Telmap CEO explains Intel acquisition
Chip giant Intel today announced the acquisition of Israeli location-based services (LBS) provider Telmap. So we managed to get Telmap CEO Oren Nissim on the phone to tell us all about it. In case you're not already familiar with Telmap, it provides location-specific services - primarily to phone operators - which enable the development of independent value-added navigation services, such as restaurant guides, local offers, etc. We've been talking to them for a while; here's our introductory piece, and here's Telmap's stated aim to be the main alternative to Google Maps.
Hexus

Drive time: RMIT's new in-car entertainment system
Researchers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia and Germany are developing an in-car entertainment system that aims to solve the age-old "Are we nearly there yet?" problem with the aid of motion controls and holographic displays. Tentatively titled Enjoyable Interactions in the Rear Seat, the project will attempt to mix holographic displays and off-the-shelf motion sensing technology similar to gaming systems like the Microsoft Kinect and the Nintendo Wii to create a variety of rear-seat applications designed for use on long car trips by both adults and children. Dr Steffen Walz, director of RMIT's Games and Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab), says the idea for the project came from looking at cars not as mere means of transport, but rather as symbols of personal freedom.
The Guardian

PV module revenues will continue to decline in 2011 and 2012
A new quarterly report from market analyst, IMS Research indicates that rapidly declining PV module prices will result in the global industry revenues contracting in 2011 and 2012. A huge oversupply of PV modules and fierce competition has led to module prices falling quickly throughout 2011; despite shipments increasing, revenues are forecast to shrink by almost 10% in 2011, and shrink yet again in
EE Times

India's $35 tablet said to ship in October, do dreams really come true?
This mysterious $35 tablet has broken our hearts, crushed our fantasies and even made unicorns cry with delay after delay. Today, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal assured us that the much anticipated slate will be released on October 5th -- promising that this time, "[It's] not just a dream." Evidently, the tablet has overcome the manufacturing problems that plagued the project previously and now production is proceeding according to a new plan. That means that five, seven and nine inch slates are said to be shipping to lucky Indian students in early October -- sadly, both the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot have advised us not to hold our breath.
Engadget

Facebook to be investigated over privacy concerns
Facebook is to be investigated by the Irish privacy regulator into how it handles users' data across Europe. In the next fortnight the Irish data protection commissioner will launch a wide-ranging privacy audit of the social network after complaints about how Facebook tracks its users online. The Irish regulator will conduct the audit on behalf of authorities in 27 European states, including the UK. The commissioner expects to complete the report before the end of the year, a spokeswoman for the regulator said. Facebook is also under pressure in the US, where the Federal Trade Commission is considering an investigation into the popular website following complaints from a coalition of privacy campaigners. The social network is under the spotlight after changes made last week to how Facebook stores information about its 800 million global users. On Wednesday, Facebook hastily fixed an issue that meant its users were being tracked even when they left the network. Facebook has consistently argued that it did not store the information.
The Guardian

Broadband advertising proposals ‘a green light to mislead customers’
Guidelines for industry self-regulation propose that internet service providers (ISPs) can advertise maximum “up to” speeds for net packages if those speeds can be received by just 10 per cent of users. They have also argued that broadband packages with data caps can be described as "unlimited", so long as ISPs are clear about the limits. Communications regulator Ofcom had previously found that services marketed as “up to 20Mbps” actually achieved an average of only 6.8Mbps. Some packages advertise speeds that no consumers can actually receive. The regulator asked that ISPs advertise "typical" speeds instead. In its response to the resulting proposals from the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Ofcom said "We are disappointed that it appears not to be possible to establish a single, clear and consistent 'Typical Speed Range'. Our view is that this is the best way to ensure that consumers are able to compare the wide range of packages that are available.” "This new guidance directly responds to consumer concerns by setting an appropriately high bar for advertisers who want to make speed and unlimited claims in ads," claimed CAP chairman James Best.
Telegraph

RIM: we're committed to the PlayBook
Poor sales of device have caused web gossip to spread suggesting that RIM is ready to ditch its tablet. The culprit setting the web alight with the news was John Vihn, Collins Stewart semiconductor analyst, who said: "We believe RIM has stopped production of its PlayBook and is actively considering exiting the tablet market. But now the BlackBerry creator has spoken out to call the rumours "pure fiction". In an emailed statement, Marisa Conway, RIM spokeswoman, said: "Rumors suggesting that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued are pure fiction. RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market and the future of QNX in its platform."
Mobile Entertainment

90 Per Cent of Smartphone Users Would Use Mobile Payment
More than 90 per cent of smartphone users are willing to use mobile payment technologies for purchases and other money transmission, according to a survey by strategy consultants Simon-Kucher & Partners. The report, based on a consumer discovery panel, found that customers were prepared to pay up to £3 as a fixed fee to download a mobile wallet. The research explored five different types of mobile payment: contact-less or NFC, country-dependent peer-to-peer, location-independent, app-based purchases, location-dependent wallet-to-account purchases over 3G or wireless networks and overseas remittance. Respondents were most inclined to try contact-less payments, with 65 per cent willing to do so, while overseas remittance was the least popular at 36 per cent.
Mobile Marketing

Google adds real-time capability to Analytics
Google Analytics has been around since 2005, but until now it has only been able to analyse the past performance of websites. However, the company bought the real-time analytics firm PostRank in June and, less than four months later, that capability is being added to Google's service. "Currently, Google Analytics does a great job analysing past performance. Today we're very excited to bring real-time data to Google Analytics with the launch of Google Analytics Real-Time: a set of new reports that show what's happening on your site as it happens," Google Analytics product manager John Jersin wrote in a blog post on Thursday. Jersin explained that, although it was once "fine to build a website and modify it only when new products were launched", the advent of social media such as Twitter and Facebook has made it important to track traffic in real time. He said this was particularly important for those running social media-based campaigns — to see how promoting a blog post with a tweet affects traffic, for example. "Last week we posted about the latest episode of Web Analytics TV and also tweeted about the post," Jersin wrote. "By campaign-tagging the links we shared, we could see how much traffic each channel is driving to the blog as it happened. We could also see when we stopped receiving visits from the tweet, which helps know when to re-engage."
ZD Net

Amazon's Kindle Fire will track users across the web
The new browser, Amazon Silk, uses the firm’s network of giant data centres to pre-load web pages before they are delivered to the device. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, this "split browser" approach will offer “ultra-fast” mobile web access. It will reduce the computation required from the Kindle Fire’s processor, which is lower performance than that of Apple’s iPad 2. But it also means that Amazon’s systems will keep a record of every single web page that Kindle Fire users visit, which could be used to profile their interests for advertising and other commercial purposes. The records will also be subject to data requests from police and intelligence agencies, as the relatively limited data held by broadband providers. The browser will even aim to predict your next move in its effort to shave milliseconds off loading times, by learning how users tend to browse individual websites.
Telegraph

Google makes key move into London's Tech City
Google has shown its commitment to East London's Tech City by signing a long-term lease for a seven story building where it plans to provide a launchpad for London-based start-ups. Often referred to as 'silicon roundabout' London's Tech City is being billed as the UK's hub for tech and digital start-ups. Google has long insisted that it is supportive of the scheme, and it has now backed that up with a financial commitment which will include a full refurbishment of the building ahead of a 2012 launch.
TechRadar.com

Two in five UK smartphone owners use Android
Digital banking service Intelligent Environments says Android smartphones are the most popular in Britain, particularly in North England and Scotland while iPhone is preferred in London. The stats show that Android is leading the British market, although Apple has still seen its user base grow from 26 per cent in Q1 to 27 per cent. RIM claims third position with its BlackBerry users now taking up 19 per cent of the market compared to 14 per cent in Q1. James Richards, director of mobile at Intelligent Environments, said: “From retail to financial services, businesses in all sectors are taking full advantage of the rise in consumer smartphone adoption.
Mobile Entertainment

