Groupon under scrutiny for its data collection practices
Members of Congress are taking a closer look at Groupon?s data collection practices. 

Groupon, which introduced new policies earlier this month, collects subscribers? contact details and information on their transactions, financial accounts, location and relationships. This data is shared with merchants, business partners and advertisers under certain circumstance.

While such data is important for daily deal companies such as Groupon, representatives Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have sent a letter to Groupon Mason asking about the company's data collection strategy.

"Groupon has made it clear that they are expanding their business model by collecting more personal information and even tracking your location," Mr. Barton said in a statement.

"While I do understand that companies participate in these practices to offer better services, I strongly believe that Americans should always be informed of how their personal information is being used and be given control of when their information is shared."

With video streaming growing, Apple considers Hulu bid
Apple Inc. may be considering trying to acquire online video service Hulu, according to reports.

Hulu current owners include Walt Disney Co. News Corp. and Comcast Corp., who have expressed their desire to sell. Hulu and Apple together could prove to present a real challenge for Netflix as such a deal would enhance Apple?s video streaming offering and provide a subscription service.

Apple is looking to include more video as consumer interest in streaming and mobile video continues to grow. The company currently offers TV shows and movies for rental or purchase via the iTunes media store.

Hulu offers a subscription plan for videos as well as limited free access. The company recently said it will have more than 1 million subscribers by the end of August.

Other interested parties are reportedly Google and Yahoo. The deal could exceed $2 billion, according to the reports.

Can Verizon benefit from usage-based data pricing as AT&T has?
AT&T is attracting more subscribers to its usage-based data pricing, with subscribers totaling 15 million in the second quarter, up from 10 million in March. AT&T first introduced usage-based smartphone data plans last summer to encourage customers to switch to smarpthones, an area that is growing quickly for the company.  

Verizon Wireless introduced similar usage-based data plans earlier this month. The company has said that moving to such pricing was necessary because of spectrum constraints. The pricing only affects new customers and Verizon expects to see some churn from the strategy.

The pricing strategy could have a similar affect for Verizon, helping to boost revenue as usage increases.

HTML5?s penetration is growing quickly: ABI Research
HTML5 will become widely used within the next three to five years even as the standard is not expected to be completed by 2020, according to a new report from ABI Research.

ABI Research?s report, HTML5 for Mobile Devices and Tablets, concludes that more than 2.1 billion mobile devices will have HTML5 browsers by 2016, up from 109 million in 2010. Features in specific categories, such as graphics, multimedia, user interactions and data storage will be adopted soon.

The growth in adoption will be driven by the fact that HTML5 will be a key differentiator as different smartphone operating systems continue to compete for share. Apple is expected to be a key driver for HTML5 because it has the installed base and the interest to quickly develop HTML5 features for its browsers and push them to its devices.

These developments could spell a sudden end for Flash, as HTML5 allows video to stream without the need to activate a plugin.

Verizon builds wireless subscribers with iPhone, LTE sales
Verizon Wireless said it sold more than 2.3 million iPhones in the second quarter and 1.2 million LTE devices. Verizon?s LTE network is now live in 102 markets.

Verizon said that smartphone owners now account for 36 percent of its postpaid subscriber base, up from 21 percent during the same period last year. Additionally, 63 percent of smartphone sales were to newcomers to the smartphone category.

While Verizon did not add as many new iPhone subscribers as AT&T ? which added 3.6 million in the second quarter ? the company still grew its entire wireless subscriber base to 106.3 million thanks to LTE smartphone sales and net subscriber additions. AT&T, in comparison, had 98.6 million total wireless subscribers for the quarter.

Microsoft results reflect PCs shrinking role
Recent financial results from Microsoft point to the shrinking role that PCs play today.

Microsoft said its overall revenues from the fourth quarter ended June 30 totaled $17.37 billion for the quarter, up 8 percent from a year ago. For the year, revenue totaled $69.94 billion, up 12 percent.

The overall PC market is growing at between two and four percent, according to Microsoft. In this environment, it saw a 1 percent drop in revenue for the Windows and Windows Live Division. Revenue for the full year decreased 2 percent.

Revenue grew 30 percent during the fourth quarter for Microsoft?s Entertainment & Devices division and 45 percent for the full year off of ongoing momentum for the console, Kinect and Xbox Live.

The Online Services Division revenue grew 17 percent for the fourth quarter and 15 percent for the full year. The growth was primarily driven by increases in search revenue, with Bing's U.S. search share increasing to 14.4 percent for the quarter.

The Daily updates iPad app with important features 
News Corp. iPad-only newspaper The Daily has released an updated version of its iPad app which includes readers most requested features.

Features in the new app include remembering where users stopped so they do not have to start at the beginning each time; opening to the front page so users can get to content faster; enhanced table of contents with comment count bubbles; comments are displayed by ranking, and additional stability and improvements to page swiping.

The app also features a Spotify tie-in. Spotify is the popular music service that recently launched in the U.S that is currently only available by invite.

The Daily is offering invites to Spotify to its readers. Users who go to the Spotify invite pages can get a Spotify free app.