Apple, Samsung CEOs have one final chance to resolve legal blockade
Attorneys for both Apple and Samsung have made their closing arguments, but Judge Lucy Koh is giving the companies one last shot at mending fences before the high-profile patent battle is decided by a jury.
With jury deliberation expected to begin as early as Tuesday for the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Kwon Oh Hyun will have one last shot at resolving their differences today.
At stake is $2.5 billion in damages should Apple convince a jury that Samsung copied its products, while the Korean manufacturer seeks $399 million in royalties from Cupertino, for alleged patent infringement.
Been here before
This isn't the first time Judge Koh has attempted to mend fences between the two tech titans.Back in May, Apple and Samsung executives met for 16 hours spread out over two days, but failed to reach a voluntary end to the legal brouhaha.
Judging from the courtroom saga thus far, it seems unlikely the two companies will be able to see eye-to-eye at the eleventh hour, which means their respective fates may soon lie in the hands of the nine-member jury hand-picked to hear the case over the last four weeks.
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New OnLive to rehire at least 50% of employees, company says
New details are emerging about what's exactly going down at OnLive, thanks largely to the company's revelation of details about its acquisition and restructuring.
According to a company statement issued Sunday, the cloud-streaming video game service went through Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, a type of bankruptcy, and restructuring in the face of "difficult financial decisions."
A new company has formed under the OnLive name and will continue to offer its services uninterrupted, the statement said.
The new company has offered nearly half of OnLive's employees new positions after everyone, including CEO and founder Steve Perlman, were laid off, losing their company stakes in the process.
No title or contract were offered to Perlman, according to Gary Lauder, managing partner of the venture capital firm Lauder Partners, the company that offered initial funding to the newly restructured company.
However, Lauder said he's confident Perlman will remain CEO, though his status took a back seat to figuring out how to keep employees, Lauder said
Perlman, who an employee said many blame for failing to sell the company at various junctures, hasn't received compensation for OnLive's assets or compensation from the new company, either, OnLive said.
Putting people first
The nearly 50 percent rehire figure falls in line with a report from an OnLive employee Friday that at least half the staff would be let go.However, according to OnLive, the new company has offered many of the employees who weren't offered positions contract work in return for stock options.
The new company plans to hire more OnLive employees as well as hire outside workers as additional funding comes in, the company's statement said.
OnLive spokeswoman Jane Anderson said that while Lauder Partners is so far the new company's sole investor, they expect new investors to come aboard soon.
In their statement, OnLive also said company executives have had their pay cut "to allow the company to hire as many employees as possible within the current budget."
ABC filing
HTC, one of OnLive's major investors, bluntly explained what led to OnLive's restructuring and its own $40 million (£25.5) lose."Due to lack of operating cash and an inability to raise new capital, OnLive had completed asset restructuring over the weekend," HTC's filing with the Tawain stock exchange said.
Though the details of why the company had to file for Assignment for Benefit of Creditors, or ABC, are still unclear, what the filing means for the company on a legal level is known.
ABC operates under state law and allowed OnLive to assign its assets to an entity of its choosing, rather than one picked by a bankruptcy court.
It then falls on the assignee's shoulders to pay back the insolvent company's creditors with money raised through the sale of the company's assets to a third party, in this case the new OnLive.
With OnLive's ABC, all its technology, intellectual property and other assets are part of the sale. Lauder reportedly wouldn't disclose how much the assets sold for or how much his firm has invested in OnLive.
Though Lauder said the new company has more than enough funding to last until more investors are found, HTC isn't the only investor to cut a lose from OnLive's acquisition.
UK-based BT said it's "highly likely" it'll need to write off its 2.6 percent stake in the company.
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News in Brief: One More Thing: Robots taking over the world one noodle at a time
Using your noodle - It must be tough being a chef, working in sweaty kitchens and having Gordon Ramsey bark orders at you while using language dirtier than a festival toilet.
However tough, though, it's always better to be employed - but the chances of keeping a regular income are pretty small, especially now that robot chefs are taking over the kitchens of Beijing, chopping up noodles without once complaining to the waiters.
This is the future people and it is very scary.
Red carded - Football fans fan forum flames - not something that can be said easily, but this is exactly what is happening at Digital Spy, where many are moaning that the advertising tech used in the recent Italy V England friendly ruined the game. It seems that advertising hordes that allow advertisers to target specific countries also has the unfortunate problem of making footballer's invisible when they run past. So that's where Ashley Young was all game... [Telegraph]
Grey matter - Fancy some 50 Shades of Grey style smut but don't want to buy the book, then try out the 50 Shades Random Generator. But make sure the kids are tucked up in bed first! [BoingBoing]
Come-a chameleon - A colour changing robot has been developed by the US that could one day be used by the military. It's not quite up to scratch at the moment but it does change colour thanks to a fluid being pumped through its tiny body. Freaky stuff. [Mail Online]
Instagram killer - Instagram is the Marmite of the app world. Some people adore using the app to give their not-very-exciting images a hipster makeover, while others would rather focus on real photography. For the latter, there is a new app that erases the filters Instagram slathers on to its images. It's called Normalize and acts like hipster bug spray. [Gizmodo]
Rover and out - The Mars Rover may well be a little busy at the moment zapping rocks with its on-board lasers but it has managed to send some fantastic high-res images back from the Red Planet. The BBC has thankfully taken these images so you can take a virtual tour. Amazing stuff. [BBC]
Goo-hoo! - Google is turning into something of a leaky ship when it comes to losing its execs and it's all because of Yahoo. Now, ex-Googler Marissa Mayer is on board, she is taking some of her old friends with her - this time it is Andrew Schulte who has made the move. Formally Google's Product Marketing Manager he will now be Chief of Staff. [Hexus]
Drive you crazy - TechRadar has always thought the idea of driverless cars are cool but the lack of speed does annoy us a lot. So it is great then that a self-driving car made by the folks at Stanford has managed the pretty speedy, er, speed of 120Mph. Here's hoping we see one doing doughnuts in a fast-food chain's carpark soon. [Singularity Hub]
Big Apple - A prototype Apple store has been given one of the speediest broadband connections around. The shop which is in Silicon Valley and hooked up to the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX). And why would it need so much bandwidth - well people are thinking it could have something to do with Apple TV, which is still a rumour but may well need a good web connection to stream content and this shop will be able to showcase hundreds of TVs doing just that. [MacWorld]
Right Royal rumble - The Royal Mail's good name is being used in a malware attack, according to the security bods at Sophos. So, if you get an email with the company's logo and an attachment it may be a good idea to stay well alone, so any viruses aren't, well, delivered to your computer.
