Facebook and Orange get together to launch a App called Party Call in 2013

December 2, 2012 by

Facebook and Orange have announced that they are launching in a joint venture a social calling app called Party Call that will permit users to call one another without the need to know each other’s numbers. Users will also be able to make “group calls” via Facebook connections, which eliminates the need to know the persons contact number.

This service will be available on the mobile and desktop version of Facebook and will be powered by the Orange’s IP-based call app Libon which is effectively already a competitor for Skype.  Party Call is expected to be launched firstly in France during the summer of 2013, with a worldwide release expected to follow soon after. The deal was announced at the Hello, and innovation event that was arranged by the Orange owner France Telecom. The carrier described Party Call at the event:

“A partnership with Facebook, to introduce more communication tools into social networks, with a first public teleconference service coming in summer 2013.”

It is hoped that this application will be able compete effectively against other popular voip services such as the likes of Skype, Whatsapp, Fring, Google Voice,etc

A Facebook spokesperson has said:

“By connecting its Party Call service to Facebook, Orange will be able to offer customers a truly personal experience. It is a great example of how companies can use Facebook’s open developer platform to make their products social.

“We are really happy that Facebook is transforming telecoms just as it has gaming, music, video and numerous other online services.”

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Nokia maps is to launch on iOS and other OS platforms

November 16, 2012 by

Nokia has announced it is to launch its maps on iOS and Android. Nokia maps until now have only been made available to Symbian and Windows phone OS users.  These maps will also offer turn-by-turn navigation and live traffic updates. This comes as welcome news to iOS users who have recently been forced to switch from  Google maps to Apple maps,  which has received numerous amounts of complaints about its lack of accuracy and lack of detail relating to points of interest.  Android and Windows OS users will also have access to these maps while offline, which is useful when data roaming costs are high. However iOS users will not have access to these maps when they go offline, this is due to the HTML5 technology that it uses that requires an internet connection.

 

Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop in a statement says that “People want great maps, and with Here we can bring together Nokia’s location offering to deliver people a better way to explore, discover and share their world,” .

“Additionally, with Here we can extend our 20 years of location expertise to new devices and operating systems that reach beyond Nokia. As a result, we believe that more people benefit from and contribute to our leading mapping and location service.”

 

Nokia have not at yet released a date its release of its maps app on iOS and Android, but expect it soon to be arriving at your app store. If your impatient then you can access their maps via web based version.  

 

This news comes as Google are said to be close to releasing its maps on Apples iOS plate form.  Source  Wall Street Journal. Lets hope Apple will accept their maps in their store. I don’t see why not, because Nokia maps have been accepted.

 

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The bbc iPlayer has now launched on Sky+ boxes

October 31, 2012 by

The bbc iPlayer has been launched on Sky+ boxes.  Now Sky viewers will be able to catch up on the most popular bbc tv programmes, such as EastEnders  Dr Who, just by going into the demand section on the Sky menu.

It is now joined by most of the other major broadcasters interactive players such as ITV Player, Demand 5 and Skys very own interactive player. However Channels 4’s 4oD’s service will be launching on the platform in early 2013. 

All this comes as welcome news to Sky viewers, who in the past had to make sure if they intended to view a programme at a later date that they had to record it through the record facility on the Sky tv box.

Now the five year old bbc iplayer is on most major platforms, with the exception of the new Windows 8 phone os, which is likely to be supported very soon.

Daniel Danker, the general manager of BBC Programmes and On Demand, says that; “BBC iPlayer has had a record-breaking year, with 2 billion requests for programmes in 2011, and nearly 200 million requests in September 2012 alone”.

“Available on over 650 platforms and devices across PC, mobile, tablet and internet-connected TVs, we are delighted that iPlayer is now also available to millions of Sky+ homes. 20% of all iPlayer use is already on the living room TV.

“By partnering with Sky, BBC iPlayer is available on all major UK TV platforms at no extra charge, making sure our audiences can access the best of the BBC’s content at home and on the go, whenever and wherever they choose.”

