UK hacker extradited to US
British hacker Gary McKinnon has lost his bid to avoid extradition. The US wants to try the 43-year-old Londoner for what it calls the “biggest military computer hack of all time”, in 2001 and 2002. McKinnon admits hacking, but denies it was malicious or that he caused damage costing $800,000 (£487,000). He has always insisted he was looking for classified documents on UFOs. McKinnon faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted.
BBC

One of our iPhone prototypes has gone missing
One week after the apparent suicide of a Chinese factory worker accused of stealing a carefully guarded Apple iPhone prototype, one question remains unanswered: what happened to the missing phone? A likely answer is that the device ended up in the hands of Shenzhen's notoriously entrepreneurial counterfeiters. "The copying of prototypes certainly happens a lot in the electronics and IT industries," said Dane Chamorro, a regional general manager with Control Risks, a corporate investigations consulting firm. "You don't have to steal them, you just have to borrow one for a day."
Reuters

PocketTV breaks 2.5m views
Sony Ericsson's PocketTV, a digital entertainment show for mobile phones, has broken 2.5 million views. The programme, which is now in its ninth week in a run of 13, has seen an increase in views per week compared to 'normal' TV which usually sees an early peak followed by a viewer decrease. As the UK's first YouTube show, there was some scepticism whether the format would work as users have shown that mobile TV has yet to spark interest among mobile phone users, with the Twitter feed for the site also growing quickly as the interest in PocketTV picks up.
Tech Radar

Apple files iPhone Nano patent?
Apple has submitted a patent detailing a new device that shows it is at least looking at the possibility of an iPhone nano. Of course, Apple has submitted around 32 bazillion patents in the last few years, with many pertaining to its phone line up (well, one phone: the iPhone). The new patent submitted shows a much smaller device, bizarrely with controls on the back of the device. This means a front screen with no touch sensitivity (as far as we can tell poring through the documents) and a touch sensitive rear face.
Tech Radar

Microsoft promises better Windows phones
The President of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division today confirmed the company's commitment to improving Windows phones with better browsing and media features. Robbie Bach admitted that while Windows Mobile phones today were strong at business functions, "in consumer space – browsing, media, video – the experiences are not as rich as they need to be. Microsoft will expand those experiences dramatically, working from start to finish. Browsing will be dramatically better with access to more websites than you'll be able to get on an iPhone."
Tech Radar

Security experts warn of SMS vulnerabilities
Researchers are warning of a new vulnerability which could leave the HTC Magic and other mobile phones open to attack. The vulnerability was demonstrated at the Black Hats Conference in Las Vegas using the iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile smartphones. If exploited, the vulnerability could allow an attacker to take control of a handset and use the compromised device to send out additional spam messages or install malware.
V3

Adobe patches critical Flash hole
Adobe has released a patch for a critical Flash Player problem that could let attackers take over people's computers through content viewed in a browser. The vulnerability affected a file that shipped with Flash Player 9.x and 10.x and with Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 9.x. Adobe said on Thursday it fixed the problem in a security advisory.
ZDNet

Skype faces shut down over eBay spat
Online auctioneer eBay has begun developing an alternative to the P2P technology used by Skype as a licensing dispute drags on and threatens to close the popular IP telephony service.  eBay acquired Skype in 2005 but did not include the peer-to-peer networking technology on which it run which is owned Joltid and licensed to Skype. The two sides have fallen over this licensing agreement.
PC Advisor

Samsung, LG and Apple making waves in mobile market
Latest numbers by Strategy Analytics have shown that Samsung and LG outperformed the market in the second quarter and Apple sold more than six times as many iPhones in the quarter than it did in the year-ago period.
CBR Online

Spotify launches video advertising - one step from Spotify Video service?
Spotify today launched a new video advertising unit prompting suspicions that it is planning to move into video. The first advertiser is Sony Pictures which is using the player to promote Sony Pictures’ latest cinema release, The Taking of Pelham 123. The borderless Flash video player runs inside the Spotify application and allows the user to pause, play, rewind and adjust the player volume.  A separate audio message will also be used.
Tech Crunch

Tesco introduces ‘unlimited’ tariff
UK MVNO Tesco Mobile, has introduced a tariff that provides a notional £500 worth of phone usage for just £30 a month. The “credit-crunch” beating offer, gives user’s calls, texts and data access. Though, as it is a SIM-only deal subscribers will have to provide their own handset.
Know your Mobile

