хоть какие-то адекватные выводы, а не станут искусственно повышать покупательский рейтинг с помощью проплаченных ботов?

Samsung is madly happy with the "harmonious synergy" with Google. However, users of Galaxy smartphones and Galaxy Watch4 do not share this optimism.

Some time ago, Samsung agreed to kill its own operating platform, TIZEN, in exchange for a "lucky chance" to become the hardware appendage of Google's IT monster. The south korean manufacturer has received tasty orders for the supply of semiconductors, displays and processors to american "partners" from Mountain View. However, the victims of this "super-profitable for shareholders" deal were the owners of the latest generation of smartphones and Galaxy smartwatches. In recent days, Internet resources and forums dedicated to mobile gadgets are full of messages about a growing avalanche of problems associated with gross software bugs on Android devices. The operating system from Google, which Samsung has been imposing on users of its mobile gadgets for many years, is causing more and more complaints for poor performance and leakage of personal data. For example, owners of Galaxy A and Galaxy M smartphones complain of frequent freezes followed by automatic reboots, which is extremely annoying. The problematic models include the Galaxy M30s, M31/M31s, Galaxy A50/50s and Galaxy A51, which became one of the best-selling smartphones of 2020.

The problem covering an increasing number of users has been noted for more than 2 months, but Samsung still has not made any official statements and has not explained the cause of the breakdowns. In their posts, many owners of the above smartphones complain that, in response to their requests, the manufacturer advises to visit a service center to replace the motherboard. Moreover, the repair is carried out at the expense of the owner of the device. Replacing the board will cost about 100 euros. Experts say that the motherboard failure is most likely due to a bug in the Android OS code and affects phones with proprietary Exynos 9610 and Exynos 9611 chipsets. Attempts to use typical solutions, such as resetting the device to factory settings, do not fix the problem. If Samsung does not respond to claims from its customers in the near time, the option of filing class actions and lengthy legal proceedings is not excluded.

Owners of the most expensive modifications of the latest Samsung's Galaxy Watch4 LTE and Galaxy Watch4 Classic LTE also faced no less serious problems. After Samsung and Google solemnly announced the transition of Galaxy smartwatches to the unpopular WearOS 3 platform (ex-Android Wear), the joy of this step among the googlefans gave way to disappointment. For example, in the discussion thread notebookchat.com, almost all messages from "happy owners" of Watch4 contain sharp criticism for software bugs that cause the watch to overheat and lose its charge within a few hours if the 4G/LTE modem is activated. The indignation of users of the most expensive Samsung wearable devices is understandable, because they paid a considerable amount precisely for the opportunity to use their gadgets without being tied to a smartphone. In some cases, the Galaxy Wath4 overheats so much that wearers have to remove them from their wrist to avoid scalding. Nothing like this was observed in previous generations of Samsung's TIZEN-powered smartwatches. Every day, the number of complaints about this problem is only growing, as evidenced by posts on the Reddit portal and the Samsung Community forum.

In response to a request from the editors of the notebookcheck.com portal, Samsung replied that "they are collecting statistics to analyze a possible problem." However, the question is, why are such problems in principle possible in top-end devices on WearOS 3, which was presented to us as a "revolution in the world of wearable gadgets"?

Another critical article concerning the big problems due to the transition from the TIZEN platform to WearOS appeared on the phoneswiki.com portal, and a little earlier, the russian tech reviewer Eldar Murtazin also expressed dissatisfaction with this step by Samsung in his Galaxy Watch4 review.

In pursuit of the golden calf in order to satisfy the growing appetite of shareholders by surrendering their positions in the software direction in favor of Google, Samsung Mobile division has clearly forgotten about the interests of ordinary users, who are in fact the true shareholders of the south korean tech giant. If the ranks of supporters of the Samsung brand are thinning, then the shareholders are unlikely to be eager to keep their assets in a problem place, is not it?

Samsung безумно счастлив от "гармоничной синергии" с Google. Однако пользователи смартфонов Galaxy и смарт-часов Galaxy Watch4 LTE не разделяют такого оптимизма.

Некоторое время назад Samsung согласился убить собственную операционную платформу TIZEN в обмен на "счастливую возможность" стать аппаратным придатком IT-монстра Google. Южнокорейский производитель получил лакомые заказы на поставки полупроводников, дисплеев и процессоров для американских "партнёров" из Маунтин-Вью. Однако жертвами этой "супервыгодной для акционеров" сделки стали владельцы смартфонов и смарт-часов Galaxy последних поколений.

В последние дни интернет-ресурсы и форумы, посвящённые мобильным гаджетам, пестрят сообщениями о растущей лавине проблем, связанных с грубыми программными ошибками на Android-устройствах. Операционная система от Google, которую Samsung уже долгие годы навязывает пользователям своих мобильных гаджетов, вызывает всё больше нареканий за плохую работу и утечку персональных данных к злоумышленникам. Например, владельцы смартфонов линеек Galaxy A и Galaxy M жалуются на частые "зависания" с последующей автоматической перезагрузкой, что вызывает крайнее раздражение. Среди проблемных моделей числятся Galaxy M30s, M31/M31s, Galaxy A50/50s и Galaxy A51, который стал одним из самых продаваемых смартфонов 2020 года.

Охватывающая всё большее количество пользователей проблема отмечается уже на протяжении более 2-х месяцев, однако Samsung до сих пор не сделал никаких официальных заявлений и не объяснил причину неполадок. В своих постах многие владельцы указанных выше смартфонов сетуют, что в ответ на их обращения производитель советует посетить сервисный центр для замены материнской платы. Причём ремонт производится за счёт владельца устройства. Замена платы обойдётся примерно в 100 евро. Эксперты говорят, что выход материнских плат из строя, скорее всего, происходит из-за ошибки в коде Android OS и затрагивает телефоны с фирменными чипсетами Exynos 9610 и Exynos 9611. Попытки использовать типовые решения, вроде сброса устройства до заводских настроек, не устраняют проблему. Если Samsung в ближайшее время не отреагирует на претензии своих клиентов, не исключается вариант подачи коллективных исков и длительных судебных разбирательств.

С не менее серьёзными проблемами столкнулись также владельцы самых дорогих модификаций новейших смарт-часов Samsung Galaxy Watch4 LTE и Galaxy Watch4 Classic LTE. После того, как Samsung и Google торжественно объявили о переходе смарт-часов Galaxy на непопулярную платформу WearOS 3 (экс-Android Wear), радость по этому поводу среди "гуглофанов" сменилась разочарованием. Например, в дискуссионной ветке notebookchat.com, почти все сообщения от "счастливых владельцев" Watch4 содержат резкую критику за "программные косяки", из-за которых часы сильно перегреваются и теряют заряд в течение нескольких часов в случае активации модема 4G/LTE. Возмущение пользователей самых дорогих носимых устройств Samsung можно понять, ведь они заплатили немалую сумму именно за возможность использовать свои гаджеты без жёсткой привязки к смартфону. В некоторых случаях перегрев Galaxy Wath4 настолько сильный, что владельцам приходится снимать их со своего запястья, чтобы избежать ожога. Ничего подобного в предыдущих поколениях смарт-часов Samsung на TIZEN OS не наблюдалось. С каждым днём количество жалоб на эту проблему только растёт, о чём также свидетельствуют сообщения на портале Reddit и форуме Samsung Community.

В ответ на запрос редакции портала notebookcheck.com в Samsung ответили, что "собирают статистику для анализа возможной проблемы". Однако вопрос в том, почему такие проблемы в принципе возможны в топовых устройствах на WearOS 3, которую нам преподносили как "революцию в мире носимых гаджетов"?