Sky’s director of TV products Luke Bradley-Jones added: ““We’re delighted to have partnered with the BBC to bring the best of the BBC on demand to Sky customers. Providing customers with the flexibility to enjoy their favourite TV on demand, our comprehensive catch-up TV service perfectly complements the genius of Sky+, which already helps millions of our customers take charge of their viewing.

“We continue to put Sky customers in control, with the addition of BBC iPlayer to Sky+ sitting alongside a range of innovations including remote record, series link and now even being able to use your iPad as a remote control.”

Source BBC

In order to access these interactive services Sky viewers will need to activate the On Demand services and connect their Sky+HD box to their broadband router. If you require more information go to www.sky.com

 

 

 

 

 

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Sky is now rolling out on demand services to its subscribers

October 18, 2012 by

Sky tv is now in the process of rolling out an update to their Satellite tv boxes that will enable the box to receive catch-up tv services from all the major Sky channels, along with ITV’s catchup up tv service and channel 5’s on demand service.  These new services can be found  in the new On-Demand section of the EPG, that replaces their Any time service.  However not all the tv catchup services are available on their boxes at the moment. The bbc iPlayer service will be coming in the Autumn and that will be followed by Channel 4′ s 4oD which will be rolled out in early next year.

Previously, Sky+ costumers had to set recordings on their box if they did not want to miss their favourite tv programmes before going out, or they would miss the programme entirely. This will come as welcome news for many Sky tv viewers. However if you intend using this service, you will need to connect your tv box to your router and you will need a data intensive internet  monthly allowance, because downloading a 1 hour tv programme will use as much as 1gb of your monthly data allowance.

This update comes as a raft of changes and improvements that are currently being rolled out to the Sky+ tvguide, which has now over nine million users within the UK and the Republic of Ireland. 

 


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BlueStacks stricks a deal that will enable Android apps to run better on Amd powered devices

October 5, 2012 by

A software company called BlueStacks has done a deal with AMD that will allow Android apps to run better on Windows based AMD pc’s and tablets via a programme called the AppZone Player.  BlueStack users will have acess to over 500,000 apps and serveral apps stores, 1Mobile Market, Amazon Appstore, GetJar, and Google Play where they can register and pay for their apps. BlueStacks also includes a feature called Cloud Connect that can sync apps between the Windows client and a user’s dedicated Android devices

In a blog post, the company explained that “BlueStacks has designed and optimized the player for AMD Radeon graphics and … OpenGL drivers found in [ADM] APUs and GPUs.” The results should allow machines running Windows 7 or Windows 8 to smoothly run Android apps in full-screen mode.

Source: informationweek

 

The Bluestacks software can also run on intel based chips and will soon be able to run also on Arm based chips. This is especially good news for the soon to be released Windows 8 rt platform, that will power Arm based pc’s and tablets that at the moment only has to offer 2000 apps via the Windows 8 store. 

 

BlueStacks are also in discussions with hardware developers such as Hewlett Packard to their programme come pre-installed on its AMD-powered computers.

 

However not all apps will work with this programme. There is also no home screen for widgets or custom launchers which is disappointing  because Android has a great selection of useful widgets available also Apps that take advantage of hardware-specific features – such as phone dialing and SMS, GPS positioning, or sensors – aren’t much use with BlueStacks, either.

 

Finally its also important to point out that if you are using a device with a intel chip, you will not be able to use the AppZone Player to gain access to Android apps. But there is another programme available by BlueStacks that will also enable access. To access it just head over to  the bluestacks website and download their software. However its important to point out that this version of the BlueStacks software might not run as smoothly as the App zone version, due to App Zone version being specifically designed to work with Arm processors. 

