Megaupload user data may be deleted, say US prosecutors
Federal prosecutors say data from users of Megaupload could be deleted as soon as Thursday. US prosecutors blocked access to Megaupload and charged seven men, saying the site facilitated millions of illegal downloads of movies, music and other content. The company says its millions of users stored their own data, including family photos and personal documents. They haven't been able to see their data since the government raids earlier this month, but there has been hope would be able to get it back.
The Independent

Steam comes to Android and iOS
Valve, developer of the Steam gaming distribution platform, announced today it is starting a closed Beta of its Steam Mobile App and is targeting Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. The Steam App will extend both store and community services in the increasingly popular mobile market where the iPhone and Android have resparked interest in casual gaming and have provided developers with a more than adequate source of income. The mobile gaming market is estimated to reach $1.6 billion by 2015.
Tech Eye

Angry Birds boss: 'Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business'
Rovio's Mikael Hed tells music industry audience that embracing pirates can attract new fans. Rovio Mobile learned from the music industry's mistakes when deciding how to deal with piracy of its Angry Birds games and merchandise, chief executive Mikael Hed told the Midem conference in Cannes this morning. "We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products," said Hed.
The Guardian

Rights holders demand search engines delist 'pirate' web sites
Google, Bing and Yahoo are given a list of demands. Copyright holders have demanded that search engines delist filesharing web sites like The Pirate Bay and give higher rankings to authorised content. According to Torrent Freak, the demands were made behind closed doors at a UK meeting that was facilitated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). At the meeting, copyright holders are reported to have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo. A document obtained by the Open Rights Group via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request refers to a government overlooked proposal for a "Voluntary Code of Practice" for search engines.
The Inquirer

London named as worst UK city for 3G broadband speeds
A new survey claims that London has the slowest average 3G speed in comparison to the other nine largest cities in the UK. The research was carried out by leading price comparison portal uSwitch, and according to its findings, the average 3G mobile broadband speed in London stood only at 2.71 Mbps - almost 24 per cent slower than that of Portsmouth (3.56 Mbps); the city with the fastest average 3G connectivity speed in the entire UK. In addition, London also lagged behind Cardiff and Edinburgh whose average 3G speeds stood at 2.9 Mbps and 2.94 Mbps respectively.
IT Portal

New apps could bring a revolution in consumer choice
The omniscient Big Brother state, where multinational companies know more about your life than you do, could be about to crumble. Ministers want to see hundreds of new websites and mobile phone apps to allow people to get online access to all the information held on loyalty cards, bank statements, medical records and Whitehall databases. It is claimed that the new "open society" could save lives and improve public services. Never again will you struggle to find somewhere to park, miss an appointment, or get ripped off. In theory, at least.
The Independent

Thailand can't wait to wield Twitter censorship hammer
Thailand has become the first nation in the world to embrace Twitter's controversial censorship scheme. Last week Twitter said it was prepared to block content on a country-by-country basis as required by each jurisdiction. The social network said it will "reactively withhold content from users in a specific country" in the interests of allowing Twitter to further expand globally and "enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression". Twitter said in cases where it withheld tweets it would inform the user, as well as logging incidents of gagging orders with Chilling Effects.
The Register

Mobile wallets can help shops bring back the 21m consumers who hate queuing
Touch to pay could prevent them going online instead. While retail therapy can sound pleasant in theory, the practical side in stores can sometimes be anything but therapeutic with queues, poor staffing and payment methods all among consumer gripes. Researcher YouGov says NFC mobile wallet payment tech could be the solution to prevent retailers missing out as many as 21 million customers with such reluctance for in store shopping among Britain's consumers.
Mobile Entertainment

Sky enters TV streaming market, announces fibreoptic broadband
Sky has announced an internet-based TV service that will deliver movies and sports programming to those without a full Sky subscription. There will be pay-monthly packages, and pay-as-you-go streams. The service, which will launch in the first half of 2012, will initially offer Sky Movies and then expand to sport and entertainment soon afterwards. There will be a recommendations system, and editorial content from Sky. Sky's online hub will be available "across a wide range of connected devices, including PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and connected TVs," said the broadcaster.
Wired

Samsung loses Galaxy Tab German Apple ban appeal
Samsung‘s bad luck in German courts continues, with the company’s attempts to have Apple’s sales ban against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 overturned rejected this week. The Korean firm had protested the Android tablet’s injunction at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, which found in favor of the injunction instigated by the lower court – initially impacting the majority of Europe, but later limited to just Germany - though for different reasons. Whereas the original injunction was granted because of claims Apple made regarding design infringement, the higher court decided to maintain the sales ban because it deemed Samsung had infringed fair competition law in Germany. Nonetheless, the ban has also been left in place against the Galaxy Tab 8.9.
Slash Gear

London lagging behind UK's top 10 cities for 3G speeds
London has the slowest average 3G speeds of any of the UK's top 10 largest cities, a new survey has claimed. Research by price comparison site uSwitch said the average 3G mobile broadband download speed in London was 2.71Mbps, 24 per cent slower than Portsmouth (3.56Mbps), which is the fastest city in the UK. London also lags behind neighbouring capital cities Cardiff (2.90Mbps) and Edinburgh (2.94Mbps). The slowest city was Wolverhampton, with speeds of 2.46Mbps. The survey of more than 1,000 smartphone users also revealed 39 per cent of respondents are unhappy with their current 3G speeds and almost half (47 per cent) said their download speeds are slow.
Mobile Today

Police £80m smartphone rollout branded poor value
An £80 million police smartphone roll-out has been poor value for money, according to the National Audit Office. The NAO said that while in many forces mobile devices enable officers to spend more time on the beat, cash savings "have been limited and only one in five forces have used the devices effectively to improve their business and operational processes". The business case for the Mobile Information Programme, funded by the Home Office and managed by the National Policing Improvement Agency (which is being axed), focused upon the swift delivery of mobile devices, the NAO stated in a report published today.
CIO

