Online ad spend tops TV
Figures released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) reveal that the internet has overtaken TV as the UK’s leading medium for advertisers.  Online advertising now accounts for 23.5 per cent of all ad spend compare to TV's 21.9 per cent. Spending on internet advertising topped £1.75 billion in the first half of 2009, passing declining TV spend at £1.64 billion.
Revolution Magazine

Apple Tablet rumours surge again
A report from the well respected iLounge blog has created another surge of speculation about the touchscreen computer – or Tablet – that Apple is rumoured to be developing.  The report says the device will “10.7" screen, use the iPhone operating system and come in 3G and non 3G versions”. The next question being asked is where exactly Apple will find a capacitive touchscreen of that size.  No doubt this is not the last we’ll hear about this.... 
The Guardian

$350 billion price tag on delivering 100Mbit/s broadband to every US home
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday announced that the cost of providing 100-Mbit/s broadband service to every U.S. household would be a staggering $350 billion.  The figure was announced by the FCC during an update on their National Broadband Plan for bringing affordable, high-speed Internet access to all Americans. Only $7.2 billion has been set aside for the "broadband" component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Light Reading

High-end Dell laptops to run ARM and Intel side by side
The Dell Latitude Z series of laptops will use a microprocessor based on one of ARM plc's low power cores, sitting next to an Intel Core Duo.  The hybrid Intel-ARM approach has appeared as a potential strategy since the rising importance of low power consumption to increase battery life, without compromising performance.  The machines will run Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system on an Intel chip most of the time. The ARM chip and a version of the free operating system Linux will be used for instant access to some functions as soon as the laptop is turned on.
EETimes Europe

Huawei appoints former BT Group CTO
Huawei Technologies has announced the hire of former BT Group CTO, and industry visionary, Matt Bross as its new CTO.  Huawei says that part of Bross’ role will be to support the company's efforts in delivering products for North America, one of the markets Huawei has yet to significantly crack.
CIOL

Online thieves set up bank raids
A report by security firm Finjan has found that cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated in the way they are attacking banks, saying one gang in the Ukraine managed to steal €300,000 in 22 days. The sophisticated piece of malicious software has fooled banks' anti-fraud systems as well as forging bank statements to hide the thefts.
BBC News

Ericsson eyes LTE deals
Ericsson is gearing up for a number of contract wins for LTE network equipment in the coming year, coming from operators such as Japan’s NTT DoCoMo. It says a potential deal with China Mobile is also in the works and operators in emerging markets will startto look to LTE once it becomes more widespread and costs are driven down. Ericsson believes that the commercial deployments will ramp up in 2011.
Total Telecom

France Telecom senior management urged to resign
The French opposition party has called for the senior exec team of France Telecom to resign after a spate of suicides that have put the French telecommunications giant on the defensive about its restructuring program. On Monday, a 51 year old man become the 24th worker to commit suicide in the past 24 months.
Total Telecom

Google invites users to join Wave
Google Wave, which combines email, instant messaging and wiki-style editing will go on public trial today. From 1600 BST, it will be open to 100,000 invitees each of whom can nominate five further people to "join the Wave". New features will include real time typing and wiki-style editing tools – where all messages can be edited at any point by members of the conversation and a Playback facility allows everyone to see exactly who has edited what and at what time. Google Wave will runs in most browsers, with the notable exception of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).
BBC

Ballmer takes £47k pay cut as Microsoft sales fall
Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, has taken a pay cut this year as the company posted its first ever fall in yearly sales. Microsoft's annual revenue dropped as much as nine per cent, in the 2009 financial year, falling to £12.8 billion and shares slipping 13.6 per cent in the same year. Microsoft will be looking for a strong recovery through sales of Windows 7 in 2010, coupled with a thawing in the economic climate. Other areas of development for the company, including Windows Mobile 7 and the Zune HD.
Techradar

Vodafone to join UK iPhone battle from 2010
Vodafone will sell Apple’s iPhone in Britain from 2010, finally sealing a deal to sell the popular phone in one of its biggest markets. The move comes the day after rival Orange became the first operator to break into O2’s exclusive deal to sell the device. Vodafone said, it has lost 160,000 subscribers in the last quarter because they did not have an iPhone to sell them.
Pocket-lint