Facebook: “We’re going to become a mobile company”
I’ve said many times before that Facebook is prioritizing mobile very high, but only now has it become clear just how high. Erick Tseng, head of mobile products at Facebook, was at the GigaOm Mobilize conference, and while he repeated a lot off things we’ve already heard, he had one very interesting thing to say. “We’re going to become a mobile company,” Tseng said according to CNET. Next year or the year after, Tseng believes Facebook will be as much of a mobile company as it is a Web company. How will it pull that off? I would guess with its rumored HTML5 platform (see links below).
ZDNet.com

Groupon Closes The Redemption Loop With Loyalty Rewards
Groupon may be struggling to get its IPO out the door, but that is not stopping it from introducing new products. Up until now, Groupon has built a billion-dollar business by getting local merchants to offer great one-time deals to consumers. Those daily deals are all about attracting new customers. Now the company is about to roll out a new product called Groupon Rewards that tries to give merchants a way to increase customer loyalty. Merchants will be able to start signing up tomorrow and consumers will start seeing the rewards in October.
TechCrunch

Java, Adobe vulns blamed for Windows malware mayhem
Failure to patch third-party applications has become the main reason that Windows machines get infected with malware. Drive-by download attacks from hacker-controlled websites loaded with exploits replaced infected email attachments as the main distribution method for malware somewhere between three to five years ago. At the start of this period browser exploits were the main stock-in-trade for VXers but this has changed over time, as a study by Danish security firm CSIS and published on Tuesday illustrates.
The Register

Nokia “drops O2″ as stockist for Windows Phone devices
Nokia is understood to have dropped O2 from its list of network operators that will stock its first range of devices using the Windows Phone operating system. Sources close to O2 and Nokia said the manufacturer laid down strict criteria to stock the device, including volume targets, store displays and marketing campaigns, which could not be agreed with O2. O2 is said to have been reluctant to commit to its terms during a period in which the Apple iPhone 5 is due to launch. O2 currently has the leading market share for connected iPhone handsets in the UK, it recently claimed.
Mobile News

Online dating scams dupe 200,000 study finds
More than 200,000 people in Britain may have been conned by fraudsters posing as would-be romantic partners on internet dating sites, according to the first study examining the potential scale of the problem. Anti-fraud groups have warned for some time about scams, in which criminals create a false identity – often an army officer on active service, explaining an inability to meet in person – and develop a close online intimacy with a victim, who is then asked for cash to help their presumed suitor out of a crisis. It had long been suspected that official figures for such crimes greatly under-represented their prevalence, largely because many victims feel too embarrassed or hurt to go to the police, or never realise they have been conned.
Guardian.co.uk

London warned Olympic games may mean mobile phone 'capacity crunch'
London's mobile phone networks face a "capacity crunch" during the Olympic games that could leave the capital and its expected 1 million extra visitors unable to use the internet on the move unless thousands of wi-fi hotspots are built in time. Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett, whose company is bidding for council contracts to build a central London public wi-fi network, believes the process is moving too slowly and fears the Olympics could be a "missed opportunity". His comments come days after London mayor Boris Johnson warned that the mobile phone service would come under "massive strain" at peak times during the games.
Guardian.co.uk

Telcos can use prepaid top-ups to break into m-commerce – study
Prepaid mobile top-ups offer operators a useful route into the mobile commerce space, a market that will be worth more than US$22.5 billion worldwide by 2014, up from $5.6 billion last year, according to a new study. "[Banking and payment services] can all be done on the mobile," said Lorcan Burke, vice president of European sales and marketing for e-payment solutions provider Vesta Corporation, in an interview with Total Telecom last week. Vesta sponsored a new white paper on the subject that was released by Informa Telecoms & Media on Tuesday. "[The $22.5 billion figure] doesn't include payment for digital content," which is estimated to reach around $48 billion by 2014, Shailendra Pandey, senior analyst of mobile content and applications at Informa, added.
Total Telecom

Telstra LTE goes national in Australia
Australian number one operator Telstra has launched the country’s first 4G LTE networks in state capital city centres and more than 30 regional and metropolitan centres. The carrier said users in areas covered by the network can expect download speeds ranging between 2Mb/s and 40Mb/s, depending on distance from base stations and local conditions. This is 10 times faster than speeds claimed by Australian operators for 3G, according to Telstra. Upload speeds should range between 1Mb/s and 10Mb/s, a three-fold speed increase compared to existing mobile broadband.
Mobile Business Briefing

Mobile apps' 'hidden threats' to be regulated
Mobile phone applications sometimes pose “hidden threats to consumers” and could be subject to greater control, regulator PhonepayPlus has said. The UK regulator of premium rate telephone services said that it had already taken action on apps which maliciously charge consumers without their knowledge or consent.  In one example, a ‘free battery saver’ app contained malware – identified by PhonepayPlus monitoring – that accessed the phone’s text message function and allowed texts to be automatically sent and received. Text messages were then sent that subscribed consumers to a premium rate subscription service without their knowledge or consent.
The Telegraph

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc hit by hardware faults
Manufacturer admits cracks are appearing on body of the handset, but insists problem is unlikely to affect performance. Sony Ericsson has been hit by complaints from customers who claim cracks are appearing on the Xperia Arc handset. Several Sony Ericsson customers have contacted Mobile News regarding the cracks, which appear above and below the front-facing light sensor above the Sony Ericsson branding. Messages have also been posted on the Sony Ericsson message boards complaining about the faults, which according to some is not covered under the manufacturer warranty.
Mobile News

Viewers 'much prefer 3D TV'
Viewers prefer 3D TV to 2D, a survey by technology company Panasonic has revealed. Conducted by research firm Frank N Magid Associates during Disney's D23 Expo in August, 71 per cent of people who watched in three dimensions described it as 'dramatically better' than its flatter counterpart. Furthermore, 27 per cent said the 3D experience was 'fabulous', while 50 per cent admitted: 'I wish I had this in my home.' Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, chief technology officer at Panasonic, said the results back up his company's belief that people love 3D TV when they see it.
BCS

Samsung unveils Mango-based Omnia W
Samsung has unveiled the first of its Windows Phone handsets that will launch with Mango, also known as version 7.5 of Microsoft's smartphone platform. The Omnia W, which will hit Italy first at the end of October before being released across Europe and elsewhere, is a sequel to earlier Samsung Windows Phone such as the Omnia 7. However, while those phones need updates to get Mango features such as unified messaging and video calling, the Omnia W will come with these capabilities at launch.
ZDNet

Telcos can use prepaid top-ups to break into m-commerce – study
Global mobile commerce market will be worth US$22.5 billion in 2014, according to new report, providing revenue opportunity for mobile operators. Prepaid mobile top-ups offer operators a useful route into the mobile commerce space, a market that will be worth more than US$22.5 billion worldwide by 2014, up from $5.6 billion last year, according to a new study.
Total Telecom

China police urged to use social media
China has ordered police nationwide to make more use of social networking sites to ensure greater openness and "dispel misunderstandings," the state Xinhua news agency said Tuesday. Huang Ming, vice-minister of public security, delivered the message at a conference on Monday aimed at helping law enforcement officials to use China's hugely popular microblogs--sites similar to Twitter--the report said. "Internet users are one of the major groups of our society and they are not satisfied," Huang posted on the Beijing Public Security Bureau microblog.
Total Telecom

Spotify defends Facebook sign-up requirement
Spotify has defended its link-up with Facebook, which means new users must have an account with the social network in order to join the music service. The move to force music lovers to link to a Facebook account has come under fire from users and industry insiders, but Spotify boss Daniel Ek has claimed the decision was intended to make signing up easier. “About Facebook registrations. We want to remove barriers to sign-up and create a more seamless experience,” Ek said on his Twitter account. “We think our users are social.”
PC Pro

