Facebook set to loose 26,000 users today
Today is Quit Facebook Day and over 26,000 people have vowed to leave the social network due to privacy concerns.However according to new research the day is unlikely to be detrimental to Facebook. Research firm Vision Critical said a mass exodus is unlikely to occur because users have grown too accustomed to the site. Facebook has upset users in recent months by not giving them enough control over their personal data. For example, Facebook’s changes in privacy settings in December allowed users to control who sees each individual piece of content they upload, whereas the previous policy had allowed users to create block settings, which proved easier to manage.
Apple's iPad sales break the two million mark
Apple today said it has sold two million iPads, less than two months after launching the touchscreen tablet in the US, much faster than predicted. This is despite the fact the company had to delay the device's international launch by a month because it could not keep up with demand.On Friday, the iPad, which combines the mobility of a smartphone with the speed of a laptop, finally went on sale in the UK, and also launched in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. The original UK launch date had been set for late April.
Are apps the saviour of the publishing industry?
The Evening Standard's general manager of digital Tim Smith took the stage at London's M-Publishing conference today, to talk about the importance of apps for newspaper publishers. However, he kicked off by outlining some of the challenges facing traditional media. "The game has completely changed because of online migration, particularly in classifieds," he said. "Nearly every day publications are being sold or relaunched to try to face up to this challenge... It seems that almost one a week is going into bankruptcy or cutting way back."
Acer revs up special edition Liquid E Ferrari smartphone
Acer has given its Liquid E handset a Ferrari makeover, creating a stylish mobile that motor racing enthusiasts will love. The Liquid E is an Android 2.1 handset with a 3.5-inch touchscreen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip inside. It also has a 5-megapixel camera on board with autofocus and geotagging features. This Ferrari special edition has a glossy red finish and a chrome trim, so it looks as much like a Ferrari car as it is possible for a mobile phone handset to do so. The Ferrari badge is situated on the back of the device with the details constructed with carbon fibre.
Google kicks out Microsoft Windows
Google has decided that it can't afford the security exposures of letting its employees continue to use Microsoft Windows. According to the Financial Times, Google is switching all of its staff desktops to either Apple Mac OS X or Linux. The Internet search giant has upwards of 20,000 employees worldwide, all of whom are being moved away from Microsoft software. The company also blamed Microsoft Windows as a contributing factor in the Chinese hacking incidents earlier this year. "Many people have been moved away from PCs, mostly towards Mac OS X, following the China hacking attacks," a Google staff member told the FT.
1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon with HSPA+ launched
Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor is well known to most who follow the smartphone space, and at Computex 2010 the company has outed their latest generation of chip. The Qualcomm MSM8260 and MSM8660 Snapdragon chips each get dual-core 1.2GHz application processor cores, support for 1080p HD video encode and decode, and 3D/2D engines for Open GLES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 acceleration. Best of all, they’re already sampling to manufacturers.
Chips sales beat expectations in Q1, says iSuppli
Worldwide chips sales in the first quarter were higher than expected and up 2% up on the fourth quarter, according to iSuppli. Semiconductor revenue in Q1 was $70.6bn. This level of up-swing in the traditionally slow first quarter of the year indicates that the recovery in the chip industry is well established and growing. In its last business quarter broadline distributor Avnet has reported a 28.5% jump in sales revenues year-on year, with strong growth in Europe.
Location-based service revenues in Europe to reach € 420 million by 2015, says research
According to a new research report from Berg Insight, mobile location-based service revenues in Europe are forecasted to grow from € 220 million in 2009 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent to reach € 420 million in 2015. Local search, navigation services and social networking are believed to become the top applications in terms of number of users. Berg Insight estimates that one third of all mobile subscribers in Europe will use some kind of location-enhanced application on a regular basis by 2015. The social networking category is forecasted to experience the highest growth in the coming years.
Hypersonic scramjet breaks flight record
The US Air Force has successfully conducted the longest ever ramjet-powered hypersonic flight after its X-51A Waverider flew for more than three minutes over the Pacific Ocean. The launch was the first of four planned test flights for the X-51A scramjet, which was built by American rocket specialists Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
NHS is top sector for data losses
The NHS has reported 305 data breaches to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) since November 2007. The figure for the NHS compares to 288 for the private sector, 132 for local government and 18 for central government. "It could be because of reporting differences or the NHS could be more prone to data breaches because they are dealing with sensitive data," an ICO spokesperson said.
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