Huawei Takes On US Set-Top Market
Huawei is taking a stab at the US cable set-top market seeking FCC blessing for two 'limited capability' cable set-top boxes. Huawei has already made some significant strides in the US cable market, notching deals with Suddenlink Communications for optical gear and Cox Communications, for an  ambitious 3G/4G buildout.
Light Reading

US 'to loosen' grip on internet
The US government is expected to relax control over how the internet is run when it signs an accord with net regulator Icann on Wednesday giving Internet Corporation autonomy to run its own affairs for the first time. Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann - drawing criticism from other countries.
BBC

Dell launches high-end, thin business PC
Dell’s latest ultra-thin computer, bringing some fresh design appeal to its enterprise models. Dell called the new Latitude Z the world's thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptop, at 4.5 pounds and less than one inch thick. Dell also launched its premium consumer ultra-thin PC, the Adamo, earlier this year.
Reuters

Mobile usage a still rare highlight in music biz
Mobile music has failed to live up to the expectations that the early success of ringtones had inspired. Ringtone and ring back tone sales have fallen and according to Forrester Research only one-third of US subscribers use their music-capable phones to listen to music. But app-based distribution model and more sophisticated handsets, have already had a positive effect on mobile music consumption.
Reuters

Microsoft releases free anti-virus software
Microsoft has confirmed that it will take its free anti-virus software out of beta today. Security Essentials has been available in beta since June, but will go live for everyone on 29 September. The software will update its anti-virus signature daily to deal with new threats.
V3

Sony Ericsson offers on-handset payment for games
Accumulate UK has announced a global licensing deal with Sony Ericsson for the use of its Flexion technology. It is the first handset manufacturer to preload mobile games with Flexion on its new handsets following the success of operators such as Hutchison 3G UK.
Cellular News

iPhone on China Unicom
China Unicom, the second largest mobile operator in China, on Monday announced that it would start offering Apple’s iPhone in the country from next month. The company further asserted that the blockbuster smartphone will be priced at around $733, but it wasn’t clear whether the aforementioned price was for the 16GB version, or for the 32GB model of the iPhone.
IT Pro Portal

BT tough on bad telecom practices
Telecom giant BT has joined forces with the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) to kick off a campaign against what it refers to as ‘mis-selling’ by a number of fixed-line telecom companies. The campaign is urging the UK communications regulator Ofcom to come up with new rules and procedures to put a check on scams that let rogue companies hijack users’ phone lines.
IT Pro Portal

Toshiba announces Qosmio X500 gaming laptop
Toshiba has announced the arrival of its latest gaming laptop – the Qosmio X500. Boasting 18.4-inch TruBrite Full HD LCD screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, it's fair to say that this is one laptop which is not for the lap.
Tech Radar

Cisco delivers blade switch to aggregate x86 servers
Cisco has announced a blade addition to its Nexus line of data centre switches designed to aggregate multiple physical x86 blade servers from various vendors into a 10G Ethernet fabric.
Computer World

Adobe & McAfee tackle stop corporate data leaks
Adobe and McAfee have joined forces to create technology that uses digital right management in a bid to stop data being leaked. The two companies hope Adobe's expertise in digital rights management and McAfee's data-loss prevention technology can be combined to restrict access to documents based on how the documents are classified.
PC Advisor

Fixed broadband connections 20 per cent by year end
Despite the global economic downturn, the number of household broadband connections continues to grow robustly, and one in five households worldwide will have a fixed broadband connection in the home by the end of 2009, according to Gartner.
Cellular News

AT&T accuses Google of hypocrisy on net neutrality
AT&T has accused Google of being a hypocrite when it comes to net neutrality because it blocks certain phone calls on its Google Voice service. The carrier has written a letter to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) claiming Google has violated the agency's net-neutrality principles, which Google has long supported.
ZD Net

RIM’s market share set to decline?
Blackberry’s parent Research in Motion (RIM) could loose market share to competing devices such as the iPhone as the company tries to move on from a less-than-rosey profit and outlook report.
IT PRO

