A picture has emerged on the internet that hints of a Kinect 2 with enhanced capabilities

August 10, 2012 by

A picture has emerged on the internet that hints of a Kinect 2 with enhanced capabilities.  The image was posted by a twitter user    called SuperDaE. This image appears to show two people using the Kinect 2 which is running on a Durango, which is the code name for the latest Xbox development kit. 

 

This image seems to give an indication that there is going to get a massive upgrade from the previous model.  The images seem clearer and it appears to show more depth than the previous model did. All this suggests that the new sensor is capable of capturing a much greater amount of data. If all this is true then the new Kinect sensor along with the new rumoured Xbox 720, which  is likely to be launched at the same time, will likely be able to solve some long running issues such as lag and accuracy issues which has blighted the current model since its launch.

 

The new Kinect 2 sensor is likely to be launched along side the much hyped Xbox 720 sometime within the next 18 months. If all the rumours are true about the new Xbox 720 that indicates that its going to come packed with native 3d, true 1080p, a blue ray player and a much faster Intel eight-core CPU with a NVIDIA graphics card, then the game station combined with the new sensor will be able to blow away its closest competitor which is the Sony PlayStation 3. 

 

 

 

 

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Ovivo offers free phone calls texts and data every month

August 4, 2012 by

There is a new telephone company on the block called Ovivo mobile, this company is now offering its customers a generous bundle of free calls, texts and data every month. There is no minimum tops up and no contract every month.  The only catch is that you have to agree to view targeted adverts that are directed to your phones internet browser. The company is compatible with most platforms with the exception of Blackberry and Symbian. So you should have no problems signing up and getting the service running on your device. Once you have signed up and paid £5’s you will receive your sim with £5’s of credit. Its worth noting that once your monthly allowance runs out then you will be charged at 6p per minute for calls,6p per text and 6p per MB for data, which are the best rates to be found within the UK.

 

The company piggybacks on the Vodafone network, so your guaranteed a solid and reliable reception wherever you choose to wander within the UK.  

For more details go over to the Ovivo website.

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Texting in the UK is now more popular than making a voice call

July 18, 2012 by

Texting on a mobile phone in the UK is now more become popular than making a voice call according to new research which has been released by the telephone regulator Ofcom

According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report of 2012 that the  use of texting has doubled within a 4 year period. Last year as much as 150 billion texts got sent out, now the average person sends as much as 50 texts a week making it an average of 2,600 texts over a period of a year.

The group leading the way with this trend from making traditional voice calls comes from the younger 16 to 24 age group in the UK.  Ofcom found that as much as 96% of 16 to 24 years olds are now using some kind of  text based application to communicate, they also found that traditional SMS texting has proven to be more popular than using social networking site applications to communicate, only 73% used a social networking site like Facebook and Twitter to chat compared to 90 % that used SMS. Only 67% of this age group actually made calls on a daily bases making it the least popular to way communicate when using a mobile phone.  

 

James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of research, said: “Our research reveals that in just a few short years, new technology has fundamentally changed the way that we communicate.

“Talking face to face or on the phone are no longer the most common ways for us to interact with each other.

“In their place, new forms of communications are emerging which don’t require us to talk to each other – especially among younger age groups.

“This trend is set to continue as technology advances and we move further into the digital age.” Source Ofcom

 

Overall the number of mobile and land line voice calls made is on a continual slide year after year. This seems to come down to the rapid growth in popularity over the years of  social networking sites and internet enabled devices, such as tablets, smartphone and notebooks in which the average home has now at least 3 devices. In 2011 Ofcom states that the time spent on the phone by UK adults fell by as much as 5%, this is reflected in  a 10% fall in the volume of calls made from landlines, and for the first time ever, Ofcom has even seen a fall in the volume of mobile calls (by just over 1%) in 2011. 

 

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A new mobile broadband service launches in the UK that’s offering free internet

July 5, 2012 by

There is a new mobile broadband service called Samba, has just launched in the UK that’s offering free Internet. But there is a catch, the user will need to watch video advertisements in order to qualify for the free Internet service. The user will be able to choose what adverts he or she wants to watch. The customer will get to accumulate credit based on the amount of adverts that they watch. There will also be a battery indicator to help keep check on the amount of data the user has. The service seems to offer very good value for money, for example, just watching 2.5 minutes per day of adverts will get the user a data allowance of 517MB per month, which is more than enough for the average user. 

“Samba is the perfect solution for people who need internet data on the go and don’t want to be locked into contracts with monthly charges and additional costs for excess data usage,” says Ben Atherton who is the CEO and founder of Samba.

“With Samba you earn the credit watching ads at a time that is convenient for you and then have access when you need it. It also marks an end to that hunt for a coffee shop, pub, hotel or library to get on line  with Samba you can be online anytime, anywhere”.

“We want Samba to be a quality product that our customers will enjoy using. We have the best connection and internet speed possible and carry premium ads from brands such as Agent Provocateur, Sims, Volvo, Clinique, Nissan, Paramount Pictures, Xbox Kinect, Pot Noodle and Dell.” continues Atherton.

This broadband service should be able to offer a fast and reliable connection, due to the company using the 3 mobile network, which has been specifically built from the bottom up to run on a minimum of 3g data speeds.  

This is the UK’s first free broadband service to launch to date, whether this business model will prove to be a success only time will tell.  Keep your eyes peeled and watch this space.

If you want to join, you will need to go to  www.sambamobile.com and register where you will be required to purchase a £5 sim card or a 3G dongle with a sim card which will set you back £25. If you want to use the service with your laptop, then you will most likely need to take the dongle with the sim card option. 

