E Buzz - 31 January 2011

by Libergraph 31. January 2011 11:42
Manchester Airport Gets Holographic Staff
Manchester airport has introduced holographic customer service staff to help passengers with the security search process. The holograms, which are modelled after real-life airport staffers John Walsh and Julie Caper, will be deployed at Terminal 1. Airport authorities said the security holograms use the same technology that is used to bring animated music group Gorillaz to life for stage shows. The technology has been developed by entertainment company Musion, which had designed a special Frank Sinatra hologram for Simon Cowell’s birthday party.

London Stock Exchange cyber attacks should be no surprise
When the London Stock Exchange (LSE) went caput early November last year there were whispers of sabotage. A report in The Times suggests that, yes, there was dirty work afoot. "Make no mistake, the UK's critical infrastructure is under attack. The threat is advanced and persistent," an insecurity expert said to The Times. You may or may not remember other stories on TechEye last year which suggested that it's not just that we have been under attack, rather that we are constantly under attack: and only some of what you hear about, the tip of the iceberg, will surface in reports. 

Elpida to take over Powerchip's facilities
Japanese chip firm Elpida is set to take over the DRAM production of Taiwanese outfit Powerchip in a bid to stabilise the memory chip market. Powerchip has previously outsourced work for Japanese firm Elpida since 2003, and the two have also worked on a joint production venture in the past. Now Powerchip will pull the plug on its own DRAM chip production, with Elpida acquiring the  firm’s production facilities in the deal.

Android Honeycomb announcement coming this Wednesday
Android Honeycomb might have had tongues wagging at CES thanks to an awesome reveal video and a slew of tablets packing a rough and ready version of the OS. But this week Google will finally flesh out what it’s got planned for its tablet-friendly OS. The Big G is holding a press bash in California on Friday at 6pm UK time, promising an, “…in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news and hands-on demos”.
T3 

ZTE Ahead Of Apple In Global Mobile Market
Chinese manufacturer ZTE has surpassed Apple in the number of mobile phones shipped worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2010. In a report named "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker", research firm IDC places Nokia top of the pile, ahead of Samsung and LG in 2nd and 3rd, with ZTE and Apple ranked 4th and 5th respectively. ZTE shipped 16.8 million units compared to Apple's 16.2 million. In comparison, Nokia and Samsung reached 123.7 million and 80.7 million respectively. LG Electronics and Nokia were the only two suffering a drop in year-on-year shipments. Nokia now accounts for only 30.8 per cent while ZTE and Apple both added 1.4 per cent to their marketshare.

Study shocker! Mobile users piddle around on the internet while watching TV
Shocker of shockers, folks: people do more than just watch TV when they're watching TV. A study of over 8,000 willing individuals from Nielsen and Yahoo recently discovered that some 86 percent of mobile internet users tinker around on their devices while situated in front of the tube. It seems that Googling random facts, checking their Facebook news feed and seeing who has tweeted in the past 30 seconds were atop the list of activities to do while watching, but strangely, a full 20 percent confessed to search for more information about a commercial they recently saw.

Marks & Spencer Tops mCommerce Rankings
UK retailer Marks & Spencer has topped the overall league table in the second mCommerce benchmark study, undertaken by eDigitalResearch. The company assessed the shopping process on both optimised and non-optimised mobile sites, looking at first impressions through to product delivery. Results show that general customer satisfaction with the end-to-end mobile journey is starting to increase, as retailers invest more heavily in the channel. However, the report concludes, mCommerce still has a considerable way to go to rival more established online platforms adding that some retailers, such as Waitrose, despite developing an mCommerce site, are “confusing and complicating” the mobile journey by limiting shoppers to certain product ranges.

BlackBerry trumps iPhone in UK 2010 smartphone sales
RIM's BlackBerry range is the most successful smartphone platform of 2010 in the UK, according to data by GfK. Using data exclusively from consumers sales channels (ie the networks and consumer electronics stores), the research concluded that not only did BlackBerry handsets command 28.2% of all smartphone sales in 2010, RIM also managed to gain 36% of the Christmas sales, with over 500,000 shifted. RIM is bragging about its performance over the busy Christmas month, with nearly one in two pre-pay handsets being a BlackBerry, and nearly one in four contracts the same, with the likes of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and new BlackBerry Torch proving enticing to customers.

junaio Hails AR TV Trial a Success
Augmented reality (AR) firm metaio has released details of an experiment conducted last Wednesday, in which viewers of the science TV programme Galileo on the German ProSieben channel were able to take part in a live quiz during the show using their smartphone, equipped with metaio’s junaio AR browser. By pointing the phone’s camera at the displayed choice of answers and clicking on one of the possible answers received instant feedback on their choice. AR image recognition ensured that only those actually seeing the show could participate. junaio uses a technology called digital image recognition. The scanned screen image triggers communication with the station’s server via internet and thus establishes a bi-directional transmission of information. With a click on the smartphone’s touchscreen, the viewer’s response is transmitted. Results are displayed instantly, both at the station’s end and on the smartphone. The viewer then sees immediately whether his answer was right or wrong, which percentage of viewers answered correctly and how many questions he has ans correctly to that point.

Stanford researchers show off future uses of NFC. Exchange your photos with a touch. Literally.
At the MobiSocial lab, in Stanford, they're showing off some new uses of the NFC chip, already in the Google Nexus S, forthcoming Orange SIM cards and is also rumoured to be inside future iPhones and iPads. NFC is still relatively new to phone technology, but they have been able to show off several demonstration videos of what they’ve managed so far. Although Google’s phone is setup to only read data at this point, the researchers tinkered with Android’s Gingerbread, and have managed to get two phones to ‘communicate’ together. One video shows the researchers using a collaborative white-board style app, and in another, they were able to send cat photos via NFC, by simply touching the phones together, and okaying the download. Check out this grainy video, showing it in action.

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E Buzz - 24 January 2011

by Libergraph 24. January 2011 11:36
LG Display Posts Fourth Quarter Loss After EU Fine
LG Display has posted disappointing end-quarter results as the company struggles with low LCD demand from TV firms, weak prices and an EU anti-trust fine. In a regulatory filing, LG posted a loss of $239.3 million for the quarter after being hit with a euro 215 million fine for price fixing. The company warned of lower LCD shipments and said that it expects the weak price of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens to continue after posting its first loss in seven quarters.

Why Did Lush Take Down Its Hacked UK Website?
Popular cosmetics company Lush took the exceptional decision to shut down its UK website in the wake of the discovery that the site had been hacked and credit card details of thousands of customers had been compromised. Lush North America issued a statement saying that they operate on a completely separate platform from their UK counterpart and confirmed that they have completed an "additional internal review" of their own security measures (Lush did not confirm how many people were affected).

