Google Street View heads indoors
If you thought Google Street View couldn't get much cooler, then have a look at this: you can now go inside businesses. How long before someone turns this into a Grand Theft Auto-style free-roaming game? It's only a pilot project at the moment, and you can only go inside select shops and businesses. But think of the potential. "Building on the Google Art Project, which took Street View technology inside 17 acclaimed museums, this project is another creative implementation of Street View technology, to help businesses as they build their presence online," a company spokesperson told the BBC. Google is inviting the most searched for types of business to request a visit by its photographers. Big chains are excluded at the moment, as are hospitals and lawyers' offices. Restaurants, hotels, shops, gyms and vehicle repair workshops are typical of those requested, and at the moment the program is limited to London, Paris, and some cities in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
CNET UK

Hackers go after Facebook sites 600,000 times every day
Out of more than a billion logins to the website every 24 hours, 600,000 are impostors attempting to access users’ messages, photos and other personal information Facebook said. The figure is the first time that Facebook has revealed how it is bombarded by hackers on a daily basis. It was revealed as part of a Facebook blog post announcing a couple of new security measures being implemented across the site over the coming weeks to tackle these sorts of breaches. Security experts have said the figure is a “big concern” and that people need to be more careful when choosing their passwords and responding to offers supposedly from friends on Facebook.
Daily Telegraph

Super Fast Broadband Coming Quicker, Say BT
Telecoms giant BT said it will be able to provide super-fast broadband for two-thirds of the UK a year earlier than it previously predicted. BT will bring forward £300 million of planned investment and take on an additional 520 new engineers, which it hopes to recruit largely from ex-armed forces personnel, to achieve its target in 2014 instead of 2015. The accelerated roll-out forms part of BT's £2.5 billion programme to provide quicker broadband services across the UK. Six million UK premises already have access to the new super-fast technology, a figure that will rise to 10 million in 2012. The new fibre-optic cables support download speeds of up to 40 megabytes per second, which is easily fast enough to allow users to watch high definition television over the internet. They are substantially quicker than receiving the internet through BT's traditional copper phone lines.
Huffington Post

Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones
Britain's largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area. The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc, which counts the US Secret Service, the Ministry of Defence and regimes in the Middle East among its customers. Strictly classified under government protocol as "Listed X", it can emit a signal over an area of up to an estimated 10 sq km, forcing hundreds of mobile phones per minute to release their unique IMSI and IMEI identity codes, which can be used to track a person's movements in real time.
Guardian

Intel to be a 'niche' player, says ARM
Warren East, chief executive of the Cambridge-based firm, said that ARM’s dominance of the booming market for mobile devices will condemn Intel to niche status. The US giants revenues are more than 100 times greater than ARM's. “In terms of influence, we are the most influential microchip firm in the world,” said Mr East. Intel dominates the market for microchips in PCs, but the sector is relatively stagnant compared to that for smartphones and tablets. Last month the analyst house IDC slashed its PC sales growth forecast to just 2.8 per cent to take into account “saturation” in the West. In contrast, IDC expects tablet sales to hit 62.5 million this year, compared to less than 18 million in 2010. Worldwide smartphone sales are meanwhile expected to reach more than 472 million, up from 270 million last year.
Daily Telegraph

Ubuntu set to arrive for smartphones, tablets and TVs
The company behind the Ubuntu distribution of the Linux operating system has plans to bring the free OS to new form factors including smartphones and tablet PCs. Speaking to ZDnet ahead of the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Florida, Canonical boss Mark Shuttleworth said that the firm would be looking beyond the desktop computer for future versions.
PCR

Microsoft says Google Android is 'standing on our shoulders'
One of Microsoft's most senior lawyers has accused Google's Android software of "standing on the shoulders" of companies such as his own in the smartphone wars, and that the flurry of patent lawsuits going on between companies involved in the field is only natural in a rapidly developing field. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Horacio Gutierrez, the deputy general counsel for Microsoft, says that patent protections are necessary to give companies the incentive to spend millions of dollars and years of effort on new products. He says that software patents are necessary, because so much focus has shifted from hardware to software: "The question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection."
Guardian

HTC sold 13.2 million smartphones in last quarter
HTC sold a whopping 13.2 million smartphones in Q3 2011 – 93 per cent more than it did in the same quarter last year and nine per cent more than the previous three months. The Taiwanese giant showed its growing influence on the mobile phone market with a string of high profile releases which have helped it record a post-tax profit of NT$18.68bn – which equates to around £391 million. The outlook for the next quarter is more cautious, with HTC predicting that it will sell between 12 and 13 million units – which would nevertheless be a 31-42 per cent increase year-on-year.
TechRadar

Samsung Phones to Get Flexible Screens in 2012
South Korea based electronic giant Samsung announced last week that the company's new mobile device line up is going to be equipped with flexible displays. According to the company, this new product line will hit the shelves sometimes during the coming year. Samsung also stated that it intends to introduce the flexible-screen concept in the company's forthcoming mobile handsets first, following which, it will be extended to other mobile devices such as tablets, as well. The Galaxy maker acquired Liquivista - a company that excels in technologies involving low-power, bright, transparent and flexible e-display in consumer electronic gadgets, earlier this year in January.
IT Pro Portal

When Kids Should Go Mobile
Online polling company SodaHead has conducted a study into the age at which children should be given mobile devices such as phones and tablets. The majority, 54 per cent, say that children should get their first phone between the ages of 13 and 15. 24 per cent feel that children 12 and under should have a phone, and 22 per cent think that the first phone should be saved until children are 16 or older. Most respondents say that children should wait until they are 16 for "fancier" gadgets such as tablets - 67 per cent of respondents feel that tablets such as the Apple iPad 2 should not be given to children until they are 16, while 66 per cent feel that smartphones can also wait until the age of 16. Only 6 per cent feel that kids under 12 should get a smartphone, while 12 per cent think that it is OK for those under 12 to get a tablet.
Mobile Marketing