Orange announces UK iPhone deal
Orange has reached an agreement to sell Apple's popular iPhone in the UK. The deal ends an exclusive arrangement between UK network operate O2 and the Californian phone maker, which has been in place since 2007. Orange said its customers would be able to buy the phone "later this year" but did not specify a date or pricing. Orange now offers the popular handset - of which more than 25 million have been sold worldwide - in 28 countries and territories.
BBC News

Twitter confirms major cash boost
Social networking website Twitter has confirmed that it has closed a "significant round of funding". Co-founder Evan Williams said in a blog post that the site had secured money from five investment firms. However, he did not confirm earlier reports that suggested the firm had managed to secure $100 million (£62 million), which would value the firm at $1 billion. The site, which allows users to write and share 140-character messages, has more than 45 million users worldwide.
BBC News

'Freemium' reaps a premium for online games developers
While newspapers and the music industry look for new ways to make as much money as they did before the dawn of digital, games makers are celebrating achieving success with the "freemium" business model. This model means that anyone can play for free, but they have to pay for access to higher levels or enhanced features in the game. The online game Club Penguin, owned by Disney, is probably the best known freemium games success story. Club Penguin, created by a Canadian company, saw phenomenal growth after its launch in October 2005, going from 15,000 users then to 1.4 million by the following March. The runaway success did not go unnoticed, and Disney scooped it up in August 2007.
The Guardian

Microsoft beats Apple to the Tablet
The quest for the Holy Grail is generally regarded as a preoccupation of those of a religious or mystical bent. But in fact the community which suffers most from Holy Grail Syndrome is made up of geeks and early adopters who would never be seen within a mile of an altar. For Christians, the Grail is the cup, plate or dish supposedly used by Jesus at the last Supper. For the computing community it is the Tablet, a slim, lightweight device which combines significant computing power with the convenience of a paper notebook. And sightings – or rumours – of the mythical device provoke the kind of delicious excitement so masterfully exploited by the novelist Dan Brown.
The Guardian

Postal strikes leave eBay users in limbo
Ebay sellers are worried they may suffer negative feedback from customers as buyers with goods caught up in the postal strike launch pre-emptive "dispute" claims in a bid to avoid being out of pocket. Many users of the online auction house have been left empty handed as the Royal Mail union snarl-up over job cuts and pay causes huge disruption at sorting offices across the country. In some cases, delays of more than two weeks have prompted irate buyers to start payment disputes, sparking financial disruption and damaging personal selling "reputations", known as detailed seller ratings (DSRs). These give a crucial indication of how efficiently an eBay user dispatches their goods.
The Guardian

Vodafone unites social networks
Vodafone has launched a suite of net services for mobile and PCs, aimed at grabbing a slice of a market currently dominated by Apple, Google and Nokia. Vodafone 360, as it is known, unites customer's contacts with information from social networks such as Facebook.
BBC News

Consumers see Palm Pre as best alternative to iPhone 3GS
Quick, what’s the first smartphone to come to mind as the best alternative to the iPhone 3GS? If you’re like many consumers, you probably answered “Palm Pre.” According to the study, the Palm Pre plays second fiddle only to the venerable iPhone 3GS in many smartphone consumers’ minds.
IntoMobile

Microsoft’s Project Pink Zune-Phones Leaked: Turtle and Pure
After ages of rumours surrounding Microsoft’s “Project Pink” and its links to Zune, we now have some pictures of the devices in question. The Pure and the Turtle will be made by Sharp and aimed squarely at the youth market, a forte Microsoft can claim since acquiring the desiginer of the Sidekick, Danger.
IntoMobile

Carphone stocks mobile Wi-Fi
Carphone Warehouse has teamed up with 3 and T-Mobile to offer portable wireless router devices. 3's Mobile Wi-Fi went on sale through the retailer on September 17, and is available on prepay priced at £99.99 or on contract for £15 per month on a rolling contract for £69.99 with 5GB download allowance.
Mobile News

Orange/T-Mobile deal slows spectrum plans
The Orange and T-Mobile merger has delayed Government plans to reallocate mobile spectrum as part of its Digital Britain programme. News of the merger has forced Government officials to make last minute adjustments to proposals, delaying a consultation document due to be published this month.
Mobile Today