Openness of Internet can't be taken for granted, says FCC
Commission bars content blocking by broadband providers in new Net neutrality rules. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has made new Net neutrality rules official, placing restrictions on broadband providers from favouring or discriminating against traffic that travels through their networks. The new regulations allow the FCC to punish broadband providers which slow down service or restrict content for customers. The new rules will go into effect on 20 November. In its report, Preserving the Open Internet, the FCC said that it had initiated a public process to determine whether and what actions might be necessary "to preserve the characteristics that have allowed the Internet to grow into an indispensable platform supporting our nation's economy and civic life, and to foster continued investment in the physical networks that enable the Internet."
CBR

Apple denied trademark on multi-touch
There are signs that the patent system in the US is falling to bits after the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), denied that Steve Jobs was original. Apple applied for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch on 9 January, 2007, the day the iPhone was introduced. Of course there were those who did not believe that such a generic term could be patented, but everyone knows that Apple is the only innovator in the world and if Steve said he coined the term he must have done.
But, Apple was initially refused a trademark for the term and went to the Appeal Board. The board upheld the initial refusal to grant the trademark.
Tech Eye

MySQL.com hacked to serve malware
The website for the open-source MySQL database was hacked and used to serve malware to visitors Monday. Security vendor Armorize noticed the problem at around 05:00 Pacific Time US Monday 26 September. Hackers had installed JavaScript code that threw a variety of known browser attacks at visitors to the site, so those with out-of-date browsers or unpatched versions of Adobe Flash, Reader or Java on their Windows PCs could have been quietly infected with malicious software. By just after 11:00, the issue had been cleaned up, said Wayne Huang, Armorize's CEO. He thinks the malicious code was on the site for less than a day.
Tech Central

With mobile devices now vastly outnumbering PCs and laptops, faster network speeds and the availability of mobile broadband, mobile is rapidly becoming <the number one communication channel around the world.

It is also the fastest growing personal medium that has ever existed, offering an unprecedented ability to interact with people on a one-to-one, targeted basis. Mobile has proven to be particularly successful for the marketing and advertising disciplines, offering enhanced engagement with key audiences and a direct way to interact with brands. It also offers public relations practitioners a number of opportunities, as well as challenges!

On the one hand, since the rise of smartphones and the introduction of the tablet, a number of traditional print publications have taken their content and optimised it for mobile devices. Understanding and interacting with the publications that have done this means that the reach of activity can increase. On the other, mobile internet has led to the number of news sites, blogs, social media feeds, video  channels, podcasts, vodcasts and other forms of media exploding. It also makes activity more immediate and of the minute than ever before. Identifying and engaging with the opinion leaders and voices who have the ear of their market has become more complicated, while the need to track what’s being said at all times of the day or night to ensure that clients are well represented is a never-ending job.

A well-placed and researched campaign could, for example, lead to someone in a shop looking at a product and running a Google search or scanning a barcode. This would then show local, crowdsourced reviews or top results from trusted bloggers or journalists, helping to influence opinion at the point of purchase. The same could happen at an event for B2B companies. Seeing what’s being written about a company could influence the next step made. It can also make the unexpected and sometimes unavoidable crisis even harder to handle. In this way, PR campaigns can have an immediate, contextual effect, so consultants need to be au fait with all the tools at their disposal to be able to influence the increasingly mobile media.

Mobile can also be used to interact and communicate with key stakeholders, although it’s important that this is only done if you have the opt-in approval of these groups. It would be a disaster for a PR campaign if an agency were to start sending out SMSs to journalists when news comes out as an alert. If however, a journalist was attending an event or is due to have a briefing with your client – sending them a reminder SMS via their work mobile can make their life easier. Again, if a journalist is attending an event, an SMS is a far more immediate and less intrusive way of reminding them and sending them the address.

Essentially, PR practitioners need  to understand that mobile has made information even more immediate than fixed line internet. Social media, mobile news sites and mobile messaging has led to the spread of information by the second. The revolutions in Eygpt and Lybia are testament to this, in the same way that the first images we saw of the Japanese earthquake originated from mobile devices.

By Dee Gibbs

Highly educated users have changed the way technology companies do business and how PR agencies support them.

Looking back, it sometimes seems that doing PR was once incredibly simple. There were companies with a need to engage with their target audiences through communications, and their potential clients who were the only groups susceptible to want to hear what they had to say. That meant that consumer-facing businesses would talk to consumers, with messages crafted for them, while enterprise-facing organisations would communicate only to the clientele of that specific industry.

Today, that linear model has been replaced with a complex, multi-faceted communication exercise where influencers are indistinguishable from listeners. Sharp readers take interest in companies of their choosing, even if they have no business stakes in them. Very often, this interest stems simply from a passion for technology: they love gadgets and they look forward to the next wave of innovation. And really, we can all relate to this: what is not to love about the round-the-clock saga of companies, business dealings and product launches? Technology is amazing at every level: from a nuts and bolts standpoint to the way it impacts our lives and enables us to do more with our surroundings. It’s like following a good TV series, but one that actually lets us do more things: one day in the future your favourite company will do something great, and right away, you will be able to pull out your smartphone and try it. You will then be able to tweet about what you think of it, or review it in full on your blog. The next day it’s something else, and the experience continues.

First person blogging has really taken off over the last few years (has it even been five?), giving rise to a community of tech-passionate commentators from every background. Their opinions, voiced and shared over the web, have become  an influential force, with the power to hamper or boost sales and to significantly change brand perceptions. Some companies grew with the community and have naturally positioned themselves to take part in the game. But many organisations have had to reinvent the way they manage their brand image and their communications altogether.

Considering the significant opportunities and threats that companies face with online communications, many have sought the resources to communicate at all levels of the value chain, and to engage positively with the online community. This new approach has given birth to B2B2C communications, where a company can improve its position with its clients, just because the end consumers are  suddenly thinking (or realizing) that its contribution to the end product is determinant on its quality.

B2B2C PR effectively sought to provide end users with a glimpse of what is happening in the industry. It started with adverts of dancing CPUs having a party inside computers, and little shiny stickers on the box, influencing users to think of motherboards before thinking of whole computers. Metrics such as clock speed, data rate and memory capacity have become  parts of the sales slogans. Fast forward a few years and now it is customary to see CEOs of almost every industry space acting as tweeting visionaries.

But where does this leave companies and PR agencies? Things have gone a long way since the dancing CPU campaign(s), both in the profile of tech companies and in the diversity and clout of the audience. Communicating at the B2B2C level means that messages will go to the whole spectrum of interests and that it is transmitted in any order: B2C2B, C2B2B... In fact, the ‘message’ as such doesn’t really exist anymore as it is transformed and rephrased as it ripples through online channels. PR today is more about controlling through the lack of control; enabling the community to produce accurate responses through their own desire to accurately describe and explain what is going on.

Another way to look at this shift is to realize that people – stakeholders as well as users and consumers - now have a much bigger share of the conversation than before. We all strive for inside knowledge and high-level understanding, and being able to select what we purchase based on tangible, technical reasons.

The objective is now to be engaged in person-to-person discussions, where proximity and exchanges are catalysts for influence. This works when you see a journalist popping up on Skype at 22h00 or when an influential Twitter user makes a comment about a family picture on Facebook. Friendships emerge from the ease of exchange and common interests, and a growing part of what we do is done through friendly, bi-directional exchanges.

