eBay's Skype has reached a settlement with Joltid over a breach of license that will now see the sale of the VoIP firm go through without litigation hassles.

Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, had claimed peer-to-peer technology owned by Joltid, and not eBay, was being used in a breach of license with every download of the Skype software.

It's now been announced that the investor group led by Silver Lake, which is to acquire a majority stake in Skype, has reached a settlement agreement with Joltid and Joost that gives Skype ownership over all software previously licensed from Joltid.

As part of the settlement, Zennstrom and Friis will join the investor group and the Skype board with a 14% share in exchange for providing Joltid software and a significant capital investment.

This now ends all litigation currently pending against the investor group and eBay.

"We'll be free to concentrate all of our efforts on building the world’s greatest communications software", says Skype in a blog post.

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Tags: Software Biz Skype Lawsuits eBay Joltid

Skype and Joltid settle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:11:46 +0000

First off congratulations to Paul Story who won last month's comments comp for his comment on the story "Amazon Kindle UK import orders begin". For those who didn't win, don't fret, because the kind folk at TomTom have sent a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe unit for us to dish out for our November comments competition.

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

The TomTom device measures 123 x 80 x 18mm and features 4.3-inch touch display, the screen being bright and a convenient size enabling ease of use whilst driving.

Along with Live HD Traffic, now with added support for Europe, the TomTom XL Live has excellent route guidance and with the added MapShare feature, it allows for easy updating of maps within the TomTom community.

To be in with a chance of winning this top-notch effort just comment on any story during the month of November. At the end of November the Pocket-lint team will take a look and choose what we believe is the best one.

Make sure you take a look at Pocket-lint's full review where it received a 9/10 score.

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Tags: Audio accessories Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness TomTom GPS Competitions

Win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:42:25 +0000

Apple's first retail store in France - and its 277th across ten countries - will open in the centre of Paris at the Carrousel du Louvre on Saturday 7 November.

The two-story shop features an entire floor "dedicated to services that have become the hallmark of Apple retail stores around the world", including the Genius Bar, and boasts 150 employees overall.

The new store offers an entire floor of Macs, iPods and iPhones for customers to experience hands-on. There's also an entire room devoted to the iPhone.

"We are thrilled to bring the unique Apple retail experience to France", said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail.

"This stunning new store sits just below the world famous Pyramid du Louvre in the Carrousel du Louvre and offers our customers in Paris a wonderful place to shop, learn and be inspired".

Tags: Hardware Audio Apple shopping Biz

Apple's first store in France opens this weekend originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:58:05 +0000

Retail sales of Windows 7 were well over 200% higher than Vista's in the two operating system's first days of being on sale in the States, the NPD Group has revealed.

But although Windows 7 software unit sales were 234% higher than Vista's, it seems revenue growth wasn't as strong, said to be due primarily to discounts.

"Microsoft's program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful", said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD.

"In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles".

Perhaps a result of the different economic climate as Microsoft has launched this latest OS, compared to when Vista was launched, it seems PC hardware sales were down.

Windows PC sales were down 6% compared to PC sales during the Vista launch week.

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Tags: Software Windows 7 Microsoft Vista Statistics NPD Biz

Windows 7 retail sales up 234% on Vista originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:29:50 +0000

Viacom has admitted that its Rock Band series is still not making any cash - on the contrary, it's losing the company money. Viacom's chief financial officer, Tom Dooley, admitted in a quarterly earnings report that "Rock Band was a negative contributor to margins in the third quarter".

He added: "We expect it to break even or be slightly profitable in the fourth quarter from a margin point of view. It really depends on how many units we sell in the holiday season".

The big problem is that making the plastic guitars, drums and microphones is expensive. The company's plan, it seems, revolves around getting those controllers into as many into people's homes as possible, then selling them future games in the franchise that cost both the company and the consumer less.

To that end, both Rock Band 2 and Beatles: Rock Band are compatible with older controllers on the same platform, but it seems to be a pretty long-term strategy. Having said that, Beatles Rock Band is apparently doing reasonably well - "the economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like", said Viacom's CEO, Philippe Daumann.

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Tags: Gaming Rock Band Viacom MTV Biz

Rock Band is still not profitable, says Viacom originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:51 +0000

The Nokia Foundation has announced that it has granted its 10,000 euro 2009 award to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Nokia says Wales was awarded "for his contributions to the evolution of the World Wide Web as a participatory and truly democratic platform".
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"It's a great honor to present this award on behalf of the Board of the Nokia Foundation to an individual who we believe has made a unique contribution to accelerating online collaboration and interaction for millions of people around the world, and effectively democratizing information sharing", said Henry Tirri, head of Nokia Research Center and chairman of the Nokia Foundation.
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Wikipedia was created in 2001, gets more than 330 million monthly visitors and boasts 14,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages.

Tags: Software Wikipedia Nokia Phones Biz Jimmy Wales The Nokia Foundation

The Nokia Foundation award goes to Jimmy Wales originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:48:26 +0000

Microsoft has revealed it is cutting an additional 800 jobs across its global operations, further to the previous cuts announced in January.

Reuters quotes a spokesperson for Microsoft stating these latest job cuts are spread out across the company's global operations, but with around 200 positions to go from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Back in January Microsoft said it would be slashing 5000 staff from its workforce as it revealed a sharp drop in profits.

At the time the layoffs were reported as a first for Microsoft since it was founded in 1975, apart from staff cuts made from reorganisation after company acquisitions.

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Tags: Software Microsoft Biz

Microsoft cuts another 800 jobs originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:19:18 +0000

Apple has now officially announced that the App Store has hit the 100,000 available apps milestone.

Apple iPhone and iPod touch customers across 77 countries have downloaded well over 2 billion apps, making the App Store not only the largest, but the world's most popular.

"The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world", said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing.

"The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating".

Tags: Phones iPhone Apple iPhone apps App Store Statistics Biz

App Store hits 100,000 apps milestone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:26:18 +0000

A Wi-Fi-less Apple iPhone has gone on sale in China and the first week's figures are described as "slow", thought to be a result of the amount of cheaper, unlocked iPhones available in the region.

Apple's official Chinese iPhone partner, China Unicom - that it signed a 3-year deal with back in August - has confirmed it has seen sales of 5000 iPhones so far since it went on sale last week.

China Unicom chairman, Chairman Chang Xiaobing, said, "We are satisfied with iPhone sales so far, and we aim to have an additional 1 million new 3G subscribers each month in the near future".

With a potential market of over 700 million, estimates put future Chinese iPhone sales at 460,000 per year - thought to be less than the number of "grey market" phones already in the country.

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Tags: Phones iPhone Biz China Unicom Statistics

5000 iPhones sold in China originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:42:50 +0000

Spring Design, the maker of the?Alex dual-screen ebook reader?is suing Barnes & Noble over claims that the bookseller copied ideas and features in releasing its own ebook, the?Nook.

"We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market", said Spring Design vice president of Sales and Marketing, Eric Kmiec in a statement.

According to the company who says they showed Barnes & Noble the Alex in spring 2009, "the lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties' non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex' features into its recently announced Nook e-book".

Both ebooks announced in the same week (20 October), use a colour touchscreen display powered by Android to navigate through menus, rather than the e-ink display, which is used solely for reading.?

The Barnes & Noble Nook is expected to hit the company's stores on 30 November with many stores already covered in merchandising materials and dedicated booths to lure customers to go "electronic".

Barnes & Noble was unavailable to comment at the time of writing. We will keep you posted.?

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Tags: Gadgets eBook readers ebooks Barnes and Noble Barnes and Noble Nook Spring Design Spring Design Alex Lawsuits Biz

Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over Nook ebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:37:30 +0000

The mysterious, unnamed Asian company that saved Polymer Vision from closing completely after in went bankrupt earlier this year has been named as Taiwanese ODM Wistron.

Polymer Vision was closed down by its Dutch parent company for financial reasons, back in July.

The company's consumer offering that never made it to market was the Readius, a fully-functioning 3G mobile phone with a 13cm fold-out black and white E-Ink-type display for reading documents, newspapers, books, etc.

DigiTimes now reveals that Wistron's board of directors has officially approved the company's 12 million euro acquisition of Polymer Vision.

The Polymer Vision team have stated they will "continue to focus on research and development of rollable display with the goal of taking the technology to mass production", but it's unclear whether the Readius itself will survive.

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Tags: Phones Wistron Polymer Vision Acquisitions Biz eBook readers

Wistron named as Polymer Vision purchaser originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:34:26 +0000

TomTom?and?Garmin?saw their share prices plunge on Wednesday, supposedly following the announcement from Google that it was entering the "Real time" navigation sector.

The news coincidently came as TomTom announced poor Q3 results with earnings down over 64 million euros based on last years figures.

"In regards to today’s news, there are a lot of interesting developments and opportunities in the digital mapping and navigation markets", a spokesman told Pocket-lint before adding that "We believe there are opportunities for all of us".

TomTom who has offered mobile software for sometime has only just moved into the?iPhone?app market space with its dedicated app and car docking system.

"We’re seeing a growing number of customers adopt our solutions and have expanded our market reach to include not just automotive but wireless and enterprise customers".

Google Maps Navigation will go live, initially in the US only, on 6 November on Android 2.0. A product manager in Google's Mapping department told Pocket-lint that the company currently has no plans to port it to other operating systems.

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Tags: Car And GPS Biz Google TomTom Garmin GPS Google Maps Navigation

TomTom shares plunge on poor Q3 results and Google announcement originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Samsung and Handmark, a mobile apps and service company, have announced the launch of a new Global Venture Fund to invest in companies or individuals with "innovative, market-changing game ideas for next generation Samsung mobile phones".

Unlike rival manufacturer's similar schemes, this time round it's just about gaming. The companies say they are "searching for games that best showcase Samsung mobile phones and the advanced features they offer".

The fund is considerable - companies or individuals selected will receive up to $250,000 each to fund the development of winning ideas.

"We know there’s a wealth of great ideas out there waiting to be discovered", said Chris Barnett, senior vice president of global sales and strategic partnerships for Handmark.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone, including big brands, mobile developers or any individual with a unique, creative idea to make it a reality".

To submit a proposal or for more information, visit www.handmark.com/company/samsungfund. The deadline for entries is 20 November, 2009.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone games Samsung Handmark Gaming Software Biz

Samsung and Handmark offer $250k for games for next-gen phones originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:53:08 +0000

This Dell infomercial would make a great drinking game if you had to down a shandy every time voice-over man says "XT2 XFR", but for those of you of a more sober frame of mind, it gives you a quick overview of Dell's new rugged tablet PC.