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The Olympics has changed attitudes to flexible working
A survey of workers in London and the Home Counties on behalf of Vodafone reveals that, following their experiences over the 2012 Olympics, more than half would welcome the chance to work flexibly more often.
Furthermore, employers are becoming increasingly open to allowing different ways of working. Over half of the workers surveyed said that their bosses already enable flexible working or would be more open to doing so following the experiences of the last two weeks.
Peter Boucher, commercial marketing director at Vodafone, commented: "It is not surprising that the events of the last two weeks are emerging as a turning point in the way Britain is working. For employers and their staff, this has been a 'taster' for a different way of doing business. Many will have found that this can be just as effective – and often more so – than the traditional nine-to-five at your office desk."
Almost a quarter of all workers (24 per cent) changed their normal arrangements, working from home or alternative business locations for some or all of the two-week period.
Three-quarters said they had worked more productively
These respondents had overwhelmingly positive reactions to report. Of those people who changed their working arrangements, nearly three-quarters said they had worked more productively as a result of the change. They reported that their productivity had increased thanks mainly to fewer distractions and disruptions (34 per cent) and less time spent commuting (32 per cent).Over half of all workers surveyed stated that they would like to opt for flexible working on a more regular basis.
Less than half of all workers surveyed (48 per cent) felt they had been given all the equipment needed to work effectively while away from the office. Just under a fifth (19 per cent) of all respondents use their own hardware to work remotely, and more than one in five (22 per cent) said that they have to go to the office to work.
Peter Boucher concluded: "With the cost of mobile and broadband technologies coming down and initiatives such as 'bring your own device' (BYOD) offering further cost and management advantages, there are fewer and fewer reasons for businesses to tie staff to their office chair. Productivity is best measured by results achieved, rather than by the amount of time spent in the office each day."
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Panasonic launches lamp-free projector range
The new PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ370 series projectors from Panasonic have replaced the current short-life span expensive conventional lamp systems with a combination LED and laser diodes. The new light sources claim to have a life-span of 20,000 hours – that's around 5 times more than a normal bulb-based projectors life-span - and offer long lasting high brightness of more than 3,000 lm.
The PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ370 Series will be offered in two different resolutions, 1080p (1920 x 1080) and WXGA (1,280 x 800). Both projector series are equipped with Panasonic's proprietary Daylight View technology, where a built in ambient light sensor helps maintain the image quality in changing environmental conditions.
World's first high-brightness compact LCD projector with digital link
Additionally Panasonic have also announced another world's first, with the world's first high-brightness compact LCD projector with digital link, the PT-VW431D which allows the projector to be placed up to 100 metres away from the input source.The Panasonic Digital Link technology, is based on Valens HDBaseT technology, and is built into the PT-VW431D for easy and simple digital connection of HDMI, other full uncompressed HD videos, audio and control commands all via a single Cat5e/6 LAN cable.
The PT-VW431D offers high brightness of 4,300 lumens and a high contrast ratio of 3,500:1 and also includes Panasonic's Daylight View Basic technology.
The PT-VW431D can be either portable or ceiling mounted and the 1.6x manual zoom lens allows wide range projection from 2.5m (8.2ft) to 4.1m (13.5ft).
The PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ370 Series will be available through authorised Panasonic resellers starting from 2012 Q4 and 2013 Q1 and the PT-VW431D will be available in October 2012.
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UK not just having the 'best' broadband in Europe by 2015 but also 'fastest'
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has revealed that he no longer wants the UK to have the "best" internet by 2015, but he wants it be the "fastest".
In a speech he made at Google's Campus building in London, Hunt recognised the importance of decent broadband for all in the UK and also explained that his broadband plans have been given a speed injection.
"When the Lords Committee criticised me this summer for being preoccupied with speed, I plead guilty. And so should we all," explained Hunt.
"Because we simply will not have a competitive broadband network unless we recognise the massive growth in demand for higher and higher speeds. But where their Lordships are wrong is to say my focus is on any particular speed: today's superfast is tomorrow's superslow."
And to make sure his plans work (and are not just MP hyperbole), Hunt is looking to invest some of the £300 million that comes from the TV license to make sure there's enough money to bring superfast broadband to 90 per cent of homes, the target he has set for the next three years.
Speaking about the news, Dominic Baliszewski, telecoms expert at website Broadbandchoices.co.uk, said: "Jeremy Hunt's revision of his broadband ambitions from 'best in Europe' to 'fastest in Europe' by 2015 is admirable but there is still a long way to go until the universal commitment of 2Mbps for all is met.
"Recent Ofcom data found that 14 per cent of households still receive average broadband speeds of 2Mb or less.
"Hunt is absolutely right to want to future proof the UK's broadband networks as this is the surest way to aid the UK's economic recovery."
He does go on to note, however: "We would like to see Mr Hunt come up with a solution for people left in these so called 'digital ghettoes' who face being forgotten in the UK government's need for speed."
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Exclusive: BT says it's 'highly likely' to have to write off OnLive investment
BT believes that it is "highly likely" that it will have to write off its 2.6 per cent stake in OnLive, as the streaming gaming company restructures.
The telecoms giant told TechRadar that it was keeping a "close eye" on the situation, but that it could not comment on goings on at OnLive.
Another investor, HTC, has written off its $40 million investment in the company, releasing a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Stake out
BT insists that a 2.6 per cent stake in the company, acquired in May 2010, did not represent a significant investment.Speaking to TechRadar, a BT spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on speculation about the future of OnLive, but we are keeping a close eye on developments.
"Questions should be directed to the company in question. BT customers who are customers of OnLive will continue to be able to access the service.
"In any event, the 2.6 per cent shareholding in OnLive does not represent a significant investment for BT as a whole.
"We consider it highly likely that we'll have to write off our investment."
OnLive's future has been a major topic for debate over the weekend, with the last official word suggesting that the company assets have been acquired.
HTC's filing to the Taiwan stock exchange suggested that OnLive's "lack of operating cash and an inability to raise new capital," has led to the restructuring.
