Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /europe/

Google criticises potential changes to the UN's internet treaty

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:37:00 GMT

Changes made at an upcoming UN conference could threaten the independence of the internet, according to Google.

Government officials are attending the meeting in December to decide upon a new information and communications treaty which will govern how the internet operates.

Opponents of the changes believe that some countries will attempt to use the agreement as a way of suppressing free speech and restricting access material critical of them.

In a statement on their Take Action website Google voiced their concerns, saying, "The [UN agency] International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty.

"Some proposals could permit governments to censor legitimate speech - or even allow them to cut off internet access. Other proposals would require services like YouTube, Facebook, and Skype to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders. This could limit access to information - particularly in emerging markets."

Google is encouraging internet users to sign their online position to support their objections, with the company also critical of the fact that only nation states have been invited to the conference. The search engine giant is particularly fearful control over domain names and technical aspects of the internet could end up being transferred from the US to the international body.

The ITU has refuted Google's criticisms, stating that a new treaty is essential for allowing increased access to the internet and continuing its open and informative character. They also believe that the previous 1998 communications treaty needs drastically overhauled to encompass online advances and the development of smartphones.

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Rise in attempts by governments to monitor Google

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 02:13:00 GMT

Almost 21,000 requests for information were made to Google by governments in the first half of 2012.

The figure emerged as part of Google's recent Transparency Report, with the American government again the most zealous in pursuing data with 7,969 requests.

British appeals doubled to 1,425 during the first six months of 2012, with the search engine giant complying with 64 per cent of these requests.

Dorothy Chou, Google's Senior Policy Analyst, told the BBC that, "This is the sixth time we've released this data, and one trend has become clear: government surveillance is on the rise.

"It reflects laws on the ground. For example in Turkey there are specific laws about defaming public figures whereas in Germany we get requests to remove neo-Nazi content. And in Brazil we get a lot of requests to remove content during elections because there is a law banning parodies of candidates.

"We hope that the report will shed light on how governments interact with online services and how laws are reflected in online behaviour."

In total requests for user data affected 34, 614 people, with governments seeking to gain access to their search history, Gmail accounts or YouTube videos.

The Turkish government made 501 requests for content to be taken down, with the US making 273 whilst Germany was third with 247 demands. The most common reasons for removing information or online content are defamation, privacy breaches or security issues.

The report also disclosed the fact that a British law enforcement agency made 14 requests to have information criticising the police removed but Google rejected their appeals. The company also turned down a demand to remove a YouTube video that accused the police of racism.

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Apple loses appeal against Samsung over design infringements claim

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:00:00 GMT

A court ruling has dismissed Apple's appeal against an earlier decision which ruled in favour of Samsung over similarities in designs.

The dispute centred over parallels between Samsung's Galaxy Tab and the iPad, with Apple having already had their original claim that their design rights had been infringed rejected in July.

The decision comes as Apple and Samsung are locked in a series of court cases and counter-appeals over design infringement in several countries across the world.

Following the ruling a spokeswoman told BBC News that the company will, "continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art.

"Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."

Apple will now have to run ads in newspapers confirming that Samsung did not infringe its rights, with a link to the judgement to be placed on its homepage for a month.

Whilst the court accepted that there were similarities between the two tablets, it upheld the initial ruling that Samsung's model was "not as cool". Apple had argued that this previous decision had placed too much emphasis on the fact that the two tablets had substantially different back sections. The mobile giant felt that this was a negligible point since users would spend the vast majority of their time looking at the screen and front of the device.

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iPad Mini photos leaked ahead of a November release?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 04:49:00 GMT

A Twitter user has fuelled speculation Apple is set to release the iPad Mini - a pint-sized and cut-price tablet - in November by uploading pictures of what appears to be the device.

According to The Reg, Sonny Dickson - a self-titled "tech enthusiast" and "9to5Mac researcher" - has posted what appears to be three pictures of the yet-to-be-released iPad Mini to his Twitter feed.

The shots show a 32G model that looks around 50-75 per cent of the size of the average iPad and features Apple's new lightning connector. But as the images do not show the device powered-on or working it's unclear whether the pictures are a yet another i-hoax or a legitimate look into a the future of Apple's tiny tablet.

The publication of images of what's thought to be the iPad Mini has come at an interesting time - sources have told The Guardian the release of the iPad Mini "is imminent" and retailers expect to be able to put the model on shelves as early as 2 November 2012, with case-maker Knomo confirming it will have iPad Mini covers available to ship in days.

The newspaper also reported sources have indicated the iPad Mini will likely be Wi-Fi only.

Analysts have predicted Apple could sell as many as 10 million iPad Mini tablets before Christmas, particularly if the pint-sized device is priced at the lower end of the market allowing it to go toe-to-toe with Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire.