Verizon joins in Samsung's fight against Apple
The US mobile network operator Verizon Wireless has stepped into the legal battle between Apple and Samsung, asking a Californian court not to ban Samsung's 4G Android devices over alleged patent infringement. In July, Apple filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California for a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy S 4G, Infuse 4G and Droid Charge smartphones, as well as its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Verizon, which carries the Charge and Galaxy Tab 10.1, said on Friday that banning those devices would harm both Verizon and consumers. According to Verizon's Amicus brief, banning the smartphone and tablet "has the possibility of slowing the deployment of next-generation networks — such as Verizon Wireless's — contrary to the stated goals of the US government".
ZDNet

Cloud-based gaming service launches in UK
UK incumbent BT has announced the launch of a new cloud-based gaming service, in conjunction with OnLive. The service, which is available in the UK exclusively via BT Broadband, will enable customers to access more than 100 video games, streamed into homes via the internet. The system, which went live in the US in June 2010 eschews conventional games console hardware for content streamed from remote data centres using advanced video compression techniques to keep the bandwidth requirements manageable.
Telecoms.com

Google’s Android OS the next big target for hackers says expert
With Google’s mobile operating system going from strength-to-strength an internet security expert has warned the open system could be the next mainstream target for high-profile hackers. Following the recent spate of high-profile system hacks, industry expert Roger Wilson has told T3 Google’s mobile operating system Android is likely to be the next big target for professional hackers. In an exclusive interview the Vice President of Marketing at Internet Security firm Kaspersky Lab suggested Android’s open nature will make it a prime target for hackers as its user base continues to expand and grow.
T3

PayPal Now Processing $315 Million In Payments Per Day
PayPal released some new public numbers recently that show the payments platform is processing a massive number of payments per day. PayPal says that it saw $3,650 in Total Payment Volume every second in Q2 2011. By our calculations, that means PayPal is processing around $315.3 million in payments per day. On average, the payments platform is seeing upwards of over 5 million transactions a day. PayPal has unequivocally been the crown jewel in parent eBay’s family of businesses. This past quarter, PayPal delivered its first-ever billion dollar revenue quarter. Total net total payment volume (TPV) grew 34% compared to the same period of last year. And PayPal is actually closing in on eBay’s marketplaces segment in terms of revenue (which posted $1.6 billion in revenue in Q2). Another area where PayPal is growing fast is mobile. The company said earlier this year that it is seeing $10 million in mobile transactions per day, and expects more than $3 billion in mobile TPV this year, compared to $750 million in 2010.
TechCrunch

Star Wars now bestselling Blu-ray of all time
The movies have been around for decades, but it seems we still can't get enough of the Star Wars franchise. Launched on Blu-ray last week, the collection of all six movies in the series has already sold over 1 million copies. Even Jar Jar Binks couldn't stop it becoming the bestselling Blu-ray of all time. More than 515,000 of those sales are in the US, CNET reports. Those sales have generated $38 million (£25 million) of the boxset's total $84 million (£54 million) revenue. But, as ever with Star Wars fans, the success isn't without controversy.
Cnet

Facebook announces deeper Spotify integration
Swedish streaming service Spotify now works within Facebook, as the likes of Hulu and Netflix also get involved with similar video offerings.  Facebook’s new Timeline isn’t the only new feature to be revealed at this year’s f8 conference. Perhaps more exciting is the social network’s new ‘ticker’ feature which allows you to listen to music, watch movies and read entire articles without leaving the site. For UK users, it’s the tie-up with Spotify that’s the most exciting aspect of the ‘ticker’ function. It means that you can now play tracks on the Facebook site, as well as recommend new tunes to friends and listen to songs on artists pages. 
T3

Bing to launch event-planning feature
Microsoft’s search engine Bing is to launch a new event-planning feature that will make it easier to organise nights out. Bing Events – the name of the new social planning tool – is a further attempt to raise the stakes in Bing's battle with Google for search engine dominance. Google currently retains the vast majority of the UK search market, however. “This is the first time a major search engine has provided a fully comprehensive events listing with all the details needed to ensure a fun night out,” reads a Microsoft statement. The new search feature covers 90,000 events in over 10,000 venues in more than 2,450 UK locations. When a user types in a place name, or a musical gig, followed by the word “events”, a timetable of events will now be offered. If a particular band or artist is playing, the user can search for the name plus ‘events’ and then click on the events tab. Events are sorted by date and event category, along with information on maps, directions, restaurants and parking information.
Daily Telegraph

FBI arrests Sony LulzSec hacking suspect
A suspected member of the clandestine hacking group LulzSec has been arrested in Arizona by the FBI on charges of taking part in an extensive breach of the Sony Pictures computer system. A federal grand jury indictment charges Cody Kretsinger, 23, with conspiracy and the unauthorised impairment of a protected computer in connection with the attack in May and June. LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, at the time published the names, birth dates, addresses, emails, phone numbers and passwords of thousands of people who had entered contests promoted by Sony. "From a single injection we accessed EVERYTHING," the hacking group said in a statement at the time. "Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?"
Guardian

London applies for unique web domain
The capital city is on its way to create its own unique Web domain which it won’t have to share with any other websites, announced London’s official promotional agency, London & Partners. The agency revealed that it is going to apply for a separate Web domain for the city. It stated that applications for the license to start a new “top level web domain” for London have to be submitted by April 2012. The procedure and consultation thereafter might take as long as 20 months. With this move, London has become the latest amongst a number of cities who have shown interest in having an exclusive domain. Other cities that have applied for such exclusive Web domains include New York, Paris, Sydney, Rome and Berlin.
ITProPortal

No one reported injured by falling satellite
It was a bit of excitement no one really needed for a Saturday morning. News broke last week a satellite was plummeting to earth, and NASA didn't know where it would land. The chances of it hitting anyone were remote -- 1-in-3,200, and the chances it'd be you were 1-in-22 trillion -- but still, it was a chance none of us would like to take. Well the good news is no one has been reported hurt, and no property damaged, according to the BBC. The bad? There's another one on the way. The satellite weighed six tonnes and was estimated to be the size of a double decker bus, though it'd break up into smaller pieces as it entered the atmosphere. About 500kg could survive the fall to earth, which is still more than your umbrella could take.
Cnet

Having a smartphone gives people a little bit of a complex. It makes us think we can find whatever we want, whenever we want it. This isn’t a bad thing by any measure, and the majority of times, ussmarties can get the information we seek. It’s when we find out that we are limited that our blood starts to boil, we look at the slab in our hand and think, what is the point?

Recently, I went to a concert at Wembley Stadium. There was a bit of time to kill and time to get food earlier in the day passed me by. Being the nations home of football, a symbol of our country and a modern meeting place, I of course knew there would be plenty of options for food inside. The problem was, what food? Where was it? Where was the entry marked poorly on my ticket?

Taking these questions into account, I did what we all do. Out came my smartphone for a quick search online. After waiting what felt like an eternity for the Wembley Stadium website to load, it became clear that it had been designed by someone who clearly worked in the vicinity of the stadium (they have super-fast fibre optic broadband). The site is full of rather large images that, lets say 20,000 other people using O2′s mobile broadband, take a while to download.

Navigating around the site on a mobile isn’t a pleasant experience. It appears to be very much designed for the desktop environment, which is fine, unless you happen to be going to the stadium and want to find out information. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but being the national stadium, surely this is something up to 80,000 people may want to do on a regular basis. After giving up on the website, I thought, logically, there must be an app – which there is, though not one by Wembley. The app is by a guy called Daniel Earl and provides information about getting to the stadium, a link to wikipedia for stadium information and a bit of written text about food and drink in the local area.

While one must applaud Mr. Earl for his efforts to provide at least some information about the stadium, it’s hardly the type of real-time, convenient guide that you need on the go. In 2011, mobile search grew by 236 per cent demonstrating that even people without smartphones, want to be able to access information on the move. While I’m not asking Wembley to develop an all singing, all dancing app – I do at least expect our national stadium to at least have a mobile optimised site, available in multiple languages, to provide all of the information one might need if they turn up on the day.

Of course, if they were to do an app, here would be my wish list:

Augmented Reality:

• Recognises your ticket and directs you from your location to the entrance you need
• The ability to superimpose the old Wembley towers onto the new stadium for those of us that like a bit of nostalgia

Real-time alerts:

• Enter in how you are travelling and the app will let you know ahead of time what the transport situation is like.
• Find out what the parking situation is (if you decide to drive at the last minute, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to reserve a space from your phone?)
• Receive an alert if it recognises you aren’t near your seat when a show/match is about to begin

Venue guide:

• Information about the facilities, where they are located and the ability to find food you want based on price
• Information about where toilets in and, in the event some might be closed, an alert about that

Of course, it isn’t just Wembley Stadium that hasn’t quite caught up to speed with mobile users. Research released by Google and the Mobile Marketing Association found that in the UK just 17 per cent of businesses have their websites optimised for mobile. While this doesn’t matter in the majority of circumstances as many sites just require a pinch to zoom, for the entertainment and service industry, the ability to deliver information instantly and with ease is essential.

