File-sharers' TV tastes revealed
Millions of television viewers are now using illegal file-sharing services to access free and unauthorised copies of programmes, research has revealed.
BBC News

Dell’s results better than expected
Dell has made another significant loss this quarter, although the numbers have still beaten expectations. The company’s net profits were reported in its latest quarterly results as $472 million (£289 million), down 23 per cent compared to the same period last year.
IT PRO

Orange confirms purchase of Unanimis
Orange has confirmed the acquisition of online ad sales house Unanimis as it seeks to become the leader in the ad network market.
New Media Age

Vodafone UK making mobile internet free today
Vodafone UK has announced that its axing its usual 50p flat-rate day charge for mobile data for one day only, as a promotion to celebrate the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Mobile Entertainment

UK economy contracts 0.7%
The UK economy shrank by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, marginally less than the 0.8 per cent initially estimated. That is much slower than the 2.4 per cent decline seen in the first quarter of 2009, although it is still a weaker performance than many economists originally expected.
Financial Times

Nokia unveils latest flagship phone: the N900
Nokia has announced the much talked about N900 to the world, featuring a new OS and upgraded features over last year's flagship model, the N97. The main difference is it's using the Maemo OS, which has been reserved for Nokia's internet tablets before, but now makes its debut in a phone-sized chassis. It's the same slide-out QWERTY form factor as the N97, but the N900 has a more responsive screen, a keyboard more similar to the E75, and crucially a new UI too.
Tech Radar

Spotify app approved for iPhone
Apple has approved the Spotify iPhone application, allowing users to stream music to their handsets. The company submitted the application to Apple's iTunes App Store for its approval in July. The application will be free, but will require the user to have a premium Spotify subscription, which costs £10 a month.
BBC News

Queues for £500 LG Watch Phone
Queues gathered outside Orange's Bond Street Station shop this morning as the LG Watch Phone went on sale. The device is available for £500 for a limited time only, although Orange has refused to name the cut-off for purchases. It will be made available from mid-September via the Orange online shop. The 3.5G device comes with a scratch resistant touchscreen interface, built-in speaker and MP3 player. To make a call, consumers can use the voice activation feature and flick their wrist to activate the call. Other features include a VGA camera, Bluetooth and eight different watch faces.
Mobile News

Vodafone mobile broadband to hit top HSDPA speed
Vodafone has begun upgrading its mobile broadband network to a theoretical maximum download speed of 14.4Mbps, the operator announced on Thursday. The move makes Vodafone the first British operator to roll out the highest specification for high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). HSDPA, a variant of 3G technology, is expected to be superseded by HSPA Evolved (HSPA+), then by the long-term evolution (LTE) of 3G — with each upgrade providing speed boosts.
ZD Net

T-Mobile wins mobile broadband poll
YouGov surveyed 2,068 users in July and asked them for opinions on 15 consumer satisfaction metrics, such as ease of use and installation. T-Mobile achieved top scores in these two categories, in addition to customer satisfaction and billing. It also kept its position as the company with the highest ratings overall, having been placed first in two previous quarters when the same study was carried out.
Broadband finder

Blu-ray stalls in PC market
Uptake of Blu-ray drives amongst PC users will not be picking up any time soon, according to analysts. Research firm iSuppli said in a recent report that between 2009 and 2013, adoption of Blu-ray disk drives will increase from 3.6 per cent of all systems to 16.3 per cent, while DVD/CD drives will retain more than four fifths of the market.
V3

Flexible working could change the UK - and save £32bn
UK businesses could save up to £32bn a year in transport costs if the workforce of tomorrow were encouraged to work from home, according to research commissioned by Orange. And a move to remote working could have a big effect on the structure of firms, according to the study carried out by YouGov. The survey found that 16 per cent of respondents would be willing to take an average of £6,900 salary cut and 42 per cent would be happy to forfeit their company car if it meant they could live and work in their ideal location.
Computing

Yell.com first advertiser on 3 UK Mobile Broadband Dashboard
3 UK recently opened up its mobile broadband dashboard for mobile advertising opportunities. Basically the adverts will be shown on the sign-up home screen of the mobile broadband service. The dashboard already boasts 1 million users with up to 30 million impressions per month.
Gomo news