Gmail battles through another outage
Google was forced to deal with another outage on its Gmail webmail service yesterday. The company reported that the outage affected "a small subset" of its user base. Once access was restored, chat features remained offline. The outages may reinforce sentiment amongst administrators that the service is not yet ready for enterprise use
v3

IBM offers new service and support for BlackBerry
Claims to help organisations benefit from mobile access to information and resources anywhere. IBM has unveiled a new subscription-based managed services and support for the BlackBerry Enterprise, designed to simplify management, technical support and cost of a client's BlackBerry deployment.
Computer Business Review

Orange launches sound of Orange Rock Corps Music Experience
Orange has today launched The Sound of Orange RockCorps, an innovative social music experience that allows people to create remixes of well known tracks using their own voice and sounds produced by their friends. People can create their own unique music or connect with friends through Facebook to create a joint track.
GoMo News

Intel targets Atom-based processor at TV
Intel's chips is now making a play for television sets and cable boxes through a new processor it released yesterday. It announced an integrated chip package code-named Sodaville, which is designed to run web and video applications on television sets.
PC Advisor

Mobile giant Nokia has launched mobile app development competition with a big-money prize
Nokia has launched a nationwide competition to encourage mobile developers to come up with the next big thing in terms of applications. The winning application will be published in Nokia’s Ovi Store.
IT PRO

Malicious Monopoly game spreads via social networking
A new spam campaign that lures users into a malicious game of Monopoly has been detected. Websense Security Labs claimed that the campaign is targeting players via social networking techniques. The spam uses a social networking technique to ‘invite' you to play the online board game. It then provides a link to the fake Monopoly game download site, which downloads a Trojan.
http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Malicious-Monopoly-game-spreads-via-social-networking/article/149478/

MoJ lost sensitive data on 1,500 staff
The Ministry of Justice lost an encrypted memory stick containing the personal details of 1,500 people in March this year. Budget spreadsheets which included the names, national insurance and employee numbers of MoJ staff were on the stick which was lost by an employee, according to the department's resource accounts for 2008-09.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39763712,00.htm

Nokia extends Comes With Music subs period
Music Ally reports that Nokia is giving Comes With Music users an extra 90 days of access to the service after their original 12 month subscriptions expire. The Finnish company launched its 'all the music you can eat for the price of a handset' offering amid a whirlwind of publicity in September last year.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/34459/Nokia-extends-Comes-With-Music-subs-period

Mercedes allocates half its UK marketing budget to digital
Mercedes-Benz is now allocating 50 per cent of its UK marketing budget to digital media, according to its VP for brand communications, Anders Sundt Jensen. Jensen said the dynamics of the UK market and the advanced consumer behaviour in the UK meant the automotive brand was already allocating half of its budget to digital, well ahead of other European territories where the company was far from allocating even 40 per cent.
http://www.nma.co.uk/mercedes-allocates-half-its-uk-marketing-budget-to-digital/3004803.article

Nintendo drops Wii console price  
A drop in sales for Nintendo’s Wii games console has meant the Japanese firm is set to lower the wholesale price by 20 per cent in the run up to Christmas.  To date the Wii console has sold 52 million units worldwide, outselling rival’s Sony and Microsoft by over 20 million units. But a sharp drop in year on year sales has led the firm to bring in the cost saving measures.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8272240.stm

Smartphones Driving the Rise in Mobile Advertising
A new report from eMarketer, predicts that mobile advertising will gain momentum over the next five years, reaching $1.56 billion by 2013. With the proliferation of smartphones set to fuel the growth of mobile advertising opportunities. Messaging based advertising will continue to be an effective way to reach mobile users.
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/39750.php

BT to boost rural broadband access in Scotland
BT and the Scottish Government have joined forces to improve internet access in rural parts of the country and cure the frustration within these rural communities. BT will seek to upgrade exchanges in rural areas in an effort to provide increased broadband capacity. BT recently confirmed it is trialling Broadband Enabling Technology designed to offer quality web services over longer distances than current systems allow.
http://www.cable.co.uk/news/bt-to-boost-rural-broadband-access-in-scotland-19376166/