Sony takes full control of Sony Ericsson joint venture
Sony has issued a riposte to Apple and Nokia in the smartphone wars by spending more than £1bn to take full control of its handset manufacturing joint venture, Sony Ericsson. Hot on the heels of the launch of Apple's iPhone 4S and Nokia's announcement this week of a renewed foray into the market in partnership with Microsoft, the Japanese electronics corporation pledged to create an integrated approach to its smartphones and push its content across "four screens" – smartphones, PC, TVs and tablets – all manufactured by Sony. Speaking in London, Sony's chief executive Sir Howard Stringer said that the £1.05bn purchase of Ericsson's 50% stake in the manufacturer, ending a decade of partnership, would enable it to ramp up its smartphone efforts and defend its TV and PC manufacturing franchises by letting consumers connect with content "wherever they are, whenever they want".
The Guardian

Facebook now allows friends to help recover accounts
With an increasing amount of passwords to remember on a daily basis for a variety of sites across the Web, Facebook is adding a new method for users to recover an account without the need of a password. Announced in an official Facebook post this morning, the social network plans to test a method of account recovery that uses trusted friends to provide access to a user’s Facebook account. This system is similar to lending out a house key to a neighbor or friend when traveling on vacation or a business trip. Friends can help a Facebook user recover account access when the user forgets their password and doesn’t have access to an email account for recovery. Facebook users can choose between three to five friends to trust with account recovery and they will be supplied a code via email to help regain access to the account. Trusted Friends isn’t going to be a mandatory feature for Facebook users, but rather an optional tool similar to answering security questions. Facebook is also providing a new method of accessing applications through an extra layer of security. While the vast majority of apps only require a user to be logged into Facebook to work, app passwords can be used when logging into a third party application such as Spotify or Skype. To enable this feature on a particular application, the user goes to Account Settings, clicks on the Security Tab link and selects the third party application in the App Passwords section of the page.
Digital Trends

Bill Gates on “The Miracle Of Availability” and Applying Computer Science to the World
Bill Gates recently gave a talk at the University of Washington’s School of Computer Science and Engineering. As is typical of his talks, this one was broadly focused on new and helpful implementations of technology. It was followed by an open Q&A session. There was nothing radical or new proposed or revealed, but Gates was smart and compelling as usual, and the highlights of the talk are below. Video of the talk should be available soon from UW. I’ve tried to directly quote Bill as much as possible (bolded for those hungry for sound bytes), but there may be small errors in phrasing. If it’s in quotes, it’s his words, though I may need to correct a few words here or there. Gates began by establishing his computer science credibility, not that it’s necessary at this point, by reminiscing about the early days of computing. He recalled that at UW, “at strange hours you could essentially break in and steal computer time,” on the batch-work computers of the day like the B5500. This served as a segue, actually, to his initial thesis, which was that people like himself aren’t the ones who will bring be making the next generation of breakthroughs happen.
Tech Crunch

Can't stream? Won't stream!
If the music industry agreed on one thing – and it rarely does – it was that the web streaming service Spotify was the future for a business ravaged by piracy. But Chris Martin has dealt a possibly fatal blow to that assumption after Coldplay refused to license their new album to Spotify, which now faces a revolt from some big artists. EMI, Coldplay's record company, is said to be "embarrassed" after it's star act declined to allow Spotify's ten million users to listen to Mylo Xyloto, the band's new album. EMI, whose music division could be sold today in a $1.5bn deal by owners Citgroup, negotiated a deal to license its music to Spotify, in which it also owns a stake of under 2 per cent. The Swedish-founded, UK-based Spotify has transformed the way music is listened to by fans since its 2008 launch. Spotify lets users stream a catalogue of 15 million songs to their computers and mobile phones through a monthly subscription or listen via an advertising-supported free service.
Independent

HP Will Keep PC Division
HP has decided to retain its Personal Systems Group (PSG), the company said on Thursday, reversing former CEO Leo Apotheker's plan to exit the PC business. Meg Whitman, CEO and president of HP for the past five weeks, said in a statement that HP has evaluated the cost of spinning off its PC division and has decided that doing so wouldn't be in the best interest of the company. "It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," said Whitman. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger." In a conference call held to elaborate on the decision, CFO Cathie Lesjak estimated that the cost of spinning off PSG would amount to a one-time charge of $1.5 billion and diminish operating profit by $1 billion annually. She explained that HP gains significant supply chain and procurement leverage by being one of the largest purchasers of PC components. The company's scale helps its margins, she said.
Information Week

IBM goes for safety over excitement with its next CEO
BIG BLUE has a reputation in the IT industry as a safe pair of hands, and the appointment of Virginia 'Ginni' Rometty as CEO and president will do nothing to shake that view. The handover from old to new boss has been handled smoothly. Current IBM CEO Sam Palmisano has not been forced out of the role due to a high-profile fallout with the board - think Carly Fiorina at HP - or due to a gradual decline in company fortunes, as with Nokia's Jorma Ollila. It's simply that Palmisano has reached 60 and after his 10-year tenure at the top of IBM, is retiring from the chief executive role. But he'll stay on as chairman of the board. IBM has also avoided causing the internal friction and market negativity that often comes with the selection of an outsider. HP and Nokia both looked outside the company with the appointments of Leo Apotheker and Stephen Elop, and look how well that's turned out. Ex-SAP chief Apotheker has already followed Fiorina out the door, after some decisions that could be described at best as poorly thought out. Elop's appointment was swiftly followed by concerns that his previous role at Microsoft and deals with the Redmond firm would diminish Nokia as a standalone organisation. Fast forward to this week;s Nokia World show in London, and those fears seem genuine, as Nokia attempted to turn around its fortunes with some pretty underwhelming devices running Windows Phone OS.
The Inquirer

Netflix now takes up nearly a third of all Internet bandwidth in North America
While Netflix's recent management missteps have caused the stock to take a massive beating over the last few months, this hasn't stopped more Netflix users from streaming television shows and movies over the Internet. According to Sandvine’s Fall 2011 Global Internet Phenomena Report, Netflix now makes up 32.7 percent of all Internet traffic in North America and has become the most powerful driver of traffic during the evening. This report analyzes approximately 200 Internet service providers in 80 different countries. Across all countries, real-time entertainment applications make up 60 percent of peak downstream traffic, an increase from 50 percent in 2010. Hardware in the entertainment traffic category include smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, game consoles like the Xbox 360 and smart televisions. Entertainment hardware dominates the laptop and desktop PC category which only makes up about 45 percent of all Internet traffic. Video makes up over 32 percent of all peak downstream mobile traffic and the largest contributor to that group is YouTube. Web surfing is in second place at a bit over 16 percent of peak period aggregate traffic and peer-to-peer file sharing is also in second place for daily aggregate traffic. Peak network traffic is typically at maximum levels between 8 to 11 p.m. each evening. Other sources that contribute to traffic at peak times includes real-time communication, gaming, secure tunneling and social networking.
Digital Trends