The Dell Latitude XT2 XFR (hic!) is the industry's smallest 12.1-inch rugged convertible tablet PC and is the first with a multi-touch display.

Aimed at those that work In The Field, it's independently tested to all kinds of official standards so users know they can drop it, dunk it, freeze it, coat it in dust and just know it's still gonna work.

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Tags: Hardware Dell Tablet PCs Laptops Waterproof Video Biz

VIDEO: Dell Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet PC launches originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:40:37 +0000

O2 has announced the launch of O2 Techies, a new tech support service offering on-site set up, specialised training and helpline support to O2's small business customers across the UK.

The Techies are said to be a "dedicated fleet of specially trained technicians" available to make on-site visits to install and set up mobile devices, mobile broadband, laptops, car kits and satnav systems either on an individual basis or for a whole team of staff.

Hoping to fill the gap in the market that currently stands at 65% of small business with no pro IT or tech support, the cost to set-up one handset is ?125, which - without wanting to cast any aspersions on individual Techies who are no doubt highly trained individuals - seems a little steep.

As well as set-up services, subscriptions are also available for ongoing support that provides a dedicated helpline as well as remote problem solving as far as PCs and phones go which is charged at ?6.38 per month per employee.

Tags: Phones O2 Biz O2 Techies Hardware

O2 Techies support service announced for small businesses originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:09:47 +0100

Nokia has announced that it has filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN standards.
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Nokia is naming ten patents in the suit that relate to technologies "fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards".

The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and have apparently all been infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Nokia says it has spent over 40 billion euros over the last 20 years on various patents, some of which have made it to being the industry standard. While almost all the major mobile manufacturers pay Nokia for licence agreements to use the tech covered by the patents, it appears Apple has refused to do so.

"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for", said Ilkka Rahnasto, vice president, legal & intellectual property at Nokia.

"Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".

Tags: Phones Nokia Apple Lawsuits iPhone Patents Biz

Nokia sues Apple over alleged iPhone patent infringements originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:43:18 +0100

HTC is struggling to meet demand for its flagship Android handset, the HTC Hero, according to the company's VP Asia-Pacific Jack Tong. Sales in Europe and Asia are very strong he said, which is causing production difficulties.

"The tight production will not be eased until November and the sales momentum of HTC Hero is expected to continue in the first quarter of 2010" said Tong when asked about the handset by DigiTimes. HTC believes that despite competition from a whole range of other manufacturers, it can maintain its lead in the Android phone market.

However Tong admitted that it'd take until the second half of 2010 to actually call the race, given Motorola's late, but strong-looking, entry with the Motorola Droid. There's also the recently launched US edition of the Hero to consider.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC HTC Hero Biz Android

HTC Hero "in short supply" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:57:24 +0100

Microsoft is about to sign up both Twitter and Facebook in a non-exclusive deal to help improve the Bing search engine.

The deal, which will see both sites integrate their real-time feed of status updates into the Bing search engine is, if true, expected to give Microsoft's fledgling offering a massive boost in the real time search game.

According to All Things Digital "sources, Microsoft (MSFT) digital head Qi Lu will announce the deal onstage in a few hours at the Web 2.0 Summit".

Although the article states that neither offering is expected to be up and running for weeks if not months, it does expect Qi Lu to demo the new project at the conference.

However, the article also states that any deal is expected to be non-exclusive suggesting that similar offerings could be coming to Google as well.

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Tags: Software Twitter Bing Facebook Social networking Search engines Microsoft Biz

Twitter and Facebook Status updates coming to Bing originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:50:13 +0100

In the States a college inventor has created an RFID-enabled coffee cup, allowing for wave-and-pay transactions in coffee houses without getting your wallet out.

While here in the UK NFC phones and RFID card systems have and are being trialled by both the London Underground and coffee shop type establishments, Chris Hallberg has taken a link out of the chain by adding the RFID chip directly to the cup.

The Smug Mug system will be in use sometime next year at a local Milwaukee coffee chain, Stone Creek Coffee, but Hallberg is hoping the concept might get picked up by larger companies looking to boost customer loyalty from time-pressed commuters.

The suggested price for the re-usable Smug Mug is $15, a price tag that include $5 credit for the relevant store.

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Related links:

• Link - Smug Mug

Tags: Gadgets RFID Biz Smug Mug Eco

Smug Mug adds RFID chip to coffee cup originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:16:12 +0100

The world might be struggling following on from the fall out of the economic downturn that then became the worldwide recession, but that hasn't stopped Apple boasting its most "profitable quarter ever" suggesting they are charging customers too much for the latest must have gadgets.

According to the company's latest results it the company posted revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion. Gross margin was 36.6 percent, up from 34.7 percent in the year-ago quarter.

In the three months running up to the end of the quarter Apple sold 3.05 million Macs, no doubt spurred on by the launch of Snow Leopard, which experienced more than double the sales the company was expecting and therefore representing a 17% unit increase over the year-ago quarter. As for the iPhone, Apple says that it sold over 7.4 million iPhones - a 7% unit growth over the year-ago quarter bringing the total of iPhones sold to over 21 million handsets.

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO before promising "some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

However it's not all good news. Although Apple sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter it was an 8% decline in sales on the previous year. The results follow a a similar decline in Q3 where iPod sales were down 7% on the year previously.

Apple also used the results call to confirm that it would be launching the iPhone in China at the end of October (30th).

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Tags: Biz Results Apple iPhone Hardware Audio

Apple: Most profitable quarter ever originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:28:11 +0100

Plastic Logic has announced a new ebook reader, the "Que", that's due to be launched at the CES show in January 2010.

Describing the device as the first "proReader" designed for business professionals, the Que wants to "connect its users with their business and professional newspapers, books and periodicals... and supports the document formats business users need (including PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents)".

Plastic Logic says the Que store will be powered by Barnes & Noble, the Amazon rival that's making a big play for the ebook and ebook reader market with both Plastic Logic and iRex team-ups revealed recently.

Boasting what's said to be the largest touchscreen in the industry and with the hint of "powerful tools for interacting with and managing the content", the Que is seriously skinny at less than a third of an inch thick, lightweight, Wi-Fi and AT&T (in the US) 3G-enabled, and measures around 8.5 by 11-inches.

Finally, the Que's display is made of shatterproof plastic and its battery "can last days, instead of hours", apparently. For all other spec, pricing and availability info we've got to hang on until 7 January when all will be revealed at the CES show - we will keep you posted.

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Tags: Gadgets eBook readers Plastic Logic Barnes and Noble ebooks Biz CES2010

Plastic Logic announces "Que" ebook reader for January launch originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:35:59 +0100

Google has released a preview of its next phase of the "Going Google" campaign that will launch across six new countries.

The campaign, to get businesses to switch over to Google's corporate solutions, has seen bill-board ads across the States.

As part of the expansion of the campaign, the search giant has revealed that over two million companies are now using Google Apps.

Hit play to see more, while the UK-centric info can be found at www.google.co.uk/gogoogle.

Tags: Software Google Biz Advertising Email Online Google Apps

VIDEO: Google explains "Going Google" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:13:56 +0100

Spotify and 3 have formally announced the partnership that Pocket-lint detailed last week. As previously reported, 3 will begin selling the HTC Hero with a Premium Spotify subscription bundled in - which normally costs ?10 per month.

The tariff costs ?35 per month over 24 months, and you'll have to pay ?100 upfront too, so it's not cheap. For that, though, you get 24 months of Spotify Premium, 750 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited mobile internet. You can also get free calls to other 3 users and to people on Skype. We presume the Spotify app will be preloaded on the handset.

There's more handsets in the works too - "Spotify Mobile will initially be available only on the HTC Hero" says the press release, the keyword being "initially". With an S60 version in the works, could we see an N97 bundled with the service in the future? Or even perhaps even an iPhone if 3 eventually makes a deal with Apple.

Want a quote about the whole thing? Of course you do.?Faisal Galaria, Global Head of Business Development at Spotify, told Pocket-lint: "This is a very exciting deal for Spotify. We're intent on offering people a high quality, simple yet powerful portable music experience at a fair price and we're thrilled to be working with 3 to bring Spotify to UK music fans".

If you're considering the deal, let us know in the comments. You might also be interested in our HTC Hero review, and our comparison of the iPhone and Android Spotify apps.

UPDATE: Spotify has blogged about the deal, but hasn't added much, except to provide a working link to the page on 3's website to "register your interest" in grabbing the handset.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Spotify 3 HTC Hero Tariffs Biz

Spotify and 3 deal confirmed originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:57:09 +0100

Computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha has announced the launch of the Wolfram Alpha Webservice API.

The paid-for release will mean that developers can now stick Wolfram Alpha results and data into websites and online publishing, desktop applications, on mobiles and in cloud computing applications.

Wolfram Alpha says such uses may include "researching cancer through computational biology, augmenting web and meta-web search with computed knowledge, enriching online journalism with interactive content, building artificial intelligence systems on our domain expertise, leveraging our data analysis for decision support, optimizing renewable-energy efficiency, and even determining the optimal temperature for draft beer based on the current weather conditions".

Developers can register now for an API account at a dedicated site, while the API is said to be the basis for a forthcoming Wolfram Alpha iPhone app - we will keep you posted.

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Tags: Software Websites Wolfram Alpha Search engines APIs Biz iPhone apps

Wolfram Alpha announces Webservice API originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:06:17 +0100

YouTube and Channel 4 have done a "landmark" deal that will see full-length versions of the broadcaster's top TV shows available online, on demand on the Google-owned site.

The agreement, 6 months in the making, is for a 3-year period and will mean programmes will go online "shortly after" shows have aired. ?

New shows available will include the likes of Skins, Hollyoaks and Peep Show and will be joined by 3000 hours of archive programming including Brass Eye, Derren Brown and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Channel 4 will continue to offers its in-house 4oD catch-up service while the two companies will share ad revenue on the C4 content online at YouTube.

Channel 4's TV shows are due to be "fully available" via YouTube in early 2010, apparently the first time any broadcaster has used YouTube to offer a full-fat catch up service.

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Tags: Home Cinema YouTube Video on demand Channel 4 Online Biz

Channel 4 content to be available on YouTube originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:29:15 +0100

Nokia has reported a loss in its third quarter results, revealing an operating loss of 426 million euros with sales dropping 20%.

This compares dramatically to the same period in 2008, when the Finnish phone manufacturer saw a profit of 1.5 billion euros.