BBC iPlayer coming to Sky
The BBC iPlayer is finally coming to Sky, with the two agreeing a partnership that will see the UK's biggest video on demand service land on the popular satellite platform. iPlayer is now a familiar sight on set top boxes, including those of Sky's cable-based rival Virgin Media, and this is a major step for both Sky and the BBC. With a UK launch date of 'later this year' the iPlayer will be arriving in 'up to five million Sky homes'.
TechRadar

AOL Taps Mobsmith for Mobile Ads
Mobile advertising platform Mobsmith has been selected by AOL to drive its mobile display ad sales in the US. Mobsmith's offering includes rich media ads and dynamic ads, based on location and demographic, which leverage AOL’s proprietary targeting data. “Our mobile ad technology allows publishers to combine rich media creatives with targeting and analytics to execute dynamic ads across their mobile properties at scale – all with no design or coding work necessary,” says Ingrid Lestiyo, CEO and co-founder of Mobsmith. “The flexibility and ease-of-use of the Mobsmith platform also allows publishers’ sales teams to boost their close rate and CPM while keeping their costs low.”
Mobile Marketing Magazine

Webmail providers team up to reduce 'phishing' emails
Some of the world's top providers of web-based email systems are teaming up with financial-services companies to combat phishing emails. Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and AOL are all backing Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC), a draft technical specification designed to reduce spoof emails and introduce an authentication system that helps email senders and receivers share information to ensure a message is legitimate. Facebook, LinkedIn, Bank of America, and PayPal are all involved in the DMARC group too, which launches today. PayPal blocks around 200,000 emails a day thanks to its existing work with Google and Yahoo's email services, a figure that will likely improve if DMARC is implemented widely. For the project to be successful, it will need the industry as a whole to back it to ensure security and email software adopt the DMARC standards.
The Verge

Windows 8 on ARM almost ready for developers
Windows 8 is stable on the ARM chip platform and will be seeded to developers soon, according to sources. Devices may be priced significantly less than their Intel counterparts, too. Windows 8 on ARM should go to developers in February, said one source, who had some hands-on time with a high-profile device from a major PC maker, adding that Windows 8 was impressive and stable."In October of last year. [Windows 8 on ARM] scared the industry because it was unstable. But what we are seeing now is quite stable," said another source, who also confirmed an expected February developer time frame.
ZDNet

T-Mobile hails first 'truly unlimited' smartphone tariff
T-Mobile announced a new flagship smartphone tariff this morning, aimed at first-time users who want to pay a single sub and no additional data charges. The Full Monty package is, the cellco claimed, the first tariff of its kind to offer a truly unlimited deal with no fair use policy. Customers who sign up will get unlimited calls, texts and data, all without restriction, it promised. Tethering, streaming and downloading are permitted, while the T-Mobile's partnership with BT brings customers unlimited Wi-Fi through BT Openzone. No caps. No fair-use. Nada.
The Register

RIM's new CEO has a cunning plan
Research in Motion's new CEO, Thorsten Heins, says he has a cunning plan for the Blackberry. Heins, who has been polishing the chair at RIM, said that he will present the board with his plan for the company's future in just a matter of weeks. Speaking to Reuters, he said that he will have to show up at board meeting in two weeks to present his cunning plan.
TechEye

Spotify less useful than radio says U2 manager
Secretive licensing deals and “insufficient transparency” could scupper Spotify and other cloud-jukebox services, U2 manager Paul McGuinness has warned, suggesting that “we’re unlikely to give [debut records] to Spotify” as the streaming music platform is more promotional than a money-spinner. McGuinness sees “the Spotify model” as part of the future of music, Digital Music News reports, but the supergroup manager also criticized confidentiality agreements between the service and labels as failing to show exactly what the benefits to musicians might be.
Slashgear

Amazon Kindle Fire sold six million units in Q4?
Analyst reports are in and it looks like the Amazon Kindle Fire has taken the tablet market by storm. With predictions from Jordan Rohan, a Stifel Nicolas analyst suggesting the affordable tablet from Amazon has sold six million copies in Q4 2011, given that the tablet isn't even globally available yet, these are some very impressive numbers. With each Kindle Fire selling in the US for $199.99, a $10 loss is made on each tablet sold. This however is said to average out to a $10 profit after app and eBook purchases are taken into account. The analyst even goes so far as to call Amazon's customised Kindle Fire OS the third major mobile ecosystem despite it running on Android Gingerbread.
Recombu

Nintendo sees profit next year, but shares tumble
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata dismissed the idea that the age of the dedicated handheld games device was over and said he aimed to return the company to substantial profit in 2012/13, after it warned of its first ever operating loss this year. Shares in Kyoto-based Nintendo Co Ltd tumbled nearly 8 percent to an 8-year low after it slashed its full-year guidance for the third time in 6 months, and analysts said the potential market for its products was shrinking rapidly.
Reuters

Twitter can censor by country
Twitter Inc. says it can now make content selectively available to users based on geography, and plans to use that ability to enter countries with "different ideas" about freedom of expression as a human right—reflecting the difficult ethical questions facing Internet companies. The announcement, published on the official blog of the microblog operator, said Twitter is now able to withhold content from users in a specific country while keeping it available to the rest of the world.
The Wall Street Journal

Android takes chunk of tablet market, but Apple's iPad still dominates
Android tablets took 39% of the world tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new research from Strategy Analytics – though as many as half of those were not running Google-approved versions of the operating system, it said. Apple dominated the rest of the market on its own, taking 58% of the market during the period as it sold 15m iPads, more than double the number of the same period in 2011.
The Guardian

HTC to scale back output to focus on few core handsets
Having spent recent years bombarding the smartphone market with a flurry of new handsets Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has revealed that during 2012 it will put more emphasis on the quality and not quantity of handsets released. Having seen the company’s flagship device of the past year, the HTC Sensation, largely drowned out by the Apple iPhone 4S and bitter Android rival the Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC's UK head, Phil Robertson, has suggested that the Desire and Wildfire manufacturer needs to "get back to what made us great."
T3

