Author: Paul Lamkin
O2 – party poopers for rouge tetherers
O2 has confirmed that they will ban any users who use alternative methods to tether data with their iPhones. The tethering issue has become quite a sore point in the iPhone community since it was announced last week that O2 would only be allowing users to tether who pay for an additional bolt-on to their contracts.
A German website was providing a link to a programme called Mobileconfigs which allows users to change the profile of their local carrier. This would mean that iPhone users could tether without having to go through the official channels – and therefore not pay any extra on their bill.
Although the link doesn’t seem to be active at present, there are always going to developers who will look at ways of bypassing the tethering bolt-on charge. It seems that the tethering argument is set to run and run. Oh goody.
(via ITProPortal)
Facebook's latest attempt to emulate Twitter
Is Facebook scared of Twitter? Definitely. It’s why they tried to buy them back in November last year and it’s why they’re now looking at implementing an Everyone button in order to try and compete with the microblogging service.
Currently when Facebook users update their status or post messages they are published to only those people who have been selected to receive updates in the user’s privacy settings. Facebook are planning to change this so as everytime a message is posted or a user’s status is updated the user will have the option of selecting who their content will be available to.
Facebook are hoping that if enough people click the everyone option, then they could build a real-time news stream a la Twitter.
Knowing how sensitive Facebook users can be, expect numerous protest groups to be set up in the near future.
(via Tech Crunch)
iPhone 3.0 unlocked already?
It’s not even officially available until Friday but super hackers the Dev Team have posted a video on YouTube claiming to have come up with a crack that will unlock any version of the iPhone with the 3.0 firmware – that would include the new iPhone 3GS.
The crack is being touted as ultrasn0w – an upgrade to the Dev Team’s previous hack yellowsn0w which unlocked the original iPhone firmware.
The Dev Team are keeping pretty schtum on the details for fear of Apple releasing a patch to counteract it.
I’m predicting that the iPhone will be jailbroken within hours of its release on Friday.
(via Mobile Crunch
Plantronics Voyager Pro – performance based bluetooth headset
Plantronics’ latest Bluetooth headset has been unveiled to Tech Digest and, we have to admit, it looks pretty good. Whereas the Discover range, which we’ve featured before, focuses on style, the Voyager Pro is much more concerned with performance.
First off, there is a huge emphasis on sound quality. Stuart Bradshaw of Plantronics explains: “On a noisy street, where a lot of people use headsets it’s important to have clarity in what you’re hearing.”
The headset contains Plantronics’ audioiQ2 technology – which they claim is the latest enhancement to DSP technology. The two built in microphones – one for voice and one for ambient sounds – should both act as noise cancellers to minimise background noise.
The phone has some nifty features too, such as voice prompts for low battery and mute status and there is also the option to connect the headset with multi-points. This means you could set it up to your work phone as well as your personal one.
The headset will cost you £79 and is available first through Orange on 1st July.
Expect a Tech Digest review in the next week or so.
LG to launch 15-inch OLED in 2010
In an interview with OLED Info, Won Kim, LG’s vice president of OLED sales and marketing confirmed that the electronics conglomerate will be releasing a 15-inch OLED TV in its native Korea in December 2009 – January 2010. Kim went on to say that a global roll-out will follow.
Last month we told you how Sony are planning to release a 21-inch OLED TV at around the same time as LG are predicting their 15-inch release. Samsung and Panasonic are both aiming for 40-inch versions during 2010 as well. It seems like the competition in the OLED market is really hotting up.
Kim also hinted that LG have not completely dismissed the notion of OLED screens on their mobile phones as has been recently speculated. He said that two phones had been tailored in Korea with OLED screens and stated that “OLED phones will not only survive entrenched LCD ones but position as a premium segment”.
(via OLED Info)
PEGI takes control of game classifications
With all of the hullabaloo (yeah I said hullabaloo, big whoop, wanna fight about it?) that surrounded yesterday’s Digital Britain report, you may have missed the announcement that PEGI is going to be the sole gaming classification body in the UK, leaving the BBFC out in the cold.
The BBFC have, in the past, accused PEGI of being “just a couple of blokes” and have pulled a bit of a strop over the announcement. “The BBFC has always supported PEGI and wished it well,” they said. “But it continues to believe that it satisfies these requirements better than PEGI.”
What this means for consumers is that games will now display the PEGI logos that indicate a game’s specific content – such as that of a spider for fear, a fist for violence and a hypodermic needle for diabetic friendly titles. Not really – the needle represents a drugs theme, silly.
The symbols will accompanied by an age-classification of 3,7,12,16 and 18, which are legally enforceable – if you ain’t old enough you ain’t getting in, simple.
The PEGI system is Europe-wide and is self regulated by the publishers themselves.
(via The Telegraph)
Spotify to offer more paid for services
Spotify have responded to the news of Virgin Media’s team up with Universal Music by announcing that they are planning a whole bunch of new features to add value to its premium service.
Currently users who pay £9.99 a month (or 99p a day) can have ad-free access to the three million tracks that are available in the UK. The premium side of Spotify will be expanded to include:
- Mobile access, as revealed by this very blog last month
- Recommendations and ticketing
- Bundled downloads
- A social networking aspect to the service
- Better quality audio streams than the current 160kb/s ogg vorbis q5 codec
Spotify’s UK MD Paul Brown said: “The idea is to have a service with more features and functionality that will draw people in.”
It isn’t clear yet whether there will be additional subscription packages or whether the new features will be included within the current £9.99 fee. Either way, along with the Virgin/Universal announcement, it’s an exciting time for digital music.
(via NMA)
UPDATE: Secret police blogger unmasked by courts
The police officer behind the award-winning Night Jack blog has been revealed. The disclosure comes as a result of detective constable Richard Horton losing a legal case in which he sought an injunction against The Times to keep his anonymity.
Mr Justice Eady refused the injunction, ruling that it was in the public interest to reveal DC Horton’s identity.
The Night Jack blog had received wide praise for its honest and frank representations of police life and was awarded the Orwell special prize for blogs earlier this year.
Unfortunately the blog has now been deleted at Wordpress, although you can still read some extracts via The Guardian.
(via The FT)
Go on Tour – the latest BlackBerry
Looking alarmingly like the Curve 8900, albeit slightly bigger and heavier, RIM’s latest device the BlackBerry Tour 9630 lords it over its slimmer sister by including 3G connectivity.
Other features include GPS that will work hand-in-hand with the pre-installed BlackBerry maps and a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash and image stabilisation. The 2.4-inch screen has a resolution of 480×360.
There are no release details yet for poor old Blighty but the model does support GSM, so you never know.
In the meantime, you’ll have to make do with the Curve 8900:
Ofcom offers glimmer of hope in O2 tethering row
Consumer blog Bitterwallet has posted an interesting update concerning the ongoing issue of whether O2 should be allowed to charge for iPhone tethering.
The row essentially boils down to the fact that O2 are proposing a £14.68 – £29.36 monthly bolt-on charge for customers who want to use their iPhone to tether 3G data to their laptops. iPhone customers already have a plan in place with O2 whereby they can download, supposedly, unlimited data, so customers would be paying extra for data they’ve already paid for.
Bitterwallet’s post includes a letter from a reader who contacted Ofcom to complain about O2’s proposal. The reader was told that “without further calls to them about this issue” any action Ofcom might take would not go forward. This implies that Ofcom will need more people to lodge a complaint before any action is taken.
If you did want to complain then Ofcom can be reached on 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333.
