Amazon Cloud Player steals a March on rivals

Amazon has revealed its ambitious music streaming service, Sky Player which allows users to play the songs across a range of computers and Android smartphones.

Music lovers will be able to transfer most of their existing music library – including numbers purchased through Apple's iTunes to Amazon, as well as buy new songs for digital playback.

Online retailer has stolen a March on rivals Apple and Google to the service, known as Amazon Cloud Player, with internet both giants are planning their own forays in music streaming. The move represents also Amazon's repositioning as an entertainment destination, rather than just an online market place.

Another element of the service, the Amazon Cloud drive, serves as a "digital music locker" where users can transfer thousands of songs and listen to them via the Cloud Player on any computer or Android smartphone.

"Our customers have told us they do not want to download music to their work computers or phones, because they have difficulty to move music around to different devices," said Amazon Vice-President, music and movies, Bill Carr. "Now, at work, at home, or on the go, customers can purchase music from Amazon MP3, save it in the cloud and play it anywhere."

As an introductory offer is Cloud player free for Amazon account holders, although users can pay to increase the amount of music could be stored on the Cloud drive. Customers start with 5 GB of storage space – equivalent to a little over 1000 songs – and those who buy an MP3 album from Amazon warehouse will be upgraded to service larger 20 GB.

Apple and Google are said to be planning similar ventures, while Sony's music unlimited also offers a digital music locker but charges up to £ 4 a month. Agreements with all four major record companies believed to be a stumbling block to Apple's and Google's streaming services, with rights owners apparently unhappy with the idea of a one-off payment each time a track is played on any device.

Beyond Oblivion proposes an online music site partially owned by Rupert Murdoch News Corporation, woo right-holders by paying them a royalty each time their music was played. The service, which secured $ 77 m £ 47 m on investment earlier this month, yet is to launch and negotiations with the music labels are said to be on a "very advanced stage of".

Amazon said it has circumvented the legal uncertainty to allow users to upload music from your computer-some of which have been downloaded illegally – by being equivalent to any other storage device, such as an external hard disk.

Amazon Director of music, Craig Pape, said: "we need a licence to store music. The functionality is the same as an external hard disk. "

• Amazon's online retail rival eBay yesterday stepped up its attempts to become the primary destination for internet shopping buys GSI Commerce, an online services company, $ 2.4bn. acquisition will allow eBay to expand beyond its network of small retailers with larger retail market.

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WP 7: what game developers think?

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Last October, Microsoft launched its Windows Phone 7 platform to a favourable critical reception and decent sales. The first range of handsets from manufacturers such as HTC, LG and Samsung shipped a respectable 1.5m units in the first six weeks of release, and of course, there's now a partnership with Nokia to (eventually) boost device numbers.

But with Microsoft cagey on updating handset sales figures, I wanted to know how WP7 is fairing as a games platform. Right now, developers seem curious enough about the hardware to start cautiously porting across titles from iOS and Android. The question is, can the community be ready to commit wholly to another platform – especially one with an ambiguous level of consumer uptake? And then there's the Xperia Play lurking on the horizon...

We spoke to several WP7 developers about their experiences with the platform, and where they see things going.

From the outset, it seems there is unanimous agreement on the key strength of Windows Phone 7 as a games device: its seamless integration with Xbox Live, the online gaming service that has contributed heavily to the success of Microsoft's console. When you switch on your handset, there's an Xbox Live icon on the main menu – click on this, provide your gamer ID and password and you have access to your XBL account. Now, any game you play on the device adds points to your gamer score, just like an Xbox title. You also have access to leaderboards, and to your friends list so you can challenge mates to multiplayer games or just spy on them and see what they're playing.

Of course, there are similar services on iOS and Android devices (Scoreloop and OpenFeint, for example, or Apple's own Game Center), but for the 50 million Xbox owners out there, the Windows Phone 7 system is convenient and nicely holistic. "The importance of being able to connect to the Xbox live community goes way beyond being able to play games on the handsets," says Mark Clarke of Earworm Mobile, who make musical brain training apps. "This stretches from mobile multiplayer games, through community building with your gaming clan and friends, to the multiple marketing opportunities of being able to tap into the brand loyalty engendered by the console itself. It's a truly mobile multiplayer community."

For developers, too, there are advantages to the phone's use of XNA Game Studio. This managed development environment is based around the programming language C#, which can cause problems for larger studios who have a lot of their game tech written in C++. However, the easily portability of code betweeb WP7 and Xbox, plus the wealth of online tutorials, libraries and community support, is a massive advantage, especially for smaller and less experienced teams.

"Microsoft offers many tools for developers both experienced and inexperienced, to rapidly produce applications for Windows 7 Mobile," says Steven Batchelor-Manning, of Nottingham-based studio, Nerf Games. "XNA is fairly open and simple to use. This allows for easy prototyping and testing of products before entering extensive development, which you don't get with other mobile platforms.

"We program in C#, using the Microsoft tool kits such as C# express edition and XNA 4.0. This allows us to develop the same project for PC, Xbox and Windows 7 Mobile, whilst using the same collection of assets. It rapidly increases the rate at which we create the final product and means we can concentrate our efforts on quality games. Developing for Windows Mobile 7 alongside PC and Xbox development only adds about 30% extra development time."

He is similarly complimentary about developer support. "The tools provided by Microsoft have really low barriers in terms of computer know-how. It also produces a lot of good tutorials. But actually, the vast majority comes from the community. The Microsoft App Hub (previously known as Creators' Club), allows developers to come together and share knowledge, tools and tutorials. Microsoft also provides a Windows 7 Mobile emulator for developers, which gives an accurate representation of a Windows 7 Mobile device, allowing for cost-effective development as we don't need to purchase the phones."

Mark Clarke agrees: "There are lots of example apps produced by Microsoft, and their help has been exemplary. The community is excellent, too – for example Code Project and Stack Overflow are useful resources. The development environment is several generations ahead of what Apple offers. We have seen iPhone apps that have taken days to transfer to Android that have been transferred to Windows within hours."