How Nintendo fans could save classical music
There are signs that what was once a series of bleeps accompanying pixilated figures on screen is evolving into an art form. The Video Games Live orchestra has been staging best-selling shows across the world, which merge the worlds of gaming and classic music, for the past six years. Is this a legitimate appreciation of a growing field of composing, or simply a case of culture-lite, a dumbing down of classical music to make it palatable for the Xbox generation? Tommy Tallarico, founder of Video Games Live and a composer of video game scores with more than 20 years' experience (the concerts he hosts play compositions from a range of contemporary composeers, rather than just his own back catalogue) admits that the classical world is divided. "We get mixed reviews. But the reality is that the orchestral symphony world is starting to die out. Symphonies are going under and classical music is going away. If something can get young people exposed to this kind of music it's a positive thing," he says. "We've played to 100,000 people in China. People are screaming, clapping... that's when musicians come up and say that they've played the oboe for 40 years and have never had a reception like this." In a recent interview, the classical composer Nico Muhly, who has worked with Philip Glass and Björk, lent weight to the argument that video game music has a place in the classical world. "I'm positive I understand how augmented chords change an emotional texture because of Nintendo music."
Independent

Angry Birds into space
Cuddly toys bound for the International Space Station, squealing as they go. Who would have thought that the news from Nokia yesterday that Angry Birds are going into emerging markets could be topped? Well, now Collectspace has reported that an Angry Bird toy will accompany cosmonauts and NASA astronauts on a manned Progress M-13M  spaceflight. But this is no safety blanket. No, these birds have a mission – to float, and thereby indicate when zero gravity has been achieved. Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov said: "According to the existing tradition, we take with us small charms," and explained the custom of flying a toy as a "zero-g indicator."
Mobile Entertainment

RIM BlackBerry tablet OS delayed until February 2012
Last week at its BlackBerry DevCon conference, Research in Motion tried to excite developers about the forthcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 mobile operating system, to spur developers to create applications for RIM's BlackbBerry PlayBook tablet, released last spring to poor reviews and low sales. But yesterday, RIM said in a blog post that it was delaying the release of the PlayBook 2.0 OS "until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers, and users."
TechWorld

Virgin Media TiVo has 222k subscribers
Virgin Media's quarterly results have shown that it now has 222,000 subscribers to its flagship TiVo cable service, with its superfast broadband business growing fast. The TiVo service is now being pushed hard in ad campaigns and that appears to be having an effect, with 127,200 net additions in the quarter – one third of which are new to Virgin Media.
Tech Radar

Facebook builds first European data center in Sweden near Arctic Circle
Facebook today announced that it will locate its third data center in Lulea, Sweden, which lies near the Arctic Circle. The data center is Facebook’s first data center in Europe and will serve more than 800 million Facebook users. The Swedish city of Lulea has the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, and is the coldest region in Sweden – a crucial factor since cooling servers is a major issue for data centers.
I4U

Credit card companies plan to sell your purchase data to advertisers
Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc are working on a system for delivering online behavioural adverts to consumers based on what they buy in shops, according to media reports. The US-based credit card networks have developed "preliminary" plans to place shoppers into groups based on their in-store purchasing history and sell the information to marketing firms that would deliver online behavioural ads, according to report by the Wall Street Journal and another by CNET.
The Register

Amazon boosts Kindle Fire production
Amazon is boosting production of its Kindle Fire tablet, thanks to immense pre-order demand. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said the company is "increasing capacity and building millions more than we'd already planned."
Mac World

Commonwealth Bank in m-payments charge
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has unveiled a mobile phone application by the name of Kaching. This combines peer-to-peer payments via a phone’s contacts and email addresses and social payments via a user’s Facebook friends, along with NFC technology.
FS Tech

Top 30 sites in Europe: Google gets most visitors, Facebook gets most views
The data, from comScore, indicates that Google maintained a 6-percent increase from a year ago. Microsoft sites ranked second with 255.9 million visitors (68.8 percent reach), followed closely by Facebook.com in third place with 245.3 million visitors (65.9 percent reach).
Netimperatvie

Google’s Music Store inches closer to launch with new Android Market teaser
Whilst we already know that Google is going to launch its new Music Store soon, the company has started to roll initial updates to some of its mobile websites, adding placeholders to its music pages to direct visitors to its new music store on the Android Market.
The Next Web

Skifta Android streaming app launches with 3G functionality
Qualcomm has announced the launch of Skifta 1.0, a new Android streaming app which enables Android users to stream their media to any DLNA connected devices worldwide. Pocket-lint covered the beta launch of Skifta back in February, and it's nice to see the final app come around within the year.
Pocket Lint

Vodafone selects Velti to expand mobile customer loyalty program
Mobile marketing and advertising firm, Velti today (27 October) announced that it has been chosen by Vodafone to launch the operators’ next generation of loyalty programs in the UK. The new advertising campaign will target Vodafone’s 6 million pay-as-you-go customers through its Vodafone Freebee Rewardz program.
Mobile Today

Nokia Shows ’Lumia’ Windows Phone in Bid to Win Share From Apple
Nokia Oyj, the Finnish handset maker seeking to revive its smartphone portfolio in the race against Apple Inc., introduced its first handset powered by Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone software. The Lumia 800 is available in cyan, black and magenta, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said at the Nokia World event in London today. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia also introduced the Asha family of lower-priced handsets.
Business Week

HTC Titan Narrowly Beats Nokia 800 In Benchmarks
An anonymous source has performed a full set of tests on the HTC Titan and the Nokia 800, the soon to be announced Windows Phone 7.5 handset from the Finnish manufacturer.
ITProPortal

Android overtakes Apple's IOS in app downloads
The Linux based Android operating system (OS) is continuing its relentless assault, with a report by ABI Research showing that Google's mobile OS overtook Apple’s IOS in app downloads in the second quarter of this year.
The Inquirer