MSN UK to stream free content
In a pilot project, MSN Video will offer 350 hours of free content, supported by advertising and the video site has agreed content deals with BBC Worldwide and All3Media. The streams are optimised for 512kbps broadband, and do not have Digital Rights Management copy protection, but an IP lock will block access to the content outside the UK.
Guardian

Vodafone scraps T-Mobile deal
Vodafone is rumored to have dropped interest in the purchase of T-Mobile after shareholders voiced concerns over the deal. In the company’s annual general meeting, Vodafone chairman, Sir John Bond, revealed that there is no sale process in place for T-mobile but hinted that consolidation would be good thing citing” too many networks and too few customers in the UK”.
PC Advisor

Open source boosted by recession
A recent IDC study has shown that the market for open source software has been accelerated due to a poor economy and is set to continue growth at a 22.4 per cent rate, reaching $8.1 billion by 2013. The forecast is considerably higher than 2008, as the study included more open-source projects than last year’s. open-source software has received a much higher acceptance over the past 12 months as well as the current economic climate.
E Week Europe

UK tech market to 'top £50bn’
Consumer research group Mintel, is forecasting the UK tech market to reach over £60bn by the end of 2014. The firms predictions come after analysing consumer trends from 2004 to 2008 and have seen an increase of 13 per cent over the four year period. Mintel believes that Britons will maintain their thirst for gadgets in the years ahead, despite the current economic climate.
PCR

Microsoft and Yahoo take on Google
Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google. Microsoft's Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft's online offering.
BBC

Dongle users face stiff penalties
Mobile broadband users face stiff penalties for exceeding their download limits even though most aren't aware of what those limits are. A survey conducted by price comparison website Moneysupermarket found that three in four mobile broadband users risk such charges. It found that over half did not know what their limit was, with a further 24 per cent not even realising they had any.
BBC

WiFi carrier payments boosts mobile content sales
Mobile payment and analytics company Bango has launched WiFi-enabled carrier billing for smartphones, claiming that method boosts mobile content sales considerably.
While Bango claims that carrier payments deliver more successful transactions than traditional payment methods, mobile content revenues have been impacted by the increasing popularity of smartphones, such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone.
Mobile Marketer

Mac flaw could let hackers get scrambled data
A Mac security expert has uncovered a technique that hackers could use to take control of Apple computers and steal data that is scrambled to protect it from identity thieves.
Prominent Mac researcher Dino Dai Zovi disclosed the software flaw at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, one of the world's top forums for exchanging information on Internet threats.
Reuters

France Telecom aims to limit margin erosion
France Telecom posted higher-than-expected first-half operating income on Thursday but warned of a slowdown in activity in the second half and increasing cost pressure due to regulatory decisions. The French former state-owned incumbent operator, which has the Orange brand name, said its core operating profit margin slipped 0.7 percentage points in the first half but rose 0.2 points in the second quarter.
Reuters

European Commission approves spectrum refarming
The European Commission has approved the use of 3G services over spectrum reserved for 2G. The move should let operators use spectrum they already own to run mobile broadband services over greater distances than are currently possible.
Silicon

Sprint buys Virgin Mobile USA for $483 million
Sprint Nextel has announced that it will acquire Virgin Mobile USA in a move that strengthens its prepaid business. Virgin Mobile and Sprint's prepaid Boost Mobile brand will be brought under one prepaid business group in Sprint's organization, although they will each continue to serve existing and new customers following the close of the deal.
Fierce Wireless

Blyk closes down UK MVNO
Ad-funded mobile service provider Blyk has announced that it will close down its UK operations in order to concentrate on providing advertising-related services for network operators. This news follows announcements of an exclusive partnership with Orange UK and a similar deal with Vodafone in the Netherlands.
Total Telecom

Spinvox Fights Back: 'Critics Just Jealous'
Supporters of voice-to-text firm Spinvox are speaking out against a recent bout of bad publicity with one blaming "jealousy" for the backlash. Julie Meyer from Ariadne, which advised and invested in Spinvox, said the coverage was being fuelled by envy. "People are jealous, that’s what’s going on. It's 'lets see if we can pull her down' instead of saying 'isn't it fantastic a woman of 31 can conquer America?"
Sky News Online

