Intel shows off MeeGo OS for tablets
Intel has posted a video showing the features of its Linux-based Meego OS for tablet computers on YouTube. The MeeGo OS is targeted at mobile and embedded devices and was first announced in February. MeeGo is a collaboration between Intel and Nokia and is managed by The Linux Foundation. The MeeGo version for netbooks was released last month.
Vopium gunning for Skype after £11m cash injection
Prominent Indian telecommunications investor provides backing to underdog Danish voiceover IP company. The underdog Danish voiceover IP (VoIP) company Vopium has received a large cash injection from a prominent Indian telecommunications investor and has declared it is gunning for Skype in a bid to compete with the frontrunning VoIP provider. Vopium, sometimes dubbed the 'other' VoIP company, today announced that Indian investor Raghuvinder Kataria, an early backer of Bharti Airtel – the third largest in-country mobile operator in the world – would invest $16.5m (£11m) in the Danish internet telecom, making him its largest shareholder.
iPhone 4 sales already surpassed 1.5 Million
Sales of Apple's iPhone 4 may have already surged past the 1.5 million mark if a report by investment banking firm, Piper Jaffray, is to be believed. Apple has already announced that 600,000 iPhone 4 were sold in the first 24 hours of sale, a number that could have been significantly higher had it not been for some serious capacity constraints. Indeed, the lead time for delivery of iPhone 4 ordered from Apple's website is now 21 days while those looking for the white iPhone 4, have yet to be given a definitive launch date.
Rumor: Google to launch Facebook-like competitor
Rumours that Google is set to launch a Facebook-style social network called "Google Me" have gained traction over the weekend. Digg's Kevin Rose fuelled the rumour pyre with a tweet that simply read: "Ok, umm, huge rumour: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon "Google Me", very credible source." SF Weekly suggests that "Google Me" is some kind of of upgrade to the already existent Google Profiles, noting that Rick Klau, the developer responsible for Google Buzz, was recently taken on to develop Google Profiles.
Nokia to drop Symbian for smartphones
Nokia will stop manufacturing smartphones using Symbian, the world’s most commonly used handset operating system, in favour of the Linux-based MeeGo, according to reports. The world’s largest handset manufacturer developed MeeGo with US hardware giant Intel and the pair unveiled the OS at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The move was seen as a reaction to the growing popularity of Google’s Android and criticism from mobile developers who claimed writing apps for Symbian had too many fragmentation problems.
Clamp down on Government websites to save millions
The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, has today pledged to scrap hundreds of unnecessary and expensive government websites and slash the cost of the remaining sites to save millions of pounds. In autumn 2006 the Government committed to dramatically culling the number of websites. In March 2010 there were still 794 websites; now, the Government has identified 820. As part of the Government’s efficiency drive, all of the existing 820 government funded websites will be subject to a review looking at cost, usage and whether they could share resources better. No new websites will be permitted except for those that pass through a stringent exceptions process for special cases, and are cleared by the Efficiency board which is co-chaired by Francis Maude and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander.
China’s army banned from blogging
In a directive which took effect last June 15, China has prohibited its 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army from blogging or creating websites on the internet, reports the BBC. China has been known to enforce strong censorship over the internet and blocks websites that is considered to be sensitive or “dangerous” by the government. This has earned the moniker of the “Great Firewall of China” by critics. Though the ban specifies blogging as a prohibited act for PLA members, it’s more likely that using other social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are also prohibited.
PayPal opens up to credit cards
Online commerce specialist PayPal has opened up support for credit card transactions. The company said that it would be allowing site administrators and merchants who use the PayPal service to accept transactions directly from customers without the need to create an account. PayPal developer network senior Naveed Anwar said that the system would be available through the company's Adaptive Payments API. "We're aware that no matter how innovative the ideas are, our developers look to us to provide the features to make it all possible," said Anwar. "We're thrilled to provide this new functionality to meet this need and look forward to seeing the ground-breaking apps our developer community will create with this."
Amazon slips video into Apple's e-books
Kindle books will now come with embedded video and audio content, but only for those who eschewed the Kindle hardware for Apple's iOS alternatives. Punters who bought Amazon's own e-book-reading hardware won't be able to enjoy the multimedia-enhanced editions - only those running the Kindle software on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch will be able to enjoy writing with the addition of moving pictures and sound.
Android 2.2 to get BBC iPlayer: In your face, iPhone 4
The BBC iPlayer is set to be available to all using Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) as it trickles out to Android users because of the Flash 10.1 compatibility it provides. There are a few provisos, a couple of quid pro quos. It’ll only work over Wi-Fi, so 3G is off the table. You’ll also need a handset with a powerful processor, so your average mid-range Android handset is not going to cut it.
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