London police seek mobile ID checkers
The Metropolitan Police Service is in the market for mobile identification units that can read card chips and biometrics. It has issued a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for a framework agreement for the provision, support and integration of handheld mobile identification units.
ZDNet

Mozilla finds fault in Firefox 3
The Mozilla team behind Firefox have released some data on the reasons why people deleted the software. Ten per cent of Firefox users were sticking to version two of the software, and the vast majority of those are people who had tried the upgrade and then uninstalled it. Mozilla polled them and around 5,000 sent in their views.
V3

C4 and BBC sign content deals with Arqiva
Transmission Company Arqiva, is believed to have signed content deals with Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide, for its on-demand platform.  BBC Worldwide recently signed deals with both MSN Video and Blinkbox. However, this is the first long term content deal Channel 4 has signed, allowing its content to be accessable away from 4oD, it’s video on demand platform.
Telegraph

Analysts say Maemo is Nokia's best bet to stay on top in the smartphone market.
According to industry sources, Nokia is set to release an iPhone rival based on a Linux OS. Traditionally Nokia phones are built using the Symbian platform. However, if the rumours are correct Nokia will be announcing its first high-end smartphones based on Maemo, a Linux based OS, at next week’s Nokia World in Stuttgart, Germany. 
IT Pro

Mobile phone writes texts on thin air
Researchers at Duke University have modified a Nokia N95 that allows the device to create text messages and email by writing in thin air. With the help of its on-board accelerometer, the software measures the movements of the phone and interprets these as letters.  The research was presented at the recent Sigcomm conference in Barcelona.
PC Advisor

IBM wins five-year application services contract with BP
IBM has won a five-year contract with BP to manage its enterprise applications and service desk. BP is currently awarding a number of contracts as part of a program to simplfy is business processes. Under the contract, IBM will manage BP’s SAP applications including enhancements and continuous improvement both at client sites.
CBR Online

Faster internet alters UK map
The Connected Britain report by Orange has found that faster internet connections will change the population map of the UK, as workers move to faster, more desirable locations. The report claims that the South West could see a population increase of more that 150 per cent by 2015 and major cities, such as Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester could decrease in population by 80 percent.
Mobile News

The Pirate Bay is back
One of the world's most popular filesharing websites, The Pirate Bay, is back online after being shut down when a Swedish court threatened its bandwith supplier with a hefty fine. Stockholm's district court ordered Black Internet to stop providing bandwidth to The Pirate Bay or face a fine of 500,000 kronor (EUR50,000). This follows the founders of the site being found guilty of promoting copyright infringement by running the site, sentencing them to a year in prison. Prior to Monday the site had remained in operation.
Total Telecom

Brits wheeler dealing
In a report Opinium Research a quarter of the British public now own "at least" two mobile phones. Some say they need a second contract to get the deal they "really wanted", others say they want to get their hands on the latest and trendiest handsets and yet another group cites privacy as the motivating factor. Also included in the report findings was that the majority of respondents prefer having separate handsets as opposed to having a handset that could accommodate two SIM cards.
Telecom TV

Bharti secures funding
India's Bharti Airtel has secured $5 billion in funding from a consortium of international and local banks, drawing it closer to a merger with South Africa's MTN Group Ltd, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified sources. It could mean that the possible merger could be inked by September.
Total Telecom

Unprecedent levels of malware detected this year
According to a new report by IBM, there has been a 508 per cent increase in the number of new malicious web links in the first half of 2009. The report states that this problem is no longer limited to malicious domains or untrusted websites as there is an increase in the presence of malicious content on trusted sites inlcuding popular search engines, blogs and online magazines.
SC Magazine

Wikipedia ends unrestricted editing
It's strength was in its openness, but very soon Wikipedia will be imposing restrictions on certain elements of the site, with the aim of cutting back on article 'vandalism' and the spreading of malicious rumour. The newly introduced 'flagged revisions' will enable 'experienced volunteer editors' to adjudicate on any changes made to the Wikipedia pages of a living person before that page goes 'live'.
T3

Mac virtualisation aids Windows switchers
Virtualisation software helps give your computer a split personality, and Mac virtual machine vendor Parallels wants to help ease the transition for Windows switchers. The package includes two and a half hours of tutorials that show Windows users basic tasks using Mac OS X, showing users how they relate to tasks in Microsoft's operating system.
Guardian