BT signs VOD deal with Sony Pictures
BT has signed a new deal with Sony Pictures to enable video on demand access to a range of new and classic films on BT Vision. BT Vision subscribers will be able to watch new movies such as Terminator Salvation, Angels & Demons and The International on a pay-per-view rather than subscription basis.
Digital Spy

Orange offers legal music service with Universal Music
Orange and Universal Music are looking to attract subscribers and reduce piracy with the launch of a music streaming service available to pre-pay consumers. Pay-as-you-go customers of the new Monkey package who top up £10 each month will receive 600 minutes of music streaming, accessed by calling 247 from their phone. The service is aimed at 16-24-year-olds who don’t own 3G handsets or have mobile internet packages.
NMA

Apple cleared over iPhone ad claims
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Apple is free to claim that its iPhone applications store is superior to Google's Android Market service, rejecting complaints from fans of Google's G1 smartphone that a TV ad for Apple's App Store was misleading.
The Guardian

Yahoo! and Microsoft deal expected today
Speculation is rife that an announcement will be made today by Yahoo! and Microsoft on an online search and advertising partnership. Instead of a buyout, the two will enter into a revenue sharing agreement where Microsoft’s Bing will power Yahoo!’s searches and Yahoo will handle advertising sales using Microsoft technology.
Computer Weekly

Survey shows rapid changes for industry in mobile multimedia
Results from an annual survey by 3ple-Media have found that the top multimedia issues facing mobile operators are subscriber perceptions of cost and the relevance of multimedia content services on offer. While 58 per cent of respondents said that receiving multimedia services would be too expensive, a remarkable 78 per cent said that multimedia services related to local information will be the most popular type of content in three year's time, up from 12 per cent last year.
Mobile Europe

ITV to sell Friends Reunited for just £15m
ITV is close to selling Friends Reunited to internet entrepreneur Peter Dubens at a loss of £160m, according to reports. Duben’s private equity firm Oakley Capital is understood to have presented a £15m bid for the social network, which ITV bought for £175m in December 2005.
New Media Age

Google releases multi-touch Android to devs
Google has released the latest iteration of its Android OS to the developer world and comes complete with multi-touch compatibility, text to speech recognition and other goodies to improve Android to its 2.0 status.
Tech Radar

Vodafone angles for T-Mobile
Vodafone’s chief executive has called for consolidation between operators in the UK market increasing speculation it will bid for T-Mobile. Vodafone’s CEO, Vittorio Colao, said that fewer networks in the UK’s saturated market would mean lower costs for customers reported.
Mobile Today

Nokia, LG, Samsung boost handset shipments
Nokia, LG and Samsung all grew market share, as an analyst reports that 269 million handsets were shipped in the second quarter of 2009. While the global economy remains stagnant, 269 million mobile handsets were shipped in the second quarter of 2009, according to ABI Research.
eWeek

Apple tablet unveiling brought forward
Apple addicts need no longer wait until early 2010 to get their hands on the firm’s long-rumoured tablet PC, because it has emerged that the firm is gunning for a launch within months. It has been reported that Apple is working towards a September 2009 launch date for the tablet PC.
The Register

Nokia boosts its social networking
Nokia is to buy certain assets of social networking software company Cellity, based in Hamburg, Germany. Cellity offers a solution to collect and store users’ contacts in one place. The service will not run under Nokia's ownerhip. Nokia takes on Cellity's 14 staff, and will work in its services unit.
Mobile News

Ericsson wins battle for Nortel
Ericsson has acquired the CDMA and LTE assets of ailing Nortel Networks, after it beat Nokia Siemens in an auction on Friday. Acquiring Nortel’s North American CDMA business would help the firm expand its long-term commitment to North America and aid its efforts towards migrating customers to LTE.
Personal Computer World

Microsoft to offer browser choice with Windows 
Microsoft will offer users a choice of five different browsers when they first install Windows 7, as it seeks to ward off EU legislation. The new system will present users with a "ballot" screen when they first install Windows, offering the choice of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari.
PC Pro

HP plans electronic whiteboarding tool
HP announced that it to introduce an electronic collaboration tool that combines videoconferencing with electronic whiteboarding in coming months plans, saying this tool goes beyond anything Microsoft has developed.
ZDNet UK

Kenyans invent bike phone charger
Two Kenyan university students have invented a device that enables bicycle riders to charge their mobile phones. People [usually] have to travel great distances to shops where they are charged $2 a time to power their phone, usually from a car battery or solar panel. "It's very expensive nowadays charging a phone. With the new charger I hope it will be more economical, as once you have bought it, things will be easier for you and no more expenses," said co-inventor Jeremiah Murimi.
BBC
 