Samsung Buys Dutch Display Maker Liquavista
Samsung Electronics has acquired Dutch display technology maker Liquavista in a bid to expand its flat-screen display arsenal. Liquavista was founded in 2006 and has developed an 'electrowetting' display technology that is used to develop screens for e-readers, mobile phones and tablet devices. Samsung estimates that electrowetting technology consumes only 10 per cent of the energy that regular display technologies use. Samsung, the world's largest producer of memory chips and flat-screen display screens, also said that the acquisition will allow the company to expand into new display technologies like transparent displays and e-paper.

Nvidia's Tegra 2 3D unveiled
A deep throat has leaked an image of Nvidia's Mobile World Congress presentation to TechEye - giving a glimpse of what the jolly green goblin has in store for punters and handset makers this year. Nvidia will be shipping a Tegra 2 3D processor this year, intended for use in mobile gadgets featuring a 3D screen. The new Tegra 2 3D will be based on a Dual Cortex A9 clocked at up to 1.2 GHz, offering 5520 MIPS. According to the slide, Nvidia will start churning them out some time in the first quarter. It can be reasoned coming mobile handsets will offer a Master Image TN-LCD display using cell parallax, a technology using the individuals cells to create a 3D effect instead of a parallax barrier, as Nintendo will be using in its 3DS console.

AMD has a touch of the Nvidias
IT seems that AMD is copying a technique from Nvidia and creating a new graphics chip from an old one just by changing the packaging.
Zdnet claims that the new AMD Radeon HD 6700-series graphics cards is the Radeon HD 5700 in drag. The Radeon HD 6000-series of cards is based on the 5000 parts, the only thing different is that the HD 6800 and 6900 cards have been tweaked to deliver improved performance. The 6700 boards, which have the same number of stream processors and the same memory bandwidth as their 5700 predecessors so nothing to see their move on.

Sunlight reactor rips hydrogen out of water molecules
A newly-developed reactor design could produce large quantities of hydrogen fuel and oxygen using nothing but water, carbon dioxide and sunlight. The reactor, being developed at the California Institute of Technology, would allow energy collected in sunny places to be bottled up and carted to cloudier, more power-hungry, regions of the world. The research is led by Sossina Haile, a professor of materials science and chemical engineering.

France plans offshore underwater nuclear power plant
Faced with problems convincing people to host a nuclear plant in their back yard, France's state-owned naval defence company DCNS has proposed small-scale offshore nuclear power reactors, hidden below the waves. DCNS has a history of building submarines, and it's adapted one of its designs to fit a nuclear plant inside. Measuring 100m in length and 15m in diameter, the unit would be installed on the seabed, between 60 and 100 metres below the surface. The reactor, generators, and turbines inside can push out 50 to 250 MWe -- enough to supply about 85,000 homes.

Super AMOLED Plus screens to rival Retina Display
Samsung is making some big steps into improving the screens on its mobile phones, with some more information revealing the technology behind the panels. There's real buzz surrounding the next generation of Samsung handsets as the screens are set to be as pin-sharp as those seen on the iPhone 4 and iPod touch. This is because Super AMOLED Plus will allow a screen quality over 300ppi. Currently the Retina Display shows content at 326ppi.

M&S Mobile Site Doing 1m Uniques a Day
Marks & Spencer’s mobile-optimised site received over 1m unique daily visitors in December 2010, as shoppers turned to the site to do their Christmas shopping on the go. The figure was revealed to Mobile Marketing this afternoon by M&S Direct’s social and mobile commerce development manager Sienne Veit, who told us: “We’re delighted, as this is confirmation that our customers are ready to shop in this way, and that we have created a site which they find quick and easy to shop. So much so, that we see much of use of the site is ‘in home’ meaning our customers are choosing to shop on mobile over their laptops and desktops.”

Google: "2011 is all about mobile"
The Google CEO, now confirmed as leaving the company as it happens, writes in Harvard Business Review that "as I think about Google's strategic initiatives in 2011, I realise they're all about mobile." He claims we've reached a point where the combo of GPS and browsers make it possible to deliver services that know "where you are, what you could do there right now, and so forth, and to deliver such a service at scale." To accelerate users towards this vision, Google is focused on three mobile fronts this year: high-speed mobile networks of up 8 to 10 megabits; mobile money (NFC); and affordable smartphones for under $100.

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E Buzz - 21 January

by Libergraph 21. January 2011 11:14
Top 11 Mobile Predictions For 2011
Glancing back, 2010 has seen major upheaval in the mobile industry. Smartphone leaders have lost their footing, while upstarts grab market share. More people rely on the mobile Internet day in and day out to perform computing tasks. That mobile Internet has sped up with the introduction of 4G networks (and will only get faster). And fierce competition for business and consumer customers alike has driven prices downwards. In 2011, many of these trends will continue to shape the path of the mobile industry, but more dramatic changes will unfold. Some technologies will win out over others, while companies may have to surrender to their competitors. As 2011 unfolds, this is what we expect to witness as the months roll by.

Website with 10 million users warns of password theft
A website that helps drivers avoid speeding tickets is warning its 10 million registered users that their email addresses and passwords may be in the hands of hackers who breached the site's security. The advisory was issued on Thursday by Trapster, which boasts more than 10 million users on its front page. The site uses crowd-sourcing techniques to compile locations of police who are using radar to catch speeding drivers. Trapster said the hack amounted to a “single event,” and that the company has since taken steps to “prevent this type of attack from happening again, and continue to implement additional security measures to further protect your data.” Trapster didn't say whether it planned to begin hashing passwords, which is considered a basic security precaution to prevent their disclosure.

Tweets Hit Techmeme, Bloggers in a Tizzy
For years, Techmeme has been considered the tech news website of record. A quick glance at the site, which aggregates tech news headlines from across the web, will tell you the topics that people are discussing, and who is discussing them, at any moment in time. But Techmeme has only scanned blog and news posts. Until now. On Thursday, Techmeme chief Gabe Rivera announced that the site would now be aggregating tweets — the 140-character micro-posts found on Twitter. The move represents another milestone in Twitter’s seemingly inexorable march toward becoming a central news water cooler of the internet era.

