Twitter redesigns its site, adding new ‘stories’ section
Twitter Inc. on Thursday announced a redesign of the micro-blogging service and new features to help widen its appeal. In the biggest announcement since Jack Dorsey, Twitter's creator, returned to the company as an executive in March, the company said that when people first sign up to use the service, Twitter will help them discover information that might interest them, based on their location and other signals.
Wall Street Journal

Cabinet extends G-Cloud deadline
The deadline for small IT suppliers to register for the Cabinet Office's G-Cloud framework has once again been extended. According to Computing.co.uk, the government office has added three weeks to the sign-up date because of unprecedented interest. Already more than 530 businesses have registered their intent to use the service. Suppliers now have until December 19th to register for the G-Cloud, which will provide them with a mechanism to award up to £60 million in government IT contracts.
BCS

Tap Zoo most lucrative app in 2011
Four freemium games made more money than Angry Birds on Apple's UK App Store in 2011, according to the company's annual Rewind charts. The chart shows Tap Zoo as the top grossing app for 2011, with Poker by Zynga second, Smurfs' Village fourth, Tap Pet Hotel fifth and Angry Birds sixth. The chart confirms that 2011 was a lucrative year for free-to-play games on the App Store, although there are some premium successes to report too.
The Guardian

Everything Everywhere announces £1.5bn network investment
UK communications firm Everything Everywhere, which owns and operates the British Orange and T-Mobile brands, has announced that it is to invest £1.5bn ($2.4bn) in a three-year network evolution programme. The project will accelerate the integration of the Orange and T-Mobile networks and ready them for LTE through the “implementation of 4G-ready technology following successful trials,” the firm said. The plan represents double digit growth in network investment from 2011 to 2012. T-Mobile’s 3G network has already been merged with that of UK competitor Three, as part of the two firms’ network management joint venture, MBNL.  Orange and T-Mobile have allowed each other’s users to roam across both 3G networks since October, with 2G roaming in place since 2010.
Telecoms.com

Google CEO explains why “Android is ahead of the iPhone”
Understandably inclined to take Android's side, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declared at the LeWeb conference in Paris "Android is ahead of the iPhone now". After making the remark, which raised a few eyebrows in the MacBook, iPad and iPhone wielding audience, Schmidt later explained the reasons that led him to this conclusion "unit volume, Ice Cream Sandwich, the price is lower, there are more vendors." It is true that Android is an open platform, meant to attract app developers, however many (or even most) are still focused on working for iOS. Eric Schmidt believes that in the end though, high volume of Android shipments will convince programmers to consider Android a top priority
IT Pro Portal

Samsung gets Australia win, Apple appeal rejected
Samsung Electronics Co. has emerged triumphant from months of frustrating legal wrangling in Australia, with the country's highest court on Friday lifting a ban on the sale of its tablet computers in time for a few weeks of crucial pre-Christmas sales. Apple Inc. in April launched legal action against Samsung in the U.S. claiming its tablets and smartphones "slavishly" copied its iPad and iPhone. The two companies have since sued and counter-sued each other in a large number of countries including Germany, Japan, Italy, France and Australia. An Apple spokeswoman in Australia didn't comment specifically on Friday's decision, only repeating Apple's previous claim that Samsung's "blatant copying is wrong"
Total Telecoms

Panasonic back in the smartphone market
Panasonic plans to launch a smartphone in Europe in March and this will be the first step of a global rollout looking at 15 million unit sales worldwide in the year to March 2016, nine million of them overseas. This is fairly ambitious given that Panasonic walked away from the international mobile phone market five years ago after getting a kicking. Panasonic's mobile phone sales reached their peak in 2003 at 8.9 million units. It is worthwhile pointing out that when Panasonic walked away from the smartphone market it was before the Apple invasion when its main rival was clunky Symbian offerings from Nokia.
Tech Eye

Council of Europe issue free speech alert over cyber attacks and political pressure
The Council of Europe has issued an alert to European countries about the risk to free speech by cyber attacks and political pressure on internet platforms, internet service providers (ISPs), independent media, whistleblowers, human rights defenders and political dissidents. The Council's Committee of Ministers issued a Declaration expressing concern over pressure being exerted on internet companies and ISPs to tighten controls on internet content, which supports a recent EU Court of Justice ruling that ISP filters are prohibited under European law. The Council is also worried about the impact of cyber attacks, particularly Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, on advocates of free speech, which it sees as a relatively new way that this right is being violated. The Declaration asserted the usefulness of social networks, blogs, and other online communities for their role as social watchdogs that have the power to cause positive real-life change. This is likely a reference to the recent uprisings in several countries against oppressive regimes, including Egypt and Libya.
The Inquirer

Advertisers increasingly include Store Locator and App links
Advertising campaigns featuring store locator functionality and links to app download pages are on the rise, according to research by Millennial Media. The October SMART (Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting) report, based on data taken directly from client's advertising campaigns, shows that campaigns that directed consumers to an app download page – rather than a website or landing page – increased 33 per cent month-over-month, making up 29 per cent of the total campaigns on Millenial's platform. Campaigns with a store locator function, meanwhile, grew 5 per cent month-over-month and made up 23 per cent of campaigns. This option was particularly popular with retail advertisers looking to drive foot traffic.
Mobile Marketing

Microsoft and HP sign four-year cloud cooperation pact
Microsoft and HP have signed a deal to offer joint cloud hardware and software configurations for sale over the next four years. Under the terms of the deal the slightly dynamic duo will offer three types of setup to resellers and direct sales: Private, hybrid and public. The first tranche of packages will go on sale in the US, UK, Australia and Canada by the end of the month, and globally shortly afterwards. The private cloud setup will see combinations of HP’s Enterprise Cloud Services to run Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, and Lync Server 2010 in a walled garden, while the hybrid package has HP reselling Office 365 from its data centers. HP will also support Office 365 of Microsoft’s public cloud systems.
The Register