Microsoft’s first drop in annual sales
Microsoft Corp posted the first-ever drop in annual sales of Windows and its quarterly revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 17 per cent as its business continued to be hurt by the weak global PC and server markets. The news sent Microsoft shares down eight per cent and took the shine off a big US stock market rally earlier in the day that had driven the Dow Jones industrial average above 9,000 points.
Reuters
 

Broadcom profit tumbles
Market concerns regarding chipmaker Broadcom’s quarterly gross margins and expenses coupled with a sell-off in technology stocks have helped push its shares lower. The company issued a revenue outlook above Wall Street's expectations and sounded positive notes about demand, but its stock fell 4.5 per cent amid a decline in the broader tech sector following Microsoft Corp's weaker-than-expected quarterly report.
Reuters
 

iPhone exclusivity won't last forever
US network AT&T's CEO has admitted the iPhone won't remain as an exclusive forever, lending credence to rumours that O2's deal on the device in the UK might change soon. Speaking at Fortune's Brainstorm: Tech conference in the US, Randall Stephenson said, "There will be a day when you are not exclusive with the iPhone," according to Cnet. While he wouldn't be drawn on the subject, the CEO did say the relationship was working well, although he wouldn't confirm he was totally satisfied with all the aspects of it.
Tech Radar
 

Amazon says sorry over 1984
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wants you to know he's really, really sorry for pulling Nineteen Eighty-Four off of our Kindles. In fact, the guilt expressed in this public apology is comparable to a modern day Dimmesdale -- he may have even seared a mark into his flesh for all we know. The short message calls the company's "solution" to what happened "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles," adding that he and the company "deserve the criticism we've received."
Engadget
 

PayPal opens up to developers
PayPal is planning to open up its online payment service to outside developers. This will enable third parties to embed the company's payment service and collect fees for both material goods and online services rendered.  Following the launch on November 3rd, PayPal will look to add additional APIs extending the platform's reach, allowing for new types of transactions.
V3
 

Palm brings back iTunes syncing for Pre
Palm has released the latest update for its webOS platform for the Pre, allowing for compatibility with iTunes yet again. Other changes are more minor – nicer notification sounds, better fonts used in the web browser and the ability to email memos.
Tech Radar
 

Oracle snaps up data integration firm
Oracle is to buy GoldenGate Software, a San Francisco maker of data integration tools. GoldenGate's technology helps companies pull together data in real time from a variety of sources for analysis. With this acquisition, Oracle will bolster its existing data-integration portfolio, which includes tools gained from its 2006 acquisition of Sunopsis.
Tech World
 

New tool to shed light on 'untraceable' attacks
Attacks that have previously left no trace on computer hard drives may now be discoverable. Mandiant  said that it had developed a new tool to trace such attacks and will demonstrate it at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas next week. 
Tech World

Machine to machine platform unveiled
AT&T and Jasper Wireless have launched a combined platform to connect and support a range of consumer electronic and business devices on AT&T’s wireless network.  This agreement will enable the wireless connection of personal navigation, in-car navigation, e-readers, mobile internet devices, gaming, healthcare, tracking, and other devices.
CBR online

Windows 7 to cancel out Vista flop?
Microsoft, uncharacteristically, has quietly slipped out the news that its latest operating system – Windows 7 – is now available for computer manufacturers to incorporate into the latest PCs and laptops. The new operating system – basically the brains of computers on which all applications run – will be available to consumers and businesses worldwide on October 22nd.
Telegraph

Amazon.com acquires e-tailer Zappos
In its largest acquisition to date, Amazon.com just bought Zappos.com, the celebrated online shoe store, for stock worth $807 million plus $40 million in cash and restricted stock to Zappos employees. Ten-year-old Zappos will continue to operate independently, with current management in place in its Las Vegas headquarters.
Business Week
 
Business overspending on wireless
Eighty per cent of enterprises will overspend on their wireless service costs by an average of 15 per cent through 2014, according to analyst house Gartner. The research company's analysts said that as mobility has grown among enterprises, costs have also grown, and companies need to become better at managing their mobile voice and data costs
Cellular News