Here’s just hoping the Olympic committee have thought about their mobile strategy!

 

By Robert Haslam

Google Wallet Likely Launching Today
Documentation is being sent around to partners stating a September 19 launch day, which would line up nicely with NFC World Congress, which kicks off tomorrow in the French Riviera. Back in May when Google Wallet and Offers were initially unveiled, Google stated that field trials for Wallet would begin immediately and that an official launch would come this summer. Initial reports pointed towards a September 1 launch. Technically, summer lasts until September 22, so it looks like Google will hit their deadline with a few days to spare. While this will be the official launch, the product itself will likely still be quite limited. The only officially compatible phone is the Nexus S 4G, which is only available on Sprint in the U.S. Google has an NFC sticker product to bring tap-and-pay to other phones, but it’s not clear if that will be ready at launch or not. Hardware to enable the payments on the merchant end is also needed. And again, MasterCard has been the only official partner on the credit card side of things so far. Perhaps Google will have more to say on that tomorrow. But the above documentation still points to PayPass-enabled Citi MasterCards as the only way to use the service for now. It also makes sense for Google to get Wallet out there now before their next flagship Android phone, the Nexus Prime, launches next month. It too will have NFC capabilities built in and will bring the Wallet functionality to the much larger Verizon customer base.
Washington Post

Google Voice Actions now compatible with British English accents and other languages
Google has been hard at work tweaking voice actions for good old British English along with French, German, Italian and Spanish. Voice Actions is a feature that’s built in to Android 2.2 Froyo. It’s accessed by tapping the microphone icon on the Google Search box, or, if your phone has one, by holding down on the Search button for a couple of seconds. It’s also available on Honeycomb tablets; the microphone icon is usually displayed top left next to the Google Search magnifying glass. Over on its blog, Google has published a list of commands that are available with Voice Actions. These are: send text to [contact] [message], call [business], call [contact], go to [website], navigate to [location/business name], directions to [location/business name], and map of [location]. Voice Actions can also be used to conduct a Google search using your voice, for stuff on the web or anything stored on your phone like a contact, or a music file if you want to play some music on the go.
Recombu

Facebook adds new ‘subscribe’ button: Watch out Twitter
Facebook is extending the scope of its site into Twitter and Google+ territory by making it possible for Facebook members to subscribe to each other's public posts without necessarily having to be approved friends. The option to let other Facebook members subscribe to one's public posts will go live across the site in the coming days, Facebook said on Wednesday. This feature will apparently replicate Twitter's "follow" model and similar functionality available in Google+. This is a capability that famous users have been requesting for a while, because personal profiles have a maximum limit of 5,000 friends. A way to get around this limitation on Facebook has been to set up a promotional Page, but for this type of user, that means managing two presences on the site.
MacVideo

Google+ will offer celebrity search tips as safe guide for web surfers
Soon Google will be offering a new way to help choose, by telling you which sites gain your favourite celebrities' approval. Christian Oestlien, Google's head of social advertising, said the company will soon allow celebrities to show their endorsement of products associated with them. It is part of the search portal's effort to weed out companies that do not offer legitimate products, and to give celebrities tighter control of their brand. The company is testing the celebrity endorsement feature, which will appear in sponsored ads at the top of Google search pages. "Some advertisers use celebrity endorsement in their ads. This test extends the option of celebrity endorsement to online campaigns," a Google spokesman said. "We're always testing new ways to make advertising more compelling to our users and advertisers." Oestlien told a conference in New York that if, for example, users searched for the Kardashian family's Kollection, they would find Khloe Kardashian's endorsement for the clothing line at US department store Sears. Oestlien said Sears had told Google the Kardashians are supporting the department store and its Kardashian line. The celebrity endorsements will be rolled out in the US soon, coming to the UK later. The development is part of Google+, the search engine's drive to bring Facebook-like social data to its search results. Google+ users who like a particular search result are already able to recommend it to their friends.
Guardian

Apple vs Android war impacts mobile video uptake
Expect more mobile video to go mainstream as the quality of the devices in people's hands continues to increase. But the showdown between Apple and Android in the market could have wide-reaching implications for video uptake. Global smartphone shipments and tablets continue to outpace basic feature phones, accounting for the lion's share of sales in 2011. Technology market research firm Infonetics Research. Infonetics expects global smartphone revenue to grow 31 per cent in 2011 over 2010, to $117 billion, with Apple and Android battling it out for dominance. The outcome of that battle will have a mobile video impact, considering that Apple developers are focused on creating video streaming apps for the platform, while broadcasters and pay-TV operators worldwide are looking to leverage iPhone and iPad apps to bring their TV Everywhere plays to fruition. In contrast, Android has few video apps in the Android Market to date, hampered somewhat by the fragmentation amongst flavors of the OS. Netflix, for example, still only runs on certain Honeycomb OS-based tablets. HBO Go is not yet available at all for Android tablets. Apple's stronger volumes and higher ARPU helped increase its global smartphone revenue share every quarter thus far in 2011, now at 36 per cent of the smartphone market in 2Q11. However, combined across all vendors, Android continues to be the #1 smartphone operating system in the world, used in nearly half of all smartphones shipped worldwide. Android-friendly HTC and Samsung leapfrogged into second and third place, respectively, in the global smartphone market in 2Q11, ahead of RIM and Nokia. Meanwhile, tablet sales jumped 80 per cent in 2Q11, led by the Apple iPad.
RapidTVNews

Google Buys German Groupon Clone
DailyDeal.de, a German Groupon clone launched in Berlin in December 2009, has been acquired by Google, the company says in a message on its website Google hasn’t yet announced or confirmed the acquisition. DailyDeal did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. DailyDeal was founded by two brothers, Fabian and Ferry Heilemann, who will both stay on board. The company offers visitors daily deals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. DailyDeal has raised over $10 million from VC firms Mangrove Capital Partners and Adinvest, as well as angel investors like Stefan Glänzer (an early investor in Last.fm), Michael Brehm (Ex-StudiVZ) and Jochen Maaß. The company made an acquisition of its own last year, snapping up rival Reduti.
TechCrunch

AT&T flips 4G LTE live, nearly 97 per cent of America wonders where the party is
According to Ma Bell, AT&T covers 97 percent of all Americans. Of course, that's including those "one bar of EDGE" places that are uncovered so far as reality is concerned, but regardless of all that -- there's no denying that AT&T's LTE launch is on the subdued side. With Verizon rolling out five times more LTE markets this month than AT&T is even launching with, the country's largest GSM carrier definitely has some catching up to do. Regardless of the standings, the company appears to have (quietly) gone live with five LTE markets as of today, with Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas / Fort Worth and Houston getting first dibs. The source link below takes you to the new coverage map, as well as to a promise from the carrier to expand "4G LTE" (not to be confused with the other 4G, more accurately known as HSPA+) to 15 major metropolitan areas by the year's end. Notice how rural areas aren't mentioned, despite plenty of grandstanding near D.C.? Don't worry, guys -- it's just Rethinking Possible.
Engadget

Apple vs Samsung: Apple sued over Samsung patents
The legal tiff between Apple and Samsung grinds on, with Samsung striking back at Apple with its own lawsuit claiming that Apple is in violation of a number of its wireless technology patents. According to Samsung, Apple's designers have pilfered Samsung know-how for use in its iPhone and iPad 2. "To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents," said Nam Ki-Yung, a spokesman for Samsung Electronics. This latest chapter in the daytime courtroom drama that is Apple's relationship with Samsung comes after a first shot from Apple saw Samsung's flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, banned from sale in Europe on the grounds that it had copied the iPad. The sales ban, which has since been lifted everywhere except Germany, was defended by Apple which said that the similarity in form factor between the iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was "no coincidence" and that Samsung had engaged in "blatant copying." What will the end result of all this legal tussling be?
T3