The reasonably good news comes in with Nokia's mobile device market share for the third quarter this year at 38%, not a percentage less than it was a year ago, and stable compared to the second quarter of this year. Device sales were up 5% from the previous quarter.

As far as phones go, Nokia shipped 4.5 million Nseries and 4.4 million Eseries devices during the third quarter - sounds a fair whack - but this is down from the combined 9.3 million Nseries and Eseries devices shipped in Q2.

"The demand for mobile devices improved in many markets during Q3. With the average selling price of our devices holding firm quarter-on-quarter, our higher device volumes translated into increased net sales in our Devices & Services business", said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

"Our volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages we encountered across the portfolio".

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Tags: Phones Nokia Results Biz

Nokia reports loss for third quarter originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:38:39 +0100

The UK division of online video service Joost has gone into liquidation.

Founded by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, Joost, although attracting big media investors with funding said to top $45 million, failed to sign agreements with major content providers.

The UK arm of the Netherlands-based company is said to have now been dissolved following a month on the market with no buyers interested in snapping up the service after a revamp in July.

Joost "failed to sustain a significant share of the internet video industry and was unable to address this effectively through a re-positioning of its services", says the liquidators.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost's founders, are said to be busy setting up the typically vowel-light Rdio, an online music streaming subscription service for sharing and listening to music online or via mobiles due in early 2010.

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Tags: Software Online Joost Video on demand Biz Rdio Audio Media streaming

Joost goes into liquidation in the UK originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:42:31 +0100

Shazam, the music discovery service, has revealed that more than 50 million people around the world have now used the Shazam service.

This is an increase of 15 million users since February of this year, while Shazam is now available, across various platforms in over 150 countries.

The Shazam iPhone app has been downloaded more than 10 million times via the App Store. It's also racked up some high-up rankings on BlackBerry App World, Nokia's Ovi Store and the Android Market.

As well as the milestone, Shazam is also celebrating KPCB investment from the iFund that will see the app developed for more mobile platforms and in multiple languages.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Shazam Audio iPhone apps BlackBerry App World Ovi Store Android Market KPCB iFund Statistics Biz

Shazam tops 50 million global users originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:21:01 +0100

Nokia has suggested the reason for the new Nokia Booklet 3G only being available in Best Buy in the US this side of the Holidays is because AT&T isn't geared to sell laptops.

Talking to David Petts, who is responsible for the AT&T account at Nokia, Petts told Pocket-lint that while AT&T stores where able to sell the product, it was a "no brainer" to give it to Best Buy and its selling capabilities to do the job on launch day.

And you can see why? According to the company, Best Buy now accounts for a third of all laptop sales in the US, presumably helped by those Windows adverts throughout the year and the closure of Circuit City at the beginning.

Asked when the Nokia Booklet 3G, which is priced at $299 with contract and available from the 22 October, would be available elsewhere Petts didn't have an answer, but did suggest it would be likely to be rolled out elsewhere once the Holidays were over.

Petts did confirm, however, earlier confirmations that Nokia is likely to be making more booklets if this one was successful.

We will keep you posted.

Tags: Hardware Biz Laptops Nokia Nokia Booklet 3G Best Buy

Best Buy sells a third of all US laptops originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:31:25 +0100

Summit Global, the licensee of the Polaroid brand, has officially announced the world re-launch of Polaroid, with both instant photography products and digital offerings due to be re-available.

The new Polaroid will manufacture a range of instant film products like the Polaroid 600 instant film, and also re-introduce a range of instant cameras including the "Polaroid One".

A great success for the Impossible Project, campaigners who worked hard to see instant film back to realistic prices, it's thought this move will bring Polaroid to a whole new audience, as well as appease retro-photography fans.

In addition to film-based efforts, Polaroid will also work on ZINK tech with ZINK Imaging, a team-up last seen in the Polaroid POGO instant digital printer.

Along those lines, there are also plans to market the digital Polaroid "Two"and plans have been revealed to produce a Polaroid "Three" - an instant digital camera that produces 4-inch by 3-inch instant digital photos.

Tags: Cameras Film cameras Polaroid Biz Printers Digital cameras Compact cameras Zink

Polaroid re-launch announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:18:03 +0100

Vodafone has announced it has teamed up with Decho to develop a range of cloud-based services for both consumers and business customers.

Vodafone PC Backup, based on Decho's Mozy online backup service, will let customers "simply and securely" back up both work-related and personal content from their PC to a remotely hosted online location.

"Once a customer has backed-up their digital content they know it is protected and that they will always be able to access it, even if their primary device is lost, stolen or otherwise unavailable", says Vodafone.

The backed up content will be available to view and share from any connected PC, laptop or netbook.

With both business and consumer solutions available, Vodafone says the service will be introduced across a number of major European markets this year, but has not provided details of pricing or UK availability yet.

Tags: Phones Vodafone Software Cloud computing Decho Storage Hardware Biz

Vodafone PC Backup announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:29:48 +0100

Google has lost a bod from its board of directors as the news comes in that Genentech chairman Arthur D. Levinson has resigned his position after 5 years of service.

No reason has been given for Levinson leaving, although it's thought his position as a board member for both Google and Apple - increasingly becoming competitors in various markets - is the cause.

It follows the well-publicised departure of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt from the board of Apple, back in August, with Schmidt's "effectiveness", due to the amount of meetings he had to be recused from, cited by Apple boss Steve Jobs as the reason.

Of this latest move, Eric Schmidt says: "Art has been a key part of Google's success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced. Though he leaves as a member of our Board, Art will always have a special place at Google".

TechCrunch states that the only tie now at director level and up is former vice president Al Gore who sits on Apple's board and acts as a senior advisor to Google.

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• News - Google: Apple lied to FCC over Google Voice App

Tags: Software Google Apple Arthur Levinson Biz Genentech

Arthur Levinson leaves Google board originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:40:17 +0100

Danger, the Microsoft-owned company which produces the T-Mobile Sidekick, has admitted that it's managed to lose every single scrap of data that was being held on its servers. For good. Everything. Contacts, calendars, photos, to-do lists - if they're not locally backed up on your device then they're gone.

Even if you do have it saved on your device, if it runs out of battery or you turn it off before you sync it up again with the servers then it'll be gone too. Worst of all, the data loss appears to have occurred because no-one thought to take a backup of the data before Microsoft undertook an upgrade of its storage systems.

T-Mobile, Microsoft and Danger have jointly issued an apology to customers, saying: "Based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger".

Affected customers are likely to be offered some sort of compensation - "We recognize the magnitude of this inconvenience. Our primary efforts have been focused on restoring our customers’ personal content. We also are considering additional measures for those of you who have lost your content to help reinforce how valuable you are as a T-Mobile customer".

If you've been affected by the data loss, we'd like to hear from you. Drop a comment below, or use our feedback box to tell us your experiences.

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• News - T-Mobile Sidekick LX coming to US

Tags: Phones Mobile phones T-Mobile Danger Sidekick Biz

Sidekick data lost in server crash originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:31:10 +0100

BT has announced that its plans to deliver super-fast, fibre-optic broadband all the way to people's houses have been expanded. The company will now be rolling out fibre-to-the-premises to 1 million homes, including some where copper wire is already available. Previously BT was only installing fibre to the premises in new build situations.

In some cases, BT will be installing fibre-optics only as far as your local telecoms cabinet, and then the signal has to travel through ageing copper wire to your house - which more than halves the available speeds. But in fibre-to-the-premises situations, there's hardly any copper involved so you get rates upto four times faster than current speeds.

The reason for the expansion is that BT is ahead of its targets for the roll-out of the fibre program. 1.5 million homes will have access by next summer, the company says, and 10 million should receive the service by 2012 - one in six of the population.

Recently, BT also announced that it'll be trialling fibre-to-the-premises for Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park in North-East London. 100Mbps speeds will be arriving in both those locations by March 2010.

Tags: Software Biz BT Broadband

100Mbps broadband rollout widens originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:40:04 +0100

Amazon has u-turned on its launch promise not to charge international Kindle users more than it does US consumers, in a rip-off Britain move familiar to UK-based gadget fans who often suffer from inflated pricing.

Despite Amazon stating that "there are no additional fees for international customers" when the Kindle was announced for the UK market, the Guardian has discovered that UK users will in fact be charged 40% more than those in the States.

From the paper: "An Amazon.co.uk spokesman revealed that foreign customers would be paying $13.99 (?8.75) per book instead of the American price of $9.99 (?6.25). That amounts to a 40% premium for the same title".

Although UK users won't be charged the $1.99 roaming fee that Americans will have to pay for using the device abroad, it seems this is how the etailer will recuperate the costs of data charges from AT&T's global partners for the OTA downloads.

Whether UK consumers will be happy to stump up almost half as much again as Americans pay for a digital product is yet to be seen - it certainly never hurt iTunes. Have your say on the matter in the comments box below.

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Related links:

• News - Amazon Kindle DX UK bound too
• Feature - Five good reasons to buy an Amazon Kindle

Tags: Gadgets Amazon Kindle ebooks eBook readers Biz Books

UK Kindle owners to be charged 40% more for content originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:04:18 +0100

Spotify is continuing celebrations of its 1-year anniversary and as part of the jamboree, the company's founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, has taken some time out to pen a blog post about the future of Spotify, and his thoughts on the state of the global Music industry. In it, he concedes that ads "devalue" music, but says that they're earning his company "millions of euros" in revenues each month.

He said: "I first considered writing about the state of ad-supported music, and given that I care more than most about figuring out a revenue model that doesn’t devalue music, it probably wouldn’t praise wholeheartedly (as some may have expected it to do) the ad-supported space. Especially since Spotify’s business model is, and has been since launch, more about the mix of subscription and ad supported".

He went on to answer critics of Spotify's business model by pointing out that iTunes missed its revenue targets by 30% in its first year, saying that he's in it for the "long haul" - "We aren’t interested in just trying to hype the company and then "flipping it", he said, then adding: "The product has been our core and our main marketing message, and perhaps now is the time to modify that message".

He says that the music industry has the potential of becoming a $40 to $50 billion industry, and reckons that he's the man for the job. Spotify has repeatedly pointed to a survey that says that 80% of Spotify users file share considerably less after getting the software. Ek says that by increasing the amount of people with access to the music streams, setting a target of "trillions", piracy can be cut by "big chunks".

Ek says that the focus for Spotify in the coming months will be better library handling, making Spotify socially capable and improving the portability of the software - i.e. releasing more editions of the mobile version of the client.

