New guidelines boost web access
The World Wide Web Consortium has announced a new standard to make sites more accessible to older and disabled people. Version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines will apply to text, images, audio and video. It also covers web applications and will give developers more flexibility than older guidelines.
BBC News

Twitter ye not: crash survivor updates blog from burning plane
When a Continental Airlines Boeing 737 skidded off the runway at Denver airport on Saturday software engineer Mike Wilson’s first priority was to report his disrupted travel arrangements to his followers on Twitter. Over the ensuing hours he delivered a detailed account of the crash and its aftermath to users of the service.
The Guardian

iPhone 3G launched in Jordan
Orange is now selling the iPhone 3G in Jordan, which is the second country in the Middle East after Egypt. However, the device is lacking in local language and services support. For example, iTunes (and as such App Store) is not available and the device itself doesn't support Arabic language.
Mobile Entertainment

Kellogg's Special K creates new website for slimming challenge
Kellogg is promoting its Special K Slimmer Jeans Challenge with its new Shapemate website. It will offer free personalised slimming and fitness plans, along with a shopping list creator, live blogs and groups that slimmers can join. The site has been created by magneticNorth.
Brand Republic

Orange reports mobile social networking surge
Orange has reported a huge increase in the uptake of mobile data services, particularly social networking. Facebook and Bebo, generate 166 million page impressions on average per month on Orange's networks, driven by a combination of more advanced handsets, USB dongles and affordable price plans.
Total Telecom

Windows XP gets another reprieve
Microsoft has extended its deadline for smaller PC builders and resellers to obtain licenses for Windows XP. The previous deadline of 31 January 2009 has been extended four months to 30 May 2009. However, even after the new deadline has passed, the operating system will still be available on ultra-low-cost PCs until June 30, 2010.
Silicon.com

Panasonic to acquire Sanyo Electric
Panasonic plans to boost its rechargeable-battery business with the acquisition of Sanyo Electric for £6m. The merger will allow Panasonic to gain access to Sanyo's production technology and hopes to invest heavily in batteries for hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles.
ZDNet

Ten million online music tracks "unsold"
More than ten million tracks from an available 13 million available failed to sell contradicting a popular economic theory about digital internet shopping. A study by MCPS-PRS Alliance revealed that for the online albums market, of the 1.23 million available, only 173,000 were ever bought, meaning 85% did not sell a single copy all year.
Pocket-Lint

Mobile Phone Subscribers Pass 4 Billion Mark
Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that 60% of the global population is now experiencing connectivity to the world. And for the first time through wireless, millions of people are changing their economic, social and political fortunes forever. The estimates come as more than 100 operators worldwide, including most industry leaders, have announced expectations to migrate networks to LTE from 2010.
Cellular News

HP brings Wi-Fi printing to iPhone
Hewlett Packard announced a new free application that allows users to print out their photographs on its printers. The application allows you to print to any HP printer on a Wi-Fi network that you have access to. However, concerns have already been expressed with Jpg only support and that any phone call received at the critical moment may disrupt the printing process
Tech Radar

Apple takes 3.8% stake in Imagination Technologies

Apple has invested $4.8 million into semiconductor company Imagination Technolgies, which could see the chipmaker have a bigger role in Apple’s products as a result.

Information Week

 

O2 unveils more low-cost broadband offers

O2 has unveiled its latest low cost broadband offer – this time for home broadband users, who get unlimited data and speeds of up to 20 megabytes for under£10. this follows an earlier low-cost offer for mobile broadband that O2 launched a few weeks ago.

Total Telecom

 

Gates Foundation donates $7m to encourage broadband access

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $6.9m to advocacy group Connected Nation and to the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy to promote better broadband access with speeds of at least 1.5 Mbps to public libraries to key states in the US.

Silicon.com

 

Anti-piracy plan to make ISPs liable for illegal downloads

The Government is considering a radical plan to combat internet piracy, by offering ISPs a profit-sharing deal that would see them make a small return on every film or music track, which could make them millions of pounds in additional revenue.

The Guardian

 

Google bakes a ‘cupcake’ for Android

Android is on the cusp of providing new functionality that will see its main rival the iPhone left behind. ‘Cupcake’ is a new update to the Android platform that brings more than just simple bug fixes. Designed for developers, Cupcake will enable Android to have cut-and-paste and video recording before the iPhone.

Information Week

 

Nokia's Mail on Ovi public beta goes 'live' around the world

Mail on Ovi, the free email account from Nokia, is now 'live' and can be set up directly on Nokia phones without requiring a PC to get started. People who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own email address directly on their mobile phones.