Solar-Powered Bulb Provides Light After Dark
A solar-powered light bulb may sound like an oxymoron (what’s the point of a lightbulb that only works when the sun’s out?), but a company called Nokero has a prototype in the works that will charge a battery in the light bulb, making it useful after sundown. Denver-based Nokero, short for No Kerosene, hopes to offer a safe light source to the millions living without a reliable energy supply. Common non-electric light sources such as candles, charcoal, wood and kerosene are a major health threat when regularly used indoors because of the fumes they produce. Candles and kerosene are also often relatively expensive to attain and Nokero estimates up to 20per cent of a family’s income in places without reliable electricity can go to purchasing candles and lighting fuel. Nokero hopes to provide an affordable and lung-friendly alternative.  Priced around $20 and reducing the need for fuels, the company says its bulb begins saving most families money within three to eight weeks. The company’s design comes in the form of a lantern that can be hung or placed on a table. The N200 model bulb contains four LEDs and is charged through an embedded solar panel connected to a NiMH AA size battery with a two-year lifespan. The power switch on the back of the bulb can also change the intensity of the light, from high to low, and the bulb itself is made from a durable polycarbonate similar to that used in automobile headlights.
TechCrunch

Tiny infrared LED’s could find a home in ultra-thin multitouch screens
A company called Osram Opto Semiconductors has created a new infrared LED that can be used in conjunction with detectors to create ultra-thin touchscreens. We've seen infrared used in touchscreens before, most notably in Microsoft's Surface and recent e-readers from Barnes & Noble and Kobo. But, Osram's solution is complex enough to work in a multitouch tablet, while being as space-saving zForce. At only 0.45mm tall the diodes and sensors can easily be crammed into a bezel around a screen and sip just 35mW during regular use. Now the company just has to convince someone to put the tiny IREDs in their products.
Engadget

Illegal Angry Birds theme park appears in China
We've heard of shady Chinese business folk knocking off Apple products and, yes, even whole Apple Stores, but now it appears even the humble app developer isn't safe from opportunistic bootleggers. In Changsha, China, local knock-off artists have taken Rovio's phenomenally popular Angry Birds app and made it flesh - well, made it fur and wood. The results look rubbish. People load Angry Birds stuffed toys into a big wooden slingshot, take aim and fire them toward houses made of supposedly destructible blocks. Most of the time, they miss, with the birds either massively overshooting the target or, this being the real 3D world, flying off either side of their intended landing zones. When the birds do collide with the blocks, they bounce off harmlessly, leaving the structure wholly unaffected. We'd give it no stars. "This (Angry Birds park) serves as a method for people to purge themselves and to gain happiness" a spokesperson for the park told website Gamersky.com. We're not sure the folks at Rovio will be seeing things quite the same way.
T3

Google Wallet Likely Launching Today
Documentation is being sent around to partners stating a September 19 launch day, which would line up nicely with NFC World Congress, which kicks off tomorrow in the French Riviera. Back in May when Google Wallet and Offers were initially unveiled, Google stated that field trials for Wallet would begin immediately and that an official launch would come this summer. Initial reports pointed towards a September 1 launch. Technically, summer lasts until September 22, so it looks like Google will hit their deadline with a few days to spare. While this will be the official launch, the product itself will likely still be quite limited. The only officially compatible phone is the Nexus S 4G, which is only available on Sprint in the U.S. Google has an NFC sticker product to bring tap-and-pay to other phones, but it’s not clear if that will be ready at launch or not. Hardware to enable the payments on the merchant end is also needed. And again, MasterCard has been the only official partner on the credit card side of things so far. Perhaps Google will have more to say on that tomorrow. But the above documentation still points to PayPass-enabled Citi MasterCards as the only way to use the service for now. It also makes sense for Google to get Wallet out there now before their next flagship Android phone, the Nexus Prime, launches next month. It too will have NFC capabilities built in and will bring the Wallet functionality to the much larger Verizon customer base.
Washington Post

Google Voice Actions now compatible with British English accents and other languages
Google has been hard at work tweaking voice actions for good old British English along with French, German, Italian and Spanish. Voice Actions is a feature that’s built in to Android 2.2 Froyo. It’s accessed by tapping the microphone icon on the Google Search box, or, if your phone has one, by holding down on the Search button for a couple of seconds. It’s also available on Honeycomb tablets; the microphone icon is usually displayed top left next to the Google Search magnifying glass. Over on its blog, Google has published a list of commands that are available with Voice Actions. These are: send text to [contact] [message], call [business], call [contact], go to [website], navigate to [location/business name], directions to [location/business name], and map of [location]. Voice Actions can also be used to conduct a Google search using your voice, for stuff on the web or anything stored on your phone like a contact, or a music file if you want to play some music on the go.
Recombu

Facebook adds new ‘subscribe’ button: Watch out Twitter
Facebook is extending the scope of its site into Twitter and Google+ territory by making it possible for Facebook members to subscribe to each other's public posts without necessarily having to be approved friends. The option to let other Facebook members subscribe to one's public posts will go live across the site in the coming days, Facebook said on Wednesday. This feature will apparently replicate Twitter's "follow" model and similar functionality available in Google+. This is a capability that famous users have been requesting for a while, because personal profiles have a maximum limit of 5,000 friends. A way to get around this limitation on Facebook has been to set up a promotional Page, but for this type of user, that means managing two presences on the site.
MacVideo

Google+ will offer celebrity search tips as safe guide for web surfers
Soon Google will be offering a new way to help choose, by telling you which sites gain your favourite celebrities' approval. Christian Oestlien, Google's head of social advertising, said the company will soon allow celebrities to show their endorsement of products associated with them. It is part of the search portal's effort to weed out companies that do not offer legitimate products, and to give celebrities tighter control of their brand. The company is testing the celebrity endorsement feature, which will appear in sponsored ads at the top of Google search pages. "Some advertisers use celebrity endorsement in their ads. This test extends the option of celebrity endorsement to online campaigns," a Google spokesman said. "We're always testing new ways to make advertising more compelling to our users and advertisers." Oestlien told a conference in New York that if, for example, users searched for the Kardashian family's Kollection, they would find Khloe Kardashian's endorsement for the clothing line at US department store Sears. Oestlien said Sears had told Google the Kardashians are supporting the department store and its Kardashian line. The celebrity endorsements will be rolled out in the US soon, coming to the UK later. The development is part of Google+, the search engine's drive to bring Facebook-like social data to its search results. Google+ users who like a particular search result are already able to recommend it to their friends.
Guardian

Apple vs Android war impacts mobile video uptake
Expect more mobile video to go mainstream as the quality of the devices in people's hands continues to increase. But the showdown between Apple and Android in the market could have wide-reaching implications for video uptake. Global smartphone shipments and tablets continue to outpace basic feature phones, accounting for the lion's share of sales in 2011. Technology market research firm Infonetics Research. Infonetics expects global smartphone revenue to grow 31 per cent in 2011 over 2010, to $117 billion, with Apple and Android battling it out for dominance. The outcome of that battle will have a mobile video impact, considering that Apple developers are focused on creating video streaming apps for the platform, while broadcasters and pay-TV operators worldwide are looking to leverage iPhone and iPad apps to bring their TV Everywhere plays to fruition. In contrast, Android has few video apps in the Android Market to date, hampered somewhat by the fragmentation amongst flavors of the OS. Netflix, for example, still only runs on certain Honeycomb OS-based tablets. HBO Go is not yet available at all for Android tablets. Apple's stronger volumes and higher ARPU helped increase its global smartphone revenue share every quarter thus far in 2011, now at 36 per cent of the smartphone market in 2Q11. However, combined across all vendors, Android continues to be the #1 smartphone operating system in the world, used in nearly half of all smartphones shipped worldwide. Android-friendly HTC and Samsung leapfrogged into second and third place, respectively, in the global smartphone market in 2Q11, ahead of RIM and Nokia. Meanwhile, tablet sales jumped 80 per cent in 2Q11, led by the Apple iPad.
RapidTVNews