Finally, Ek said that his biggest mistake with Spotify was to make it so dependant on its partners - the labels, composers, artists, etc. He said: "If we’re asking the industry to change, we need to be transparent and honest about the end goal - especially since we’re asking everyone to make a huge leap of faith to an unknown place where you could potentially argue that the industry risks its most profitable customers. We haven’t been as open as we could have been up until now, and that’s been an oversight on my behalf".

Many have said that Spotify could do with a little more openness, so it's refreshing to see Ek agree. He now needs to turn those words into action, and we'll keep you posted of what happens on that front.

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Related links:

• News - Spotify has 2.7 million users in the UK
• News - Spotify phones coming soon?

Tags: Audio Spotify Music software Music Biz

Spotify CEO: Advertising devalues music originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:55:17 +0100

It's being reported that Twitter is currently in mega-money talks with Microsoft and Google, discussing using Twitter content in searches separately with each search giant.

All Things D reports: "According to sources familiar with the situation - Twitter is in advanced talks with Microsoft and Google separately about striking data-mining deals, in which the companies would license a full feed from the microblogging service that could then be integrated into the results of their competing search engines".

Microsoft's Bing already encompasses some Twitter content in its results while Google recently announced Hot Trends that offers real-time results for popular search terms, so it's a little unclear at this stage what the talks may result in.

All Thing D's sources say "a number of scenarios are being discussed to compensate Twitter for its huge and potentially valuable trove of real-time and content-sharing information, generated from the data stream of billions of tweets from its 54 million monthly users".

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Software Websites Twitter Google Microsoft Biz Rumours Search engines Social networking

Twitter in talks with Microsoft, Google originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:00:50 +0100

We brought you the news of the lawsuit, way back in spring 2008, and can now reveal the verdict. Apple has lost the right to call its own-brand Mac mouse the "Mighty Mouse".

Man & Machine, American medical hardware specialist suppliers, has now been granted the trademark on "Mighty Mouse" from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

In the lawsuit, Man & Machine says Apple began selling its Mighty Mouse over 1 year after it began selling waterproof and chemical resistant mice under the same name in 2004.

It seems The USPTO agreed, and Apple's next mouse - currently rumoured to be coming soon with possible touch technologies - will have to launch with a new name.

9to5Mac is currently running a poll with suggestions for the new name. The Mac Mouse, Apple Pro Mouse or the iMouse seem the most logical, but we guess we'll just have to wait and see...

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Tags: Hardware Apple Mice And Keyboards Biz Lawsuits Man and Machine

Apple loses Mighty Mouse trademark battle originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:33:11 +0100

A new company due to launch its services in November is offering up to ?1000 to members of the public who spot crime on live, streamed, commercial CCTV footage.

"Internet Eyes" will reward those who spot crimes - such as shop-lifting and anti-social behaviour - as they monitor anonymous footage from their own homes.

Internet Eyes is recruiting now, offering netizens the chance to "potentially become a hero and save lives".

The private company uses the logic that most CCTV footage is not monitored, companies can pay them to get the public to watch the live streams and will receive alerts, or the police will be informed, if crimes are committed.

Civil liberties campaigners have told the BBC they find the idea "distasteful".

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Related links:

• Link - Internet Eyes

Tags: Software Online Internet Eyes Biz CCTV

Internet Eyes to pay public to monitor CCTV originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:19:17 +0100

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has admitted to paying a $1 billion premium on YouTube when Google bought the video service in 2007.

The move, which made sure that the fledgling company (at the time) didn't fall into the wrong hands (read Microsoft or Yahoo) has been uncovered following a request for court papers of the 2007 court case against Viacom over copyright material on YouTube.

"Leading up to the acquisition, Schmidt told Google's board of directors that his estimate of YouTube's worth was somewhere between $600 million and $700 million", reports CNET after seeing court records.

The court papers go on to reveal a fuller explanation from Schmidt to Stuart Jay Baskin, a Viacom attorney.

"This is a company with very little revenue, growing quickly with user adoption, growing much faster than Google Video, which was the product that Google had. And they had indicated to us that they would be sold, and we believed that there would be a competing offer--because of who Google was--paying much more than they were worth. In the deal dynamics, the price, remember, is not set by my judgement or by financial model or discounted cash flow. It's set by what people are willing to pay. And we ultimately concluded that $1.65 billion included a premium for moving quickly and making sure that we could participate in the user success in YouTube".

Google has declined to comment on the story.

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Tags: Software Biz Google Viacom

Google paid $1 billion premium for YouTube originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:36:32 +0100

MP3 download service 7digital has announced an expansion over the pond into the USA and Canada. The UK-based music company has opened websites in North America for both countries that feature content from all four major labels, as well as a host of independents.

Pricing is a smidge cheaper than market rival iTunes at 77 cents for a track, and $7.77 for an album. All content is in MP3 format at 320kbps, which is better quality than Amazon's 256kbps MP3s and equivalent to Spotify's higher-bitrate Premium service.

UK users that are paying 79p for tracks might feel a little hard-done-by, but Ben Drury, the company's founder, told Pocket-lint that the difference is thanks to the lack of VAT in the States and music publishing working differently in favour of wholesalers.

The digital market in the US is more advanced than in the UK, with 20-30% of album purchases already being digital, compared to a 15-20% forecast by the Official Charts Company in the UK for 2010.

7digital's move follows the securing last year of ?4.25 million in funding from Sutton Place managers, a venture capital fund. The company also recently signed a pan-European MP3 deal with Warner Music.

Drury told Pocket-lint that the company was pushing "agressive pricing" against iTunes and Amazon, adding "we think we can make a profit".

Related links:

• News - HMV snares 50% share of 7digital

Tags: Audio 7digital Music downloads Biz

7digital launches in USA and Canada originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:15:47 +0100

First off, as far as the winner for last month goes, we'd like to offer our congratulations to Tony Hedges for his comment on the HTC Hero review and all his input during its release. We'll be sending him a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe.

For the month of October Pocket-lint has teamed up with Omio to bring you the chance of winning a Nokia 5530 XpressMusic.

The phone features a 2.9-inch touch interface and a homescreen that offers one touch shortcuts to the likes of Facebook and MySpace, and as with similar Nokia phones, the 5530 gets the scrolling "Contacts Bar" for direct access to 20 people and their latest conversations and updates.

Being an XpressMusic model playback is all important and it doesn't disappoint with up to 27 hours of playback time, as well as a 3.2-megapixel camera along with Wi-Fi rounding off the package.

If you're weren't sure of what Omio is all about, here's a quick run down in their own words:

?Omio.com is a mobile phone comparison site that uses an innovative interface to help users navigate the vast array of mobile phone deals and phones from all the major mobile manufacturers".

"Users can filter over half a million deals by anything from price to colours, ensuring they get the right deal at the right price. Whether you're looking for a new phone or simply want to research what's available, Omio.com offers the most up-to-date information".

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

So get commenting and the winner will be chosen at the end of October.

Related links:

• Video - Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

Tags: Audio Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness TomTom GPS Competitions Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

Win a Nokia 5530 XpressMusic originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:30:10 +0100

Amazon's decision to remotely delete digital copies of George Orwell's 1984 from customer's Kindles has cost it $150,000.

The figure - a settlement amount reached between Amazon and a high school student - is in addition to the $30 compensation it offered each affected customer.

The lawsuit was filed by a 17-year-old high school student in the States in July. As well as losing the digital copy of the book, the student lost electronic notes he had made for an assignment.

Amazon had deleted 1984, and Animal Farm, as it found out the correct rights had not been obtained. In an apology Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called the move "stupid".

The $150,000 is to be donated to "a charitable organization that promotes literacy, children's issues, secondary or post- secondary education, health or job placement".

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Related links:

• News - Amazon pulls 1984 from Kindle
• News - Student sues Amazon over Kindle deletion

Tags: Gadgets Amazon Kindle Lawsuits Biz

Amazon settles for $150,000 over Kindle deletion originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:19:30 +0100

We haven't heard much OnLive news since it was announced back in March, but the company has just revealed, via its blog, that things are looking good for the future of the games service thanks to some new funding.

OnLive has received a "major" boost to its bank balance with investment from companies including AT&T Media Holdings, Lauder Partners, Warner Bros, Autodesk and Maverick Capital.

OnLive is described as "a revolutionary, on demand video game platform delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly, on any TV via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on almost any PC or Mac".

The blog states: "We are both pleased and inspired that our investors share this vision with OnLive. Not only do they see the value in OnLive in particular, but they also understand the significance of what OnLive is doing to lead a massive sea change in interactive media distribution".

Only time will tell whether the service can deliver on its promise of no high-end hardware, no upgrades, no endless downloads, no discs, no recalls and no obsolescence.

Pocket-lint will keep you posted.

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Related links:

• News - Revolutionary "OnLive" games streaming unveiled
• VIDEO - OnLive teaser

Tags: Gaming OnLive Gaming hardware Biz AT and T Warner Bros

Revolutionary gaming co OnLive secures "major investment" originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:31:14 +0100

Acer will be shifting its focus to Google's Android operating system for its smartphones, according to industry sources quoted by DigiTimes. The company will be putting the open-source platform on at least half of all the new models it launches in 2010.

The remainder will be staying with Windows Mobile, with the company sticking with its current production partners, outsourcing both Windows Mobile- and Android-based smartphones to Compal Communications and contracting Windows Mobile handsets to Inventec Appliances.

Acer joined the Open Handset Alliance earlier this year, and its first Android-powered smartphone is due out in November. It's called the A1, and as soon as we're able to get our hands on it, we'll be bringing you a full review.

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Related links:

• News - Acer shows working L1, C1 and F1
• News - Acer announces Android phone due in Q4

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Acer Android Open Handset Alliance Google Biz

Half of Acer's 2010 handsets will run Android originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:42:59 +0100

Fujitsu and Toshiba have jointly announced that the latter has now taken over the former's hard disk business. The deal, originally announced in February, involves the formation of a new Toshiba subsidiary company called Toshiba Storage Device Corp.

The new company will initially be owned 80% by Toshiba and 20% by Fujitsu. However, by December 2010, Fujitsu will give up its share, which will mean that Toshiba Storage Device Corp will be a wholly owned Toshiba subsidiary. The delay in getting the deal approved has been down to difficulties with obtaining regulatory approval from the European commission.

Toshiba has said that it wants to grab a bigger chunk of the tricky hard disk market, which will be tough thanks to competition from Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi. Toshiba aims to grab 20% of the market by March 2016.