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Sprint announces more new locations that will carry their 4g service

September 25, 2012 by

The US mobile carrier Sprint has announced that 5 new cities have been added that will offer their 4G LTE network. These places are as follows:

  • Lawrence, KS
  • Topeka, KS
  • Wichita, KS
  • Waukegan-Lake County, IL
  • Barnstable-Hyannis/Mid-Cape, MA

This stage of their roll out of their LTE coverage represents part of the goal of reaching over 100 cities within the next few months, these locations join the other 19 towns and cities that have been added.

So the list of towns and cities that offer the Sprints 4G LTE service at the moment is as follows:

Atlanta, Ga.; Athens, Ga.; Baltimore; Barnstable-Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass.; Calhoun, Ga.; Carrollton, Ga.; Gainesville, Ga.; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Granbury-Hood County, Texas; Houston; Huntsville, Texas; Lawrence, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.; Manhattan/Junction City, Kan.; Newnan, Ga.; Rome, Ga.; San Antonio, Texas; Sedalia, Mo.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Topeka, Kan.; Waco, Texas; Waukegan-Lake County, Ill.; and Wichita, Kan.

Read the press release below, which is taken from Yahoo news:

 

Truly Unlimited Sprint 4G LTE Blazes into More Cities – Brings Power, Simplicity and Value

Customers in parts of Kansas, Illinois and Massachusetts to benefit from Sprint’s all-new 4G LTE network

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), September 24, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced availability of 4G LTE to customers in Lawrence, Kan.; Topeka, Kan.; Wichita, Kan.; Waukegan-Lake County, Ill.; and Barnstable-Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass. Sprint’s wireless customers in these metro areas will benefit from the speed, value and simplicity of the Sprint 4G LTE experience. Through its exceptional selection of smartphones and a Truly UnlimitedSM data plan, Sprint offers an unbeatable package for wireless users.

“In addition to the 19 cities we have already launched, we recently announced that Sprint 4G LTE will be available in more than 100 cities in the coming months,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president-Network, Sprint. “Today’s news moves us even further toward achieving that goal. We strive to deliver a top-notch network experience combined with winning devices and unlimited nationwide data plans – all of which are designed to support the ways our customers use their mobile devices today and tomorrow.”

A strong, robust wireless network is increasingly important as wireless users want to access emails quickly, upload photos/videos to friends and family, and routinely check in with social networks – all on their smartphone. Keeping up with current wireless data usage and looking into the future, Sprint is building an all-new 3G and 4G LTE network as part of a strategy known as Network Vision. This network build-out is expected to improve all aspects of the wireless experience for customers.

Today, some customers in parts of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York are experiencing better 3G service thanks to the start of the Network Vision program in those areas. Additionally, customers in areas of Baltimore, Boston and Washington, D.C., have been enjoying enhanced 3G performance. As Network Vision continues to rollout across the country, Sprint customers will see significant improvement in their 3G network experience, including expanded coverage, improved network reliability, better voice quality, and faster 3G data speeds.

Sprint understands the value of a Truly Unlimited experience. Sprint offers a portfolio of 4G LTE-capable devices, which includes powerhouse smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy S® III, Motorola PHOTON™ Q™ 4G LTE and the new iPhone™ 5. Customers can sign up for an Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM, which includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones – a savings of $20 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web (excludes taxes and surcharges). Customers value Truly Unlimited data, because it’s simple and straightforward – no metering, no throttling or overages, and no need to share minutes or data, all while on the Sprint network.

Additionally, the 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 industries, during the last four years.

With today’s announcement, Sprint 4G LTE is available in 24 cities and is expected to be in more than 100 additional cities in coming months. Sprint introduced its all-new 4G LTE network in July 2012 and expects to have largely completed the nationwide build-out by the end of 2013. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE portfolio and roll out, visit www.sprint.com/4G LTE.

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Apple maps are a let down here is how to get Google maps back

September 23, 2012 by

Since the update of iOS  6 Apple user have lost the familiar Google maps software on their apple devices only to find out that apples replacement map service is an inferior product. Many users are finding that the new maps are lacking in detail and are sometimes not even completed. For example some of the London maps are missing the tube stations and other vital landmark points that are essential for navigation. Some of the digital maps are also incomplete and blurry. Also another major complaint is with the maps location feature, some users have reported that it does not  always locate you accurately.    

