There's a 1/2 day conference organised by those nice people at Mashup* taking place on May 13th (hopefully lucky).
The organisers say "Being Social is a half-day conference & masterclass that will provide marketing, advertising, PR and corporate communications executives with the know-how necessary to develop, execute and manage a social media strategy that delivers value."
Contributors include: David Cushman MD of 90:10, Andrew Davies - ex BBC/ Myspace, Gabrielle Lane Peters, Dominic Burch - ASDA, Kristian Carter of IF Communications.
It should actually be a good afternoon of talks and an evening of networking.
More details at Being Social
Also if anyone wants to go (I'm not affiliated to the conference) there's a 15% discount using the following code EJ_INVITE_BS10
2010/04/30
Ofcom Review of non-geographic calls services - call for inputs
Ofcom is holding a review on non-geographic numbers and services which may be found here.
They are asking consumers whether regulation is too low, too high, what services work and what don't.
People can respond to the consultation on-line or send email or written responses.
The consultation closes on 30/05/2010
They are asking consumers whether regulation is too low, too high, what services work and what don't.
People can respond to the consultation on-line or send email or written responses.
The consultation closes on 30/05/2010
2010/04/26
Natwest goes on Safari
It's taken a while, but it seems Natwest bank in the UK have changed their on-line banking system to recognise Apple's Safari browser. In the past, they would only recognise IE or Firefox (and variants).
Though Apple are still only a tiny percentage of the overall PC market, they do dominate in certain areas such as media, film etc and quite a lot of students too. Maybe their web stats have shown Apple users trying to access the site, or they've received complaints.
It's time all sites supported at least IE, Firefox and Safari (as well as others like Opera).
Though Apple are still only a tiny percentage of the overall PC market, they do dominate in certain areas such as media, film etc and quite a lot of students too. Maybe their web stats have shown Apple users trying to access the site, or they've received complaints.
It's time all sites supported at least IE, Firefox and Safari (as well as others like Opera).
2010/04/23
Geek'n'Rolla the best bits
Last Tuesday was Geek'n'Rolla and event run by Mike Butcher of TechCruch Europe.
There was a mixture of talks, panels and pitches. All of the talks and panels were interesting, but some were better than others and some were really extraordinary. The afternoon ones seemed engaging than the ones in the morning.
Ewan McLeod gave a great talk on mobile development in terms of the market size and platforms (similar to an earlier talk at DevNest), the results are quite surprising, Apple iPhone may not be the best platform for development (though it's still the sexiest).
Andrew J Scott of Rummble gave a fantastic talk on the "Dirty Dozen" things to worry about when "doing a start-up".
Alicia Navarro of Skimlinks gave a great talk on trying to get funding in the US / West Coast.
However the highlight of the day was definitely Morten Lund's talk (he was an early Skype investor) made a huge amount of money, then lost it all. Some parts of his talk are what they call NSFW.
Though the quality of the pitches was good, some of the companies weren't too strong and it was surprising they made it to a TechCrunch event.
There was a mixture of talks, panels and pitches. All of the talks and panels were interesting, but some were better than others and some were really extraordinary. The afternoon ones seemed engaging than the ones in the morning.
Ewan McLeod gave a great talk on mobile development in terms of the market size and platforms (similar to an earlier talk at DevNest), the results are quite surprising, Apple iPhone may not be the best platform for development (though it's still the sexiest).
Andrew J Scott of Rummble gave a fantastic talk on the "Dirty Dozen" things to worry about when "doing a start-up".
Alicia Navarro of Skimlinks gave a great talk on trying to get funding in the US / West Coast.
However the highlight of the day was definitely Morten Lund's talk (he was an early Skype investor) made a huge amount of money, then lost it all. Some parts of his talk are what they call NSFW.
Though the quality of the pitches was good, some of the companies weren't too strong and it was surprising they made it to a TechCrunch event.
Sandisk 64GB Ultra Backup mini review
The Sandisk 64GB Ultra Backup is a USB memory device with a difference, it can automatically back-up items at the push of a button and encrypt everything it stores. It's USB 2.0 so reasonably quick.
Unfortunately the back-up and encryption are only available on Windows system (XP, Vista and Windows 7), to Macs or Linux/UNIX systems it just looks like a 64GB storage device.
Sandisk use their U3 technology to perform the back-up which actually runs software from the USB drive itself and stores any data back on the drive. Once the drive is removed, any all the software and configuration settings go too. There's a fair bit of software available from U3 that's been made U3 aware (which allows it to be safely run for the USB drive without storing anything in Windows permanently).