Telecom lessons for all industries
Because of limitations in their charging and billing capabilities, companies outside of telecom tend to take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to services and pricing. In order to stimulate customer consumption, deepen customer loyalty and drive recurring revenue streams, all industries can stand to learn from telecom’s fixed and mobile evolution – from simple subscription business models toward today’s increasingly personalized activity oriented approaches driven by real-time rating, charging and intelligence around customer usage, behaviors and preferences.
Telecoms Europe

Kingston Wi-Drive for iPod, iPad and iPhone
One has to admire the success of Apple's iOS devices. The iPod remains the best-selling MP3 player, the iPhone has soared to popularity, and the iPad has breathed new life into a tablet form factor we all thought was dead. Credit where it's due, the devices have revolutionised the way we consume content on the go, but they're far from perfect, and all three share one annoying limitation: non-expandable storage. In terms of capacity, what you buy on an iOS device is exactly what you get, and there's no memory-card slot for easy expansion. More than a mild inconvenience, and if you happen to get trigger-happy on the bountiful app store, you'll find yourself running out of storage sooner rather than later.
Hexus

iPad 2 Rival Alert : HP TouchPad Back In Stock For £170
If you dig well enough, you will be able to source the HP TouchPad tablet quite easily. We managed to find a reliable supplier online, one which is called 3Monkeys (like the PR agency) and which sells both the 32GB and 16GB version of the HP TouchPad for a premium but not as expensive as the others.
ITProPortal

Apple iPad 3 re-design and release date details surface
Treat this with a pinch of salt until we hear the official word from Apple, but strong rumours from a “reliable Asian source” suggest that the iPad 3 will launch in March 2012 and will feature a re-designed dock connector.
ITProPortal.com

John McCarthy, Pioneer & Father of Artificial Intelligence Dies at 84
John McCarthy, the computer scientist to first coin the term ‘Artificial Intelligence' or AI 1in 1955 has passed away at the age of 84. McCarthy not only defined the term Artificial Intelligence - the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, but also worked on robotics and development of the programming language LISP that is till date being used by the AI community across the globe.
ITProPortal

21 Windows 8 Screenshots That Will Make You Forget About Windows 7
Windows 8, the developer preview version, has out for some time now and not many enthusiasts were fond of really "previewing" it. This happened roughly because an average person does not install pre-beta programs, not under dual boot option at least that could lose their vital information in case something goes wrong. Although there are ways of playing safe , my personal opinion is that some people do not see the advantages of Windows 8. It is not "another Windows that will change everything"; it's the iOS of Apple and the Android Ice Cream Sandwich of Google; Microsoft's OS that is going to unite everything in the PC world. And we've got pictures to help smooth the transition.
ITProPortal

Credit card firms want to stalk you on the web
A report in the Wall Street Journal said Visa and Mastercard have cunning plans to use what they know about you to push ads at you when you’re online. Apparently, for example if you’ve just bought a burger with your credit then go online, the companies could, in principle, then push ads to you from competing fast food joints.  
TechEye.net

UK’s High-speed Broadband Coverage Not At Par with Other European Countries Claims Study
The UK has secured 15th spot in the list of European countries with high speed broadband access. According to a State of Broadband report released by online content delivery firm Akamai, the United Kingdom was 15th on a list of 22 European nations with high speed broadband with only 30 percent of the population getting speeds of around 5Mbps. On the whole the UK ranks 25th in the world in terms of broadband access. The Netherlands got the top spot on the list of high speed broadband countries with around 68 percent of its popular having access to speeds of 5Mbps. The Akamai report also found that around 91 percent of UK's population was getting broadband speeds of more than 2Mbps, putting it 6th on the list of countries with speeds more than 2Mbps.
ITProPortal.com

Google and other search engines are ‘failing’ says top Facebook executive
Talking exclusively to The Telegraph, Beard, the director of the Facebook Platform, said that search will have to “go social” but admitted that a tie-up between the social network and its major rival Google would not make good business sense, despite the benefits to consumers. Beard is in London, as part of a global tour, talking to hundreds of British developers today about the new additions to the site’s Platform since f8, the recent Facebook developers conference – at which the site's chief, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the 'Timeline' and a ‘new breed of social apps’, probably best highlighted by Spotify’s deep integration with the site.
Telegraph

Netflix Q3 net surges 65% but shares fall after weak outlook
Online movie streaming service saw churn rise to 6.3% from 3.8% a year earlier. Netflix Inc.'s third-quarter earnings surged 65% on a big jump in revenue, but the online video and DVD-rental company predicted weak results in the current quarter. Shares plunged 19% to $96 after hours. The stock hit its highest level ever in July and through Monday's close had fallen 61%. Netflix predicted earnings in the current quarter of 36 cents to 70 cents a share on revenue -- from domestic streaming, DVD rental and international operations -- of $841 million to $875 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast income of $1.08 a share on revenue of $920 million.
Total Telecom

Store Offers Wi-Fi So Consumers Can Compare Prices
Britain's biggest department store John Lewis is to offer customers free in-store Wi-Fi so they can compare its ticket prices with rivals, the employee-owned partnership has announced. The company will install the access in all its stores by Christmas with partner BT OpenZone, which will require customers to hand over their email address to access the service. Far from being a simple convenience, the company has decided to embrace what it sees as a new age of m-commerce, price matching competitors under its famous 'never knowingly undersold' catchphrase on condition that they are also bricks and mortar outfits.
PCWorld

Lane Fox in new online ‘give an hour’ push
The UK’s Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox is launching a new campaign to encourage people to use the hour when the clocks go back to help a friend or relative to get online. Race Online 2012, along with partners including the Scouts, Jobcentre Plus, Post Offices and Mecca Bingo clubs, is hoping to inspire thousands of local digital champions via www.go-on.co.uk/giveanhour. BBC TV and radio stars and programmes will also support the campaign. Approximately 8.7 million adults in the UK have never used the internet, Lane Fox’s campaign claims. With nine out of ten new jobs requiring online applications, however, and web users commanding salaries on average 10 per cent higher than non-users, the Government is keen to improve usage rates.
Telegraph

Apple is paranoid about Android after market share rises
The company which can do no evil is now vastly overtaking the Apple operating system on the applications front by giving everything away. No good will come of this. A report said that in the second quarter of this year, Android had 44 percent of market share compared to Apple’s 31 percent with its iOS.  Apple’s strength is it’s always been proprietary but that is its Achilles’ heel too, and always has been. You could kind of compare Google to the Huns. So far it has managed to upend any number of existing business models, including publishing and there is no doubt at all that antitrust authorities worldwide are going to have to keep an eye on it.
TechEye