Google Buys German Groupon Clone
DailyDeal.de, a German Groupon clone launched in Berlin in December 2009, has been acquired by Google, the company says in a message on its website Google hasn’t yet announced or confirmed the acquisition. DailyDeal did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. DailyDeal was founded by two brothers, Fabian and Ferry Heilemann, who will both stay on board. The company offers visitors daily deals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. DailyDeal has raised over $10 million from VC firms Mangrove Capital Partners and Adinvest, as well as angel investors like Stefan Glänzer (an early investor in Last.fm), Michael Brehm (Ex-StudiVZ) and Jochen Maaß. The company made an acquisition of its own last year, snapping up rival Reduti.
TechCrunch

AT&T flips 4G LTE live, nearly 97 per cent of America wonders where the party is
According to Ma Bell, AT&T covers 97 percent of all Americans. Of course, that's including those "one bar of EDGE" places that are uncovered so far as reality is concerned, but regardless of all that -- there's no denying that AT&T's LTE launch is on the subdued side. With Verizon rolling out five times more LTE markets this month than AT&T is even launching with, the country's largest GSM carrier definitely has some catching up to do. Regardless of the standings, the company appears to have (quietly) gone live with five LTE markets as of today, with Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas / Fort Worth and Houston getting first dibs. The source link below takes you to the new coverage map, as well as to a promise from the carrier to expand "4G LTE" (not to be confused with the other 4G, more accurately known as HSPA+) to 15 major metropolitan areas by the year's end. Notice how rural areas aren't mentioned, despite plenty of grandstanding near D.C.? Don't worry, guys -- it's just Rethinking Possible.
Engadget

Apple vs Samsung: Apple sued over Samsung patents
The legal tiff between Apple and Samsung grinds on, with Samsung striking back at Apple with its own lawsuit claiming that Apple is in violation of a number of its wireless technology patents. According to Samsung, Apple's designers have pilfered Samsung know-how for use in its iPhone and iPad 2. "To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents," said Nam Ki-Yung, a spokesman for Samsung Electronics. This latest chapter in the daytime courtroom drama that is Apple's relationship with Samsung comes after a first shot from Apple saw Samsung's flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, banned from sale in Europe on the grounds that it had copied the iPad. The sales ban, which has since been lifted everywhere except Germany, was defended by Apple which said that the similarity in form factor between the iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was "no coincidence" and that Samsung had engaged in "blatant copying." What will the end result of all this legal tussling be?
T3

Solar-Powered Bulb Provides Light After Dark
A solar-powered light bulb may sound like an oxymoron (what’s the point of a lightbulb that only works when the sun’s out?), but a company called Nokero has a prototype in the works that will charge a battery in the light bulb, making it useful after sundown. Denver-based Nokero, short for No Kerosene, hopes to offer a safe light source to the millions living without a reliable energy supply. Common non-electric light sources such as candles, charcoal, wood and kerosene are a major health threat when regularly used indoors because of the fumes they produce. Candles and kerosene are also often relatively expensive to attain and Nokero estimates up to 20per cent of a family’s income in places without reliable electricity can go to purchasing candles and lighting fuel. Nokero hopes to provide an affordable and lung-friendly alternative.  Priced around $20 and reducing the need for fuels, the company says its bulb begins saving most families money within three to eight weeks. The company’s design comes in the form of a lantern that can be hung or placed on a table. The N200 model bulb contains four LEDs and is charged through an embedded solar panel connected to a NiMH AA size battery with a two-year lifespan. The power switch on the back of the bulb can also change the intensity of the light, from high to low, and the bulb itself is made from a durable polycarbonate similar to that used in automobile headlights.
TechCrunch

Tiny infrared LED’s could find a home in ultra-thin multitouch screens
A company called Osram Opto Semiconductors has created a new infrared LED that can be used in conjunction with detectors to create ultra-thin touchscreens. We've seen infrared used in touchscreens before, most notably in Microsoft's Surface and recent e-readers from Barnes & Noble and Kobo. But, Osram's solution is complex enough to work in a multitouch tablet, while being as space-saving zForce. At only 0.45mm tall the diodes and sensors can easily be crammed into a bezel around a screen and sip just 35mW during regular use. Now the company just has to convince someone to put the tiny IREDs in their products.
Engadget

Illegal Angry Birds theme park appears in China
We've heard of shady Chinese business folk knocking off Apple products and, yes, even whole Apple Stores, but now it appears even the humble app developer isn't safe from opportunistic bootleggers. In Changsha, China, local knock-off artists have taken Rovio's phenomenally popular Angry Birds app and made it flesh - well, made it fur and wood. The results look rubbish. People load Angry Birds stuffed toys into a big wooden slingshot, take aim and fire them toward houses made of supposedly destructible blocks. Most of the time, they miss, with the birds either massively overshooting the target or, this being the real 3D world, flying off either side of their intended landing zones. When the birds do collide with the blocks, they bounce off harmlessly, leaving the structure wholly unaffected. We'd give it no stars. "This (Angry Birds park) serves as a method for people to purge themselves and to gain happiness" a spokesperson for the park told website Gamersky.com. We're not sure the folks at Rovio will be seeing things quite the same way.
T3

Google Wallet Likely Launching Today
Documentation is being sent around to partners stating a September 19 launch day, which would line up nicely with NFC World Congress, which kicks off tomorrow in the French Riviera. Back in May when Google Wallet and Offers were initially unveiled, Google stated that field trials for Wallet would begin immediately and that an official launch would come this summer. Initial reports pointed towards a September 1 launch. Technically, summer lasts until September 22, so it looks like Google will hit their deadline with a few days to spare. While this will be the official launch, the product itself will likely still be quite limited. The only officially compatible phone is the Nexus S 4G, which is only available on Sprint in the U.S. Google has an NFC sticker product to bring tap-and-pay to other phones, but it’s not clear if that will be ready at launch or not. Hardware to enable the payments on the merchant end is also needed. And again, MasterCard has been the only official partner on the credit card side of things so far. Perhaps Google will have more to say on that tomorrow. But the above documentation still points to PayPass-enabled Citi MasterCards as the only way to use the service for now. It also makes sense for Google to get Wallet out there now before their next flagship Android phone, the Nexus Prime, launches next month. It too will have NFC capabilities built in and will bring the Wallet functionality to the much larger Verizon customer base.
Washington Post

Google Voice Actions now compatible with British English accents and other languages
Google has been hard at work tweaking voice actions for good old British English along with French, German, Italian and Spanish. Voice Actions is a feature that’s built in to Android 2.2 Froyo. It’s accessed by tapping the microphone icon on the Google Search box, or, if your phone has one, by holding down on the Search button for a couple of seconds. It’s also available on Honeycomb tablets; the microphone icon is usually displayed top left next to the Google Search magnifying glass. Over on its blog, Google has published a list of commands that are available with Voice Actions. These are: send text to [contact] [message], call [business], call [contact], go to [website], navigate to [location/business name], directions to [location/business name], and map of [location]. Voice Actions can also be used to conduct a Google search using your voice, for stuff on the web or anything stored on your phone like a contact, or a music file if you want to play some music on the go.
Recombu

Facebook adds new ‘subscribe’ button: Watch out Twitter
Facebook is extending the scope of its site into Twitter and Google+ territory by making it possible for Facebook members to subscribe to each other's public posts without necessarily having to be approved friends. The option to let other Facebook members subscribe to one's public posts will go live across the site in the coming days, Facebook said on Wednesday. This feature will apparently replicate Twitter's "follow" model and similar functionality available in Google+. This is a capability that famous users have been requesting for a while, because personal profiles have a maximum limit of 5,000 friends. A way to get around this limitation on Facebook has been to set up a promotional Page, but for this type of user, that means managing two presences on the site.
MacVideo