Nokia loses €1bn in Q4 2011
Nokia has suffered a large loss in its latest financial results, with the company’s operating profit dropping by €950 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. That’s a complete reversal of the situation in 2010, when the firm posted a profit of almost €900 million. Revenue dropped 21% year-on-year, from €12.6 billion to €10 billion. However, Nokia was keen to point to net cash and other liquid assets of €5.6 billion, and also a “solid” fourth quarter performance in mobile phones, driven by the launch of its new Windows Phone handsets led by the Lumia 800.
TechWatch

Government warns Liverpool and Newcastle over fibre
Three areas in England may lose their chance to get public funding for super-fast broadband, the government has warned. In a statement on Thursday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it had "little confidence" that three groups of local authorities would meet the end-of-February deadline for submitting their draft local broadband plans. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt warned in December that those missing the deadline would lose their guarantee for getting fibre funding.
ZDNet

Angry Birds flies to Facebook on Valentine’s Day
Yes, we do know that Angry Birds developer Rovio have been rumoured to talk with NVIDIA, and what else but a graphical improvement is in store for the hugely popular game? Well, this Valentine’s Day will be extra special for those who love all things Angry Birds, as it has been announced that the Angry Birds franchise will finally arrive on Facebook, instantly giving more than 800 million people who do not own compatible smartphones access to the game.
Ubergizmo

The PC market starts to grow again
While the tech media appears to be banging on about how tablets and smartphones are killing the PC, it seems that the actual figures do not bear this out. NPD Group has released some figures which indicate that the grey box is still doing pretty well and if tablets and smartphones did not exist then PC makers would be none the wiser. Last year, the number of PCs sold, which includes both laptops and desktops, increased by 20 percent, while revenues jumped 14 percent. Shipments for the period also increased by 20 percent.
Techeye

Security fears lead O2 to exceed tweet limit
O2 exceeded the daily amount of tweets allowed by Twitter earlier this week trying to quell unrest over security flaws on its network. The revelation was made yesterday at Marketing Week’s 1-2-1 Digital Strategy Summit in London by James Paterson, PR and social media campaigns manager at O2. During the event he said O2 amassed the same amount of Twitter mentions in a day as it usually does in an entire week as thousands of customers stormed the official account with queries.


newmediaage

Microsoft Windows Intune gains in popularity
Microsoft Windows Intune, which helps manage and secure the desktops of their highly mobile workforces through the cloud without any on-premises investment, has been adopted by Global nonprofit 'Save the Children', professional services company 'goetzpartners' and e-discovery firm 'eLitigation Solutions' to help them solve some of their daunting IT challenges. IT staffers at Save the Children, goetzpartners and e-Litigation Solutions rely on Windows Intune to help ensure the security and reliability of all desktops within their respective organisations.
CBR

EU privacy overhaul: small businesses get exemptions
Most start-ups and small businesses with fewer than 250 employees will be exempt from a new obligation to appoint a data protection officer, according to the European Union's (EU) new data privacy proposals. Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, announced this as an example of how the EU plans to reduce the administrative burden on small companies, to help them grow. "Many, if not the large majority, of SMEs will be exempted from the obligation to appoint a data protection officer," said Reding in a press conference today detailing the EU data protection reform. In addition, small companies will be exempt from producing reports of their data protection policies, and from performing obligatory data privacy impact assessments, unless they deal with high risk information such as biometric, genetic or data on children.
PC Advisor

Developers debate Android gaming potential at Mobile Games Forum
More than 62 million people played games on their mobile phones in September 2011 across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, according to data shared by comScore at the Mobile Games Forum conference in London. That represents more than 25 percent of all mobile users in those "EU5" countries. Meanwhile, nearly 13 million played mobile games almost every day that month. "There's a frequency of repeat usage that's encouraging," said comScore's vice president of mobile Jeremy Copp as he revealed the figures. The most popular gaming phone in these countries? Apple's iPhone. Specifically, more than 3.4 million people played games on an iPhone 4 16GB model in September 2011 according to comScore's research – extrapolated from its surveys across the EU5 countries. It was followed in comScore's gaming handset chart by the iPhone 3GS 16GB model (1.5 million) and the iPhone 4 32GB (1.3 million). RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8520 also had 1.3m mobile gamers in September. Copp added that 36 million people were playing games on smartphones in the EU5 markets in September, with 15 percent having made in-game purchases of virtual items, currency and upgrades.
The Guardian

Experts: Google privacy shift will have greater impact on Android users
Google doesn’t make much money from its Android phones, but chief executive Larry Page recently vowed in an earnings call that that was about to change. A push by the company to create clearer online profiles of Web surfers may turn the promise into reality, analysts say.  Since the company was founded in 1996, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have worked hard to live up to the company’s unofficial motto, “Don’t be evil.” Google this week announced a shift in its privacy policies that will allow it to follow the activities of users as they move across the firm’s Web sites, including its highly popular YouTube, Gmail and main search engine. The company emphasized in interviews that the change would apply only to users who are signed on to their Google accounts. The initiative could be of particular significance for consumers of Android devices, who are almost always signed on to their phones and tablets, experts said. Without signing up for an account, an Android smartphone owner would be limited in what he or she could do on the device, they said.
The Washington Post

Nokia Lumia 900 coming to AT&T in March for $99 on a two year contract
The telecom giant AT&T is planning to offer Nokia's flagship Windows Phone device Lumia 900 for only $99 on a two year contract, according to new reports. The Nokia Lumia 900 happens to be one of the massively anticipated new generation Windows Phones after Lumia 800. The company unveiled the device for the first time at the recently held Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where it managed to bag some rather brave initial reviews. It has been scheduled to go on sale on March 18 as an exclusive AT&T stock. Experts are of the opinion that by making the device available for only $99 alongside the two year contract, Nokia is heading towards right direction for regaining its lost pride in the smartphone arena. The price is half that of Apple's 16 GB variant of its flagship iPhone.
ITProPortal