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• News - Fujitsu shows off world's fastest CPU

Tags: Hardware Biz Fujitsu Toshiba Storage

Toshiba takes over Fujitsu's hard-disk business originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:42:41 +0100

As more live online television becomes available, employees who use such services at their workplace could be putting their employers at risk of a big fine.

The BBC reports that businesses are being warned they could be breaking the law if staff watch live TV on their computers when the firm does not have a TV licence.

Although if you watch live TV on a mobile, portable media player or laptop out and about you are covered by your home TV licence, once the device you're watching TV on is plugged in, the onus is on the premises.

This means that anyone watching live TV (not catch-up services like the iPlayer) could be risking their employers facing a fine of up to ?1000.

A spokesperson for the TV licence body told the BBC: "You need a licence if you are watching programmes as they are broadcast. At a business, the same rules apply".

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Tags: Home Cinema iPlayer BBC TV licence Biz Software Websites Online

Businesses get TV licence warning originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:04:06 +0100

BT has announced that it'll be expanding its fibre-optic trials early next year to go all the way direct to the people's homes and businesses - a technology that the company is calling "fibre to the premesis". Currently fibreoptic connections only go through to the cabinet.

The trials will be taking place in Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park in North-East London. The trial products should see speeds of up to 100Mbps delivered to 20,000 homes and businesses in each area by around March 2010.

Fibre-to-the-cabinet services, which can deliver up to 40Mbps, have been in testing for some time and should be available to 1.5 million homes by next summer and 10 million by 2012. BT says that speeds on those connections could rise to more than 60Mbps in the near future. Upstream connections should reach upto 10Mbps.

David Campbell, Managing Director of Next Generation Access at Openreach, told Pocket-lint: "This trial is crucial for informing our plans to consider deploying FTTP alongside FTTC. Our FTTP deployment in Ebbsfleet has allowed us to learn a great deal about rolling out fibre directly to homes in greenfield areas and we believe that the technology has huge potential for brownfield areas too".

"We've worked closely with communications providers and regional development authorities in selecting these sites for the FTTP brownfield trial, and I'd like to encourage as many communications providers as possible to get involved in the trial".

Related links:

• News - BT's billion pound fibre-based broadband plans at risk

Tags: Software Biz BT Broadband

BT trials fibre-to-the-premesis in London and Milton Keynes originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:31:27 +0100

Top consumer electronics companies have revealed they are teaming up to effectively create a mobile, or mini, version of the HDMI port for portable devices and phones.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba have all announced they are working with Silicon Image to form the Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group.

The group will go on to create an industry standard for an audio/video interface to connect mobile phones or other portable devices directly to high-definition televisions and displays.

The new standard will be based on Silicon Image's "Mobile High-Definition Link" tech and will be offered as an industry standard open to all companies. The aim is for the standard to be easy and cost effective for manufacturers and simple and reliable for consumers.

Silicon Image says "a single-cable with a low pin count interface will be able to support up to 1080p high-definition digital video and HD audio in addition to delivering power to a portable device".

You can be sure it will be a while before anything is finalised, but we will keep you posted.

Tags: Phones Audio Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group Nokia Samsung Sony Toshiba Silicon Image Cables Biz HDMI

Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba team up on mobile HDMI originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:27:56 +0100

For the first time in a major economy, the internet sector in the UK's advertising market has overtaken the TV sector. It's a significant milestone for both the burgeoning web economy and the the faltering TV medium.

UK advertisers spent ?1.75 billion on web advertising in the first half of 2009 - 4.6% more than the same time last year - according to the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The web now accounts for 23.5% of advertising money spent in the UK - compared to 21.9% for television.

It was originally forecast that the milestone would be passed towards the end of the year, but TV ad spend has plummeted as a result of the recession, dropping 17% on last year's figures. It's now worth ?1.6 billion.

The UK is not the first country where this has happened - a similar watershed was met in Denmark six months ago. However analysts are saying that this is more siginificant in the UK, as it has a considerably larger economy.

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Related links:

• News - Google trials

Tags: Software Online Biz Advertising TV Statistics

Internet becomes biggest ad market in the UK originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:35:32 +0100

Turns out that Vodafone will be getting their hands on the iPhone too. The company joins Orange, who recently announced that they'd be breaking O2's exclusive and also selling the device. A deal is understood to have been signed on the evening of 28 September.

The news was first rumoured by the Telegraph, but was confirmed to Pocket-lint by Vodafone's press office, who told us that the handset would be arriving in early 2010. Beginning today, Vodafone customers will be able to register their interest in the 3G and 3GS at vodafone.co.uk/iphone.

Vodafone's chief executive, Vittorio Colao, has said that the key reason why his company lost 160,000 subscribers in the last quarter was that he didn't have an iPhone to sell them. Vodafone's most juicy exclusive over the last year has been the Android-equipped HTC Magic.

Analysts suspect that more carriers offering the handset will lead to prices coming crashing down. Steven Hartley, analyst at technology research house Ovum, said: "There will be a price war. Research shows that in every country where there is more than one operator selling it, it is cheaper".

He expects the contracts to come down by about ?5 per month, shaving ?120 off the price of the handset when spread over a 2-year contract. The Telegraph also claims that Virgin Mobile are "desperate" to get their hands on the iPhone, too.

We'll keep you posted of pricing and contract details as soon as they're announced.

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Related links:

• News - iPhone 3GS coming to Orange UK
• Via - the Telegraph

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Vodafone Orange O2 iPhone Apple Biz Rumours

iPhone coming to Vodafone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:09:21 +0100

Nokia has announced that it has acquired Dopplr, a privately-held mobile service provider for international travelers.

Dopplr - described as a "social atlas" - has a team of just seven people with offices in London and Helsinki. Dopplr is "thrilled" at the news.

In a statement Nokia says: "The Dopplr team brings to Nokia's Services unit unique know-how in creating internet-based communities and showing their journeys, experiences and tastes collectively on the web".

The acquisition will not affect the current Dopplr service, available at Dopplr.com, or where it is available via other platforms such as Flickr and Twitter as well as Nokia rival Apple's iPhone as an app.

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Tags: Phones Nokia Dopplr Mobile phone apps iPhone apps Acquisitions Biz

Nokia buys "social atlas" Dopplr originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:50:31 +0100

Twitter has revealed it has completed a new round of funding, but it's the amount the funding values the social networking site at that's making headlines.

Two anonymous sources have told Bloomberg that the amount Twitter has received is $100 million, and adds up to a 10% stake. This therefore means that the investors see Twitter's overall value as $1 billion.

Twitter has confirmed the investments, and the names of the companies in a blog post, but makes no mention of amount, other than it is "significant". From Twitter's Evan Williams:

"There's a lot of talk today about our financing. Yesterday we closed a significant round of funding with a group of investment firms that we're excited to publicly thank: Insight Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Morgan Stanley".

"It's interesting to see, almost 10 years since we had the first Internet bubble, that we've now got billion-dollar valuations on companies that haven't defined how they're going to monetize their traffic", David Garrity, principal at GVA Research LLC in New York commented to Bloomberg.

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Related links:

• Link - Twitter

Tags: Software Websites Online Twitter Biz

New Twitter funding values company at $1 billion originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:49:04 +0100

O2 has officially responded to the news that it has lost its exclusivity on the Apple iPhone in the UK.

Following the news that later this year Orange will get the iPhone, in a blog post O2 says: "We always knew that iPhone exclusivity was for a limited period of time, but our relationship with Apple continues and will be an ongoing success".

Revealing that it has "over one million iPhone customers" that "remain very important to us", perhaps as a dig towards Apple, O2 does make a point of mentioning it will soon be offering the rival Palm Pre.

"We also offer award-winning customer service and benefits, which is why more people choose O2 than any other network in the UK", says the operator.

Whether that customer service will be enough to attract wannabe iPhone users if Orange undercuts O2 in pricing, only time will tell.

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Related links:

• News - iPhone 3GS coming to Orange UK

Tags: Phones O2 Orange iPhone Apple Biz

O2 comments on losing iPhone exclusive originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:15:34 +0100

Orange has announced that the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be coming to customers in the UK before the end of 2009.

In a brief statement the company announced that it has reached an agreement with Apple to supply the iPhone through all its retail channels - high street shops, online and via its telesales operation.

Orange currently supply the iPhone in 28 territories, with O2 having had the UK exclusive since the iPhone's launch.

The end of O2's exclusive has been widely discussed recently however and with the network receiving plenty of customer criticism following repeated periods of data downtime, it is perhaps not surprising that Orange choose to point out that they have the largest 3G network in the UK.

Pricing is yet to be announced, but we don't think it will vary much from the premium level that the iPhone attracts on O2.

Interested customers can register their interest online, via the link below.

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Related links:

• Link - Register your interest
• News - O2 comments on losing iPhone exclusive
• News - iPhone coming to Vodafone

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Orange iPhone Apple Biz

iPhone 3GS coming to Orange UK originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:58:41 +0100

Huawei, a Chinese company that as far as consumers go, produces 3G modems, USB modems and as of late, an Android handset, has announced plans to launch a 56Mbps HSPA+ commercial solution in 2010.

The new solution will mean operators can offer download speeds twice that of speeds available today, says the company.

"Advances in mobile broadband, particularly record breaking data speeds and capacity of HSPA networks, have had a profound impact on the telecom industry and demonstrate the enormous potential of UMTS/HSPA", said Wan Biao, president of wireless at Huawei.

"This 56Mbps HSPA+ solution will enable operators to maintain their industry leading positions and provide consumers with an evermore attractive mobile broadband experience".

Huawei claims the solution will mean operators currently using Huawei's fourth gen and 38xx series base stations, can "smoothly evolve" their legacy networks to 56Mbps HSPA+ networks via software upgrades alone.

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Tags: Phones Mobile broadband Huawei Biz Mobile phone industry

Huawei promises 56Mbps HSPA+ mobile broadband in 2010 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:03:48 +0100

The plans drawn up under the government's "Digital Britain" scheme to tax all UK phone lines are to go ahead.

Stephen Timms, the treasury minister in charge of implementing the Digital Britain plans, has confirmed - despite opposition from the Conservatives - that the so-called "broadband tax" will be put in place before the next general election.

The 50p a month levy on all phone lines will raise up to ?175 million a year, and will be added to a fund to support the development of super-fast broadband in Britain.

After revealing the plans at a British Computer Society debate, Timms later reiterated: "my intention is to pass legislation before the election".

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Tags: Software Broadband Digital Britain Biz Stephen Timms

£6 broadband tax confirmed originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:55:49 +0100

The radio industry has announced a new group tasked with getting the UK ready for the digital radio "upgrade".