Google+ will offer celebrity search tips as safe guide for web surfers
Soon Google will be offering a new way to help choose, by telling you which sites gain your favourite celebrities' approval. Christian Oestlien, Google's head of social advertising, said the company will soon allow celebrities to show their endorsement of products associated with them. It is part of the search portal's effort to weed out companies that do not offer legitimate products, and to give celebrities tighter control of their brand. The company is testing the celebrity endorsement feature, which will appear in sponsored ads at the top of Google search pages. "Some advertisers use celebrity endorsement in their ads. This test extends the option of celebrity endorsement to online campaigns," a Google spokesman said. "We're always testing new ways to make advertising more compelling to our users and advertisers." Oestlien told a conference in New York that if, for example, users searched for the Kardashian family's Kollection, they would find Khloe Kardashian's endorsement for the clothing line at US department store Sears. Oestlien said Sears had told Google the Kardashians are supporting the department store and its Kardashian line. The celebrity endorsements will be rolled out in the US soon, coming to the UK later. The development is part of Google+, the search engine's drive to bring Facebook-like social data to its search results. Google+ users who like a particular search result are already able to recommend it to their friends.
Guardian

Apple vs Android war impacts mobile video uptake
Expect more mobile video to go mainstream as the quality of the devices in people's hands continues to increase. But the showdown between Apple and Android in the market could have wide-reaching implications for video uptake. Global smartphone shipments and tablets continue to outpace basic feature phones, accounting for the lion's share of sales in 2011. Technology market research firm Infonetics Research. Infonetics expects global smartphone revenue to grow 31 per cent in 2011 over 2010, to $117 billion, with Apple and Android battling it out for dominance. The outcome of that battle will have a mobile video impact, considering that Apple developers are focused on creating video streaming apps for the platform, while broadcasters and pay-TV operators worldwide are looking to leverage iPhone and iPad apps to bring their TV Everywhere plays to fruition. In contrast, Android has few video apps in the Android Market to date, hampered somewhat by the fragmentation amongst flavors of the OS. Netflix, for example, still only runs on certain Honeycomb OS-based tablets. HBO Go is not yet available at all for Android tablets. Apple's stronger volumes and higher ARPU helped increase its global smartphone revenue share every quarter thus far in 2011, now at 36 per cent of the smartphone market in 2Q11. However, combined across all vendors, Android continues to be the #1 smartphone operating system in the world, used in nearly half of all smartphones shipped worldwide. Android-friendly HTC and Samsung leapfrogged into second and third place, respectively, in the global smartphone market in 2Q11, ahead of RIM and Nokia. Meanwhile, tablet sales jumped 80 per cent in 2Q11, led by the Apple iPad.
RapidTVNews

Google Buys German Groupon Clone
DailyDeal.de, a German Groupon clone launched in Berlin in December 2009, has been acquired by Google, the company says in a message on its website Google hasn’t yet announced or confirmed the acquisition. DailyDeal did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. DailyDeal was founded by two brothers, Fabian and Ferry Heilemann, who will both stay on board. The company offers visitors daily deals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. DailyDeal has raised over $10 million from VC firms Mangrove Capital Partners and Adinvest, as well as angel investors like Stefan Glänzer (an early investor in Last.fm), Michael Brehm (Ex-StudiVZ) and Jochen Maaß. The company made an acquisition of its own last year, snapping up rival Reduti.
TechCrunch

AT&T flips 4G LTE live, nearly 97 per cent of America wonders where the party is
According to Ma Bell, AT&T covers 97 percent of all Americans. Of course, that's including those "one bar of EDGE" places that are uncovered so far as reality is concerned, but regardless of all that -- there's no denying that AT&T's LTE launch is on the subdued side. With Verizon rolling out five times more LTE markets this month than AT&T is even launching with, the country's largest GSM carrier definitely has some catching up to do. Regardless of the standings, the company appears to have (quietly) gone live with five LTE markets as of today, with Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas / Fort Worth and Houston getting first dibs. The source link below takes you to the new coverage map, as well as to a promise from the carrier to expand "4G LTE" (not to be confused with the other 4G, more accurately known as HSPA+) to 15 major metropolitan areas by the year's end. Notice how rural areas aren't mentioned, despite plenty of grandstanding near D.C.? Don't worry, guys -- it's just Rethinking Possible.
Engadget

Apple vs Samsung: Apple sued over Samsung patents
The legal tiff between Apple and Samsung grinds on, with Samsung striking back at Apple with its own lawsuit claiming that Apple is in violation of a number of its wireless technology patents. According to Samsung, Apple's designers have pilfered Samsung know-how for use in its iPhone and iPad 2. "To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents," said Nam Ki-Yung, a spokesman for Samsung Electronics. This latest chapter in the daytime courtroom drama that is Apple's relationship with Samsung comes after a first shot from Apple saw Samsung's flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, banned from sale in Europe on the grounds that it had copied the iPad. The sales ban, which has since been lifted everywhere except Germany, was defended by Apple which said that the similarity in form factor between the iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was "no coincidence" and that Samsung had engaged in "blatant copying." What will the end result of all this legal tussling be?
T3

Solar-Powered Bulb Provides Light After Dark
A solar-powered light bulb may sound like an oxymoron (what’s the point of a lightbulb that only works when the sun’s out?), but a company called Nokero has a prototype in the works that will charge a battery in the light bulb, making it useful after sundown. Denver-based Nokero, short for No Kerosene, hopes to offer a safe light source to the millions living without a reliable energy supply. Common non-electric light sources such as candles, charcoal, wood and kerosene are a major health threat when regularly used indoors because of the fumes they produce. Candles and kerosene are also often relatively expensive to attain and Nokero estimates up to 20per cent of a family’s income in places without reliable electricity can go to purchasing candles and lighting fuel. Nokero hopes to provide an affordable and lung-friendly alternative.  Priced around $20 and reducing the need for fuels, the company says its bulb begins saving most families money within three to eight weeks. The company’s design comes in the form of a lantern that can be hung or placed on a table. The N200 model bulb contains four LEDs and is charged through an embedded solar panel connected to a NiMH AA size battery with a two-year lifespan. The power switch on the back of the bulb can also change the intensity of the light, from high to low, and the bulb itself is made from a durable polycarbonate similar to that used in automobile headlights.
TechCrunch

Tiny infrared LED’s could find a home in ultra-thin multitouch screens
A company called Osram Opto Semiconductors has created a new infrared LED that can be used in conjunction with detectors to create ultra-thin touchscreens. We've seen infrared used in touchscreens before, most notably in Microsoft's Surface and recent e-readers from Barnes & Noble and Kobo. But, Osram's solution is complex enough to work in a multitouch tablet, while being as space-saving zForce. At only 0.45mm tall the diodes and sensors can easily be crammed into a bezel around a screen and sip just 35mW during regular use. Now the company just has to convince someone to put the tiny IREDs in their products.
Engadget

Illegal Angry Birds theme park appears in China
We've heard of shady Chinese business folk knocking off Apple products and, yes, even whole Apple Stores, but now it appears even the humble app developer isn't safe from opportunistic bootleggers. In Changsha, China, local knock-off artists have taken Rovio's phenomenally popular Angry Birds app and made it flesh - well, made it fur and wood. The results look rubbish. People load Angry Birds stuffed toys into a big wooden slingshot, take aim and fire them toward houses made of supposedly destructible blocks. Most of the time, they miss, with the birds either massively overshooting the target or, this being the real 3D world, flying off either side of their intended landing zones. When the birds do collide with the blocks, they bounce off harmlessly, leaving the structure wholly unaffected. We'd give it no stars. "This (Angry Birds park) serves as a method for people to purge themselves and to gain happiness" a spokesperson for the park told website Gamersky.com. We're not sure the folks at Rovio will be seeing things quite the same way.
T3