Insights
CCgroup’s knowledge and understanding of the telecoms, mobile, consumer technology and consumer lifestyle markets is unrivalled in the world of PR and integrated communications.
We’ve worked in these markets for more than 20 years. Our expertise in both B2B and B2C enables us to bring a unique perspective to our strategic thinking and to your communications challenges.
It’s imperative to stay on top of developments in this space and we’d like to share with you some of the insights we have. Our daily news flash, Concise Comments, is updated with the most relevant stories of the day
Mon, 30/11/2009
Johnston Press starts charging for online local news
One of the UK's biggest newspaper firms is to charge for access to online content from six of its titles. The Johnston Press websites will either ask users to pay £5 for a three-month subscription to read the full articles, or direct them to buy the newspapers.
Via BBC Online
Pub fined £8K after user infringes copyright with its WiFi
Fri, 27/11/2009
Vodafone offers free mobile internet
If you aren’t already on an all-you-can-surf mobile broadbanc package and can’t find an unsecured Wi-Fi network nearby, save some pennies today by logging on with Vodafone. For one day only – today – the network carrier has promised to waive all costs associated with surfing the web from your mobile phone, letting you experience the world of web-while-you-walk without expense. Admittedly, most smartphone owners will already have unlimited web bundled into their monthly package, so Vodafone’s deal will probably only appeal to pay-as-you-go users or those pondering a move into the smartphone world.
The Register
London Stock Exchange trading hit by technical glitch
Trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was halted for three and a half hours earlier because of technical difficulties. The LSE said it had been affected by connectivity issues, and at 1033 GMT had placed all orders for shares into an "auction call period". This allowed traders to put orders to buy or sell shares into the system, ready for when trading restarted. Normal trading was then able to resume from 1400 GMT.
BBC Online
Second Sony Ericsson phone has software problem
A second of Sony Ericsson's new smartphones, key to its strategy for returning to profit next year, has been hit by software problems in Britain ahead of a critical sales period. A spokesman for the world's fourth-largest mobile phone maker said a number of users of the new Aino smartphone, part of the company's Christmas line-up, had experienced problems using the touch screen.
Reuters
Taking an Open-Source Approach to Hardware
The palm-sized Arduino serves as an electronic brain running everything from high schoolers' robots to high-end art installations. But perhaps the oddest thing about the device is the business model behind it. Plans for the Arduino, a simple microcontroller board, are available online, and anybody may legally use them to build and sell knockoffs. The Arduino represents an early entrant in the emerging open-source hardware movement, which like Linux and other open-source software projects is driven by the belief that allowing duplication is a better way to spur innovation than keeping designs under lock and key. Its success suggests that the open-source model could provide a new way for manufacturers to develop and improve upon products.
WSJ Online
iPhone worm creator lands software job
The 21-year-old hacker who wrote the first iPhone worm has landed a job developing software for the phones. Ashley Towns wrote Ikee, a self-propagating program that changed the phone's wallpaper to a picture of 80s pop singer Rick Astley. Mr Towns has now been employed as a iPhone application developer for Australian firm mogeneration. Ikee was not malicious but paved the way for a more serious variant which targeted users of the online bank ING.
BBC Online
iPhone Tries to Crack Korea
Apple Inc.'s iPhone on Saturday will finally go on sale in South Korea, a country that prides itself on creating and consuming cutting-edge technology but where the government raised trade barriers on smart phones to protect domestic manufacturers and carriers for several years. Since the availability and pricing of the iPhone was announced here last week, about 40,000 people placed pre-orders for it and the country's biggest seller of phones, Samsung Electronics Co., slashed the price of its most advanced and expensive phone, a touch-screen model like the iPhone called Omnia2.
WSJ Online
Thu, 26/11/2009
BBC iPlayer and ITV Player announce Freesat trials
The BBC iPlayer will be trialled to a select group of Freesat viewers from 7 December, the corporation has announced. Participants in the trial will initially require a code to access the BBC iPlayer but the service should be more freely available by Christmas. The trial is designed to work on Humax HD set top boxes, currently owned by one in three Freesat viewers. ITV Player will also launch in beta, or trial form, early in 2010.