Another exploding iPhone
Another instance of an exploding iPhone has been reported in France, following previous, similar incidents across France, Britain, Holland and Sweden. The reports have prompted an EU investigation via its product safety system asking for details of such events, which may lead to a wider investigation.
Pocket Lint

Facebook to buy Spotify?
Rumours continue to spread about Facebook’s imminent acquisition of music service Spotify.
Trusted Reviews

Snow Leopard packing antivirus software?
In the build up to the release of Snow Leopard, reports are spreading that Apple’s operating system includes antivirus software. Commentators suggest this may be as a result of the growing popularity of Mac’s attracting more determined hackers.
Engadget

Nokia bringing ARM-based smartbook in 2010?
Speculation continues over Nokia reportedly bringing a ARM-Based Smartbook in 2010 according to Taiwan-based handset makers.
Fone Arena

Apple's Snow Leopard released on Friday
Apple has confirmed that it will release its Snow Leopard operating system on Friday. Mac OS X 10.6, dubbed Snow Leopard, brings a series of under-the-hood changes to Mac OS X, including support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and enhanced support for multi-core processors through Grand Central.
PC Pro

Microsoft to smarten cheap phones
Microsoft has unveiled new technology that will allow standard, non-"smart" phones to run applications such as Facebook or Twitter. Designed for emerging markets, the OneApp software can be downloaded just like a new ringtone.
BBC

Rise in mobile internet adspend expected
Growing consumer adoption of mobile Internet services and heightened brand engagement with mobile services will be reflected in a sharp increase in expenditure on mobile Internet advertising, according to a new report from Juniper Research. According to the report, adspend on the mobile Internet will approach $500 million globally in 2009, rising to nearly $2 billion per annum by 2014.
Cellular News

Cisco Wi-Fi users warned of 'skyjacking' threat
Some Cisco Wi-Fi access points have a vulnerability that could allow a hacker to redirect traffic outside the enterprise or gain access to an entire corporate network, a security company has claimed. At the root of the problem is the way that new Cisco APs are added to a network, according to AirMagnet, a wireless network security company that discovered the problem.
Techworld

UK file-sharers will be 'cut off' 
The UK government is to announce that people who consistently download films and music illegally will be cut off from the net. The announcement will come in the form of an amendment to the Digital Britain report, launched in June, making it easier for internet service providers to act against pirates
BBC News

Subscriptions to DoCoMo's credit payment service top 10 million
DCMX is a service brand for DoCoMo-issued credit cards, which allows subscribers to make purchases using their mobile phones as credit cards via iD, DoCoMo's branded mobile payment platform for handsets equipped with contactless IC cards. Launched in April 2006, DCMX reached 10 million just three years and four months since the original launch.
Cellular-News

Yahoo still taking the fight to Bing
Yahoo says it has revamped its search to compete against Microsoft's Bing - even though it relies on the Redmond giant to power its queries. Microsoft will license Yahoo's search technology, allowing it to integrate certain aspects of it into Bing. Microsoft's advertising search product, AdCenter, will replace Yahoo's equivalent product, Panama.
PC Pro

Opera Mini becomes world's most downloaded app
Independent app store GetJar has announced that the Opera Mini mobile browser has been downloaded more than 25 million times from its store. GetJar claims this means the browser is the most downloaded app ever from any app store to date.
Pocket-lint

Mozilla asks EU to reject Microsoft's browser plan
Mozilla has launched a campaign to demand more from Microsoft than the browser ballot screen the company has promised to offer Windows 7 users later this year. Concerns include IE's continued ties with other Microsoft software, particularly Office and the unfair advantage IE would maintain because the other browsers must be downloaded.
Techworld

Facebook to double its numbers
Facebook is planning to boost staff levels by 50 per cent by the end of the year, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He told Bloomberg that the economy means that the best talent is easier to hire, because no one else is hiring.
Pocket Lint

Deutsche Telekom in satellite video investment
According to reports, Deutsche Telekom has taken a stake in Devas Multimedia, a mobile satellite multimedia company, based in India, for the equivalent of $75 million. Devas is working on a digital multimedia broadcasting mobile TV project with the Indian Space Research Organisation to provide videos and TV channels on mobile phones.
Global Telecoms Business