Google Sidewiki offers fresh way to annotate web
Google has launched its newest toolbar application that allows people to comment, annotate and add notes to articles on the web. Called Sidewiki, the service then allows this information to be shared between any other person using the service or through social networking sites.  Powered by Google’s newest algorithm, designed to keep the most relevant notes at the top of each article.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/351853/google-sidewiki-offers-fresh-way-to-annotate-web

UK broadband tax to 'become law'
Plans to add an annual tax of £6 for landlines to pay for the upgrade of high speed networks, could become law before the next general election.  The Next Generation tax, worth £175 million a year to fund broadband networks, will be included in the Digital Economy Bill, to be presented to parliament in November.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/32391/UK-broadband-tax-to-become-law

Google enhances enterprise offering with push email to iPhone
Google has enhanced its mobile offerings to enterprises by introducing push email for iPhone and Windows Mobile devices. Push email for iPhone and Windows Mobile phones is the latest attempt by Google to move into the business market. It is competing with many well-established providers of push email, including Microsoft and Research In Motion.
TechWorld

Intel follows Apple with app store initiative
Intel has announced that it is developing application stores for netbooks. The developer programme will initially offer tools to write programs for netbooks based on the Atom chip. Later on, the company will extend the programme for application development around mobile devices with smaller screens, like smartphones and mobile internet devices. Intel is working with companies like Acer, Asustek Computer and Dell to create storefronts where developers can sell applications.
ComputerWorld UK

Broadcasters stall metric for online video advertising
The Broadband Measurement Working Group (BMWG), which includes representatives from the BBC, BT Vision, Channel 4, Five, ITV, Sky and Virgin Media, as well as ABCE, BARB, and the IPA, has stalled in its aim to create a metric to measure video on demand. It is suggested that the delay has been caused by the current difficulties in broadcasting, with many reluctant to allocate resources to extrapolate the relevant data for testing.
New Media Age

Security software market will grow eight per cent in 2009
According to new projections by Gartner, the security software market will total $14.5 billion in 2009, an eight per cent increase from 2008. The analyst house believes that although the security software market is affected by the economic downturn, the growth will continue to be strong in 2009 as security remains a critical area where drastic cuts cannot be afforded.
MIS Asia

Microsoft snaps up four technologies to boost its ERP offering
Microsoft has announced the acquisition of four packages from different vendors that will extend the core capabilities of its enterprise resource planning product in the areas of manufacturing, professional services and retail. The company says that these acquisition demonstrate that it is investing in building industry functionality directly into the Microsoft Dynamics AX application, while other ERP vendors are cutting corners or trying to reconcile multiple industry offerings as a result of acquiring several companies.
CBR Online

Txt speak not so bad after all?
Boffins reckon translating the Queen's English into impenetrable jargon is actually a good mental workout.  Ars Technica reports on a study carried out by the University of Alberta, which concluded that slang text speak doesn't harm kids as long as they already have good spelling skills. In fact, it goes as far to say the act of converting real words into text speak provides the brain with a good workout.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/34453/Txt-speak-is-good-for-kids

UK startup Broadersheet launching "intelligent news aggregator" iPhone app
UK startup Broadersheet has been showing off its news aggregation application at the Diving With Dolphins conference in Cambridge. Initially available as an iPhone app, it will provide users with a personalised feed of news stories from commercial media, while also pulling in relevant feeds and posts from blogs and Twitter.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/34450/Broadersheet-launching-intelligent-news-aggregator-iPhone-app

Pre’s iTunes Sync Plans Take Another Hit
An industry group is the latest to throw a spanner in Palm’s efforts to get its Pre to sync with iTunes. After Apple changed a feature in its software that let other devices mimic an iPhone or iPod, Palm set up a workaround for the Pre that psyched computer USB ports into recognizing the device as an iPod or iPhone by using an Apple hardware vendor code. That worked until the last iTunes software change.
http://moconews.net/article/419-pres-itunes-sync-plans-take-another-hit/

Yahoo launches its new web portal worldwide
Yahoo, has relaunched the Yahoo website and homepage with a huge advertising campaign  with a focus on the popularity of social networks. Yahoo's new layout allows its many users to incorporate third party web services like Facebook and Hotmail. Yahoo's senior vice-president for Europe, Rich Riley: 'The [new] home page is a powerful way to get a view into your life on the internet,' who went on to quote surveys that suggest that 60% of Yahoo users in the UK want a one-stop shop to organise their life on the internet.
http://www.t3.com/news/yahoo-launches-its-new-web-portal-worldwide?=41011&cid=OTC-RSS&attr=T3-News-RSS

