Research commissioned by Motricity and run by Informa confirmed the growing inportance of data to the world's operators, but found that data services are changing. When asked which data services were most important to their revenues currently, carriers cited messaging (35 per cent), ahead of mobile internet (17 per cent) and music (14 per cent). But in two years the emphasis will change to mobile internet (29) and social networking (28) overtaking messaging (26) as the key driver for revenue growth. Unsurprisingly Motricity suggests that carriers are now interested in moving to a managed service model for data offerings to reduce costs and speed the adoption of new services. It said: "With the core competence of carriers not necessarily the development, delivery and management of services and applications, outsourcing such services can also give the operator more time to implement more directly customer-facing activities."

When you follow more than one or two TV shows, it's hard to keep track of what time each one airs and when new episodes are coming out. Episode Calendar lets you view your favorite shows in a simple calendar format. I have a DVR, but I'm pretty impatient when it comes to the TV shows that I love—if I'm around in the evening, I want to watch them while they're on. I can't keep track of which TV shows are on at what time, nor whether a new episode is going to be on this week or not—enter Episode Calendar. It's like a TV Guide, but you just plug in the shows you like and it'll show you, in calendar format, when new episodes air. It'll even send you email alerts if you want it to.

Lifehacker 

The House and Senate are both drafting “rogue sites” legislation that will likely support website blocking at the domain name level and will require online ad networks and credit card companies to stop working with sites on the blacklist. That idea is controversial enough when only the government has the power to pursue the censoring; it gets even more controversial if private companies get the right to bring a censorship action in court without waiting for government to act. Both houses of Congress are considering such a “private right of action” as they work to review and revise last year’s COICA web-censorship bill, but Google can’t say strongly enough what a bad idea this would be.

Wired 

Using techniques usually reserved for identifying epilepsy in patients, a team of scientists at Washington University were able to successfully have subjects move computer cursors using nothing but their thoughts.To make it work, the scientists first utilized a temporary surgical implant attached to regions of the brain that pertain to speech, then had the patients think about certain words as if they were saying them. The test results showed that even without prior training, patients were able to control the computer with a stunning 90% accuracy. Though other studies had demonstrated that patients were to interact with computers using other parts of the brain that inform muscle movements, this is the first time that "speech" -- or the thought of it -- was used successfully. While this won't have any profound implications for me and the unscrolling scrolly-ball of my Mighty Mouse, this is a wonderful discovery for patients who may have lost the ability to speak through accidents or trauma, as they may one day be able to form audible syntax -- using their minds -- through machines that simulate human speech.

 

Prompted by an article from Econsultancy (I’ll post the link at the end, as I want you all to keep reading!) and some recent conversations with colleagues, I felt compelled to jot down my own thoughts regarding the QR code ‘phenomenon’. Now, of course, I place the word ‘phenomenon’ in inverted commas, because the technology has been around for several years now.  However, what has changed is the fact that more and more consumers are equipped with powerful smartphones, which, coupled with QR codes, can place information and content directly into people’s hands. Like any new piece of digital technology cited as the ‘next big thing’, I believe that many businesses indulge in a ‘digital gold rush’, running frantically with metaphorical bucket and spade in hand to grab their piece of land.  But what a large percentage of early adopters don’t consider is that, like any aspect of digital technology’, that technology has to align with key marketing objectives.

The Wall 

Google Latitude, the search giant’s location-sharing mobile app, is launching checkin offers nationwide, giving users the ability to unlock discounts with a handful of launch partners. Much like Foursquare and Facebook, Latitude now reveals different offers if a user checks in to locations hosting a Latitude deal. However,Google adds a twist to the traditional checkin offer with its “status” system. Offers such as 20% off at American Eagle Outfitters can only be unlocked with statuses such as Regular, VIP or Guru, although these titles are customizable by Google’s partners. They are acquired by checking in to a specific place multiple times.

Mashable 

Frequently playing computer games appears to reduce a teenager's chances of going to university, while reading enhances the likelihood that they will go on to study for a degree, according to Oxford University research that tracked 17,000 people born in 1970. Reading was also linked to careers success, as the research finds 16-year-olds who read books at least once a month were significantly more likely to be in a professional or managerial job at 33 than those who didn't read books at all. For girls, there was a 39% probability that they would be in a professional or managerial position at 33 if they read at 16, compared to a 25% chance if they had not. Among boys, there was a 58% chance of being in a good job as an adult if they had read as a teenager, compared to a 48% chance if they had not. Playing computer games regularly and doing no other activities meant the chances of going to university fell from 24% to 19% for boys and from 20% to 14% for girls. Mark Taylor, of Nuffield College, Oxford, who carried out the research, said that results indicated there was "something special" about reading for pleasure.

The Guardian 

Last.fm is one of ourfavorite music recommendation and statistics engines, and if you've fallen in love with Amazon's new Cloud Player service, you're probably looking for a way to scrobble the songs you listen to. This script will do the trick. Last.fm is pretty powerful, but only really works well if you keep scrobbling what you listen to. The more you scrobble, the more accurate your recommendations will be. To make sure your Last.fm account keeps up with your cloud listening habits, just install this userscript into Chrome, Firefox with Greasemonkey, or your other favorite compatible browser. Then reload Cloud Player, and you'll notice a Last.fm option in the upper right hand corner. Click it, authenticate your Last.fm account, and let the jamming begin. From then on, Cloud Player will scrobble anything you listen to from that browser to Last.fm.

And by 2015, falling prices will push sales beyond a billion, it’s expected. Two thirds of smartphones sold in four years’ time will cost less than $300, analysts at Gartner said. Google’s Android operating system will benefit most from the boom, according to the forecasts. They predict that by the end of next year Android will account half of the worldwide market, having claimed the market leader postion from Symbian this year. Google will maintain this share until 2015, Gartner said. Roberta Cozza, principal analyst, said: “As vendors delivering Android-based devices continue to fight for market share, price will decrease to further benefit consumers” Gartner also expects Nokia’s recent decision to drop Symbian in favour of Microsoft’s smartphone operating system to be a success. This year Windows Phone 7 will account for only 6 per cent of sales, but by 2015 will have overtaken Apple’s iOS with nearly 20 per cent.

The Telegraph 

Facebook is about to add yet another new product to its revenue-generating machine, widely predicted to be unveiling a Groupon competitor at a press conference in California shortly. The new service is based around Facebook Deals , which it launched in the UK in January and the US last November. That service let users check in to venues using the Places location tool to take advantage of special offers, though there has been little buzz about the service since launch. The new service, as predicted by Bloomberg last month, is likely to launch in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Austin and Atlanta. Rather than based on check-ins, Deals will be more like a daily deals offer, and Bloomberg said Facebook planned to test the service during March. With reports of Facebook's advertising network estimated, by one account, to generate $4bn by the end of the year – and going someway to justify at least a fraction of that $50bn+ valuation – there's increased focus on revenues and tapping those 600 million (and more) users.