BBC Online
Trying to Save the Web's Shortcuts
The Internet Archive and more than 20 Web companies are banding together to preserve the historical records of the abbreviated Internet addresses that are passed around on services such as Twitter. Services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL allow consumers to convert a lengthy Web address into a miniaturized one. They have soared in popularity in recent years with the advent of Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per post. Shortened links are also used in emails, text messages and updates on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Wall Street Journal
Wikileaks publishes 570,000 messages capturing chaos of 9/11
The mental and emotional storm that struck America on 11 September 2001 with the attacks on New York and Washington has been recreated with the release of more than half a million pager messages sent on that day. The whistleblowing website Wikileaks published the messages over a 24-hour period beginning on Tuesday at dawn, releasing them in batches in chronological order as if in real time. The massive archive includes thousands of messages from US officials including Pentagon workers and New York police, as well as members of the public from all over America, which together provide an insight into the initial chaos and confusion, followed by a dawning horror as 9/11 unfolded.
Guardian
The Internet Archive and more than 20 Web companies are banding together to preserve the historical records of the abbreviated Internet addresses that are passed around on services such as Twitter. Services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL allow consumers to convert a lengthy Web address into a miniaturized one. They have soared in popularity in recent years with the advent of Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per post. Shortened links are also used in emails, text messages and updates on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Wall Street Journal
Wikileaks publishes 570,000 messages capturing chaos of 9/11
The mental and emotional storm that struck America on 11 September 2001 with the attacks on New York and Washington has been recreated with the release of more than half a million pager messages sent on that day. The whistleblowing website Wikileaks published the messages over a 24-hour period beginning on Tuesday at dawn, releasing them in batches in chronological order as if in real time. The massive archive includes thousands of messages from US officials including Pentagon workers and New York police, as well as members of the public from all over America, which together provide an insight into the initial chaos and confusion, followed by a dawning horror as 9/11 unfolded.
Guardian
Google Turning Times Square Into A Giant Voice Search Experiment On Black Friday
There are few things more terrifying to me than the idea of going anywhere near a shopping establishment on Black Friday. But if I lived in New York City, I think I would this year because Google, Verizon, Reuters, and R/GA are teaming up to take over the largest displays on Times Square to allow for a giant Google Search by voice experiment/Droid advertisement. What does this mean? On Black Friday, anyone who calls 888-376-4336 and does a Google Search by voice, will see their results displayed on either the Reuters sign or the NASDAQ sign in Times Square. So, if you say something like “new Jonas Brothers CD,” the display will come up with a giant Google Map complete with signs showing you where you can find that.
Tech Crunch
Wikipedia 'loses' 49,000 editors
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia "lost" 49,000 of its volunteer editors in the first three months of 2009, University research suggests. The figure compares with a loss of 4,900 over the same period in 2008. The encyclopaedia-style website encourages editorial changes from everybody who comes to the site. Wikimedia UK, a chapter of the organisation that operates Wikipedia, has denied that it means the site is struggling.
BBC Online
There are few things more terrifying to me than the idea of going anywhere near a shopping establishment on Black Friday. But if I lived in New York City, I think I would this year because Google, Verizon, Reuters, and R/GA are teaming up to take over the largest displays on Times Square to allow for a giant Google Search by voice experiment/Droid advertisement. What does this mean? On Black Friday, anyone who calls 888-376-4336 and does a Google Search by voice, will see their results displayed on either the Reuters sign or the NASDAQ sign in Times Square. So, if you say something like “new Jonas Brothers CD,” the display will come up with a giant Google Map complete with signs showing you where you can find that.
Tech Crunch
Wikipedia 'loses' 49,000 editors
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia "lost" 49,000 of its volunteer editors in the first three months of 2009, University research suggests. The figure compares with a loss of 4,900 over the same period in 2008. The encyclopaedia-style website encourages editorial changes from everybody who comes to the site. Wikimedia UK, a chapter of the organisation that operates Wikipedia, has denied that it means the site is struggling.
BBC Online
Tesco Mobile to sell Apple's iPhone
Every little helps as supermarket giant hints at Apple handset for the masses in time for Christmas. Tesco Mobile has become the latest and one of the more unlikely mobile service providers to offer Apple's iPhone in the U.K. The supermarket giant announced on Wednesday plans to sell the handset via its Tesco Phone Shops and online through Tesco Direct. A spokeswoman was unable to confirm a release date for the iPhone, but told Total Telecom that Tesco Mobile is hoping to make it available in time for Christmas.