"Digital Radio UK" is the name of the newly formed organisation that will see the end of the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) and also incorporates the Digital Radio Delivery Group.

The group is described as "a new consumer-facing brand that will co-ordinate and manage the expansion of the digital radio platform throughout the UK".

Digital Radio UK will work with broadcasters, the car industry, manufacturers and retailers so that the industry can upgrade to digital delivery by the end of 2015.

"The launch of Digital Radio UK is a clear indication that the whole radio industry is committed to securing a digital future for radio", says Tim Davie, director of audio and music, at the BBC.

"By working together, we can deliver solutions that significantly increase digital listening and help to make switchover a reality".

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Tags: Audio Radio DAB Radios DRDB Biz Digital Radio UK

Digital Radio UK group announced to manage DAB switchover originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:45:03 +0100

Twitter's CEO Biz Stone has said that the site has no plans to put up adverts this year, and that the company's funding situation is "pretty good right now". He said that the immediate focus for the company was more features.

At 140: The Twitter Conference, Stone said: "Any kind of approach toward advertising is going to be awhile... We're not thinking about that just yet". The features that the company are planning include improved search functions and premium options for commercial accounts.

Those could include analytics tools, Stone said, and are almost certain to also include the "verified account" functionality that the site has already tested with some celebrity-owned accounts. "We wanted to show people that we're here to stay and here we are making money", said Stone.

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• News - Twitter updates Terms of Service

Tags: Software Websites Twitter Social networking Advertising Biz

No Twitter ads planned before 2010 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:04:47 +0100

It seems Microsoft is taking more than Apple's retail business model with its new high street stores - it's nicking staff too.

Reports into The Loop suggest that Microsoft is poaching Apple retail store managers to run its own retail chain, branches of which are due to open this year.

The Loop says that in addition to "significant raises", managers are being offered moving expenses.

Once successfully poached, the ex-Apple bosses are then recruiting their previous top sales staff with the lure of higher salaries.

Previous reports have suggested the location of Microsoft's new stores will be near to existing Apple stores, seeing the two tech giants go head-to-head on the high street.

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• News - Microsoft stores will have resident geeks
• News - Microsoft starts work on Windows retail stores
• News - Microsoft to target Apple Stores for new shop locations

Tags: Hardware shopping Microsoft Apple Biz Rumours

Microsoft poaching Apple retail staff originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:09:15 +0100

Sony has had its knuckles rapped by the Nigerian government, which complained after a recent PS3 ad featured the phrase "You can't believe everything you read on the internet, otherwise I'd be a Nigerian millionaire by now".

The comment is in reference to so-called 419 scams where web users receive emails from people claiming to be Nigerian royalty or businessmen that need to transfer some money and are willing to pay a sizeable cash incentive in exchange for the user's bank details.

The government reacted angrily to the portrayal, saying "Nigeria demands an unconditional apology from Sony Corporation for this deliberate negative campaign against the country's image and reputation".

"The government sees this as an attempt by Sony Corporation to undermine Nigeria's business interest around the world. This insinuation is in bad faith and unacceptable. The government and the good people of Nigeria reject this unwarranted attack on the reputation and image of the country".

Sony has apologised for any offence caused, saying: "It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologise to anyone this may have offended".

The advert has been replaced with another version where the salesman now says "You can't believe everything you read on the internet - that's how World War I started". Overreaction from the Nigerian government or a genuine complaint? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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• News - Nigerian fraudsters target Facebook

Tags: Biz Sony PS3 Advertising Nigeria Video

Nigerian government complains about Sony advert originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:43:27 +0100

Netflix's million-dollar prize for the team which could most improve its movie recommendations service has been awarded to a team of statisticians, machine-learning experts and computer engineers from across the world who call themselves "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos".

It had previously been reported that the prize had been won, but that it wasn't clear by whom - the contest was to make the recommendations 10% better but two teams crossed that threshold before the timer expired - BellKor and another group called the Ensemble.

The race was close - BellKor presented its final submission 20 minutes before the deadline, and then the Ensemble got theirs in a few minutes later - just before time ran out. The teams were mathematically a dead tie, so the contest rules dictated that the team who submitted first took the prize.

Netflix is setting up a second prize - an attempt to model the "taste profiles" of individuals. Contestants will be given demographic and behavioural data of 100 million individuals and asked to recommend them movies. The results will then be compared with what the individuals actually rented.

There's no target this time round, instead it's a straight race - with $500,000 given to the leading team after 6 months, and another $500,000 given to the team doing the best after 18 months. "Three years was a long time to compete in Prize 1", said Netflix's Neil Hunt, "So the next contest will be a shorter time limited race, with grand prizes for the best results at 6 and 18 months".

If you feel like entering then full details will be on netflixprize.com shortly.

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• News - Netflix Prize has been won
• Link - Netflix Prize

Tags: Home Cinema Netflix Video on demand Biz

Netflix prize awarded to BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:27:30 +0100

Dell has announced it is to buy IT service provider Perot Systems.

Texas-based Perot Systems provides IT support to business customers such as hospitals, governments and banks.

Dell said the takeover will mean it will be able to provide a wider range of services to its customers, expanding its enterprise-solutions capabilities.

"We consider Perot Systems to be a premium asset with great people that enhances our opportunities for immediate and long-term growth", said Michael Dell, Dell's chairman and CEO.

Dell added: "The acquisition makes such great sense because of the obvious ways our businesses complement each other".

Dell is paying $3.9 billion for the company. This works out at around ?2.4 billion at today's rates.

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• News - Dell offers Filth laptop

Tags: Hardware Dell Perot Systems Acquisitions Biz

Dell buys IT service provider Perot Systems originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:43:32 +0100

Google has accused Apple of lying to the US government over the Google Voice application being rejected for inclusion in Apple's App store.

The claims come as Google backtracks on its FCC filing over the incident asking for previously redacted content to be made publicly available.

"When we submitted our letter on August 21, we asked the FCC to redact certain portions that involved sensitive commercial conversations between two companies -- namely, a description of e-mails, telephone conversations, and in-person meetings between executives at Google and Apple", Google says in a statement.

However following a series of Freedom of Information Act requests Google said it contacted the FCC in the US asking for those redacted comments to be removed.

The result shows that, if Google is to be believed, Apple's Phil Schiller personally rejected the Google Voice App as well as choosing to make the same call on Google Latitude.

"June 2, 2009. The primary points of contact between the two companies were Alan Eustace, Google Senior Vice President of Engineering & research, and Phil Schiller, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. On July 7, Mr. Eustace and Mr. Schiller spoke over the phone. It was during this call that Mr. Schiller informed Mr. Eustace that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application for the reasons described above in 2(a)", the FCC filing reads.

The response to the questions first filed at the beginning of June portrays a very different set of events detailed by Apple.

In its open letter at the end of August, Apple said that it did not approve the Google Voice application, not because of intervention from the AT&T but because:

"It appears to alter the iPhone's distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone's core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail".

Apple says that the application hasn't even been rejected, it just hasn't been approved.

"Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it... These factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering at this time".

"We continue to work with Apple and others to bring users the best mobile Google experience possible", Google ended its statement on the matter.

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• Link - FCC filing (pdf)

Tags: Software Phones App Store Mobile phone apps Google FCC Apple Biz

Google: Apple lied to FCC over Google Voice App originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:24:39 +0100

Computers in the offices of the team behind the Digital Britain report have been taken by thieves. The Soho office was broken into overnight and all computers stolen.

The irony, of course, is that the one section of the report is tasked with getting computers to people in Britain who aren't on the Web already. In a recent BBC interview, the government's Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox - who founded lastminute.com in 1998 - said that she was concentrating on the 6 million poorest "nonliners".

She posted a message on microblogging site Twitter saying: "O bloody hell the #digitalinclusion office has been broken into and all computers taken :((". However, a spokesperson would only confirm that "a couple of laptops had been stolen".

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• News - Burglar gets caught by Facebook

Tags: Biz Online Digital Britain Lastminute

Digital Britain PCs stolen originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:42:23 +0100

Wow. You guys really like the tag homepages, a lot it seems, so much so that we've now made the default homepage on Pocket-lint look like the tag homepages.

While the module homepage is still alive and kicking, following feedback, usage data and a stack of other feedback from different sources, the tag homepages across the site have been so popular that we've decided to bring virtually all of the features to the homepage.

What that means for you is you get to see what the most popular stories are on the site over the last 24 hours, the articles that we recommend you take a look at, and the most popular reviews over the last 7 days.

If that wasn't enough to get you excited, you can check out the latest reviews on the site via the latest reviews carousel, as well as see the latest news in a more traditional list format.

Fans of the modular homepage don't panic, though, we've got you covered. You can still access that page with all your stored settings on it, it's just moved to a different location - pocket-lint.com/modules.

The module homepage is great if you are an occasional visitor to the homepage and want a glance or overview as to what is happening on the site and what's good to read rather than just seeing the latest breaking stories.

You have a massive amount of control of what stories are displayed. You can choose the modules you want from a comprehensive list such as most read, popular reviews, most commented on, latest videos and plenty more.

If you're not sure what we mean by tag homepages, simply type a company name after the Pocket-lint.com url and you'll see what we mean. It's great for keeping track of your favourite topics.

Ultimately the move is all about us making your experience on Pocket-lint the best it can be.

Stuart and the Pocket-lint team.

Related links:

• Link - modules homepage
• link - Tag homepage example

Tags: Software Audio Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Sports Fitness Photos Site news

Site News: New look homepage originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:56:16 +0100

Want to know what's been hot in the world of technology and gadgets today? Scroll down to see what you should be reading on the site.