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Samsung Galaxy S Duos: like the S3, but with more SIMs
Samsung has announced a new phone that apes the Galaxy S3 design for those that love multiple phone numbers.
The Galaxy S Duos takes a lot of cues from the current flagship, but dials down the specs to accommodate the extra SIM slot.
It's running Ice Cream Sandwich (whoop) but doesn't have a quad core CPU. Nor will it have a dual core option… just the basic 1GHz processor here, along with a 1500mAh battery to go with the 4-inch display and 5MP camera.
In one ear, and in again
But it's all about the SIM cards here: and you can use both simultaneously, with the catchily-named 'Dual SIM always on' feature that allows you to receive calls on one while connected on another.There's 4GB of onboard storage too – which is perfect for those that only like watching the same film on repeat after listening to their favourite three songs.
It's good news for the Europeans with birthdays in September: the Samsung Galaxy S Duos release date has been pegged for then, and while we don't have a price to hand it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the extra SIM slot to not add too much cost, meaning it should be at the lower end of the price scale.
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New dock gives away new iPhone design and colour
Even more leaked components of the new iPhone and iPad mini have given more clues to the probable designs.
It's not anything we've not seen before, but possible pieces of the new devices have been 'uncovered' by iResQ that seem to confirm a redesign.
The notion of a smaller dock connector has been reinforced, with a 9-pin option being the most likely. According to Apple Insider, this would be an 8-pin configuration with a ninth coming through the metal in the surrounding shell.
Do you care? Probably not – but it does mean faster data transfer and a more reliable connection, even though it's a smaller component.
Jack on the move
And remember when we told you about the headphone jack being moved to the bottom? Well, these parts also suggest the same thing – whether this will annoy Apple fans used to taking their phone out of a pocket in a certain way is yet to be seen.Of course, it could be that the iPad mini is the one in line for the moved headphone jack, with another more traditional configuration set for the iPhone – but these photos seem to suggest otherwise.
It's just over three weeks until we may get to see the new iPhone 5 in the metallic, two-tone flesh – best start buying those camping supplies now if you're going to queue for it.
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Google launches European patent search
Google has enhanced its search engine with a European Patent Office search and a "Prior Art" patent search to take the work out of finding patent data
The new European Patents Office search feature announced on the Google Research blog allows users to search through the millions of patents in the European Patent Office for any keywords and phrases used in current patents, and adds a sophisticated Prior Art search to make the laborious process of searching through many sources for related content.
Google has had a patent search facility for US businesses that searches US patents since 2006, but this is first time that users have been able to search the European Patent Office.
The Prior Art Finder identifies key phrases from the text of the patent, combines them into a search query, and displays relevant results from Google Patents, Google Scholar, Google Books, and the rest of the web.
Once you get your patent results, the search can be refined further to look for patents restricted by filing or issue date, by registered or by patents to be registered and on patent type (utility, design, plant, additional improvement, defensive publication and statutory invention registration).
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Exclusive: LG 'hopeful' of UK Optimus Vu launch
LG has confirmed to TechRadar that the Optimus Vu could appear on UK shores, thanks to its overhauled specs.
The Korean brand announced this morning it would be bringing the Optimus Vu, which has launched in its home country, would be rolled out worldwide.
But there was no mention of the UK specifically, just 'Europe' – but that may change in the future:
"At the moment Optimus Vu is not listed in the UK market but we hope this will change in the near future," a spokesperson told TechRadar.
This is for you, guys
The new version of the Vu is 'adapted' to meet the needs of European markets, LG told us, with a quad-core processor instead of a dual-core CPU, and dropping the LTE connectivity in favour of good ol' fashioned 3G (well, HSDPA but that term has less nostalgia around it, right?)It seems LG is looking to get the phone/tablet out at around the same time as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which will be announced imminently – but given the device was first seen at Mobile World Congress in February, it could struggle against the marketing might of Samsung.
We'll be looking to update our hands on: LG Optimus Vu review in the near future (as long as we can get our hands on one again) so keep an eye out for that if you're into super fast devices with a 4:3 aspect ratio. We know we are.
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Updated: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 release date, news and features
Following in the footsteps of the original Samsung Galaxy Note "phablet", Samsung is just about ready to announce its next super sized device.
We're not expecting a major overhaul of the original, given that it worked surprisingly well. Big really is beautiful. So what ARE we expecting? Fear not, we have assembled all the latest rumours below:
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Release Date
Checking back to around this time last year, Samsung announced the original Galaxy Note at IFA in Berlin. A similar time this year is on the cards; GSM Arena reported Samsung would be holding one of its Unpacked events, a day earlier than IFA 2012, on August 29 - and Samsung has since confirmed that it will launch the Galaxy Note 2 on August 29, just before IFA 2012 begins in Berlin.That very event, complete with a picture of what looks suspiciously like a box of tablets being opened by a stylus, has also been confirmed through a press invite -so looks likely to actually be the Note 2 release date?
This is a month earlier than some reports, but with Apple likely announcing the sixth iteration of the iPhone, the foretold iPhone 5, in September now, it's an unsurprising move.
We'd also suggest that Samsung will have the Galaxy Note 2 in shops as quickly as possible, especially as it managed to get the Samsung Galaxy S3 on sale within a month.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Name
We could put forward a list of potential name suggestions, but given Samsung's naming history, we would suggest that Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (or is that Note II) is the most likely. We wouldn't be entirely surprised should we end up with the Samsung Galaxy Note S, though.However Samsung might well have given the game away here, with a tweet seeming to confirm the Galaxy Note 2 name.
Samsung might even choose to call its next Note device the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.5, putting it more in line with its tablet devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 or Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
Even more unlikely, but still plausible, is the decision to break away and call the next device by a totally different name. As much as we highly doubt this, we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention the words Rush, Amp and Helm.
If you're into your seemingly-random collections of letters and numbers, leaked benchmark test results have revealed the potential model for the Galaxy Note 2 could be GT-N7100 - which would make sense as the original Note was GT-N7000.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Price
All the evidence suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 won't come cheap, but then again it was never going to be a budget device. The original Galaxy Note hit the shelves at just under £600 (around $930), and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is also available SIM-free at the same price.Given the likes of the Google Nexus 7 are on sale for £199, there's every chance prices may be more competitive, but we expect Samsung to stick at the higher end of the scale, with contract prices starting at £35 per month for the Galaxy Note 2.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Display
We said in our original Samsung Galaxy Note review that it was "what media devices should look like", so at the very least, we expect the next screen to continue to reflect that.Thankfully, all rumours to this point have suggested that Samsung are going even bigger. The current Galaxy Note packs in a 5.3-inch screen, but sources point to a larger, yet narrower, 5.5-inch screen.