Orange leveraging Blyk licence
Orange UK is planning to offer students a range of promotions, such as make-up and tickets and possibly free calls and texts, in return for receiving advertising on their mobile phones. The deal, expected to be announced within days, marks a major change in the quest to harness the potential of mobile advertising, which offers an opportunity for highly targeted marketing.
Guardian

Sony Ericsson taking app submissions
Developer World members can now submit content to PlayNow Arena and Fun & Downloads. Initially, Java ME and Symbian OS developers are being invited to the ecosystem, which Sony Ericsson says has an addressable base of 200 million users. Support for additional software platforms will be added 'later this year'.
Mobile Entertainment

Yahoo snaps up photo-sharing firm Xoopit
Xoopit, an image sharing service, has been acquired by Yahoo for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around $20 million. Originally staretd as a Firefox add-on for Gmail, Xoopit hunts through your inbox for images, sent and received, and allows users to share them across social networking platforms. Yahoo is currently working on integrating the software into its own mail client and has confirmed Xoopit will continue to be available to Gmail users.
PC Pro

YouTube trials 3D video clips
With the launch of the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W1, just a few weeks away, YouTube has started making plans for the imminent arrival of 3D video. With 3D set to be big business in 2010, YouTube is keen to get its foot in the door early. For those that can’t wait, YouTube has even written a guide to create 3D films with two video cameras.  With a pair of coloured specs hanging off your nose, time wasting on YouTube at work just got a little bit more obvious.
T3

Carphone spinning off TalkTalk
Carphone Warehouse plans to spin off its broadband arm, TalkTalk next July were on track, as it added 47,000 new customers. Britain's biggest provider of residential broadband, following the £236-million-pound purchase of Tiscali earlier this month, plans to separate its TalkTalk telecoms business from its Best Buy Europe retail venture in 2010.
IT Pro
 
Spinvox under fire
Voice-to-text conversion specialists, Spinvox have come under fire, after fresh claims emerged about privacy issues. Spinvox's service aims to automatically convert voice messages into text messages, but the majority of messages are being handled and transcribed by call centres in South Africa and the Philippines. Spinvox has always been open about human intervention when needed, however, the number of messages and the location of these call centres outside of the European Union raises questions about the firm's data protection policy.
BBC
 
Wi-Fi Alliance won't tinker with 802.11n
The Wi-Fi Alliance will keep the same basic requirements of its IEEE 802.11n certification process when the new formal standard arrives later this year. The 11n standard for high-speed wireless LANs that the Wi-Fi Alliance, began certifying products based on a draft version of the specification in 2007. The group's decision ensures that all approved products will be interoperable with gear based on the final standard.
Tech World

China iPhone man commits suicide
Foxconn employee commits suicide after stealing iPhone 4G prototype. During the investigation he was apparently "beaten, his house was searched and he was locked up in a room alone."
BBC

Mobile broadband too slow
A survey by Broadband Genie has shown that over 60 per cent of users are unhappy with the speed of their mobile broadband. In a poll of over 1,000 readers only 11.5 per cent said they were satisfied with the speed they received, implying that users expectations of mobile broadband was not being met.
IT PRO

Samsung ahead of time with watch phone
Samsung’s S9110 watch phone could beat rival LG's version to market by a few days. The 11.98mm watch phone features a 1.76-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, voice recognition, e-mail, speakerphone and a music player. The device is due out in France for €450 within days, while the previously announced LG watch phone will launch with Orange UK in August.
Mobile Entertainment

NSN To Build 3G Network in Vietnam
Vietnamese mobile operator Viettel has selected Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to deploy the country’s first 3G network. Product deliveries begin this month, with the network due to go live early next year. Under the terms of the contract, NSN will provide the hardware, software and services required to build and manage the network, including skills training for Viettel’s team.
Mobile Marketing Magazine

Private equity firm ups the ante for Nortel
The fight for Nortel’s CDMA and LTE assets heated up yesterday when Private Equity MatlinPatterson announced it had filed a $725 million bid, topping Nokia Siemens Networks’ initial bid of $650 million. While the call for bids closed yesterday, the official auction is not until 24 July.
UnStrung

China adds 40 million broadband users in H109
China’s internet users have topped 338 million, translating to 40 million new regular internet users added in this year by the end of June. There is still massive room for growth in the market as broadband penetration still sits at just 25.5 per cent.
Total Telecom

Yahoo results show mixed financial picture
Yahoo’s second quarter results showed a mixed bag of figures but the company remained bullish about future growth and the company would not be drawn on the possibilities of a deal with Microsoft to sell part or all of the company, despite recent rumours.
V3.co.uk

British Gas customers can turn up the heat using their mobile
UK start-up AlertMe.com will test a service that will allow British Gas New Energy consumers to control their home heating systems from the web or mobile phone to shave down their bills.
Silicon.com

Apple has beaten analyst projections and appears virtually untouched by the recession when it announced its best ever non-holiday quarter in its history. While there was a small decline in iPod sales, iPhone sales more than made up for it.