NEWS:Pioneer launches CDJ-2000 turntable
With 6.1-inch screen
Pioneer's CDJ-1000 turntable has become the industry standard among DJs that play from CDs thanks to its tank-like construction, big vinyl-emulation wheel and exceptionally precise controls...read more

NEWS:Pentax K-x entry-level digital SLR announced
K-m successor to launch in red, blue and white
Pentax has announced the launch of the K-x digital SLR camera. The claim is that the new snapper combines a variety of advanced features and user-friendly functions in a compact, lightweight body...read more

NEWS:Students gets discount Windows 7
?30 for .ac.uk email addresses
Microsoft has announced a deal for cash-strapped students ahead of the start of the University term across the country...read more

NEWS:UK postcode database gets Wikileaked
Royal Mail "looking into it"
The UK postcode database is reported to have been leaked online over at the Wikileaks site...read more

NEWS:PHOTOS: Pure Sensia internet, DAB and application radio
Hands on with the touchscreen radio/media hub
Pure is aiming for the October release of the Sensia to reinvent radio once again as the hub of home life...read more

NEWS:PHOTOS: HP Dreamscreen digital photo frame
Hands-on photo gallery showing some of the features
HP has released a new range of digital photo frames and Pocket-lint was on hand to snap the new frames in action ahead of their official launch on Thursday...read more

NEWS:MoGo Talk for iPhone adds Bluetooth headset into casing
Slimline Bluetooth headset slots onto the back of your phone
Newton Peripherals, the company that specialises in creating Bluetooth headsets and mice, has launched a new Bluetooth headset that fits snugly into a case that fits on the back of an iPhone 3G and 3GS...read more

NEWS:HP Dreamscreen digital photo frames bring facebook photos to your living room
New model offers music, video alongside pictures
HP has released two new digital photo frames on Thursday that promise to be more than just your average digital photo frame...read more

NEWS:Dell Studio XPS 8000 desktop PCs launch
For demanding users
Dell has launched the new Studio XPS 8000 desktop computers that it says are "designed for people who insist on raw power"...read more

NEWS:Site news: Photo galleries get slick
New features make viewing our images even easier and better
We like photos here at Pocket-lint, we like them a lot. That's why we've been working hard to bring a new slick feature to our photo galleries on the site, for both news and reviews stories, to save you time and improve your experience...read more

Tags: Audio Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Daily news roundup - 17/09/09 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:57:02 +0100

The founders of Skype are suing the investment company that is buying the internet telephony service from current owner eBay, demanding billions in compensation for copyright infringement.

In a move that's highly likely to disrupt the $1.9 billion buy-out, Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, claims peer-to-peer technology owned by Joltid, and not eBay, is being used in a breach of license with every download of the Skype software.

Joltid and Skype are currently in a legal dispute in Britain over software rights, but this brings the fight to the new owners, and the American court system with the lawsuit filed in Northern California.

"The Skype companies have continued to infringe Joltid's copyrighted works on a massive scale. Each day that the Skype Companies continue to make available its Internet telephone software for download, Skype users download Joltid's copyrighted works approximately six times per second" says Joltid, claiming damages of $75 million a day.

"Their allegations and claims are without merit and are founded on fundamental legal and factual errors", eBay said in a statement.

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• News - eBay conforms to rumour, sells Skype

Tags: Software eBay Lawsuits Skype Phones VoIP Biz Joltid

Skype founders sue for billions in damages originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:41:38 +0100

We like photos here at Pocket-lint, we like them a lot. That's why we've been working hard to bring a new slick feature to our photo galleries on the site, for both news and reviews stories, to save you time and improve your experience.

Why should you care?

What now?

Why have we done it?

Will it work on every browser?

Questions?

Related links:

• Photos - Photo stories homepage

Tags: Audio Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Photos Site news

Site news: Photo galleries get slick originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:53:08 +0100

Google has announced in a blog post that it has bought reCAPTCHA, the service that prevents bots from various nefarious online activities by making internet users interpret squiggly words, something computers don't do too well. The price Google paid has not been revealed.

"We're happy to announce to everybody now that Google has acquired reCAPTCHA, a company that provides CAPTCHAs to help protect more than 100,000 websites from spam and fraud", says Google.

Google says it will be applying reCAPTCHA's tech "within Google not only to increase fraud and spam protection for Google products but also to improve our books and newspaper scanning process".

Promising the company is "committed to delivering the same high level of performance that websites using reCAPTCHA have come to expect", it seems it will be business as usual for the online security solution.

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Tags: Software Google Acquisitions reCAPTCHA Security software Online Biz

Google announces it has bought reCAPTCHA originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:50:41 +0100

Microsoft has announced the launch of ?Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition? an updated offering in the Office 2008 for Mac product line.

As well as the Business Edition, the only other product in the simplified range is "Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student".

The new Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition gets the familiar Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, all updated with Service Pack 2) while including new tools "to provide a more complete productivity package for the enterprise".

These include Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, "Document Connection for Mac" and more than 200 business-related templates and clip art.

The new Business Edition has an estimated retail price of ?439.99 (it's $400 in the States) or ?269.99 for the upgrade.

Tags: Software Mac software Microsoft Office software Software updates Biz

Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:40:18 +0100

Facebook is taking a leaf out of Google's book, offering experimental features for the social networking site under the new "Prototypes" scheme.

Like Google's "Labs" options, popular in Gmail, the US company says: "Facebook Prototypes let us share the experimentation going on inside the walls of Facebook with the rest of the world".

Features that might not otherwise see the light of day for being "not quite ready for prime time", a bit esoteric or that "don't quite fit" will be available as opt-in options.

Examples include a "Recent Comments Filter", "Photo Tag Search", and "Enhanced Events Emails", all of which may make it onto the site proper, depending on popularity and feedback.

To access Prototypes, visit the Application Directory and filter by "Prototypes." From there, users should be able to activate or download any of the Prototypes listed.

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• News - Facebook's population tops 300 million

Tags: Software Websites Facebook Statistics Social networking Biz Online

Facebook goes Labs with new "Prototypes" options originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:21:45 +0100

Facebook has revealed its online population has just hit the 300 million mark.

In a blog post, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg says: "It's a large number, but the way we think about this is that we're just getting started on our goal of connecting everyone".

The social networking site hit 200 million in April 2009, following its launch as a campus tool 5 years previous.

More importantly the site is now "cash flow positive", ahead of its 2010 goal to be so.

Zuckerberg ends his post with: "We thank all of you for helping us reach the point where we are connecting 300 million people, and we hope to serve you and many more people in increasingly deep and innovative ways in the months and years ahead".

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• News - Facebook Lite launches

Tags: Software Websites Facebook Statistics Social networking Biz Online

Facebook's population tops 300 million originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:09:25 +0100

Lenovo has announced new laptops for business users with multitouch screen technology.

The ThinkPad X200 tablet PC and the "slim and powerful" ThinkPad T400s laptop offer "Simple Tap" double tapping that claims to bring "simplicity" to touch experience.

The ThinkPad X200, aimed towards fields such as sales, health care and education, now gets two-finger touch for a variety of gestures, including pinching, zooming and flicking while the ThinkPad T400s allows for four finger's input.

Optional specs include sunlight-viewable screens, up to 9-hours battery and Windows 7. More details on the ThinkPad T400s and X200 Tablet are available at www.lenovo.com while we can reveal pricing at ?1770 for the T400s and ?1570 for the ThinkPad X200 tablet.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Lenovo Biz Tablet PCs Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Lenovo ThinkPad T400s

Lenovo ThinkPad X200 and T400s announced originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:46:17 +0100

What's Puma's link to the stock index? There isn't one. What do stripping models have to do with the finance markets? Not an awful lot. This however hasn't stopped the sportswear brand launching an iPhone app that sees models removing layers as the markets go down - "you lose your shirt, the models do too". "It's a bit of fun when we need it most", says Puma. Thanks for that, for a second there we thought it was a dumb publicity stunt.

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Tags: Phones iPhone apps Puma Biz Clothing iPhone Video

VIDEO: Puma iPhone app sees models strip to stock index originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:57:01 +0100

You've probably been using the technology for months if not years, but 802.11n, the wireless standard, has finally been approved by the body that approves these things 7 years after its first conception.

More than 2 years after the first 802.11n draft routers and products started hitting the shelves, the IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology, has finally issued a formal certification for the standard.

"This was an extraordinarily wide-ranging technical challenge that required the sustained effort and concentration of a terrific variety of participants. When we started in 2002, many of the technologies addressed in 802.11n were university research topics and had not been implemented", said Bruce Kraemer, chair of the IEEE Wireless LAN Working Group.

The move, which is unlikely to affect most home users (who are probably already using the 700-odd devices that are 802.11n already on the market) should mean that "big business" will now be happy to get involved.

Until now "big business" has been reluctant to adopt the standard in case there were any last minute changes.

802.11n or Wireless n as it is more commonly known is considerably faster than 802.11g or Wireless g. It is already in many devices with manufacturers opting to list the specification as "draft", something they will no longer have to do.

Tags: Hardware Wi-Fi Biz Broadband IEEE

802.11n approved, loses the "draft" tag originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:02:23 +0100

Pocket-lint has teamed up with Duracell to bring one Pocket-lint reader and friend the chance of winning an adrenaline-fuelled ride in a helicopter.

The pilot will "put the helicopter through its paces in order to show you just how versatile these incredible machines are" so make sure you forgo the full English on the morning of the ride.

The winner will also come away with a Bladez 3D remote control helicopter, a Duracell mini charger and Duracell ActiveCharge rechargeable batteries in a prize package worth ?600.

Duracell ActiveCharge rechargeable cells are ready to go straight out of the packet and have the ability to hold up to 75% of their power even after a year in storage.

Click the link below which will take you to the Duracell website so you can browse their full range of products and the second link will take you to the competitions page where you'll have the chance of winning this top prize by answering the question.

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• Link - Duracell
• Competition - Extreme helicopter ride

Tags: Audio Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Competitions Duracell

Win an extreme helicopter ride originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:16:03 +0100

Nokia has announced it has acquired a US company called Plum Ventures, Inc, a privately held firm with 10 employees based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Plum develops and operates a "cloud-based social media sharing and messaging service for private groups". On its website a user testimonial describes the service as "like Facebook for my family, but more private and intimate".

Plum-powered groups are said to be ideally suited for families, co-workers, neighborhoods, sports, schools, faith and any other existing social group.

Nokia says "Plum will complement Nokia's Social Location services" and that the acquired Plum assets will "become part of Nokia's Services unit".

Plum currently offers an iPhone application which presumably will be discontinued pretty soon.

Tags: Biz Nokia Plum Acquisitions iPhone apps Phones

Nokia acquires social media and sharing company Plum originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:14:53 +0100

Popular micro-blogging service Twitter has announced that it has made changes to its Terms of Service.

The changes are designed to "leave the door open for advertising" and clarify content ownership as well as address the increasing problem of spam on the service.

"Now that we know more about how Twitter is being used, we've made changes to our Terms of Service ... The revisions more appropriately reflect the nature of Twitter and convey key issues such as ownership", says Twitter boss Biz Stone in a blog post.

"Your tweets belong to you, not to Twitter", assures Stone, althought the terms allow Twitter to "use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute" your tweets.

Other tweaks relate to APIs, spam and abusive behavior. Stone ends his blog post with, "It's important that everyone who tweets, develops apps, or is simply interested in Twitter understands that it's not about the technology, it's about how we all use the service that matters most".