EMEA computer shipments flat in final quarter of 2010, says IDC
he PC market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the final quarter of last year was flat, according to research outfit IDC. In a report published this week, it found that big corporate firms were slowly starting to spend on IT and replace old kit, but added that SMEs continued to struggle with very tight budgets in Q4 2010. In the UK during that period sales of business computers fell three per cent. "Corporate demand continued to recover, helping to sustain commercial desktop volumes, but the SMB segment remained affected by economic pressure and uncertainty, forcing companies to prolong life-cycles and delay renewals, impacting portables in particular," said IDC. Meanwhile, the trend for western Europeans snubbing the netbook market continued in the fourth quarter of last year, with sales of that product category down 29 per cent.

IBM forms new partnership with ARM in hopes of developing ludicrously small chip processing technology
We've seen IBM and ARM team up before, but this week both companies announced a new joint initiative to develop 14nm chip processing technology. That's significantly smaller than the 20nm SoC technology ARM hopes to create in partnership with TSMC, and makes the company's previous work with IBM on 32nm semiconductors look like a cake walk. The potential benefits, though, are faster processors that require less power, and feature lower per unit manufacturing costs Who knows if or when we'll see tangible results from the tag team, but if IBM's Watson can beat Jeopardy champions, further reducing the average size of a feature that can be created on a chip should be elementary, right? 

Why DRM will win and you can't do anything to stop it
Eventually your movies will play themselves once and self-destruct and you'll be left with only the analog hole to get your gay pr0ns.  Homomorphic encryption algorithms allow the secret evaluation of arbitrary logical circuits.  In short this means that one can compute a useful function without knowing what either the encrypted inputs or outputs are, but whoever holds the decryption key can recover both.  You can finally send your data off into the cloud and have it processed securely, or you can write the next Morris worm that no one will be able to fully reverse engineer.  Of course, this also means that the next Sony rootkit you install on your computer via your Elton John CD will be invincible to analysis and your debugger will be about as useful as a punch card reader

A year of data.gov.uk
A year ago Tim Berners-Lee and I unveiled data.gov.uk – a year on and it provides a single point of access to nearly 6,000 government data sets.Everything from local authorities spending to the whereabouts of the nations bus stops, from energy consumption in ministries to infection rates in hospitals. This idea of making public data available has really caught hold. In this country it not only survived the election – but new commitments to transparency and open data have been made. Other countries, regional authorities and individual cities are all making data available. This newspaper has reported on and participated in this data revolution. Data underlies increasing amounts of journalism. The Guardian has argued that open data can rebalance the relationship between those who govern and the citizen. Grand sounding stuff – but how does it work?

Google Posts Strong Earnings as Co-Founder Larry Page Is Named CEO
Google reported another very strong quarterly earnings performance Thursday, but the results were overshadowed by the company’s dramatic announcement that CEO Eric Schmidt will become non-executive Chairman and co-founder Larry Page will take over the chief executive officer duties. The Mountain View, California-based company said that net income rose to $2.54 billion, or $7.81 per share, on revenue of $6.37 billion, which exceeded Wall Street expectations. That’s a 29 percent increase from last year’s fourth-quarter net income, which was $1.97 billion, or $6.13 per share.

Google testing Google Voice number porting
Word on the street this morning was that Google had quietly made number porting available to all its Google Voice users, but the search giant confirmed Thursday that it is only conducting a test of the option with a few users. "We're continually testing new features to enhance the user experience. For a limited amount of time, we're making the Google Voice number porting process available to users," Google said in a statement. "We don't have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future."

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E Buzz - 20 January

by Libergraph 20. January 2011 11:24
Best selling games ever
You saved months of pocket money for them, dropped less than subtle hints around your birthday, and braved the queues to be the first to play it. Quite simply, these are the games yanked off the shelves more than any other title. The guys at Guinness World Records in conjunction with its new Gamer's Edition book, have been keeping track of the best-selling games ever since the book launched in 2008.

Nokia delays US smartphone launch
Nokia has delayed the US launch of its X7 smartphone. The Finnish mobile phone giant was set to launch the phone exclusively in 2011 with AT&T. The company still plans to sell the X7 in other countries.  The move comes as the company sensed that AT&T will not back the US launch with enough marketing and subsidies support. The X7 phone could compete with the iPhone or models based on Google’s Android software. 

MTV online awards for digital music
The show - which will take place in April or May and has no name yet - will mark the best of digital music in its different forms, according to the network. MTV bosses said the awards will be a "multiscreen experience," including the Internet, social media and mobile - but not broadcast. Categories will include accolades such as best app, best blog, best Internet feud, best music meme of the year and best Kanye West tweet.

Lenovo steps up smartphone and tablet assault
Leading the group from Lenovo's Beijing headquarters is Liu Jun, who previously served as senior vice president of the company's Product Group. Former Think Products Group leader Peter Hortensius will take over as head of the Products Group. Lenovo said that the move will further establish the firm's place in a booming market for consumer and enterprise mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

eBay Shares Jump 5 Per Cent On Strong Sales
Shares in online auction platform eBay jumped by 5 per cent in after hours trading following impressive fourth quarter financial results. The company reported a rise of 5 per cent in its fourth quarter revenue, beating Wall Street estimates to finish up at $2.5 billion. eBay recorded a net income of $559.2 million or 42 cents a share.

India to unveil national broadband plan
India’s telecom minister will unveil a blueprint for the country’s National Broadband Plan by the end of March. Kapil Sibal, the minister for communications and information technology, has said that the plan is to connect 160 million households with high-speed internet connections by 2014.  Sibal has consulted industry representatives to finalise the framework for the NBP and develop a strategy to roll out optical fibre. According to the plan, the fibre network will be treated as a national resource and will be equally available to operators for providing broadband services. 

Sony Ericsson predicts "modest growth" in 2011
Sony Ericsson has revealed lower-than-expected profit and sales during the final quarter of its financial results and has suggested that that handset market growth in 2011 will only be modest. The poor performance contrasted sharply with smartphone rival Apple, whose results beat forecasts this week on strong sales of its iPhone and iPad.

HTC launching its Android 2.2 HTC Gratia in the UK this February
It seems like absolutely ages ago since we first mentioned the HTC Gratia, with HTC only today confirming an actual launch date for its newest little Android phone. The Gratia is pretty much the same as HTC’s existing Legend Android phone, containing a 600MHz processor, with a 3.2? screen operating at 320×480. We’ve already uploaded the tech specs here. The HTC Gratia will launch in the UK in February. 

Broadband price cut proposed for three million rural homes
Ofcom is suggesting that in areas where broadband infrastructure is solely provided by BT Wholesale, prices should be cut by between 10.75 per cent and 14.75 per cent. BT Wholesale sells broadband services to a range of internet service providers who then sell it directly to customers. Ofcom hopes that lower prices will both encourage competition and allow existing providers to provide a better service at current prices.

