Google Motorola deal is a gamble

Google's purchase of Motorola will allow it to go head-to-head with Apple in the smartphone market photo: Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

Google Apple and is involved in a replay of war Steve Jobs lost against Microsoft two decades ago. They compete to create the dominant operating system for the computers in the future — smartphonesour.

If you want to force his hand, Google has mobilised a legion of Motorola footsoldiers. Motorolans, comes as Google Chief Larry Page referred to them, in both human and patents form.

Androidsuccess has prompted its main rivals to start buying up patents in an attempt to kill from the operating system that is used in almost half of new smartphones. $ 12.5bn heel on Motorola can mainly justified by its significant intellectual property shield.

More interesting is the business-building reasons to trade. The biggest headache Androids horizon is not disputes, but fragmentation. Unlike Apple addicted to Google other companies such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola, of course, to make its handsets. It can not tightly control the user experience. For phones can function properly, their software has to be constantly updated, but in many Android phones this does not happen, and customers are starting to cotton.

Mini software downloads or "apps" that allows us to find a street map or Play angry birds game for smartphones which entries are for record players. There is little point in having one without the other.

Unfortunately, use no older phones always the available apps in the Android store. Before Apple and Google entered the market, there were dozens of operating systems and developers were not able to build and market the apps that was guaranteed to work. By Google system openness is to recreate the fragmentation, it was created to solve the very problem.

Motorola is a gamble. Google has a chance now to make phones as good as Apple 's, but if competing manufacturers feel pressure set aside, they might desert Android rows.

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Shuffler last.FM revamps web app with native iPad version coming

Shuffler. FM: from the ashes of social music service Twones.

Shuffler. FM is the latest music site to set its sights on iPad-owner of music fans, revealing a revised version on Tuesday, while submitting a native app Apple to for approval.

The site was born in 2010 from the ashes of social music service Twones. The new site transformed music blogs to streaming radio stations, play the songs embedded in their posts. Today's useful looking site styling itself as an "audio magazine", although with the same core functionality.

New features include the ability to play a radio station from an individual blog, browse the most popular songs and artists in Shuffler. fm's aggregated chart, search for individual artists, and create a personal channel with favorite tracks and updates from specific blogs.

Visit the site on an iPad, and despite a warning at the top of the screen about a missing Flash plugin that is missing, it is perfectly usable. Press a specific channel – for example – and Indie music starts playing, complete with the appropriate record from the whatever blog that tracks buzzing.

Its capabilities for aggregation and curation bring Shuffler last.FM for similar area Hype Machine and RCRD LBL, albeit using different technology. Both launched apps native iPhone this year, and Shuffler. fm after them on to the App Store.

Its iPad app has been submitted to Apple, and judging from the preview version, we have played with, doing a good job of simplifying the site's interface for Tablet usage, throw in YouTube videos alongside blog posts.

Tablets have particular potential as a music discovery service units: Shuffler last.FM accedes apps such as Aweditorium, Discovr music, Hitlantis and Hunter on the iPad, all of which offer various degrees of song or artist recommendations.

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Anonymous protests shut down the us train stations

Bart station Civic Center was closed after protesters gathered there. Police said there had been no arrests. Photo: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Four San Francisco underground railway stations closed temporarily on Monday during a demonstration organized by the group anonymous of attacker, alleged police violence and freedom of expression.

Service Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) commuter train cut off mobile phone networks in some stations on Thursday to stop the demonstrators who organise a protest over the fatal shooting of a man by police last month.

"This was a complete silencing of the people," said Carlos Wilson, a 41-year-old gay rights activist who came to protest against the killings and closure of the mobile phone network in the last week.

A few dozen protesters turned on for the operation, during rush hour, which ended when authorities closed the Civic Center station. Three other stations to close later, briefly, apparently due to crowding.

Police said there had been no arrests, although officers arrived dressed in riot gear.

Mobile phone service was left on the station during the operation, and some demonstrators took as a sign of victory. Beck Simmons, a 21-year-old student, said: "I have more cell service now than usual on Bart. I think what they did last time was an empty threat. I have full bars. " Anonymous, a loose knit group that has attacked the financial and Government websites, had called for protestors to descend on station 5 PM.

Would-be protesters were encouraged to download the software for short-range mobile to mobile messaging, in the case of the in-station network was cut off again.

Bart said a website for its users mybart.org,, had been hacked over the weekend, and contact information of at least 2,400 people had stolen.

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Rural broadband is set to £ 362 m boost

Remote villages in regions such as Cumbria should enjoy the funding boost for rural broadband. Photo: Charlie Hedley to guardian

Millions of Britons living in rural areas are set to benefit from internet faster speeds after the Government allocated £ 362 m to improve broadband connections in England and Scotland .

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said Tuesday that the Fund would ensure that 90% of hard to reach communities with "painfully slow" internet speeds to access Superfast broadband by 2015.

Remote villages in the areas in regions such as Cumbria and the Scottish Highlands, where it is currently difficult to load a simple Web page, you should be able to download or stream high quality movies within four years.

English counties get £ 294 m and Scotland £ 68. 8 m to bring high-speed internet to areas not taken into account for the private sector. The assignments that come out of the £ 530 m "digital United Kingdom" Fund commitment of Chancellor, George Osborne, earlier this year.

"I definitely decided, the United Kingdom will have the best super fast broadband network in Europe by 2015 – we all enjoy," said Hunt. "Quick broadband is essential to our economic growth, to deliver public services efficiently and to implement our everyday lives.

"But some areas of the UK is missing, with many rural and hard to reach communities suffering painfully slow internet connections, or no coverage at all. We are not willing to leave certain parts of our country get left behind in the digital age. "

English Councils and private companies will be responsible for the delivery of broadband deployment, with delivery plans and match-funding expected to be drawn up to specify timetables. The Scottish Government will decide how to allocate money in Scotland.

Hunt added: "the Government is investing £ 530 m of public money to help bring broadband to all homes and business in the United Kingdom. We do our part – it is now up to local authorities and the Scottish Government to do their bit, to come on board and work with us to ensure the social and economic future for their communities. "

"I urge all those who suffer frustration over slow internet connections to make it clear to your local elected representatives that you expect them to do what is needed to access this investment and deliver broadband to your community."

Wales and Northern Ireland have already been allocated their share of the Fund for the spread of broadband.

Wales was last month given £ 56. 9 m, with the Welsh Government is expected to match the Fund to complete the rural broadband upgrade plan.

Northern Ireland is to get £ 4. 4 m as part of the program. Northern Ireland-Executive will decide how to spend the money.