Nokia reveals plans to multiply services users six-fold
Nokia has unveiled plans to multiply the users of its services six-fold, to 300 million by 2012, from its current 53.9 million.  The company also plans to take on Apple and produce mobile phones that can compete effectively with the iPhone.
Mobile Today

Four jailed for running Chinese piracy ring
Four Chinese citizens have been fined and sentenced to serve prison sentences for their role in distributing unauthorised copies of Microsoft's Windows. The case was the latest attempt to crack down on piracy in China, an issue that has escalated in recent years as many western corporations attempt to expand their businesses into the country.
The Guardian

Mobile phone payments to hit travel network
The government aims to have a plan by the end of this year to enable people use their mobile phones or smart cards to pay for travel across England's public transport system. Such a system could save £2.6 billion per year in cash and reduce the use of motor vehicles, according to government figures.
PC Advisor

Apple says Google Voice app alters iPhone
Apple told US regulators that it has not approved Google's Voice application. The Google app appears to replace the iPhone's core mobile telephone functionality and user interface with its own system for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail and is seen by some as a competitive threat to the voice services that come with the iPhone.
Reuters

Microsoft, Yahoo join in opposing Google books deal
Microsoft and Yahoo are joining the Open Book Alliance, a group of opponents to a class action settlement that allows Google to digitize millions of books. Critics say the deal gives Google the unrestricted ability to set prices for libraries, that would face monopoly pricing.
Reuters

BlackBerry use adding 15 hours to working week
A study has estimated that people with work mobiles and BlackBerry handsets work an extra 15 hours a week. A survey suggested that the work/life balance had been tilted by the steady shift to mobile email access and being on constant call.
Tech Radar

Twitter to add real-time geolocation data
Twitter plans to let users geocode their posts and make the information accessible both on the main Twitter site and through external applications. Initially, Twitter will release to its external developers a preview of a new geolocation API which will let developers attach geographic metadata to 'tweets', the company announced in a blog post.
PC Advisor

Magazine plans to run video insert ad
US magazine Entertainment Weekly is planning to show an embedded video advertisement in an upcoming issue. The ad sponsored by CBS and will show roughly 40 minutes worth of video.
The insert will include a 2-inch by 1.5-inch screen that is said to be roughly the thickness of cardboard. The video itself will consist of short previews for several of the network's upcoming fall programmes as well as an advertisement from Pepsi.
V3

GSM Based Networks to Pass 4 Billionth Subscriber in September
3G Americas is predicting that the GSM-HSPA subscriber base is expected to reach 4 billion mobile connections worldwide sometime next month. This marks a major milestone for the industry, as no other technology innovation has ever reached a scale remotely close to its penetration level - equivalent to more than six of every ten people worldwide.
Cellular News

Facebook disables rogue apps, but more appear
Facebook said it had disabled six rogue apps that were stealing Facebook users' log-in credentials and spamming people, and within hours more appeared. The new rogue apps take the same format as previously but use different application icons and also now feature bogus notifications to the profile owner, in an effort to persuade the victim to install further apps and maximise the fraudsters' advertising returns.
ZDNet

Nokia chief hints at netbook plans
Nokia's chief executive has given the strongest indication yet that his company is looking to make a move into the netbook market. The company has been said to be looking at the possibility of entering the market since at least February. Apple is rumoured to be in the late stages of developing one or more tablet-style devices, while Google has said that its Chrome OS would target the netbook operating system sector.
V3

Boris Johnson seeks help of mobile phone firms in bid to cut prostitution
Boris Johnson is seeking a deal to block an expected surge in prostitution and human trafficking in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. The mayor of London wants mobile phone operators to work with his office, the police and voluntary groups to help target numbers advertised on thousands of sex calling cards that litter phone boxes throughout the capital.
Guardian

T-Mobile and AT&T stung in $22m handset scam
Eight people have been indicted by a Brooklyn court for running a scam that involved dealers using customer details to order handsets, in a fraud worth $22m. The charges allege that two of the defendants, who ran cellular dealerships in New York and Florida, picked up customer details from the network's databases, then used the details to impersonate those customers and order additional handsets, as well as making insurance claims for broken handsets. Deliveries were then either redirected en route, or simply sent to the defendants' addresses.
The Register