It's also thought the Apple will bring even more profits to its Cupertino coffers by also releasing a revised version of the iPad 4G that comes with the all-new lightning connector and can connect to the Everything Everywhere network.

Apple has yet to confirm whether the photographs are legitimate. At present, no invitations have been sent to the press to announce the launch of the mini model.

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Windows set to release its own phone?

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:49:00 GMT

Claims have emerged that Windows is set build its own smartphone handset.

The computing giant has already collaborated on models with Nokia, Samsung and HTC but it is believed the company wants to have complete control over its own hardware to demonstrate the full capabilities of the new Windows 8 operating system.

The claims were made on both The China Times and WPCentral, with them pointing to increased security procedures at certain Microsoft offices plus tip-offs from unnamed sources.

Industry expert Daniel Rubino has speculated at the motivation behind Microsoft's change in strategy, claiming on WPCentral that it could be, "in case the Windows Phone 8 launch doesn't go well and the currently announced devices don't catch on. Nokia could be in trouble financially and Microsoft would need another dedicated hardware partner."

It is rumoured the phone has already been developed and is currently undergoing testing, with an intended release date sometime after HTC's latest model.

The move would confirm Microsoft's intentions to increase its presence in the mobile computing market place, with the company having recently announced it will release its own tablet device. The Surface is also intended to showcase the potential of Windows 8, with its development conducted in secret in a process similar to that of the rumoured smartphone.

Whilst Microsoft's new operating system has received strong reviews on the phones it has been licensed to, sales have struggled to match those of market leaders Apple or Android. Like the Surface, it is believed that any smartphone would attempt to be more powerful and quicker in order to gain an edge over its rival models.

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Apple map app fails to meet expectations

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:12:00 GMT

This morning's release of the iPhone 5 may have attracted record numbers of queuing Apple addicts, but today's success may have been tarnished by reports that the tech-giant's new maps app is not up to scratch.

The new mapping software comes pre-installed on all products with the latest version of Apple's operating system, iOS6, including the new iPhone 5.

The company announced in June that it was to stop using Google Maps, instead opting to develop its own system using data from navigation firms including, notably, TomTom.

However, early reports from users of Apple's new map app have been less than complimentary.

The BBC recorded a number of complaints from iOS6 users about the quality and accuracy of the software, including reports that certain locations on the map were obscured by cloud cover, in the wrong place or missing altogether.

One Twitter user posted a screenshot of a map showing the location of a furniture museum to be in the middle of a river.

TomTom are denying any responsibility for the sub-standard app, telling the BBC: "The user experience is determined by adding additional features to the map application, such as visual imagery."

The spokesman continued: "User experience fully depends on the choices these manufacturers make."

Responding to the outcry of disgruntled users, Apple released a statement overnight, saying: "We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it...We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better."

67 per cent of those questioned at Apple's Regent Street store this morning said they would prefer to have Google Maps on iOS 6, according to statistics from text message Q&A site 63336.

However, this didn't seem to damage sales of the new product, with London's flagship store recording a record queue of 1,297 iPhone fans waiting to get their hands on the latest device.

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Twitter revamps profile pages

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:13:00 GMT

Twitter has revamped profile pages and also launched a new app on the iPad, hoping to bring greater emphasis to photo sharing on the micro-blogging site.

Now users can place a large photograph at the top of their profile, much like the cover photo feature on Facebook and Google+, except the Tweeter's profile picture and short biography will appear in the centre of the header photo. The photostream on a user's profile is also being given more prominence, and the changes are being rolled out across mobile and iPad platforms too.

Twitter announced the update on NBC's Today programme, and several high profile Twitter users have already started updating their profiles.

"Starting today you can make your presence on Twitter more meaningful with new Twitter profiles," Sachin Agarwal, product manager at Twitter, wrote on the company blog.

"Upload an all-new header photo on mobile apps for iPad, iPhone and Android or twitter.com, and the same image will appear whenever anyone views your profile on the web or these apps. You can upload your header photo, which appears above your Tweets, to express yourself instantly, anywhere.

"New profiles also help you get to know people better through their pictures. Photo streams now appear below anyone's most recent Tweets on iPhone, Android and iPad. Swipe through the stream to see the photos other users have shared or tap any thumbnail to view their photos in fullscreen.

"While the header photo keeps your profile simple and consistent on iPhone, iPad and Android, you will also still have an additional photo - a background photo - on twitter.com."

The newly launched iPad Twitter app allows users to see what's trending, track conversations and view personalised information, and comes amid reports third party image services such as Twitpic are being removed from Twitter's apps.