Cellular News

 

India to cut off 25 million mobile phones

The telecoms ministry of India is set to switch off connections to around 25 million of the country's 315 million mobile phones which it believes have fake IMEI numbers or none at all.

Tech radar

 

Microsoft refines the reverse touchscreen

Microsoft has unveiled a new credit-card sized touchscreen, where users control the device by dragging their finger along the rear of the display.

PC Pro

 

Ofcom acts against rip-off comms charges

UK communications regulator Ofcom has issued new guidelines that limit extra charges that communications suppliers levy on consumers for a range of events, notably early cancellation of contracts and for not paying by direct debit.

Computer Weekly

 

Samsung to Launch a Google Phone in Q1 2009

Samsung is reported to be preparing to launch a new Smartphone based on the Google backed Android operating system within the next few months. The second "Google Phone" is expected to be available in both GSM/3G and CDMA options and sold via T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel.

Cellular News

Yahoo to delete internet searches after 3 months

Yahoo is to remove most of the data it collects about people's web searches after three months, a move that could put further pressure on competitors Google and Microsoft to do the same due to privacy concerns. Yahoo, which previously kept the data for 13 months, will now retain it for the least amount of time compared to its rivals.

PC Advisor 

 

Nationwide standard for mobile rail ticketing

The Association of Train Operating Companies has announced that it has adopted a nationwide standard for rail ticketing. All franchises will be able to use the same system, allowing passengers to buy a single ticket for their journey using their mobile even if they use more than one network.

The Times 

 

Sprint rolls out WiMax card

Sprint has unveiled a new wireless USB modem designed for both 3G and 4G networks. The USB-powered device is the first in the US market to run on both 3G and WiMax wireless networks. Sprint hopes that the device will appeal to notebook users who would like to try the new 4G networks without giving up support for the older 3G wireless broadband systems.

VNUnet

 

Vodafone partners with Last.fm

Vodafone has teamed up with UK music community site, Last.fm to produce a dedicated application that will track listening habits and build them into an online profile for others to see. The process of collating listening habits is called ‘Scrobbling’, and Last.fm uses the scrobbled data to make music recommendations based on individual tastes.

T3

 

Motorola cost-cutting continues

Motorola has moved to extend its $800 million cost-cutting programme and will permanently stop matching contributions to its US employee pension plan from March 1st. Employees have also been told that they will not be receiving pay rises in 2009, with co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha taking a voluntary 25 per cent pay cut next year.

Mobile Entertainment

 

Websites using mobiles and GPS to be success in 2009

Among a list of sites to watch are several that use the phones' ability to find their users' location to offer them information on local POIs. Smart-phones using GPS chips can report locations accurately meaning users can trace their movements through an on-screen map. Sites listed include loopt.com and recyclenow.com.

The Telegraph

EDB and Encap secure internet banking log-in using a mobile

EDB, working in collaboration with Norwegian technology company Encap, is now launching a new solution for secure log-in using a mobile phone. The solution uses the customer’s mobile handset's Java platform, therefore operating regardless of which mobile operator the banking customer uses.

Mobile Europe

 

Paris Hilton to launch Bongo Virus 

Australian entrepreneur, William Scott, has signed Paris Hilton to launch his latest business venture. TheBongoVirus.com is the first platform converging the mobile phone and the internet to provide social networking and the latest phone applications such as instant messaging and games in one place.

Mobile Business

 

Hidden costs of music downloads

Consumers are facing data charges of up to £10 to download a song, according to new research on European data pricing. Although some operators charge as little as 75p to download tracks, the small print outlining ‘fair usage’ within the Terms and Conditions means operators could charge much higher costs.

Mobile Business

 

EU threatens vendors with Smartphone tax

The EU has proposed reclassifying Smartphones as "multi-function devices", which would add 3.7% to the cost of a phone with GPS, and 14% to one receiving TV pictures. Germany has already considered such a tax, so the EU wants to see a level playing field by lifting it everywhere.

The Register

They wrote it so you don't have to: digital music analysts and all-round lovely people Music Ally have posted a list of the 200 music start-ups of 2008. Some of them started and failed within the year, and many more will not see the end of 2009. But what's most interesting is the energy and ideas around digital music as people look to make some kind of money out of the whole thing.

U.K.-based Mobile Search Company Taptu Raises $10 Million, Hires COO

Mobile search engine developer Taptu has raised around £6.45million in a second round of funding, bringing their total funding to £11.45million with help from investors 3i and Sofinnova. The money will be used to grow its userbase and establish how best to monetize the search engine, said new COO Andreas Bernstrom.