"We're hugely indebted to Jeff Weber who created the Farseer physics engine based on Box2D, without it our game would have taken a great deal longer to develop," adds Henry Hoffman of Angry Mango, developer of Bafta-nominated WP7 title, Mush. "I don't think there's been a single occasion where we've been stuck on a problem and the online community haven't already solved it for someone else. Normally, throughout development we'd ask all sorts of questions, but a simple search of the forums proved enough. Also, XNA is so widely used it's difficult to walk into a Game Development course at a University and not bump into a bunch of experts. Our experiences have been that XNA developers are always willing to share their knowledge and help others out."

There are fragmentation possibilities, though. As we've seen with Google Android, phones produced by different manufacturers have different technical specifications, which can be a headache for app developers. At the moment, Microsoft dictates a minimum set of requirements from vendors and the base OS is the same on all devices. However, there are concerns that the recent strategy deal with Nokia, which will see the ailing mobile phone giant building its next generation of handsets around the WP7 platform, will muddy the waters. Nokia appears to have been granted exclusive rights to customise the WP7 offering, and although the companies have denied this will have any impact on the OS, the ambiguity is there.

Clarke, though, is hopeful, the alliance will lead to more not less clarity. "The confusion that Nokia was causing amongst the development community with its multiple OSs was something that also had to be resolved if they were to compete with the other major players. If Nokia and Microsoft can successfully couple Nokia's expertise of manufacturing first class hardware with a stable and well supported development environment and ecosystem, the results could make for a formidable and vibrant development platform." At the very least it should ensure that WP7 doesn't go the way of other recent Microsoft mobile initiatives, like the cancelled Kin, or the Zune, which is now available only in North America. One significant barrier to developer support for WP7 is the fear it might be gone by the time a project is completed.

There are other controversial elements of the WP7 developer environment. As with Xbox Live Arcade, Windows Phone 7 offers a curated experience, which means Microsoft controls the quality of games appearing on the device. While Apple's approvals system is strict, Windows Phone 7 software apparently has to go through an even more stringent process, designed to prevent the massive duplication of very similar titles.

For consumers it's a good feature – it means there aren't thousands of mediocre apps to wade through, while really good games will be easier to find. For developers, however, the system throws up a few problems. "It has its benefits and its drawbacks," says Batchelor-Manning. "The App Hub offers a good peer review system, where other developers are asked to check over your game. This helps filter out both low quality and bug-ridden titles. We are always given a particular quality to aim for.

"Once it's got past this stage there is also a chance that Microsoft will veto against your game going on the platform. Ultimately, this prevents the market being swamped, but above this, there seems to be a layer of games by big publishers (EA, etc) that just step past the smaller developers in the queue. This is the biggest drawback of the system. Microsoft is in complete control and smaller developers will always be battling up hill until they reach a point where their title is trending – like Minecraft."

As with Xbox Live Arcade, however, Microsoft is set to run its own games promotions, to help market promising titles. The project kicks off this spring with a Must Have games season, which features six Windows Phone 7 titles, including Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Hydro Thunder and Plants vs Zombies. These sorts of campaigns free smaller developers up from the worry of having to market their titles – but, of course, that's assuming they're lucky enough to make it onto Microsoft's radar (and the first Must Have selection is very much more about promoting WP7 itself, rather than about helping small studios – Angry Birds and Doodle Jump don't really need a lot of help at the moment).

Elsewhere, interconnectivity with Xbox console games opens up some intriguing cross-platform gaming possibilities. Fable: Coin Golf, for example, is a simple but well-designed WP7 puzzler based on Lionhead's epic Xbox RPG. It's basically a simulation of pub games like Shove Ha'Penny and skittles, with players guiding coins through a series of obstacle-strewn courses. But the interesting bit is, if the player also owns Fable III on Xbox, any gold they win in Coin Golf is transferred to their console version, where it can be spent on in-game items.

Fable: Coin Golf was developed by London-based IdeaWorks3D, a veteran mobile developer, working in close conjunction with Lionhead. According to studio head Rob Hendry, the cross-platform integration was surprisingly quick and intuitive. "Lionhead's technical team did some great work to make these features straightforward for us to implement," he says. "They provided a back-end service and API for us to communicate with, including player identification by Xbox LIVE gamertag. We simply had to hook up the client side, run a few tests and it just worked. It's great when that happens!"

"I think what we'll see more of is things like Fable: Coin Golf – actions happening on the phone that have an impact on the console title," says Kevin Unangst, Microsoft's senior global director of PC and Mobile Gaming. "We have things like Full House Poker, which let you play poker on the phone and have that unlock items in the console version, or have part of your bankroll transferred over. Over time, we'll push that further. We ran a video at Mobile World Congress where we showed we could take things like the Kinect data coming out of the sensor on the console and send that over to the Windows Phone 7. Someone playing on Kinect can interact with someone else on a phone, and the phone can receive things like the skeletal data – it boggles your mind the kinds of experiences once you get that kind of interactivity."

And here's that video:

Rob Hendry reckons we're entering into a new era of true cross-platform gaming. "Because your online presence now has a common identity on all LIVE platforms, any data whatsoever can be pushed to the cloud and retrieved by another app. Before long, we expect we will see true asymmetrical game experiences, where you play a single game from very different perspectives on different platforms. For example, strategy games where you manage your campaign resources on your phone, then drop into the action on your console. Or role playing games that use the phone for customising avatars and the console for questing and fighting battles." EA has also mentioned the possibility of a Fifa football title that lets you change your team formation or buy new players via your mobile.

The possibilities are fascinating and Unangst sees harnessing this functionality in innovative ways as a key aim going forward. "The phone isn't just a passive viewer it can participate, I can touch the display and send data directly to the console – these screens are truly connected. There are more creative minds than mine thinking, 'wow. I have a whole new range of toys to play with!'"

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Can I have your attention please? | Victoria Coren

The last time i wrote in this space was all grumpy about the ground rents for scout troops. It seemed completely stupid, me to risk pricing out of the existence of a force of every good thing: an organization that teaches children altruism, focus and practical skills. And the largest of these is the focus.

"Just look at them on Jamie's School dinners!" Roared. "Texts mobile and twiddling on their mobile phones, while the teacher speaks! It is because no one ever showed them how to sit quietly and do a blasted thing at a time! Four hours trying to pitch a tent in the rain, it is what would have learned these little weevils to concentrate! "

See what has happened now. I will come back for a minute, and speaker rules that members can use iPads and Blackberries in the House of Commons. What? These middle-aged, professional speakers now have no attention span either? It's just not interesting enough to argue about whether or not to bomb Libya or axe hospitals without surfing porn and play Tetris at the same time?

Perhaps, they will like to have a tv with a specified in there, so that they can see Peter Andre: the next chapter in the Prime Minister's questions? Or prefer a live band? A Basketball Hoop? Paddling pool?

The idea of Mrp texts mobile and send e-mail through debates makes my gorge rise, as when a minicab driver makes phone calls at the wheel. I do not pay you can keep in touch with your helpers! I pay you deliver to me secure my destination/challenge defence budget, and I pay enough to make it with your full attention ON THE BLOODY JOB!

Politicians say this will be a way for them to keep abreast with constituency business while sitting in the House. I hear the distant voice of Mandy Rice-Davies point out that they would, they would.

Oh, I am sure they will mean that. They would mean to whip out iPad solely to ensure that Mrs Smithers get leak fixed in his Council House. But we all know the Internet how to work. I sat in my laptop now because I think, to write a column. Nevertheless, I played between the last paragraph, and this is a game of online poker, read a long joke sent by a person, I never particularly wanted, and wrote "the world's silliest face" in Google just to see what happened.

(Strangely, it came back with the question, "did you mean the world's scariest face?" No, I do not. I do not want to see the world's scariest face. If you do, try, to write "the world's silliest face" in Google – although not ideal, if you are currently driving me to Paddington.)

Anyone who is committed to the House of Commons television coverage at the workplace is often empty. I like it I am a big fan of political transparency. It is good for us to know what debates MPs considers to be important enough to show up for, and which are not. I do not want to be tricked into thinking that the House is full and all take something seriously when the rank-and-file members are all secretly on their blackberries, forwarding jokes and offers on eBay.

This is not a rant against the MPs. one of my friends is a MP and he is a highly motivated, hardworking, dedicated colleague – which does not mean all is, but it certainly means that not all are not. I am sure that most commuters away on this hard job of all the right reasons. If they do not receive enough money or enough time to balance the constituency work and national businesses, they find the bottle to say it and change the system.

Nr; This is a rant against the creeping acceptance of electronic communications exercises all the time: on the bus over dinner at the cinema. We are really all, losing power to concentrate hard and clear on one thing for a considerable period of time.

I choose not to perform the Internet in my Pocket (you hardly can make phone calls on my mobile; it functions primarily as a paperweight) but I know my attention span is shrunk only from below the home. Most days, felt my web Hotel brain a drunken bee, caught by a pint glass. It is not the State, where I will David Cameron brain, when he must decide how much VAT I want to pay, or how close I will live to a nuclear reactor.

Feud mixer

Please talk nuclear reaction, not be cross-border when I tell them that I had lunch with Michael Winner last week.

Some readers may remember that Mr winner and had a "Twitter feud" a couple of weeks ago, after some online comments, there are better unrepeated. We had never met. My feelings about comments are unchanged.

But I was touched when he proposed lunch. I have always hated the idea of the implementation of the nag and resentments around as a centre-axle trailer, load on mouldy suitcases. And you, what? He was in the flesh, charming. Funny, friendly, do not delete unchivalrous. A little scary with the servant. My brother was there; I enjoyed watching two critics kvetch professionally on service times and whether the cloth to be changed, while I thought: "Ooh, it is nice, another makes the cooking".

All is complex, with multiple pages. I am sure, Michael Winner will say many things in the future, I would say myself. But I enjoyed his company, to the point of feeling genuine love. He was just a twinkly, mischievous old colleague. I hope I do not want to destroy our new entente cordiale by observing, sits opposite him, I suddenly missing my grandfather.

Then again as Holden Caulfield said, start sooner or later you are missing any.

www.victoriacoren.com

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Children light by Gavin Weightman – review

Regulation (EC) No 244/2009, a recent EU directive, has determined that the sale of incandescent light will be illegal soon after the end of 2012. "It is appropriate," Gavin Weightman writes in this book, "illuminating surface of the filament lamp among the mess of electrical apparatus for the now exist in almost all homes should be identified." Why? Because "was the spread of the filament lamp ..., created the demand for electricity in large quantities. If electric illumination is only a demand for modern power stations supplying power for a wide range of household appliances, as well as to industry and transport, still it is enormous. "

Invention and development of the bulb, as long as a friend and so recently an enemy to dominate in the first half of Weightmans electric adventure. Although popular history books mention still the brilliant American, Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the light bulb, its history is much more complex, and satisfy so. Edison, a natural salesperson as enchanted media was just one of many highly charged characters, who did their bit to make the light bulb more plain than wax candles had ever been before them. Edison was also in favour of the electric chair for capital punishment; It took eight cruel minutes to kill his first victim – William Kemmler, a New York axe-murderer – in August 1890.

The first light bulbs to light up in the private and public, these are not compiled by Edison, but by Joseph Wilson Swan, Sunderland-born son of a ship's chandler. Swan developed its onions between 1860 and 1880. They first went on sale in 1881 by young a pop, or about £ 60 in today's money. Early electric lighting was not too poor. The first electrically lit House in the United Kingdom was Cragside, designed by Richard Norman Shaw to Sir William Armstrong, immensely wealthy Tyneside engineering magnate and armaments manufacturer.

But as Weightman makes clear, the history of the light bulb, that triggered the great demand for electricity in this country begins with Alessandro Volta, Italian inventor of the battery in 1800. Even then said his invention was indebted Volta, among others, Abraham Bennett, 18th-century English priest who invented the gold-leaf electroscope.

The way in which the lamp is switched on an entire industry are things of the sensation. One day, it seems, all United Kingdom was tallow, town gas, smoke and Stygian gloom; before long it was as bright as Blackpool illuminations. In the first place was the spread of electricity through United Kingdom rapid; but as Weightman, newborn industry was equally quickly troubled by political problems together with stiff competition from gas and confusion with the spread of early generating plants.

First of these was in Godalming, Surrey. Powered by the flow of the River Wey sanatorium stays, gave the uncertain electricity. If this seems an unlikely start to what, in the end, was to become national grid, so what with London's first generating station? With dynamos powered by pounding steam engines, this was in the basement of the Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street. Written full stream of young Sebastian Ferranti, brought its overhead spread across West End roof tops electric lights as Regent's Park and Lincoln's Inn fields.

When in 1884 Charles Algernon Parsons, youngest son of the third Earl Rosse, the prominent Anglo astronomer, invented by steam turbine, electricity began to surface as never before. Steam turbine gave us the giant power plants, as if driven by coal, oil or enriched uranium, gives us the amazing power of electricity requires that we make our allegedly environmentally aware world and all its gizmos, work for us today.

Weightman reminds us that the draconian measures necessary in order to establish a harmonised and truly national grid was the work of a Conservative Government. Stanley Baldwin administration ran through 1926 the Electricity (supply) Act, gave us within just five and a half years, the Foundation for today's national grid. And a bad poem about wincingly pylons by Stephen Spender. Then strike Weightmans history courses through nuclear power, submarine power cables, miners, privatisation of the grid to our obsession with electric-powered gadgets and ban on the lamp filament lamps, made his narrative. We tend to take electricity for granted. We should know his history. Gavin Weightman tells it well.

Jonathan Glancey Tornado: 21st Century steam is published by books on track.

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Car review: BMW 535 d Touring

Price £ 49,490
MPG 46.3
Top speed 155 mph

Enables racked with translation, it displays one man's name on the farm in nearly every petrol station in the world. But Rudolf Diesel does not invent the fuel, which now bears his name – he developed the database application that burn the. He was born in 1858 in Paris, Theodor and Elise Diesel and at the age of 12 emigrated to London before being sent Germany to live with relatives. Already a maths whizz, Rudolph's lifelong passion for engineering culminated in his greatest invention: a robust, reliable and potent engine installations, which eventually would replace the dirty steam engines of the day. It is deeply aptly, that Diesel, plagued by paranoia for much of his adult life finally committed suicide by throwing himself in the channel from a steamboat deck.

If he were alive today would take much comfort from Diesel, that his invention is still under development and still produces solutions for our increasingly complex transport dilemmas. And the version that is on the edge as a gigantic black eggs in BMWS reborn 5-series can be the most sublime iteration yet. It is a super smooth, slow-revving, clean-burning, all-aluminium, three litre straight six, which blasts the tenderer Beemer from 0-62 in a shade over 5 seconds. It produces a bone-shuddering 442 lb torque and 295 brake horsepower while sipping fuel with all the abandon of ladies on a Temperance Society wine tasting. It is not an internal combustion engine, it is a conjuring trick.

Diesel updated masterpiece, connected with an automatic gearbox eight-speed is handles both the new 5 series Saloon and its Touring model (a snootier way to say property). It is almost 40 years ago, the saloon first rolled out and 20 years ago-unfortunately, Touring – property arrived in our streets. In these two decades have 670000 sold around the world.

Other than Rudolf's engine is the most notable by Touring its self-levelling air suspension. This means that if you are looking to France for the shaft back 1670 liters of Beaujolais (back seats fold flat to create a huge storage space), you won't find pipe grinding on the Terminal as you wheelie to midnight ferry. You can see the road rather than the sky, and you can run unimpeded.

I started to appreciate some of BMWS monstrous way talents – the easy way speed immensely on the insouciant whimpers that engine, immaculate handling, feeling of a car that has been selectively bred over four generations to create this best in Show stunner – when my wife suggested a trip to Ikea. With low spirits we headed down into the A23 on a Friday evening. After a couple of kilometers told smarter-than-you control panel us to pull over, as the rear tyres had bacterial levels. After pausing for a moment, the car informed us it was equipped with run flat tires, so that we could proceed with caution. But I saw the puncture to what it was – a lifeline. BMW had answered my prayers. I showed that my wife and said: "excuse me, dear, but the car says we have to abandon the trip and head home. We cannot go to Ikea. What shame … "

535 D's on the road price is £ 49,490, but I ran the test car had more than 20 ekstrælementer that is added to the price £ 17,780. These included 19in double-spoke alloy wheels, the sun-protection glass, a panoramic roof and surround view parking cameras. But remember reading was free.

Parks ' new car Awards have been developed with the single-minded purpose of helping the UK car buyers to identify "the cars, make your cash go further". Unlike most other new car awards, which are largely of the opinion, the Parks ' new car Awards based on hard facts, powered by Parks ' brand new costs of Motoring tool. The tool easy to use, which can be access 24 hours a day parkers.co.uk takes on account many "hidden costs" including depreciation, showroom tax and first registration fees, service and repairs, road tax, fuel consumption and even collapse.

The awards celebrate a mixture of both value and premium brands across 11 categories, and the car buyers may be surprised what cars actually represents the best value for money. Among this year's winners, Renault Twingo 1.2 16v Bizu walked away with best value city Car award, while Audi won the category small Hatchback with its A1 1. SEE 6TDi. In the categories sport and Premium Executive has been awarded the recognition to VW Scirocco 1.4TSi 122 and BMW 520 d SE. But the overall winner of the Parks ' inaugural new car Awards 2011 is ta-dah, Kia C'eed.

A Web site has launched a competition to find the UK's favourite traffic island in what some are dubbing Britain's first "roundabout Idol" show.

Car-rental Centralcontracts.com online service is welcoming motorists to send in pictures of their favorite and despised most traffic islands in an attempt to find Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke and Matt Cardle in roundabouts.

Roundabout Idol competition will be launched officially next month, but some keen motorists have already sent a few suggestions. BBC island in Nottingham has been designated as the UK's best by Tom Hemmingway. But James Welch nominating Queen's Garden's island in Newcastle-under-Lyme as worst in the United Kingdom. He said: "I have the misfortune to navigate this terrible way the island twice each business day and it is not only an eyesore, it is also a disaster. It creates traffic jams in which they do not need to be. The best thing to do would be to take a JCB and plow the whole thing up. "

If you would like to designate your favorite or most hated traffic island, send in a pic it and your justification for appointment to roundaboutidol@centralcontracts.com.:

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Amazon's new Cloud drive are counting on everyone's parade

"Impetuosity and audacity," Machiavelli wrote, "achieve often what are the common means to achieve". If you are in doubt, can I suggest a visit to the upper layers of the Apple, Google Sonyand in which steam can be observed venting from each aperture of executives? If you undertake such visits, under no circumstances shall mention the word "Amazon".

The proximate cause of this corporate spleen is the launch last week of the service Amazon's Cloud Drive . At first glance seems straightforward: it looks like a digital locker where you can (for a fee) securely store digital assets internet in "Sky". "Anything Digital, securely stored," runs the blurb, "available everywhere." The first 5 GB storage space is free, with more available for an annual price of a dollar-per-gigabyte. Upload files to the "Cloud drive", where they are stored online and from where they can gain access to any device that you own.

So far, so harmless. It is not the online storage business, which has Apple, Google and Co "spitting feathers, but Amazon cloudplayer which goes along with the digital locker. If you buy music from the company's huge MP3 store, and then saves the free of charge in the locker, above which it can be streamed to your computer – and more important to Android , phone or tablet via a special app created by Amazon. You can also upload content from your music library to Cloud drive (although you will have to pay for the space of 5 GB). This means users will be able to stream "their" music for free.

See these developments, the musician David Bowie feel a warm glow justification. In 2002, he predicted, music, one day, "is like running water or electricity." Bowie had recognised that was the iPod users into force audio equivalent to travellers for primitive countries that carry out bottled water because public supplies are uncertain. In an in-depth networked world, he reads, people would eventually become more casual about carrying their own bottled music: when they need it, they would just get it streamed from the network.

For Bowie's predictions become reality, had four things into place: ubiquitous-mobile broadband connection the Internet-enabled mobile devices; Cloud storage services; and appropriate business models and licensing agreements, which would support the music-like-water services. In recent years there has arrived the first three – which Spotifyis how, the first major music streaming service Spotify, was will. has made good progress in Europe (where it has more than one million paying subscribers), but it has made no progress in the United States, allegedly because of the music labels suspicions, licensing streaming services could not be flexible enough revenue.

Behind the scenes in the United States, there has been hectic activity with Apple, Google and Amazon racing into streaming business. Apple has Cloud services, customers, is used to pay for music, a good selection of mobile devices, but there is no license agreement for streaming. Google has great Cloud services, and millions of Android devices, but no music store customers and there is no license agreement. Amazon has Cloud services, value reserve music paying customers, a fantastic e-commerce operation and access to Android devices. But also had no licensing agreement with the record companies.

Which brings us back to Machiavelli, impetuosity and audacity. Launch its Cloud Player, cocked Amazon a snoot at both its rivals, and music business. More you look at it, the more exquisite competitive dilemmas of its opponents now seems.

The record companies find this Amazon size, scope and dominance of the online retail trade will make it difficult to bring to heel. Apple is confronted with a rival, is much stronger in cloud computing, already operate value reserve majors and have access to zillions of affordable Android phones that heavily than Apple's iDevices animal. Google is without value reserve music, popular e-commerce system or a licensing deal – and lacks even an exclusive grip on the Android system it spawned. Get ready for the uproar since the Colosseum closed for business. And all, because people don't like bottled music.

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Nintendo 3DS: have you been yet?

Over 1000 shops around the country opened in the evening for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS. Gamers MSMQ to the day of the HMV store on Oxford Street where Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono was, on the one hand to sign copies of Street Fighter IV 3D.

But have you bought one? What do you think? What games have you tried? Have you taken any rude pictures? We would like to know everything. Apart from the rude pictures part.

You can catch our video here review and our essential guide to hereconsole.

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Mobile network plan for underground shelf

Boris Johnsonmayoral hopes for a mobile phone network London is installed on the underground in time for the Olympic Games 2012 has been dashed.

Transport for London and mobile operators including 02, Vodafone, everything everywhere, and 3 the French engineering firm Thales, agreed to abandon the project financing issues and technical complexity in order to install the system in time.

Huawei, the Chinese network equipment supplier who would donate £ 50 m of equipment for wire network up as a contribution from one Olympic nation to another, while the mobile networks will pay for 3 G networks is installed.

The decision to ditch the project will be a disappointment for the capital's conservative mayor, who said earlier this year that while some tube users would have reservations for people to be able to use their mobile phones on the underground network, it was "road".

Other capitals, including Paris, already mobile phone signals across their underground network.

Johnson, however, had warned Londonernes not to "count their chickens" during the service in place in time for the games because the project would be both commercially and technically difficult to deliver.

City Hall insisted the project remained a "long-term goal", pointing out that a separate plan to install Wi-Fi on 120 tube stations in time for the games would go ahead.

Transport for London said: "the Mayor and TfL made it clear that, since the financial pressure on Tfls, any solution budgets would have to be financed through mobile operators with free of charge to the price of the ticket or the taxpayer.

"The parties were not able to agree a viable proposal, and the project does not have come at this time."

Vodafone confirmed that talks for underground mobile phone access had fallen. A statement said: "we have worked closely with infrastructure partners and London Underground for some time with the hope of delivering mobile services to the … underground and is disappointed that it would not be possible in time for next year's Olympic Games.

"As a group, we will continue to positively explore all other available opportunities for us to provide a service at a later time."

A spokesman for Johnson, said: "we are happy for those companies, which explored the possibility of having full mobile coverage in the tube, although disappointed the genuine problems could not be overcome by this opportunity.

"It remains a long-term objective, but in the meantime, our efforts will be focused on ensuring a greater expansion of Wi-Fi coverage in the tube stations in time for the Olympic Games.

"We are proceeding with great energy and urgency to deliver this improvement, which means Londonernes can then use their mobile devices to intercept their e-mails or access the Internet at the same time, passes through our stations."

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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: Masters – review

WiiXBox 360Tiger Woods Pga Tour 12: MastersElectronic Arts

I had not expected a picture of the current incarnation of the Tiger Woods – penitent, pushed over by resentful sponsors and even more resentful women – but I was expecting a picture of the Tiger in the workplace. Mid-Swing, perhaps, or high-fiving an anonymous caddie. But Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: Masters ' packaging contains a whacking great "Champions" logo with Woodss name in an apologetic, undersized font as an afterthought. Ubiquity is conditional.

Apart from the rather sudden rebranding is TWPGAT12: TM recognizable to anyone who has played yearly games Tiger Woods since 1998 's Tiger Woods ' 99. All so beloved of minutiae golf enthusiasts – club selection, slices, fades, weather factors, terrain – is in place, and the game engine that controls the strength of the swing manoeuvres of putting, and so forth are instantly recognizable.

The big news for TWPGA12: TM is, as the new, unwieldy title suggests, a great deal of work to include the course Augusta National. As iconic sporting venues go, Augusta fell right up there – and the opportunity to compete for the fabled Green Jacket is an undoubted boost for what was a bit moribund franchise even before the Tiger so spectacularly from commercial grace. For the first time Xbox 360 page and PS3 was consoles choice, so that there is a real reason to buy the latest Tiger Woods. You just can't recognise in the store, that is all.

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Championship Manager eighties legends – review

As football season draws to its conclusion, begins the crushing inevitability of another disappointing year to Uvejrsøen at all, but a few lucky fans. And so it seems the perfect time to dive into a far more likely to create some very necessary happiness than useless cloggers plodding on whichever is your beneficiary beg simulation.

Championship Manager eighties legends offers not only a faithful entertaining management simulation, but also a healthy dose of nostalgia, to bathe. The game provides the opportunity to take control of clubs in England, Scotland, Spain or Italy in one of three different points in the decade – 1980, 1983 and 1986.

It is lovingly presented with flashes of headlines from the era and other touches addition to nostalgic feel, but it is the quality of the gameplay is most gratifying period. Even on the iPhone's small screen graphics are crisp and clean, while the controls are gratifying responsive, allow easy switch to formations, tactics and line-ups – with matches even presented via text and an unworkable 2D perspective.

The most fun is likely to be had, however, wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. The prices are refreshingly low – in 1986, a young Marco van Basten can be picked for just a few million – and who can resist swooping to a host with future stars. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. When reality is a bit boring, do it for a thoroughly enjoyable retro football fix.

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Dynasty Warriors 7 – review

Based on Luo part famous historical novel Romance of the three kingdoms, Dynasty Warriors series is understandably from in the East and continues to create a profitable niche for publisher Koei overseas. While the changes to this latest release is unlikely to expand much further, cult audience will delight fans of the richest and most visually impressive title in the series to date.

The power of the lower difficulties, so you can easily split into slices through parts of enemies with swords, rapiers and axes, but more difficult levels require a more tactical approach to the conflict. Myriad skirmishes occur simultaneously across the battlefield, players must decide which is the most strategic and frontier areas important to fight. Opponents can bemoan the fight apparently repeating character, but simple controls makes available for less skilled players, while ever move the balance of power at higher difficulty settings ensure the game encounters is anything but monotonous.

With four long-running campaigns to master, developer Omega force certainly not skimped on content, while the new conquest mode allows wannabe generals to rewrite Chinese military history. It can never win against its critics, but Dynasty Warriors 7 marks a significant step forward for this underappreciated series.

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Rise of Twitter comes

After pop stars on Twitter is clearly a brilliant way to pass time. How can one otherwise presumed we know Craig David gym for is "fine-tune physique … lol Taio Cruz" or to have "had a couple of weeks of no shades wearing"? It hides the barrier between the pop star and pop fan, promote dialogue (mainly things like, "@ onedirection OMG Harry if you do not follow me back I get cry 4ever, plz RT") and gives the pop star (or their record company) access to millions of fans, who can be crowd sourced in more than 140 characters.

Recently, that dialogue has been strengthened by the creation of so-called Twitter originate, a way for fans pledge allegiance to their favorite pop star and feel part of their world without part with a £ 30 annual fee for a badge and photocopied autograph. Today, it is a question of deciding if the page you are on and hashtagging as your life depends on it.

Pop fans questions ask themselves are so diverse; are you one of the Monsters # or # Barbz? Would you like to join team # Navy? If pushed, would you say your allegiance is # Beasties or # heartbeats? Regardless of what you do, please say you are not a # Crazycat …

It is all nonsense, of course, but interesting nonsense, not least because it reveals a lot about the person obvious statement. Lady Gagasensible calls on its fans "Monsters"; her image is built on undermining the perceived notions of beauty, and she promotes the idea of people show their errors as they really are. It also helps her fans are fanatical, are stored correctly to this term and proudly defines itself as such. Also nicki minajexaggerated femininity is encapsulated by "barbz", a term she says refers to "women and gay boys". Both are ridiculous, larger than life pop superstars, which seems to live through an alter ego.

Now this works so well Pixie lott. Call your fans "crazycats" comes to mind "down with the kids" mum trying to ingratiate himself with his teenage daughter: "you guys had until noon. 45 pm last night? You crazy cats! " While Gaga drip feeds exclusive information on new artwork, single thing fans want premieres and really learn, Lott uses the term "bo crazy" like a gathered children TV presenter.

For Rihanna and her "Navy", things have moved on to the next level. Not only is there a designated @ rihannanavy Twitter feed ("introduces a new era of fandom"), but there is also an unfair two-minute Navy recruitment video with the text: "her appearance infatuates us, her force feeds us, her music created us – would you like to stay at the fleet." at the same time, it is jaw-droppingly ridiculous and amazing.

Like bears Grolsch bottle tops on your laces seemed a bit silly once Bros. had split, and walking around the Tesco with one sparkly glove not scream "zeitgeist" post-1984, it is not clear how long this trend will last or how it will evolve your fingers crossed.When people reach a certain age, they will stop wanting to be defined as a ' Crazycat ', both for the sake of their mental health and musical taste.

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Reed shuts down the computer weekly as Print title

Yet a Reed Business information selloff — it sells its Computer possibility home page and events for IT publisher TechTarget (NSDQ: TTGT) Inc (Drop).

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or Add an alert for future coverage of magazines.

The printed edition will be closed by RBI after 45 years on paper.

ComputerWeekly.com, aimed at IT managers, claiming spotted monthly visits and has a data base with 165,000 subscribers.

TechTarget also buys ComputerWeekly.com's sister site-microscope, with 15,000 email subscribers.

The end of the printed edition prompts speculation that the business model of the website-it has never charged but instead have tried targeted advertising within its small community.

TechTarget says "will accelerate the (online) investments by setting aside all staff and future action against Web sites and events offer".

TechTarget will site ComputerWeekly in parallel with its existing SearchDataManagement.co.uk, SearchNetworking.co.uk, SearchStorage.co.uk and SearchSecurity.co.uk, SearchVirtualDataCentre.co.uk. It says it will "give advertisers easier and new ways to reach key UK and European it decision makers at the right time in their purchase decision substance cycles".

Posted in: Media and publishing, magazines, money, M and A and venture capital, Mergers and acquisitions,, companies, Reed Elsevier

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Google faces tax investigation of China

Chinese authorities have found three companies linked to Google Inc broke tax rules and examine possible evasion, a State-run newspaper said Thursday that increase the risk of recurrence of internet pressure on the search giant.

Google said two of the companies of the named its units and a third was a separate company, working closely with Google. But Google denied tax violations alleged in the Chinese-language economic daily.

"We believe we are and have always been in full compliance with Chinese tax legislation," said Google.

Although the report is unfounded or embellished, it could bring fresh headaches in China to Google, which has gone through difficult times since the beginning of last year when it clashed with the Government over internet censorship and hacking attacks.

China generates a small percentage of Google's revenue, but is the world's largest internet market with more than 450 million users. The country's Search market, dominated by homemade Baidu Inc, was worth 11bn Yuan (£ 1.05bn) in 2010 and will probably grow by about 50% every year for the next four years, according to iResearch.

The economic daily said the three companies were investigated and punished "Google enterprises in China".

"The tax authorities have already investigated and punished the three companies under the law," said the report on the front.

The companies were charged with submitting false and unreasonable demands for the total value of 40 m Yuan, the report said. It did not say when the alleged violations alleged to have happened.

"It is understood by this reporter that the tax authorities further examines Google enterprises in China on suspicion of tax evasion," said the short story, which also later was reported by China's official Xinhua news agency.

Google said two of the accused companies – Google information technology (China) Co Ltd and Google information technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd – was its sub-units.

It said the third company named, Google advertising (Shanghai) Co Ltd, was a separate undertaking that work "closely with Google as Google's only first-tier reseller in China" of advertising on the search engine's Web pages.

"Most foreign companies in China, particularly high-profile companies with a global reputation at stake, is very cautious in order to ensure they are in full compliance with the relevant tax laws," said Mark Natkin, Executive Director of the Marbridge consulting, a Beijing-based companythat advises investors on China's Internet and telecommunications sectors.

China's Foreign Ministry would not comment directly on the report. "In General, all companies operating abroad should obey the laws and regulations in the host country," said Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

The report appeared after Google again clashed with the Chinese Government over internet censorship.

Earlier this month Google said difficulties that users in China may have faced open his e-mail service could be expected to be the result of the Government blocks.

China's ruling Communist Party has intensified censorship in recent months, fearing that calls for protests inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa could voyages.

Google's serious problems with the Chinese Government began in January 2010, when the company said it was no longer willing to censor search results in the country. Earlier, the accounts with a disclaimer on its China service that searches cannot be completed due to local laws.

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What effect has the Internet in comedy?

Internet is made of cats, "told the Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti even me. He, of course, was referring to the frankly obscene number of pictures and videos of cats in ridiculous situations, wearing silly equipment doing fun things, such as the occurrence of each corner of the web.

If the hype is to be believed, the epitome of modern cats web humor. They are stupid, one click laugh fodder from the Maru, the Japanese YouTube kitty superstar most famous for jumping in and out of cardboard boxes (91 m views) to the cast of thousands photographed in compromising positions and labelled with poorly spelled captions on the internationally icanhascheezburger.compraised the eternal subject. But these moggies is more than memes. They explain why we can relate to each other online.

It is not surprising that so much of the online content is comedy; Library of psychological and Anthropological Research describes the humor as the glue that helps define communities and keep them together. Psychologist Dr. Rod Martin, who has published extensively about humor in mental and physical health role, described as a coping mechanism: we try to clarify a total reality through our interpersonal communication, but when unified reality not future – because we inevitably look at the world through different reference frameworks and have different interpretations ofWhat is happening around us – we poke fun at our disagreements, which allows us to level them, because we are able to embrace contradictions.

It is also an important part of our social development. From a young age, we are influenced by our social group defines as funny. We respond to the interests of keeping the peace to feel that we belong, and the feature to our largest capacity in our little part of the world. Now, we share many of our online interaction on social networks like Facebook with people we know, in an environment that sociologist Ray Oldenberg would call a "third place": a space such as a café or pub, where we can extend the bonds we have with each other through cheerful, often humorous interaction.

But in addition to Facebook, the Internet is still an overwhelming anonymous place. It has historically had so few standard social cues that we have spent a lot of our online time ask each other, "Age/sex/location?" identity is the most appropriate way to chat. Humor gives us disidentified strangers, instantaneous undisputed. And it explains why social scientists and communications researchers have found so much banter in our daily online conversations.

It also explains most of the online comedy volatile and quick-fix nature. Let us take it; LOLcats and a Japanese moggie jump in boxes are not exactly high-brow. But across the sea of potential new friends online, they are only the cornerstones we have to establish connections between each other and to find people like us. We are counting on universals. One of these early 20th century, seems to be cats.

Professor Jim Hendler, a veteran of the internet in the 1970s, says that "perhaps second to pornography, humour was a great strength" in the first two decades of the network. "Form of humor that worked best online in the 1970 and 80s was Jewish counter-cultural stuff that chimed with the nature of what we do," he said. "Us using e-mail lists on ARPAnet hide the fact from our advisors. Cats really came into the story, with the addition of images and Web technologies. "

Also fixed limitations of the medium — when a computer screen had only 20 lines of 80 characters – scene for the format of what works in the modern online comedy. «Read something long took a long time and was boring, ' says Hendler. Now we have pictures, audio and video, successful jokes and puns even shorter, so a function that Martin Trickey out as one of the BBC Comedy Commissioners to multi-platform access.

Trickey has identified four characteristics that work: brevity, timeliness, authenticity and self-containment. "You don't have to know anything about where it came from or where will," he said. This translates to is quick hits, rather than ongoing vignettes. "Attention span of the online audience is incredibly short. If we do not have gotten you in the first 10 seconds, we are likely to have lost you. It makes character development difficult and lengthy narrative impossible. "

Thus, most successful online humor dependence on current events and what seems to outsiders as a series of in-jokes. More importantly, even though they may not look like the pinnacle of cultural complexity, transformed these jokes to postmodern satire and parodies, as people develop derivatives. They are the foundations of culture.