WikiLeaks Shelves Operations Temporarily in wake of Cash Deficit
Julian Assange, the co-founder of the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks has announced that he is temporarily closing the site's operations in order to raise funds, and find a way out of the financial blockade imposed on it. Assange made the declaration at a press conference organised in London on Monday. He stated that the banking blockade imposed on the site resulted in 95 percent of the site's revenue-sources getting dysfunctional. He also expressed his concerns by saying that the blockade imposed on WikiLeaks is nothing less than an existential threat for the site. According to the whistlblower, if the blockade is not lifted by the New Year, WikiLeaks would not be in a position to continue at all.
ITProPortal.com

Groupon sues two former employees who joined Google
Online coupon distributor seeks court order to prevent former staff members sharing confidential information. Groupon Inc. has sued two former sales managers who quit to join Google Inc.'s daily deals website and is seeking a court order to prevent them from revealing confidential information, Reuters reported Monday, citing a court filing filed in an Illinois court on Oct. 21. The hiring of former Groupon employees Brian Hanna and Michael Nolan at Google breaches an employment agreement which bars them from working with a direct competitor for 24 months after leaving Groupon, the report on Reuters' website quoted the court filing as saying.
Total Telecom

Hacking tool targets SSL vulnerability
Hackers have released a program they say will allow a single computer to take down a web server using a secure connection. The THC-SSL-DOS tool, released on Monday, purportedly exploits a flaw in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) renegotiation protocol by overwhelming the system with multiple requests for secure connections. SSL renegotiation allows websites to create a new security key over an already established SSL connection. A German group known as Hackers Choice said it released the exploit to bring attention to flaws in SSL, which allows sensitive data to flow between websites and individual user's computers without being intercepted.
ZDNet UK

Anonymous claims take-down of child pornography site
Hacking group Anonymous claim to behind the take-down of a child pornography website. Lolita City could be accessed via the Tor network that allows web users conceal their identity when surfing the web. Anonymous said it discovered the site through Hidden Wiki, which can also be accessed via the Tor network, and initially contacted the firm thought to be hosting Lolita City and asked for the offending images to be removed. However, when the firm refused, Anonymous accessed the site's servers and obtained the login details of more than 1,500 users, which they then published online.
ZDNet UK

Mobile Taking 3.3 Per Cent of Online Sales
The average percentage of sales on retail websites that is attributable to mobile devices has risen from 0.4 per cent at the start of 2010, to 3.3 per cent in Q2 (May - July) 2011, according to the initial findings from the IMRG’s new Quarterly Benchmarking Index. The highest percentage of sales through mobile for participating retailers was just under seven per cent. The percentage of visits via mobile is also increasing, from an average of 1.4 per cent in Q1 (February - April) 2011 to seven per cent in the latest quarter. The rate of mobile visits is as high as 12 per cent for some retailers.
Mobile Marketing Magazine

Google launches Android film rentals
Google has launched a new film rental service for Android phone and tablet users. UK users can now rent films via the Android Market, with prices starting at £2.49. A similar service has already launched in America, and initially British users will have access to a library of approximately 1,000 titles. Google has recently launched its UK eBook store, going into competition with Apple and Amazon, as well as launching film rentals via its video site YouTube. Yesterday, Sony also launched its Entertainment Network, offering access to seven million songs and films to buy or rent. Android Users will need to install the Video app to watch films, and for the majority of titles will be able to start watching any time over the first 30 days after purchase. Once a film is begun, it is available for 48 hours. Films can also be rented via the web at market.android.com/movies, and titles will be available to any device a user is logged in to during the rental period.
Telegraph

Guardian predicts 1m installs of Facebook app in first month
The Guardian expects this weekend will see the millionth person install its new Facebook app, exactly a month since it was launched. The app, which allows Facebook users to see what their friends are reading after a single sign-in when they agree to share their viewing habits, was launched on 22 September at the London leg of Facebook’s F8 conference. Content sales and marketing director at the Guardian Chris Lawson gave the prediction at the newspaper’s Media Guardian Changing Advertising Summit 2011, which is underway in London. Less than two weeks after launch, on 5 October, the Guardian reported 129,000 app installs generating over 600,000 story reads. That figure is likely to grow significantly when the Guardian release up-to-date statistics, which it plans to do in the next few days.
Journalism.co.uk

Toshiba show off ultra high resolution display
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba has unveiled a 6.1-inch display with an incredible 2560 x 1600 resolution. The LCD panel features a 498 pixel-per-inch (ppi) which is well in advance of the previous leading iPhone 4/4S display's 330 ppi display. Based on low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistors on a glass substrate, the display will offer a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 176 degree viewing angles in the horizontal and vertical. On a web page on the firm's mobile display web site, Toshiba showed the effectiveness of the resolution with highly detailed Japanese Kanji with characters just 3mm across. It's not known what plans Toshiba has for the display. Indeed the size is somewhat unusual, too big for a phone and on the small side for a tablet.
PCR

Android Market breaks the 500,000 published apps barrier
To say that the popularity of apps has exploded would be an understatement, and now the numbers are in for the Android Market as of September. The Market managed to attain a whopping 500,000 published applications, which isn’t that far behind the 600,000 published on Apple’s App Store. Curiously 37 per cent of apps were removed from the Android Market over time compared to 24 per cent on the App Store. Why? Apple’s rules and regulations for submitting to the App Store are a lot more stringent, which prevents developers from throwing up low quality apps. Meanwhile, developers on the Android Market take advantage of the flexibility to test the market, submitting trials and demos to gauge interest. The numbers back that up too – 78 per cent of the apps removed from the Market were free. Another interesting detail? Android developers are more active than ones on Apple’s platform. On average, Android publishers have placed six apps on the Market, compared to four by iOS devs.
Recombu

Netflix to launch movies and TV in early 2012 in UK and Ireland
Movie and TV streaming service Netflix is to launch in the UK and Ireland in early 2012, according to the company today. Pricing will be announced closer to launch but the company says it will launch on a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as on PCs, Macs and mobile tablets and phones. In the UK it will go head to head with Amazon-owned LoveFilm, the well established streaming service. Amazon acquired LoveFilm in January for £200m, having previously held a 42 per cent stake in LoveFilm from since 2008 when Lovefilm acquired its European DVD rental business. In the US Netflix costs $7.99 a month. LoveFilm pioneered its business offering unlimited DVD rentals by mail for a monthly subscription fee of £9.99 in the UK.
TechCrunch EU

Huawei Creates 500 UK Jobs And New Smart Phone
Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, is to launch a new smart phone and create 500 UK jobs to help its digital innovation centre to secure its position as a market leader in the UK. The phone will be its first own-branded phone in the UK and the jobs will be a mix of research, sales and marketing and customer service jobs. Victor Zhang, Chief Executive of Huawei Technologies UK, told The Huffington Post: "The new staff will be a mix across our business areas. For our customer service people, we will be specifically looking for people with an engineering and technology background that can communicate well with our customers and give them a good experience.
Huffington Post UK

Steve Jobs posthumous Apple design focus revealed
Steve Jobs warned his team at Apple not to double-guess “what Steve would have done” after he passed, board member Al Gore has revealed, however the opinionated founder also made sure that design was still top of the agenda in developing new products. ”Don’t ask what Steve would have done, follow your own voice,” Jobs told staff at Apple in the time preceding his death, Gore recalled in interview with AllThingsD. However, according to the previewed Steve Jobs biography, he also made sure that his “spiritual partner” Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, would remain unimpeachable.
Slashgear

Google and others line up for Yahoo
Web Search Giant Google has added its name to the list of potential buyers for Yahoo's remaining business. The firm joins other firms interested to buy Yahoo and gives the one-time internet portal a choice of cash rich suitors. The Wall Street Journal cites sources close to discussions for its report that says that Google is chatting with private equity firms about a deal, but has not managed to put together a formal proposal. It adds that Google might not go ahead to offer a bid. Chatter around Yahoo has increased in recent months and a number of other companies have been mentioned to buy the company. These include several private equity investors plus Alibaba, the firm's Chinese business partner, and Microsoft.
The Inquirer

UK gov invites bids for public sector cloud
The government has taken the next step towards the creation of the G Cloud with a tender notice, posted on the Government Procurement Service website, for a £60m framework to provide cloud computing services across the public sector. It has invited suppliers to bid for four 'lots', covering infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service and specialist cloud services. The initial framework will run for six months. The Cabinet Office has previously indicated that the contract is likely to be followed by another tailored to reflect feedback from suppliers and public authorities. The invitation to tender marks the start of the delivery of the government's plan to provide a range of cloud computing services through an environment designed specifically for the UK public sector. This has been one of the key elements of government's ICT plans since the Labour government published the Journey to Digital Government paper in 2009.
The Register

Yellow-tinged iPhone 4S screens give new users the blues
The last iPhone launch led to 'Antennagate', where users found that call quality went up and down depending on how they held iPhone 4. This time, the buzz phrase could be 'Yellowgate'. Some users are reporting that the screen on their brand-new iPhone 4S handsets has a yellow tinge. An open discussion on the Apple forums begins, 'Got a new iPhone 4S this morning, and when I put it next to my old iPhone 4 I discovered the screen was much 'nicer' on the old iPhone. 'It’s got a really yellow tint compared to the screen on the 4S - whites are where you notice it the most. The email looks far nicer on the iPhone 4 screen. All other colours look quite washed out. Anyone else got this problem?'
Mail Online

Tablets Boost BBC iPlayer Usage
The number of views of BBC iPlayer content generated by tablets grew by a staggering 15 per cent from August to September according to figures released by the BBC as part of its monthly performance pack (PDF). It still represents a mere fraction of the estimated 153 monthly million requests but given that overall numbers have been plateauing (and even falling), the only way would be up for tablets as their numbers increase. Virgin Media set top boxes now account for the lion share BBC iPlayer figures of 23 million requests through boxes equipped with the older Liberate/TV Navigator and the newer TiVo
IT Pro Portal

RIM might compensate operators
Canadian communications firm Research in Motion (RIM) is considering compensating the operators that were the first line of defence when its services went down for four days earlier this month. When services went down for Blackberry users many turned to their mobile providers, which were as much in the dark as their customers. While RIM has tried to make it up to its customers with £60 worth of premium applications for consumers and free technical support for enterprise users, it has not mentioned its mobile operators. Behind the scenes things are different, though, and speaking to Bloomberg Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that operators might receive extra compensation.
The Inquirer

Encrypted USB Flash drive approved for "top secret" data
ViaSat UK has announced a range of USB flash drives certified to store sensitive and “top secret” data. Approved by the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG), the specialised “Eclypt Nano” range of drives use 256-bit AES encryption and support password and keystone authentication. In a number of high-profile cases, involving the likes of BP, Zurich and the NHS, the consequences of losing unsecured drives have been significant, and include the loss of customer data, financial information and business plans. "Now government bodies can balance the strongest security as certified by CESG with the portability and practicality of a USB drive, combined with a rugged design," said ViaSat’s chief executive Chris McIntosh. "As a result, the UK can have peace of mind that sensitive data can be protected to the appropriate level regardless of where it is, what it is being used for and by whom it is being used."
HEXUS.net

New Motorola Razr gets early reveal
Motorola has been having a great time sending out teasers about its new Motorola Razr with puzzles and confusing marketing videos galore – the joke's on Moto though, as enterprising phone detectives have pieced together a full image of the upcoming Razr handset. The image shows a slim-built handset from all angles, with a shiny Kevlar back panel, HD camera (no megapixellage on show) with LED flash and, in the US at least, will come with 4G connectivity. Disappointingly, there's still a relatively chunky-looking bezel to contend with and the overall shape of the handset is very… how do we put this? Very Motorola.
TechRadar UK

EBRD to lend €200m for Polkomtel buy
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to help entrepreneur buy Polkomtel. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced that it is willing to spend €200 million to finance Polish billionaire Zygmund Solorz-Zak’s plans to acquire a 100% stake in Polkomtel. The bank said that it is also ready to acquire a 16.2% stake in Metelem Holding, a company established by Solorz-Zak for the takeover of Polkomtel, if the Polish regulator approves of the move. According to the bank, its contribution will help Polkomtel's investment to introduce 4G and also enhance its efficiency. Solorz-Zak has offered to buy Polkomtel for €4.5 billion from four state-owned firms and Vodafone.
Global Telecoms Business

The law change on internet cookies
Cookies, in internet terms, are small files issued by websites that sit on your computer. When you visit a site, it will normally leave a cookie on your PC, allowing it to perform a certain function. Many of these are benign, or even beneficial: shopping basket systems, automatic log-ins, saved plays from online games and remember-my-details buttons all rely on cookies. However, they are also used for purposes that some people find unappealing. Cookies nowadays are often used to deliver advertising – they make a note of which sites the PC has been used to visit, and tell some websites what type of adverts you may find interesting. If you visit a lot of sites about fishing, for instance, the next time you visit an unrelated website you might be shown adverts for fishing tackle.
Computeractive

iOS 5 integration triples Twitter sign-ups
The advent of Apple's new operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, iOS 5, and, in particular, its Twitter integration, has tripled the amount of sign-ups to the social network. In addition, the site now serves around quarter of a billion tweets every day, a rise of 150 million since the start of 2011. The statistics were revealed by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo during a speaker dinner at the Web 2.0 summit currently being held in San Francisco. He also stated that around 50 per cent of the site's users are currently active, a rise of 20 per cent since January. However, he is also wary that a rapid rise in popularity raises new challenges: "We’ve got to figure out how to capture the volume at the same time as separating the signal from the noise," he said, referring to the fact that, with 250 million tweets per day, not all of them will be relevant or useful to an onlooker.
Pocket-lint

Absolute Radio launches multi-platform 60s & 70s stations
Absolute Radio has launched two multi-platform stations dedicated to music from the 1960s and 1970s. Absolute 60s and Absolute 70s will roll out across digital radio, online via the radio aggregator RadioPlayer and smartphone apps. The radio network is the first RadioPlayer partner to reveal data relating to in-bound traffic from the console. Over 40% of its in-bound traffic from RadioPlayer comes from BBC Radio, with Global Radio second highest at 25.9% and Facebook third with 8.4% (nma.co.uk 30 September 2011). RadioPlayer is a collaboration between the BBC and commercial broadcasters aimed at boosting online listening via a standardised player (nma.co.uk 7 April 2011).
New Media Age

Verizon to share user location data and browsing history with marketers
Changes to US telecoms provider's privacy policy means users must opt out to not receive targeted advertising. Verizon has posted changes to its privacy policy stating that the US telecoms provider will now share user location data, web browsing history and demographic information with marketers. While Verizon insists that it will not provide third parties with any information identifying users on a personal basis, it will give them a wide array of its users' information, including websites they frequent on their Verizon devices, places where their devices have been, and demographic categories such as gender and age range. Verizon will also share user interests with marketers, such as whether they're a sports fan, own a pet or what sort of restaurants they frequent.
Techworld.com

Google makes advances in battle with Facebook
Google defied the global economic slowdown last night by posting a 26 percent rise in net profits for the last quarter. The internet search engine company also claimed to be making strides in its battle with Facebook, announcing that more than 40 million users have joined Google+, its social network. Google beat Wall Street expectations by reporting net income of $2.73bn (£1.73bn) for the three months to 30 September, from $2.17bn a year ago. Net revenue, excluding payments to partner websites, surged by 37 percent to $7.51bn.
Guardian

RIM offers Blackberry users apps as apology
Canadian mobile communications firm Research in Motion (RIM) will give its subscribers $100 worth of premium applications as compensation for the four days of service problems it suffered last week.
The Inquirer

Future phones may rewire and reinvent themselves
Future mobile devices may be able to reconfigure themselves to meet new demands, ¬according to researchers that have developed a nanomaterial that can “steer” electrical currents. The discovery could lead to the development of smartphones and devices that can reconfigure their internal ‘wiring’ and evolve into an entirely different and new device, to reflect the changing needs of consumers.
Telecoms.com

HP promises new tablet, could it be Windows 8?
HP says a non-webOS tablet is on its way, and the PC business will only spin off if it makes it stronger. Hewlett-Packard will launch new tablets in future, despite cancelling the webOS-based TouchPad, and is evaluating Windows 8 for the purpose, executives have said. HP was being tight lipped about its tablet plans at the Canalys Channel Forum in Barcelona, but executive vice president Ann Livermore assured the conference that HP would only sell off the PC business – a prospect announced by former CEO Leo Apotheker in August – if it made the division stronger.
eWeek Europe

Siri on the iPhone 4S falls short in the UK
The Inquirer has got its hands on an iPhone 4S and discovered that its Siri voice control software can't search local businesses in the UK. Siri, your personal iPhone assistant, can't tell you where the nearest restaurant is or guide you to local attractions in the UK. The software is one of the big selling points for the iPhone 4S, which went on sale earlier today.
The Inquirer

YouTube launches online movie rental service in the UK
YouTube has launched its movie rental service in the UK with thousands of blockbusters including The Dark Knight and Reservoir Dogs. Film fans in the UK can now rent new releases for £3.49 and older titles for between £2.49 and £3.49 from YouTube. The move puts the Google-owned site in direct competition with Amazon's LoveFilm, which claims some 1.6 million customers in the UK and Europe. LoveFilm makes new releases available to non-members for between £2.49 and £3.49 a film.
Guardian

iPad rival alert: Viewsonic ViewPad 10e on Preorder for £199.99
Viewsonic is upping the ante in the race to become the most prominent Apple iPad rival on the market and has chosen the easiest way to do it; by launching a tablet that has almost the same hardware as the Apple iPad with some minor improvements.
ITPro Portal

Mobiles increasingly used in front of TV
A lot of money and research is currently being put into social TV, as companies of all kinds seek to capitalize on the growing trend of people using their mobile devices in front of the TV. While the use of laptops in the living room is not unheard of, the greater convenience of smartphones and tablets has accelerated this trend.
Hexus

Mobiles generating equivalent of $2.5bn a year, says Google chief
Google's chief executive Larry Page says that there are now than 190m Android devices in use, and that mobile advertising through it is on course to generate $2.5bn (£1.5bn) annually. Speaking at the company's earnings results, Page said: "The growth of Android is mind-boggling too. Over 190m devices have now been activated globally. I'm super-excited about the soon-to-be released new version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich, that's right, Ice Cream Sandwich. You won't believe what we manage to get done in this release."
Guardian