A more recent leak of the chassis seems to confirm this; but the bezel has been reduced so the already-large footprint of the phone/tablet shouldn't put more stress on your pocket.
We've also heard that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is going to get a Super AMOLED display, in line with its predecessor. We're hoping that like the Galaxy S3, that we get a Super AMOLED HD screen, or better yet, a Super AMOLED HD Plus display (with better colour rendering and sharpness), but we're not counting our chickens.
We've also got the fact a leaked benchmark test has apparently revealed the screen resolution for the Galaxy Note 2 to be 1280 x 720.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 CPU
Expected at the very top of end of the price scales, the CPU will have to match. We've heard that Samsung might put in a 2GHz proprietary Exynos 5250 quad-core, but we heard that with the Galaxy S3 as well so we're taking that with a large pinch of salt.
What we can say is that Samsung put a hefty 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 4212 processor inside the Galaxy S3, and this is what we expect to make its way over to the Galaxy Note 2.
We wouldn't be disappointed though, as we noted in the review that it's a "blazingly-fast core that is almost infallible".
According to a leaked benchmark test, the Galaxy Note 2 will use the same quad-core Exynos 4412 chip found in the Galaxy S3, but Samsung may over-clock it to 1.6Ghz.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 design
The original Samsung Galaxy Note looked remarkably similar to the Galaxy S2, so we'd put our money on Samsung doing something similar again, with MK Business News reporting that the Korean firm is ready to release a "derivative" of the Galaxy S3.We should point out though, that Samsung had 3 working prototype designs for the Galaxy S3 to avoid any leaks, so we can't rule out something similar.
Samung Pakistan posted an image on its Facebook page claiming to be the Galaxy S3, and then the Galaxy Note - this was followed up by a device that seems to be something Note-esque from Samsung's South African Facebook page.
It looks a lot like this design 'leaked' to KnowYourMobile - could we be seeing a shrunken-down Galaxy Note 10.1 design?
Then we've got the fact the S-Pen will certainly be included in the frame as well, so tolerance will have to be made for that. If you want to see how it will look really close up, then check out this video with Wim Wenders.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Battery and Camera
We pointed out with the Samsung Galaxy Note that the battery life was on par with the S2, with the extra screen size balancing itself with the extra juice that Samsung had provided. If Samsung really is producing a "derivative" of its Galaxy S3, then expect the amazing battery life found there to continue.Being a media heavy device, we are also expecting the camera to be pretty powerful too, an upgrade on the 8MP offering of the original. Current rumours have the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 bringing in a 12MP sensor, however the Galaxy S3 did come in with almost identical hardware to its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 operating system
We're into Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, territory now, with Google premiering it on the Asus-built Google Nexus 7. Google told us that it was going to be initially rolled out to its Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S devices, as well as the Motorola Xoom.We know that this is well under way, with reports that its already reaching Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices. We also know from the I/O 2012 keynote speech that Google is pushing its software updates to manufacturers a lot faster.
You can see where we're going with this, and with YouMobile reporting that Samsung will push out the OS to Galaxy S3 devices in Q4 this year, all the signs seem to point one way. But apparently the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will ship with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, no Jelly Bean joy to be had until later in the year.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review
No rumours here, only the promise that in true TechRadar tradition, we will get you a full and detailed Samsung Galaxy Note review as soon as we can - expect a hands on from August 29 though, as we're that good to you.
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Barnes & Noble Nook prepped for UK launch
US book-selling giant Barnes & Noble has revealed that it is expanding its business into the UK, with the launch of its Nook range of ereaders.
The Nook brand has been around since 2009 but it has only been recently that a UK launch of the ereader and its digital store looked likely.
The first sign was back in March when B&N announced a Nook developer day in the UK.
This was then followed by the news that Microsoft wanted a piece of the ebook pie, investing $300 million into a Nook subsidiary.
Now it has been revealed that a number of Nook devices will hit stores in October, with the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight set to arrive this autumn.
Discerning and highly educated
"We are proud to be able to offer our top-rated line of Nook reading devices and our award-winning digital bookstore to the discerning and highly educated consumers in the UK," explained William J Lynch, Chief Executive Officer at Barnes & Noble, in a rather flattering press release."We're confident our award-winning technology, combined with our expansive content – including books, children's books, magazines, apps, movies and more – will bring UK customers the option they've been waiting for."
At the moment it looks like it is only the ereaders that are being launched, with no sign of the Nook tablet making an appearance in the UK.
Currently, Amazon rules the roost in the UK when it comes to ereaders with its Kindle range. However Barnes & Noble is a definite rival in the US, so it will be interesting to see if the company can shake up a market that already houses a number of Kindle variations, the Sony Reader and the Kobo range of ereaders.
Alongside the physical Nook, B&N is also about to launch the Nook store which stocks 2.5 million digital title - which equates to plenty of reading for the 'discerning and highly eduated' folks of the UK.
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Top 10 web design packages for small business
Whether you're a sole trader or a multinational corporation a website is now an almost essential part of running a business. Even if you don't sell products directly online a site can still be used to showcase your services and skills or help people locate your premises. You could pay someone to create a site for you but there are plenty of packages around that allow you to do the job yourself at a fraction of the cost.
You can build a website using cloud tools without installing any software on your PC or you can go for a more traditional design package that lets you work offline and upload your design when you're ready to go live.
There are free options, particularly with the cloud-based tools, but these usually have some limitations such as restrictions on the size of the site, the number of pages or which features you can add. You won't have to worry about this with an installed solution but bear in mind that there will be additional costs to host the site and to obtain your own catchy domain name.
To help you decide which option is best for your needs here are - in no particular order - TechRadar Business Centre's top ten web design tools for small business.
1/ 350 Pages
Web: www.350pages.comPrice: £0 to £19.99 per month
For sole traders and small firms the simplest options are the cloud-based site builders that allow you to design a website in your browser. These are ideal for start-ups or if you just want to test the water.