Bedfordshire (Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton): £ 1, 060,000

Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham): £ 1, 430,000

Buckinghamshire (Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes): £ 2, 100,000

Cambridgeshire (Cambridgeshire, Peterborough): £ 6, 750,000

Cheshire (Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Warrington): £ 3, 240,000

Cumbria (Cumbria): £ 17, 130,000

Derbyshire (Derbyshire, Derby): £ 7, 390,000

Devon and Somerset (Devon, Plymouth, Torbay, Somerset, North Somerset): £ 31, $ 320,000

Dorset (Dorset, Bournemouth, Poole): £ 9,440,000

Durham (County Durham, Gateshead): £ 7, 790,000

East Sussex (East Sussex, Brighton and Hove): £ 10, 640,000

Essex (Essex, Southend-on-sea, Thurrock): £ 6, 460,000

Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire): £ 8, 070,000

Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan): £ 990,000

Hampshire and Isle of Wight (Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton): £ 8, 420,000

Herefordshire (County of Herefordshire): £ 6, 350,000

Hertfordshire (Hertfordshire): £ 1, 110,000

Humber (the city of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire): £ 8, 540,000 (reviewed)

Kent (Kent, Medway): £ 9, 870,000

Lancashire (Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool): £ 10, 830,000

Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicestershire, Leicester, Rutland): £ 3, 880,000

Lincolnshire (Lincolnshire): £ 14, 310,000

Merseyside (Watford, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral): £ 5, 460,000

Norfolk (Norfolk): £ 15, 440,000

Northamptonshire (Northamptonshire): £ 4, 080,000

Northumberland (Northumberland): £ 7, 030,000

North Yorkshire (North Yorkshire, York): £ 17, 840,000

Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire, Nottingham): £ 4, 400,000

Oxfordshire (Oxfordshire): £ 3, 860,000

Shropshire (Shropshire, Telford and Snow-white): £ 8, 210,000

Staffordshire (Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent): £ 7, 440,000

Suffolk (Suffolk): £ 11, 680,000

Surrey (Surrey): £ 1, 310,000

Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees): £ 770,000

Tyne and Wear (Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland): £ 3, 420,000

Warwickshire (Warwickshire, Coventry, Solihull): £ 4, 070,000

To the West of England (Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, South Gloucestershire): £ 1, 430,000

West Midlands (Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton): £ 630,000

West Sussex (West Sussex): £ 6, 260,000

West Yorkshire (Bradford, Calder valleys, Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Leeds, Wakefield): £ 6, 340,000

Wiltshire (Wiltshire, Swindon): £ 4, 900,000

Worcestershire (Worcestershire): £ 3, 350,000

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Boot up: Apple may invest $ 1 billion in Sharp, HP tablets not selling at Best Buy, and more

Apple chief Steve Jobs at Apple by the second generation iPad. Sale of tablet last quarter was three times sales in its first three months of photograph: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images

A quick burst 6 links you to chew over, as picked by the technology team

"Apple Inc may invest $ 1 billion in Sharp Corp. Kameyama factory to ensure the provision of monitors for iPhones and iPads, MF Global FXA securities wrote in a sales memo on Wednesday, sending shares in Japanese consumer electronics maker, up more than 2 percent."

"In a note to investors on Tuesday, Jeffries and co. analyst Peter Misek concluded that Apple will probably strike" back "by acquiring patents from rivals such as Nokia or research in motion as a response to Google's purchase of Motorola mobility. He also mentioned the InterDigital, which have been widely seen as a potential target for acquisition by Apple and other major players in the industry smartphone. "

"At an event last week Facebook Director of game partnerships Sean Ryan had some choice words for its new competitor."Google has emulated aspects of our system, which is what they are entitled to do, "he said. "We just need to be better." He refers to the way companies make money from casual online games like Farm ville and words with friends. Players pay for play time or virtual goods within games, and the social networks take a cut of sales. Currently, Facebook reportedly 30% from game developers, Google takes only 5%. "

"In other words-and I never thought I would say this--Steve Ballmer was correct. Android is not free. It is actually not even cheap. As John Gruber points out Fireball's Durst, $ 12.5 billion to Google spending on Motorola amounts to almost two years worth of Search company profits. No company--not even Google--can throw around these kinds of cash without devising a direct return on its investment "

"According to a source who has seen internal HP reports that Best Buy has taken delivery of 270,000 touch pads and has so far managed to sell only 25,000 or less than 10 percent of units in its inventory.

Microsoft is finally ready to talk about Windows 8. Here is the new official blog.

You can follow the guardian technology's linkbucket on delicious

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Superfast broadband gets ready to go the UK-wide

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The government wants all 25m UK homes to have access to a minimum speed of 2Mbps and has a £530m fund for broadband-starved communities. Yoav Levy/Alamy

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt will fire the starting gun on the race to turn Britain's internet "not spots" into hot spots this week by allocating a £530m fund for broadband-starved communities. Cornish fishing villages, Welsh valleys and Cumbrian farmsteads will all have access to high-speed internet within four years if telecoms companies add their money to the state pot and consumers show interest.

Hunt is expected to announce how the money, diverted from the BBC to create a digital Britain, will be shared among 40 areas including English councils, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A further £300m has been promised after 2015.

The government wants all 25m UK homes to have access to a minimum speed of 2Mbps (megabits per second), which would mean that reading web pages, making Skype phone calls or watching TV catch-up services, such as the BBC's iPlayer, will all be possible from the most remote cottage. If all goes to plan, 90% of homes will be able to get even faster speeds of over 24Mbps, enough for several computers to download video simultaneously on a single line.

The BT Group has already promised to spend its own money getting superfast, fibre-optic broadband to two thirds of households by 2015, without government help. This will cover the towns and cities, where BT can quickly recoup its £2.5bn investment. Getting broadband to those villages and valleys will be less economical, however, with lines having to stretch longer distances to reach fewer people. So will the two tranches of public subsidy, totalling £830m, be enough to reach the final third?

Where BT wins council contracts backed by the government, it is offering to match the money and it expects councils to as well, by securing other subsidies, so that just under £2.5bn should be available for the final third. The BT executive responsible for leading 19,000 engineers in building what will be the UK's largest fibre network is Olivia Garfield, chief executive of its Openreach division, which rents out BT's network to other internet providers such as BSkyB and TalkTalk. She believes universal broadband access can be achieved, but only if a mix of technologies and every available resource is used, from telegraph poles to mobile phone masts and Virgin Media's cable network – which unlike BT's infrastructure is currently off-limits to rival companies.

"It's whether you believe that the most important thing is to roll out fibre at speed in the UK to help recover from economic recession," says Garfield.

The problem is that even in neighbourhoods where BT does not have to dig up the road to lay fibre, because it already has ducts carrying its copper wires, many of those ducts are blocked or broken. If those ducts happen to serve one of the 12m homes where Virgin Media has cables, Garfield says BT will not lay its own fibre. This means many homes will have only one choice of high-speed internet supplier, which in turn threatens higher bills.

Allaying fears that Hunt's announcement will not go far enough, some regions are ensuring that government subsidy will not have to cover every rural area in the UK. Cornwall has already raised £132m to reach up to 90% of homes by 2014. BT is building the network and providing £79m of the funding, the rest is coming from Europe. Northern Ireland is well on its way, also with BT. Some smaller areas, such as the Angus Glens, have attempted to go it alone (see box).

But there are dangers for those who decide to build without BT. Hull is one of the few areas in the UK where the phone network has always been owned by the council, not BT, and broadband penetration there is lower than the national average.

For an internet service provider such as TalkTalk or BSkyB to link in to the local network requires an outlay for equipment and software, and a separate negotiation over price. Many prefer the simplicity of dealing with one network nationally, which means BT.

Of the government's £530m pot, around £150m has already been committed to Wales and a number of English counties including Wiltshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. A further 40 areas, as well as Northern Ireland and Scotland, are likely to hear this week how much they will be allocated.

BT is not guaranteed to win all the new contracts. Fujitsu, the Japanese electronics firm, has offered to reach 5m homes in three to five years, if it beats BT to secure around £500m in government subsidy. Both BT and Fujitsu will be hoping that councils club together to appoint one main contractor, allowing for economies of scale. Declaring his interest earlier this year, Fujitsu managing director of network solutions Andy Stevenson said: "We don't want to end up with 40 fragmented networks so it makes sense for regions to come together." However, fibre cannot reach everywhere. Tim Watkins, head of sales for western Europe at Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, which would like to supply equipment for the network, says the final 10% will be reached by a combination of satellite and mobile phone masts. "If you want to deliver high-speed broadband services to rural areas with six farmers, it's never going to be achieved with just fibre."