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YouView is to beta test its service to 2000 UK homes

June 26, 2012 by

YouView which was previously referred to as Project Canvas is to expend its beta testing service to 2000 UK homes within the UK . It’s currently beta testing its service to 350 customers. The YouView service is expected to launch during the second half of the year. 

The YouView service was originally planned to launch in 2010, but it was delayed due to various technical problems and regulatory issues.  

Back in 2010 when it was due to launch it was thought to be revolutionary, but with there rivals, such as Sky and Virgin Media offering similar catch up and video on demand services, it’s launch might appear to be a less appealing than it once did.  But it’s backers such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, TalkTalk, BT and Arqiva are hoping that it’s service still has appeal to those who do not want to pay for a service.  

No exact details have been released to date that fully details what will be included in this service. So far we know that the set top box will have Freeview built into it and it will be able to act as a pvr too. The set top box will also be offering from the beginning all the UK on demand and catch up services such as the iplayer, itv player and 4oD. It’s also likely that other web services will come on board in the near future such as Facebook,YouTube, Love Film and Net Felix.

The set top boxes are likely to cost around the £200 mark but certain companies such as BT and TalkTalk  are likely to include the  set top boxes within their customer product bundles.

If your interested in joining YouViews trial  just click on this link to their website here.

 

 

 


 

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TalkTalk is the latest isp to ban The Pirate Bay

June 13, 2012 by

TalkTalk has become the latest isp in the United Kingdom to implement a ban on The Pirate Bay less than a week after O2 and Be Broadband did.  This follows the High court decision back in April, which was brought about by the BPI. TalkTalk issued a statement on Tuesday  stating:

“TalkTalk can confirm that is it is blocking access to The Pirate Bay following a court order to so,” .

This leaves just BT, which is expected to follow suit at any time soon.

The UK high courts decision to order all UK Internet service providers to ban  TPB will prove to be futile, because TPB has a number options at it’s disposal to circumvent this restriction such as proxy servers,virtual private networks,alternative ip addresses etc. In fact TPB has already released a number of alternative ip addresses, which it can be accessed on.

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O2 and Be broadband have now blocked The Pirate Bay

June 9, 2012 by

In a statement to the Register O2 said: “We have no option but to comply with this order and will be doing so overnight.”

Be Broadband has also released a statement on its blog.

“In April the UK High Court ruled that the Pirate Bay sites infringe copyright and that the named group of ISPs had to block access to the site. Our parent company was one of the named ISPs so we are obliged to comply,” said the ISP. 

“We wouldn’t choose to do this voluntarily but we need to comply with UK laws just like any UK business. We’re aware of the concerns voiced by members about the broader issue.

“Our policy of zero traffic management means that we treat all protocols equally (e.g. web, downloads, VPNs) and we will do as much as we can to give you the internet as you want it, whilst complying with UK laws.”

TalkTalk and BT have still not yet complied with the UK court order: TalkTalk has until 13 June to do so, while BT has been given more time to do so.

A spokesman for BPI, which represents nine record labels in the UK who brought this legal action against TPB, has told the Register that BT was expected to come to an agreement with BPI “in due course”.

This action will prove to be short sighted, because TPB has other  other strategies up its sleeves to by pass this ban, which have been pointed out in previous articles. This will further add fuel to the endless cat and mouse game, which has been going on between the TPB and the authorities  for years.

 

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The new smaller SIM format gets standardised

June 1, 2012 by

The new smaller SIM format war is over and gets standardised. There have been a few companies competing  for their proposed size to become the industrial standard such Apple, Motorola,Nokia and Rim. There appears to be no outright winner instead there has been a compromise in size to keep all the companies happy.  This new size was agreed today during a meeting at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute in Osaka, Japan. 

This size appears to be closest to what size Apple had proposed. The new sim card will measure 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm, with a thickness of 67 mm. Overall it will mean a 40% reduction in size. The good news is that the new SIM card will work with existing devices. In order to make it fit it will just have to be paired with a carrier frame, which can then be inserted into a device.

 


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The Pirate Bay opens up other ip addresses to avoid the ban

May 30, 2012 by

As the list of countries grow that include the Netherlands and the United Kingdom that are starting to block The Pirate Bays ip address.  TPB has responded to this by registering hundreds of IP addresses. This strategy will allow TPB make sure that access to its website is always open. A website called Torentfreak states that “If the new IP-address is blocked again, they will simply add a new one”. This action will lead to according to Torentfreak “an extended game of whac-a-mole.” with hundreds of IP addresses in its back pocket. 

TPB have proved once again that they are always one step ahead of the authorities. TPB  has been in an endless game of cat and mouse for years and there is no sign of it coming to an end any time in the near future.

 

 

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Facebook being sued by some investors over its stock flotation

May 24, 2012 by

Facebook is being sued by investors over its stock flotation, two lawsuits were filed on Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants are accused of concealing Facebook’s revenue generation forecasts during the IPO investors roadshow, which showed “a severe and pronounced reduction” . This action allowed a few investors in the know to sell their Facebook shares before the price fell, while others who were not in the know saw their shares lose more than a third of its value within a few days.

“Some insiders and investors were preferred over others,” The Telegraph quoted Darren Robbins, a lawyer for one set of retail investors who have filed a suit in a New York court on Wednesday as saying .”Everyone made money in this process, but it was the ordinary main street investor who was left holding the bag.”

Some of Amerca’s biggest banks and investment houses such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are accused of not letting potential investors know that the banks had lowered their revenue estimates for the Social Networking site, in  advance of the share flotation.

A few Investors have claimed to have lost as much as $2.5bn (£1.6bn) from buying Facebook shares.

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