You build your site using a simple drag and drop process based on a choice of templates. Photos and graphics can be added to your pages and resized on the fly using floating toolbars, 350 Pages also supports embedded audio, video and Flash plug-ins. Hosting is included but you'll pay extra if you want to use your own domain name.
350 Pages has a free option that allows you to build a single site with up to 15 pages. If you want more pages or more sophistication, such as the ability to use eCommerce features to sell online, there are various pricing options ranging from £2.99 to £19.99 a month. These also remove the adverts that appear on sites made with the free version.
2/ Moonfruit
Web: www.moonfruit.comPrice: £0 to £25 per month
Moonfruit works in a similar way to 350 Pages with a free starter option and prices ranging from £4 to £25 a month. There's a shop facility even in the free version whilst the premium packages offer mobile-optimised pages and access to the Getty image library.
The range of templates on offer is impressive and they have a cleaner more 'designer' look than those on some of the other cloud sites. The interface makes it easy to move items around resize them, change fonts, colours and more.
We were impressed by how easy it is to produce a stylish, professional-looking site using Moonfruit. If you're trading in a creative field the look and feel of its output will appeal but it's well worth a look for any small business.
3/ Weebly
Web: www.weebly.comPrice: £0 to £2.54 per month
A drag and drop approach is taken by Weebly too. There are more than 100 themes to get you started and these can be customised to suit your taste. Useful features include the ability to create photo galleries and slideshows, embed multimedia and create forms. It creates a mobile optimised version of the site for you automatically and includes eCommerce tools.
If you've worked with websites before you'll like the fact that Weebly allows HTML/CSS access so that you can make changes to the code – adding affiliate links and ad banners for example. You can use your own domain name – which will cost you extra – or get a free weebly.com address.
Upgrade from the free to the Premium version (US$3.99 per month payable a year in advance) and you can embed videos and documents as well as being able to build up to ten sites per account. You can also remove the discreet Weebly advert that appears in the page footers.
4/ MAGIX Website Maker MX
Web: www.magix-online.comPrice: £0 to £4.99 per month
If you're a complete newcomer to web design and want something that's quick, simple and cheap then this could be the tool for you.
MAGIX is a company better known for its desktop software but Website Maker MX is a cloud program that runs in your browser. It's easy to use, starting with a template and allowing you to drag in your own images and text. There's a choice of navigation styles and the Website Assistant will take newcomers through creating a page in easy steps.
You can use Website Maker for free although it will constantly bug you about features that are only present in the paid version. If you decide to upgrade it's cheap at £4.99 a month for the Deluxe package but you have to pay extra to set up your own domain.
It's worth a look if you're a first timer or need only a simple web presence. If you want anything more sophisticated though you're likely to outgrow it fairly quickly.
5/ WebEasy Professional 8
Web: www.avanquest.comPrice: £40.84
If you have a slightly larger business or you want to take more control over the design process then you'll need a package that you can install on your PC. This gives you the flexibility to design and preview the site offline and upload when you're ready. Bear in mind though that you will incur hosting and domain costs in addition to buying the software.
WebEasy Professional 8 uses a simple three-step design process. You select from one of 500 templates, add customisation and features then publish it to the web. Built in eCommerce tools allow you to create a PayPal shopping cart and make eBay compatible store pages.
There are options to make photo galleries and blog pages, plus the program includes a wide choice of clip art and buttons to help you personalise your design. Three month's hosting is included in the package price.
There's a Platinum edition available with extra features and a year's hosting for £102.12.
6/ Serif WebPlus X6
Web: www.serif.comPrice: £81.69
Serif has long been a champion of affordable software and its latest WebPlus X6 product offers a step up from the cloud offerings. The £81.69 price tag includes 30-days free hosting (or a full year if you buy the boxed version from Amazon or PC World).
Like the cloud tools you start with a template – there's a good choice including ones for mobile sites – you can then move things around on the page and drop in your own content. Even clever features like rollovers (where buttons change as you move your mouse over them) and social media widgets can simply be dropped into place.
WebPlus has a useful Site Structure view that lets you see how all of your pages link together and there's a clever Colour Scheme Designer that helps you pick matching shades and apply them across the site.
7/ Xara Web Designer MX
Web: www.xara.comPrice: £39.99
Xara Web Designer MX works in a similar way to Serif WebPlus and is equally easy to get to grips with.
A gallery pane to the right of the screen lets you keep track of your pages and you can change colours just by dragging a swatch from the bar at the bottom. We were impressed by some of the features on offer here. Even the standard version lets you create fly-out menus and pop ups. Something we especially liked is the way it automatically reflows text around a picture as you drag it around allowing you to move away from the rigid template feel.
For £89.99 you can buy the MX Premium version that offers extras including Flash animation and slick page-transitions but for most people the standard edition will have everything they need.
8/ Web Studio 5.0
Web: www.webstudio.comPrice: £102
For medium-sized businesses or those that perhaps need to maintain multiple sites there are a number of options available. Of these semi-pro offerings Web Studio 5.0 offers the familiar drag and drop operation, a shopping cart, forms design, drop-down menu creation and graphical rollovers.
There's a steeper learning curve here than with some of the other tools as you start with a blank page rather than a template. However, it uses a ribbon-style interface and has video tutorials built in so even though it's a powerful tool it won't scare away beginners.
A single copy is US$159.99 and there's a business licence option that allows you to use the software on up to five machines for US$630.
9/ CoffeeCup
Web: www.coffeecup.comPrice: Modules from £31.15
CoffeeCup is a little different from the other offerings here in that it's modular. You buy the Visual Site Designer (US$49) to get started then add things like Shopping Cart Designer and Web Form Builder as required.
The extra modules cost around US$39 each but there are package deals available which combine the most popular options at a reduced rate. It's straightforward to use with some attractive templates included. For hardened web geeks there's an HTML editor module available which allows you to work with the underlying code of the site.
If you want to start small but have the ability to grow your web design capability as your business expands CoffeeCup is an attractive proposition.
10/ NetObjects Fusion XII
Web: http://netobjects.comPrice: £154
NetObjects has been making web design software for over 15 years and its latest offering Fusion XII combines some powerful features. It has eCommerce options, integrated analytics to help you assess your site's performance and access to an online image bank. You also get a Site Wizard that lets you build pages fast – ideal for trying out ideas – and there are templates for mobile-friendly sites.