Most Brits would rather give up sex than their mobile, according to research
Seven out of 10 people in the UK believe they could not go more than a day without using their mobile phone according to research from Lumison. The communications provider said its research found that 85 per cent of the public would rather give up chocolate, alcohol or sex than surrender their handset. The survey results also suggested that sending letters by post is now a thing of the past. Six in 10 of the 1,000 people who took part said they had not posted a letter within the past month and almost two in 10 had not posted a letter in more than five years.
Computer Active

New O2 campaign targets police
O2 has launched a campaign targeted at the UK’s police services to encourage them to boost efficiency by using the network’s data and mobile office solutions. A brochure will be mailed out to police units across the country and will be handed out at various police events. At the centre of the campaign is a ‘beat specific’ personalised publication for police ‘Command Teams’ nationwide, the cover of which shows an illustration of the local area.
Mobile News

FLO TV Takes Steps To Measure Mobile TV Habits
Qualcomm's FLO TV has upped the ante for getting viewership results for its mobile broadcast TV service for the benefit of advertisers. FLO TV, which is resold by AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), said today that it has partnered with Portland, Ore.-based Rentrak, a media measurement and research company that will compile daily figures for the TV service. Previously, FLO said it was using an internal, time-intensive process. Now, with Rentrak, FLO will be able to report second-by-second usage stats by the next day-much like networks do today.
Washington Post

MySpace turns to music sharing service iLike
MySpace has confirmed the acquisition of online music discovery service iLike in a deal believed to be worth around $20m. The service allows users to find and listen to new music via the web, in a similar way to sites such as Last.fm and Pandora. Unlike those companies, however, iLike operates largely through partnerships with other social networking sites - including MySpace's main rival, Facebook.
Guardian

Google offers search engine "taste test"
Google has released a new tool designed to let enterprises size up their own search systems with Google's own offerings. The new Side By Side tool is being offered through the company's Enterprise Labs programme and is designed to allow administrators the chance to view search engine results stacked up next to one another.
V3

Online video service BlinkBox to offer Top Gear and other BBC shows
BBC Worldwide has struck a deal to make hundreds of hours of content from shows available via the UK online video service BlinkBox. Popular DVD titles such as Top Gear, and Planet Earth, will cost users £1.89 an episode to download from BlinkBox. BBC Worldwide content will only be made available on BlinkBox a minimum of 180 days after airing on TV.
Guardian

Time Warner has signed a deal with YouTube which will see Gossip Girl, Entourage and CNN news coverage play on the video site.
Time Warner has agreed to let YouTube run "short-form" clips of films, from its many networks. Time Warner owns networks including CNN, the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros, so news clips as well as shows TV favorites will be made available.  The clips will run in a Time Warner player which is embeddable, so the content can be shared on sites away from YouTube.
IT Pro

BT hits half a million Wi-Fi hotspots mark
BT has revealed it has half a million Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK and Ireland. The ISP said this was halfway towards its target of one million. The sites include hotspots provided by the BT FON Wi-Fi Community, BT Openzone, 12 'wireless' city centres, plus BT Openzone hotspots via the BT Business Hub.
PC Advisor

Microsoft details Wi-Fi use for 'white spaces'
Microsoft has taken a step closer to turning “white spaces”, unused analogue TV spectrum, into unlicensed wireless broadband spectrum. Engineers from its research department, along with academics from Harvard University, have developed a protocol for avoiding interference when using unlicensed "white space" spectrum
ZDNet

Wikipedia Mobile app hits the iPhone
Wikipedia, the popular knowledge database and online encyclopedia, has launched its iPhone application. Available from the iTunes AppStore, Wikipedia’s official application offers quick and easy access to all three million articles currently available online. Although admittedly missing more advanced features for a first generation application, more features are planned to be added at a later date.
T3

RIM planning full Flash support for BlackBerry
RIM, manufacturer of the popular Blackberry email phones, is set to announce support of both Flash and Silverlight for its entire Blackberry range. Although not expected until next year, RIM is currently testing its devices up to 10Mps as Flash requires a fast connection.
Tech Radar

1 in 5 Brits has multiple mobile phone contracts
New research released today from Moneysupermarket.com, reveals that one in five Brits have more than one mobile phone contract or device. The research found that eight per cent claimed it was the only way to achieve the texts and minutes they required for the cheapest price, whilst six per cent have multiple contracts in order to own the latest handsets. One in eight users own a second handset for “privacy reasons”.
PC Advisor