Очередная разгромная статья, касающаяся больших проблем из-за перехода с платформы TIZEN на WearOS появилась на портале phoneswiki.com, а чуть ранее российский технообозреватель Эльдар Муртазин также выразил недовольство таким шагом Samsung в своём обзоре Galaxy Watch4. 

Погнавшись за золотым тельцом с целью удовлетворения растущих аппетитов акционеров за счёт сдачи своих позиций на софтверном направлении в пользу Google, в Samsung Mobile явно позабыли об интересах обычных пользователей, которые на самом деле являются истинными акционерами южнокорейского техногиганта. Ведь если ряды сторонников марки Samsung будут редеть, то вряд ли акционеры будут гореть желанием держать свои активы в проблемном месте, не правда ли?

Неприятные новости о проблемах владельцев Android-девайсов поступают почти ежедневно

В Samsung с некоторых пор гордятся "тесным сотрудничеством с Google" в плане развития операционной системы Android, хотя вряд ли таким союзом можно гордиться по-настоящему, учитывая многочисленные проблемы, то и дело вылезающие из-под полы этой престарелой дамы в мире IT.
Вместо того, чтобы усиленно заниматься разработкой собственной мобильной ОС, основные силы софтверного подразделения южнокорейского техногиганта направлены на поддержание штанов у Google.
В течение последней недели появилось, как минимум, 3 сообщения об очередных уязвимостях в Android и в Android-приложениях, хотя эти темы не получили должного резонанса в СМИ. Но, по крайней мере, читателей нашего блога мы постараемся держать в курсе происходящего.
Сегодня речь пойдёт об очередном провале разработчиков столь почитаемой в народных массах операционки, связанном с безопасностью.
Порой случается, что Android-смартфон начинает подозрительно быстро разряжаться, хотя не было никаких обновлений ПО или свежеустановленных приложений. Как выяснила компания Protected Media, причиной этому могут быть мошенники. Из-за них на устройствах ничего не подозревающих пользователей в фоновом режиме чрезмерно расходуются не только заряд аккумулятора, но и трафик.
Специалисты из Protected Media обнаружили в коде израильской компании Aniview, занимающейся разработкой рекламных технологий, следы Ad Stacking — опции, при которой несколько баннеров наслаиваются друг на друга. Это позволяет мошенникам покупать достаточно дешёвое пространство под размещение баннеров и под статичным изображением воспроизводить сразу несколько видеороликов. Это приводит к повышенной нагрузке на процессор мобильного устройства, увеличенному расходу заряда аккумулятора и дополнительному потреблению интернет-трафика.
От этого вида мошенничества страдают не только обычные пользователи и их гаджеты, но и компании, которые платят за показы и просмотры, а также приложения и платформы, которые покупают и продают место под объявления. Рекламодателям говорят, что люди просматривают их ролики, но отдачи с этого недостаточно, поэтому компаниям приходится платить ещё больше.
Крейг Сильверман, репортёр BuzzFeed News, связался с представителями Aniview, чтобы расспросить компанию о её причастности к этой мошеннической схеме. Генеральный директор Алон Кармель отрицает какую-либо связь со злоумышленниками и утверждает, что код для них написали сторонние компании, а эксплойт якобы произошёл по вине третьих лиц.
На опубликованном видео показано, как под одним статическим баннером может скрываться сразу несколько рекламных роликов, которые автоматически воспроизводятся в фоне. 
Таким образом, если какое-то из приложений потребляет слишком много трафика или быстро расходует заряд, то одной из вероятных причин может быть мошенническая схема показа рекламы.
Кое-кто может сказать, что Google здесь ни при чём, а виноваты во всём разработчики приложений, допустивших возможность запуска в фоновом режиме нелегального рекламного контента. Однако Google несёт полную ответственность за то, что пропускает в свой магазин Play Store, при этом его операционная система Android никак не защищена от подобного рода манипуляций.  
Это, можно сказать, одна из самых безобидных "забавных шалостей", отравляющих жизнь владельцам Android-девайсов. Но в ближайшие дни мы расскажем вам о куда более серьёзных проблемах. Так что следите за обновлениями.