Fusion is based around a site map that lets you see how all of your pages link together and there's the option to access the HTML code if you need to. Fusion is relatively pricey (though it's a lot cheaper than pro tools like Dreamweaver) but it is a very powerful package offering a lot of flexibility.
If you don't need all of the latest bells and whistles there's a free Fusion Essentials version based on an earlier release. This still allows you to build a good-looking site and is a useful way of seeing if Fusion is for you before you lay out any cash.
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LG Optimus Vu heading to Europe this September
LG has finally revealed that its over-sized smartphone, the LG Optimus Vu, will be coming to Europe and other markets this September.
Originally announced and launched in Korea, the LG Optimus Vu is a beast of a phone, offering a 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio display, Nvidia Tegra 3 performance and an Ice Cream Sandwich OS.
TechRadar first played with the device back in February at MWC, where in our hands-ons: LG Optimus VU review we noted that while it is a direct rival to the Samsung Galaxy Note, it was unclear whether we would actually see the device come to the UK.
Points of Vu
TechRadar has contacted LG to see if it is UK bound, what we do know is that it will be coming to 'select' markets in Europe, Asia, Middle East/Africa and Latin America this September.According to LG, the Optimus Vu has proved rather popular in Korea, with the device selling over 500,000 units – despite its form factor being rather unusual.
With IFA 2012 just around the corner it will be interesting to see if LG decided the Vu is worth a follow-up. It is likely we are going to see the Galaxy Note 2 at the European show, so there's definitely life in the phone/tablet hybrid space.
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Netflix sails past 1 million UK subscriber mark
On-demand movie service Netflix has announced that it has reached the coveted one million subscriber mark in the UK and Ireland.
Netflix has only been available in the UK since January but an extensive advertising campaign and apps cropping up on games consoles, PC, Mac, mobile and tablets has meant that many a movie fan has decided on demand is the way to go when it comes to consuming entertainment.
Stream team
According to Netflix, the UK and Ireland are now officially the fastest-growing territory for the company and point out that its growth in this area is bigger than even what the likes of Facebook and Twitter could manage in the same time-frame - four times faster that Twitter and almost twice as fast as Facebook.Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said about hitting the number landmark: "This membership milestone is evidence that Netflix has rapidly gained popularity in the UK and Ireland.
"Our British and Irish members clearly enjoy the ability to instantly watch a large variety of TV shows and films streaming from Netflix on their favourite devices whenever they want."
Just last week Netflix announced a new offering to its service, continuous play, which allows users to line up TV shows for easier watching.
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Opinion: Are we seeing PC gaming's unlikely comeback?
Have reports of PC gaming's demise have been greatly exaggerated?
The latest news regarding PC games sales, up over 200%, along with box-office busting success from Diablo III suggest just that.
Of course, you can certainly make a case for a PC gaming industry on the slide. For starters, much of the mainstream media interest is dominated by the big games consoles. Those consoles are a lot more cost effective than PCs, too.
The purchase price of a console is a small fraction of a good gaming PC. And the life cycle of a console – as much as seven or eight years - is aeons compared to the relentless upgrade cycle of PCs.
Making matters worse, consoles have been that little bit more innovative when it comes to controllers and interfaces. Whether its the Wii shaking things up with motion sensors or Microsoft taking things a step further with Kinect and now SmartGlass, it's consoles that have been at the cutting edge.
At the same time, a lot of the buzz in terms of the growth of gaming of late has involved mobile devices - smartphones and tablets, in other words. Put simply, girls and older gamers aren't going to be getting into PC gaming.
Then there's the trend towards cloud gaming which threatens to pull the rug out entirely from the very idea of distinguishing between different platforms. If cloud gaming takes off in a big way, surely it will be endsville for the PC as a gaming device?
Maybe. But just about every time it looks like the towel is finally arcing across the canvas on PC gaming, it leaps up, Muhammed Ali style, and gets ready for another round.
In the last few years, it's been the success of the Steam platform from Valve and epic single-title online games like World of Warcraft that have made the argument for PC gaming's viability.
More recently, the crusty ancientness of the two high-tech (relatively speaking) consoles, the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, seems to have given PC gaming a lift. The gap between the graphical performance of consoles and PCs is now absolutely monstrous.
Will consoles continue to suffer?
The upshot of which is that PC game sales are up 230%, while console games have slipped 28%. Meanwhile, Diablo III topped the all-platform gaming charts earlier this year, something a PC title hasn't done for a while.Right now, then, there's no question PC gaming is on the up, even if the money spinner that is World of Warcraft has seen its user base shrink. But will it last? Later this year, a raft of triple-A console titles are due - Halo 4, Grand Theft Auto 5 et al. That's bound to give the consoles a boost.
The next generation of console hardware is looming, too, which will be the real test for the PC. And if the rumours are right, both in hardware and software terms at least one of those new consoles could turn out to be little more than a gaming-optimised PC.
Exactly what that will do to the relationship between consoles and the PC is a very interesting question. But based purely on the PC's indisputable coffin-dodging ability, I'm going to predict that computing most resilient and adaptable platform will remain in the game for the foreseeable future.
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Beginner's guide to marketing to an email audience
Consumers have over the last few years become savvy to the deluge of marketing emails they could receive each day. Today consumers have built sophisticated email filtering systems to stop as much spam as possible reaching their inboxes.
This doesn't mean that your business' email marketing messages won't get through, it simply means your business needs to use email intelligently and craft compelling, marketing messages that consumers want to read and act upon.
Creating inbox Nirvana
Email marketing is governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Before your business can send an email marketing message to anyone your business must ask permission. The only exception is if your business has already contacted that person about similar services or goods.A consumer will open your business' email messages if they feel they offer value to them. Consumers have limited time, so will be choosey about which emails they delete and which they will act upon.
The design, message, time of day the email is received and the calls to action all impact on an email's success as a marketing mechanism.