3-D means headaches to many, yet companies push on
From Hollywood studios to Japanese TV makers, powerful business interests are betting 3-D will be the future of entertainment, despite a major drawback: It makes millions of people uncomfortable or sick. Optometrists say as many as one in four viewers have problems watching 3-D movies and TV, either because 3-D causes tiresome eyestrain or because the viewer has problems perceiving depth in real life. In the worst cases, 3-D makes people queasy, leaves them dizzy or gives them headaches.


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E Buzz - 19 January 2011

by Libergraph 19. January 2011 11:55
Arqiva seeks partner for online TV venture
Arqiva is hunting for an investment partner for its online TV venture SeeSaw, with options including a complete sale of the operation thought to be under consideration. The company, which handles TV and radio transmitters for most UK broadcasters and is a partner in the BBC-backed YouView video-on-demand venture, launched SeeSaw in February last year. Last October Arqiva completed a strategic review of the SeeSaw, which employs about 30 staff, and is set to kick off the hunt for an investment partner.
 
BBC iPlayer boss quits for job with Intel
Erik Huggers has quit his new media and technology role at the BBC for a job with chip maker Intel. The one-time Microsoft exec, who joined the Beeb in May 2007, steered Auntie's iPlayer strategy and oversaw the corporation's online estate, which is now undergoing budget cuts and a significant webpage cull. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson told staff that Huggers would leave at the end of February to take on the job of vice-president and general manager of Intel's digital home group.
 
I Want to Charge All My Gadgets Using JoyFactory's Zip
Most multi-chargers bore me to tears, but JoyFactory's Zip, Touch-n-go looks like it was designed by people who actually care what these things look like on your desk. It uses magnets to connect the gadgets' cables to the charging-pod. It's not on sale yet, however JoyFactory claims it'll come in somewhere between $49 and $99. That's a wide pool to shoot in, but if it means I can minimize cable clutter in my house, while looking damn stylish in the process, I'm ready and waiting with my credit card.

Former Nokia guru turns his hand to Angel investing
Anssi Vanjoki, who you’ll recall was supposed to be the saviour of Nokia before he dramatically resigned the day before a major show, has clearly decided not to retire into history, head off into the sunset and play golf. Instead, it would appear that after many years at the top of Nokia’s hierarchy, he has built up enough personal wealth to turn his hand towards startup investing. He’s now invested not in his golf swing, but in Finnish start-up called GameBook, a social technology for golfers created with golf pros. Vanjoki is joining the board, but the terms of his investment have not been disclosed.

Want Froyo on your Galaxy S? Just buy a new device
Samsung promised a Froyo (Android 2.2) update for US Galaxy S owners, yet have failed to deliver before the end of 2010. There were conspiracy theories last week as owners start to lose patience and now we see a new updated Samsung Vibrant passing through the FCC bound for T-Mobile. Is the fastest way to get an updated Galaxy S really going to be for you to purchase a Nexus S or to buy a Samsung Vibrant 4G?

Fresh funding for Netbiscuits
Germany's Netbiscuits is one of the industry's most successful web site and app creators, with  clients include eBay,  Time Inc, Universal Music Group and MTV. It claims to power more than 10,000 mobile sites and apps. The new funds will be used to improve tech, extend the partner programme and “to take the company’s growth strategy for the US to the next level and expand business in core markets in Europe and Asia."

Social networks are ‘easier targets for cyber criminals’
IT security firm, Sophos’s annual Security Threat Report, has uncovered a sharp rise in the amount of cyber crime attacks on social network users – but why? According security analysts, there are two reasons for the increase. Firstly email services’ anti-spam security measures are incredibly sophisticated compared to social networks’ respective security precautions. Consequently cyber criminals are able to attack social network users with greater ease. And secondly, spam is more effective on sites like Twitter and Facebook, because people trust the users sending the infected messages.

Uncensored Playboy mags to hit the iPad in March
Honestly, Steve Jobs turns his back for five seconds and Hugh Hefner sneaks an iPad version of Playboy through the iTunes approval system. Or so it would seem given Hef's latest tweets on the matter, in which he claims: "Big news! Playboy - both old & new - will be available on iPad beginning in March." In a reply to a follower eager to know just how much flesh will be on show, he also states, "Playboy on iPad will be uncensored."

Mobile World Congress 2011: what to expect
After the sheer madness and reams of shiny gadgets of CES 2011, we barely have time to pause for breath before the annual mobile phone-a-thon of Mobile World Congress 2011 is upon us. While CES saw a near-record number of top end mobile phones released from the Las Vegas jamboree, MWC 2011 still promises to be the place to see all manner of new handsets and tablets. So we've trekked across the digital rumour-space and looked for all the info on what to expect from the Barcelona event - keep coming back as we'll be constantly updating it whenever some new morsel of info or spy shot comes into view.

HP PalmPad first pictures emerge
The first pictures of the forthcoming Palm-powered tablet range have emerged, courtesy of a tipster to Engadget. The first is codenamed Topaz and will be the 9-inch variant, while the Opal will be its 7-inch little brother. As you can see, HP also sees the tablet market as slightly segmented between those that want the larger-screened experience, and those that want to be able to hold a tablet (sort of) easily in one hand. Both will be running a single-core 1.2GHz processor, according to Engadget's tipster, and will be shipping to Palm in June ready for a launch later this year.

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E Buzz - 18 January 2011

by Libergraph 18. January 2011 11:55

Samsung Smart TV app downloads top 2 million mark
Samsung has announced it has surpassed a new landmark in the TV app market with more than 2 million television-bound applications having now been downloaded from the Samsung TV App Store. Whilst this is some distance off the 10 billion app downloads the Apple App Store is due to hit in the coming days, the Samsung TV service has doubled its level of downloaded content in a little over a month having hit the 1 million download mark early in December.
T3

Government offers £100 computers to the great unconnected
The government is offering a computer and Internet connection for under £100 to unlucky Britons languishing in the hell of life without the Web. Yes, for less than a ton, those poor unfortunates can become as happy and fulfilled as the joyously Web-connected digital darlings pictured above. Hurray! Digital inclusion champion Martha Lane Fox is in charge of the low-cost IT pilot scheme, as part of the Race Online 2012 campaign. This encourages people to take advantage of the services and deals on the Internet to generally make their lives better. The scheme is aimed at those who find the cost of equipment is holding them back.
CNET UK

Tayside police to use Twitter in social media trial
Tayside Community Officers will be tweeting while on the beat for the next three months. Community officers in Auchterarder, Crieff, and Kinross will provide the local communities with information and updates on road and traffic, campaigns, crime prevention and more police issues that affect their community. Gordon Scobbie, the Deputy Chief Constable of Tayside Police and National Lead for Digital and Social Media Engagement said that they have already used social media before with positive results.
T3