HTC is holding out for a market hero
HTC UK is to slash the size of its smartphone portfolio this year and focus on delivering a few key ‘hero’ devices in a bid to claw back market share. The company’s u-turn follows disappointing global results earlier this month when first quarter net profit fell 26 percent to $365m, its first quarterly decline in earnings for two years as it faced competition from Apple and Samsung’s Galaxy range. HTC UK chief Phil Roberson told Mobile the manufacturer will return to a strategy of launching a limited number of high-spec devices this year, with a focus on second quarter releases. He said: ‘We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much. 'So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.’ The manufacturer will take a backseat in the tablet market in order to focus on smartphones, although Roberson stressed the company was not exiting the sector completely.
Mobile Magazine

Nintendo heads for first annual loss
The loss at the creator of the Super Mario franchise will be its first at an operating level. Nintendo dominated the video games industry for years with its DS handheld players and Wii home consoles, but is now struggling to keep up as more versatile smartphone and tablet sales boom. "To say that (the days of consoles) are over is likely an overstatement, but social network and Internet delivered games are growing and structurally changing the future of the industry, which is a strong wind against Nintendo," said Shigeo Sugawara, senior investment manager at Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management. Nintendo now expects an annual operating loss of 45 billion yen (£367 million), dwarfing expectations of a 4.2 billion yen loss, based on the average of 21 analyst forecasts.
The Telegraph

HP clears the path for open sourced WebOS
Technology Vendor HP has released its roadmap for making WebOS open source and is promising that it will be available in September. The firm has wrestled with the operating system for a little while now, and it was only in December last year that it came to a decision about its future. "WebOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable," said HP president and CEO Meg Whitman then. "By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices." Today the company provided a timeline for action and released the source code for version 2.0 of Enyo, the WebOS developer tool. This code, and WebOS itself, will be made available under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
The Inquirer

Google approved new Motorola lawsuit against Apple iPhone and iCloud
Google specifically gave permission for Motorola Mobility (MMI) to file a new lawsuit against Apple over its iPhone 4S and iCloud products, according to an analysis of the takeover agreement in which the search giant aims to buy the struggling mobile maker. The move marks a heightening of tensions between Google and Apple, where the Cupertino company is fighting a war by proxy against the use in the Android mobile operating system of a number of user interface elements that it sees as closely copied from the iOS software. In September last year Google sold nine patents to Android handset company HTC which could be used to pursue infringement claims against Apple.
The Guardian

Kaiser Permanente takes millions of medical records mobile with new Android app
We’ve recently written about some exciting new ideas and technology that will transform medicine in 2012, how mobile technology is playing a role in this transformation, and lauded investor Vinod Khosla addressed the question of whether or not algorithms (and technology) will replace doctors. Younger, smaller companies have flexibility, and can often have a greater impact on innovation and evolution of industries than giant corporations that have been around for decades. When we talk about innovation and technology touching the health industry, it’s hard not to mention electronic medical records (EMRs). As recently as 2009, The New England Journal of Medicine found that only 1.5 percent of U.S. hospitals have a comprehensive electronic medical health system. Practice Fusion, a venture-backed start-up we’ve covered recently, has become one of the biggest providers of EMRs in the country, with 25 million digitized to date.
Tech Crunch

Nokia shifts 1.5 billionth S40 series phone
Whilst Nokia makes waves in the Windows Phone market it is its past ventures that the Finnish phone manufacturer is making headlines with 1.5 billion S40 series handsets having been sold across the world to date. Hitting the hugely impressive milestone figure Nokia has revealed that whilst it is now focussing much of its efforts on Microsoft’s latest mobile operating system, the S40 platform is continuing to attract users with the 1.5 billionth S40 handset sold, a Nokia Asha 303, picked up by 21 year old Mayara Rodrigues in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone. Having 1.5 billion Series 40 devices sold is a hard-to-reach mark, let alone one attainable in a single line of products,” Mary McDowell, EVP for mobile phones at Nokia said. "At a time when we are maintaining our commitment to connecting the next billion customers around the world - it is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible and help continue to change people's lives for the better."
T3

Facebook 'contributes' €15.3bn to EU economy... bitch
The UK economy might be down in the dumps, but there is a ray of sunshine from an unlikely source: Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has supposedly helped to contribute £2.2bn to the country's GDP in 2011. Facebook added that – with a lot of help from the rise of mobile applications – it has "supported" 232,000 jobs in recent years across the European Union.
The Register

Megaupload founder denied bail
The founder of Megaupload, the file-sharing website shut down last week in one of the largest criminal copyright cases brought by US authorities, has been denied bail in New Zealand because he poses a “significant flight” risk. Kim Dotcom was arrested at his luxury mansion in Auckland on Friday by armed police acting on behalf of the FBI and the US Department of Justice. The German millionaire and six other men are accused of peddling copyrighted material on the internet. The DoJ claims that Megaupload and its sister sites made more than $175m in illegal profits from their vast network of file-sharing sites and caused $500m of damages to copyright holders.
The Financial Times

Apple announces record sales of iPhones and iPads
Record sales of iPhones and iPads resulted in record profits at Apple in the final quarter of 2011, the first since the death of its co-founder, Steve Jobs. Apple more than doubled its profits: to $13.06bn (£8.35bn), compared with $6bn for the same quarter in 2010. The result easily beat analysts' forecasts, taking pressure off the chief executive, Tim Cook, handpicked by Jobs as his successor. Last October Apple shares recorded their biggest single-day dollar drop after iPhone sales missed their forecast.
The Guardian

Mobile broadband requires more spectrum
As the rollout of mobile broadband services gains pace around the world, demand is growing for more spectrum to be made available. With many countries having embarked on, or formulating plans for, the release of new frequencies, the identification, licensing and management of spectrum is of growing concern for governments, regulators and operators.
Telecoms Europe

US Based Consumer Watchdog Requests EU to Block Google’s Motorola Acquisition
In what could be termed as the first of its kind complaint to the European authorities, the European competition commissioner has been urged by a United Stated based consumer group to block Google's proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility. According to reports, Consumer Watchdog - the US based advocacy group that claims to be working on behalf of consumers, has opposed Google's planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola in a formal letter of complaint to the European Commission.
IT Pro Portal