Microsoft gives £28 million to Nokia and Samsung
Microsoft's shy and retiring CEO Steve "there's a kind of hush" Ballmer has scribbled his name on the bottom of a £28 million cheque to Nokia and Samsung. The cunning plan is that the pair will use the money to push their Windows Mobile based products.
TechEye

RIM: BlackBerry service getting back to normal
Research in Motion, the company behind BlackBerry, is reporting that most of the services in Europe are getting back to normal after three days of outage.  In a statement on its website RIM said: “From 6am BST today, all services across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as India, have been operating with significant improvement. We continue to monitor the situation 24x7 to ensure ongoing stability. Thank you for your patience."
Pocket Lint

iOS 5 error messages hit updaters
Struggling to install your new iOS 5 update on your iPhone or iPad? You aren't alone, it seems. Apple users are frenziedly trying to install the new operating system update only to be met with error messages.Hundreds of users have gone online, hit the Apple forums and vented their anger and frustration on Twitter at how they can't install the new update that adds notifications, Wi-Fi syncing, Twitter integration and much more.
Yahoo

Nokia N800 Windows Phone leaked in ads
Details are still thin on the ground, but promotional materials for the first Nokia Windows phone, going by the name of the Nokia N800, suggest a launch is imminent. Pocket Now has the first ads for the phone, presumed to be the handset once known as Sea Ray and leaked as far back as June. With Nokia World just a few weeks away, general opinion is that the N800 will be the headline act when it comes to new product.
Mobile Choice

iPad mini coming early 2012?
If you thought Amazon's Kindle Fire was about to own the budget end of the tablet market, you might want to take a look at this. Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper model of iPad, according to an analyst. It's just a rumour at the moment, but does make some quite interesting reading nonetheless.
CNET

Google Q3 earnings preview: Eyes on economy, Motorola Mobility hit
When Google announces its third quarter earnings on Thursday it faces two large questions. First, Google can provide insight to the broader economy based on what industries are advertising. And the second item revolves around integrating Motorola Mobility, the hit on profit margins and distractions.
ZDnet

Government announces funding for collaborative tech innovation
Business secretary Vince Cable has announced £33 million funding to encourage technological innovation in the UK. This includes the launch of a new competition, to be led by the Technology Strategy Board, to support 'enabling' technologies. "The investment - worth up to £18 million - is designed to stimulate collaborative work in areas such as advanced materials and nanoscale technologies, with some funding for ideas yet to find a potential application in any market or business sector.
PC Advisor

Social media ad revenues ‘to surpass $5bn this year
The report, from eMarketer, went on to predict that social media ad revenues will supass $8bn next year and almost $10bn in 2013 with around 52 percent of that coming from outside the US. eMarkerer says that the majority of these social network ad dollars will go to Facebook with a much smaller share will going to Twitter, which is estimated will hit $139m in ad revenues this year.
Netimperative

Most marketers ‘don’t know what gamification’ means- survey
The study, from global marketing technology and solutions company UpStream, found that three quarters (78 percent) of marketers believe that customers are more likely to respond to game-based marketing mechanics. However, only a quarter (27 percent) have actually used gamification tactics in their campaigns, the poll found.
Netimperative

Beam your tablet video direct to the TV
New PacketVideo Twonky browser sends web videos direct to the connected big screen. The Twonky Beam Browser homepage shows recommended websites with videos available to beam.  But others can be streamed when indicated with a Twonky Beam button. The service also lets users control playbacks and volume, as well as queue and watch later. Twonky Beam Browser will run on Apple and Android tablets and is now available as a free download in Android Market or App Store.
Mobile Entertainment

IBM refines cloud offerings
IBM has expanded its SmartCloud services, giving customers more tools to migrate their existing processes and data onto IBM's PaaS (platform-as-a-service) offerings, or to set up their own private clouds. A new cloud package, called IBM SmartCloud Application Services, will offer customers a platform for running enterprise applications. IBM provides the security, management and a Java-based development infrastructure. This service, which can host cross-platform applications, will be available as a beta by the end of the year.
Computer World UK

Steve Jobs’ passing is the saddest of news. But his life will remain an inspiring example of what can be achieved… when you do what you love.

Like most of us, I was deeply saddened to hear about Jobs’ disappearance today.  The news brought a flood of images and experiences to mind, from my first run on a Mac+ in 1989 to the many blissful hours spent with my iPod, iPhone or MacBook as natural and perfectly designed mediums to access, enjoy and share content.

It is a very strange sensation to feel such deep sadness for a man who you don’t personally know and to whom one’s respect and admiration only made Apple a more successful company. But these feelings ring true, and a quick peek online showed me that they were shared by millions. Steve Jobs was much more than a man who built a successful company. He was an inspiring visionary and a gutsy achiever, who made things happen through self-confidence. In Steve’s world, users did not have to compromise on what they could do because of the complexity of technology or because market dynamics at the upper echelons of the value chain. Apple’s achievement was to make easy and intuitive products, without sacrificing on what technology enabled. Today, Apple is synonymous to simplicity, power and beauty – and many other companies have adopted the same philosophy.

For us who read, write and work in the world of technology communications, Jobs’ career and achievements take yet another dimension. Today, Tech PR is a riveting environment where a broad community of users engage in discussions relevant to practically everyone around the world. Many eagerly await the next launch, speculate over features, or feverishly comment on leaks and rumours. Of course, none of this existed in the days of MS-DOS and mainframe computers: technology became newsworthy thanks to great products.

There were many amazing events while Jobs was at the helm, but a look at the mobile industry today suggests that the iPhone launch topped them all. We all remember how early PDAs promised web browsing, emailing, video and music playing. But trying to use them soon revealed that they could do none of the above properly. Then Apple came along, and with hardly any background in telecommunications, built a phone that reallydelivered on promises. It also generated an ecosystem of applications, whichlet just about anybody invent new ways to use the iPhone’s features. From that point on, all devices had to provide a similar experience or see their market shares melt away. Thankfully, there is no turning back now, Steve set the standard for mobile computing experience, and products will continue to compete at that level or above.

Jobs often said that what mattered most was to do what you enjoyed. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, and was able to steer forward when many said it was impossible. He had a profound trust in his projects and knew they would be greeted with success. He will certainly be missed, but his life’s work and his philosophy will be with us for quite a bit longer.

By Remi Poncelet