WikiLeaks Gets German Satellite Boss Sacked
WikiLeaks says satellite CEO slated Europe’s GPS rival but still signed a contract to build it
The chief executive of a German satellite company has been sacked, for statements included in a leaked US embassy document published by WikiLeaks.Berry Smutny reportedly called the European Galileo satellite navigation project a waste of money in a leaked US diplomatic cable which was included in the 350,000 which WikiLeaks is publishing on the web and in newspapers. Despite denying he ever made the remark, Smutny was sacked by his company, OHB-Systems, which is a major Galileo contractor.
eWeek

Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced he will take another bout of medical leave from his position at the company. In a statement sent to Apple staff, Jobs said Apple's board of directors had granted him medical leave of absence. Jobs confirmed he will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company. It is unclear how long he will be on leave and the medical reasons behind his absence. "My family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy," said Jobs. The Wall Street Journal reported Apple stock fell around 6% in overseas trading on Monday following the news.
Computer Weekly

Goldman Sachs suffers Facebook fiasco
Goldman Sachs has been left red-faced after the investment bank had to scrap plans for its super-rich American clients to become special friends with Facebook.Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs invested $450m (£283m) in the social network company at a price that valued Facebook at $50bn. It was then reported that the bank was looking to raise $1.5bn for Facebook through an exclusive share offer, known as a private placement, for the bank's top clients.Facebook is probably the hottest property on the planet at present. The seven-year-old company has more than 500 million users and recently passed Google as the most visited site on the web. The deal was a major coup for Goldman, which appeared to have found a way to get its clients in first
The Guardian

10 per cent of users take 90 per cent of mobile data, say researchers
Just 10 per cent of all mobile phone users account for 90 per cent of all networks’ data traffic, researchers have found. The study, conducted for video traffic management firm Bytemobile, also suggests that in 2011 60 per cent of all traffic will be video. The company also questioned whether new generation networks, such as LTE in America, will be able to keep pace with the increasing demands of smartphones and consumers who watch more videos on their mobile phones. British networks have consistently warned that demand for data is outstripping their capacity to build it and have increased the cost of packages while also lowering the amount included. Earlier this month, T-
The Telegraph

Mobile Platform Netbiscuits Takes T-Mobile Investment To Go Global
Netbiscuits, a web-hosted software suite that lets companies develop mobile websites and apps, is raising from Deutsche Telekom’s T-Venture fund and Creathor (announcement). The company needs the money to take the company’s growth strategy for the USA to the next level and expand business in core markets in Europe and Asia, plus for technology and extending its global partner programme. Kaiserslautern-based Netbiscuits’ clients include eBay (NSDQ: EBAY), Axel Springer Group,  Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Universal Music Group and MTV Network, and claims to power more than 10,000 mobile sites and apps.The investment size isn’t being disclosed.
Moco News

Brits to manage their pennies more closely than ever in 2011
As Brits feel the pinch after the indulgences of Christmas, 94% of people plan to tighten their purse strings this year according to a poll by Orange, the first UK communications company to offer Tiny Top Ups, a new service that lets Pay As You Go customers top up using their loose change from as little as 10p. With one in four (25.7%) 18-24 year olds carrying less than £1 in loose change in their pocket, Tiny Top Ups puts the power back in the pennies making it easier than ever to stay in touch  welcome news for almost one in four (23%) Brits who normally wait for pay day before they top up their phone.
Mobile Business Magazine

Windows Phone 7 payment partner unveiled
Microsoft has chosen the carrier-billingsolution for Windows Phone 7  with MACH picked out as the company that will provide the means for people to buy apps and content. The need for a reliable payment system is paramount in modern day app and content markets, with people increasingly keen to buy over the air via a variety of payment methods. MACH describes itself as "the leading provider of hub-based mobile communication solutions" and believes that it can provide a system that users will appreciate.
Tech Radar

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E Buzz - 17 January 2011

by Libergraph 17. January 2011 14:10
Nokia set to shut down Ovi Music Unlimited
Nokia's oft-maligned unlimited music service looks set to be coming to an end after internal documents were leaked online. According to Esphoneblog, no more Ovi Music Unlimited (formerly known as Comes With Music) devices will be shipped, and after 16 January this year customers have not been able to renew their unlimited music license. Those that have already bought an OMU device and haven't activated the free music download service still can do so, but won't be able to renew it in a year's time.

BAE to use E-ink to make tanks invisible
Defence contractor BAE Systems has hatched a plan to cover British Army tanks with an E-Ink surface to make them practically invisible on the battlefield. The high-tech plan which effectively weaponises the tech behind our beloved Kindle reader uses cameras to take pictures of the surroundings and project the images onto the surface of the vehicle. The camera would continually snap images meaning that the tank's surface would be constantly refreshing making it practically untraceable to enemies and freedom haters across the globe.

What is going wrong with Intel's marketing?
Second-guessing decisions made by large technology corporations is a perilous task. Including a copy-and-paste function in a new smartphone operating system, for instance, might seem like a no-brainer, but Microsoft decided against doing just that for the launch build of Windows Phone 7. Whether that turns out to be the correct call isn't the point. What matters is that making sense of such decisions from an outside perspective is often a fool's errand. You simply don't have all the facts. Problem is, I'm finding it impossible to ignore a pattern of apparently antagonistic anti-customer decisions coming from Intel of late.

Google TV delays explained
Search Engine Google appeared a tad embarrassed when it decided to pull back from launching its Google TV product at CES last month. The move apparently annoyed the backers in the electronics industry who actually had some products they wanted to show off. At the time, rumours said that Google was reluctant to sign off on the software for the project but now it seems that the outfit is considering shafting its partner on the project, Intel and moving to ARM processors instead.

LG disappointed by Windows Phone 7 launch
It looks like things are starting to come unstuck for Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7. Redmond's glorious mobile chum LG is a little disappointed at the lacklustre launch. James Choi, a marketing strategy and planning team director for LG Electronics, told Pocket-lint  that LG had a high expectation of Windows Phone 7, but from a "consumer point of view the visibility is less than it expected." It seems that LG has not given up on Redmond yet. He feels that it has a strong potential even though the first push wasn't what everyone expected.