This Giant Ad Fraud Scheme Drained Users' Batteries And Data By Running Hidden Video Ads In Android Apps

A scheme to stealthily run video ads behind banner images drained users' batteries and data while they used popular Android Apps.

Julien is an independent developer who built and maintains one of the most popular audio apps in the Google Play store. With millions of downloads and hundreds of thousands of positive reviews, he’s obsessive about responding to user complaints and concerns.
He often receives emails from users complaining that his app is draining their battery and using more data than expected. Usually, it’s because they set the app to download files when they’re not on Wi-Fi. But sometimes it’s due to ad fraudsters taking advantage of his app to run hidden, data-hungry video ads behind the legitimate banners he sells to earn his living.
Julien's app is one of several, including many using Twitter's MoPub ad platform, that saw its in-app ads hijacked in an ad fraud scheme uncovered by fraud detection firm Protected Media. The company’s findings, along with additional reporting and interviews by BuzzFeed News, and independent verification from an outside ad fraud lab, show that one of the players implicated in this scheme is Aniview, an Israeli company with offices in New York that runs a video ad technology platform.
Aniview denies any involvement and instead says the platform and banner ads and code, which were created by one of its subsidiaries, were exploited by a malicious, unnamed third party.
“BuzzFeed brought to our attention that there is an abuse activity, as an immediate action, we stopped this activity and started and continue an internal incident review,” said Aniview CEO Alon Carmel in an emailed statement. “We notified and emphasized our clients that the use of our platform must be according to our policy and the IAB and TAG guidelines.”
It’s just one of the many ways ad fraudsters siphon money out of the global digital advertising industry, which will see more than $20 billion stolen this year. This scheme in particular highlights once again how ad tech companies exploit insider access and technical knowledge to participate in ad fraud.
“I don’t even think about me being ripped off,” Julien told BuzzFeed News. “All I think about is them damaging the app’s reputation. It can cost money to [a user] and drain his battery. This is the thing that makes me really mad.” (BuzzFeed News agreed to withhold his full name and the name of his app due to concerns about people wrongly thinking it was knowingly part of the scheme.)
Here’s how the scheme works. Julien sells a banner ad, which appears in the app and is visible to his users. Then, hidden from view behind that banner, fraudsters conceal autoplaying video ads that no human being actually sees, but which register as having been served and viewed. In this scenario, Julien gets paid for the small banner ad in his app that users see, but the fraudsters earn many times that amount by stuffing far more lucrative video ads behind the banner. Ultimately, it’s the brands whose ads were shown in hidden video players that lose money to those running the scheme.
“Fraudsters are purchasing cheap in-app display inventory and are filling it with multiple video players behind innocuous fake branded display ads,” said Asaf Greiner, the CEO of Protected Media.
This type of ad fraud is known in the industry as in-banner video ads, and has been documented in the past. Greiner’s team identified a new version of it last fall and said in total they’ve seen tens of millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent video ads running per month as a result.
The ad fraud lab run by DoubleVerify, a digital measurement company, identified the same in-banner video ad fraud scheme at the end of last year, according to Roy Rosenfeld, the company’s VP of product management.
He told BuzzFeed News the fraudsters “did a very good job at hiding and obfuscating what they were doing” and were “quite sophisticated in the thinking behind how they can monetize that [video] inventory.”
DoubleVerify saw at least 60 million ad calls being made for fraudulent video ads per month, though Rosenfeld noted that not all of those ad slots were filled.
Aniview and its subsidiary, OutStream Media, were identified by Protected Media as being part of the scheme after the fraud detection firm gathered and analyzed video evidence, code, and other information during an investigation.