Microsoft planning dual OS strategy for Windows Mobile
In an effort to regain a share in the Mobile Phone OS market, Microsoft will offer two different versions of its mobile OS next year. Microsoft will continue to push the latest version of its Windows Mobile 6.5, to the wider market and will simultaneously work closely with several manufacturers to build devices on a new version of Windows Mobile that has been several years in the making.
CNet

Mobile app ads cause concern for advertisers
The UK government’s Central Office of Information has called for industry to offer guidelines on advertising in mobile apps as the format becomes increasingly popular. It was found that just five per cent of in-app advertisements link to a mobile-enabled site which advertisers say risk causing serious damage to brands by offering a poor user experience if they fail to display or function correctly.
New Media Age

Euro smartphone sales on the up
A report from analyst house Pyramid Research predicts that total European smartphone sales will grow 22 per cent in 2009 compared with the previous year, despite overall handset sales across the continent dropping by a projected 21 per cent. The report says that smartphone growth in Western Europe going forward will be "robust", though numbers in the Central and Eastern regions of Europe will lag behind.
Unstrung

Nokia storms European smartphone sales
Recent research released by analyst firm Canalysis states that 64 per cent of handsets shipped in Europe in Q209 carry the Nokia brand. While Apple’s shipments account for just 1.3 per cent of total sales. The iPhone had an impressive growth rate of 1,034 per cent in the past year and the analyst house warns that the Finnish handset giant cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
MoCo News

Net-neutrality concerns stifle broadband stimulus
The big US mobile operators are not taking advantage of the $4.7 billion in "stimulus" grants that operators can apply for to help pay for broadband infrastructure. The carriers have concern over net neutrality and how the grants could result in a party obtaining the power to "interfere' in the way they run their networks.
Telecom TV

iToo touchscreen boom
Out of the 38.1 million mobile phones sold in the second quarter, 15 million have a touchscreen as its primary interface, almost three times more than the same period last year. The smartphone market has been a booming market in the past year and is set to grow 14 per cent for global shipments in 2009.
PC Advisor

BT rolls out free 20Mb/s broadband upgrade
BT Broadband customers are being offered the chance to boost their broadband speed for free. BT has launched faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and with upload speeds of up to 1Mb/s. The new speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million homes and businesses. Coverage is expected to increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.
CBR Online

Microsoft asks court to halt Word injunction
Redmond software giant Microsoft has lodged an appeal against the injunction that was imposed on it last week for patent infringement. The court order stops Microsoft from selling its popular Office suit as it infringes the custom XML function of a patent held by i4i. In an emergency move, Microsoft has asked an appeals court to halt that injunction and also to speedily hear the company's appeal.
ZDNet

Google Wave could change the way we work
Google has release a developer preview of its much hyped communications project, Google Wave. Wave is a new platform that allows the sharing, editing and creation of content digitally using virtualisation, bringing all conversations that would usually happen across various email inboxes, into an arena that enables collaborators to work closer together.
EWeek Europe

Apple to investigate “exploding” iPhones
Apple is carrying out an investigation following reports of exploding iPhones. One high profile case includes a teenager in France who suffered minor injuries when his iPhone started making a hissing noise and shattered. Apple has reported the investigation to the European Commission but considers the cases as isolated incidents.
Mac User

No profit increase through iPhone
Heavy subsidies from telecom operators to lure consumers to buy an iPhone have hindered profits, and have even dented them in some cases, a research report showed.
AT&T’s costs to sell the 3G iPhone pressured its profits last year. SingTel has reported falling profits due to iPhone launch.
Reuters

BT upgrades broadband speeds for all
BT is upgrading button its subscribers accounts, providing 20Mb/s to 40 per cent of the UK's homes and matching the offering of most of its competition. Upload speeds are increasing too, going from 448Kb/s to 1Mb/s.
Pocket-lint

Sprint's summer of WiMax
Sprint’s gradual roll-out of 4G WiMax network across the US continues and reached Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Portland. Clearwire and Sprint, along with Comcast and Time Warner Cable have their work cut out to ensure WiMax gets established as a viable wireless broadband service before Verizon Wireless launches LTE in 2010.
Unstrung

