Author: Simon Perry

Samsung G600: First Look

We went to the Global launch of the Samsung G600 in London last night – the first time Samsung has carried out such a launch in the UK.

The phone is quite a looker and the first for Samsung with a 5 Mpx camera built in. To match this, is a great display capable of displaying 16M colours, which should flatter the films you can play on it at 30fps, in MPEG4, WMV and H.264 formats.

The black two-tone sliding handset feels great in the hand, with the sort of heft that conveys quality.
Continue reading Samsung G600: First Look

Ben Lavender, iPlayer Inventor Leaving BBC Today

Ben Lavender, the person who came up with the idea behind the BBC iPlayer, originally called iMP, is leaving the BBC this afternoon.

We’d been told about the news a while back, but have held off until the information was public. Looking at his Linkedin profile, we see that it now shows his new role, as Group Digital & Product Director at LoveFilm.
Continue reading Ben Lavender, iPlayer Inventor Leaving BBC Today

Twofour Get Parliament Webcasting Deal

Twofour Get Parliament Webcasting DealTrebles all round at Twofour Digital as they announce the winning of the three year contract to produce and host the webcasts of all proceedings from the House of Commons and House of Lords, made available through the Parliament Web site.

The webcasts include live coverage of all UK parliamentary proceedings and Select, Public Bill and General Committees as well as selected archive footage.

We imagine this is in no small way due to Phil Haggar now being within the Twofour fold, them having bought his Makeni Webcasting production company back in April this year.

What’s the relevance? We first met the very competent Mr Haggar when he ran Westminster Digital way back in 1999 – whose business backbone was … Webcasting Parliament.

It appears that Twofour’s ambitions don’t stop there, besides growing through acquisitions of companies, it’s also working for the European Parliament to design and deliver a ground breaking webTV channel broadcasting scheduled content in 20+ languages.

Twofour Digital

iPhones Take Out WiFi Network

iPhones Take Out WiFi NetworkiPhone’s appear to be taking out chunks of the wireless network at Duke University in the US.

We won’t get all technical on you by delving in to the tech-laden reasons as to why it _might_ be happening – they still don’t know how it is happening for sure – but the upshot of it is they think the iPhones are generating up to 18,000 requests per second.

Barrages like this are crippling the WLAN kit, as it tries to deal with and make sense of each of them.

Duke have been in touch with Apple about the problem, but so far the communication with Apple has been “one-way.”

Given the number of tech mad loonies that have bought iPhones in the US, it is a little strange that no other sites have recorded the same problem.

For the details on the story, trot over to Network World

Dow Jones Board Votes Yes: Murdoch One Step Closer To Ownership

Dow Jones Board Votes Yes: Murdoch One Step Closer To OwnershipWe received a newsflash from the Wall Street Journal (I guess they would be the first to know) at 4:27 this morning that the Dow Jones board had voted in favour of the News Corp take over, with only Leslie Hill, a member of the Bancroft family, and Dieter von Holtzbrinck abstained from the vote.

Christopher Bancroft – who it is understood is actively seeking alternatives to the News Corp. bid – left the meeting early.

It’s reported that News Corp. was “grateful” to Dow Jones board for its vote.

News Corp have been trying to get their hands on Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, to add to their already large portfolio of highly influential media titles and companies around the world.

The next, and possibly final stage, is for the Bancroft family to approve the boards approval. Given the family has asked for more than $60 per share in the past – the current News Corp offer, valuing the company at $5Bn – it’s anyone’s guess which way it will go.

There’s been considerable concern voiced about how good an idea it is for Rupert Murdoch to be in control of a major force of financial reporting in America.

AWOMO, Virgin Games Company To Float For $1Bn?

AWOMO, Virgin Games Company To Float For $1Bn?We nearly fell off our chairs when we saw the Independent reporting that Virgin-backed games company, A World Of My Own (AWOMO) were hoping to list for $1Bn in London and Frankfurt.

The Big Idea is that people will use the 3D world of AWOMO to download their games.
Continue reading AWOMO, Virgin Games Company To Float For $1Bn?

Ofcom: Cut Mobile Number Transfers To 2 Days

Ofcom: Cut Mobile Number Transfers To 2 DaysOfcom has floated a proposal to simplify the process of moving your mobile phone number to another provider and cutting the transfer time to within two hours, a stark contrast to the five days it takes now.

With the two hour goal just over two years away, Ofcom has ruled that the mobile industry must reduce the time taken to a getting-close-to-reasonable two working days, starting on 1 April 2008 (why do UK organisations persist in using 1 April? It’s so open for abuse if problems arise).
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Crackle: Sony’s New Content Move After Grouper

Crackle: Sony's New Content Move After GrouperIt looks like there’s finally some sense coming to the world of User Generated Video Content.

Online video site Grouper, that Sony bought last year for $65m, has bid farewell to trying to compete with the YouTube’s of this world.

Grouper has changed its name to Crackle and also change the type of content it will be making available to punters.
Continue reading Crackle: Sony’s New Content Move After Grouper

Chatpad On Xbox 360 Announced

Chatpad On Xbox 360 AnnouncedMicrosoft have confirmed that they will be releasing the Messenger Kit for the XBox 260 in the US this September, after a long period of building up anticipation for it.

As well as a headset for voice chatting – which have been around since the original Xbox – the interesting part is the introduction of a full-sized, if mini, qwerty keyboard, letting you IM your mates until your thumbs bleed.

While Microsoft aren’t disclosing any plans for Europe or the UK, they say it should retail at $29.99 when it goes on sale on 6th September.

PS3 Price Drops, Or Not: Sony Lose The (Gaming) Plot

PS3 Price Drops, Or Not: Sony Lose The (Gaming) PlotI don’t what the people driving the European wing of Sony think that they’re up to, but they appear, of late, to be perfecting the art of making the wrong decision.

We learnt last week that Sony will be dropping the price of Playstation 3 in the the US by $100, but will not be offering a reduction in the UK or Europe.

Do they think that no-one in the UK reads the International press? Do they not realise that UK gamers already feel insulted by their action on the PS3?
Continue reading PS3 Price Drops, Or Not: Sony Lose The (Gaming) Plot