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Google uses Ground Truth to entice Apple users

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:13:00 GMT

Apple's decision to drop Google Maps from its iPhone and iPad devices in its next iOS update presents a quandary for the search giant - the move will have an impact on advertising sales, and Mountain View will lose access to valuable user data about how Apple owners use the software.

To help entice users back to the Google Maps software, Google is in the process of upgrading its maps content even further, launching Ground Truth 2.0 and extending its reach further to locations like India, as well as updating information in the 31 nations it already covers.

"We decided to start a project called Ground Truth, and this was really to build our own maps from scratch. We would start with licenced data and we would find whatever we could where we could get full rights to the data and improve it from there," Google Maps head honcho Brian McClendon told the BBC.

"One of the challenges to licensed data is that when the data is being managed by a third-party company it can take months or even a year or more to update the data you get even when you know something is wrong.

"Reducing the time frame to minutes has been very very useful to us because typically when users see that their input was heard they give more input."

Google also aims to improve its service by mapping the interiors of buildings - approved photographers are mapping transport hubs, shopping centres, museums and businesses that pay for them to visit.

"It's not just being able to draw it in the virtual reality sense of saying 'here we've reproduced the current world', but to understand the data, to know this is the doorway to a business, this is the path to the stairs... this is a public building, these are private areas," McClendon said.

"The more information we can provide the users about where they are and where they should go, I think that will give everybody the confidence in their ability to travel and their ability to interact as they won't worry am I allowed to do this, or should I go there."

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Amazon unveils new Kindle Fire HD tablet family

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:49:00 GMT

Amazon has unveiled three new iterations of the Kindle Fire at a press conference in California.

The new devices - all under the Kindle Fire moniker - come in three separate models. The Kindle Fire HD in 7in screen, as well as a second 8.9in screen - which will put the tablet in direct competition with Apple's popular offering, the iPad.

The third device keeps much of the same specs as the original Kindle Fire, but cuts the price considerably.

HD models will feature stereo speakers, an HDMI port, and a laminated touchscreen to help reduce glare in sunlight. Two wi-fi antennas and multiple-input and multiple-output radio wave technology is designed to improve internet connectivity. The 8.9in device - only available in the US - can also be purchased with 4G connectivity.

"This could easily be the product that beats the iPad particularly for those of us who are readers, easy and innovative in design and use, with unique features like X-Ray which allows you to become far more intimate with what you are reading," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the BBC.

Francisco Jeronimo, research manager at IDC, echoed Enderle, saying: "Amazon's tablet provides a richer user experience than the Google Nexus 7 or any other 10in Android tablet on the market - the content is embedded in the hardware in such a way that it seems a feature of it and not an application that comes with it for users to open when they need access to media."

However, other industry experts are more cautious. "On paper the Kindle Fire HD is a good product but we shouldn't get carried away," said Chris Green, principal analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe.
"The Android market is deeply competitive and there are better specced models out there, so it's not going to run away with the whole market.

"Also we have still to hear from Apple about its new iPhone and a rumoured smaller iPad, both of which will impact sales."

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Microsoft challenges Google to "Bing It On"

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:48:00 GMT

Microsoft is squaring up to Google with its new campaign entitled "Bing it On", a comparison challenge that allows users to pitch the two heavyweight search engines against each other in a side-by-side stand off.

The 'Bing it On Challenge' prompts users to enter neutral search terms, producing unbranded results pages from both Google and Bing. The user can then compare and choose which search engine produced the most favourable results, or call it a draw.

The overall winner is decided after a best-of-five face-off.

Microsoft, taking umbrage against many people's automatic habit of "googling", is hoping the direct comparison test might show Internet users that "Lets Bing it" might have a better ring to it after all.

Senior director of Bing, Stefan Weitz, told CNET news the goal of the campaign was "to get users to take a look again at Bing.

"We want them to see Google's magic secret search sauce isn't really so magic."

Microsoft claim that users prefer Bing search results 2 to 1 over Google's, after commissioning a recent study involving 1000 people. Bing bosses hope that the campaign will encourage people to re-think their search defaults.

The tech giant, currently holding 28 per cent of the U.S search share, is launching the Bing it On Challenge in a flurry of publicity, promoting the campaign on nationwide American television stations as well as across the internet in the form of online ads and the twitter hashtag 'bingiton'.

Competitions will also be held, with prizes such as an Xbox 360, a Microsoft Surface and a Windows Phone up potentially for grabs for twitter users who share a designated Bing It On tweet.

The challenge is risky for Bing, who will no doubt report a short term surge in its user numbers, but if Google is victorious in the transparent side-by-side challenge, then Microsoft may have just put its search head on a very public chopping block.

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