The Washington Post

 

Japan networking site stock soars 45 pct in debut

While the global financial and economic crisis has largely put the brakes on a slow Japan IPO market, Japanese social networking site operator Gree Inc has emerged as the one shining star, its shares soaring 45 percent in their debut on the Tokyo bourse on Wednesday.

The Guardian

 

Yahoo launches pitch to beef up mobile services

Yahoo is seeking a roster of mobile agencies to develop and deliver mobile creative services.  It’s looking to build its capabilities around the mobile Internet as seeks to drive ad sales across Europe and encourage greater take-up of mobile ad opportunities by offering clients a range of additional services.

New Media Age

 

Internet Explorer users warned to change browser over security fears

A serious flaw in security has left Internet Explorer users exposed to attacks from hackers hoping to steal personal data and passwords by tricking them into visiting unsafe websites. It is thought that two million computers have already been affected as Microsoft conceded that 1 in 500 internet users may have been exposed.

The Times

 

Half of women prefer web to sex, says survey

According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Intel, 65% of adults say they can't live without the internet. 46% of women and 30% of men said they would rather go without sex for a fortnight than give up internet access.

The Independent

 

Internet advertising threatened by concerns of breaches of privacy

Virgin Media says it still intends to use some form of targeted advertising technology to take advantage of the data that its network collects of its subscribers’ Internet usage.  Many of Virgin Media’s customers have expressed concern of its deal with Phorm, which has been slammed as cyber snooping technology.

The Guardian

 

North Korea launches restricted mobile service

One of the most secretive countries has launched a mobile phone but the service is likely to reach only a slice of the population. This is a remarkable development for the country that last saw a mobile service launch in 2002 but was then withdrawn after a mysterious train bombing.

The Guardian

 

Apple pulls out of Macworld

Apple has announced that January’s Macworld will be the last that it participates in. It also announced that Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing will provide the keynote speech in stead of CEO Steve Jobs. This may mark the beginning of Apple holding its own events rather than attend industry conferences.

Silicon.com 

 

Siemens pays €1bn in corruption fines

Siemens has been ordered to pay €1 billion in fines to settle two long-running corruption cases. The company was fined for activity related to a bribery fund being set up to win new contracts and a case accusing the Board of failing to fulfil its supervisory obligations.

Information Age 

 

Nortel seeks advice to avoid bankruptcy

Nortel denies that it is about to declare bankruptcy but is simply seeking advice in order to avoid it. It’s already looking to sell its profitable Metro Ethernet division and has announced more redundancies. Last month it announced a $3.4bn loss, which sparked speculation it was about to collapse.

Information Age 

Some pretty interesting news reported today on the US MacWorld site: for the first time in 25 years, Apple have announced they won't be exhibiting at the biggest tradeshow dedicated to all things Mac from next year.

It's hard to know what the significance of this is. There's already a lot of speculation that this is related to Steve Jobs' health, but it could just be that Apple has a different strategy up it's sleeve. As it tries to transition its products into other vertical markets, it could be that one big tradeshow per year just doesn't fit with its product roadmap. But whatever the reason, feeelings will be funning high amongst Apple fans. As Jason Snell, author of the MacWorld article says:

"I’m stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe. But I’m not really surprised: Apple has been leading up to this moment for a long time now."

 Have a read and see what you think.

Christmas is always a time for the media to either look back or look ahead. the chaps at CCS Insight have got in early with this vision of 2009 - some interesting ideas, and some safe and not so safe predictions. For example, if Nokia really can expand its market share above 40% then there are a couple of other handset companies who are going to be in a lot of trouble next year.

Anyway, to sign up for this kind of wisdom direct, go to www.ccsinsight.com.

1. Global sales of mobile phones will shrink in 2009.
Global economic conditions will hit all players, from handset manufacturers and network operators to component suppliers, developers, distributors and retailers. Consolidation is highly likely, most noticeably in handset manufacturing, chipset supply, distribution and retailing. We predict Nokia's unrivalled advantages in distribution, economies of scale and supply chain efficiency will take its global market share beyond 40 percent in 2009. By 2010, Samsung will have increased its market share above 20 percent.

2. Sales of phones in emerging markets will buck the recession in 2009.
India, sub-Saharan Africa and China still have low penetration rates. In the long term, growing sales of replacement phones will provide opportunities for phone makers without the scale to compete with Nokia and Chinese manufacturers in entry-level segments. These segments will see greater competition and falling prices in 2009 as Nokia's keen pricing of ultra-low-end devices such as the 1202 puts more pressure on the likes of Huawei and ZTE.

