The Samsung Galaxy S3 Launched in London

May 4, 2012 by

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been launched today at an Apple-style launch party at the Earls Court auditorium in London. The specifications of the phone will blow the competition out of the water that is at least until the iPhone 5 gets released either in June or October if you listen to the rumours about the new device.

The Galaxy SIII will run on Androids latest operating system, which is Android 4 (ICS) which has many extra software features built in to it. It is t0 have a 4.8″ screen, 1.4 Ghz quad-core processor, 64gb internal memory, which the high end model will get, NFC payments technology,eight mp camera and a front facing 1.9 mp camera with face recognition.The phone is to also get a voice control system similar to the iPhone’s Siri system, which will be called S voice.  A wireless charging kit will be included with the phone that will remove the clutter of wires.

The 4.8″ screen is going to consist of a Super AMOLED  screen with a  resolution of  1280 x 720p which will blow the competition out of the water.

The camera is said to be equal to the iphone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S2, but this cannot be guaranteed until we see some independent tests done to varify this.

The phone is going to launch on May 29 in Europe, and in 10 other cities worldwide including Tokyo and Dubai. The US release date has not announced been yet.
Filed Under: Android

Virgin Media the first to implement the ban on The Pirate Bay

May 4, 2012 by

Virgin Media first in implement the ban on The Pirate Bay, the other internet service providers in the UK are expected to follow suit soon.

Anyone attempting to access the web site using Virgin Media will be confronted with a message stating that “Sorry, the web page you have requested is not available through Virgin Media”.  A Virgin Media spokes person has made a comment to the BBC stating that “As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media will comply with all court orders addressed to the company but we strongly believe that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives, such as our agreement with Spotify, to give consumers access to great content at the right price.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17894176

This move to block isp’s will prove to be rather short sighted, because anyone who wants to download copyright content will do so either via another site or via another method.  Ironically web  traffic went up yesterday on the Pirate Bay following the media frenzy regarding the web site ban. A Pirate Bay spokes person for the web site said that yesterday we had 12 million more visitors yesterday than we ever had before, the spokes person goes on to say that we will actively fight the court ruling. 

 

Filed Under: Other tech news and developments Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Pirate Bay to be blocked by isps in the UK

May 2, 2012 by

It has been ruled  by the high court in England that the UK internet service providers such as Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media must block access to the Pirate Bay web site within the next few weeks according to the Associated Press reports.The Pirate Bay over the years has been synonymous in relation to downloading copyright material.  The Pirate Bay has vowed to fight this decision. So far O2,TalkTalk and Virgin Media have agreed to comply with the decision. Bt has asked for a “few more weeks” to consider its response . There has been no comment from the other isps. But it is expected that all the six internet service providers will comply.This legal action was launched by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) over allegations that the web site infringes the copyright of UK musicians, which has resulted in a reduction of revenue for them over the years. This decision to ban this web site follows a ruling last year against Newzbin2, another file-sharing site.

The high court has been rather short sighted in its approach to this, because anyone who wants to download copyright content will do so either via another site, which there are many of or they will gain access to The Pirate Bay via a number of  alternative methods that are available. So consequently this court decision will amount to hardly nothing more than a token gesture in the fight against copyright infringement. 

Filed Under: Other tech news and developments Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft goes into a strategic partnership with Barnes & Noble

April 30, 2012 by

Microsoft has decided to go into a strategic partnership with Barnes & Noble to combat the fierceness of the competition from the likes of Amazon and Apple. The new joint venture will concentrate on developing a Nook e-reader application for the new Windows 8 platform. Microsoft will invest $300 million in this venture and Microsoft will own 17.6% of the new company through its investment, the other 82.4% will go to Barnes & Noble.  

The new Nook e-reader application could prove to be a successful competitor to Apples ios ibooks app, if Windows 8 can do well in the new table market.

Filed Under: Microsoft, Other tech news and developments

Samsung Galaxy S Advance UK release on April 30

April 28, 2012 by

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance is to be released in the UK on April 30 Samsung has confirmed, which is a little behind Russia which is the first place it débuts.

 

It will be a beefed up version of the 2010’s Galaxy S according to Samsung. The specifications are likely to be between the the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. It is expected to feature a dual-core 1.0GHz processor, 16 gb of storage, 768MB of RAM, a curved 4-inch Super 480×800-pixel display. But the camera specs are likely to disappoint, it is to get only a 5 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with LED Flash. The operating system is likely to disappoint too.  It is only to come with Android Version 2.3 (Gingerbread) rather than Ice Cream Sandwich which is currently being rolled out to many of the high to mid end Android devices.