You may not want to have the U3 software at all (which is likely if you're using a Mac) and Sandisk nicely offer U3 removal software which is available for Mac and PC.
You can purchase a Sandisk 64GB Ultra Backup from here.
Unfortunately the back-up and encryption are only available on Windows system (XP, Vista and Windows 7), to Macs or Linux/UNIX systems it just looks like a 64GB storage device.
Sandisk use their U3 technology to perform the back-up which actually runs software from the USB drive itself and stores any data back on the drive. Once the drive is removed, any all the software and configuration settings go too. There's a fair bit of software available from U3 that's been made U3 aware (which allows it to be safely run for the USB drive without storing anything in Windows permanently).
You may not want to have the U3 software at all (which is likely if you're using a Mac) and Sandisk nicely offer U3 removal software which is available for Mac and PC.
You can purchase a Sandisk 64GB Ultra Backup from here.
Please can we clean the Internet
The Digital Economy Act (and various European bodies) would like to see web filtering mandated. This is similar to the old 'Cleanfeed' system that has been implemented by ISPs in the UK (for consumer Internet anyway).
In the UK the Internet Watch Foundation or IWF as it's known maintains a list of dodgy URLs (that they define as dodgy) and ISPs maintain filters based on the IWF block-list. Of course this system is easily circumvented by use of VPNs and other technologies that real criminal might use.
Anyway there's a great new video doing the rounds that shwos why all the Internet should be filtered and it can be seen here Cleanternet.
In the UK the Internet Watch Foundation or IWF as it's known maintains a list of dodgy URLs (that they define as dodgy) and ISPs maintain filters based on the IWF block-list. Of course this system is easily circumvented by use of VPNs and other technologies that real criminal might use.
Anyway there's a great new video doing the rounds that shwos why all the Internet should be filtered and it can be seen here Cleanternet.
Google buys a mis-spelt Linux
Google has acquired Agnilux a silicon foundry made-up of ex PA Semi employees who jumped ship when Apple acquired PA Semi in 2008 (for $280m).
PA Semi design ARM based CPUs and their fruition of their work is meant to be the A4 processor which is the heart of Apple's new iPad (and probable forthcoming iPhone 4G as leaked by Gizmondo).
Little is known about Agnilux but it seems that as well as ex PA Semi employees, there's a few ex Cisco employees too and it has a partnership with Cisco.
Rumours are that Google will use the Agnilux technology to drive a new generation of Google tablets, though the Cisco relationship could mean it's more of a network processor or for video, in which case Google could use it for building into set-top-boxes and such like (which would then run Android).
Another rumour is that they are producing highly scalable low-power ARM designs which could be used in datacentres - which would also suit Google who have lots of servers and reducing the power footprint while increasing their CPU capacity would mean huge savings in the long term for them,
PA Semi design ARM based CPUs and their fruition of their work is meant to be the A4 processor which is the heart of Apple's new iPad (and probable forthcoming iPhone 4G as leaked by Gizmondo).
Little is known about Agnilux but it seems that as well as ex PA Semi employees, there's a few ex Cisco employees too and it has a partnership with Cisco.
Rumours are that Google will use the Agnilux technology to drive a new generation of Google tablets, though the Cisco relationship could mean it's more of a network processor or for video, in which case Google could use it for building into set-top-boxes and such like (which would then run Android).
Another rumour is that they are producing highly scalable low-power ARM designs which could be used in datacentres - which would also suit Google who have lots of servers and reducing the power footprint while increasing their CPU capacity would mean huge savings in the long term for them,
2010/04/19
Sansa Clip Plus mini review
The Sandisk Sansa Clip Plus is a tiny MP3 player that's about 2" by 1 1/3" by 1/2" and weights 0.85oz. It comes with either 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of Flash memory and in a choice of black, blue or maroon.
It supports a variety of audio formats including MP3, Microsoft's WMA, WAV, FLAC, Ogg and Audible (for DRM'ed audio books).
There's a small OLED display which shows up to 4 lines of blue or orange text. It's all driving by a basic menu system and you can jump back to the home menu by pressing the 'home' button anywhere. Music can be selected by just playing everything or selecting album, artist, genre, song or playlist (though there's no alphabetic search).
There's also a voice recorder with built-in mic and FM radio with 10 presets (but no RDS), you can record from the FM radio into WAV files (as with the voice recorder).
The Clip+ also supports SanDisk's SlotRadio cards (through the micro SDcard slot) which also takes standard micro SD cards up to 32GB.