Rosenfeld said DoubleVerify’s investigation identified that “the Aniview player was heavily driving” the fraudulent video ad activity. He said his team identified the same code and other materials as Protected Media had.
Carmel, of Aniview, told BuzzFeed News that his company “does not knowingly engage in any fraudulent activity” and said his team has been trying to stop this activity on their platform since they were first contact by Protected Media last month. He acknowledged that OutStream Media, the company identified by Protected Media, is a subsidiary of Aniview. But he said it had ceased operations last summer and that Aniview is in the process of legally shutting it down. He said the ad fraud documented by Protected Media and DoubleVerify was done by bad actors using the Aniview video ad platform, as well as images and code created by OutStream Media, in an unauthorized way.
“To be crystal clear, another customer on Aniview’s [self-serve] platform used this [video ad] player and is responsible for this activity and we took actions immediately to stop this activity,” he said.
“We are fighting against bad activities, pushing and focus on clean and legit activities and should not be blamed or framed for bad use of our platform."
Carmel could not say who this bad actor was or how they managed to gain access to content that was uploaded to an OutStream Media account on Aniview’s platform. He declined to identify the malicious actors, or to share any details about them. He also acknowledged removing the photos and names of people, including his cofounder, Tal Melenboim, from Aniview’s website after being contacted by BuzzFeed News.
Two of the removed employees had leadership roles with OutStream Media in addition to their work at Aniview. Carmel, who previously cofounded the popular Jewish dating site Jdate, said they left the company to pursue other interests at the end of last year, and he neglected to remove them from the Aniview team page.
Carmel was provided with a copy of the malicious code used to place the banner ads and hidden video players. In addition to using the Aniview platform and banner ads from OutStream Media’s account on it, this code included the URL shoval.tv as a tracking pixel to gather data on ad performance. Shoval.tv is a domain name owned by Aniview cofounder Tal Melenboim. In an email to BuzzFeed News, Melenboim denied any involvement.
Carmel said the fraudsters must have copied the part of the code that included Shoval.tv from an earlier OutStream demo, and said Shoval.tv is commonly used as a tracking URL by Aniview. The inclusion of this code means that only a person with access to shoval.tv would be able to track the performance of the fraudulent ads carrying this pixel.
Protected Media also found that a significant portion of the banner ads purchased for this scheme were bought using MoPub, the mobile ad network owned by Twitter. This does not mean MoPub was engaged in the scheme. But it does mean Twitter’s ad platform was exploited for months by fraudsters, and it earned commission on the ads bought using its tools. (Julien uses MoPub to help place ads in his app and says the company is responsive when he reports bad ads.)
“At this time, we can confirm that the suspicious activity in question is not being initiated by MoPub,” a company spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “The activity observed by Protected Media stems from an ad that is initiating other non-viewable video ads to run in the background. We are currently investigating what the potential sources of the issue could be.”
This scheme illustrates one of the central challenges in reducing the massive, multibillion-dollar fraud problem in digital advertising: Nearly every player in the supply chain, except for the brands who spend money on ads, profits from fraudulent ad delivery. Even if they’re not involved in ad fraud, platforms such as ad networks and other intermediaries earn a share of the money spent on invalid ads. This creates a disincentive to stop fraud from taking place, according to Greiner.
“It’s an unfair kind of situation because anybody who behaves well and doesn’t allow this on their platform is being left out of the profit,” he said, adding that “there’s very little penalty and there’s a lot to gain — the numbers are just enormous.”