Xbox 720 / Next Xbox Chipset Production Has Started
The production of the system of chip that will power Microsoft's next generation gaming platform, otherwise known as the Xbox 720 or the Next Xbox, has started according to tech websites Fudzilla and Semiaccurate. Both sources claim that the first chips, which carry the codename Oban, were produced back in December 2011 and are being produced by IBM and Global Foundries using a 32nm Silicon-on-Insulator manufacturing process.
IT Pro Portal

Adapmi Creates Visit Britain App
Britain’s national tourism agency, Visit Britain, has released a tourist guide app, developed by Apadmi, to support the swell in tourism accompanying the 2012 Olympic Games. The app enables users to search for events, accommodation, restaurants and bars, with location-based results and integration with Facebook.
Mobile Marketing

Apple effect boost iPad chip maker Arm
The Apple effect shows no sign of wearing off - which is excellent news for component manufacturer Arm Holdings. The UK group was one of the top FTSE risers in early trading this morning - and it didn't even have to utter a word to achieve the bounce. Instead, all the talking was done last night by executives in Cupertino, California, where Apple smashed Wall Street expectations with a set of stellar earnings, which have now boosted the shares in the London-listed company which makes the mobile chips in the iPad.
The Guardian

LG Optimus 3D II pictures and specs leaked
Images and specifications for the LG Optimus 3D II (aka CX2) have apparently been leaked, revealing an updated processor, new screen and a slimmer chassis than its predecessor. According to Pocketnow, the LG Optimus 3D II will run on Texas Instruments 1.2GHz dual-core processor and feature a brand-new display, upgraded from the original phone's 4.3in WVGA screen.
Hexus

Twitter, Facebook and MySpace team tells Google "Don’t Be Evil"
Engineers at Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have joined the protests against Google’s search integration of Google+ results, crafting a browser add-on called "Don’t Be Evil" that adds a far broader range of social into search. The tool, distributed at a site called Focus on the User, argues that rather than just pull Google+ profiles and topics into the search engine, Google would better serve actual users by integrating far more social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr and more. Rather than see exactly what Google wants you to see through its forced Google+ promotion, you can be shown what the company’s pure algorithm believes is relevant.
Slash Gear

Chinese mobile users may have sent 10 billion messages on New Year's Eve
Chinese mobile phone users may have sent more than 10 billion greeting messages on Sunday, making China Mobile, the country's largest mobile operator, the most profitable company on Lunar New Year's Eve. Kuang Jie, senior partner of ProKing Management Consulting, made the estimate based on the number of text messages sent by phone users during the same periods of the past two years. Subscribers of China Mobile's Beijing branch sent 680 million greeting messages on the Lunar New Year's Eve of 2010, while subscribers of the carrier's Shanghai branch sent more than 900 million messages on the Lunar New Year's Eve of 2011, Kuang said.
People's Daily

HTC Velocity 4G gets lift off, more 4G devices on the way
Telstra and HTC have jointly unveiled Australia's first 4G smartphone, while the telco has promised that a handful of 4G-capable smartphones and tablets will be released in the country by mid-2012. At a media launch in Sydney last night Telstra and HTC jointly released the Velocity 4G, Australia's first 4G capable smartphone. The device officially goes on sale today and promises mobile data speeds of up to five times faster than Telstra's current Next G network.
PC Advisor

Rome metro to have mobile coverage by end of 2012
Rome's metro network will be equipped with 2G and 3G mobile coverage by the end of 2012, according to wireless coverage company CommScope. CommScope said it has been chosen by Italian operators Telecom Italia, Vodafone, WIND and H3G to provide and install a multi-operator, multi-band cellular solution throughout the Rome Metro that will extend coverage to passengers and staff throughout the system’s stations and passenger trains. The project will enable 2G and 3G voice and data services for customers of Telecom Italia, Vodafone, WIND and H3G utilizing the GSM900, GSM1800 and UMTS frequencies utilized by the operators.
Mobile Europe

BRIC operators lay foundation for booming telco pay-TV
The long awaited explosion in telco TV looks like it is finally taking place with data from TeleGeography showing 94 million global pay-TV subscribers by the end of Q3 2011. This would represent a 12 per cent share of the global pay-TV market but at the growth rate revealed by the analyst,this figure will have already passed 100 million by the end of the 2011 calendar year. At the vanguard of the rapidly growing market are operators from BRIC countries, mainly China and Brazil where in the case of the latter, and to a lesser extent pay-TV operations in Colombia and several other Latin American countries, America Movil boasts ten million pay-TV subscribers. Snapping at its heels are China Telecom and Rostelecom, both of whom focus solely on their home markets, and France Telecom-Orange which has pay-TV operations in Poland, Spain and Slovakia in addition to being one of the leaders in its domestic market, traditionally Western Europe’s telco TV power house.
Rapid TV News

Ofcom to borrow spectrum from MoD for London Olympics
UK regulator Ofcom has outlined plans to temporarily use spectrum from the public sector to cope with increased demand for airwaves during the London 2012 Olympics. The authority said that it will borrow spectrum on a short-term basis from the Ministry of Defence and other public sector bodies, make unused frequencies available, such as the spectrum that will shortly be auctioned by Ofcom, but is currently not being used, and will use spectrum made available by the country’s digital television switchover, as well as spectrum that is available without the need for a licence.
Telecoms.com

US telecos battle for wireless customers
Record iPhone sales expected to eat into Verizon's profit margins. With AT&T Inc. walking away from its $39 billion bid for Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, the telecommunications industry is focused on gaining wireless subscribers by offering faster and more-reliable network connections. AT&T, which halted the merger after meeting resistance from both the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission, had said T-Mobile would bolster its network and ease capacity constraints.
Total Telecom