User generated content is next major mobile trend
Telecommunication providers attending the ITP 'Innovation in Mobile Services' seminar, have identified user generated content services for mobile phones as the next major mobile development in the industry. Some 68% of attendees believed the projected increase of mobile handsets for social networking applications, such as Facebook and MySpace, would provide a key focus for mobile operators
http://www.mbmagazine.co.uk/RSS_News_Articles.cfm?NewsID=9186

Facebook content disappears Facebook confirmed yesterday what some users have been noticing for the past few days: the social networking site is having problems. The issues include disappearing content, difficulties logging on, being unable to view profiles, and error messages when posting content. The problems resulted from internal issues rather than a hacking incident like the one that affected Twitter, Facebook and some other sites early last month. http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/online/new-media/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsid=16682

Mobile broadband underperforming
Brits are getting just 24 per cent of speeds advertised by mobile broadband providers, says Broadband Expert. According to research by the broadband comparison site between March and August this year, the average actual download speed was 1.1Mbs compared to the average advertised maximum speed of 4.5Mbs.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3202364

Vodafone to manage Rolls-Royce PBX network
Vodafone UK has secured an agreement with Rolls-Royce to manage its network of over 33,000 fixed line phones in a five year deal estimated to be worth over £15 million. The agreement, spanning six countries as part of Rolls-Royce' Global Voice Network, covers the upgrade of the company’s existing voice network technology and its ongoing management. Vodafone UK will also provide helpdesk and front line support.
http://www.comms-dealer.com/industry-news/vodafone-uk-secures-deal-manage-rolls-royce-pbx-network

Orange provides tools for NEA
Orange will provide resources and training to students who sign up to the National Enterprise Academy. Orange has announced it will provide communications technology, mentoring and work placements for National Enterprise Academy (NEA) students.
http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/News/324072/orange_provides_tools_for_nea.html

Apple investigates iPhone battery problems
Continued complaints by iPhone owners about fast-draining batteries have prompted Apple to ask some users to install power-logging software on their smartphones in an effort to diagnose the problem, according to messages on the company's support forum.
http://news.techworld.com/sme/3202366/apple-investigates-iphone-battery-problems/?olo=rss

Net neutrality rule change draws wireless ire
US phone companies may be forced to open their mobile networks to rival internet services like Skype and Google Voice under a proposal brought out by the top telecom regulator to safeguard so-called Net Neutrality. The proposal wants to ensure the net remains an open and neutral.
Reuters

AT&T, Verizon still pouring billions into mobile networks
Despite the economic situation, AT&T and Verizon plan to invest heavily in their networks. In anticipation of a bigger payoff down the line both carriers plan to spend $35 billion combined in 2009 brushing off concerns about a saturated mobile market in the US.
Total Telecom

EU publishes evidence to back up €1billion Intel fine
European regulators have published more detailed evidence of anti-competitive behaviour by Intel, as arguments continue over the record £960 million fine levied against the computer chip maker. The documents assembled include internal communications showing that Intel offered "conditional rebates" to major computer manufacturers and retailers.
The Guardian

Nortel to sell carrier network assets in auction
Nortel Networks announced that it will auction off software assets at its carrier division as it continues the process of selling its operation in pieces. Assets related to its next generation packet core network components including software used to help transfer data over existing wireless networks will be on sale.
Reuters

Dell to buy IT services company Perot Systems
Dell has announced that it will buy IT services company Perot Systems for about $3.9 billion, as it looks to expand its IT services offerings and widen the pool of potential customers for its computers. The deal is expected to close in the November-January quarter.
ZDNet

Amazon accessorizes with Basics
Amazon is to launch AmazonBasics worldwide after its earlier US launch. AmazonBasics will sell accessories such as audio visual cables and blank DVDs, with plans to create its own line of consumer electronic "basics," or quality, low-cost products for consumers in the coming months.
TechWorld

