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Nokia Head of Mobile resigns

Matt Thomas — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:05:23 +0000

For the second time this week, telecommunications giants Nokia have hit the news headlines following an announcement that another high-ranking executive has tendered their resignation. The news comes just days after chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo resigned from his position, which he has held since 2006, to be replaced by Stephen Elop from Microsoft.

The head of Nokia’s mobile division, Anssi Vanjjoki will be leaving his role just months after being appointed to it. Vanjoki issued a statement commenting: “I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am 100% committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day.”

The announcement follows a blog post with the executive wrote following his appointment in July, which stated his commitment to supporting Nokia to improve in the smartphone market: “It’s my aim to ensure Nokia stays as the market and intellectual leader in creating the digital world. I’m under no illusions; it’s no small task. I am committed, perhaps even obsessed, with getting Nokia back to being number one in high-end devices. Achieving this will require performance and efforts over and above the norm. This is a role I’ve personally been preparing for over the last 20 years.”

Vanjoki will serve a notice period of six months, meaning he will have been in the role for less than a year before leaving to a new position elsewhere.

The announcement follows the appointment of Mr. Elop, as the first non-Finn to take up an executive position within Nokia. The shake-up within the company is thought to follow difficulties that Nokia have been having in penetrating and succeeding within the smartphone market, with stiff competition from the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android operating system. Both of these firms are enjoying a gradual increase in market share as Nokia struggled to maintain their lead in the industry.

It is thought that the changes will lead to further management positions being vacated and replaced over the next few weeks, as the company seeks to find the best possible team to lead them in to a new era of development and improvement.

Industry experts suggest that technology is making humans stupid

James Oliver — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:45:13 +0000

According to new research by an expert in internet technology and software, we are at risk of dulling our intelligence through our extensive reliance upon technology. According to Nicholas Carr, author of ‘The Shadows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains’, use of gadgets such as satellite navigation are preventing us from utilising the full breadth of our thought power, dulling our senses and leading us to be dependent upon technology to achieve basic tasks.

Mr. Carr suggests that while people such as taxi drivers used to pass ‘The Knowledge’ to test their skills of locations and geography, the new reliance upon technology means that sitting this memory-based location test is now unnecessary. Skills such as memorizing places and routes is no longer required. Similarly, the use of search engines such as Google means that we are no longer required to retain information, as everything we need to know is accessible at the click of a mouse.

While many people believe that a reliance upon technology can only be positive, as it enables us to undertake tasks more easily, Mr. Carr disagrees. He comments: “The particular part of our brain that stores mental images of space is actually quite enlarged in London cab drivers. The longer you’ve been a cab driver the larger that part of your brain is. One study has revealed concerns over technology use for cabbies. Almost certainly we’ll see a diminishment, or even an eradication, of that special quality of their brains.”

“Technology, particularly the web, has been found to have lasting effects on our brains, altering our ability to carry out certain tasks. The simpler that sites like Google get, the less able we are to learn. The most interesting [study] had people who hadn’t had experience with the web begin to use Google, for just an hour a day, and begin searching and surfing. The results showed how even just a small amount of use triggered varying patterns of brain activity.”

“On the one hand, a lot of their decision-making parts of their brain were activated which means it can help keep a mind sharp, for instance, as we get older. But it also seemed to indicate the kind of patterns of activity that would make it hard for you to concentrate. If you’re always solving problems and making decisions you can’t have the calm mind you get when you read a book.”

Online game generates support for third world

Andy Russell — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 07:45:54 +0000

An internet site which is loosely based upon the ‘Call My Bluff’ game is undergoing a transformation in order to support the provision of food for people in third world countries. The site, which was launched three years ago, asks players to find the correct definition of words from a list of four possible options.

Freerice.com provides ten grains of rise to countries including Bangladesh and Uganda for each question which is answered correctly by participants. The site already gets over forty thousand visitors per day, and is now looking to link to social media sites Twitter and Facebook to increase its uptake online.

The creators of Freerice.com will be piloting integration with apps for iPad and iPhone customers, and is also looking to increase their number of available games to support challenges in art, mathematics, chemistry and geography. John Breen, who developed the site in order to support his sons in undertaking exams at college, donated the pages to the World Food Programme after realising the potential it had to support charities.