Although rare, some comedians to encourage ongoing relationships with their audience. Peter serafinowicz have used YouTube Twitter and for self-promotion and to play with different ways to be fun. "As soon as you have a huge audience, and not just locally, but globally," he said. Videos, he released with his brother James raised his profile in the United States significantly, and won him the TELEVISION contract with Channel 4.

Serafinowicz has also relished interactivity of a media such as Twitter, as he says replicated in some ways an offline, live experience. "Twitter is very satisfactory for a comedian: think of a funny quip, to put it, and that people re-tweet it or to respond to it." He also loves how the 140 characters is forcing him to think shorter. "Brevity is the soul of wit," he said. "It has really helped me Hone my one-liner skills."

As human beings, we understand the compatibility, and share what we find funny with our group to demonstrate our affiliation. Now, thanks to the rise of social networks, small memes can spread like wildfire, and can be adapted and transformed. Legality silly pictures of cats is just our way of creating a global reality out of nothing. Humor is the heart and soul on the Internet. This makes it the place we want to be.

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Internet picks of the week

Encyclopedia Pictura is a trio of filmmakers responsible for knife by Grizzly Bear, one of the most brain melting music videos in the past decade. That film bizarre ecological theme is common throughout their work, which can be seen here, together with the background footage illustrates their crafts. See AshantiWanderlust video, numerous short films of their own, and works, a children film about "about a gang of kids who hack, Scout, do, for the holding and build their way out of a disastrous situation in Pennsylvania 2023". Augmented reality features in their film also extends the life of trio and an eco-community, they've created called Trout Gulch Farm.

A Banksy in Bristol.

Google Street View finds another use here as an open air gallery. Zoom in from a map of the world and you can find a selection of the murals, graphics, and creative graffiti all captured by Google's cameras. Rather excellent once you shrink down to a particular Web site Flickr links overlay photographs, so if you look at the piece has faded over time, you can see how it looked in its original state. This is especially useful when you are searching Banksyafter London and Bristol originals, as many have been victims of vandalism, marking and over zealous Council. Other artists such as Space Invader and Blu are represented, and you can also contribute to the latest additions with your own notes.

Six Feet Under and Burrowing … De La Mole.

Pigeons and planes

Videos, downloads and profiles mixing mainstream hip-hop with indie and 80s rock.

No man should Have all, mel

Kanye West lyrics subtly rewritten to all be about food.

UK all day

From Bollywood mash ups for Nottingham grime to Phil Mitchell Crack head song – UK hip-hop wonder.

Selene

Get a hip hop EP inspired by the soundtrack to Duncan Jones 2009 science fiction film of the moon.

Smoking section

Lil Wayne and Mr Kok share Web hosting with us sports and video game monsters.

Patrick Moberg

Illustrator re imagines rap acts as creatures including De La Mole, Missy the elephant, Timbalamb.

Why people are afraid of clowns.

Why people are afraid of clowns

The 50 best dance tracks of the past 20 years

The beginning was very Brown

Submarine game history

80s Ethan had to handle glassware very carefully

How people look at Web sites

What happens if you see social network backwards

Twitter history

How to cheat at Scrabble

Who stole kitty cat treats

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Net neutrality threat for T-Mobile merger with the AT and T | Mehan Jayasuriya

Last Sunday, the eve of the wireless industry's largest trade show in Orlando, AT&T announced his plan to buy rival mobile service provider T-Mobile United States to $ 39bn. This merger was allowed to proceed, AT&T would control more than 40% of all U.S. wireless subscribers. (By comparison, combined T-Mobile UK and Orange want to check the 37% of the UK mobile market.) Together, AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be an effective wireless duopoly, check the almost 80% of the market.

The importance of this type of consolidation can hardly be overstated: in a society where politicians prefer to rely on competition – rather than regulation – to protect consumers, AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile can have serious implications for users of mobile phones. Consumers ' pocketbooks will probably be the hardest hit. T-Mobile, according to the more price sensitive customers; with its affordable monthly plans out of the image AT&T and Verizon will feel less pressure to compete on price with the much smaller Sprint, a company that the Wall Street Journal noted would be "a marginal nr 3 plays".

And this concentration can lead to even greater price increases for visitors to the United States from abroad and the Americans who travel often. Since T-Mobile and AT&T are the only major U.S. airlines, which uses the GSM standard – the most popular portable standard world-wide – could AT&T soon find himself with almost no competition for these two categories of users. Overall, can mobile phone users expect higher bills, longer contracts and more hidden and confusing fees, if this merger comes to pass.

But harms consumers would not just be monetary. In addition to its lower prices, T-Mobile is also known for its more user friendly Data policies. Unlike AT&T, which caps monthly data usage, offers T-Mobile unlimited data plans for its users. What is more, plans for AT&T's most generous data, which allows 4 GB using a month (ca. 12-24-hour streaming video), will cost you one-and-a-half-times what T-Mobile unlimited plan will. And while the T-Mobile has never prevented its users from access to sites and services of their choice via its network, AT&T, is blocking access to Skype, Slingbox, and Google voice at different points during the last few years.

This last point could prove especially damaging given the current state of the net neutrality in the United States. The term "net neutrality" refers to the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally and that service providers should not be able to block, slow or impair the traffic based on its type, origin or destination. Even though net neutrality has many vocal supporters in the United States, including Minnesota Senator Al "Al" Franken, so far, have political solutions that would write the principle of net neutrality in the legislation excluded mobile data providers from the rules. Lack of competition in the wireless marketplace, combined with a lack of strong net neutrality rules could allow the AT&T block of popular, high-bandwidth services like Netflix.

Still, even as AT&T works to cultivate an air of urgency around this proposed merger, the company's acquisition of T-Mobile is anything other than a fait accompli. In contrast to the last great communications merger in the United States, of Comcast and NBC Universalwould AT&T's merger with T-Mobile as a "horizontal" mergers – that is to say, a merger between two companies that compete to provide the same types of services. The New York Times and the Washington Post has already expressed scepticism about the merger and the Economist – a publication known for its market-friendly views – advocates that it be blocked. Historically, it is horizontal mergers, which has attracted most of the control from the Federal Government.

It is still visible on the Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission and the Obama administration has the political will to reject this merger, but if they are to keep wireless consumers best interests in mind, so they should.

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