But carriers will have to take a mature approach and agree to share equipment in remote locations. Broadband expert Ian Watt at Enders Analysis believes the government funds will only get broadband to three-quarters of homes. "It's more likely that high-speed broadband will be available to the centre of the village, for example to a school, library or post office. We don't see the subsidy being enough to get it to everyone."

Garfield doesn't claim to know what will trigger demand, but believes it will come. "There is evidence that once you have access to it, the minute you've seen the new world, you would never go back. So, I don't believe there is a lack of desire, but it is a premium product, it will never be the de facto normal product," she says. Speed can be addictive. It is also of the essence if the government's dream of creating Europe's first extensive fibre network by 2015 is to become a reality.

Nestling at the foot of the Cairngorm mountains on the east coast of Scotland, the inhabitants of the Angus Glens tend to make their living from hill farming and gamekeeping. But some commute to Dundee, where hi-tech industries, like biotechnology and computer games, are among the biggest employers. With 2,400 properties across a 500 mile area, and the more remote telephone exchanges serving fewer than 100 lines, there is little likelihood of BT or another major carrier building a fibre broadband network.

When lecturer Geoff Hobson moved to the area in 2007, he concluded that if the Glens wanted a fibre network, they would have to install it themselves. The Angus Broadband Co-operative was created to raise money and provide a community ownership model. The need for better broadband infrastructure is acute. A survey last year showed that 9% of properties had no internet connection at all, while 5% had only a dial-up service. Three quarters had fixed-line broadband but of those 67% reported speeds lower than 2Mbps, the minimum needed to allow quality home working. Meanwhile, a third of local homes are used for some form of business activity.Hobson says: "If you try watching a programme online it can just give up, particularly when it's busy in the evening." With two school age children, the family's need for bandwidth will only increase.

A nearby hill farmer, whose wife is disabled, has to shop online, and her husband needs the internet to fill in government forms. But they have only dial-up access, which means no phone calls while they are using the web.

Another neighbour, a games developer who works from home, has to shuttle to and from the office with CD-Roms because he cannot send material online.

"We decided to going for a fibre network because it would be future-proof. We got some funding and drew up a plan for how to lay the cables: £9.5m is the lowest quote so far. We weren't expecting such a large figure," says Hobson. The Co-operative has approached BT about sharing its ducts, which would bring down the cost. "They appear very helpful when you have meetings and run out to be very unhelpful when they send a written response."

Hobson is waiting to hear whether his area will be included in an east of Scotland bid for government subsidy.

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Liberal Democrats signal opposition to restrictions on social media networks

David Cameron said users of social media networks like Twitter could have their access to services blocked. Photo: Jonathan Hordle/Rex features

The Liberal Democrats to oppose David Cameron's proposals that people suspected of inciting violence during social unrest could be banned from social media network.

Tabled an amendment to the party's autumn Conference, that if voted through, would put pressure on the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to withstand Cameron's plan.

Signs of increased tension between the coalition partners appeared acting police Metropolitan Commissioner Tim Godwin, told the Home Affairs Select Committee Tuesday that he had considered asking the authorities to turn off social media networks.

He said he had considered steps, because, although they were often a source of information that Web sites could also be misleading.

Details about Conference amendment came as Clegg tried to propose its own policy response to the unrest, with the different philosophies coalition parties begin to come into the foreground.

Tuesday morning, he announced a "riot payback" scheme to make the looters and arsonists are confronted with their victims, along with support to help EX-offenders to find jobs.

The scheme would mean looters performs community service in riot-hit neighborhoods.

They have to wear orange clothing to make them visible, and money is provided to enable the victims who want to do this is to confront the people who burned their homes or plundered their businesses last week.

The announcement put some of the policies, including checks on social media networks, the section object by Cameron in the wake of the riots.

Differences between the coalition partners surfaced over the weekend as senior Lib Dems urged to "kneejerk" reaction by politicians. The party's deputy leader, Simon Hughes, insisted long-term solutions lay in supporting communities by providing opportunities and redistributing wealth, not undermine assistance from the State.

In the past, Cameron has made positive and liberating effect social liberating media can be central to his vision of the "post-bureaucratic age".

Texts and BlackBerry Mobile Messenger was critical in planning the riots and, in last week's recall of Parliament, the Prime Minister said users of social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger, could have their access to services blocked.

He said he had instructed the intelligence services and police to investigate whether it was "right and possible" to intercept them "to plot violence, disorder and crime".

On Monday welcomed the Chinese Government official news agency Xinhua, proposal, saying it marked an improvement from Cameron's comments in February.

He was then invited to Egypt and other North African Nations to allow freedom of expression after they attempted to restrict the use of social media.

Xinhua said: "for the benefit of the public, proper web monitoring is legitimate and necessary.

"We can ask why Western leaders, on the one hand, tend to indiscriminately accuse other Nations in the monitoring, but on the other, take for granted their steps to monitor and control internet".

Evan Harris, Vice-President of the Lib Dems ruling Federal Policy Committee, will propose an amendment at the party gathering.

By this spring conference was a vote on a Lib Dem amendment a u-turn on NHS policy as Clegg came under pressure in order to reflect the Lib Dem grassroots views.

The amendment, entitled "protection of the essential freedom of the Internet", calls for "additional guarantees for online freedom of expression be in place".

It reads: "oppose additional powers to the police or the Government to restrict access to the Internet or to social media or to order its suspension.

"[We must] makes it clear that the Government will not allow a two-tier internet, and will keep the principle of net neutrality, possibly through regulation."

The amendment is likely to get wide support. On Monday wrote backbencher Julian Huppert also against blocking any contemplation to close social network.

He said: "some people in this House and elsewhere has chosen to focus on the use of social media in these riots. And David Cameron has responded by announcing a revision designed to examine whether it would be right and possible to turn off social networks or services in the mobile phone during times of unrest.

"Even if we look at these riots in isolation – always a dangerous approach to policy formulation — the idea that we should prevent communication via these networks is obviously ridiculous.

"The brilliant response to the riots on Facebook, Twitter and the wider internet, embodied most clearly by site Riot Clean-Up, has arguably done more to bring communities together than anything else.

"There is little evidence to suggest this is a problem that needs to be tackled, and even the Government appears to give serious consideration to curb freedom of expression-message in a way that would make it much harder for the good things that have come from this unrest either to continue or to happen again.

"This authoritarian knee-jerkery is a reminder of the bad old days. Those who cherish freedom, of all parties and none, must now defend these important new forms of communication. "

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Amnesty urges Egypt to drop charges against activist for Twitter comments

Amnesty International Egypthas urged the military authorities to drop charges against an activist accused of prison sentences the country's ruling military generals on Twitter, in what could prove to be a landmark case for freedom in post-Mubarak Egypt.

Asmaa Mahfouz, co-founder of the movement influential 6 April was summoned to a military court Sunday after posting two sentences interneton. "If the justice system does not give us our rights, nobody should be upset if armed groups emerge and carry out assassinations," she wrote. "As long as there is no law there is no justice, anything can happen and no one should be upset."

Revolutionary in Egypt have been campaigning against the use of military trials since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February, and the issue has been a major faultline in College for the November parliamentary elections, when the army has promised to return to barracks. Many have complained that the reply of the Supreme Council of the armed forces [SCAF] on legitimate criticism echoes, the Mubarak regime.

Mahfouz, 26, who also criticized the Council last month in an interview with al-Jazeera, has been released on £ 2,000 bail. On Tuesday, she was referred to a military Tribunal, although no date has been set for her case.