Intel settles WiLAN lawsuit
Intel has settled with WiLAN in a court case that claimed it infringed a string of wireless and Internet patents. According to Reuters, WiLAN now plans go to after Intel's co-defendants, the fruit themed maker of Ithings, Apple, the grey box shifter, Dell, and the maker of expensive printer ink, HP. Chipzilla has agreed to make a series of payments on a multi-year license of WiLAN's entire patent portfolio. No one has said how many zeros were on the cheque that Intel had to write to make WiLAN go away. Alexander Poltorak, CEO of General Patent Corp, a patent advisory firm, told Reuters that the amount Intel paid was likely substantial.

Talktalk announces a fibre optic upgrade
Talktalk has opened the registration process for punters to upgrade to superfast broadband. Dubbed the Fibre Optic Boost, the 40Mbps Talktalk service is due to roll out over BT's telco infrastructure in the next few months. The company still hasn't announced its pricing tariffs for superfast broadband customers but has offered a registration process online. Like BT's fibre optic broadband Infinity package, the service is postcode lottery dependant so you need to add your address online. If you do fall into Talktalk's planned upgrade area, it will offer to get you hooked up. "The installation process is straight forward as an engineer will make a home visit to get the connection up and running," said Talktalk commercial director Tristia Clarke. "We expect this boost to be very popular and will be aiming to make it available to as many people as possible," she added.

News Republic Goes Global
News Republic, the iPhone and Android app dedicated to news, which has almost 200,000 users in Europe, has announced its worldwide rollout. The app contains features and live news updates on sport, business, technology and celebrities, from leading news agencies and the web. Users can filter and organise the news to closely follow their favourite subjects, people or places, using a system called TagNav that tracks the themes and semantic meanings of all stories and articles, and tags them with keywords, enabling users to create their own news folders to keep up to date with all those topics that matter to them most.

Report Looks at Mobile Brand Recall
Multicultural mobile agency Briabe Media and mobile web entertainment site MocoSpace have released a report entitled The Mobile Consumer: Brand Recall, which reveals the mobile brand advertisers that are proving most successful at sticking in consumers’ minds in the US. The report is based on a survey of over 12,000 respondents carried out by the two companies in December 2010. It reveals that carriers’ and retailers’ mobile ads are most top-of-mind with consumers. When asked ‘Can you recall any advertisers you have seen on your phone?’ an average of 37 per cent of consumers responded ‘Yes.’ When broken down by ethnicity, African-Americans outpaced all other demographics, with 41 per cent saying they recalled seeing advertising on their mobiles. 36 per cent of both Asian Americans and Caucasians recalled mobile ads, with Hispanics 2 per cent behind at 34 per cent.

M&S Opts In to O2 More
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has signed-up to O2’s ‘You Are Here’ location-based marketing service, which sends targeted text or MMS messages to O2 customers when they enter areas ‘owned’ by brands, retailers or services. The messages are sent to O2 customers who have opted in to the O2 More opt-in mobile marketing programme. When O2 More customers who have expressed an interest in food and drink or clothing enter an area near an M&S store, they will be sent a text message featuring a special offer they can redeem at that store, immediately. To redeem the offer, customers quote a unique product code from the text to the customer service assistant. M&S has signed up to the service initially for six months. The first M&S offer launches today, and is for a free 250ml smoothie for any O2 More customer who buys a ‘Simply Fuller Longer’ sandwich or salad.

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E Buzz - 11 January 2011

by Libergraph 11. January 2011 11:39

LG hopes to quadruple smartphone sales in 2011
LG is hoping to increase its smartphone sales massively this year, by adopting a strategy of pushing high-end mobiles along iPhone lines. LG didn’t have a great 2010. While the company maintained its position as the third most prolific smartphone manufacturer, behind Nokia and Samsung, it dropped from a market share of 10.6% to 8.3%.Samsung pulled away somewhat in second place, up 0.7% to 21%, according to IDC Research figures. Apple made considerable strides with the iPhone 4, leaping from 2.5% to 4.1%.According to Reuters, Ma Chang-min, Head of Marketing for LG Mobile, insisted this trend would be reversed in 2011.
Tech Watch

Microsoft investigating data-sucking Phone 7 glitch
Microsoft is looking into reports that some Windows Phone 7 are sending out large batches of mystery data that could push users past their data caps. The problem came to light when phone companies got in touch with users telling them that they were near or past their download limits, even though they had barely used their 3G connections.With this phone I do not stream, I mostly have the location services turned off," wrote the original poster Julie G on the Windows Super Site. "I do have Facebook connected with Windows Live and I have my Yahoo mail and Outlook mail synced to the phone.
PC Pro

Fine Gael website targeted by Anonymous hackers
Ireland's main opposition party's website has been hacked into by a group which has recently come to prominence for attacks on companies related to the WikiLeaks controversy. Up to 2,000 people's personal details were compromised in the attack by the hackers, known as Anonymous, Fine Gael said. The American internet firm ElectionMall, which reported the cyber attack to US authorities, has informed the party that the FBI is now involved in the investigation.
The Guardian

AMD Chief Meyer Is Forced Out
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. forced out Chief Executive Dirk Meyer, just as the long-struggling chip maker appeared to be gaining momentum in its turnaround. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said Monday that Mr. Meyer had resigned. But people familiar with the situation said the move reflected pressure from the company's board, which concluded that he was not moving quickly enough to improve AMD's position in markets such as server systems and tablet computers."The board feels we've got opportunities for significant growth and superior financial returns, and a change in leadership can accelerate the ability to accomplish those goals," said Drew Praire, an AMD spokesman. 
WSJ

John Cresswell to head Arqiva
Arqiva, which handles TV and radio transmitters for most UK broadcasters and is a partner in the BBC-backed YouView video-on-demand venture, has hired former senior ITV manager John Cresswell as its new chief executive. Cresswell takes up his new role on Monday at Arqiva, which also owns online TV venture SeeSaw. He replaces Tom Bennie, who has been chief executive of Arqiva since it was formed in 2005.He was most recently held the role of ITV interim chief executive until handing over the reins to Adam Crozier, the former head of Royal Mail and boss of the FA, in April last year. Cresswell had previously held the role of chief operating officer and been a key lieutenant to former ITV executive chairman Michael Grade.
The Guardian

T-Mobile tell users to download big files at home
From the beginning of February, T-Mobile customers will have their data usage limited to just 500MB per month, down from a current maximum of 3GB. According to a statement on the T-Mobile website, this fair use policy is there to ensure that T-Mobile customers will "always be able to browse the internet". Thought you already were browsing the internet? Apparently not, as the statement goes on to explain  "browsing means looking at websites and checking mail, but not watching videos, downloading files or playing games". Or at least it does now, if you're a T-Mobile customer.
T3