Total Telecom
Every little helps as supermarket giant hints at Apple handset for the masses in time for Christmas. Tesco Mobile has become the latest and one of the more unlikely mobile service providers to offer Apple's iPhone in the U.K. The supermarket giant announced on Wednesday plans to sell the handset via its Tesco Phone Shops and online through Tesco Direct. A spokeswoman was unable to confirm a release date for the iPhone, but told Total Telecom that Tesco Mobile is hoping to make it available in time for Christmas.
Total Telecom
Wed, 25/11/2009
2 million users access Facebook on Xbox 360 in the first week
Microsoft has said that adding Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm to the Xbox 360's Live online hub has gone down a storm. According to the company, over 2 million users accessed Facebook within the first week of the service going live. This accounts for 10 per cent of the 20 million Live users.
Via T3
Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U suspend smartphone
Mobile phone retailers Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U have temporarily withdrawn the Sony Ericsson Satio smartphone from their stores. Both companies said the move followed complaints from customers about software problems. Phones 4U announced its decision to stop selling the handset 24 hours after rival retailer Carphone Warehouse.
Via BBC Online
Mobile Web surge continues in October: Opera
Global mobile data traffic continued to surge in October, growing at the fastest pace in seven months, Internet browser company Opera Software said on Wednesday. Data traffic through Opera's mobile browser -- which packages up to 90 percent of the data to save network bandwidth -- rose 16 percent in October from September, the company said.
Via Reuters
Microsoft CFO Resigns Effective Year-End
Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell plans to leave the company at the end of the year after managing the software giant's finances for nearly five years, Microsoft said Tuesday. The company did not say what Liddell plans to do next.
Via PCW
iPhone users 'happier to pay online'
Consumers with an iPhone show more willingness to pay for digital content than the wider online population, according to new research published today, although the chances of getting people to pay for newspaper on the web are slim. The research, by the media law firm Olswang, adds weight to the growing sense within the media industry that the explosion in popularity of downloadable applications for the Apple device has created a new way of monetising digital content. Crucially, it may represent a more lucrative proposition than the current reliance on online advertising.
Via The Guardian
Apple's 'Black Friday' sale available in UK
The sale coincides with 'Black Friday' in the United States, the day after Thanksgiving when stores traditionally slash prices and the Christmas shopping rush begins. Apple customers received an email wishing them "Happy Friday". The message promised a special "one day shopping event" both in-store and online, and the illustration showed a pile of Apple products, including Mac laptops and computers, iPods, keyboards and an Apple TV, wrapped in a ribbon and bow.
Via The Telegraph
Tue, 24/11/2009
The Digital Economy bill has sparked a wave of protest among consumers and rights groups. Soon after the bill began its journey through Parliament on 19 November, many expressed worries about parts of it. The bill suggests the use of technical measures to tackle illegal file-sharing that could involve suspending the accounts of persistent pirates. Critics fear this and other powers the bill reserves could damage the UK's growing digital economy.
Via BBC Online
Jam mobile phone signals in prisons, says inspector
Technology should be used to jam mobile phone signals in prisons, an inspector at Britain's largest jail has said. David Jamieson, chairman of Wandsworth prison's Independent Monitoring Board, says illegal phones fuel prison drug trading, bullying and gang problems. Behind bars, phones can cost £400 each. He said the trade had been worth £9m in 2008, when 7,000 phones were seized. The Prison Service says signal blocking is technically challenging and not quick, simple or cheap to implement.
Via BBC Online
EGoogle buying display advertising startup
Web search leader Google Inc said it is buying Silicon Valley display advertising technology startup Teracent, which expands its competition with display leader Yahoo Inc. Online advertising is divided into search -- usually text ads related to content on a Website -- and display, such as banner ads that are often used as branding tools by corporations.
Via Reuters
"Jail Broken" iPhones hacked by new virus
Hackers have built a virus that attacks Apple Inc's iPhone by secretly taking control of the devices via their Internet connections, security experts said. The virus has been detected in the Netherlands and can only attack iPhones whose users have disabled some pre-installed security features, according to analysts monitoring the progress of the virus.
Via Reuters
Early Holiday Spending Suggests Strong Season for TVs, Videogames
Consumers are generally cautious heading into the critical holiday shopping season, with preseason trends suggesting that electronics sales may be solid while sales of apparel, particularly women's styles, could get pummeled. Spurred by the release of a hot videogame and earlier-than-usual promotions on televisions, U.S. shoppers spent 6.1% more on electronics in the first half of November the month, through Nov. 14, than a year ago, according to a recent analysis from MasterCard SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors.
Via WSJ