3. Most European networks will make mobile broadband their top priority in 2009.
The smaller networks will use mobile broadband to attract users to their voice and text tariffs. We expect to see further development of prepaid mobile broadband. The demand for mobile broadband will prompt many operators to extend their range of laptops and netbooks.

4. Every operator in Western Europe will offer an "unlimited" tariff by the end of 2009.
More and more people will expect their phone tariff to include "unlimited everything" —voice, data and text. So-called unlimited plans will be complemented by other tariffs with large bundles of voice minutes, text messages and data allowances, enough to give people the impression they have unlimited access.

5. Mobile advertising will fail to live up to the hype.
By the end of 2009, annual mobile advertising revenue in Western Europe will amount to €236 million, with mobile search and off-portal advertising representing the largest proportion of this sum. Advertising agencies are still learning about the opportunities to engage with consumers on this powerful medium. For advertisers, the mobile medium provides a much more effective and targeted way to reach people than traditional media, such as TV and print.

6. At least 20 Android phones will be announced in 2009 and five global network operators will declare support for the platform.
The Open Handset Alliance and its Android platform will gather significant momentum, mounting a major challenge to other licensable mobile software platforms.

7. Mobile TV still won't take off in 2009.
Although more than 3 million people in Western Europe will own a mobile phone that can receive a broadcast signal, usage will be limited, especially beyond major sporting events, news stories and reality shows. Adoption will be driven by people's desire to own the latest fashionable phone and by attractive flat-rate bundles, rather than a focus on mobile TV content.

8. The megapixel arms race will see 10- and 12-megapixel cameras appear in 2009.
Consumers will still equate more megapixels with better image quality. We expect camera phones with up to 12-megapixel sensors to appear in 2009; flagship phones will feature 15-megapixel devices by 2010.

9. In 2009, phone manufacturers will engage in "gigabyte wars".
Gigabytes will join megapixels as a measure that consumers will use to assess the performance of a mobile phone. The low cost of memory will make it possible to have tens of gigabytes of memory on high-end phones. This memory will be used to store the huge selection of content (user created, side-loaded and downloaded over the air) that will become available.

10. Four manufacturers will launch "green" phones in 2009.
Environmental initiatives will be a key theme at Mobile World Congress 2009 as phone makers flaunt their green credentials. However, consumers will remain largely unimpressed unless saving the planet means a lower price tag.

Nokia has seen great publicity for its new Comes with Music service - essentially an all-you-can-eat music service tied to one of 2 Nokia mobile phones. It's a brave play (one journalist told me that the record labels know there's no money to be made, but they are along for the ride) but if Nokia's Ovi strategy is to succeed, they need to see the handset as the content gateway, rather than the operators. That's a view also supported by Ben Wood from CCS Insight:

"Firstly, the Nokia 5310 isn’t as cool as Apple’s products, and buyers have repeatedly proved they’re happy to pay a premium for cool gadgets. Secondly, many people don’t pay for much of the music on their iPods: they rip it from CDs they already own or find other free sources. This makes paying for unlimited music look expensive, even if it is only a one-time fee marketed as part of a mobile phone bundle. And finally, Nokia’s offer is tied to a particular phone or PC. Despite the generous limits placed on such usage, Comes With Music restricts users in a way that ripped CDs and other “free” music don’t."

Maybe to a consumer, content is only 'free' when it's both free from cost and also free from useage restrictions? Be interesting to see how this pans out...

Cineworld goes green with virtualisation

UK cinema chain Cineworld has relaunched its website, saving money and reducing power consumption in the process. The new website can cope with up to 500,000 users per day and the use of virtualised servers means the capacity of the site can be scaled up easily and quickly if needed.

Silicon.com

 

HCL completes £440m Axon buy

HCL Technologies outbid Infosys and has finalised its purchase of SAP consultancy Axon, marking the largest ever acquisition by an Indian technology company. The acquisition could see HCL’s enterprise application services revenues increase from 11 per cent to 25 per cent of total revenues.

VNUnet

 

Google drops off top 20 most trusted list

Results released today by Poneman Institute on behalf of Trust-e reveals concerns over Google’s privacy policy and how long it keeps user's personal data for. Google has for the first time dropped out of the list of top 20 trusted sites. Most Trusted Companies For Privacy surveyed 6,486 US Adult consumers.