Intel pays Nvidia $1.5bn in patent dispute settlement
Intel has agreed to pay Nvidia $1.5bn over six years in a licensing deal to settle a patent dispute between the two chipmaking companies. Intel filed a suit against Nvidia in February 2009, saying it had to pay for licenses to make chipsets for future Intel microprocessors, but an Nvidia countersuit claimed a 2004 license with Intel covered those microprocessors. The licensing deal will allow Intel to continue developing its own chips that integrate graphics technology based on Nvidia patents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Computer Weekly

1 in 5 Mobile Users to Use Mobile Money Services in Some Developing Regions by 2013
According to a new report from Juniper Research, the array of financial services possible via mobile phones are proving so attractive that some developing countries are seeing unprecedented penetration levels of up to one in two mobile subscribers within two to three years from launch. Regionally, the report identifies that some developing regions will achieve a rate of 1 in 5 money service users over the next 2 years which is a remarkable level of adoption for such new services.
Cellular News

Exent launching Android games-on-demand subscription service
US firm Exent's business is based on delivering PC games 'on-demand' - users pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to its catalogue of nearly 2,000 titles. The company works with partners to offer the service, including Verizon, Qwest and Comcast. However, now Exent is going mobile, adding Android games to the mix."The experience Exent has at merchandising and monetizing content fills a void in the current marketplace and helps Android games reach their revenue potential," explains Exent's website.
Mobile Entertainment

Forrester predicts sustained IT growth for 2011
A report on the global IT market is predicting sustained world-wide growth and an accelerating shift into computing services. Analyst house Forrester estimates that the global IT market will grow 7.1 per cent, down slightly from this year. However, the nature of the growth will change. In 2010 the market grew 7.2 per cent, but the report’s author principle analyst Andy Bartells explained that this was largely down to companies buying services and equipment that had been deferred from the last few years. In 2011 growth rates would represent new investment rather than replacements.
V3

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E Buzz - 10 January 2011

by Libergraph 10. January 2011 14:17
Acer expands Android phone line
Acer added a couple of Android smartphones to its range at CES 2011.  The Liquid Mini an BeTouch E210 both run the Froyo version of the Google OS. The Liquid Mini measures only 110x58x13mm and weighs in at 109g. It's driven by a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM processor, sports a five-megapixel camera with flash, and has a 3.2-inch 240x320 pixels capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, 512MB RAM, DLNA compatibility, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radio.

RIM wants two years to address India's security concerns
RIM has said it wants an additional 18-24 months to address the security concerns of Indian agencies. The move is part of an ongoing battle between the smartphone maker and the Indian government, which, since last year has been demanding the encryption keys to the company's email services. However, it's also asked the government not to ban its services in the interim period and claims that in the meantime it will provide a manual way in which to intercept BlackBerry Messenger services. It added that an automatic service for this will be provided by January 31. 

OFT clamps down on Twitter
The UK Office of Fair Trading is cracking down on Twitter users and bloggers using their online presence to hawk products. Apparently celebs are making fortunes tweeting that they use various products while failing to mention that they are being paid to do so. The OFT has brought a case against a PR firm that was discovered to be paying bloggers to write effusively about its clients.

AdMob Running At 2bn Ad Requests Per Day
Google’s AdMob network is receiving more than 2bn ad requests each day. The figure has more than quadrupled over the last 12 months, according to a blog post from Harsh Shah, one of the Google Mobile Ads marketing team. The number of unique Android and iOS devices requesting an ad has more than doubled over the last six months to more than 100m each month. Nine countries in the AdMob network generated more than 1bn monthly ad requests in December 2010, up from just one country a year ago.

FCC chair: 'Unleash more wireless spectrum or face doom'
Although he's facing strong – and at times rabid – opposition to his recently released Open Internet plan, defending the plan isn't the main concern of FCC chairman Julius Genachowski. "Unleashing spectrum to support mobile innovation is at the top of the FCC's 2011 agenda," Genachowski said on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "As evidenced by the trade-show floor, the consumer electronics industry is going wireless," he told the hundreds of foot-sore show goers who had stopped wandering that floor to listen to his talk. "The future success of this industry, and America's innovation future...depends on whether our government acts quickly to unleash more spectrum – the oxygen that sustains our mobile devices."

Disney and Yahoo in internet TV deal
Disney is looking to provide content to TV sets embedded with Yahoo's internet-TV software, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. Citing un-named sources familiar with the matter, the WSJ claims that Disney wants to create widgets for its ESPN, ABC and Disney networks.

LinkedIn to go public in 2011
LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, plans to go public in 2011, Reuters reports. The move appears designed to get a jump on what is expected to be a flurry of public offerings by tech companies over the next two years as the economy improves. Shopping website Groupon and  social-gaming company Zynga -- both growing like wildfire -- are each preparing to go public, though Groupon will likely wait until 2012.

Amazon launches new cloud services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced two new pricing plans for its cloud service and has reduced the prices for its existing offerings. But Amazon is not alone in launching new services, as a sign as to how competitive the cloud market is set to become, hosting company Rackspace has announced a beta trial of its new UK cloud service. AWS has added bronze and platinum plans to existing gold and silver categories. As the name suggests, it won't be a cheap option. The company said that the platinum service was intended for its enterprise customers and would cost a minimum of $15,000.

Samsung looking to double smartphone volumes in 2011
Samsung is expecting to sell more than 50 million smartphones in 2011, doubling its volumes for 2010, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. Depending on the performance of its rivals, this could see Samsung displacing RIM to become the third-biggest smartphone vendor, after Nokia and Apple – closer to the number-two spot it has in the global handset market. However, the company is also facing competition from ambitious rivals including LG Electronics, Motorola and HTC, which are all looking to grow their shares of the premium device market. Samsung is looking to “4G” to bolster its smartphone growth, having been named this week as a supplier for Verizon Wireless’ LTE (pictured) and AT&T’s HSPA+ portfolios.

Spam emails 'dramatically reduced'
According to the company 200 billion spam messages were sent on every single day during the summer. However, during and since Christmas, the amount has dropped to 50 billion messages per day. Paul Wood, a senior analyst at Symantec, said: “We do see spikes and falls in the volume of spam on a daily basis but what we haven't seen before is a drop of this magnitude, which is unexpected and unexplained.” Wood told BBC News that during the Christmas period, three of the largest spam producers had cut back on their activity. One of these botnets, the networks of infected computers responsible for circulating the majority of spam, called Rustock, dramatically cut back its activity in December. At its peak, Rustock accounted for 47 per cent to 48 per cent of all spam sent globally.