The unit is good for sports due to its size, but the supplied earphones aren't up to much and even with sensible in-ear phones it sounds weak compared to an iPod even with EQ emphasis like dance or bass boost.
You can buy the 8GB version from the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ 8GB MP3 Player / Black for £54.99 though it can be cheaper elsewhere.
It supports a variety of audio formats including MP3, Microsoft's WMA, WAV, FLAC, Ogg and Audible (for DRM'ed audio books).
There's a small OLED display which shows up to 4 lines of blue or orange text. It's all driving by a basic menu system and you can jump back to the home menu by pressing the 'home' button anywhere. Music can be selected by just playing everything or selecting album, artist, genre, song or playlist (though there's no alphabetic search).
There's also a voice recorder with built-in mic and FM radio with 10 presets (but no RDS), you can record from the FM radio into WAV files (as with the voice recorder).
The Clip+ also supports SanDisk's SlotRadio cards (through the micro SDcard slot) which also takes standard micro SD cards up to 32GB.
The unit is good for sports due to its size, but the supplied earphones aren't up to much and even with sensible in-ear phones it sounds weak compared to an iPod even with EQ emphasis like dance or bass boost.
You can buy the 8GB version from the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ 8GB MP3 Player / Black for £54.99 though it can be cheaper elsewhere.
2010/04/12
ConceptDraw Office mini review
ConceptDraw Office is a set of programs from CS Odessa (Computer Systems Odessa) which would indicate Ukraine origins.
There are three integrated components MindMap, Project and Draw (Pro) which can be purchased individually or as the combined (cheaper package) as ConceptDraw Office.
MindMap is just that and is really useful for brainstorming sessions and such like, however it's also pretty good for say putting a product launch together, working out what needs to go after what and different branches of what needs doing. The whole thing can then be exported into Project which will then produce a project plan. It will still need tweaking (for timescales/resources and such like) but there's the basics done for you.
Project is actually very similar to Microsoft Project, but CS Odessa have their InGyre system which allows the different tools to work together.
Concept Draw is similar to Microsoft Visio (and can import Visio files as can Project import MS Project files) it's also similar to Corel Draw, it can produce organisation charts, network diagrams and simple object drawing. Again it can link into ConceptDraw Project and MindMap.
There's both Windows and Mac versions available (where as Microsoft products are only available on Windows).
ConceptDraw isn't cheap (the package retails for £339) but you do get 3 solid packages for that and they're invaluable if you're a Mac user.
They can be purchased here
There are three integrated components MindMap, Project and Draw (Pro) which can be purchased individually or as the combined (cheaper package) as ConceptDraw Office.
MindMap is just that and is really useful for brainstorming sessions and such like, however it's also pretty good for say putting a product launch together, working out what needs to go after what and different branches of what needs doing. The whole thing can then be exported into Project which will then produce a project plan. It will still need tweaking (for timescales/resources and such like) but there's the basics done for you.
Project is actually very similar to Microsoft Project, but CS Odessa have their InGyre system which allows the different tools to work together.
Concept Draw is similar to Microsoft Visio (and can import Visio files as can Project import MS Project files) it's also similar to Corel Draw, it can produce organisation charts, network diagrams and simple object drawing. Again it can link into ConceptDraw Project and MindMap.
There's both Windows and Mac versions available (where as Microsoft products are only available on Windows).
ConceptDraw isn't cheap (the package retails for £339) but you do get 3 solid packages for that and they're invaluable if you're a Mac user.
They can be purchased here
It's all looking Pink for Plink
Google have just acquired UK art search company Plink.
Plink's technology allows users to point their phone at a work of art and take a picture which will then link to the original artwork (and prints etc can be purchased). Plink were finalists in Google's Android Developer Challenge, winning $100,000.
Mark Cummins and partner James Philbin who founded Plink will move over to Google and work on Google's Goggles application utilising the back-end Plink technology for that platform.
The Android app is still available for download, though development of it will no longer take place.
Plink's technology allows users to point their phone at a work of art and take a picture which will then link to the original artwork (and prints etc can be purchased). Plink were finalists in Google's Android Developer Challenge, winning $100,000.
Mark Cummins and partner James Philbin who founded Plink will move over to Google and work on Google's Goggles application utilising the back-end Plink technology for that platform.
The Android app is still available for download, though development of it will no longer take place.
UK Election delays spectrum auction again
The Government managed to push through the controversial Digital Economy Bill, but in doing so failed to make time for things such as spectrum liberalisation and these will now have to wait until the next Government is in power.