Alcatel Lucent CEO rebuffs consolidation rumours
Alcatel Lucent’s CEO, Ben Verwaayen, has played down rumours of a takeover by ZTE or Huawei, saying he is extremely happy with the telecoms software vendor’s position in the country. Some Western network equipment providers have struggled as mobile operators cut back on spending to preserve cash flow as they try to combat the impact of regulatory pressure, increased competition and the recession, which has led to speculation that the pace of consolidation in the segment may quicken.
Total Telecom

T-Mobile promises national HSPA+ deployment by mid-2010
Senior vice president of T-Mobile USA's engineering and operations, Neville Ray, said that the company would deploy HSPA+ services nationwide by 2010. For him HSPA+ is the most cost effective way for operators to aggressively move into the mobile broadband space. Ray also states T-Mobile’s commitment to LTE.
Fierce Wireless

Google Docs opens up to search engines
Google will allow browsers to crawl and index documents, spreadsheets and presentations that users of Google Apps have published to the web.
PC Pro

China Mobile and NSN Conduct TD-LTE Femtocell Demo
China Mobile Communications Corporation and Nokia Siemens Networks have conducted what they say is the world's first TD-LTE femtocell demonstration. Nokia Siemens Networks' Beijing research team demonstrated a live streaming video downlink application using a compact experimental Femtocell prototype in China Mobile's Research Institute laboratory.
Cellular News

Namco Bandai confirms review of Euro operations
Games publisher Namco Bandai is reviewing its European mobile games operation, and job losses are on the cards. Following rumours in recent days of significant cuts at the publisher, ME checked in with Namco Bandai, and received an official statement outlining the company’s current situation.
Mobile Entertainment

US objects to Google book deal
The US Justice Department has urged a New York court to reject a deal that would allow internet company Google to publish millions of books online. The deal raised copyright and anti-trust issues, the department said, and should be rejected in its current form.
BBC News

Skype sell off in doubt as founders sue new owners
EBay's Skype sell off could be under threat after the VoIP company's founders decided to sue the potential buyers. Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are already suing eBay over the alleged theft of the technology that underpins Skype.
PC Pro

Audio labels speak to the blind
A device that allows blind people to attach and read audio labels on everyday objects has been developed by a UK firm together with the Royal National Institute of Blind People. The PenFriend scans minute barcodes through a digital pen and then triggers MP3 files recorded on the unit. Currently only address books, organisers, diaries and calendars are deployed but the device can be used to label foods and medication as well as clothing, personal documentation and film and music collections.
BBC

Microsoft unveils Office Web Apps Technical Preview
Microsoft has launched free web-based versions of its key Office apps with a full range of features. Today sees the launch of a limited technical preview of those apps. Initially the Office Web Apps (as they're now known) include Excel, Word and PowerPoint, with OneNote coming soon.
Tech Radar

Audiovox Advent to offer Americans live TV on the road
Audiovox and Qualcomm-owned FLO TV will soon deliver an "in-vehicle entertainment system delivering live TV service", due to be available to consumers in the fourth quarter of 2009. The first FLO TV system will launch under Audiovox's "Advent" brand, and fits in any car with screen sizes available up to 10.5 inches. Car dealers will offer 1 year of the FLO TV Auto Entertainment service starting at $119 per year.
Pocket Lint

Video screens hit paper magazines
The first video advert inside a print title has been published inside the American magazine Entertainment Weekly. The small screen, built into a cardboard insert, contains an advert for Pepsi Max and trailers for US TV network, CBS. There are also in-built speakers, so the viewer can hear the advert too. Chip technology is used to store the video - described as similar to that used in singing greeting cards - which is activated when the page is turned.
BBC

Wireless-N finally approved for use
The next-generation of wi-fi technology has finally been approved for use, despite being on sale in laptops and other equipment for several years. The 802.11n technology, as it is known, was ratified by the IEEE, a body that oversees all wi-fi standards. It was conceived seven years ago and offers speeds at least six times faster than current approved technology.
BBC

HP talks up wireless screen line
HP has unveiled its latest line of wirelessly-connected screen display systems. The new line of DreamScreen displays allow users to wirelessly connect their systems to a stand-alone external display. The screen can then be used to display information such as presentations and multimedia files.
V3