Telefonica buys cloud expertise
Telefonica is continuing to splash the cash to expand its capabilities, boosting its cloud computing capabilities with an investment in start up cloud specialist Joyent. The Spanish incumbent’s venture capital arm handled the investment, which the operator claims will boost its new Digital division’s cloud ambitions by allowing it to leverage Joyent’s expertise to enhance cloud services for small and medium enterprises, and small and home office customers. Joyent has built up its knowledge launching and operating cloud services for 12,000 US businesses.
Telecoms Europe

Youtube is generating four billion views a day
Video sharing website Youtube has boasted of some impressive numbers this week, a massive four billion views a day. The number of videos uploaded has also been creeping up, or rather leaping up, in the last few years. In 2007, it said, it was operating at around six hours per minute, 24 hours by 2010, and 60 hours in 2012. This is a very big increase in uploads. "In other words, you're uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second. Tick, tock, tick, tock - that's 4 hours right there!" said Youtube in a blog post.
The Inquirer

US warns of mobile radio band bottleneck
Head of delegation says nations need to investigate every spectrum band possible. The U.S. seeks to avoid bottlenecks in crowded global mobile radio spectrums, the head of a U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference said here Monday. "We believe that to avoid the crowded mobile radio spectrum crunch we need to look at every band possible," Decker Anstrom told a press briefing on the opening day of the WRC.
Total Telecom

RIM's co-CEOs quit in top exec shake-up
A Research in Motion management shake-up has swapped out its co-CEOs for a new top exec following a challenging period for the gadget maker. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, RIM's co-chief executives, have stepped aside after 20 years at the troubled biz, and the company on Monday named Thorsten Heins as president and CEO.
The Register

Mobile Ranks High in Top 10 Business Opportunities List
Mobile apps and smartphone repairs have been named as two of the top 10 business opportunities for entrepreneurs in 2012, according to a new report from Startups.co.uk, the online resource for entrepreneurs. The report, entitled What Business to Start in 2012, pinpoints the 10 specific business openings which offer the greatest potential for the year ahead.
Mobile Marketing

Apple goes after Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Apple has issued its first legal challenge to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone as its patent infringement war against Android rumbles on in 2012. Cupertino lawyers have filed suit in a German court claiming that the Android 4.0 device is guilty of copying the iOS slide to unlock functionality patented by Apple.
TechRadar

Breakthrough for streaming, claims KPMG
Consumers are increasingly willing to pay for online streaming services, according to KPMG’s latest Media & Entertainment Barometer. The survey says that 64 per cent of respondents would be willing to pay for films online, an increase of four percentage points on March 2011. BBC iPlayer currently has the highest level of awareness with nine in ten people having heard of the online streaming service, followed by ITV Player and Lovefilm.
Broadband TV News

Firms face tougher data-protection rules in Europe
Companies will be required to disclose security breaches within 24 hours of their occurrence under European Union proposals being made this week to strengthen data-protection rules. New rules are needed to protect consumers and reduce bureaucracy, EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said in a speech at a conference on Sunday in Munich.
ZDNet

Google Updates Algorithm to Punish Websites with Excessive, Top of Page Ads
Google has decided to take punitive actions against those websites that flood the top of their web pages with ads due to which the visitors have to scroll down to finally view the relevant contents on the page. According to Google, this type of layouts annoys the users and thus the web search company will be penalizing those websites through search results. The company disclosed this on their company blog.
IT Pro Portal

Card.io makes Mobile Payments SDK for developers and iOS, Android app available
Card.io recently announced its new mobile payments app for the iOS and Android platforms along with a Mobile Payments SDK for third-party developers. The company aims to make payments through mobile phones an easier and smoother process, which will eliminate the burden of carrying any extra hardware.
MobileTor

Microsoft's Windows Phone predicted to overtake iOS by 2015
New figures released by research and analysis firm IHS, have predicted that Windows Phone will account for 16.7 percent of smartphones shipped globally by 2015 by market share. This ranks the operating system above Apple's iOS, at 16.8 percent by a slight margin, but a margin none the less, and Android in the runaway lead at 58.1 percent. In the second quarter of 2011 Nokia fell into the third place in the market, behind Samsung and Apple. With the boost from its match with Microsoft and the upcoming release of the 4G LTE Lumia 900, this could be the moment for Nokia to once again become a force to be reckoned with.
Recombu

Virgin in London trial of 4G technology
Virgin Media has tested out next-generation mobile services based on its superfast fibre network that could drive the company to bid for spectrum in the forthcoming auction of 4G frequencies scheduled to take place later this year. Virgin is considering the launch of a nationwide wireless network using small transmitters similar to WiFi linked to its fibre network that can broadcast superfast mobile services. This technology will allow high-speed mobile data that is about six times faster than 3G to meet demand for services such as video and gaming on mobile phones.
Financial Times

Make your smartphone weatherproof
Your average smartphone is a clever little gadget (hence the name). They've become our music players, our cameras, our organisers. They even make phone calls! It doesn't matter which brand you go for, they all make our lives more fun, faster and generally just a bit easier to manage. But they all have one common enemy – the elements. You can clad your prize possession in a chunky rubber case to keep the worst of it at bay, but it does tend to alter the aesthetics a little bit, doesn’t it? But now, courtesy of  www.liquipel.com you can get your phone waterproofed and nobody will notice the difference.
Pocket-Lint

Google Maps gets UK train travel info
Google and the ticketing site thetrainline.com have signed a deal to provide UK public transport information on Google Maps. The companies said on Thursday that the service would include timetable information for more than 2,500 rail stations and 170,000 possible journeys. The site already provides details for 8,000 bus stops and over 250 tube stations in the Greater London area. As part of the deal, travellers will also be able to click through to the thetrainline.com to search for and book tickets. "Google Maps seeks to provide a wide range of relevant local information, and public transport station and schedule information is definitely a part of that," Google's UK geospatial technologist, Ed Parsons, said in a statement. Christopher Rodrigues, the chairman of the UK tourist authority VisitBritain, said the enhanced Google Maps service would be useful during the Olympics.
ZD Net