Investigating the scheme

Protected Media first detected the use of hidden video ads in October. Though not a new ad fraud technique, the company saw this iteration grow large enough that it warranted a closer look. After seeing which video players were being used to run the hidden ads, and which ad networks the fraudsters were buying the display ad from, Protected Media reached out to the relevant parties, including Aniview, last month. (Rosenfeld of DoubleVerify said it also identified the scheme late last year and began blocking it.)
Protected Media provided BuzzFeed News with video documentation of invalid video ads running behind banners that were created by OutStream Media, Aniview’s subsidiary. These video ads were served using Aniview’s platform and the banner ads were hosted on Aniview’s website with an account in OutStream Media’s name. This demonstrates a direct link between OutStream Media and the banners that were placed in apps such as Julien’s.
Protected Media also identified that the shoval.tv domain name owned by Aniview cofounder Tal Melenboim was used to track the performance of the fraudulent ads, adding yet another link to Aniview.
Given that information, Greiner believes “Aniview is the group who left no room for deniability — the others can claim ignorance.”
After BuzzFeed News first contacted Aniview, the company removed the LinkedIn page for OutStream Media, and deleted people from the Aniview team page on its website. Two of the removed people were Melenboim, who had previously listed himself as the founder and CEO of OutStream Media on his LinkedIn, and his wife Mazal Melenboim, whose LinkedIn lists her as the head of media operations for Aniview and the head of operations for OutStream Media.
Carmel said the couple left Aniview at the end of last year and praised Tal Melenboim as a “reputable professional” who was “an asset to Aniview during his many years of employment.”
Tal Melenboim told BuzzFeed News in an email that he and his wife are not involved in any illegal activity. “It is important for me to point out to you, that if you got the impression that Aniview/Outstream Media or someone from our team, including me or my wife, is involved in an act of not legit activity, it is simply far away from the true.” (Melenboim said that Carmel’s English is better than his, and that as a result specific questions should be directed to him.)
Carmel said the Melenboims were removed from the company website at his direction after being contacted by BuzzFeed News, and said it was an oversight that they were still on the site. He offered to provide a letter from the company’s legal counsel to testify to the fact that the Melenboims had not worked at Aniview since the end of last year. He also said other employees were removed from the company’s team page at the same time.
After BuzzFeed News emailed Carmel two links that showed the scheme was still active on his platform, the activity was quickly shut off. He said that was a result of his company being given the information necessary to shut it down.
One of the links BuzzFeed News provided to Carmel went to a page at play.aniview.com/outstreammedia/ that hosted the banner ads used in the scheme. These banners were generic images for companies and products such as Coca-Cola, M&M's, McDonald’s, and Disney. If a user clicked on them they were taken to the homepage of the Google Play Store, showing that they were not real ads.
Carmel said these images belonged to OutStream Media and were created as test images when the company was operational last year. He said someone used these images without permission to execute the fraud.
“The banners were ONLY used for reach media demos of outstream units,” he said in an email. “After seeing in your email that someone used our banner without our permission we removed it from our server. Thank you for pointing it out.”
Ultimately what Carmel claims is that an unknown bad actor created an account on his platform, and then used banner ad images created by his subsidiary to execute the fraud scheme. He declined to share information about the bad actor’s account, citing legal concerns. He also couldn’t say exactly how this actor knew about banner ads uploaded to the account of OutStream Media — a company Carmel says was only briefly operational last year. He suggested one of the organizations OutStream had previously tried to pitch its services to was involved.
“The demo page of Outstream units was public and as well have been sent to many potential customers (BTW, one of them was Buzzfeed),” he said in an email. Carmel did not provide contact information for the person at BuzzFeed he says received the OutStream pitch. He did provide screenshots of email templates that were sent to prospective clients in May of last year that included a link to a demo.
Carmel says the same bad actor must have copied the OutStream tracking code that included shoval.tv, the domain owned by Melenboim. This means the fraudsters were sophisticated enough to set up and manage the scheme, but would have left in a tracking pixel that prevents them from receiving performance data on their ads.
Greiner of Protected Media said several ad tech companies engaged in or facilitated this form of fraud. Aniview was the one they gathered the most convincing evidence about. Others continue to run the scheme after being contacted by Protected Media, and in at least one case an executive from an involved company even complained about being called out.
“One of them spoke to my VP of sales and said everybody does it, why are we picking on them,” Greiner said. “It’s something we hear too often, unfortunately.” ●

Samsung отказывается от сотрудничества с китайским поставщиком аккумуляторов ATL из-за истории с Galaxy Note 7

