In today’s mobile and social news roundup: Samsung taps Absolute Security to fortify mobile security measures; Anonymous hacks North Korea’s Twitter and Flickr accounts; More Android users are active on Instagram; Samsung builds stores inside Best Buy; and Microsoft’s relevance dwarfed by smartphones and tablets.

Samsung taps Absolute Security to fortify mobile security measures

Later this year Absolute Security’s patented persistence technology will become a part of Samsung Knox, Samsung’s mobile security platform for professional and personal accounts on enhanced versions of Android.

Future Samsung devices, such as the Galaxy SIV, will be enhanced with “constant, tamper-proof security connection for tracking, wiping, recovery and IT servicing,” when Absolute’s endpoint security and management software has been integrated.

Anonymous hacks North Korea’s Twitter and Flickr accounts

After North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un threatened to release nukes in the US, hacktivist collective Anonymous launched cyber attacks against the country.  North Korea’s official Twitter and Flickr accounts were defaced as well as Aindf.com, while books and music store Ryomyong.com and Uriminzokkiri.com are both down.

A Pastebin note from the hackers stated that they have people inside North Korea helping them bring down the sites.

“We have a few guys on the ground who managed to bring the real internet into the country using a chain of long distance WiFi repeaters with proprietary frequencies, so they’re not jammed (yet). We also have access to some N.K. phone landlines which are connected to Kwangmyong through dial-ups. Last missing peace of puzzle was to interconnect the two networks, which those guys finally managed to do,” the note stated.

But operations are not going as smoothly as planned as “the whole chain of connections is slow and unstable,” and “the devices connected to the phone landlines are rapidly detected and removed by N.K. authorities,” said the collective.

More Android users are active on Instagram

The popular photo editing and sharing app Instagram came to fame because of iOS users.  It sparked animosity when the service announced branching out to the Android platform and when Facebook acquired it.  Some iOS users even threatened to abandon the service, but it looks like Android is the driving force for Instagram these days.

According to Instagram itself, Android has generated 50 million users in just a year and because of this, it will continue to polish the app to make it “fast and easy to use, and we’re dedicated to always bringing you the best Instagram experience possible.”

Samsung builds stores inside Best Buy

Samsung competes with Apple in every possible way and this time, it’s taking on the Cupertino firm by building its own store.  But instead of erecting detached stores in the streets, Samsung is going about this in probably the smartest way possible – it’s building its stores inside one of the busiest retailers in the US.

The plan is simple: Build the store inside Best Buy, where consumers will have much easier access to the stores.  The company has announced plans for 1,400 Samsung Experience shops to be built in Best Buy stores across the country.  About 900 of the stores will be opened this May.

Microsoft’s relevance dwarfed by smartphones and tablets

A new report for Gartner states that Microsoft is in huge trouble as smartphones and tablets continue to eat their way into consumer homes.  The PC market will continue to shrink and unless Microsoft can come up with a revolutionary product for the PC market or better tablets and a smartphone, it may soon become irrelevant.  But there is still a silver lining as a new category, “ultramobile devices,” which Microsoft can still dominate with its Surface tablets.  This category is all about mobile devices that can actually help people become more productive while on the go.

Here with more news on the NewsDesk Daily Roundup is Kristen Feledy: