EA sues, claims Zynga copied "The Sims Social"
It hasn't been a good month for Zynga – let alone a good couple months.
First, underwhelming earnings tanked Zynga's stock to record lows last week – shaving nearly 40 percent off the share price as a result of the less-than-stellar news.
Zynga investors are also suing the company, claiming that a massive dump of stock by Zynga executives and investors (months before the company's share price took a nose dive) constitutes insider trading.
To add even more ingredients into Zynga's busy legal stew, Electronic Arts is now suing Zynga, alleging that the company's "The Ville" game infringes the copyrights of EA's Facebook game, "The Sims Social."
"As outlined in our complaint, when The Ville was introduced in June 2012, the infringement of The Sims Social was unmistakable to those of us at Maxis as well as to players and the industry at large," writes EA general manager Lucy Bradshaw. "The similarities go well beyond any superficial resemblance. Zynga's design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions have been directly lifted from The Sims Social."
Not the first complaint
Allegations of closer-than-friendly similarities between Zynga's games and other mobile chart-toppers are nothing new; NimbleBit game developer Ian Marsh took to Twitter this past January to publish an infographic highlighting the similarities between the company's Tiny Tower game and Zynga's Dream Heights.The Learning Company, as reported by Kotaku, sued Zynga in 2011 claiming that the "Oregon Trail" expansion for its Frontierville game was a, "deliberate theft of the goodwill associated with the iconic The Oregon Trail Mark."
And these claims don't go unnoticed by EA, as Bradshaw explains:
"Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product. But we are the studio that has the financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it," she writes. "Infringing a developer's copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don't have the resources to protect themselves."
Zynga fires back
According to Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis, Zynga plans to fight EA's claims – which the company not only disagrees with, but tosses right back against EA."It's unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles," said Davis in a statement. "It's also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga's CityVille game."
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Round Up: Day 3 of Apple vs. Samsung trial
Reprimands and revealing testimony were the order of the day Friday, the third day in the Apple vs. Samsung trial.
The morning started with presiding U.S. District judge Lucy Koh telling both legal teams that, from now on, all objections and reconsiderations must be made in person and would count against each side's 25 hours of trial time.
This was in response to an inordinate amount of filings, some she called "ridiculous."
Apple then asked Koh to keep Samsung from using what it called "confidential" and "competitively sensitive" Apple sales data as evidence in the examination of Phil Schiller, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing, arguing the information would aid Apple's competitors.
They lost their bid to keep the data, essentially a customer marketing survey, from entering the public record, though Koh did allocate time for Apple's lawyers to file an appeal.
Slaps on the wrist
Koh also rejected Apple's request to rule in their favor as punishment for a breach of court protocol by Samsung earlier in the week, when the company's legal team released excluded evidence in the form of a press release.Though Samsung got off the hook, Koh admonished lawyers for both sides, telling them she wouldn't tolerate theatrics or "any sideshow" to distract from doling out justice.
She didn't let Samsung's team go either without telling them she believed they intentionally disclosed the evidence in an effort to further propagate it and possibly influence the jury.
Koh then individually polled jurors to see if they had heard anything about the trial outside the courtroom. Most said they hadn't, though one admitted to seeing headlines referring to the case on their kitchen table.
Tit for tat testimony
A pair of Apple employees and a Samsung mobile exec also took the witness stand Friday.First up was Schiller, who started his testimony by revealing the manpower and investment his company had made to ensure the success of the first iPhone.
According to Schiller, industry insiders, the press and competitors believed the device would fail.
He divulged the company's strategy for marketing the iPhone and iPad, saying the company adopted a strategy of advertising the products as if they were the most important things the company makes, describing the strategy as "product as hero."
During his testimony, hard figures were presented as evidence showing just how much Apple spends on advertising for the iPhone and iPad, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2011, the company topped out at $307.7 million spent on iPad ads.
Schiller said he was shocked when Samsung's Galaxy S dropped, saying it clearly copied Apple's products and impacted his company's ability to market a distinct brand product.
After seeing Samsung's Galaxy Tab, the VP said he believed the company would rip off Apple's entire product line.
On cross-examination, Samsung attorney's repeatedly challenged Schiller on whether customers would really be confused in deciphering which phone is which. Schiller repeatedly asserted the two designs are confusingly close.
Scott Forstall, Apple's senior vice president of iOS took the stand Friday afternoon, delving into the development of the iPad in 2003 and the 2004 conversations that generated the iPhone.
Forstall said he asked the smartphone development team to come up with the double-tap feature introduced to iPhones in 2007.
When asked if the feature is difficult to implement, Forstall answered in the affirmative. He also said the feature is a standout iPhone element.
During Samsung's cross-examination, Forstall said he didn't remember seeing a Samsung phone with a click-wheel control - the SGH-E910 - during the iPhone's design process.
A Samsung attorney presented an email chain between Tony Fadell, who developed of the iPod, Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Jon Rubinstein and Forstall in which Fadwell describes his impression of the SGH-E910.
Jobs forwarded the messages on to Ive, writing "This may be our answer - we could put the number pad around our clickwheel."
Samsung's lawyer then produced a press release about a new Samsung phone forwarded from Fadell's team. The attorney would go on to show several more emails and a Apple breakdown of a Samsung smartphone, implicating the Apple team explored Samsung designs as it developed its products.
In response to the breakdown, Forstall admitted Apple has done "tear downs" of competitors phones, including the Samsung's and the Galaxy S.
Forstall ended his time on the stand by saying he never instructed anyone to copy Samsung's designs because the company wanted to create something that no one had ever built.
Finally, Justin Denison, a chief strategy officer for Samsung mobile, went under the lawyers' glare.
Denison said Samsung wanted to beat Apple by the end of 2011 though his company didn't copy their competitor to do so.
One last bite
One interesting revelation from today's testimony is that Jobs was apparently open to a 7-inch tablet, known by most as the fabled iPad Mini.Apple vice president Eddy Cue, as shown in evidence presented during Forstall's testimony, forwarded an article about Samsung's Galaxy Tab in 2011 with a note saying a market exists for a 7-inch tablet and Apple "should do one."
Jobs, Cue said, was receptive to the idea.
The trial resumes Monday.
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Sharp's future on shaky ground despite iPhone shipments
Despite announcing shipments of new iPhone screens, Sharp's overall financial outlook is suffering.
The Japanese manufacturer's quarterly report yesterday revealed losses of $1.76 billion (£1.13 billion) for the quarter, with a projected annual loss of $3.18 billion(£2.04 billion).
Those numbers didn't inspire confidence with investors, causing the firm's stock to sharply drop 28 percent to $2.45 (£1.56) per share, a 36-year low for the company.
Sharp reportedly still has $24.5 million (£16.3 million) in bonds maturing this month, with another $2.55 billion (£1.63 billion) in convertible bonds in September. The firm has also asked lenders for a back-up structure to help it secure long-term funds.
Foxconn worried for Sharp
Foxconn in particular is worried about Sharp's recent downturn.In March, Foxconn had agreed to invest $1.7 billion ($1.08 billion) in Sharp, but that plan is now being reconsidered.
"We plan to discuss the investment again, but for sure it won't be at the original 550 yen ($7)per-share," said Simon Hsing, a representative of Foxconn's Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. branch.
"Sharp has agreed to us taking at least the same size of stake, with the possibility of an even larger stake."
Luckily for Sharp in the meantime, the Foxconn deal should still go through even if in a new form. Without a significant outside investment the LCD maker could find itself in a very uncomfortable position.
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Free Syrian Army blames Assad regime for Reuters hack and fake interview
Reuters has confirmed that its blogging platform was hacked and a fabricated news story and interview were posted Friday morning.
The subject of the fake interview was Free Syrian Army head Riad al-Assad, who was reported to have said that his forces would be retreating from the northern province of Aleppo after repeated conflicts with the Syrian Army.
However, the story is apparently completely untrue and the Free Syrian Army and Reuters have each released statements.
So far no one has taken credit for the cyber attack.
Did they think no one would notice?
"Reuters.com was a target of a hack on Friday," says a statement released by the company."Our blogging platform was compromised and fabricated blog posts were falsely attributed to several Reuters journalists. Reuters did not carry out such an interview and the posting has been deleted."
"We are working to address the problem," Reuters later tweeted.
For their part, the Free Syrian Army released a statement blaming the Assad regime they're currently doing battle with.
"[It] was fabricated by the regime, as it seems the news agency was hacked," they said.
But the party behind the attacks has not yet stepped forward, and their motivations remain unclear - after all, it's not as if Reuters wasn't going to notice that controversial extra article on their blog.
Taking action
Reuters presumably continues to look into the cyber attack, though the company's blogs site is back online after being taken down this morning.The conflict in Syria began in early 2011, and protesters continue to call for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.
But it's not surprising that one side or the other (or even a third party) would try to skew public perception by creating falsified stories.
After all, war is really won in the hearts and minds of the people - and, apparently, in their blog posts.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 new specs leak, ready to ship?
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 breaks its silence with a double leak providing updated specs and potentially a release date soon.
The first leak comes from an alleged service manual for the tablet from an anonymous source published in SamMobile, and features some slight changes from what was previously announced.
The most notable upgrade comes from the 1.4GHz quad-core processor, which was originally announced as a dual-core processor at the same speed.
The camera also features an upgrade, now listed as a 5 mega pixel camera with auto focus and LED flash compared to the 3 mega pixel lens revealed in February.
However, the service manual leak is brought into question by the sparse information it provides. Specs that one would expect to find in a service manual, such as system RAM and processor model, are missing.
Pre-ordering now
The second leak is more promising, coming from Negri Electronics, which tweeted an image of an open Galaxy Note 10.1 box.The tweet accompanied a new pre-order listing with the retailer, advertising a steep $749.50 price (down from a crossed out $798.50 price) and an expected ship date of August 4.
The pre-order page also confirms the updated specs above, specifying that the processor will be the Exynos 4412, the same quad-core processor found in the Galaxy S3 smartphone.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 features Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich and a screen resolution of 1280x800 pixels. It also has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of system memory that is expandable through an SD card slot.
The rear 5-MP camera is capable of 720p video recording, and is paired with a front-facing 2-MP camera.
Of course, the tablet's biggest feature is the included S-Pen stylus, which is used to draw and write with the device and its pre-loaded Photoshop Touch app.
Official word coming soon
With Negri Electronics already taking online pre-orders, we should expect an official announcement from Samsung in the very near future.A Samsung representative confirmed the company will reveal a new Galaxy Note during a press conference scheduled for August 29.
The Samsung Mobile Unpack event in Berlin is expected to be the unveiling for the Galaxy Note 2, a 5.5-inch upgrade to the existing 5.3-inch Galaxy Note.
However, the timing may be right for a double announcement on August 29, with the Galaxy Note 10.1 making its official debut on the Berlin stage.
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AT&T shutting down entire 2G network
AT&T has officially carved its 2G network's expiration date into its tombstone.
According to the company's recent SEC filings, AT&T is planning to shut down the remaining Edge and GSM networks still in service by January 1, 2017.
Surprisingly, 12 percent of AT&T's subscribers, or 8.4 million people, still use the 2G network.
AT&T plans to work "proactively with [their] customers to manage the process" of getting those with soon-to-be outmoded service onto either the 3G or 4G network.
Looking to the future
It makes a great deal of sense for AT&T to, as it says in their filings, "redeploy spectrum currently used for basic 2G services" as the company grows its 4G network nationwide.With 88 percent of AT&T's customers already moved on to more current networks, the extra space afforded the carrier's airwaves by the removal of the 2G network can only help improve AT&T's service.
AT&T doesn't expect the move to affect the company's bottom line, though the carrier will be monitoring the transition of these 2G customers closely for further evaluation.
Across the board, AT&T stated the new subscriber market has decreased 6.7 percent since the same period last year, so it's more vital than ever AT&T to hang onto as many existing customers as possible.
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Samsung Galaxy S Lightray hits Metro PCS with 4G LTE, live TV
Samsung has added another device to the Galaxy line of Android smartphones, and it's a MetroPCS exclusive for now.
The Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G is being described as a mid-range smartphone with a unique combination of capabilities that could make it an attractive contender for techies and civilians alike.
For one thing, the phone's 4G LTE connectivity coupled with its Mobile Hotspot technology will make for easy tethering right out of the box.
And its much-touted Dyle mobile TV service makes it the first US smartphone with live, local television.
Live TV straight to the Galaxy S Lightray
Where available, Dyle TV service will be free to Galaxy S Lightray users with a MetroPCS 4G LTE plan.The service allows Samsung Galaxy S Lightray users to watch local and national programming, including sports, entertainment and news, live on their phones.
Dyle TV service is available in select cities across the US, including major tech hubs like New York, Kansas City and San Francisco.
Samsung Galaxy S Lightray specs
The Samsung Galaxy S Lightray runs Android 2.3: Gingerbread and sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 1.3-megapixel front camera.The Galaxy S Lightray's specs sheet also notes its 1GHz processor, though it fails to mention make, model or number of cores.
Similarly absent are details about the Lightray's battery, RAM and display resolution.
TechRadar has reached out to Samsung to confirm these details and will update when they're available.
In the meantime, it might be wise to hold off on rushing out to purchase the Galaxy S Lightray until its full specs are released.
For those who can't wait, it's available now from MetroPCS for $459 with no contract.
Plans start at $40 a month with unlimited text, talk and data, although only the first 250MB will arive at 4G LTE speeds.
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New HTC phone benchmarked, could be HTC One X+
A new, more powerful HTC phone is on the way if the latest benchmark listings from NenaMark2 are to be believed.
The HTC PM63100 appeared on NenaMark's listings earlier this week, and revealed HTC's newest handset will come with a 1.7GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.
Not only was the GPU of the mystery phone revealed, but we also learned the phone will arrive with Android 4.1.1: Jelly Bean as the OS.
HTC has already released the HTC One X, complete with a 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, but this latest listing points to the imminent arrival of a potential variant of the phone.
It is believed the PM63100 is the code name for a T-Mobile release of HTC's flagship phone, which is rumored to be the One X+.
Highest clocked Tegra 3 to date
The PM63100 easily earns the best score of all the other Tegra 3 devices benchmarked using NenaMark's test.Clocking in at a robust 58.5, the closest comparison comes from the Nexus 7 tablet, which averages a 57.52.
Though this score is based just on one test - versus more than 500 for the Nexus 7 - the handset sets an impressive mark right off the bat is undeniable.
With the release of T-Mobile's HTC One X+ speculated to be sometime in September, we likely won't have to wait long to find out just how this phone's power compares to other quad-core competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S3, or the Tegra 3-powered ZTE Era and LG Optimus 4X HD.
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4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet 2 gets Canadian price
TechRadar reported Thursday RIM's 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet 2 is coming out in Canada August 9, with a release date for the rest of the world expected soon, but what RIM reps didn't reveal was how much the device would cost.
Now we know - though in Canadian dollars.
The Tablet 2's Canadian carriers - Bell, TELUS and Rogers - released pricing data Friday.
A no-term contract with either Bell or TELUS will run $550 while Rogers has given out more nuanced price details.
With them, a no-term contract runs $550, a one-year $500, a two-year $450 and a three-year commitment $350.
Employees at these providers are reportedly under strict orders not to display or sell the device until the August 9 release date.
US and international price
RIM spokeswoman Ruth Casselman said the price for the tablet in U.S., European and other international markets will depend on the region and provider."Individual carrier/network operators will share this information when they're ready," she said. "We will let you know about the U.S. product timing as soon as this information is available in the coming months."
Just when those date - or dates - will be remains to be seen.
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Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee laughs-off American Olympic snub
Tim Berners-Lee has brushed-off unprepared American commentators telling their audience to 'Google him' during his role at the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
The British national treasure and inventor of the internet appeared briefly appeared during the Danny Boyle-directed London 2012 curtain-raiser, to usher in the 'digital age' portion of the programme.
He was shown sitting at a computer before sending the message "This is for everyone," which appeared on seats around the stadium and was meant to apply to both the Olympics and the his creation - the world wide web.
However, despite that quite notorious distinction, during his time on screen NBC commentator Meredith Viera said: "If you haven't heard of him, we haven't either," prompting widespread eye-rolling from some Brits.
Viera's broadcast colleague Matt Lauer ironically added, "Google him." Cue more eye-rolling.
However, TBL says he wasn't offended by the slight and told CNN: "I am terrible at remembering people and places myself, so I can't really blame anyone for that."
Source of pride
Elsewhere in the interview Berners-Lee, born and raised in London said his invention was a source of pride for the UK, free from government control.He said: "(The internet is) "one of the many things in the show that Britain can be proud of - and an essential thing of it was that it was an open thing, it wasn't something that could be controlled by any one government.
"I was honored to be asked but it was also amazing to be part of this huge piece of amateur drama with thousands of people on stage."
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Multi-user support coming to future versions of Android?
Google may be planning to introduce support for multiple user-accounts on future versions of its Android operating system, judging by code spotted within Jelly Bean.
Developers from the XDA community have discovered how to access and activate the incomplete functionality within the Android 4.1 software, which suggests the next version may boast support.
The introduction of multiple accounts would allow, for example, each member of the family to have password protected access to personal email, apps, music libraries and more, just like on a PC.
While this would likely work for both smarthphone and tablet Android devices, it'd be more useful on slates, which are more commonly shared with the household, rather then phones.
Not recommended
The detailed video below, from XDA member 'zanderman112' shows how the functionality can be switched on through the Android OS, which presents the opportunity for users to log-in as 'Primary' and 'Guest' users.However, it's not that much use at present and not recommended. The video is simply evidence that it exists, rather than advice on how to do it yourself.
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Survey: Most US smartphone users experiencing problems...loads of them
Smartphone users don't quite outnumber traditional cell phone owners yet, but judging from a new report, a cellular upgrade may just be a ticket to more problems.
A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project has turned up some disturbing trends for smartphone buyers, who may be less happy with their devices than those sticking with traditional cell phones.
With mobile data usage increasing every year, it should be of little surprise that eight out of 10 people who access the internet from their smartphones are occasionally plagued with slow data connections - and almost half say the problem occurs every week.
The trouble isn't just limited to slow data speeds: Nearly 75 percent of smartphone users experience dropped calls, too.
Dropped calls and more spam
What's more, 35 percent of smartphone owners claim to drop calls on a weekly basis, compared to only 28 percent of simpler "feature phone" users.Spam is also a growing concern, with 30 percent of smartphone owners receiving these unwarranted SMS missives at least weekly, while their feature phone friends only deal with them 21 percent of the time.
Curiously, the Pew research notes the problems are more widespread for African-Americans and Hispanics that Caucasian smartphone users, presumably because these users are "more likely than whites to rely on their cell phones as their primary or exclusive phones for calling and for Internet access."
The rollout of 4G LTE networks - which are strictly used for fast data instead of voice calls - could eventually alleviate some of the nuisances for smartphone owners, with Verizon Wireless users most likely to benefit for now due to its rapid rollout of the technology.
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RIM CEO: We seriously considered Android
RIM hasn't released BlackBerry 10 yet but the company's CEO revealed Thursday the operating system almost didn't get the go-ahead.
Thorsten Heins, the beleaguered boss of the suffering RIM, told the Telegraph the company nearly went with Android before ultimately deciding to move forward with BB 10.
"We took the conscious decision not to go Android," he told the paper.
"We looked at it seriously - but if you understand what the promise of BlackBerry is to its user base it's all about getting stuff done."
Heins went on to say his company wants to remain true to its purpose and will - for now - continue to build with that in mind, including pushing out BlackBerry 10.
Can it compete?
Heins conceded in the same interview RIM can't keep up with top dogs Apple and Samsung unless it gets help from the outside.And while Android vendors HTC and Motorola have hit hard times, thus making RIM's decision to ditch Android at the door seem like a good one, BlackBerry 10 needs to deliver in order to keep the company afloat.
TechRadar reported the first BB 10 devices should hit the market in January.
Thanks to an early peek at the OS, we learned BB 10 introduces an entirely new user interface, creating something that looks more like Android and iOS yet with its own personal twists.
For RIM's sake, here's hoping BlackBerry 10 hits its mark.
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Updated: Which is the best O2 phone?
O2 has been one of the UK's top networks for donkey's years, but if you've never used the effervescent brand before you might not be aware of what's on offer - here's our run-down of the best O2 phones and what treats you can expect in return for a monthly wedge of cash.
When talking about Bolt Ons, we'd hope (unlike Google it seems) that you'd realise we weren't thinking along the lines of famous Boltonians Peter Kay or Paddy McGuiness.
No, we're talking about the optional extras that O2 allows you to add on to your monthly contract.
Ranging from international calls to picture messaging and insurance, they hope there's something to appeal to everyone.
There's even the ability to purchase a further 100MB of data on top of your monthly allowance, should you find that you are close to running out. This could be particularly useful as all data-enabled plans include tethering.
So, what basics do you get to begin with?
Bonus plans come with unlimited texts, with varying levels of minutes and data, and Standard plans come with varying levels of everything.
Forgive our greediness, but things heat up on the "On & On" tariff, coming bundled with unlimited calls and texts, and 1GB of data.
This isn't limited though, as you can double that should the mood take you.
On top of that, on all data plans of 250MB or more, you can add free Wi-Fi on BT Hotspots. Interestingly, for those less data hungry users, O2 offers to reduce your plan costs if you limit yourself to 100MB.
Finally, we have to mention O2 Priority. It's all in the name here, providing first option on a variety of tickets at O2 stadiums and arenas nationwide as well as high street vouchers direct to your phone.
Obviously you're going to want to make use of all of this, but how?
Sony Xperia S
Sony's first foray into the mobile world after completing the buyout of former partner Ericsson, comes in the form of the Xperia S.
Sony opted to pack in its own Bravia engine, taken from its TV range, which has helped create a really fantastic screen.
Inside you'll find NFC technology, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and a high-end 12mp camera.
Read our full Sony Xperia S review here.
HTC One X
The HTC One X has bounded onto the scene, and with its HD screen, NFC capabilities and quad-core processor it really is one of the top phones of the moment.
It's running the latest version of Android in the shape of Ice Cream Sandwich, plus one of the best cameras on the market - capable of shooting 99 photos in a row and taking snaps while recording in 1080p HD.
In short, one of the best phones around right now.
Read our full HTC One X review here.
LG Optimus 4X HD
Looking at it, you can tell the Optimus 4X HD is a smart phone.
LG might not have the reputation of the likes of Samsung or HTC when it comes to producing high-end devices, but as the name suggests, the LG Optimus 4X HD comes with a quad-core 1.5 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, 8MP camera, NFC and the impressive Android Ice Cream Sandwich to hold it all together.
Read our full LG Optimus 4X HD review here.
Samsung Galaxy S3
Replacing a phone that could be on this list, the Galaxy S2, comes Samsung's latest flagship Galaxy phone.
We can't speak highly enough of the Galaxy S3, as it brings a superb Super AMOLED HD screen, NFC, 8mp Full HD recording camera and a "blazingly-fast" 1.4GHz quad-core processor.
Unsurprisingly, it comes with Ice Cream Sandwich, but Jelly Bean is looking very likely.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S3 review here.
Apple iPhone 4S
The original iPhone was a game changer, and this is continued with the 4S.
The fifth iPhone so far comes in with a proprietary dual-core processor, and Apple's wonderful Retina Display to bring apps to life.
Apple know that a smart phone's real strength lies in its app catalogue, and you'll be unsurprised to find that its iTunes store is packed full of high-quality offerings.
Read our full Apple iPhone 4S Review here.
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News in Brief: One More Thing: You can keep the Lumia nail varnish, thanks Nokia
Nokia Marketing Memo - "Look team, I know we're up against it but girls aren't idiots. They just have different priorities to men - you think ladies have time for all that complicated technology stuff when there are clothes and shoes and Ryan Gosling and whether they'll ever get married to think about?
"Girls' minds are so elsewhere that you could paint a black rectangle on a post-it and the little ladies'd buy it thinking they're getting an iPhone because they saw it in the Sex and the City movie. You've got to catch their attention with something in their interest sphere, like, say, matching nail polish. That might not be enough though – better make it hot pink." [Mashable]
Blizzard Wizzard – Diablo 3 has taken the Activision crown from World of Warcraft. The Beelzebub-approved game now has 10 million players while WoW is down to 9.1 million monthly subscribers. Not too shabby a showing from either camp, let's face it. [Slashgear]
Pometheii - With cries of 'Yeah but she wouldn't be able to do ANY of that after invasive surgery' and 'Why didn't she just roll SIDEWAYS?' still ringing in our ears, Prometheus 2 has been green-lit and slated for a 2014/15 release. Ridley Scott is back on board although the severely-slated co-writer Damon Lindelof is still a question mark. [Vulture]
Riddle me this - What do bigger thumbnails, more information, more control and a differentiated view of videos you've already watched have in common? They're all features of the re-jigged YouTube homepage, duh. [YouTube]
1,000 words - Photographer Dan Chung is getting some sensational results at the Olympics, using nothing more than an iPhone 4S and an app called Snapseed. And the occasional additional lens. And some binoculars. But still, easily puts our Instagram account to shame. [Guardian]
It's always right now until it's later - At least we can all get in on the high brow action with this classy Instagram hack – This Is Now pulls in photos geo-tagged London, Tokyo, NYC and the like to create a page representing what's going on 'now'. It's pretty brill. [This Is London Now]
WAaaaAaAAAAalll-E - Californian robot enthusiast Mike Senna built a life-sized, remote-controlled Wall-E. Can't talk, hopping on a plane to the Golden State. [Blastr]
World needs to get a life part two - As if spending 4 billion hours watching YouTube videos every month wasn't tragic enough, the human race has also spent over 54,000 years playing Temple Run. We don't know how we fit it all in. [Phandroid]
Blocog - LOCOG has shut off @2012TicketAlert's access to its ticket site data because… well, no one's sure why. The feed was helping the good people of London find Olympics tickets that were actually available and no one was making any money off it except, oh yeah, LOCOG and the vendor, Ticketmaster. The Olympics body says it was Ticketmaster's decision. Yep, we can believe that. [BBC]
Stompy - Kickstarter. Giant ridable robot. Inevitable, really. [Engadget]
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In Depth: How Microsoft Office web apps are catching up with Office 2013
Office web apps catch up with Office 2013
The preview of the free online Office web apps gives them the same Metro look as the Office 2013 desktop apps and a handful of the same features, including the Touch Mode button for spacing icons out to make them easier to tap with a finger and turning on the finger-friendly context menu.The most useful might be the new Recent files section in SkyDrive, where you can see documents you've opened from SkyDrive recently, whether you used desktop Office or the Office web apps – and whether they're on your SkyDrive or shared by someone else.
Sharing is real-time in all the Office web apps. You can now edit all your SkyDrive documents at the same time as someone you're collaborating with, whether you're using the desktop or web versions of Word, PowerPoint or OneNote. You can collaborate in the Excel web app, as long as you're both using the web app; if one of you opens the spreadsheet in desktop Excel, you're the only person that can edit it though.
If you're collaborating on a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, you can leave comments and replies in the web apps. In PowerPoint web app you can see the comments while you're editing your presentation; in Word web app you have to be in the preview rather than editing the document, although you can mark comments as completed the way you can in the desktop.
The Office web apps team is considering a fix but suggests having the document open in a second tab as a preview to see comments (although we found we had to reload the document to see new comments rather than having them appear live).
There are some long-awaited features like word count in the Word web app (amazingly, the web app team said they were surprised at how many people wanted this) and changing page layout. OneNote finally lets you search within a page, but you can't search all your notes at once the way you can on your PC or even in the OneNote phone apps (and the SkyDrive-wide search still only finds keywords in the names of documents, not the contents).
More features
Both the Word and PowerPoint web apps have more formatting tools, although what you get is still only a fraction of what's in the desktop apps (and the spelling checker in the desktop apps is still smarter). We like being able to add transitions in the PowerPoint web app, but the only options are fade and push. You can apply a Picture Style like a preset border, but if you've used a shape effect on a text box, you can see it but not change the colour.You can insert images from the Office.com clipart collection by searching and browsing from your document, but you can't add images from your SkyDrive, Flickr account or from a Bing search as you can in the desktop apps, and you can't insert online video clips (although you can play videos in documents in the web app preview).
There are also odd inconsistencies between the two web apps. You can create SmartArt diagrams in PowerPoint web and insert, resize and rotate shapes; you can't do either in the Word web app and if you have shapes in a Word document you can't even see them in the web app editing view – you can see SmartArt diagrams but only as static images. This is only a preview so perhaps Word web app will catch up.
On the other hand, Excel web app gets features that aren't in the desktop app, like the tool for making a survey and collecting the results in a spreadsheet, as well as lots more tools like PivotTable editing and more slicers for analysing data.
The Outlook web app isn't part of SkyDrive; you get it if you have Exchange or Office 365. It actually had more of a Metro look than most of Office 2010 already but it gets lots of Office 2013 features, including support for Apps for Office like the one that can turn an email into a meeting in your diary.
Some features, like linking duplicate contacts, are actually easier to find in the OWA interface. It's also the first of the Office web apps to get offline functionality, but that depends on which browser you're using.
The other Office web apps work well in a really wide range of browsers, including Chrome, Firefox and Safari as well as IE; they don't need ActiveX, Flash or even Silverlight any more. They're all HTML5 so they work well on tablet and smartphone browsers.
But if you want to use OWA offline (looking at emails, contacts and calendar appointments or writing messages to send when you're online), you need Internet Explorer 10 or later, Safari 5.1 or later, and Chrome 18 or later. That means no offline access on an iPad or an Android tablet (or a phone) until their browsers add more of the HTML5 standards for storage.
Surprisingly, offline access doesn't work consistently in Metro IE10 even though you can set it up from the Outlook web access interface without ever seeing an error or warning. You can confirm that you're the only user and save a favourite link from Metro IE but when you're offline that link doesn't open. Do the same thing in desktop IE 10 and the favourite opens when you're offline.
And sometimes but not always, once you've opened OWA offline in desktop IE you can also open it offline in Metro IE.
There are some odd choices in the Office 2013 preview of the Office web apps, but the new features are all useful. And although they're labelled as a preview, you can start using them straight away, whether you're trying out the Office 2013 preview or not.
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Samsung Galaxy S3 to get wireless charging dock in September?
The Samsung Galaxy S3 may finally be able to put its wireless charging claims to the test come September, when we'll hopefully see the first charging pads released.
When the Galaxy S3 was announced back at the start of May, one of the more surprising features unveiled was the fact the handset had built-in inductive charging capabilities.
This isn't the first time a phone has sported wireless charging, with Palm including it in the Pre Plus in 2010 and in several other handsets before its sorry demise.
Zens to the rescue
However even though Samsung happily showed us the Galaxy S3's wireless charging dock on the big screens during its launch, the fact of the matter is we're yet to see any hardware to allow us to make use of it.Help may finally be at hand, with third-party manufacturer Zens unveiling its wireless charging pad for the Galaxy S3 – which includes a special battery compartment cover you'll need to swap with the one which came with the handset, allowing this fancy tech to work.
Thankfully that battery cover is offered in both marble while and pebble blue, so fears about a miss-matched phone can be quashed immediately.
There is a problem, Zens reckons its charging pad will be available in September, but there's no firm date yet – although PocketNow reckons Samsung's own solution will also be available in September, so you might be spoilt for choice.
We've contacted Samsung to find out more information and we'll update this article once we hear back.
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Superfast broadband not arriving super-quickly as schedule slips
The UK's superfast broadband plans have suffered a bit of a setback as it emerged that a major target has been missed.
We may not see a national superfast fibre optic network in place by 2015 now, as the timetable for local authorities to source providers and equipment through the government's suppliers has been set back by at least three months.
It's all down to very tedious things like 'procurement schedules', 'tenders' and 'bidding frameworks' – basically there are EU rules about the funding that can be used as part of the project and agreeing those took longer than expected.
Thrilling stuff
Now that they're in place, bidding by companies like BT and Fujitsu which want to put the network in place can begin – but they were supposed to be in place by April 2012 (that's right, calendar fans, three months ago).This means that the procurement process won't be complete by December 2012 (or, as a DCMS spokesman said, "It is… unlikely.") so the network won't be fully operational by the original 2015 target.
However, it's not all bad news. Some areas of the UK will still be on the super-speedy internet connections by 2015 – likely the "super-connected cities" of Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle.
No doubt the latest set back will only fuel the House of Lords' conviction that the government's prioritisation of quick-sharp broadband provision rather than easy access for rurual areas is all wrong.
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US not keen for UN to control internet regulation
The way the internet is regulated internationally is coming up for review and the US is keen to keep control on US soil.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will review and possibly revise regulations that have been in place since 1988 which, considering the internet then and the internet now, seems long overdue.
At the moment, a consortium of not-for-profit bodies based in the US oversee the technicalities of the internet, as well as the ICANN domain naming system – they operate away from the government despite being technically run by the department of Commerce.
But some countries are looking to ring the changes - Russia, for one, is keen to see the naming system come under greater governmental control (although not so openly keen that it has published its proposals officially).
Nobody likes change
The American concern is that more regulation means more work. In its initial proposal document, it stated: "The U.S. is concerned that proposals by some other governments could lead to greater regulatory burdens being placed on the international telecom sector, or perhaps even extended to the Internet sector - a result the U.S. would oppose."It also expressed concern that certain member states would try and bring in some kind of web censorship. The US Ambassador to the ITU, Ambassador Kramer, was emphatic in his statement that, "We will not support any effort to broaden the scope of the ITRs to facilitate any censorship of content or blocking the free flow of information and ideas."
"The United States also believes that the existing multi-stakeholder institutions, incorporating industry and civil society, have functioned effectively and will continue to ensure the health and growth of the Internet and all of its benefits."
But any changes in the system will require unanimous support from all 178 nations involved, so it doesn't seem likely that any changes will actually pass when the great big get together happens in Dubai in December.
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How to use social networks for customer service
Consumers are progressively turning to social networks to contact the brands they buy from. According to research from Fishburn Hedges, over a third of UK consumers now turn to their social networks as a primary point of contact with businesses they buy from. Nearly two-thirds also believed that social networks were a better way to connect with businesses than using their call centres.
Eva Keogan, head of innovation at Fishburn Hedges, said: "Many people are currently enjoying the VIP treatment from brands on social media. As millions more catch on to this great route into traditional customer service channels, the challenge for brands will be maintaining the same level of service. Over the coming years, will Twitter become the next call centre? We are urging brands to think about this now, as there are some clear and simple ways to use these new customer service channels to great effect."
Fishburn Hedges also has six basic guidelines that your business can follow when using social media as a customer services platform:
- Don't be paralysed by uncertainty - Where call centres arguably erect barriers between brands and customers, social media can remove them and bring proximity. It shouldn't be a psychological straitjacket, so dive in – but clearly define your strategy first.
- Don't let social media define you - Your brand must define it. It must be a continuation of a brand using the appropriate channels and not a knee-jerk reaction to following how others are using it.
- Make more of the emotional insight you have - Customer data offers insight into behaviour, but social media takes that to a different level, enabling brands to tap into emotions.
- Pick your battles – but enter them fast - Speed is critical in the real-time world of social media, but brands should not feel the pressure to answer every query put to them.
- Address structural barriers in the business, not headcount - There are many ways to resource social media, and new hires are not always necessary. Try sharing expertise and removing structural barriers first.
- Fear not the #fail - No one is perfect and sometimes, just sometimes, it is simply a flash in the pan.
140 character customer services
One of the key factors that have been affected by the use of social media as a customer response channel is speed. In the early days of e-commerce, customer services was handled by phone and email with responses measured in days. Today, consumers are likely to use Twitter and demand an immediate answer.What's more, according to research by ZenDesk, over 60% of consumers have used a social network to make a customer services complaint. How many of these complaints did your business pick up and deal with? It's a question that many businesses are asking themselves, as they build their customer services to cope with a shift towards more connections via social media.
Indeed, a report from Virgin Media Business revealed that companies are also increasingly looking towards automation and the development of e-services to allow their businesses to be available around the clock.
"As we all become more digital, we expect to be able to contact businesses at any time with questions, queries or complaints," said Phil Stewart, Director Customer Services at Virgin Media Business. "For businesses this poses a real problem in terms of staffing this demand. In part because of the way social media works, people want to be engaged as quickly as possible. Yet for most businesses, they simply can't afford to have someone staff a customer helpline 24/7."
Social power
There is no denying that social businesses are the future of online commerce. If your business can connect with its customers using their preferred social networks the relationships these conversations will develop will have a clear and positive commercial value to your enterprise.With the headlines regularly filled with stories of companies that ignored the customer services aspect of their social network paying with damage to their reputations and profitability, it's vital that your company places social networks at the centre of all your customer services activity.
Customers now expect almost instantaneous responses to their questions and an even faster response to their complaints. Those companies that have the systems to handle this level of communications will be the winners in the social commerce space.
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Apple to name next handset iPhone 5 after all?
Apple might stick to the name we've all adopted for its next handset but assumed it would never use – iPhone 5.
The new iPhone will be the sixth handset from the Cupertino-based firm, which makes the iPhone 5 name a little confusing, with the iPhone 4S actually being the fifth mobile in Apple's range.
However according to a leaked server log from a "reliable" TechCrunch source, that's exactly what Apple may be planning to call it.
Comma again?
The source captured a screen grab of a server log which listed a model called "iPhone5,2" – which apparently exists along side "iPhone5,1" – two models Apple is supposedly testing.The source did not disclose any other information surrounding the new iPhone, which is thought to be arriving in September or October, with September 12 being a popular date in the rumour mill at this time.
Unfortunately we're still unclear what the next generation of iPhone will bring us, but it's reckoned it will sport a bigger screen, new design, faster processor and NFC technology, but we'll have to wait and see.
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Apple hell-bent on killing off Google Maps in iOS 6
Apple really doesn't want its mobile devices associated with Google Maps anymore, as it's set to redirect app traffic to its own mapping solution.
When iOS 6 was announced back in June, Apple revealed that it would be bringing its own mapping service to iPhones, iPads and iPods – shunning Google's widely used, and very popular, Maps application in the process.
However, even though the native map app on iDevices will now be switched, many thousands of apps use Google's service to provide locations, directions and maps to users.
Aiming for mapping dominance
The Cupertino-based firm is wise to this game though and Apple Insider reports that it will redirect all third-party app requests for mapping services to its own offering – bypassing Google's option.This action will result in Google seeing a huge drop in traffic to its mapping services, as Apple will make iOS 6 available to both the new iPad and iPad 2 as well as handsets all the way back to the iPhone 3GS.
Apple needs to ensure it absolutely nails its mapping service, as Google's offering provides users with masses of information. If the Cupertino-based firm fails to deliver, it's likely to trigger a huge public outcry to bring back the search giant's version.
That said, from the brief glimpses of what we've seen so far, it looks like Apple is well on track to offer a Google Maps rivalling service – let the battle commence.
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Identity of Twitter parody account safe as legal action dropped
The owner of a spoof Twitter account is to keep his or her identity hidden after Northcliffe Media and Twitter both backed down.
Twitter had told the UnSteveDorkland account, which parodies a Northcliffe Media executive named Steve Auckland, that it was going to hand their personal details over to the company as a result of a court order.
But when the tweeter launched a legal rebuttal, the social network changed course and said it would keep schtum until legal action was resolved.
That day came pretty quickly, as Northcliffe Media has now decided not to pursue UnSteveDorkland through the courts any further.
Case closed
The still-anonymous tweeter reckons this is a victory for common sense as well as free speech, badass lawyers and the internet at large.He or she said, "By withdrawing the case against me they have, finally, recognised the futility of their heavy-handed approach and the entirely baseless nature of all the accusations they threw at me in a vainglorious attempt to divert attention from the real issue, namely their idea that by throwing money and bullying tactics at someone you can throttle freedom of speech.
"They underestimated me, they underestimated my lawyer Frank Sommers and they underestimated the power of the worldwide internet community."
Northcliffe Media released a statement that maintained the joke account amounted to "cyber-bullying and harassment" but that a lengthy court case "would require direct involvement of the very staff we are anxious to protect".
Its statement added, "His or her intention may initially have been humorous, but these tweets went far beyond commentary and satire, causing pain and offence.
"We encourage humour in our business, but no workplace should be expected to tolerate an unrelenting flow of derogatory and degrading comments of questionable legality."
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Week in Tech: From Trolls to Transformers
Twitter's been making the news for ages - it sometimes seems as if newspapers fill half their pages with stories about celeb X calling celeb Y a great big Z on the service - but this week Twitter itself was the story, and not for good reasons.
First of all it shut down a journalist's account after he slagged off Twitter's Official Olympics Partner NBC, and then the service was used by an idiot to abuse an Olympian.
The NBC story was a classic case of overreacting: Twitter pulled Guy Adams' account for posting a personal email address, something its rules prohibit, but the email address he posted wasn't a personal one: Adams' real offence was upsetting Twitter's pal. Adams' account has since been reinstated, but the story is a reminder that Twitter is a private media company, not a public service.
While Twitter was quick to kill Guy Adams' account, it isn't so quick to shut down abusive ones - as we discovered this week when a teenager tried to upset an Olympian. The user, rileyy_69, sent abuse to diver Tom Daley; Daley retweeted the abuse and things escalated. As our columnist Gary Marshall put it, "that RT unleashed the mob and ended with an arrest".
Marshall wasn't defending the abusive Tweeter, but "when someone's Twitter account rockets from a few hundred followers to more than 50,000 in a couple of hours", as rileyy_69's did, "and their behaviour gets worse, it's clear that they're being goaded... Rileyy_69 should have been blocked, not bullied." We're not in favour of people abusing anybody, but we're a bit scared of angry mobs too. "There's something of 1984's Two Minutes Hate to it," Marshall says.
Apple vs Samsung: bored yet?
Never mind two minutes of hate: thanks to Apple and Samsung, we've got four weeks of it to look forward to.Court cases can be dull things, but the Samsung versus Apple battle turns out to be a gift that just keeps on giving: with Apple apparently determined to do whatever it takes to triumph, we've been treated to an unprecedented look at iPhone and iPad prototypes.
We've also seen the first of what will no doubt be many dirty tricks, with Samsung sending evidence to the gentlemen and women of the press after Judge Lucy Koh wouldn't allow it in court. Samsung says that its evidence, a Sony-style iPhone prototype mocked up by Apple, "established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design". Apple, you'll be amazed to discover, begs to differ and wants Samsung punished for the leak.
While Samsung's taking Apple on in the courts, others are doing it in the shops - and after unexpected demand left Google without any 16GB Nexus 7s to sell, the good news is that the best version of Google's wee tablet is back in stock. The bad news is that the Google Q media streamer is now on ice so it can "do even more than it does today". We're all in favour of that: as our in-depth review discovered, the smoothly curved Google Q has a lot of rough edges.
The Nexus is a great little tablet, but Apple may be working on one of its own - and this week, the iPad mini rumours began to seem much more solid. Initial suggestions of a September release alongside the iPhone 5 have been superseded by predictions of a November event, just in time for Christmas.
Are you more interested in Asus tablets than Apple ones? Then we've got a treat for you: a side-by-side comparison of the Transformer Prime and Transformer Infinity:
While the devices are largely identical, they do have different screens: the Prime makes do with 1280x800, while the Infinity has a pixel-packed 1920x1200. Can you really tell the difference?
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HTC One range not performing as hoped
HTC may be managing to keep its head above water for now, but it's seeing revenue fall significantly and predicts further drops in the near future.
The Taiwanese firm was pinning its hopes on a big second quarter of 2012 as its One range of handsets hit the market and, although HTC achieved a 34.3 percent growth on the previous quarter, it was still down a huge 26.8 percent year on year.
Now HTC has released its forecast for the third quarter of this year and unfortunately it's not painting the prettiest of pictures.
Leaking millions
HTC predicts revenue for the third quarter of 2012 will be between $2.3 to $2.7 billion (around £1.5-1.7 billion) – a potential difference of around 23 per cent on its second quarter earnings, which came in at $3bn (around £1.9bn).The company says that sales were in line with expectations in Asia, but it intends to increase its marketing and sales focus in the US and Europe – obviously regions where HTC is struggling to compete against the likes of the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S3.
That's not to say HTC is producing poor handsets, with the One X, One S and One V all impressing in our in-depth reviews and, with suggestions it may be looking at producing some Windows Phone 8 handsets, the Taiwanese firm may be able to get back on track before the year is out.
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