If you want to revert to Google maps service a website called Pocket lint has found a temporary solution, while we wait for Google to bring out an iOS map app. Here is how:

Step 1

Open up Safari, and enter the url maps.google.co.uk or maps.google.com

Step 2

Click okay when the Notification pop up appears asking whether you are happy for “https://maps.google.co.uk” to use your current location.

Step 3

When the page finishes loading, click on the share icon in the centre of the menu bar at the bottom and click on the “Add to Home Screen Icon”, on the next pane click “Add” in the top right hand corner.

Step 4

You are done. When you want to find yourself you can simply click on this icon and as long as you have internet access you’ll be able to use the Google Mapping service.  

Source: Pocket lint

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Amazon to launch the Kindle Fire HD September 6

September 10, 2012 by

Amazon is launching the new Kindle Fire HD soon it was announced at the at its press conference in Santa Monica on September 6.

The screen of the tablet will now offer a pronominal screen, which will be of 1920×1200 resolution capable of hosting images in 254 ppi. The screen will also come offered in 7 or 8.9 inch screen versions. The new screen will also be laminated with a special coating, which will make it easier to read and give you a better screen contrast ratio.

The speakers will sound better too, they will now come with Dolby Digital Plus. They will also feature a camera and Bluetooth for sharing digital media. 

The new device will have a better WiFi performance, a longer battery life and will be much more nippy than its predecessor, thanks to twice the ram and a new 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4460 processor that contains an Imagination PowerVR 3D graphics core for fast and fluid performance. However even after this hardware upgrade its will be still no match for for it’s rival the Nexus 7 that comes that comes with 1gb of ram and a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip, that is clocked at 1.3GHz. 

There is also a 4g version planned but that is being being launched at a later date, which will come with better storage options such as 32gb and 64gb. 

The user will get access to the Whisper Sync service on this new device, which has been recently expanded to games and audio books, that allows the users to pick up where they left across different devices.

This appears to be a nice overall upgrade, but some things are still seriously lacking, such as the inability to upgrade the memory, due to their being no sd card slot on the device. If you need a lot of memory then consider something else.

There will be a none HD version offered too that is a slightly upgraded version of its predecessor, that will come with twice the ram and a better battery.

The new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD 16GB and 32GB will cost consumers $199 and $249, respectively, while the the 8.9-inch model will be priced at $299 (£187). They will be available to pre order now and will ship on November 20 in the US.

The 4G LTE version pricing will begin from $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB model. AT&T will be offering data plans costing $49.99 per year with a monthly data cap of 250MB, 20GB of cloud storage, and a $10 Appstore credit with those devices.

The 7-inch model will be available at $199 (£124) for a 16GB model. The 8.9-inch model will be priced at $299 (£187). They will be available to pre order now and will ship on November 20 in the US. Those 

In the UK the 7inch version of Kindle Fire HD will be sold in the UK at £159 and the none HD version will be sold at £129 in the UK and they it will ship October 25. No details as of yet for the 8.9 inch version have been released.


 

 

 

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Ethical torrent site UKnova closes

August 29, 2012 by

The ethical torrent website UKNova has decided to close down after being targeted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft. This decision comes on the heels of  another website called SurfTheChannel which was also pressured by F.A.C.T to close down.

This comes is a sad day for many UK ex pats around the world who relied on this website for their UKTV programmes for more than 9 years. UK ex pats relied on this website because they had limited means of accessing content from the UK, which is due to geo block isp restrictions. 

