Wednesday 26 May 2010

Another Apple Anti-Trust Investigation Looms    [ 26-05-2010 13:40 ]

Author: Irina Turina   Source: Boy Genius Report     Translation by: Paul Smith     

They say that it's tough at the top and Apple are finding that out as they enjoy more success. Currently the Cupertino based electronics giant are embroiled in patent disputes with Nokia and HTC and the American government is looking at a possible investigation into Apple over their refusal to allow Flash onto their iPhone platfom. Now it looks like there may very well be another government investigation into possible anti-competitive practices by Apple, but it's nothing to do with Flash this time, rather it centres around iTunes. iTunes has bene one of Apple's biggest successes in recent years and that success may have prompted Apple to throw its weight around. The investigation relates to allegations that Apple asked music labels not to participate in a promotion run by Amazon's rival music store. Those labels that submitted songs for use in Amazon's deal saw promotional support for those songs removed from iTunes. The investigation is currently at the inquiry stage, but with so many other legal proceedings hanging over them Apple won't be taking muh comfort from that.

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Loop Concept Phone Uses Thermal Braille    [ 26-05-2010 12:57 ]

Author: Irina Turina   Source: IntoMobile     Translation by: Paul Smith     

There are a lot of concepts floating around the web these days and most of them will probably never see the light of day, but this is one concept that really deserves to be turned into a production model. It's a handste aimed at those with visual impairments who can't make use of a more traditional screen. It was born out of a competition by LG and Autodesk and is called the Loop. Essentially how it works is that it uses a dial wheel instead of a keypad and a heat-conducting Braille display. The controls are minimalist and simple: on/off button, dial wheel and a clip for fastening it to a pocket. A Bluetooth headset is built into the phone and can be removed from the unit for use when needed. It's this headset part that has the Braille display, which operates through heat. Users slide their finger across the display and the heat sigmatures are translated into Braille for them to recognise. As mentioned at the beginning of this article this sadly isn't available, but it's such a good idea that hopefully the bigwigs will get around the table and make it happen.

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Sony Demos World's Thinnest OLED    [ 26-05-2010 12:18 ]

Author: Serge Novikov   Source: Akihabara News     Translation by: Paul Smith     

Being used to seeing them in phones and other slab like objects it's easy to forget that OLEDs can be rather flexible and that's no more apparent than in Sony's latest creation, an OLED only 80μm thick. That's micro metres by the way. How big is that? Wellit's thinner than a hair from your head. The actual display Sony produced measures 4.1" with a resolution of 432x240 and a contrast ratio of less than 1,000:1. The display can show a video whilst being rolled up (see the video below), which is apparently a world first. It's this sort of development that brings wearable electronics and new form factors for mobiles a step closer.

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Vodafone UK Confirms They Will Stock HTC Wildfire    [ 26-05-2010 12:10 ]

Author: Serge Novikov   Source: Pocket-lint     Translation by: Paul Smith     

Vodafone UK are all set to bring the HTC Wildfire to the UK. It follows on from both 3 and T-Mobile confirming they would be stocking the handset. Vodafone aren't taking orders just yet though, but you can register your interest ahead of the actual launch. That just leaves Orange and O2 as the only remaining UK networks not to say they will stock the Wildfire. The statement from Vodafone reads: "The HTC Wildfire follows the success of the HTC Desire, offering HTC Sense and Android 2.1 in a more compact device and at a more affordable price. The Wildfire also features HTC’s Friend Stream, which brings together and displays content from your favourite social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Flickr." The Wildfire sports a 5 MP camera, 3.2" QVGA touchscreen, 528 MHz processor and will be running Android 2.1 with HTC's much loved SENSE UI of course. Not too shabby atalll in fact.

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Phone Number Retired After All Users Die    [ 26-05-2010 11:47 ]

Author: Serge Novikov   Source: TechRadar     Translation by: Paul Smith     

Bit of an odd one this, but a mobile phone number given out by a Bulgarian network has now been suspended after three people who used it all died. The number in question, 0888 888 888, was issued by Mobitel in Bulgaria. The first person to use the number was Vladimir Grashnov, the CEO of the network who died on 2001 of cancer. There were rumours that his cancer may not have been natural rather that it may have been brought on by radioactive poisoning by a business rival. Next the number found its way to Konstantin Dimitrov, a suspected drugs lord. He was fatally shot whilst eating with his girlfriend in 2003. Allegations put the Russian mafia behind the killing. The third person to use the number was Konstantin Dishliev, an estate agent, who also happened to operate a drug smuggling ring. Mr Dishliev was shot, like Mr Dimitrov before him, in 2005. The number is now vacant and callers are given a message that the number is outside the ervice area when they try to call it. Ironically the number would be seen as very lucky in Chinese culture and would probably fetch a large sum of money if put up for auction.

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