Samsung Electronics отказывается от услуг китайского производителя аккумуляторов Amperex Technology (ATL), чья продукция стала причиной массового отзыва флагманских смартфонов Galaxy Note 7. Об этом сообщает технопортал ET News, получивший информацию из осведомлённых источников.
По их сведениям, новый Galaxy Note 8, который представят уже 23 августа, будет использовать батарею ёмкостью 3300 мА·ч производства Samsung SDI и японской Murata Manufacturing. Эти компании поделили заказы в соотношении 80 % на 20 %.
Samsung и ATL сотрудничали более 10-ти лет, однако партнёрские связи оказались под угрозой разрыва после того, как южнокорейский вендор был вынужден полностью отозвать более 3 миллионов Galaxy Note 7 из-за взрывоопасных аккумуляторов.
Как сообщалось ранее, проблема с батареями ATL заключалась в производственном браке, а также отсутствии изоляции (или несовпадении с изолируемым контактом) и в излишне тонких разделительных перегородках. И хотя дефектные аккумуляторы для Galaxy Note 7 также поставлялись от Samsung SDI, последний принял все необходимые меры, чтобы история не повторилась.
После инцидента в Samsung значительно усилен контроль над собственным подразделением SDI, но с ATL возникли проблемы. Компании не пришли к соглашению по таким ключевым вопросам, как применение неиспользованных аккумуляторов и выплата компенсаций, указывают отраслевые источники.
К тому же ATL не готова вкладывать огромные средства в усиление контроля качества выпускаемой продукции, как это делает Samsung.
Тем не менее сотрудничество между Samsung и ATL может сохраниться в области  поставок аккумуляторов для бюджетных моделей смартфонов, где не требуется использование высокопрецизионных технологий.  

Samsung Electronics Uses Batteries from Samsung SDI and Murata for Galaxy Note 8

Batteries from Samsung SDI and Japan’s Murata are used for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8. Products from China’s ATL, which is Samsung Electronics’ long-time partner, have not been used again for Samsung Electronics’ Smartphones. It seems that partnership between Samsung Electronics and ATL is becoming distant after recall of Galaxy Note 7 that happened last year and that Murata is replacing ATL’s position.
According to industries on the 20th, it is confirmed that Samsung Electronics has decided to use batteries from Samsung SDI and Murata Manufacturing for its new Smartphone called ‘Galaxy Note 8’ followed by ‘Galaxy S8’ that was released during first half of this year.
Samsung SDI and Murata are going to be responsible for supplying 80% and 20% of 3,300mAh batteries that will be used for Galaxy Note 8. However entire initial supply of batteries will be supplied by Samsung SDI.
Murata Manufacturing is a business that acquired SONY’s battery business in 2016 and is the number one business in global MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Condenser) markets. 
China’s ATL is devastated again as Samsung Electronics has decided to use batteries from Samsung SDI and Murata Manufacturing. Samsung Electronics has not used batteries from ATL for ‘Galaxy S8’ and ‘Galaxy Note 8’.
ATL has been a partner of Samsung Electronics for more than 10 years. ATL’s batteries were also used for Galaxy Note 7 that was released last year. Industries are predicting that Samsung’s replacement of its battery supplier is happening due to ignition of Galaxy Note 7 that led to discontinuation of Galaxy Note 7.
Samsung Electronics pointed out defect of batteries as the cause for ignition of Galaxy Note 7 in this past January. At that time, Samsung announced that ATL’s batteries caused ignition due to irregular asperity welding, unattached insulation tape, and thin separator.
It is heard that Samsung Electronics had maintained partnership with ATL even after ATL’s batteries caused ignition of Galaxy Note 7s and was looking into adding Murata Manufacturing as a battery supplier. However it is heard that ATL was ultimately removed as a battery supplier of Samsung Electronics as Samsung Electronics and ATL had different views when it came to establishing solutions to prevent recurrence of ignition of batteries.
“It seems that Samsung Electronics and ATL had different views on investigation on causes of ignition of Galaxy Note 7, handling of current supplies that are ordered, and compensation.” said a representative for an industry. “Although there is a chance that they will work again for some low-grade models or models for foreign countries, Samsung Electronics has decided not to use ATL’s batteries for its premium Smartphones.”
“It seems that when Samsung Electronics enforced standards for tests after discontinuation and recall of Galaxy Note 7, ATL was not thrilled about purchasing additional test equipment and meddling from Samsung Electronics.” said a representative for a different industry. “For ATL, it is not something that they will be totally devastated about since amount of batteries that it sent to Samsung Electronics was not relatively huge and it still has Apple as its biggest customer.”
Samsung Electronics greatly upgraded its quality management system such as 8-point battery safety inspection after it had gone through hard time due to ignition of Galaxy Note 7. Although it is relatively easy for Samsung SDI, which is Samsung Electronics’ biggest battery supplier for Galaxy series, to make investments and to cooperate according to Samsung Electronics’ guidelines, it is different from ATL’s point of view. ATL is currently the number one business in the world when it comes to polymer batteries as it has been supplying batteries to Apple for more than 10 years.
It seems that Samsung Electronics will use batteries from Murata Manufacturing instead of ATL for its premium Smartphones that will be released after Galaxy Note 8. It is heard that Murata is also participating in supply of batteries for Galaxy S9 that will be released during first half of next year. As Samsung Electronics decides to use batteries from Murata, it now has to raise production capacity and quality of Murata Manufacturing to the level of ATL. Although SONY’s battery business, which was acquired by Murata, became the first business in the world to commercialize lithium-ion batteries in 1991, its status in small battery markets has gotten lower recently.

Apple срочно запросила помощи у Samsung относительно поставок флэш-памяти из-за проблем у SK Hynix и Toshiba

Apple в срочном порядке увеличивает закупки чипов памяти Samsung для новых моделей iPhone, поскольку компании SK Hynix и Toshiba не справляются с заказами американской корпорации. Всё дело в том, что процент выхода годной продукции у SK и Toshiba оказался ниже прогнозируемого, в связи с чем возник острый дефицит этих компонентов. 
По данным отраслевых источников, объёмы выпуска чипов 3D NAND Flash на предприятиях SK Hynix и Toshiba на 30% ниже, чем запланировала Apple.
Из-за проблем указанных поставщиков, Apple пришлось закупать больше флэш-памяти у Samsung, так как южнокорейская корпорация демонстрирует стабильное производство решений 3D NAND Flash и смогла увеличить выпуск таких чипов.
Но ситуация может усугубиться, потому что не только Apple готовит к выходу новые флагманские смартфоны, но и производители конкурирующих Android-устройств. В связи с этим рыночные эксперты прогнозируют, что глобальные поставки флэш-памяти будут недостаточными до конца 2017 года, что приведёт к росту цен на эти компоненты. Для Samsung это может обернуться очередным повышением доходности соответствующего подразделения.

Supply of NAND flash for new iPhone falling short

SK Hynix and Toshiba have both experienced lower-than-expected yield rates for their 3D NAND technologies resulting in fewer supplies for Apple's 2017 series of iPhones, according to industry sources. The overall supply of NAND flash chips for the upcoming iPhones has fallen short of demand for the devices by as much as 30%.
Apple has turned to Samsung for more NAND chip supplies for its upcoming phones, since Samsung has relatively stable yield rates for 3D NAND technology and has scaled up its output of 3D NAND chips, the sources indicated.
Android phone makers are also gearing up to introduce new flagship devices. As many of the major NAND flash suppliers are still seeing disappointing yield rates for their 3D NAND technologies, the global supply of NAND flash chips is set to remain tight through the end of 2017, the sources said.
Samsung, Toshiba and Micron Technology are transitioning to 64-layer 3D NAND flash products, while SK Hynix plans to jump straight to supplying 72-layer 3D chips.