The site owners claim that they had a set of ethical guide lines in place that would prevent any copyright infringement from taking place that would have resulted in the loss of revenue to the companies concerned.  But that argument was not considered enough for F.A.C.T. to prevent a potential breach of copyright infringement.  They went on to  issue a “cease and desist” notice, which listed a number of claimants against the site. One of the site administrators told the website Torrent Freak that:

 

 “There was one very big UK satellite provider, some of whose content (a tiny percentage from their basic package) was available on UKN, there was also a football production company.

“The remaining members represent post-transmission marketing of DVDs etc. The major UK TV companies are not F.A.C.T members and were not mentioned.”

UKNova did not confirm the identities of the companies, but the “very big UK satellite provider” is thought to be Sky, a F.A.C.T member, while the football company is most likely the Premier League. 

 

As soon as UKNova became aware of  these complaints from these companies.  A UKNova admin told the Torrent Freak that: 

 

“We immediately removed the alleged offending links to content that could be [connected to] the two companies and replied to F.A.C.T assuring them of our cooperation in the matter, but asking them to point out examples of potentially offending links,” .

 

The organisation F.A.C.T then went on to inform UKNova that  “ALL links or access to content provided by UKNova are infringing, unless you can prove that you have obtained explicit permission from the copyright holder for that content,” .

 

The site administrators after careful consideration, decided to close this site down to avoid a costly legal battle that they would probably loose. The site administrators told Torrent Freak that: 

“The people who run UKNova have families, careers and professional reputations that could be menaced by lengthy legal proceedings, whether successful or not. Whilst we believe that F.A.C.T are wrong both legally and morally on account of the strong ‘no commercial content’ stance that we have always taken, we are not in a position to be able to risk lengthy and costly court battles to prove this,” 

The site administrator went on to say that:

“It is a sad day when a site whose mission has always been to bring much-missed UK TV to ex-pats and Anglophiles at the four corners of the world is forced to stop this activity. Nobody will be plugging a huge revenue hole because we are gone, but tens of thousands of avid viewers will suffer.”

 

However this action by F.A.C.T will not stop file sharing. There actions will in fact drive people who want UK content to search out other websites,  such as the thepiratebay that do not care less if they commit copyright infringement, which will further deny content holders out of potential revenue streams.

 

 

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Everything Everywhere is to start rolling out a 4G service from September 11

August 22, 2012 by

Everything Everywhere who own T mobile and Orange is to start rolling out 4G services on part of the spectrum that it currently owns which is at 1800 MHz in the UK from September 11. This is the direct result of a ruling by Ofcome that took place on on the 21st of August.

However this launch of the 4g service is likely to be a little premature and is likely to fall on deaf ears, because there are no mobile devices that can receive the 4g signal that are available for sale in the UK at the moment. It’s important to note that US 4g devices and the new iPad will be useless to use here, which is due to the US operating on different 4g frequencies such as 700MHz and 2100MHz. However Everything Everywhere will be able to get around this hurdle temporarily, by making 4g dongles that will enable many existing mobile devices able to receive the super fast 4g signal. Also it is likely that the mobile device manufacturers will begin rolling out UK 4g completable mobile phones and devices soon at this 4g frequency and the other 4g frequencies, which are due to be launched later on in the year by the other mobile phone operators. 

 

The other networks such as 02 and Vodaphone are not happy with the decision. They think that  Everything Everywhere is getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace.  An O2 spokesperson told TechRadar:

 

“We are hugely disappointed with today’s announcement, which will mean the majority of consumers will be excluded from the first wave of digital services,” “This decision undermines the competitive environment for 4G in the UK.”

 

Everything Everywhere have also confirmed that they intend to introduce a new brand identity soon. This does not look like they intend to replace their existing service brands such as  T mobile and Oranges with one new brand, In fact they have made a statement saying that:

”Everything Everywhere confirms that we are planning to launch a new brand in the UK later this year. This new brand will sit alongside our existing brands Orange and T-Mobile. We will reveal more information on our exciting plans in due course.”

It would make economic sense to merge two services into one offering 4g. If they did that it would make them the biggest mobile provider under one brand name in the UK with over 27 million customers.

 

 

 

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