Windows Phone OS to overtake iOS by 2015
Led by the recent introduction of Nokia as a handset provider the Windows Phone mobile operating system is to surpass the smartphone market share of Apple's iOS devices by 2015, new reports have suggested. Despite strong iPhone 4S sales seeing the iOS share of the smartphone sector rise dramatically during the final quarter of 2011, new hardware partners and broader customer awareness are expected to give Microsoft's mobile operating system an edge in the coming years. The new figures, compiled by analytical firm IHS have suggested that in just three years "Windows Phone will account for 16.7 percent of the smartphones shipped, up from less than 2 percent in 2011."
T3

Microsoft's Windows division suffers 6 percent drop in revenues
Microsoft has suffered a 6 percent decline in revenues at its Windows division, as competition from smartphones and tablet computers combined with the impact of floods at components factories in Thailand dented worldwide sales of personal computers. Windows revenues fell to $4.7bn (£3bn) in the three months ending 31 December, down from $5bn during the same period in 2010. With Microsoft's last major software release, Windows 7, now two years old and its successor Windows 8 not expected until later this year, momentum has slowed at the company's flagship division, pushing profits at the unit down 11 percent to $2.8bn. Microsoft's overall revenues for the quarter were $20.89 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago, just missing forecasts of $20.93 billion. Profits were 78 cents a share, ahead of the 76 cents forecast.
The Guardian

China: A rival to iPad that toes the party line
China's Communist Party members can now carry a tablet PC to verify identification cards, read the blogs of cadres, and manage state-owned firms without fretting that using a bourgeois iPad will ruin their street cred. Enter RedPad No 1, an Android-based tablet computer filled with software applications that serve a party official's every need. Pre-installed apps that cater to bureaucrats and managers of state-owned companies include one that allows users to check the validity of a journalist's accreditation as well as read state-run newspapers and microblogs. Delivered in a decadent leather case for 9,999 yuan (£1,000), it is twice the price of Apple's most expensive iPad 2. The eye-popping price has China's microblogs alight with chatter over just why this device is so expensive and who is footing the bill.
The Independent

UN sets stage for blazing fast new mobile devices
A United Nations telecom meeting has approved the next generation of mobile technology, which experts say will make devices 500 times faster than 3G smartphones and eliminate the wait time between the tap of a finger and the appearance of a Web page. The technology will be used immediately for planning changes to equipment but it could take two years to show up on consumers smartphone, tablets and other devices because of the time it takes to get to production, International Telecommunication Union spokesman Sanjay Acharya said Thursday. The differences between present technology and the new standards for IMT-Advanced are like comparing dial-up Internet to fiber-optic cables, say officials at the U.N. agency responsible for information and communication technology.
ABC News

LG adds Lovefilm to Smart TV platform
As video streaming giant Lovefilm and US interloper Netflix continue to battle it out in an effort to infiltrate the UK's homes and wallets, the announcements are coming thick and fast: Lovefilm being the latest with a deal to bring its streaming technology to LG's Smart TV series. Designed to work in partnership with Lovefilm's recently-launched Instant service - a streaming-only version of its traditional discs-by-post film rental offering, available at the introductory price of £4.99 a month as the company works to fend off attacks from Netflix's similar £5.99 a month streaming deal - the deal marks the first time LG Smart TV users have been offered a film and TV subscription service through their sets.
Expert Reviews

Siri makes its way into our homes
After the sassy digital assistant from Apple's latest iPhone was introduced to the market, analysts and industry observers, and let's face it all of us, predicted that Siri's capabilities will soon be extended to more and more devices. The convenience of having voice technology integrated in all sort of devices capable of responding to our voice commands has captured our imagination. Apparently, the time to have Siri controlling the gadgets around us is even nearer than we expected. A demo video uploaded on YouTube by Carnes Audio Visual, custom home automation installer, reveals how Siri can control appliances in their smart home. We see, for example, how one lucky user can dim down the light by 50 percent, set up the thermostat to 70 degrees and  turn on the home theater system, all with voice command.
ItProPortal

World's biggest NES controller and other giant tech in video
The world's largest video controller has been unveiled at London's Liverpool Street Station. The controller is an exact replica of an old NES joypad, scaled up 30 times in each dimension. Hit play on our video to see the massive pad in gigantic action. The working humungopad, which is 4m long and weighs 120kg, was created by British engineering student Ben Allen and collaborators from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. It takes two people to play with and has to be transported in a lorry. "The idea basically came from a brainstorm," said Allen.  "We were sitting around between lectures having a chat and a coffee, someone came up with the NES idea and we ran with it. "From the conception to the completion of the controller took about six months, and after spending a lot of time planning, the actual build took about four weeks. There were lots of late nights, and lots of not sleeping. In fact, I even fell asleep under the controller for about half an hour one night."
CNet

Apple, Microsoft patent lawyers spend Fridays in Mannheim
If you were searching for Apple Inc.’s European patent lawyers on a Friday, you would have better luck looking in the German city of Mannheim than on the golf course or in a pub. Judges in the southwest German city hold most patent hearings on the last day of the week and will issue rulings in smartphone disputes involving Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. over four of the next five Fridays starting today. The city, along with Dusseldorf and Munich, has become the center of European patent litigation as companies seek quick rulings from German judges that influence courts throughout the continent. “If you have a big multinational corporation setting up a patent litigation strategy for Europe, they will almost always sue in Germany,” said Rowan Freeland, a litigator at Simmons & Simmons LLP in London. “Maybe you add other countries as well, but if you have to choose, it’s almost certainly Germany.”
Bloomberg Business Week