Google CEO slams Rupert Murdoch's online plan
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has hit back at News Corp's recent plans to charge for online news, claiming that it is a fundamentally flawed business model. He explained that too much quality general news content was available online, meaning that any attempt to charge for general news online would effectively be a non-starter.
Tech Radar

Microsoft to offer cheap Windows 7 for students
Microsoft plans to offer a substantial discount for college students who want to pick up a copy of Windows 7. For a limited time those in the UK will be able to pre-order Windows 7 for £30, meanwhile US college students will be able to get the software for $30 (£18).
ZDNet

Hands-On Mobile takes World Poker Tour to iPhone
Hands-On Mobile has launched an iPhone version of its World Poker Tour Texas Hold 'Em mobile game. Like the most recent version for Java handsets, the game includes an online multiplayer mode. It's fully compatible with the existing versions of the game, including the web version.
Mobile Entertainment

Jajah offers Twitter users spoken tweets
Twitter users will soon be able to make free 2-minute VoIP calls to other users, with a new service from Jajah. With the Jajah@call service, qualified Jajah and Twitter account holders can make phone calls without needing to know the number of the person they want to call.
CBR Online

Google buys ReCaptcha for security and scanning
Google has confirmed that it has bought ReCaptcha, which specialises in preventing web fraud. The Carnegie Mellon University spinoff develops software that implants distorted text on web pages as part of the sign-in process. This stops computers automatically setting up bogus accounts by being very difficult to scan and interpret without human intervention.
V3

O2 partners BT Wholesale for communications services
O2 and BT Wholesale have signed a new long term managed services agreement that will support O2’s entry into the UK business market with fixed line and broadband services. Through the new five year deal, O2 can provide its ‘Joined Up’ communications services to business customers and it claims that it will be able to stabilise operational and investment costs by avoiding the capital-intensive and fixed cost route to market which a self build option exists.
CBR Online

MySpace Open Sources Distributed Computing Framework
MySpace has both announced and open-sourced a new technology known as Qizmt, an internally developed framework for distributed computation based on the MapReduce framework.
EWeek Europe

New ARM chip promises $100 netbooks
ARM, the chip company known for its low-power microchips, has announced that it has clocked its Coretx-A9 processor to 2GHz, giving it a part that it claims will enable it to rival Intel in the netbook market and drive down the cost of machines.
IT Pro

Skype founders sue eBay over copyright dispute
Joltid, a software company set-up by Skype’s founders has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular VoIP service. Joltid claims that it’s technology is being infringed by Skype users in the United States at least 100,000 times a day believing to be amassing to $75m daily. The lawsuit is part of the ongoing licensing dispute between Joltid and Skype’s new owner’s eBay.
ZDNet

Windows plays virtualization catch up with Linux
A new report by Gabriel Consulting Group has found 40 percent of Linux server users had virtulaised more than half of their x86 systems, with just 29 percent of Windows users. Microsoft’s restrictive licensing is one of the main reasons that the Computer giant is now playing catch-up to the Open Source community.
The Register

BBC May Implement DRM Solution For Freeview HD
The BBC has come under fire from content providers, following its announcement to encrypt high definition Freeview content. The HD content providers claim that the move will effectually copyright free BBC content.  BBC’s plan involve encrypting data on set top boxes, with only reliable manufacturers given access to decryption keys. Under the licensing rules, the BBC isn’t allowed to encrypt any transmissions of audio or video content.
IT Pro Portal

63 Million 3G/LTE Enabled Notebook Computers by 2014
A new report from Forward Concepts estimates that with more emphasis on pervasive Internet connectivity, pent up demand for a compact multimedia intensive, always-on and  ultra-mobile devices is set to drive the growth of smartbooks at a 176% compound annual growth rate of 176 per cent, reaching 63 million units in 2014. Forward Concept also reports that with the introduction of LTE in 2010, LTE smartbooks could reach 4.1 million device units in 2014.
Cellular News

HP attempts to do away with desktop PCs
HP announced today that it is to revive its idea of placing smart screens around homes to display internet content. The HP DreamScreen, takes advantage of its built-in wireless connection to display web content, without the need to be attached to a PC.  The DreamScreen can also stream music or video or display photo’s stored on a PC in another room.
Tech World