 

To sum up the device it is a mix bag on the spec side of things. But if you have an old Samsung Galaxy S it is worth the upgrade, because you will benefit from the new faster dual core 1.0GHz processor and a LED flash which the Samsung Galaxy S did not have.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Android

Apple’s profits almost doubles in the first quarter of 2012

April 25, 2012 by

Apple’s profits have almost doubled in the first quarter of 2012.  Sales rose 73% to $46.3 billion from $26.7 billion for the same time a year ago according to Bloomberg. These exceptional results were mainly due to the doubling of the sales of the iphone and the ipad within the year. These results went way past the market analysts expectations and as a consequence apple’s shares jumped almost 8% in after-hours trading to $453.16. But the majority of the increase in revenue came from sales outside of the US, these sales accounted for 64% of the quarter’s revenue, which suggests that the US market is reaching saturation point. Further evidence of this comes from Verizon Wireless that has reported  in recent weeks a slight dip in iPhone sales.  AT&T has also experienced a dip too in sales it had activated 4.3 million iPhones in this quarter which is down by 7.6 million compared to the fourth quarter.

The sales of the mac were also good, but not as exceptional. They were up from  5.2 million  in this quarter compared with 4.1 million a year ago.

 

 

Filed Under: Apple

The new windows phone made by Nokia not doing as well as expected

April 23, 2012 by

Mobile carriers were hoping that there would be a 3rd force in terms of competition in the telephone  market. But according to a website informationweek.com Nokia’s new brands of Lumia-branded Windows Phones aren’t filling this role, as some of the mobile carriers had expected. Evidence of this comes from Nokia latest quartely report that indicates that the Lumia 800 and 710 have only sold 2 million of these devices compared to five times as many Symbian devices sold since November.

This lackluster performance is due various issue. Firstly these phones have been plagued with various software issues since they were launched,  which Nokia have now fixed.  Another reason for the lumias poorer performance than expected is that Microsoft and Nokia are not doing nowhere near enough in terms of marketing and promoting their Lumia-branded Windows Phones. Also the Lumia phones don’t seem to be innovative enough. One of the reasons  apple have done so well over the years is because until recently they were on the cutting edge of innovation.

Nokia made a big mistake tying itself totally to Windows mobile OS, because  its backing a underdog at the moment in an already over crowded mobile OS market.  It remains to be seen whether Microsoft and Nokia are able to compete effectively with Android or Apple in the future only time will tell.  Nokias best strategy would have been to make produce some Android phones as an insurance policy to cover every eventuality.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Microsoft

Iphone 5 will be released in October and will be made out of liquid metal

April 20, 2012 by

There are rumours  floating around according to the UK newspaper the telegraph that states that the Iphone 5 is to be made out of a type of metallic looking glass metal, which is called liquid metal.      Evidence comes from fact that apple has signed an exclusive deal with liquid metal technologies ltd. It is believed that apple has paid 11 million for the rights for it. The use of liquid metal will be ideal for the iphone, because it will make the iphone look thinner, lighter and sexier looking.  Its likely to be more durable than plastic and it will be easier to recycle too.

There is another rumour that indicates that the iphone 5 could be released in October rather than June. The evidence to back this claim up comes from Qualcomm, which makes some of the chips that go in the iphone. It seems that they do not have the production capacity to meet the production demands that are required for the June deadline. 

Filed Under: Iphone XS and G8 news Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sprint is to quickly roll out 4g on time for the iPhone 5 release

April 19, 2012 by

There are various rumours flying around that suggests that the cell phone carrier Sprint, which is the 3rd biggest network in the USA is  quickly rolling out its 4g network to the US biggest population areas in time for the release of the iphone 5. Some of these area include areas such as Tennessee, Illinois and New York. All this seems to indicate that this  could mean a June release of the iphone 5. Sprint will have likely to have finished the roll out of 4g by 2013 according to various reports such as the iphone 5 news blog.

Filed Under: Iphone XS and G8 news

Encyclopaedia Britannica is coming to ios

April 19, 2012 by

The Encyclopaedia Britanica is to launch a subscription service on ios according to digitalspy. The app will cost around £1.99 or around 2.50 dollars per month.

If subscribers do not pay for the app, there is a free one available, but this free app will only offer a limited amount of data. 

There is no doubt it will probably be ported to Android within a few months after it gets released on ios, because Android has a large user base. 

Filed Under: Apps