Facebook bows to pressure to simplify privacy controls
Facebook, the world's most-popular social networking site, last night backed down and introduced simplified privacy controls after a storm of protest from users. Changes made to the site earlier this year led to allegations that the company was exploiting personal data for commercial gain and led to formal complaints from privacy groups.  Prominent technology bloggers publicly deleted their accounts, and the European Commission described the changes as "unacceptable".
The Independent
 
Concern over human cost overshadows iPad launch
The American electronics giant Apple was investigating damaging allegations last night that Chinese workers making its new iPad device were subjected to such "inhumane" treatment that some of them took their own lives by jumping off factory roofs. Documents seen by The Independent reveal there are widespread failures by Apple's suppliers to respect standards on labour rights and safety specified by the company, which had sales of £30bn last year.
The Independent
 
Computer games might reduce crime
The rise of the use of violent computer games during the recession might have led to a reduction in violent crime. Coppers in the US have been unable to work out why crime actually dropped when traditionally it rises during a period of economic trouble. Violent crimes fell 5.5 percent last year and property crimes declined 4.9 percent. One theory is that the US has locked up everyone who might have committed a crime and the other is that smart, data-driven police strategies have prevented anything from happening.
TechEye
 
Mobile VoIP Users to Exceed 100 Million by 2012
A new study from Juniper Research has found that Mobile VoIP services will develop significantly faster in developed markets due to the direct correlation between 3G roll outs and the take up of mobile VoIP. This is the case even though mVoIP traffic volumes may eventually be higher in developing markets due in part to the calling patterns of migrant workers, according to their report.
Cellular News
 
LinkedIn Lets Users Track Connections on Twitter
LinkedIn adds a feature to its Tweets application that lets users track their LinkedIn connections on both LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn began letting users tweet to Twitter from LinkedIn and vice versa in November 2009 through Tweets, which has been picked up by more than 1 million users. The new find/follow feature is represented by a new Tweets tab titled “Connections,” which Tweets users may click to see all of their LinkedIn connections who have added Twitter accounts to their LinkedIn profiles.
eWEEK Europe UK
 
Nokia faces struggle to claw back market share
Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit in London, Richard Windsor of Nomura Securities said that Nokia faces a period of difficulty caused in large part by the migration of developers from its Symbian platform to other devices and operating systems. "Nokia will hope that its Symbian^4 operating system, scheduled for a 2011 release, can help encourage developers back to its eco-system. However, looking at the reaction on Symbian^3 does not give much encouragement that this will be the case," he said.
V3
 
Sony develops flexible OLED screens
Sony is developing the latest flexible OLED screen tech, promising roll-out screens for mobiles and computers in the future. Sony announced this month that it has successfully developed a flexible full-colour OLED display which can be wrapped around a small 4mm-radius cylinder.
Tech Radar
 
BBC iPlayer 3: new features explained
The BBC showed of the latest iteration of its iPlayer service today, dubbed iPlayer 3, promising better streaming capabilities, social integration and a general simplification of the service. At the launch event, with TechRadar in attendance, the BBC's Anthony Rose called the iPlayer "more of an application than a website" and explained the many new features that make the iPlayer a more personalised service.
Tech Radar

Orange mobile chief reveals income from Care service
Orange is making €200 million revenue annually from the three million customers it has signed up to its Orange Care service, Olaf Swantee, Senior VP, France Telecom said. The service provides a combined "lifecycle" customer care service across user support issues, contacts and data transfer and back up, as well as insurance. Swantee said that the success of the Care approach shows that operators can turn what has previously been a cost base, customer care, into a revenue centre.
Mobile Europe

Latin fire driving regional MVNO market
According to figures released by Informa Telecoms & Media this week, MVNO subscriptions in Latin America will grow at a CAGR of 28 per cent to 6.6 million by 2013. This is largely due to the fact that mobile growth is slowing in Latin America, with mobile penetration rates already above 100 per cent in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela, and at close to 90 per cent in Brazil. So forward looking operators now see MVNOs as a good opportunity to grow subscriptions and revenues in new market segments.
Telecoms

3 pushing tablets to UK users
The UK’s mobile underdog and most disruptive wireless player, 3, has unveiled its own tariffs for the Apple iPad, which lands in the UK on Friday, and they’re pretty competitive. On a one month rolling contract, 3 is pitching 1GB of data for £7.50 per month and 10GB of data for £15.00 per month. This comes in as the cheapest monthly deal for 1GB and the best value for 10GB.
Telecoms