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E Buzz - 7 January 2010

by Libergraph 7. January 2011 11:44
RIM CEO offers unintelligible look at BlackBerry OS, PlayBook future
In an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, Mike Lazaridis co-CEO of Research In Motion, offered an astonishingly nonsensical set of answers about the future of the BlackBerry OS and RIM’s upcoming PlayBook tablet. According to a live blog of the interview posted by Peter Kafka ofMediaMemo, Lazaridis appeared on stage with a prototype PlayBook in hand. Engadget also reported its own version of the conversation, frequently noting that Lazaridis’ comments didn’t make any sense or were impossible to follow. Lazaridis quickly switched between apps and video playback on the prototype tablet, saying “This is the way we like to work… it’s as easy as just sliding between the apps that you have loaded.” Asked why the PlayBook was designed to be 7 inches, Lazaridis replied, “it’s just the perfect size,” before also acknowledging, “we have plans for different sizes.”

Facebook Faces IPO or SEC Disclosure in 2012
Facebook, the booming social network with more than 600 million users, will go public by the end of 2012 or begin disclosing financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to plans laid out in a 101-page prospectus being shown to potential investors. In the document, Facebook says it expects to cross the critical 500-shareholder mark this year, and if it finishes 2011 over the line, it must file quarterly and annual reports with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the year. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Facebook is worth $50 billion, according to Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs, which is investing $450 million in the social networking website and raising at least $1.5 billion more from its wealthy clients. Demand has been so intense, Goldman Sachs has closed the fund early.

An Interview with Ben Parr, Co-Editor of Mashable on Entrepreneurship, TechCrunch, and Getting Bought out
The Web is filled with blogs on almost every topic. Tech blogs specifically are a dime a dozen, but there is the elite group of tech media outlets that truly stand out from the crowd, Mashable leads the pack. Started by Pete Cashmore in his garage in Scotland, Mashable has become a true Web empire. As a person who has guest blogged for Mashable a few times, I can safely say they deserve the popularity. The team is among the most professional I have ever encountered and Mashable’s editorial standards are unprecedented in the industry. With over 10 million monthly visitors, 2 million Twitter followers, and millions in revenue, it is no wonder Mashable was named one of the top five blogs on the internet.

Mashable Awards 2010: Announcing The Winners
With more than 1.3 million nominations and votes, we’re pleased to announce the 2010 Mashable Awards winners. The Mashable Awards, our annual contest highlighting the very best of tech and the web, received a record number of votes this year. After entering the final round, we narrowed the list to the top five nominees in each category based on your votes. The winners received the most votes from readers like you, and we want to thank each of you for participating. The winners were announced Thursday at the Mashable Awards Gala, which was hosted by comedian Baratunde Thurston, The Onion’s director of digital, at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity theater at the New York New York Hotel. The gala featured a special Cirque du Soleil Zumanity performance, appearances from guests like Antoine Dodson, as well as the DJ/VJ stylings of remix masters Eclectic Method. Stay tuned for more highlights from the Mashable Awards show, but in the meantime we’d love for you to join us in celebrating this year’s winners.

FCC dubbed 'Ministry of Truth' over net neut rules
A senior telecommunications counsel to the House Energy and Commerce committee has blasted the Federal Communications Commission for laying down official net neutrality rules, comparing the FCC to Orwell's Ministry of Truth. Neil Fried – a Republican adviser to ranking members of the Energy and Commerce committee, the driving force on technology issues in the US House of Representatives – pulled out the 1984 metaphors during a panel discussion on Thursday at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. "What struck me as I was reading it was it felt very much like I was in George Orwell's 1984, complete with doublethink and newspeak," Fried said of the FCC's order.
 
The Man Who Spilled the Secrets
The collaboration between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Web’s notorious information anarchist, and some of the world’s most respected news organizations began at The Guardian, a nearly 200-year-old British paper. What followed was a clash of civilizations—and ambitions—asGuardian editors and their colleagues at The New York Times and other media outlets struggled to corral a whistle-blowing stampede amid growing distrust and anger. With Assange detained in the U.K., the author reveals the story behind the headlines.

A Bonanza in TV Sales Fades Away
By now, most Americans have taken the leap and tossed out their old boxy televisions in favor of sleek flat-panel displays. Now manufacturers want to convince those people that their once-futuristic sets are already obsolete. After a period of strong growth, sales of televisions are slowing. To counter this, TV makers are trying to persuade consumers to buy new sets by promoting new technologies. At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Thursday, every TV maker will be crowing about things like 3-D and Internet connections — features that have not generated much excitement so far. Unit sales of liquid-crystal and plasma displays were up 2.9 percent in 2010 from the previous year, according to figures from the market researcher DisplaySearch. That is tiny compared with the gains of more than 20 percent in each of the prior three years.

Microsoft plans two security updates
Microsoft plans to release two patches next week. The Vole's security bulletin said that it will release two security updates on its January 11 'Patch Tuesday', one rated critical and the other important. The critical vulnerability is one that "could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action" and it must be a biggie because it applies to Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It is ranked important for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

Samsung profit set to rebound; fights for connected TV
Samsung Electronics is banking on surging smartphone sales and a recovery in its memory chip business to help it rebound from a fourth-quarter profit dip, while slugging it out with global rivals to sell a new generation of TVs. The world's biggest maker of flat screens and memory chips, which on Thursday estimated fourth quarter profit to come in below market expectations, is pinning its hopes on cut-rate prices stabilizing in the chips and panel sectors. Analysts expect Samsung's weakest profit estimate in six quarters to remain a short-term blip and improve in the next few quarters. After a slow start, Samsung is emerging as a credible challenger to Apple with its Galaxy S high-end smartphone, powered by Google's Android software. Samsung's Galaxy Tab is also seen by some analysts as the strongest rival to Apple's blockbuster iPad tablet.

3D TV: Is It Worth It?
Over the past weekend, I finally checked out a 3D TV while chilling on my mom’s couch in Huntington Beach.  I was really against the whole idea when she told me she wanted to buy one, but I figured I may as well give it a chance. Here are a few of my issues with it thus far: 1. The glasses.  As someone who already wears specs, I was hesitant to put on the 3D eye wear from the start.  I feared problems with glare, and other general issues with conflicting facial hardware.  The glasses were surprisingly comfortable, and glare was not really a problem.  What I DID have a problem with was the inability for my 3D glasses to function properly while I was using my iPad.  Yes, I know I should stop texting, talking, and playing games while I watch movies, but due to their limited movie selection, we watched Clash of the Titans.  Oddly enough, when I had the glasses turned on while  attempting to play Can Knockdown, my iPad began to flash to black in .5 second increments; this was REALLY annoying.

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