Vivendi halts talks with Zain on Africa operations
Vivendi announced it has halted talks with Zain over acquiring a majority stake in its African assets. "Vivendi has applied its usual criteria of profitability and financial discipline to this potential investment in emerging markets," said a statement from the company.
Total Telecom

Microsoft updates Mac Office 2008
Microsoft has updated Office 2008 for Mac to Service Pack 2. The update adds a tool that beefs up access to documents stored on enterprise SharePoint servers and Microsoft's free Office Live Workspace service.
Computer World

Nokia Siemens Networks Wins 3G Contract in Vietnam
Nokia Siemens Networks says that it has won a 3G radio network supply contract from Vietnamese operator, Viettel. Product deliveries begin this month. Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will provide the hardware, software and services required to build and manage the network, including skills training for Viettel's team.
Cellular news

Skype recruits O2 marketing director
Skype has appointed former O2 marketing chief, Russ Shaw, as general manager heading up its EMEA region, as it looks to make Skype more widely available on mobiles.
Mobile Today

Amazon deletes books from customers' Kindles
Late last week, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners picked up their e-book readers and discovered two of the books they'd purchased were missing. Was it a software glitch or a hardware failure? Had some hacker figured out how to access the devices? No. The thief was Amazon itself.
News now

Google maps the moon
Google has added a 3D moonscape to Google Earth, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The newly created moonscape for Google Earth allows people to explore the lunar surface and follow guided tours from former astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Jack Schmitt. There's also a selection of panoramic "street view" photos and video clips taken over the past 40 years of lunar exploration.
PC Pro

Kazaa goes legit
Former peer to peer file sharing service Kazaa has been re-launched as a subscription music service. Originally operating as a peer-to-peer file sharing service, Kazaa was amongst the first services to step in following the shutdown of Napster.
V3.co.uk

BT to resell Microsoft's business cloud suite
BT is to resell Microsoft's cloud-based business messaging and collaboration suite. The Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) will be available to BT's business customers as a fully hosted managed service, including features such as performance management, maintenance and software upgrades.
ZDNet UK

Warner Music and YouTube still talking on deal
Warner Music Group is still in talks with YouTube to license its artists' music videos even after all other major music companies have renewed their partnership already. Videos from Warner artists like Madonna and Green Day were taken off YouTube last December after the companies could not agree on financial terms for the licensing rights.
Reuters

Avaya Offers $475M for Nortel's Enterprise
Avaya Inc. made a $475 million offer for the assets of the company's enterprise business. Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions Business includes enterprise telephony, unified communications, and data networking products, as well as the Nortel Government Solutions unit.
Light Reading

Toshiba goes Blu-Ray
One of the biggest champions of HD-DVD is to make its first Blu-Ray player. Toshiba, which invested heavily in the HD-wars, backed the wrong horse initially and has now switched to Blu-Ray.
The Inquirer

AOL ends 100-day review
AOL’s new CEO Tim Armstrong set to announce plans to claw back market share on rivals Google, Microsoft and Yahoo this week following his 100-day review of the business. Reports suggest AOL will focus on delivering more editorial and video content and reducing the volume of ads served per page.
New Media Age

OneApp: Microsoft's other mobile app store?
Windows Marketplace for Mobile may not be Microsoft's only mobile application store. The company's Windows Mobile app store is due to launch this Autumn, but there is already strong speculation that Microsoft is working on a second store, following its application for the trademark OneApp.
Mobile Entertainment

Apps 'to be bigger than internet'
The market for mobile applications, or apps, will become "as big as the internet", peaking at 10 million apps in 2020, a leading storefront believes. According to the Symbian Foundation, newly in the developer market, apps will become more personal and practical as their numbers grow.
BBC News