Pocket-Lint

 

PC sales up while Macs flatline

Research from NPD, reveals PC sales where up 7% in November, compared to its Apple rival with overall sales in the US remaining flat year-on-year. IDC expects global PC sales to fall 5.3% next year to £174.7 billion.

PC Pro

 

Adobe learns lessons of open-source Flex

Just a year and a half after Adobe released its Flex Software Development Kit under the Mozilla Public License to encourage developer buy in, it's the company that continues to innovate, build and fix Flex, as it struggles to get Flex adopted by the open-source community.

The Register

 

iPhone sparks accelerometer boom

10% of mobile devices shipped globally in 2009 will include MEMS accelerometers, says iSuppli. This will help the global MEMS accelerometer market for mobile phones and other consumer electronics to grow to 900 million units in 2012, up from 65 million in 2007.

Mobile Entertainment

 

Mobile Distillery Promises Easy Migration of iPhone Apps

Mobile Distillery has announced tools and processes that enable quick and easy migration of iPhone applications to Java ME phones and other platforms such as BREW, Windows Mobile and Android. This means that companies can quickly and effectively reach the other 80% of Smartphone users who don’t have an iPhone.

Mobile Marketing Magazine

 

Mobile Marketing Association reports unprecedented growth in 2008

The MMA has announced that 2008 was the biggest growth year that it has seen so far. It acquired over 200 new members in 2008, an increase of 40% over 2007 membership and also created a new branch for Latin America and set up local councils in the UK, India, South Africa and Ireland.

GoMo News

 

Facebook helps to find transplant donors for sick children

Campaigns launched on Facebook have helped save children's lives by persuading thousands of users to become members of tissue transplant registers. By joining the registers, users have helped widen the pool of bone marrow and blood donors available and increase the chance of a match being found for patients.

Brand Republic

 

Vodafone drops England cricket sponsorship

Vodafone has announced it will not be renewing its sponsorship deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board. The current four-year agreement will conclude at the end of the Winter Tour of South Africa in January 2010. Vodafone has previously used England international cricket matches to promote related content services.

Mobile Entertainment

Apple plans 3D operating system

Apple's proposed new OS looks like it will add real depth to the computer screen for the very first time. Features include the option of stacking and arranging icons and folders and 'falling' files if not placed properly on the screen.

Tech radar

 

BT completes trial with Phorm

BT has completed its trial with Phorm, the controversial ISP-based behavioural targeting company. Phorm, which tracks user's internet habits as they trawl the web, kicked off its trial with the ISP in September with 10,000 BT customers undergoing the trial.

New Media Age

 

Microsoft launches iPhone app

Seadragon Mobile from Microsoft is free to download from Apple's iTunes App Store and gives users the ability to access online photo libraries either using the phone's 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

PC Advisor

 

Virgin Media broadband speeds up

Virgin Media is widely expected to unveil a 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) domestic broadband service today. It doing so it will be the first UK ISP to roll out a next generation broadband service that runs far faster than most others available to UK web users.

BBC Technology

 

Mobile revenue to hit $1 trillion in 2013

Annual revenues from the global mobile market will top $1.03 trillion by 2013, by which time the number of subscriptions will have risen to more than 5.3 billion, according to Informa Telecoms & Media.

Mobile Entertainment

 

Google wants "fast track" for services

Google has approached ISPs with a proposal to create a "fast lane" for its own content, raising concerns about network neutrality. With OpenEdge, Google would pay providers to place servers directly within their network, meaning its pages and service would spring to life much faster than those of its rivals.

PC Pro

 

Android to land in Chinese market?

Following the T-Mobile G1 and the Kogan Agora soon expected in Australia, reports are pointing to the “Ophone”, a codename for should the Android phone that will be based on China Mobile's Open Mobile System.  

Silicon

 

Nintendo turns DS into e-book contender

Next week Nintendo will release a £20 DS cartridge called 100 Classic Book Collection. The Nintendo DS costs half the price of the Sony Reader, however its tools appear to be limited compared to dedicated e-books.

Tech Radar

 

Merry Christmas Telstra! Australian incumbent thrown off national network bid

The announcement that Australian national operator, Telstra, has apparently been excluded from the bidding process for the country's government-sponsored national broadband network project sent its stock price crashing and electrified the industry. Telstra said it had been excluded because its bid did not include an SME business development plan.

Telecom TV

 

Voice payments service could help snare more customers

VoicePay TV, which has already signed up around 200 retailers, would allow retailers to place a free-phone number, VoicePay product code and logo into any video advertisement. Customers interested in buying a product they see advertised simply call the free-phone number and authorise the transaction via voice authentication.

VNUnet