This means that the plans to auction the 2.6GHz (2600MHz) band are still on hold until at least mid 2011 (or later) as well the prized 800MHz band. There is also no decision with respect to GSM refarming (O2 and Vodafone have spectrum in 900MHz and Orange and T-Mobile in 1.8GHz). The situation is already muddied by the merge of T-Mobile and Orange who as a single company have too much spectrum (as per the original licenses).
It's likely that T-Mobile/Orange will have to relinquish some of their 1.8GHz spectrum and maybe some of their 2.5GHz spectrum, but they will also fight to get hold of some of the 900HMz spectrum (which has much better transmission characteristics than 1.8GHz).
As there is no Government at all, the above decisions are all on hold, though T-Mobile/Orange are now in breach of their license conditions, there's nothing that can be done until the next Government is elected and Ofcom can then propose changes in the law (i.e. currently the GSM bands are ONLY allowed to be used for GSM services and not 3G services) which will then be enacted into law by the use of Standard Instruments.
The UK was way ahead of the market when it first proposed auctioning the 2.6GHz spectrum (2007/2008) but now even Germany has sorted it's issues and has licensed the band.
This means that the plans to auction the 2.6GHz (2600MHz) band are still on hold until at least mid 2011 (or later) as well the prized 800MHz band. There is also no decision with respect to GSM refarming (O2 and Vodafone have spectrum in 900MHz and Orange and T-Mobile in 1.8GHz). The situation is already muddied by the merge of T-Mobile and Orange who as a single company have too much spectrum (as per the original licenses).
It's likely that T-Mobile/Orange will have to relinquish some of their 1.8GHz spectrum and maybe some of their 2.5GHz spectrum, but they will also fight to get hold of some of the 900HMz spectrum (which has much better transmission characteristics than 1.8GHz).
As there is no Government at all, the above decisions are all on hold, though T-Mobile/Orange are now in breach of their license conditions, there's nothing that can be done until the next Government is elected and Ofcom can then propose changes in the law (i.e. currently the GSM bands are ONLY allowed to be used for GSM services and not 3G services) which will then be enacted into law by the use of Standard Instruments.
The UK was way ahead of the market when it first proposed auctioning the 2.6GHz spectrum (2007/2008) but now even Germany has sorted it's issues and has licensed the band.
2010/04/08
TalkTalk talks the talk
Andrew Heaney, Director of Strategy and Regulation of TalkTalk has written a blog post stating: -
* Unless we are served with a court order we will never surrender a customer’s details to rightsholders. We are the only major ISP to have taken this stance and we will maintain it.
* If we are instructed to disconnect an account due to alleged copyright infringement we will refuse to do so and tell the rightsholders we’ll see them in court.
Only 5% of MPs actually turned up for the brief debate in the House yesterday and the other important parts of the stages will now end up in the wash-up process.
TalkTalk have been very vocal against various parts of the Digital Economy Bill and will continue to fight against it and with whichever party is running the country after the general election.
* Unless we are served with a court order we will never surrender a customer’s details to rightsholders. We are the only major ISP to have taken this stance and we will maintain it.
* If we are instructed to disconnect an account due to alleged copyright infringement we will refuse to do so and tell the rightsholders we’ll see them in court.
Only 5% of MPs actually turned up for the brief debate in the House yesterday and the other important parts of the stages will now end up in the wash-up process.
TalkTalk have been very vocal against various parts of the Digital Economy Bill and will continue to fight against it and with whichever party is running the country after the general election.
Digital Economy Bill gets FAST approval
Unsurprisingly FAST (Federation Against Software Theft) has welcomed the 'success of the Digital Economy Bill', even though the DEB has attracted criticism from many corners including the music industry itself.
FAST have been criticised in the past for using strong arm tactics on companies to force them to hold audits (from FAST) to ensure they're not using unlicensed software.
The Government has forced the bill through, without proper debate which has angered many people. Allowing the '3 strikes rule' to get through is now imposing punishment without trial and it is too far ranging (i.e. anyone illegally sharing on an open WiFi network can get the WiFi network disconnected). Other issues are that BIS can request to have any domain registry removed (or the infrastructure removed) if the registry doesn't remove content they don't like.
Hopefully someone will take the issues up the the Court of Human Rights and have the bill (or aspects of it) quashed.
FAST have been criticised in the past for using strong arm tactics on companies to force them to hold audits (from FAST) to ensure they're not using unlicensed software.