Vodafone to report progress on £1bn cost cutting plans
Vodafone will report progress on its plans to cut costs by £1bn this Friday, amid fears it could cut more jobs in the UK. The operator announced 1,800 job cuts last year. CEO Vittorio Colao refused to rule out further cuts when he addressed the press in May this year.
Mobile

Wikipedia painting row escalates 
Wikipedia has accused the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), which is threatening legal action after 3,300 images from its website were uploaded to the online encyclopaedia, of betraying its public service mission. The NPG says the present situation jeopardises its ability to fund its digitisation process from its own resources.
BBC News

Italy reports largest quarterly loss ever seen
The Italian market saw its second successive quarterly decline in Q1 09, the drop of 0.32m connections representing the largest ever seen in Italy. While the market leaders TIM and Vodafone have both performed poorly in terms of customer growth, both saw largely stable ARPU figures.
Cellular-news

Email hits 3G networks harder than P2P
According to Alcatel-Lucent, although P2P and web surfing account for much of the volume of data carried by mobile broadband networks, inefficiently managed applications, such as email, are the biggest resource hogs. And while operators are seeing increasing data revenue, network congestion is worsening the customer experience and causing support costs to rise.
Silicon.com

Amazon Kindle users surprised by 'Big Brother'
Owners of Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader have received a nasty surprise, after discovering that copies of books by George Orwell had been deleted from their gadgets without their knowledge due to a rights issue. Ironically, one of the titles deleted was Orwell's novel 1984, which introduced the concept of Big Brother.
Guardian.co.uk

Icahn urges Yahoo to seal Microsoft deal 
Activist investor Carl Icahn has spoken out in favour of a search deal between Yahoo and Microsoft, as talks between the two companies appear to be regaining momentum. Many other investors say such a deal would cut costs and create an online entity big enough to better compete with runaway market leader Google.
PC Pro

Microsoft takes aim at spammers and phishers
Microsoft has pledged to combat instant message spam and phishing attacks carried out against users of its Live Messenger network. The software giant filed a civil lawsuit against Funmobile, Mobilefunster, and several individuals, who Microsoft says is responsible for the intentional misuse of the service to gain the personal information of its users.
Silicon
 
Mobile banking service in the UK
MoBank, a new mobile banking service is now available in the UK on iPhone OS 3.0. MoBank works with users’ existing bank account to let them buy and pay for stuff using their mobile phone, wherever and whenever they want. MoBank works by connecting the user via the internet on the phone to a transactional payment system. 
MB Magazine
 
SMS still the king of mobile data
Vodafone has declared that SMS still accounts for the bulk of mobile data traffic and shows no sign of slowing down, despite the growth in general data services. Google, however, believes that a new set of data plans has to be formulated for mobile data to really kick off worldwide.
V3
 
Apple 'fixes' iTunes Palm Pre loophole
Apple has released an update to iTunes that 'fixes' a loophole that meant devices like the Palm Pre could sync with the software. When the Palm Pre was released it boasted that it could be synced with iTunes, but Apple has now moved to cut off the functionality of a phone that is a direct competitor to its own iPhone.
Tech Radar
 
Google has reported Q209 revenues of $5.52bn
Despite the year-on-year improvement, the owner of the UK’s most popular search engine posted a decline in revenues on the previous quarter. In April, Google reported revenues of $5.51bn.
New Media Age

3 UK pushes advertising onto customers
3UK’s mobile broadband customers will soon start to experience pop-up advertising every time they connect the internet. The pop-ups will appear while the user is on the 3UK welcome page. 3UK claims that the adverts will be unobtrusive; however, there is no way to avoid them.
Tech Watch

Symbian to develop mobile apps
Symbian, the operating system on nearly half the world's smartphones, is to become involved in the development of mobile applications. Symbian will be a one-stop location for app developers, standardising and testing software and then making it available to existing app storefronts.
BBC News

Device Depression for Nokia, Sony Ericsson
Times are getting tough for Nokia and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. The manufacturers sold fewer devices during the second quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year, and both maintain their depressing outlook of a 10 per cent contraction for the global handset market this year.
Unstrung

Google sees YouTube profitable in near future
Google said that YouTube will be profitable in the near future. After the acquisition for $1.65 billion in 2006, Google has lost money on the video sharing website due to the high costs of streaming millions of videos with only very little advertising support. But new advertising formats, such as pre-roll ads that appear before a web video program, are expected to draw in more revenue.
Reuters