The government shouldn't hang on Google's every word
A former No 10 insider told me on Thursday that David Cameron's offices are like a drop-in centre for passing technologists: Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, can barely avoid bumping into senior people from Facebook or Microsoft as the prime minister's people try to marry the "big society" with big technology. There's a problem with this, though, which is that the interests of governments and big companies aren't always – perhaps even often – aligned. Yes, it sounds great if Facebook tells you how it manages to corral the details of about 500 million people around the world without having to go through a vast tendering process every time it needs paperclips. And sometimes there's a temptation to think that because a big, successful company tells you something's wrong, that it really must be. So when Google tells him it doesn't like our laws on copying, he believes Google's right and the law is wrong.
Google doodle celebrates 115 years of X-rays
Google is celebrating the 115th anniversary of the X-ray with its latest doodle - and also nodding to its own past April Fools jokes, with the idea of "PigeonRank", where the ordering of pages would be determined by pigeon pecks. The X-ray is usually credited to Wilhelm Röntgen, who was the first to study its effects in 1895, though he wasn't the first to observe them: that occurred in 1875, when scientists investigating cathode rays - high-energy electron beams - noticed that unexposed photographic tubes put near the tubes in which the rays were generated became fogged.
BBC iPlayer goes Blackberrying
The BBC has launched an version of its popular iPlayer service for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry device. The app will allow UK users to watch any BBC TV programme or listen to any radio show available on the platform. Previously, BlackBerry users had to visit the iPlayer website to view or listen to BBC content. The iPlayer app is available as a free download for UK users from the BlackBerry App World store and is compatible with the Storm, Storm 2, Bold 9700 and Torch 9800 smartphones running on BlackBerry 5.0 OS or higher.
Google refuses Facebook over user data
Google has placed its user data off-limits to Facebook, in another sign of rising conflict between the search heavyweight and the social network. Until now, Facebook has used Google Gmail addresses to help users locate friends who are already Facebook users. However, Google said it would block Facebook from importing its users’ contacts because the social site did not reciprocate.
Sprint keeps Huawei, ZTE from 4G tender
Sprint Nextel has reportedly dropped Huawei and ZTE from its LTE tender – one of the world’s biggest telecom contracts this year – after fresh government objections on security grounds. The Chinese vendors have been excluded even though they submitted the lowest bids, and some of the highest competing offers overshot Sprint's maximum target by over $1.5 billion, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The decision came after commerce secretary Gary Locke became the latest in a line of US politicians to weigh in on the deal, personally calling Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse to discuss security concerns, the sources said.
Queen joins Facebook
Britain's reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is joining Facebook. Buck House will tomorrow launch a page entitled The British Monarchy, which will feature the 84-year-old royal wandering about in video footage, waving a gloved hand at her subjects and sundry foreigners. Facebookers hoping to chum up with royalty may be disappointed, however. You won't be able to "friend" up Liz, as, in keeping with the Royal Family's status as the PR arm of UK PLC, the account will be a corporate one. She'll also be unpokeable, as indeed a monarch should be. The Queen is reported to have approved the plan herself although she's got more sense than to have ever actually used the site herself.
40 Per Cent of Western Europeans Sophisticated Mobile Users
Almost 40 per cent of Western Europeans show sophisticated use of their mobile phones, representing a whopping 131m customers for firms to engage with. The figures are based on a new Forrester survey of more than 25,000 Europeans adults. The Forrester Mobile Technographics study identifies six groups of mobile users in Europe. The groups are defined by the extent to which the mobile phone user has adopted mobile data services, the frequency of use of these services, and the level of sophistication of the mobile applications used.
Clearwire pulls back on retail strategy as losses mount
Clearwire continues to see its subscriber base mount up, but its aggressive build-out plans, and the uncertainty over how these will be funded in future, have led to a disappointing third quarter and swingeing cost cutting program. The WiMAX operators has been investing heavily in its network as it seeks to pre-empt Verizon's LTE services in the 4G race. But it does not have its rival's deep pockets and established revenue streams, so it is incurring deep losses. These were $139.4m in its third quarter, up from $82.4m for the year-ago period.
Qualcomm in 10 tablet designs, ARM bullish too
Tablets are about to hit the market in force and every player is trying to forecast how big this segment could get. Processor vendors are particularly eager to see their smartphone base expand to new formats, but amid all the differing estimates, that of Qualcomm's president Steven Mollenkopf was perhaps the most realistic. "The tablet space, at this point, it's difficult to say how big that space is going to be. I've seen a lot of different estimates on that, and it will be interesting to see what happens," he commented at the firm's recent results call. However he said the firm was engaged in at least 10 slate projects.
Businesses may soon be able to claim Twitter Places
Twitter is testing a new feature that will allow businesses to claim their Twitter Place - the physical location of their company or venue. Twitter Places was launched in June as a way to make sense of geolocated tweets: rather than tagging them with co-ordinates, they could now be associated with named places. Each location has a page on Twitter's website, and it emerged this weekend that the one belonging to Twitter HQ in San Francisco has been 'claimed by Twitter' - tying the place to its official Twitter account.
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