Nokia to launch Windows Phone 7 handsets for China in first half of 2012
IDG News Service - Nokia plans to launch a Windows Phone 7 handset for the Chinese market in the first half of this year, positioning itself to be among the first companies to officially bring Microsoft's mobile OS to the country, a Nokia spokesman said Friday. But spokesman MC Cong declined to give details of the handset. Chinese handset maker ZTE also plans on launching a Windows Phone 7 handset for China, but not until the third quarter, company spokeswoman Chen Zhengying said Friday. Microsoft has yet to officially launch Windows Phone 7 in mainland China, but has said its mobile OS will finally arrive in China during the first half of the year. For Nokia, the launch of Windows Phone 7 handsets in China could help the company boost sales against Android devices and Apple's iPhone. Although Nokia still had the largest smartphone market share in China at 28 percent during last year's third quarter, that figure used to be at 70 percent in 2010, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Computer World

Facebook infections slow as Russian 'Koobface' gang is unmasked
A Russian gang behind "Koobface", the source of one of the most widespread computer malware, appears to have fled after security researchers, working with Facebook, released the names of five suspected ringleaders. Malware controlled by the gang has also stopped infecting machines after three years, during which it had affected around half a million users.
The Guardian

Virgin Media suffers blackout
Virgin has confirmed that last night a percentage of Virgin Media customers were on the receiving end of a technical fault which saw a huge blackout of the service from 5-8pm that evening. Coming just a few days after Virgin announced a huge upgrade that would see customers have their speeds doubled, the outage saw a nationwide crash with Virgin issuing a statement on Twitter to try and alleviate any concerns.
T3

Microsoft simplifies private cloud deployments
Microsoft has given companies in the Asia-Pacific region looking to or in the midst of deploying private cloud more food for thought with the unveiling of its System Center 2012 offering, as it looks to reduce the complexity of setting up such a system and managing apps across different operating environments, an executive pointed out. Antoine Aguado, senior director of private cloud and server at Microsoft Asia-Pacific, said that there is increasing complexity in the datacenter space as IT-as-a-service becomes more of a reality, which requires a more "app-centric" approach in management.
ZD Net

Sony Ericsson sees loss
Mobile handset maker Sony Ericsson reported a fourth-quarter net loss Thursday, reflecting intense competition, price erosion and restructuring charges. The quarterly report is most likely the last before electronics giant Sony Corp. takes full control of the company. In the three months ended Dec. 31, Sony Ericsson sales came in at €1.29 billion ($1.66 billion), down from €1.53 billion the same quarter last year. Intense competition, price erosion and restructuring charges contributed to a €207 million net loss in the quarter, from an €8 million profit last time.
Wall Street Journal

Amazon unveils new managed NoSQL database service
DynamoDB addresses the problem of scalability by automatically partitioning and re-partitioning data Amazon.com company Amazon Web Services has launched its DynamoDB, a fully managed NoSQL database service that provides fast and predictable performance with improved scalability. Amazon DynamoDB enables customers to relieve the administrative burdens of operating and scaling distributed databases and offers low, predictable latencies at any scale and customers experience single-digit millisecond latencies for database read and write operations.
CBR

Battery-fix update for Nokia Lumia 800 landing in two weeks
Nokia has confirmed that it will be releasing its second ‘battery-fix update’ for its Nokia Lumia 800 within the next two weeks. Microsoft’s new pal confirmed the news via its Twitter page, where it said: ‘The 2nd Lumia800 SW update is rolling out over the next 2 weeks.’ Since its release, the Nokia Lumia 800 – despite getting rave reviews across the board – has been affected by some rather serious battery-life issues, which has resulted in some users taking to Twitter to complain.
Know Your Mobile

Kodak files for bankruptcy protection
Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. The troubled firm had been expected for weeks to file for bankruptcy, and the Kodak board was unanimous about the decision. A $950 million bank loan will let Kodak keep operating through the Chapter 11 process, allowing it to continue providing products to customers, paying employees and honouring contracts with suppliers, it said.
PC Pro

Mac malware 'coming in fits and starts'
Security firm F-Secure has spotted 58 separate threats targeting OS X in the past nine months. F-Secure has published a report looking at Mac threats between April and December 2011 which showed June and October as being particularly busy months for Mac malware while only one threat was spotted in August. Of the 58 threats spotted in total, 15 were classified as 'backdoor' threats, seven were Trojans, 29 were Trojan downloaders and the other seven were classified simply as 'rogue'.
MacWorld

Facebook unveils 60 new Timeline apps
Facebook has made more than 60 new apps available for its Timeline feature that lets social networkers share content from third-party sites with their friends. TripAdvisor, Ticketmaster and Kobo are among the firms that have released the new apps for the social networking site. Facebook already offers the ability to share music and movies on the site thanks to apps from the likes of Spotify and Netflix, which were announced in September last year, along with the new time-line feature. However, these new apps expand the sharing function to a range of other content.
PC Advisor

Kesa hit by fall in French sales
In an interim management statement for the quarter to January 8 Kesa revealed that like-for-like sales fell by 1.3pc and gross profit margin was down 90 basis points. The company's flagship brand Darty saw like-for-like revenue drop 4.7pc, which the company saw as a strong performance amid a "weaker than expected" consumer market in France. Sales at Comet were down 14.5pc, while group web sales were up 18pc.
The Telegraph

You might have logged onto Wikipedia today and were greeted with an ominous black page asking you to imagine a world without free knowledge. No, this isn’t a new stunt by Jimmy Wales to get his hands on your hard earned dosh; this is the latest wave in internet activism.

Silicon Valley has been unusually collective in their opposition of a new piece of legislation in America that could, if you believe the hype ‘censor the Internet’. The Stop Online Piracy Act known as SOPA has honourable intentions, to stop piracy; or in closer terms, make it easier for US media companies to limit access to file-sharing sites such as the aptly titled Pirate Bay.

With the new legislation in place, uploading clips of, or that contain licensed movies and music to Facebook and YouTube could technically be termed a criminal act, potentially landing you with a five year jail term at the big house!

Wikipedia is leading the crusade to keep the internet censor-free, whilst recent Twitter arrival, Rupert Murdoch has been understandably vocal in his support of the two bills, tweeting; ‘Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying’.

What has been really surprising is how well the technology industry has managed to galvanise public and media support for their cause and are putting up a far tougher fight than anyone imagined. The battle is far from won, but the lines have been drawn in the sand.