Dell to launch Mini 13 smartphone
Dell plans to start selling a mobile device in China. The new handset is said to support China Mobiles new applications store. As the market for cell phones continues to grow and China being the largest cell-phone market in the world, Dell may be hoping to capitalise on both trends.
Computerworld UK

File sharers gain a voice
Within just a few days after its official registration in the UK, the Pirate Party is claiming to have as many as 259 paid-up members, indicating the kind of support the party is garnering in its bid to legalise file swapping across the web. At the time of writing, the Pirate Party’s official Facebook group has nearly 2000 members.
IT PRO Portal

US man 'stole 130m card numbers'
US prosecutors have charged a man with stealing data relating to 130 million credit and debit cards. Officials say it is the biggest case of identity theft in American history. They say Albert Gonzalez, 28, and two un-named Russian co-conspirators hacked into the payment systems of retailers, including the 7-Eleven chain.
BBC News

BBC Mobile offers personalised football content
'My Club' feature is the latest addition to the Beeb's mobile site. It allows users to add the top three headlines for their team - plus links to the latest live text commentary, results, tables and fixtures - to the BBC homepage.
Mobile Entertainment

IBM uses DNA to make next-gen microchips
In the race to develop ever-smaller chips at cheaper prices, designers are struggling to cut costs. IBM is looking at the DNA structures which may provide a cheap framework on which to build tiny microchips.
Reuters

Apple-Psystar legal battle hots up
The legal battle between Apple and Psystar over copyright infringement charges heated up this week. Psystar taking testimony from Apple head of marketing and announcing it has lined up other execs for next week. The dispute rests over Psystar’s manufacture of so-called “Open Computers” which it preloads with Mac OS X Leopard operating system.
Personal Computer World

Sony Ericsson shuffles its Senior Management
The shake-up of the management and retaining the commitment of the senior management at the parent firms may quiet oft-cited rumours that the company could be sold or broken up. Sony Ericsson's global market share fell to 4.7 per cent in the second quarter 2009 from 7.5 per cent a year ago - based on recent figures from Gartner.
Cellular-News

Government unveils Digital Britain delivery plan
A joint Digital Britain programme board, responsible for the delivery of projects, including monitoring and ensuring value for money, will meet twice a month while day-to-day responsibility for the Digital Britain programme rests with two senior civil servants. A progress report can be expected in the autumn.
ZDNet UK

Steepest drop in semiconductor sales
The Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists (DMASS), which reports industrial semiconductor sales, recorded its biggest downturn since its foundation 20 years ago. The second quarter of 2009 ended with sales of €869 million, representing a decline of 32.6 per cent over the same period one year ago.
EE Times
 
Nokia secures 3G patent decision in the US
Nokia says that a US International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has made an initial determination in its favour in the action brought by InterDigital. InterDigital alleged that Nokia infringed four of its patents applying to the UMTS 3G mobile standard.
Electronics Weekly.com

Teens staring at screens for 10 hours a day
Teenagers spend 10 hours a day staring at a screen of some sort, according to a new survey. Despite the proliferation of shiny new digital toys like mobile phones and handheld gaming consoles, teenagers are still most likely to be found parked in front of the TV.
IT PRO

Samsung budget mobile phone details leaked
A new budget level mobile phone is about to be released via Samsung, to accompany the T239. The design is apparently targeted towards the European markets. To be known as the E2120, the new budget handset is presented within a candybar chassis and was spotted in the Samsung Germany website.
Mobile Choice

Verizon makes LTE video and VoIP calls
US operator Verizon Wireless, 45 per cent owned by Vodafone, has completed its first successful calls using the industry’s fourth-generation LTE standard, using kit from both Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson.
Global Telecoms Business

IBM looks to DNA for next gen microchips
IBM believes DNA holds the key for the structure of next-generation microchips. Artificial DNA nanostructures, or "DNA origami" may provide a cheap framework on which to build tiny microchips, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
IT PRO

Labour appoints Twitter tsar ahead of election
The Labour party has appointed a "Twitter tsar" with the responsibility of encouraging MPs to use new media. Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, has been made the party's new media campaigns spokeswoman ahead of an election next year that she says will be the first "new media election".
The Guardian