Your business can increase the chances of its email marketing messages reaching a receptive audience by following some simple rules:
- Segment your database or buy highly specific email address lists to ensure you are speaking to people that are likely to be interested in your business' goods or services
- Don't send emails every day as this can feel like spam. Only send an email when your company has something special to say
- Personalise each email as consumers like to be spoken to directly. Try and stick to a fixed schedule, so potential customers begin to expect your messages
- If you are sending business-to-business emails these are best sent between Tuesday and Thursday and at 9:30am. Business-to-consumer emails should be sent between Tuesday and Thursday, or from Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at 5pm to 8pm
- Send plain-text and HTML versions of your emails to ensure everyone can read your message
- Write an engaging subject line that makes the recipient want to read more. The body of the email should be clear and concise and contain an obvious call to action
- Make sure your company is set up and prepared for an increase of orders and customer service contacts once an email campaign has been sent
Avoiding spam
It's a well-understood component of advertising that repetition can ensure that a brands services or products are remembered by consumers. This certainly works in traditional media, but not when email is concerned. It is commercial suicide to constantly bombard your customers with email messages, as this is tantamount to spamming them. The result is your emails are blocked and never arrive in your potential customers' inbox. With email marketing, less is more.
So, if consumers are building digital bunkers around their inboxes how can your business' emails get through? Just as with traditional direct marketing your business needs to understand its customers. Always have an email sign up box on your site, and gather email addresses at every opportunity. Why? because these people have expressed an interest in your business and have stated they want to hear more.
Customers understand email can be useful, such as to confirm that an order they have placed was successful. But they are also open to new services and products if the marketing message is relevant to them. Engaging with customers is now key, especially with today's social media dominated environment. Just sending an email to customers that have not placed and order for some time can keep the lines of communication open.
Lastly it's important to understand how the behaviour of your customers can also influence how successful your email marketing will be. Most of the leading email programs such as Outlook and Apple Mail use what is called Bayesian filtering.
This means that any email that is marked as spam will be compared to every other email that comes in for similar traits. Some of the keywords that will often be marked as spam include: Free, act now, order now, you're a winner and please read. Try and avoid these words in your email campaigns. Your business needs to ensure its messages don't look like spam and run the risk of automatically being deleted.
Test for the best
Email marketing must be tracked and analysed to ensure it is delivering on your expectations. Open rates and click-throughs from calls to action can all be tracked. Your business should also look at the level of bounceback (ie email addresses that no longer work) and also the level of unsubscribers you are getting.Follow these additional steps to improve your business' email marketing success:
- Make sure you have permission from the people you want to email
- Design your email so it supports your business' brand identity
- Make sure you use absolute URL's for every image in the email
- Include one clear call to action per email campaign
- Design different email messages for mobile marketing as they have to take into consideration the small screens of smart phones
- Test, test and test again to ensure your email message is working properly
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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 teased by Samsung
Samsung has put out a teaser video of its Galaxy Note 2, just over a week before it launches the device.
The video doesn't show the device in full, or name-check it, but we do see the S-Pen in action. The S-Pen is Samsung's name for the stylus you use for doodling and jotting things down, and is included on the original Note and the new Galaxy Note 10.1.
Samsung has enlisted film director Wim Wenders for the teaser video, too:
"When magical moments come alive, everything becomes an inspiration," says the video. Then the S-Pen is drawn out of the device, and we see it clicking and drawing on the Note 2's screen.
"All the things you can do in the blink of an eye, with such a small and light thing," Wenders says. "Anybody can do it."
Enigmatic, to say the least.
The video ends encouraging us to "Be creative, on August 29th, in Berlin." Samsung's Mobile Unpacked press conference is scheduled for August 29 - next Wednesday - so we're in no doubt we'll see the Galaxy Note 2 then.
Note confirmed
Samsung previously confirmed it'll announce the "next Galaxy Note" at the event. The device is widely tipped to be called the Galaxy Note 2.No details have been confirmed, but we're expecting to see a bigger screen, faster processor, and better camera.
Samsung announced the original Note back at IFA at the same time last year, so all signs point to the sequel being outed next week.
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iPhone 5 front panel leaks with 4-inch screen
This could be the front panel of the iPhone 5.
The latest leak shows what claims to be the front housing of the next iPhone. If genuine, it looks like Apple's next handset will sport a 4-inch screen, as widely expected.
The picture follows other leaks including the case, the insides, and the screen. But this is the closest yet we've come to seeing a finished model.
The handset is also expected to be just 7.6mm thin. That's nearly 2mm thinner than the iPhone 4S.
Launching imminently
Rumours abound Apple will announce the next iPhone on September 12. iPhone 5 pre-orders for the handset are expected to go live the same day, with the device going on sale on September 21.Previous rumours said Apple would wait until October, a full 12 months since the iPhone 4S launched.
However, international orders aren't expected until early October. The second round of shipments, which reach international customers, are expected to start on October 5.
Apple named its latest iPad simply the 'new iPad', casting doubt on the name of the iPhone 5. Some think the numeral will make it seem old hat, in the same way Police Academy 7 sounds a bit tired, so Apple could well drop it.
iOS 6 is expected to launch in the autumn as well, so regardless of the exact shipping date, and name, it's clear we don't have long to wait for the next iPhone.
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Sky Sports for iPad app gets second screen footy functionality
Sky has announced that its Sky Sports for iPad app has been updated to provide a second screen experience for football fans, complete with in-depth stats.
Somewhat belatedly, Sky announced the app's arrival today – two days after it actually hit the app store – so for many football fans the experience will be new for the next raft of Premiership fixtures.
But for those who stumbled across the updated functionality they will have seen team and player profiles, match day stats, team form and social media streams.
Statto
"We know that Sky Sports customers want the latest stats and facts about their favourite teams and players, and the new Football Match Centre within the Sky Sports for iPad app does just that," said David Gibbs, director of Sky Sports digital media."With over half a million downloads since launch, we hope that the addition of a football second screen experience to the iPad app will continue to excite fans, providing an intuitive and innovative way to follow the match included as part of their Sky Sports subscription.
"The update builds on the success of the Formula One and Masters second screen experiences which add more depth to a viewer's enjoyment of our linear channels."
Sky's apps have proven to be hugely popular in the UK, and the company's focus on the tablet as a second screen has been clear.
The company states that the Football Match Centre will accompany Premier League matches broadcast live on Sky Sports, enabling Sky Sports customers to enjoy Barclays Premier League football like never before.
The new app update follows the success of a F1 app that proved a popular accompaniment to Sky's coverage of Formula 1 racing.
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Review: HIS HD 7870 IceQ GHz Edition
This latest version of the IceQ cards from HIS gave me a big, shit-eating grin when I pulled it from the chunky packaging. The massive cooler strapped onto the PCB makes it look like a graphics card from 2005, when bigger was unashamedly better.