The Government has forced the bill through, without proper debate which has angered many people. Allowing the '3 strikes rule' to get through is now imposing punishment without trial and it is too far ranging (i.e. anyone illegally sharing on an open WiFi network can get the WiFi network disconnected). Other issues are that BIS can request to have any domain registry removed (or the infrastructure removed) if the registry doesn't remove content they don't like.
Hopefully someone will take the issues up the the Court of Human Rights and have the bill (or aspects of it) quashed.
2010/04/06
RIM Eclipses development ease
Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a new development platform for the Blackberry smartphone range.
There's a new Java plug-in (1.1) for Eclipse that provides a complete development, debug and simulation environment supporting multiple devices and operating system versions, which can be switched without restarting the system.
There's also a new Java SDK (v5) with now over 20,000 API calls including Location Based Services APIs enabling cell-site geolocation, GPS, geocoding and reverse geocoding to obtain address and location data, OpenGL ES support for 3D graphics, touchscreen and accelerometer, new pre-built UI components, file pickers and screen transitions and SQLite support for data sharing across different applications.
The other new release is Web Plug-In v2.0 which allows developing Blackberry widgets using standard web tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.
Blackerries are notoriously hard to develop for, hopefully these new tools will make life easier for developers.
More can be found from RIM's developer site.
There's a new Java plug-in (1.1) for Eclipse that provides a complete development, debug and simulation environment supporting multiple devices and operating system versions, which can be switched without restarting the system.
There's also a new Java SDK (v5) with now over 20,000 API calls including Location Based Services APIs enabling cell-site geolocation, GPS, geocoding and reverse geocoding to obtain address and location data, OpenGL ES support for 3D graphics, touchscreen and accelerometer, new pre-built UI components, file pickers and screen transitions and SQLite support for data sharing across different applications.
The other new release is Web Plug-In v2.0 which allows developing Blackberry widgets using standard web tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.
Blackerries are notoriously hard to develop for, hopefully these new tools will make life easier for developers.
More can be found from RIM's developer site.
I go, you go, MeeGo
Nokia and Intel have started to open up their new MeeGo initiative which is their combined Maemo and MobLin Linux for mobile efforts.
As reported in the MeeGo blog the core is suitable for Netbooks, mobile phones, in-car devices and connected TVs with different higher level applications suitable for the relevant architectures.
The OS images are suitable for booting from a USB key or directly from on-board flash.
Images are available for intel Atom-based netbooks, ARM-based Nokia N900, and Intel Atom-based handsets (Moorestown).
There's also a source repository available through git and rpm's for the applications. The current images will just give access to a terminal, though it's hoped to have the higher lovel GUI systems available soon.
Whether they'll make a dent on Android is yet to be seen, though maybe some enterprising person can port MeeGo to the O2 Joggler which is being sold for £50 now and there's already efforts to replace O2's stock image with other more useful operating system.
As reported in the MeeGo blog the core is suitable for Netbooks, mobile phones, in-car devices and connected TVs with different higher level applications suitable for the relevant architectures.
The OS images are suitable for booting from a USB key or directly from on-board flash.
Images are available for intel Atom-based netbooks, ARM-based Nokia N900, and Intel Atom-based handsets (Moorestown).
There's also a source repository available through git and rpm's for the applications. The current images will just give access to a terminal, though it's hoped to have the higher lovel GUI systems available soon.
Whether they'll make a dent on Android is yet to be seen, though maybe some enterprising person can port MeeGo to the O2 Joggler which is being sold for £50 now and there's already efforts to replace O2's stock image with other more useful operating system.
2010/04/05
Apple sells 300,000 sanitary products in first day
Apple has announced it has sold 300,000 iPads on the first day of launch (up until midnight April 3rd 2010) - OK they're not sanitary pads, but it makes a good headline.
Those 300,000 iPad users have also downloaded over 1m apps and 250,000 ebooks from the Apple iBookstore, so that's 3 apps and almost 1 ebook per iPad.
Skeptics may just think it's a rush of Apple fan boys, but Apple are changing the game. People bemoan it's a proprietary operating system (so what) it means that Apple can control the content easily and the way apps look and feel, so it's all easy to use. Apple know how to do User Interfaces (UI) and make things look nice. As long as programmers stick to Apple's guidelines using Apple's interfaces their programs will look nice too. So anybody will be able to use the app.
