Microsoft kills new Kin mobile following slow sales
Microsoft has taken the Kin - a shell-shaped mobile that emerged from its purchase of the Danger brand - out to the back and shot it. Slow sales in the US mean that it's not going to be released in Europe (sorry, Windows Mobile fans) and that instead Microsoft is going to focus on Windows Phone 7, its upcoming revision to its entire mobile operating system. In a statement to CNet News, which got the story first, Microsoft said "We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned… Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones."
The Guardian
Free local government data
When David Cameron met Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, last week the key topic of conversation was not social networking but the Government’s vigorous programme of releasing the data it holds about spending and organisations. Speaking later, Zuckerberg was full of praise for Britain’s approach. Even so, the almost total lack of data on local government spending must urgently be addressed. There are precious few situations where the flick of a cheap switch can reveal economically beneficial truths about our country, but the release of such data, when it comes about, will have profound consequences.
The Telegraph
3D: specs the main barrier to adoption
Major AV manufacturers banking on a 3D gold rush will have to temper their expectations, according to the latest predictions from Informa Telecoms & Media.
Simon Murray, Principal Media Analyst says that '3DTV will take off but viewing will be limited until technology has progressed sufficiently to remove the need for viewers to wear glasses.' He does not believe that 3D will go the same way as the likes of HD DVD, Betamax and eight-track cassette players, all of which lost out to rival formats.
Tech Radar
Western European mobile phone market grows, thanks to smartphones
The Western European mobile phone market grew 8.1% year on year to 42.7 million units in 1Q10, according to IDC's European Mobile Phone Tracker. Shipments of smartphones surged in the quarter to 12 million units, 57% higher than in last year's first quarter, to represent 28% of total shipments. Traditional mobile phones (TMPs) declined 4% year on year to 30.7 million units, showing the continuous trend toward smartphones. "The first quarter is traditionally tough for phone makers as operators clear out old stock from the previous holiday season," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC
Mobile Business
Telekom Austria looks to LTE to divert data flood
Telekom Austria announced Wednesday that it has successfully run a Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial, showcasing a high definition videoconferencing platform in Vienna. Telekom said technical engineers on in a bus in Vienna´s 21st District made LTE calls to their counterparts in the provincial capitals of Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck using a telepresence videoconferencing system, which supports life-size images with an ultra-high-definition video signal.
Telecoms.com
Intel pulls out of WiMAX
Chipmaker Intel has dissolved its WiMAX Program Office in a suprise move which is widely seen as stage one of getting out of the technology. The office which was set up to promote the development of related WiMAX technologies and its closure appears to have caught a number of people on the hop. Digitimes claims that Intel did not inform Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), which has signed a WiMAX cooperation MOU (memorandum of misunderstanding) with Intel, as well as its other partners in Taiwan.
TechEye
Feds shut down ten streaming movie sites
Ten streaming movie websites have been shut down by the US Feds in part of the doomed ongoing effort to stamp out illegal distribution. The seized domain names were all registered with US services but servers were run internationally, some in Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Blighty. Three were running in the US, in Colorado, Florida and Illinois. The problem is, sites outside the US will probably just pop back up under different names.
TechEye
Britain's Online Population Expands to 38.8m
Figures from the UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) show as of May 2010 we have now reached 38.8m active web users, an increase of five per cent since the same time last year. This works out as approximately two thirds of the circa 60m population. Perhaps most interesting in this is the biggest gain was seen in the over 50s - the so-called 'Silver Surfers' - who were responsible for a whopping one million of the 1.9m annual increase. Men dominated this older group accounting for 722,000 new connections with women over fifty the second largest mover with 284,000 additional users.
Trusted Reviews
MeeGo teases us with new UI screenshots, it's a looker
Team MeeGo has just announced "Day 1" of the MeeGo Handset user experience project and included some screenshots of the MeeGo 1.1 interface. Nokia is planing on using MeeGo on Nseries phones, among other devices and we can't wait - it looks great - more screenshots here. Developers can now download a preview 'MeeGo Handset Day 1' image and browse the source code.
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