Facebook float could value company at $100bn
Facebook, the world's largest social network, is preparing for a public stock offering next spring which could raise up to $10bn, according to sources. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday night that the company is hoping that the IPO, which has been long rumored, would value the company at around $100bn.Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman, had discussed a public float with Silicon Valley bankers, but founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had not decided on any terms and his plans could change, the Journal said.
The Guardian

Iphone 4s sales help apple overtake android
Apple has seen its share of the smartphone market surpass that of Google's Android OS for the first time in a number of months following staggering sales figures recorded by the Apple iPhone 4S.The new UK figures, compiled by research firm Kantar World panel ComTech, show that Apple's latest pocket blower accounted for a whopping 42.8 per cent of all mobile phone sales throughout October increasing the Cupertino based company's already hefty share of the smartphone sector.
T3

Urinal based games console granted patent
Boredom during a bathroom visit could soon be a thing of the past following the development of a urinal-based games console which allows men to aim, shoot and fire at targets with their stream. British company Captive Media has been granted the patent rights for the technology, which allows screens to be fitted to the walls of public urinals and flips into gaming mode when approached by a visitor. The device sits above the normal ceramic urinal bowl and plays a mixture of adverts and videogames for personal entertainment.
The Guardian

Leading telecoms operators succeed in outperforming economy 2011
The 40 leading telecoms operating groups out-performed the global economy by 5.0 pp ( percentage points), according to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media. Based on data taken from the recently published World Telecoms Financial Benchmarks (WTFB) service, the largest operators, as measured by consolidated total revenues, increased revenues for the second quarter of 2011 by 6.8% year-on-year to reach US$237.6 billion.
cbmagazine

Avaya and Westcon stage IP Office R8 workshop
Avaya has used Maidenhead campus as a venue to educate resellers about the latest IP Office release. Approximately 80 resellers converged on the event (November 24th) which was also hosted by distributor Westcon to witness first hand the improved UC functionalities, simplified installation and management and lower customer TCO. The Westcon IP Office team gave an insight into current market trends and opportunities in the SME market as well as a solution update including live product demos and a Q&A surgery. Westcon also explained its support programme, called totalSupport, which offers IP Office partners a service wrap including dedicated SME account management, marketing support, IP Office pre-sales and free technical support.
Commsdealer.com

Silver Lake, Microsoft consortium to make offer for Yahoo stake
Silver Lake Partners and Microsoft Corp., leading a group of investors, are among several parties that intend to submit proposals for a minority stake in Yahoo Inc., the New York Times reported online Monday citing people briefed on the matter. TPG Capital is also expected to submit a plan, the people told the NYT. Both plans involve taking a stake of up to 20% in Yahoo, the report said.
Totaltele

Free Software activists to take on Google with new free search engine
Free software activists have released a peer-to-peer search engine to take on Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. The free, distributed search engine, YaCy, takes a new approach to search. Rather than using a central server, its search results come from a network of independent "peers," users who have downloaded the YaCy software. The aim is that no single entity gets to decide what gets listed, or in which order results appear.
Macworld

Spotify app launches on Virgin Media TiVo
Virgin Media has today started rolling out a Spotify application to its TiVo customers, marking the first time the music streaming service has been directly available on the TV in the UK. The dedicated Spotify TiVo app, part of a collaboration deal between the two firms, gives cable TV customers access to millions of songs directly through their Virgin Media TiVo set-top box. Any Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to listen to their favourite music advert-free through their TV or home cinema system using the TiVo box's in-built broadband modem. The app allows them to make playlists from the available songs and artists with the TiVo remote control.
Digital Spy

Android to launch new phone- Ice Cream Sandwich
No new version of the Android mobile operating system has been quite so eagerly awaited as v4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich as it’s more colorfully known. The reason is not hard to explain: Android has streaked ahead of iOS in the bums-on-seats stakes but there is still the feeling that the user interface lacks the polish and grace of Apple’s mobile platform. ICS is also charged with unifying Android’s look and feel across both phones and tablets and those devices likes the Samsung Galaxy Note that are a little bit of each. You could say that ICS is what v3.0 Honeycomb would have been had Google not rushed it out to try to compete with Apple’s iPad
reghardware

Sky launches Video on Demand service
Sky has launched a mobile movie service which means Sky Movies subscribers can watch blockbusters such as Megamind – one of its top films for the Christmas season – on their iPhone, iPad or laptop computer at no extra charge. It is the latest addition to the Sky Go service, which has already attracted two million users – many more than bosses expected. Until now sport channels have been the main draw for mobile device users, but Sky director Ian Lewis said the run-up to Christmas seemed the perfect time to launch movies.
Daily Mirror