The cooling array spreads out from the circuit board to house a large fan that's lifted away from the rest of the componentry. If space is at a premium in your build, this may not be the card for you.
The 'Black Hole' impeller HIS uses on its IceQ card is a little smarter than you might give it credit for, though. The fact that it is raised away from the PCB means it can draw in air from both sides. Therefore, if you have another PCI/PCIe card pushing up against it, the IceQ will still draw in a decent air supply.
It's not all about the chunky impeller though - there are also four big aluminium heatpipes going from the copper plate into the heatsink cooled by the Black Hole.
Stock options
Why does it need this extra-special cooling array with the cosmological nomenclature? Well, despite the GHz Edition naming, this is an overclocked version of the stock card. So GHz Edition +1, then? Actually it's more like +100MHz, as the starting clock speed for the HD 7870 IceQ is 1,100MHz. Does that make it GHz Ed +0.1?Argh, whatever, this is an overclocked card and offers slightly speedier frame rates for the extra £30-odd HIS is asking for this version over the stock reference card.
Sadly though, all that extra goodness doesn't really translate into much speed in-game. Sure, you get a bit of extra performance, but only around 5-10 per cent at most. That's not much of a surprise, as factory-overclocked cards rarely offer much more straight out of the box.
What they do offer is a third-party cooling solution. That should allow you to either have quieter operation at full load, or crank up the clocks even further than with the original, reference design cooler the GPU first found itself strapped to. That Black Hole impeller is a quiet little device, and barely registers to the human ear, even when its GPU is weighed down with polygons.
What it doesn't seem to offer is much in the way of increased cooling. We saw only a 4°C difference in fully loaded GPU temperature compared with the reference cooling design. Compared with the "up to 25°C cooler than the reference cooler" claim on the HIS website, that's a bit of a blow. Even when the reference GPU was clocked up to match the starting point of the IceQ, the difference in chip-chilling barely registered.
We did manage to crank the clocks up a little higher than the reference card, though. The original card topped out at 1.2GHz, whereas the HIS version hit 1.25GHz - a whole 50MHz extra.
Benchmarks
DirectX 11 tessellation performanceHeaven 2.5: FPS: Higher is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 21
AMD HD 7870: 20.2
DirectX 11 gaming performance
DiRT Showdown: FPS: Higher is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 30
AMD HD 7870: 30
Cooling performance
100% GPU load: Degrees centigrade: Cooler is better
HIS HD 7870 ICEQ: 64
AMD HD 7870: 68
With the improvements AMD has made to its reference cooling design, the wisdom of spending extra cash on fancy third-party options that barely offer any extra performance is starting to seem misplaced. The IceQ might be worth it for the nostalgic aesthetics, but that's £30 I wouldn't be willing to throw away.
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HTC writes off $40m due to OnLive restructure
The strange case of OnLive's restructure has given one major manufacturer a major headache, with HTC confirming that it will have to show a $40 million (£25.5) loss over its investment in the game streaming company.
Taiwanese phone giant HTC was a key investor in OnLive, which also has BT numbered among its partners.
OnLive's future is still unclear, with the last official word suggesting that the company assets have been acquired into a new company.
Cash stream buffering problems?
HTC's filing to the Taiwan stock exchange said: "Due to lack of operating cash and an inability to raise new capital, OnLive had completed asset restructuring over the weekend. HTC estimates that it will need to recognize a $40 million provision for this investment loss."It's a key blow for HTC, a company that is battling against its own financial woes, with suggestions of a government bail out this month and an admission by its CEO that mistakes have been made.
And there will also be interest in what the company's other backers announce, including British telecoms giant BT, Warner Bros and AT&T.
TechRadar has contacted BT for comment, but the company has yet to make an official statement.
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Competition: WIN! A Nokia 808 Pureview 41MP cameraphone
TechRadar has teamed up with Nokia to give you the chance to win a slice of smartphone history.
With the Nokia 808 PureView you can leave the compact camera at home (even at night) and capture amazing detail in stunning clarity.
The latest innovation in smartphone technology has a 41MP camera and full HD video quality, delivering ground-breaking imagery and sound capture that fits right into your pocket. It gives unprecedented camera control and photo versatility with new depth and detail in every single snap.
Become a pro in minutes
Take photos like a professional in different atmospheres, situations and lighting with the Carl Zeiss lens and flash. The PureView wizardry also compresses the files so you can share your super detailed works of art to Facebook and Twitter within seconds.It's also features lossless zoom for photo and video, making it easy to frame the snap or movie you want - plus a Xenon flash ensures you'll get the shots that easily eclipse a separate compact camera.
To win a ground-breaking Nokia 808 PureView, simply click here to answer the following multiple choice question, and you could be in with a chance of bagging a top end smartphone of your very own!
Which operating system does the Nokia 808 Pureview use?
a) iOS
b) Android
c) Symbian
d) Windows Phone
Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.
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eBay to ban spell and potion sales
In its fall 2012 update, eBay has announced that it will no longer process the sale of certain psychic and magic goods, including spells, magic potions, and curses.
Here's the full list of items being added to eBay's prohibited items category as of September 2012: "advice; spells; curses; hexing; conjuring; magic; prayers; blessing services; magic potions; healing sessions; work from home businesses & information; wholesale lists, and drop shop lists."
For those who didn't even know these services were available on eBay, there's still a few weeks to check it out. Some of the listings, for example, in the Spells and Potions section are absolutely fascinating.
eBay's reasoning
Certainly the online auction mega-site wouldn't vilify the occult and its wares without providing an explanation. On its update page, eBay had this to say:"Transactions in these categories often result in issues between the buyer and seller that are difficult to resolve. To help build confidence in the marketplace for both buyers and sellers, eBay is discontinuing these categories and including the items on the list of prohibited items."
Although the company didn't provide any anecdotal evidence on the matter, the scenarios likely involve some dissatisfaction on the part of the underwhelmed buyer.
Managing expectations for a "Get a Job & Money Spell" is a dicey proposition, especially when the vendor doesn't offer refunds, only re-castings.
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Available Tags:Samsung , Panasonic , UK , Galaxy , iPhone , Google , LG , iPhone 5 , iPad , HIS , HTC , Nokia , eBay ,
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