General Adel Morsy, as head of the Department of Justice Commission, defended the army the right to charge Mahfouz. "No citizen shall be condemned [] for an opinion, they adopt freely, as long as this statement is objective and not infringe other people's rights, or vilify them and their dignity," he said in a statement. "If the said opinion goes beyond these limits, the penalties becomes necessary as it is regarded as a crime of insult."

Heba Morayef, a researcher with the Egypt Human Rights Watch, said the case highlighted the Council deliberate intimidation of critics. "The accusations against Mahfouz all found in the Egyptian Penal Code, even if insulting public officials – including the use of strong words-is allowed under international human rights," she said. "This underlines the need to review all repressive laws used by the Government to stifle freedoms of speech, freedom of Association and freedom of Association – all of which are under attack".

Activist Noor Ayman Noor said 10,000 military trials had taken place in recent months, including many involving peaceful demonstrators. "The SCAF has noted that the public has not taken a strong stand against these attempts so that they now extend them to activists. Only today, I was informed that three more activists were summoned to a military consultation ".

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Apps rush: FourFourTwo Football Stats, Domino's Pizza, DK quick Cook and more

Takeaway pizza? There is an iPad app for. ..

A burst of apps 16 your remuneration

FourFourTwo magazine, together with Opta iPhone for an app, will delight stattos everywhere. It analyzes every Premier League match, allowing players and teams must be compared across a range of metrics. The App is free with statistics from last season, but an in-app purchase of £ 2.49 locks the current season.
iPhone

UK pizza chain Domino has launched a iPad official app, which can be used to order takeaway, pay via PayPal (or credit card/cash on collection). App shows all the current offers, with a build your own function and ability to track deliveries to your door.
iPad

Cooking book apps are an increasingly popular category on the iPad, with Dorling Kindersley the latest publisher to throw his brat forehead in the ring. Its quick Cook app has more than 500 recipes – each of which can be cooked in less than 45 minutes.
iPad

Google's new iPad app is only available in the United States for now. The free app brings together digital versions of catalogues from various retailers including Macy 's, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Urban Outfitters. Users can zoom in on product photos, find nearby shops stocking them, and share information with friends via email. A Android tablet version is apparently on the way.
iPad

The latest Dr. Seuss app available for iOS and Android at the start, offering a mixture of voice narration, background sound and simple animation.
iPhone/iPad/Android

UK charity The Suzy Lamplugh Trust has launched an iPhone app that aims to educate the public about personal safety, with a focus on adults, young adults and parents.
iPhone

Latest company looking for a piece of the talking animals market on the iPhone is Podotree, with its speaker cube dog app. users construct a virtual dog from more than 130 parts and then communicate with them via speech and touch. There are also augmented reality features to take photos of the dog superimposed on the real world. Looks fun for children.
iPhone

Know your Americano from your Java? Coffee basement claiming to be a lifestyle iPhone app "for the budding coffee connoisseur", and it is produced with loving attention to detail. Users can create their own virtual coffee cellar, store photos and wine tasting notes and share information via email and Twitter.
iPhone

Author David Baldacci has an official iPhone and iPad app, courtesy of publisher Hachette Book Group. App offers previews, and extracts from all of his novels as well as additional content on the locations featured in the books, and photos and videos from Baldacci himself.
iPhone

New York Post has done its Android debut with newspaper release a app offers stories, photos, and social functions, with no subscription in sight. Not yet, anyway.
Android

These newspaper stories where people see Jesus face on a piece of toast or potato? There is an app for that. I see Jesus helps users make false Son-Of-Good-On-Perishable-Goods photos easy.
iPhone

PEARSON education has released its latest Android dictionary app, offers 230,000 words, as well as 77 000 audio pronunciations and 86,000 recorded example sentence.
Android

Already launched for iPhone, location-based Q&A service Local mind is now available for Android also. The ovntapningen in Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook sites to help users to ask questions to the persons checked into real locations.
Android

iPad app grow your Garden HD is the work of a team at the University of California, Berkeley, and aims to teach kids addition and subtraction through medium tilt virtual water on the flowers.
iPad

Carry me home claiming to be "the ultimate party game", based on the existing card game of the same name. It suggests real minigame -involves drinking, gambling, dance and more, with forfeits scrolled.
iPhone

Scottish broadcaster STV has launched an Android news app to complement its existing iPhone version, offering news and weather for Scotland.
Android

You can follow the guardian Apps blog's Apps rush on delicious

Suggest links, tag articles on delicious.com with "guardianappsblog"

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Kindles make reading people harder

Do you need to know anything more about these people? Harry Potter fans from two generations at a bus stop. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

AH ha! I've finally put my finger on a concrete reason for my long-lasting, irrational, doubtless soon-to-be-port prejudices against e-readers. I had dinner last night with a few people at the Edinburgh festival, and eventually, inevitably, the subject of print ebooks vs came up. advantages and disadvantages but for another airing was duly rolled, and conversation followed the usual, now well-worn lines until one member of the party made what seemed to me to be a killer.

"The problem with Kindles," he said, "is that you can't tell what other people are reading on public transportation."

Case closed. Spying on everyone else on the bus read is my main source of entertainment on the way to work in the morning. Train lines are enlivened by trying to sneak a peek at the cover of the book the opposite person is buried in without them spot things what I do. One of my favorite internet destinations is people read the blog which posts images of denizens of San Francisco, with their latest reading material; a premium, in the meantime, that anyone who can unite me with a blog, I used to visit a few years back, written by a woman in North America, is used to clock not only the title, but since in the books bypassers reading, stifle for the nearest bookseller, trace the book and page and Transcribe what she found there.

Rubberneckers in the world, unite: When ebooks take over, how will we form snap judgments about our fellow-travelers? Think about it.

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Google buys Motorola mobility for $ 12.5bn

Google is buying Motorola mobility – maker of Motorola Xoom tablet — for $ 12.5bn. Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Google is acquiring Motorola mobility, the American mobile carrier smartphone business in a lot of $ 12.5bn (£ 7.6bn) cash.

Acquisition will enhance Google's growing dominance in the market for nascent smartphone and tablet computer. $ 40 A share deal – which is Google's largest acquisition to date – is a 63% premium on Motorola mobility closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

Larry Page, Google chief executive, said: "Motorola mobility total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will be creating great user experiences that improve the efficiency of the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers. "

Sanjay JHA, CEO of Motorola mobility, added: "this transaction offers significant value for Motorola mobility stockholders and provide compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers and partners around the world.

"We have shared a productive partnership with Google to move the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver excellent mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses."

The deal represents Google's biggest challenge yet to Apple, which has led the way in the smartphone and tablet markets with the iPhone and iPad.

Other manufacturers, including Samsung, HTC, will be free to release phones using Google's Android software. Google will run Motorola mobility as a separate undertaking.

The takeover also enables Google, which has traditionally avoided involvement in hardware, to manufacture giant Nokia. The move comes just six months after the Finnish phone maker signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft in an attempt to rebuild its ailing fortunes.

Motorola was the first mobile maker partner with Google and release phones based on its Android operating system.

Motorola spun off mobility as a separate company in January of this year. Manufacturing division produces smartphonesprimarily, such as the Motorola Droid and Defy but also makes the tablet computers, and digital set-top boxes.

Analysts have long predicted that half of the world's smartphones will use Android software before the end of 2012, as manufacturers have hastened to adopt Google's operating system instead of developing their own.

The deal is subject to U.S. regulatory approval, which could prove a bigger hurdle than usual, to Google's Android division is already being tested by antitrust investigators. The companies said they expect the takeover to be completed in late 2011 or early 2012.

Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google, said: "we expect that this combination will allow us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem.

"However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google is still determined to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices. "

In a blog post announces the acquisition, page said the deal would allow "better protect" Google Android from "anticompetitive threats" over patents from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

The highly competitive smartphone market has escalated to a bitterly fought the patents war between the major manufacturers and software giants. Microsoft and Apple Sue Motorola and Google over a string of alleged patent infringements on Android.

Monday's deal means that Google now owns Motorola mobility mass of patents – trøde to total around 17,000 – and strengthen its position in the market. However, these patents deter the ongoing trials from Microsoft and Apple.

Page said: "in 2008, Motorola bets big on Android as the only operating system across all its smartphone devices. It was a smart effort and we are thrilled with the success they have achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and ready for explosive growth. "

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England riots: couple jailed for four years in order to use Facebook to encourage disorder

Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, one of two men jailed for four years at Chester crown court for using Facebook to encourage disorder, although their actions do not cause disturbances

Two men have been jailed for four years in order to use Facebook to encourage disorder.

Jordan Blackshaw, 20, from Marston near Northwich, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, from Warrington, appeared in Chester crown court on Tuesday. They were arrested last week after the events of violent disorder in London and other cities throughout the United Kingdom.

None of their Facebook posts resulted in a riot-related event.

During sentencing, the recorder of Chester, Elgin Edwards, praised Cheshire police quick actions and said he hoped the sentences would act as a deterrent to others.

Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson said: "if we cast our minds back a few days to last week and will remember the way in which the technology was used to spread the incitement and bring people together to commit acts of criminality, it is easy to understand the four year sentences were handed down in Court today.

"In Cheshire, we quickly recognised the impact of the situation of our society and the way in which social media was used to promote and encourage conduct that would strike fear in the heart of our society.

"From offset, Cheshire constabulary adopted a robust policing approach by means of the information that originates in your organization to move quickly and effectively against any person whose conduct was likely to encourage criminality. Officers took swift action against those people who have used Facebook and other social media sites to incite disorder.

"The sentences passed today recognize how technology can be abused to encourage criminal activity, and send a strong message to potential troublemakers on the extent to which ordinary people value safety and order in their lives and their communities. Anyone who seeks to undermine, will face the full force of law. "

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Tech weekly per podcast: Google-Motorola, riots and social media,

Join Aleks Krotoski and Juliette Garside a zipped version of the Tech Weekly. This week, politics, social media: what role should the British Government has in regulating our access to services such as Facebook BlackBerry , Messenger and Twitter? Author Jeff Jarvis weighs debate and finds that there is currently a demonisation of technology.

Also, the Search giant Google has moved to mobile manufacturing business: blogger stasis Bielinis broke news of Monday's Motorola mobility deal – worth $ 12.5bn – back in June. We find out what is it for Google, and how mobile ecosystem will settle after that bombing.

The British Government has announced the next phase in the high-speed broadband plans – corporate BT partner has promised to bid on some of the £ 530 million in grants connected to out-of-reach rural communities for fast connection. We hear from Bill Murphy, MD for next generation access at BT about the details of its plans, and where it intends to invest.

Finally, what is in store for protracted gamesFifa brand? Keith Stuart speaks with Andrew Wilson, senior VP of worldwide development at EA Sports about its plans for cross-platform entertainment.

Don't forget to ...

• Comment below
• Mail tech@guardian.co.ukproducer
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• See our photos on Flickr/post your tech pics

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Over-sharing 2.0: the rise of few bloggers

Sun, sea and social media ... linking blogs are usually primary-colored blurs of annoying perfection. Photo: Michael Keller/Corbis

So, congratulations: you are young, you are attractive and you're in a relationship. Your regular resembles a Vogue interiors shoot and your wardrobe in bursting on its hinges with vintage goodies. Not content with hand-stroking over dinner tables or caused your lustfulness about friends, family, innocent bystanders or fellow public-transport users, you come to the conclusion-since it is the twenty-first century and all — that you should blog about it. Welcome to the world of few bloggers.

On top of this virtual mountain is a Mormon couple from Washington, DC, Naomi and Josh Davis, who set up their blog Rock star diaries shortly after the wedding in 2007. They now have numerous sponsorship deals and an ardent global following – even a picture of their baby's eyelashes (Yes, it's the intimate) attracts more than 150 comments, with daily comments often runs in the thousands. Life online is the primary-colored blurs of Hipstamatic-captured perfection – baby Eleanor seem never to cry, their Kingsley would be misplaced on the cruft's dog, and doe-eyed, immaculately dressed Naomi and Josh happy ceaselessly. It's saccharin sweet and totally addictive – like reality TV, but with cupcakes.

While Rock star diaries fall into a specific category of few bloggers (includes cool, young, Mormons American and Christians blogging about idyllic husband and wife setups) is the format, even increasingly translated into UK blogosphere – albeit less, well, gross. From the street fashionista duo Katie Wore to London foodies (now residing in Hong Kong), Tom eat Jen Cook's, blogging duos knockout a new kind of real life, online lifestyle envy.

Sally is one half of the Louder than silence, blog she created with her boyfriend Ross Holden last August chronicling their lives in London. They currently gets around 1,000 hits a day and have only fronted an online campaign for Bertie Shoes Shop from the back of it.

They say: "we went to see the strokes played a secret gig last year and had an amazing night, we trøde," it would be nice to have a place to share this? ' – a blog that shows London through the eyes of a girl and a boy. "

Sally and Ross of higher than silence. Photo: Louder than silence

Although Sally and Ross have a headers in trend stakes – she works in the fashion PR and he is a graphic designer – who can offer some consolation to those whose average week evening is more local Sainsburys than Shoreditch. But she insists on their blog is not staged or hidden, more a creative outlet for documenting their lives, as they are: "I don't think we portray our lives as perfect by any means. If you read the text accompanying the images they often take mick or tell a funny anecdote from the day. "

But ultimately, the question has to be asked: what happens when they break? "We wanted to keep the blog," says Sally. "But I don't see that happening to be honest. We would not have started the blog together unless we were already quite seriously, thinking it would be a long-term project ". It is a project that has led them to the other couple of bloggers online life also – so what's the appeal? Are few blogging the next level of online to share or a more meaningful insights in relationships others no matter how sugar-coated the possibly?

"It is just nice to get a feel for people's lives and relationships in various cities around the world – what they are eating and what they wear and where they go," says Sally. "We are just normal 25-year-old who enjoys living in London, with our own little piece of internet of together."

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Police access to BlackBerry messages to thwart planned riots

Police thwarted planned riots by using intelligence gained from BlackBerry messages. Photo: Amer Hilabi/AFP/Getty Images

Scotland Yard stopped attacks by rioters on sites across London of hours before they had been carried out in accordance with the regime to "break into" encrypted social messaging sites, it has emerged.

Attacks on the OLYMPICS, the shops in Oxford Circus and the two Westfield shopping centre, in the East and West London, had been plotted by BlackBerry using Messenger (BBM).

Detectives made breakthrough shortly before the planned attack after scouring pastes mobile phones of people who had been arrested during the riots.

It gave them access to messaging, scheduling, riots and looting, and bouncing around the service heavily encrypted BBM.

But it also gave met other information, which means they were able to use details experiences from the confiscated phones to give officers '' live time monitoring "of the BBM and also Twitter.

By last Monday afternoon, they were able to monitor BlackBerry messaging and send extra officers to disrupt the planned attack, which may have heightened the sense of threat felt by Londonernes.

This Tuesday, police , revealed they had been considering switching away from social messaging sites including BBM and Twitter.

Testified before the MPs on the Committee on Internal Affairs, the acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Tim Godwin, said police discovered they do not have legal powers to do it, adding: "we found searching the legal authority to extinguish it. Legality is dubious, very dubious. "

He said that as well as social messaging sites are used to plan the riots, they were a useful "intelligence asset" for the police, who were able to monitor them.

Last Monday, police chiefs sent officers to thwart the planned attack on the Olympic site at Stratford, east London. Shops in the area closed even after the "intelligence" produced by social messaging sites of conspiracies to riot.

He said police did not "at this point in time" ask the Government for new powers to turn off social messaging sites during outbreaks of extreme disarray.

This week, need the guardian revealed that the Government had drafted in MI5 Security Service and the eaves dropping Centre at GCHQ joins the hunt for them with social messaging to plot riots and work out how BlackBerry messaging could be "broken" in the future, and in real time if.

Godwin told MPs begin their investigation of the riots, David Cameron had been wrong to tell Commons last week that his officers had been too cautious when confronted with rioters and looters.

Confirming that he would apply for the next Commissioner of the met, he said: "I do not believe the men and women of met was hesitant, which is an accusation that has been directed to us."

Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police officers, said in his evidence that the police had no outrageous riots would break out.

"We are so fundamentally different in my assessment, was almost non-existent pre-intelligence. This was a spontaneous rather than organized, "he said.

Police Chiefs once again rejected the Government's allegations, it had quelled the unrest by ordering a huge wave of officers on the street.

Godwin said he made the decision last Monday evening after it became clear officers were still being buffer overrun, as riots hit 22 of the 32 boroughs in London. Market economy treatment, Britain's largest force, needed help from 30 other forces.

Orde told the politicians they legally had no role in the creation tactics. "If politicians want to make tactical decisions, they must take responsibility and change the law for that to happen," he added.

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Boot up: Google buys Motorola – all the links you need, and more

Motorola has tried to build quality managemtn ever before in its production processes. Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP

A quick burst 7 links you to chew over, as picked by the technology team

"As opposed to being protected, as MMIS patents seems to be too weak, these other Android device makers will be second-class citizens. Google has set its priority. I said before: Don't overestimate the patent part of the deal. It's all about Google maximize its control over the Android reasons and with the effects I roughly described herein, and which I will comment on the closer will forward. "

"It is not to say it was not a bold, brash Move, or even say it was not the right Move for Google and Android as a platform. But it is all relative to position Google was in--and that position was a weak, and to pretend otherwise is to deny the obvious. And don't forget that it is leaving Google in a weak situation with the two leading Android handset makers, Samsung, HTC. I think Apple and Microsoft will probably feel pretty good, package solutions about have forced Google to spending $ 12.5 billion Motorola--a handset maker with rapidly declining sales, no recent profits and faulty management. "

"According to Infonetics, Motorola mobility was the leader in set-top box revenues last year, and also was tops in hybrid IP/QAM set-top boxes--, the boxes used by operators like Verizon that combine broadcast TELEVISION and over the top programs. By leveraging Motorola's position with the air carriers, Google can better to solidify its offer to extend the Google TV and Android in the living room. "

"Google Inc. agreed to pay Motorola mobility Holdings Inc. $ 2.5 billion, if it fails to close the purchase of mobile phone maker, said a person with knowledge of the situation, a fee of more than six times the typical amount."

"Our sources say that Motorola was in acquisition talks with several parties, including the Microsoft era. Microsoft was interested in acquiring Motorola's patent portfolio, which would have made it to the torpedo Android yet. The ability to deal brought Google to table debate results in blockbuster sale. "

Reading between the lines in Microsoft's edits: Linux is no longer a desktop threat; Apple and Google is "mostly" his main rivals; Mobile issues; Online battle now is inside the browser; and security is in, innovation is out. Worth reading in full.

Microsoft is finally ready to talk about Windows 8. Here is the new official blog.

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Apps rush: Carcassonne, Amazon students, CBeebies and much more

A super quiet day today, with four apps only your salary (two of which are not available in the UK). We hope for more activity in the morning.

This Android app is designed for people who are deaf and mute people, with the aim to help them communicate using text-to speech synthesis and technology built into Android. The App is free to download and use, with its developer promising that there will be no advertising either.
Android

Board game Carcassonne have lots of loyal fans, and it already has a version of iOS. Now Exozet games and AMA have launched it to Android and BlackBerry also complete with the River II official expansion content.
Android/BlackBerry

Amazon has released a iPhone new app (in United States only) aims students as they go back to school. It is mainly a new client for Amazon store, complete with bar code scanning to get schoolbooks as cheaply as possible.
iPhone

There is an app to CBeebies? But Wait, British parents. It is not for you – at least not yet. The new CBeebies app will be released in a limited number of countries as pilot: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
iPhone

You can follow the guardian Apps blog's Apps rush on delicious

Suggest links, tag articles on delicious.com with "guardianappsblog"

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Bono's Facebook game worth almost $ 1 billion

U2 lead singer Bono's investment firm could look at a profit of nearly $ 800 m on its stake in Facebook. Photo: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

U2 lead singer Bonoinvestment firm could look at a profit of nearly $ 800 m on its stake in Facebook, it has emerged.

The social networking site has just been valued to a fantastic $ 65bn-up from $ 50bn in January- after the sale of a stake of advertising and marketing giant Interpublic Group.

Interpublic was an early investor in Facebook and has just sold half of his 0.4% share in the group for $ 133 m £ 81 m, valuing the site at more than $ 65bn.

This values U2 's Elevation partners games at $ 975 m-more than four times the $ 210 m it paid in November 2009.

Interpublic Group CEO Michael Roth said "attractive opportunity" to sell some of the games had presented itself and it "makes sense" to do.

IPG does not reveal the number shares it sells but said that the sell-off would see a ultimonettoværdi gain of about $ 132 m.

Facebook is now one of the elevation stellar investments. When it bought the equipment, which is difficult to obtain in-company was warm but worth a relatively "modest" $ 9bn.

In June last year, it was worth $ 23bn, and in December last year, Goldman Sachs, canvassed for his wealthy private clients on a potential investment opportunity, had valued it at $ 50bn.

So it looks to Elevation partners got caught in a very profitable moments.

Earlier this year Forbes named U2 as one of the world's highest paid musicians, having taken $ 736 m and profits of about $ 195 m-from record sales and concert receipts in the last two years.

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Google "improving privacy policy"

A Google Street View camera in London. Photography: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images

Google has "taken reasonable steps" to improve its privacy policy , given that its Street View mapping cars captured illegal data last year, Information Commissioner said Tuesday.

The internet giant promised to improve how it handles users ' data in November, after the information Commissioner's Office ruled it committed a "material breach" of the data protection act when its mapping cars toured UK cities.

United Kingdom's data protection watchdog said Google had improved its practices, but urged the company to make improvements in some key areas.

"I am satisfied that Google has made good progress in improving its procedures for the protection of personal data by the company they signed with me last year," said Christopher Graham, the information Commissioner. "All the obligations they gave us has been progressed, and the company has also accepted the results of our audit report, which we have asked them to go further.

"Ico Google review is not a rubber stamp for enterprise data protection policies. The company must ensure its work in this area continues to evolve with new products and technologies. Google will not be filed and forgotten by ICO. "

Google attracted criticism from authorities around the world after it admitted to gathering of so-called payload data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks through its Street View mapping cars.

The company said it has improved data protection training for all staff, including design engineers, and built in strict privacy controls for all new products.

But ICO urged Google to improve how it explains to users how their data will be managed within its range of products, including Gmail, search, and Street View.

Watchdog said Google must ensure all its products have a "privacy design document", not just its new services. ICO conducted audit in Google's London headquarters on 19 and 20 July, when the peer "evidence" and interviewed key personnel.

In a post on Google's European public policy blog Tuesday, Alma Whitten, the company's Director of privacy, said it had "significantly improved" core training of technicians in the past year.

Whitten added: "the report validates the improvements we've made our internal privacy structures, training programs and internal reviews and identifies some scope for continued work. We welcome your feedback on our progress and we look forward to working with them to ensure we continue to develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices.

"We have worked hard on these new privacy controls that are designed to improve our internal practice without getting in the way of the innovation that has driven Google since its inception. We know, there is no perfect solution, so we will continue to improve our existing processes and develop new so privacy awareness grows and evolves in parallel with Google. "

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Too much tv may shorten your life

Too much tv could shorten your life, to put the TV look ' in the same ballpark as smoking and obesity», say researchers. Photo: Fancy/Pangs/Corbis

Tv too much could shorten your life, suggests a study. Research carried out Australiain, and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that every hour of tv watched after 25 years may shorten life span by 22 minutes.

According to one of the report's authors, Dr. Lennert Veerman, from the school of public health at the University of Queensland, it enables long hours spent in front of the box "in the same ballpark as smoking and obesity". "While smoking rates are declining, watching TV is not, which have repercussions at a level, population," he said.

Last year, another Australian study took an hour of tv a day led to an 8% increase in the risk of premature death.

"We have taken this survey and translated it into what it means for life expectancy in Australia given how much TV we see," Veerman said.

Australians see approximately two hours of tv a day. As a consequence, their life expectancy at birth reduced by 1.8 years for men and 1,5 years for women, according to the study. Britons see more than three hours of TV a day, according to the broadcasters ' audience Research Board.

Too much sitting, as distinct from too little exercise, are associated with higher mortality risk, especially from cardiovascular disease. "Logically, we know that physical activity is good for health and so it is not surprising that the reverse is not so good," Veerman said.

The report was based on an observational survey conducted in 1999-2000 with more than 11,000 participants aged 25 and over. Participants reported the amount of time they spent watching TV or videos in the previous week, when it was their main activity (ie, do not do the cooking or ironing at the same time).

The report showed also a person who is an average of six hours of TV a day would live an average of 4.8 years less than a person who no-clocks-clocks.

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Sony announces PS3 and PSP price cuts

PlayStation 3: now available for less than £ 200. Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Sony has announced that it cut the price of its Playstation 3 console from £ 250 to £ 199, effective immediately. Consumer electronics Giant also is set to launch a new cheaper version of its handheld console, PSP, with a price of € 99. An official pound sterling figure is yet to be confirmed.

PS3 was launched in 2006 and is now delivered more than 50 m units, with sales rising significantly since the launch of a cheaper slimline machine in 2009. It is believed that major retailers will cut the price even more and with supermarkets will probably go as low as £ 180.

The new price was revealed during Sony's press conference on the event GamesCom in Cologne, where the company also made several game messages — including resistance: Burning Skies, a new version of the hit PS3 shooter games developed specifically for the PlayStation Vita and Dance Star Party, a dance version of its hit karaoke series, Singstar.

The new, cheaper PSP, which removes the Wi-Fi functionality from the six-year-old handheld, surprised many in the audience. After the announcement of the console Playstation Vita at E3 this year, it was assumed that Sony would retiring the older technology. Instead the company repackaging PSP as an entry level machine, test out its software catalog with a number of reduced price classic titles.

Talk about price cuts, Andrew House, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said: "our strategy is to provide the highest quality entertainment experience at affordable prices. With the PSP at € 99 feel Vita starts at € 249 and the PlayStation 3 at € 249, we trust the gamers can enjoy the games incredible available on Playstation, regardless of the level of investment suits their budget. "

However, some industry insiders question the logic of publishes two specialist gaming handheld devices in a market which is being pressured by the rise of smartphones and tablet pc games. It is possible, two will cannibalise each other's markets, or to the less expensive handheld will draw complaints about the price point of more expensive machine.

' The problem is, while the new PSP price point-makes the console very attractive, as a side effect, it puts an unflattering light on the price point of Vita, ' said Rob Crossley of industry news source develop., "I think the price of the PSP now puts pressure on Sony to also reduce the price of Vita from £ 229 to ensure that it is attractive."

The timing of the reduction in price of the PlayStation 3 have also fueled debate. "Sony release the price point at a time when there has been no significant pressure from retailers do," said Crossley. "It is a big change from the PS3 's past price falls."

Of course, away from the retailer pressures, is another reason why a console manufacturer can cut the price on its current generation technology: an imminent hardware announcement. Sony has assured gamers that the PS3 will have a 10-year life span, and it is likely the PlayStation 4 even a few years away. But with the Tokyo Game Show will take place next month, and industry in the game in an accelerated period of development, thanks to increasing social and mobile gaming, everything is possible.

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Salute Williams: Bono's facebook game worth almost $ 1 billion

U2 forsangers investment in the social networking site has paid from handsomelySorry, I could not read the contents of the pious this page.

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Played under investigation for Twitter prank at the LA police

Game changer ... Rapper denies playing Twitter prank at the LA police

The game is under investigation by the Los Angeles police for allegedly encouraging his followers to overburden them with phone calls. Police telephone lines were overwhelmed by a Tweet from the rapper's account invited his 580,000 twitter followers to call an emergency services hotline, claimed it was a number to apply for a hip-hop "internship".

In the first instance tweets seemed harmless enough: "Lookin 4 a intern," he wrote on Friday. "Men/women. Just pick some 1 random ... If u in LA and over age 18 witta car [Contact] me. "But the rapper reportedly tweeted a telephone number — since deleted – belongs to the Compton Sheriff's office, jamming lines with hundreds of studies.

"This was beyond irresponsible," Sheriff's captain Mike Parks told the LA Times . During the flooding of internship questions were the police could not receive many legitimate emergency requests. "Deputies ' ability to answer phones and send staff to help these people at risk was significantly reduced," said Parker. It took almost two hours to trace the cause of the deluge and contact game, asks him to call off its future trainees.

Reported the incident, the game released a coy response after the LA Times. "It was not me (voice of shaggy)," , he wrote, refers to the pop 2000 hit . He claimed it was an "accident" and joked about to get "hacked" also [. "p.s.", he leaves, "who killed Biggie and Pac???"

But the game may not laugh away the LAPD. It has officially opened a criminal investigation, with plans to pass a public safety complaint to the Los Angeles county district attorney's Office. "Every telephone call, made [open] the option for an additional fee," Parker said.

The game is preparing to release his fourth album, The R.E.D Album, on 23 August. He has previously scored two top 10 albums in the United Kingdom, including 2005 's The documentary film, which sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. In 2008, he served 60 days in jail for pulling a gun during a basketball game.

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Anonymous Hackers breach transport site

Anonymous hackers breached Bart public transportation website Sunday. This screenshot shows a page from myBart.org after the attack. Photo: AP

Anonymous online hacker collective broke into a Web site belonging to San Francisco's public transport body Sunday after authorities threatened to thwart a anti-police protest by throttling the town's mobile phone network.

Hackers said the attack was in retaliation for group Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) attempt to stifle demonstrations on the deadly shooting of a man by the police last month.

Anonymous published contact details of more than 2,000 Bay Area bebøre, apparently stolen from the site unavailable was on Monday morning.

The incident is the latest showdown in a free speech battle between authorities and online activists. A separate attacker group identification plate last week, the official website for research in motion, BlackBerry maker, when the company said it would cooperate with police investigations English riots.

In a message posted on the site hacked Bart Sunday, anonymous wrote: "we are anonymous, we are your citizens, we are human beings, we cannot tolerate oppression from any government agency. Bart has been shown several times, they have no problem exploiting and abusing people. "

A Bart spokesperson told local media the FBI and Department of homeland security to investigate the attack. He added: "we will take steps to ensure our customers are secure. Disconnection of mobile phone service was made Thursday to prevent what could have been a dangerous situation. It is one of the tactics we have at our disposal. We can use it; We can not. And I am not sure that we necessarily would let anyone knows in advance either way.

Anonymous bills itself as " internet defenders of freedom". Amorphous group shot to notoriety in December 2010 for attack on global companies, including visa and PayPal after these companies severed ties with the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

More recently, have collectively expressed support for the Arab incursions, and called on Western communities to revolt against the authorities.

Sunday, anonymous said it sympathized with the riots and looting across parts of England last week. It described the demonstrations as "a product of decades of neglect inflicted on your country by various Governments."

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Dedication and loyalty, increase revenue — on and offline

Platform proliferation requires new ways of working. Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Guardian News and Media has taken a strategic decision to move beyond its traditional newspaper roots and focus on becoming a digital-first undertaking.

This means commissioning develop guardian.co.uk and other digital platforms, and shift resources away from the guardian and newspapersobserver more energy.

The philosophy that will drive the digital expansion is based on the concept of editorial "openness", as guardian has defended under editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger.

"Open" describes a form of journalism, which is in line with the spirit of the web: mutualised, collaborative and networked.

Rusbridger says that this is part of a broader Shift in business, Government, education and society toward more open ways of doing things, which links to, and take advantage of the capabilities and potential of the web.

Achieve commercial success from printing to digital, recognises the GNM shall grow much larger, more engaged digital audience to attract larger digital advertising revenue.

Andrew Miller, CEO of GMG, says: "we must build an open and individual relationship with guardian reader deliver quality journalism and branded goods and services that meet their diverse needs and interests at different times. And we must allow commercial partners unparalleled access to this relationship, so everyone benefits.

"Simply growing our audience will not be enough. In an online world ' commoditised» news we must be distinctive, and we will invest in our brand and marketing to achieve it and critically, we must have more engaged users.

"Engagement and loyalty drive average revenue per user. Our strategy increases commitment in two ways: journalistic, through our open and mutualised approach; commercially, by building individual reader relationships and optimizing them — using new technologies to deliver customized content and andf recommendations.

"More importantly, we are moving from a world where we relied on a relatively small number of large revenue streams, one with more, less revenue streams. We are targeting above market growth in competitive categories such as video and jobs, and more aggressive growth in new areas such as America, mobile apps and the teachers ' network. "

When developing digital-first strategy, GNM directors quickly ruled out an exit from Print, in the short term, as the newspapers remain "critical" importance to reach, the relationship with readers and as a source of revenue.

But a general rule of thumb has been introduced, GNM shall consider what we would be like as an organization, if 80% of our efforts was on digital offerings and the remaining 20% on newspapers.

Rusbridger says "80/20" should not be interpreted too literally or attached directly to areas such as revenue targets and costs, but that it is a broad and comprehensive way explain Shift your organization needs to make.

Some aspects of the conversion will happen faster than others. GNM is, for instance, already a 70/30 organization in the form of digital intended only for Print audience with guardian.co.uk now enjoys more than 50 m unique browsers per month, while the mix of revenue and costs will change much more slowly.

To redirect the funds will be made savings in Print through the development of a new Monday to Friday newspaper, which will lead to reductions in pagination and reduced costs.

The international editions will stop in autumn as a cost-saving efforts that are now possible because the guardian is available on digital platforms such as the Kindle and the Ipad.

The purpose of the new guardian Weekday Editions is to find the right Print expression for times; a that is differentiated from the Internet and that matches the way people use print.

Research by GNM shows that half the readership now reads the paper tonight and just 4% say they read it for breaking news, even the guardian is still built around the idea that print is the primary vehicle for news.

Rusbridger says: "the newspaper will be tighter and more focused on a small number of stories, which will be covered in depth. It will be more like him than news at ten – more on making sense of news than tells what happened during the past 36 hours after the incident. It will be as readable 9 PM it is 9 pm. It will also be a high quality, premium product – something like a premium price can be charged.

"When people get to read the newspaper, most already feel comfortable with the summary of the most important news of the day. What they want from their printed newspaper is to help them to understand it, or go in-depth into stories of real importance. They want longer reads, context, analysis and comment. "

GNM will eventually look at reorganization both Saturday guardian and the observer.

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England riots: where it happened and where suspects fine | Associated With

Rioters commute in for looting? It is a theory being investigated by police and politicians. And as hundreds of suspected looters are pushed through the magistrates courts, what information it tells us about how the events of the last nights in early August exploded?

An analysis of one day of hearings by he the BBC last week found 70% of these are accused of riot-related crimes had travelled from outside their territory. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has called it "riot tourism", and it is a part of the argument used by those who wish to withdraw the benefits and Council housing from those accused of riots, even in a different town.

Also said Housing Minister Grant shapps :

If a person has completed these riots, then circumstance have you committed it in direct neighborhood or elsewhere should be countable

Download and zoom around the cards using Prezi

We have analyzed over 300 entries of people on riot-related charges English magistrates courts to see how people are fine and where the riots took place. The maps above Show-for the big events that took place in August 2011-the power in each city.

This is not a complete record and is of the alleged cases, some not pleaded guilty. The other caveat is that it does not show what event each of the suspects are alleged to be a part of. But it shows how people were arrested and charged in the days after the riots came from everywhere in the cities affected.

The effect is particularly pronounced in Manchester, where suspects have been in court from the suburbs to the city. In Londonis there a similar effect, although it seems to show people traveled, but not so much.

It tells us something-what do you think?

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• Riot events listed
• Riots linked to poverty

• • List of riot-related cases to court magistrates

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Viewers watched more TV in the first half of 2011, according to Thinkbox

UK viewers will see more non-live TV on personal video recorders, such as Sky + photo: Gareth Fuller/PA

The average amount of tv watched by UK viewers each day hit a new high in the first half of 2011, driven by factors including people see more live TV to avoid online spoilers.

Viewers also see multiple, non-live TV on personal video recorders, such as Sky +.

UK viewers notched up an average of four hours and three minutes a day in TV watching in the six months to the end of June, an increase of 51 seconds a day, year on year, according to a report published on Monday by TV marketing body Thinkbox.

Viewers were exposed to an average of 47 ads per day — up from 45 in the same period last year.

Thinkbox, using figures from TV audience measurement organisation Barb, said a number of factors had fuelled the increase in the parent view.

Factors include viewers watching more live TV to avoid spoilers from the spread of people tweeting, participating in Facebook groups or update their personal status and posting clips of shows on YouTube.

The same social media tools have helped to contribute to the growth of the view that audiences increasingly engage in "two screen" TV watching, participating in online discussions and comments on a laptop or handheld device while watching shows.

Other factors include the increasing diffusion of personal video recorders, such as Sky + and Freeview +, on-demand TV and innovations such as high definition, which has made tv view "more magnetic".

According to Barb, drew non-live "time-shifted" prove for 9% of the UK TV viewing in the first six months – up from 7.1% in the same period last year.

In households, own a PVR – 47% of the total – time move accounted for 14.7% of the total view, up from 13.7% in the same period last year.

Thinkbox believes, however, that four-hour-a-day mark could be top quantity of live TELEVISION people want to see.

"We have said for some time to linear TV viewing could not keep breaking records forever, and that may stabilize at some point," said Lindsey Clay, CEO of Thinkbox. "It appears that this is happening now. On-demand TV expand total TV by adding to this stable linear base. "

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