Within one month, the site had managed to produce enough rice to feed fifty thousand people for a day. Since being launched, it has generated enough rice to feed four million people for one day. Provided by the WFP, the rice is paid for by sponsorship from organisations. When someone gets a question correct, the advert at the bottom of the page changes, and the sponsors pay for ten grains of rice.

The director of communication for the WFP has commented that the site is invaluable when it comes to raising awareness of the plight of third world countries, making fundraising an engaging and unified experience: “Freerice is making internet history. It’s a stellar example of how a fun and simple idea can harness the internet’s potential to contribute to the world’s most pressing global issue – hunger.”

Adult service adverts banned from Craigslist

Jenny Sanderson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:00:01 +0000

Craigslist, the online advertising site, has reported to have dropped adult service advertisements from its permitted list of promotions this week. Originally developed in 1995, the online marketplace has been in the news recently following reports that it was permitting the promotion of adult services, which have been detrimental to women working in the adult services industry.

The US-based site has recently been heavily criticised for promoting prostitution online, as women who have been exploited spoke out about how the site made it simple for people to promote the abuse of vulnerable women. Criticism was led by a number of advocacy groups requesting that the services section was shut down.

The section which previously enabled the promotion of prostitution has been replaced now with a bar which simply reads ‘censored’. Despite the move within the US, other countries that use Craigslist are still able to post advertisements for the adult industry.

There has been no comment by Craigslist owners of employees, although that is expected to be released over the next few days. In the meantime, a number of industry experts have approved the move, following allegations that Craigslist was supporting child prostitution through its advertising strategy. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has commented: “We welcome any steps toward eliminating the adult services section and prostitution ads on Craigslist, as we have urged, and we are seeking to verify the site’s official policy going forward. If Craigslist is doing the right thing voluntarily in response to our coalition of attorneys general, it could set an example for others.”

A commentator from CNET stated: “It is surely, though, splendidly naive to think Craigslist would somehow be alone in providing a forum for prostitution ads. However, Craigslist is in the unfortunate position of being high-profile and successful and has become a very easy target in what is a far more complex and nuanced issue than the attorneys general are making out.”

Apple face iTunes competition by Sony

Jen — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:09:09 +0000

Apple’s hold on the music download market could be challenged in the near future, as Sony announce that they have developed a viable alternative to iTunes. The company launched the new video and music download software at a recent conference in for IFA technology in Berlin. The launch is thought to have been specifically timed to conflict with Apple’s US media event which took place on the same day.

The new service, which is a cloud-based application, will be made accessible for people who use the PlayStation 3 console, Blu-Ray players, Sony personal computers and Bravia televisions. The first phase of the launch ill focus solely upon the download of films, with music facilities being added to the device at some point later in the year.

The new download service, named ‘Qriocity’, has been available to people in the US for video-on-demand since April this year, but is now set to be rolled out across Europe. It is thought that the music facility will give users access to songs in the millions, providing unlimited access when it comes out this year.

The launch follows Sony’s previous attempt to penetrate the digital music market in 2004, through the ‘Connect’ service. Connect did not go down well with consumers, and was pulled from production and distribution towards the end of 2007. Sony have also been piloting a music download service called bandit.fm in Australia and New Zealand over the past few months. Bandit enables people to download an unlimited amount of music for a set cost.

A spokesperson for Sony Europe commented: “Via Qriocity, Sony will deliver a variety of digital entertainment content and services… including video, music, game applications and e-books over time.” Experts in the digital industry are welcoming the launch. A Forrester analyst has commented: “This was a necessary strategic move for Sony. It has done a wise thing launching a multi-media rather than just a music service. Apple has the glue of iTunes but Sony doesn’t have this and it has recognised the need to join the dots between all its disparate devices.”

Mobile giants announce the possibilities for HD phone calls

Jenny Sanderson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:12:23 +0000

Telecommunications specialists Orange have announced that they will now be providing HD telephone calls for their customers. The company are now offering an enhanced standard of calls nationally, following a trail to provide HD services for telecommunications customers. The service will be available to anyone in the UK who owns an HD mobile.

Orange trialed HD phone calls over the course of June, and perfected the service. The new technology doubles the range of frequency used to make calls, improving the quality, while making no impact on network services or performance. The technology utilises a speech encoder which was piloted by the Three network earlier this year. It is designed to minimise the impact of external sounds, isolating voice sound from peripheral background noise.

Customers wanting to benefit from the new technology must purchase a new handset which is enabled for it, although existing Orange customers will be getting the new service free. Sony and Nokia are already in the process of installing the software on their handsets, and people currently in possession of mobile styles including the Nokia 5230, Nokia X6, Nokia E5 and Samsung Omnia Pro already have access to the technology.

Although the new service promises to enhance the way calls are made, it will have no effect upon reception for mobiles. This means that there could be a delay before all customers within the UK benefit from the service. Future plans for Orange include the replacement of ISDN lines by audio interviews.

The chief executive behind Orange’s new service commented: “Although what we use our mobile handsets for has evolved significantly in the past few years, the way we make mobile calls hasn’t changed a great deal since the 1990s. We’re offering customers a revolutionary new calling experience.”

PayPal plans to operate without credit cards

Andre — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:30:51 +0000

Online payment giants PayPal have announced new plans to operate their services without the need for customer and client’s credit card details, in a bid to increase their reach and revenue. Their future goal is to become widely accepted as a primary payment facility, meaning that there will be no need for service users to deploy the use of cards to make payments, opting instead to simply reference their PayPal accounts when making purchases. The most likely way for this to take place will be by swiping a mobile phone across a reader.

PayPal hope in time to become more widely used than credit card organisations, giving them access to over two billion dollars which these firms generate every year through payments. They are confident that this can be achieved, following their success on transforming internet shopping since they were launched twelve years ago.

PayPal’s primary success in this time has been in partnering with eBay, which enabled service users to make payments securely without fear of fraud. PayPal streamlined the online payment process through encryption, to make the service as easy to use as possible for customers.

Scott Thompson, the president of PayPal, commented: “We started on eBay and ventured into off eBay businesses but it was all e-commerce and that was where our focus was. Now the focus is not just e-commerce, it is online transactions. What fits into that that wasn’t in there before is everything from payments to not for profits, charities and government agencies and even, in my case, my son’s school accepts PayPal. Those are just some useful cases for you as a consumer and it just keeps going and going.”

“These new point of sale devices are about being at the end of a network and you being able to connect and any payments occasions in there are best suited for us. Eventually we [PayPal] will be everywhere that is online. If you are a customer of ours you should be able to use us anywhere on the internet and around the world.”

“Where are we going next is anything that is mobile, anything that is digital and lots and lots of e-commerce online payments. This is going to be big, really big for us. I believe what is happening here is the subscription based economy where I want to pay for it when I use it. I want to pay for it when I consume it. And I only want to pay for what I use, not pay for 100 of something and use 10.”

”We are big today but I would tell you that we are more innovative today than in the last five years. It is through innovation we will be more disruptive moving forward. Where we are in the growth of this business is we are just getting started. This is year one again.”

iTunes hit by scam reviews

Jenny Sanderson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:26:02 +0000

Spam reviews have hit the news frequently over the last few months, as small businesses reveal the impact which a negative spam review can have upon their service reputation and customer retention. While a poor review can signal disaster for a business, positive reviews are on the increase for organisations looking to increase their online reputation through deceptive marketing strategies.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has this week made a ruling against a marketing firm that posted positive reviews of its customer’s applications on iTunes. The firm used the power of the web to generate positive comments relating to their client’s products.

According to the ruling, Reverb Communications encouraged its employees to post up bogus reviews on iTunes, posing as ordinary customers. They engaged in what the FTD terms ‘deceptive advertising’ to promote their products and generate further sales. They have now been ordered to remove any feedback which has been posted up through deceptive means.

This is the first time that the FTC have taken action under a new guidelines passed last year, which extends to both celebrity endorsements and online reviews. The move was the first time in over thirty years that the FTC had changed its policy. The new legislation marks the digital industry, as the posting of fake reviews did not have any form of policing associated with it until that point.

Reverb Communications employees posted up reviews which stated that their products were ‘amazing’, ‘the best’ or ‘just getting better’. A spokesperson from the FTC commented: “Companies, including public relations firms involved in online marketing need to abide by long-held principles of truth in advertising. Advertisers should not pass themselves off as ordinary consumers touting a product, and endorsers should make it clear when they have financial connections to sellers.”

BT advert banned for misleading consumers

James Oliver — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:10:59 +0000

The Advertising Standards Authority have forced BT to withdraw their latest advert, following complaints that it was misleading for customers. The advert has been proven to provide false information regarding the speed of broadband which BT can provide.

The advert claimed that BT was ‘rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give consistently faster broadband’. This has found to be untrue, following a series of complaints from both consumers and rival telecommunications firms in the UK.

BT has countered the decision with a statement suggesting that the advert was not meant to be misleading, and claiming that the advert never meant to show an actual comparison between their old service and the proposed new speeds. The claims about the broadband speed was followed up both in printed media and radio promotions.

The ASA commented: “Because we had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim that BT’s new broadband service was consistently faster than its existing 8Mb service even at peak times, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead. Viewers can expect the internet speed demonstrated by the advert to be available to them, but this is not the case. We noted BT’s new service was available to fewer than half of all households and the roll-out, increasing that figure to 75%, was anticipated to take around two years. We noted that a significant proportion of the population could not get the service at the time the ad appeared and therefore considered the ad should have made that clear. Because it did not, we concluded that it was likely to mislead.”

BT countered: “We are disappointed by the ASA’s adjudication. At the time the ads appeared, BT had just started rolling out a new up-to-20Mb broadband service across the country and we wanted to highlight the higher speeds available in newly enabled exchange areas offering customers consistently faster web browsing in comparison to BT’s up-to-8Mb service. There was certainly no intention to mislead.”

Amazon Kindle sales exceed all expectations

Andre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:56:03 +0000

The new e-Reader launched in the UK has already exceeded all expectations for sales, even before it is officially launched on the Amazon UK website. The e-Reader is reported to have sold out even though it has not yet shipped to public consumers, according to an announcement by Amazon.

The e-reader retails at £109, and is an enhanced version of the US e-reader of the same name which has proved to be popular in the United States. The new Kindle has the capacity to store up to 3,500 books, and is able to access the web through a revolutionary type of browser which enables people to download new purchases to the reader within seconds, without needing access to a modem or any form of internet access.

The new Kindle is not expected to be officially released until early next month, but pre-sales orders have caused it to sell out across the UK. A spokesperson from Amazon has revealed: “Due to strong customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Order now to reserve your place in the queue. Orders are prioritised on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders placed today are expected to dispatch on or before September 17.” The device is also sold out on the company’s US website.

The new Kindle is both smaller and less weighty than its predecessor, and can be purchased with either a Wi-Fi or wireless 3G capability. The original Kindle was launched in the US towards the end of 2007, and met with a good reception from consumers. Over the past couple of years since its launch the Kindle has become Amazon’s biggest-selling product.

Weighing in at just 247g, the new Kindle has an enhanced page-turning function, speed and contrast. It does not carry any ongoing fees for use, and it utilises a Vodaphone 3G network to enable consumers to remotely download books and documents to the gadget.

The new device weighs 247g and offers improved page turning speed and contrast compared to the previous Kindle versions that have been available outside the UK. There will be no monthly fees for owners of the 3G device, which will use Vodafone’s network to download books in approximately a minute. The Kindle service is also available through applications for the Apple iPad.

Medal of Honour causes gaming controversy

Jenny Sanderson — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:44:41 +0000

Following the intervention of the Defence Secretary in to a new video game, Liam Fox has been forced to defend his comments about the game. Medal of Honour is a new game which is due for release, and has caused an outcry because of the content.

The game enables people to adopt characters playing the Taliban in the Afghan war. Liam Fox issued a statement to say that he was disgusted by the concept. Published by Electronic Arts, the game is creating a huge outcry amongst British players and those opposed to its release. According to the publisher, however, the Defence Secretary has misunderstood the nature of the game, and is attacking its principles unfairly.

A spokesperson for the Defence Secretary commented: “The point remains that part of this game allows you to play the part of the Taliban attacking ISAF troops in the area of central Helmand where British troops are operating. It is shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers. At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.”

However, Electronic Arts have commented to state that the game does not enable players to ‘kill’ British soldiers and no British troops actually feature within the storyline or characters of the game.

The government have stepped back from the row, commenting: “Dr Fox was expressing a personal view and we understand why some people might find the subject matter of the game offensive. There is a ratings system in place which exists to categorise games appropriately. In this case, the game in question is rated 18 so should only be sold to, and played by, adults. There is a clear choice for consumers which they can exercise when making decisions about purchasing video games.”

Online sales booming following poor summer weather

Matt Thomas — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:00:50 +0000

Research in to home shopping trends has revealed that online retail has enjoyed a surprising boost over the past month. According to the survey, sales over the World Wide Web increased more than ever before, in a trend thought to have been induced by the poor UK weather experienced throughout July.

The research showed that there was a growth in internet purchases by almost twenty percent, compared with the statistics gathered for the same month in 2009. This constitutes the biggest increase in web retail seen since 2007. The research was conducted by IMRG, the membership community for the e-retail industry.

Survey results show that shoppers in the UK spent around five billion pounds in July, the highest of any month this year. The figures showed that retail sales were writing much quicker than anticipated, as sales volumes jumped up over one percent compared with the previous month. All sectors apart from food retail showed a strong upturn in profits. The average UK resident spent over eighty pounds online, taking advantage of special offers and discounts.

According to the research group, travel sales increased, offsetting a disappointing drop in alcohol-related purchases, perhaps due in part to England’s poor performance in the World Cup.

For the purposes of the research, IMRG tracked the profit margins and sales activities of over one hundred retailers in the UK to generate an overview of the performance of online sales.

Chris Webster, a spokesperson for IMRG commented: “Although online retail sales survived the recession more convincingly than High Street sales, the last two years or so have no doubt been shaky at times. It is really encouraging to see growth levels returning to those seen pre-2007 and before consumer confidence was knocked by the financial crisis and the recession.”

Digital media dominates Britons time

James Oliver — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:20:58 +0000

New research from Ofcom suggests that British people spend approximately fifty percent of their time employing the services of media and communications. New data compiled by the report revealed that residents of the UK undertake activities relating to media including watching television, using mobile phones and surfing the internet, for half of their waking lives.

In addition, the research revealed that people managed to obtain the equivalent of nine hours service per day from their digital devices, by resorting to multi-tasking to optimise the use of several gadgets simultaneously.

The survey questioned over one thousand adults in the UK, and was compiled with the assistance of industry sources. According to the results, traditional media such as television is still holding a strong position when compared with newer media sources such as the internet. Most people, according to the data, spend just under four hours per day watching television.

Peter Philips, a spokesperson from Ofcom remarked: “For the first time we have mapped the totality of communications use over one day.” According to those surveyed, adults aged between sixteen and twenty-four spend around seven hours watching television, listening to the radio, browsing online or communicating over mobiles. Young adults, apparently, are more likely to multitask by undertaking a number of social media activities concurrently.

Ofcom stated: “They are taking up more and more communications activities but fitting them into the same amount of time. It has untethered people from being in one particular place. TV still plays a central role in people’s lives. We are watching more than at any time in the last five years.”

Radio and television are still as important as they were, primarily because people are using these two devices in conjunction with browsing online and communicating over mobiles. Multi-tasking has ensured that the more traditional vehicles for entertainment are still enjoying popularity.

Realtime Worlds games company goes bust

Admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:00:57 +0000

Hundreds of jobs have been put at risk due to the recently announced bankruptcy of gaming firm Realtime Worlds. The company was first founded by the creator of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, and employs approximately two hundred and fifty people. It was once regarded as one of the largest players in the UK computer games market.

A few weeks ago, its most recent title (APB, an online role-playing game) was launched with little interest in the UK gaming market. The company’s administration has been announced following a decision by the UK government to cancel a tax break for the gaming industry.

Five years into development, APB is thought to have failed to draw in sufficient numbers of subscribers, and the game has suffered from mediocre reviews. Following the failed launch, sixty staff members have been made redundant from Realtime Worlds.

A spokesperson for administrators Begbies Traynor has commented: “We are currently involved in a consultative process with the 200 staff employed in Dundee. Our intention is to continue trading the company while we attempt to find a going concern buyer which will safeguard the future of the business. It is hoped that APB will be further developed in future by interested buyers.”

Realtime’s primary development centre is based in Dundee, while its parent companies and head office are located in Colorado in the US. 42 staff in the US will be employed by the administrators to assist in selling the business.

A spokesperson from Abertay University has commented on the recent events: “As the jewel in the crown of Dundee’s computer games development sector, Realtime Worlds epitomises the creativity and determination of the entire Scottish industry. It is unfortunate that market conditions have dictated this drastic step. We are ready to deploy all our resources, including the new games industry business support mechanism launched by the UK government last month, to support any new business structures which might appear during the administration process.”