Read

Related links:

• News - Twitter offers "101" business guide
• Link - Twitter TOS

Tags: Biz Software Websites Twitter Social networking Advertising

Twitter updates Terms of Service originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:14:55 +0100

Freerunner, the free public Wi-Fi network launched in the UK in May, has announced a fund to invest in free Wi-Fi hotpots to serve local communities in "deprived or remote areas".

The fund is enough for Freerunner to set-up 50 free-to-use hotspots in local communities across the UK.

Community members will be able to apply for one of the 50 connections until 25 September 2009 and can choose where they want it - "be it the local library, youth centre or pub" - says the company.

In addition, Freerunner is working with JustGiving.com, to give 500 UK charity locations free WiFi.

Freerunner wants community members from across the country to apply by sending 150 words explaining where and why they want the connection to connectmenow@freerunr.com or call on 0800 860 0815.

Related links:

• News - Freerunner to bring Wi-Fi to "digitally remote"

Tags: Biz Freerunner Wi-Fi Software Hardware Dad Broadband

Freerunner free Wi-Fi fund opens for applications originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:57:08 +0100

Courtney Love has tweeted that she's planning to take legal action over her late husband's likeness in Guitar Hero 5, saying that she never signed away the rights to have Kurt lip-sync to Bon Jovi.

It started when music journalist Everett True, posted the video above, adding (offensive language warning): "Grohl and Love sanctioned this one for the new Guitar Hero. So respect due to Grohl and Love then. Fucking corporate cock-sucking memory-destroying fret-wanking MTV-supporting fame-chasing money-grabbing grave-turning publicity-loving vacuous spoiled jaded cunting rock whores".

Love responded in a series of increasingly-unhinged tweets, before summing up: "We are going to sue the shit out of Activision; 'we' being the Trust, the Estate, the LLC, the various LLCs, Cobain Enterprises ... For the record, this Guitar Hero shit is breach of contract on a bully's part and there will be a proper addressing of this and retraction".

It remains to be seen if this'll delay the release of the game. There's been no response yet from Activision, but we've contacted the PR team to try and get comment. We'll update if they respond.

Read

Related links:

• News - Guitar Hero: Van Halen trailer released
• Link - Courtney Love on Twitter

Tags: Gaming Biz Audio Guitar Hero Activision Guitar Hero 5 Kurt Cobain Courtney Love

Courtney Love sues Guitar Hero publishers over Cobain likeness originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:07:16 +0100

Energy-efficient portable media players with larger memory capacities (such as say, the new Apple iPod classic) are on the horizon, thanks to a component launch from Toshiba.

Toshiba has launched four new 1.8-inch hard disk drives designed "for use in the next generation of high capacity portable media devices".

Delivering up to 160GB over a single platter, the MKxx34GAL series of HDDs are said to be quiet, lightweight and offer an "unrivalled energy consumption efficiency of up to 0.0019W/GB".

Toshiba boasts that the 160GB model is capable of storing up to 80,000 MP3 songs or 141 hours of DVD-quality video.

Interestingly, when Apple first launched the iPod "classic" back in September 2007 it had a 160GB drive, which then dropped down to 120GB in September 2008, so we're now back up to the bigger capacity.

Tags: Hardware HDDs Toshiba Storage iPod Biz Audio Apple

Toshiba launches 160GB HDD for portable media players originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:25:10 +0100

Brief recap for those who haven't been following this story. Earlier in the year, it was announced that Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X would be buying the notorious Pirate Bay bittorrent tracker and attempting to turn it legitimate.

Then the exec that GGFX put in charge of the acquisition walked out, and things looked rocky, so the company put out a statement explaining that everything was happy and light. That soothed investors, but shortly after the Swedish stock exchange announced that it was looking into trading irregularities around the company.

The shareholders approved the deal and the CEO of GGFX, Hans Pandaya, put up 150m of his own shares as security for the deal. However, the Swedish stock market has just announced that those shares cannot be traded, making them effectively worthless, and making the sale infinitely more difficult again.

The stock exchange, AktieTorget, said: "The alleged infringements have been serious. They give a systematic impression of a lack of accountability and of an almost casual and unsuspecting approach to the disclosure requirements".

"The Aktietorget board regrets that the company has misled the market through its lack of disclosure, which prompted a number of investors to do business they probably would not have done if they were properly informed".

As its shares comprised half of the deal, and they're now worthless, that means that GGFX will have to raise double the cash for the sale to be able to go through. Pandaya claims he's already managed to do that, saying:

"GGFs managed to get enough investors to pay the entire amount in cash, i.e. 60m Swedish kroner and the seller faxed confirmation of acceptance to Aktietorget. We even had a clause that if investors dropped out, I would put the balance and if I could not, I have pledged my GGF shares as security. The transaction is guaranteed, It cannot be stopped".

The CEO claims that the deal will be closed within a fortnight. However, many commentators say they'll be surprised if that happens.

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• News - Pirate Bay deal gets shareholder approval
• News - Pirate Bay taken offline by its ISP

Tags: Biz The Pirate Bay Global Gaming Factory X Music downloads Movie downloads

Pirate Bay buyer removed from Swedish stock exchange originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:51:26 +0100

Perhaps rosy-cheeked is an exaggeration, but Steve Jobs took centre stage at the company's "It's Only Rock and Roll, But We Like It event" garnering a standing ovation from the Apple faithful.

Following rumours of the Apple CEO's health declining, Jobs stepped down in January. He missed the WWDC keynote in May, but returned gradually in June and July following a liver transplant. His return to the stage means that he's now confident enough to take the helm once again.

"I now have the liver of a mid 20-year-old", Steve said, encouraging the audience to become audience donors, and thanked Tim Cook and the Apple exec team for running the company in his absence.

It was the first time the CEO had publicly confirmed his liver transplant in February.

Google's Eric Schimdt was also in attendance.

UPDATED: We've added video of the opening speech by Steve Jobs from the WSJ

Related links:

• News - Hospital confirms Steve Jobs had liver transplant
• Video via - wsj

Tags: Biz Apple Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs takes to the stage at Apple keynote originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:03:15 +0100

President Barack Obama has spoken out against the potential dangers of posting personal content on social networking sites.

Answering a question put to him from a group of teens, about how to go about becoming president, Obama said:

"Well, let me give you some very practical tips. First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life".

"And when you're young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I've been hearing a lot about young people who - you know, they're posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search".

President Obama's tech-savvy White House administration uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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• News - Obama to use YouTube for weekly address

Tags: Software Biz Facebook Barack Obama YouTube Online Websites Social networking

President Obama warns "be careful" on Facebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:17:01 +0100

Apple has made an unexpected move and slashed the prices of its iPod range in the States ahead of today's media event, widely expected to be the launch pad for new models.

Apple usually takes its online store offline before an event only to bring it back up refreshed with new products and pricing, but this time round has reduced the prices a good few hours before the media event is due to begin.

In the States the 32GB iPod touch is now $279 (down from $399), the 16GB is $249 (was $299) while the 8GB model is reduced to $189 instead of $229.

The iPod nano has also been reduced in the US, it's now at $129 for the 8GB model and $149 for the 16GBer, while the classic is down to $229 (was $249).

UK pricing has not been dramatically cut as yet. We will keep you posted.

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• Feature - The Apple iPod rumour round-up

Tags: Audio iPod Apple iPod Touch iPod nano iPod shuffle iPod classic shopping Biz

Apple slashes iPod prices ahead of media event originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:49:38 +0100

A top Orange exec has said that the recently announced merger with T-Mobile will give the new network a "huge advantage" in bidding for the iPhone, as well as other high-end handsets.

Apple's iPhone is currently offered exclusively through O2 in the UK, but recent reports have suggested that this deal is soon to end, with both Orange and T-Mobile previously tipped to offer the touchscreen device.

Tom Alexander, Orange's chief executive, who will head the two-company merger, told The Telegraph: "We've got a fantastic platform and are obviously the network of choice for all multimedia devices, including potential (sic) the iPhone in future".

Meanwhile, Gervais Pellissier, FD of Orange's parent company France Telecom, said: "We [France Telecom and T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom] are both very good partners of Apple in our domestic markets and [the joint venture means] we have a very good chance to be a strong partner here in the UK".

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Tags: Phones T-Mobile Orange iPhone Apple Biz

T-Mobile/Orange gunning for the iPhone originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:22:35 +0100

Datz Music Lounge, an all-you-can-eat music subscription service that launched in the UK in October 2008, has closed down.

Although bad news for those that forked out the ?99 fee for the service, what's worse news is that unscrupulous retailers appear to be still flogging the box set the service was sold in.

A visit to the Datz Music Lounge site offers a blank page and the message, "Datz Music Lounge is currently closed, sorry".

However, a Google Shopping search shows the service still being merrily sold by various retailers, one of which - until very recently - was apparently Sainsburys, as reports the "Bitter Wallet" blog.

There appears to have been no official statement from the company behind the service as to its closure, or any news of refunds to those who opted for the year's downloads for ?99.

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Related links:

• News - Datz Music Lounge launches

Tags: Audio Music downloads Datz Biz

Datz Music Lounge closes down originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:30:52 +0100

The news of an Orange/T-Mobile merger was quite a lot for most of us to deal with this morning on the wrong side of a shower and a cup of coffee, but we are all assured through bleary eyes that the resulting largest network in the UK would bring "substantial benefits" to customers. Will it? Something about having a real competitor forVodafone and O2 to deal with seems like a good idea but how is having one less consumer choice going to affect things?

It's going to take the best part of 18 months before customers know where they stand but, in the mean time, here are our hopes and dreams for what those "substantial benefits" might be and how likely they are to happen.

1) Amazing 3G coverage

Likelihood:

2/5 bars of reception

2) Sharing the cost of networks

Likelihood:

Full reception

3) They ditch the animal tariffs

Likelihood:

Full reception

4) A mobile price drop

Likelihood:

1/5 bars of reception

5) O2 won't end up with all the best phones

Likelihood:

4/5 bars of reception

6) O2 sorts its coverage out

Likelihood:

3/5 bars of reception

7) Orange Wednesdays for all

Likelihood:

4/5 bars of reception

8) Improved customer service

Likelihood:

2/5 bars of reception

9) 3 will flourish

Likelihood:

3/5 bars of reception

10) They call themselves Earl Grey

Likelihood:

No signal

Related links:

• News - Orange and T-Mobile to merge

Tags: Biz Orange T-Mobile Mobile phones Features Mergers

10 things we'd love the Orange/T-Mobile merger to mean... originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:12:47 +0100