The iPad is no better in terms of specs than other systems out there, but they're not selling it as an eReader, nor as a tablet but a combination of the two. Amazon have realised that the Kindle can do more than just be an eReader, but they've only just released an SDK. The iPad will run existing iPhone/iTouch apps with no modifications (under emulation) but they've had the SDK available for months, so there's some good iPad apps out there on launch (including Apple's own iWork apps). It also makes a very nice eReader and lo and behold Apple have an ebook store available on launch.
The iPad will be iconic, just like the iPhone was. Yes it's lacking a camera (yes there's a space for an iSight camera in the case) and other features, but they will come. Owning an iPad now is like owning a piece of history.
Those 300,000 iPad users have also downloaded over 1m apps and 250,000 ebooks from the Apple iBookstore, so that's 3 apps and almost 1 ebook per iPad.
Skeptics may just think it's a rush of Apple fan boys, but Apple are changing the game. People bemoan it's a proprietary operating system (so what) it means that Apple can control the content easily and the way apps look and feel, so it's all easy to use. Apple know how to do User Interfaces (UI) and make things look nice. As long as programmers stick to Apple's guidelines using Apple's interfaces their programs will look nice too. So anybody will be able to use the app.
The iPad is no better in terms of specs than other systems out there, but they're not selling it as an eReader, nor as a tablet but a combination of the two. Amazon have realised that the Kindle can do more than just be an eReader, but they've only just released an SDK. The iPad will run existing iPhone/iTouch apps with no modifications (under emulation) but they've had the SDK available for months, so there's some good iPad apps out there on launch (including Apple's own iWork apps). It also makes a very nice eReader and lo and behold Apple have an ebook store available on launch.
The iPad will be iconic, just like the iPhone was. Yes it's lacking a camera (yes there's a space for an iSight camera in the case) and other features, but they will come. Owning an iPad now is like owning a piece of history.
UK MNOs moan about MTR reductions, apart from 3
As expected the big 4 UK mobile network operators are complaining about Ofcom's plans to reduce mobile termination rates to 0.5p per minute by March 2015.
The only operator who is welcoming the cuts is 3 (or Hutchison 3G to be exact). It makes sense for them as they're the smallest UK operator so their users are making more outbound calls to other networks than inbound, which means they're paying out to other networks. Any reduction in call costs to other networks therefore reduces their costs. They also say they'll pass on cuts to their users.
The MNOs are said to have made around €5.3bn from termination fees in 2008.
Vodafone have said "A cut of this magnitude deters future investment, makes it less likely that the UK would continue to lead in mobile communications and was at odds with the government's vision of a digital Britain." Orange say "Handsets may no longer be subsidised, and consumers may have to pay to receive calls."
Ofcom have been at odds with the MNOs on other changes as well such as Mobile Number Porting (Ofcom wanted sub 1 hour porting, the MNO's took Ofcom to court, and now Ofocm as asking for sub 24hour porting).
The only operator who is welcoming the cuts is 3 (or Hutchison 3G to be exact). It makes sense for them as they're the smallest UK operator so their users are making more outbound calls to other networks than inbound, which means they're paying out to other networks. Any reduction in call costs to other networks therefore reduces their costs. They also say they'll pass on cuts to their users.
The MNOs are said to have made around €5.3bn from termination fees in 2008.
Vodafone have said "A cut of this magnitude deters future investment, makes it less likely that the UK would continue to lead in mobile communications and was at odds with the government's vision of a digital Britain." Orange say "Handsets may no longer be subsidised, and consumers may have to pay to receive calls."
Ofcom have been at odds with the MNOs on other changes as well such as Mobile Number Porting (Ofcom wanted sub 1 hour porting, the MNO's took Ofcom to court, and now Ofocm as asking for sub 24hour porting).
2010/04/04
Upgrading a MacBook Pro disk
It was a bit of a daunting task, get a Solid State Disk (SSD), transfer the contents of the current disk on to it, then make sure it's all working and take the MacBook Pro apart and fit the disk.
Surprisingly it was all very easy, but there's a few things that need to be though about first.
Make sure you have an external (USB/Firewire) disk system that will take the SSD, plug it in and make sure it's recognised. It's unlikely to be formatted, so MacOS X will say it's unrecognised and ask to run Disk Utility. The disk needs to be partitioned (select partition type GUID) and a single partition, name it Macintosh HD (or SSD) and let Disk Utility do its magic. Once finished it will be mounted it and it appears as a USB or Firewire disk (depending what external system you have).
It's now all about cloning the internal hard disk, a couple of utilities were recommended Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. In this instance Carbon Copy Clone did its magic and it was just configured to clone the Macintosh HD (the internal HD) and copy everything to the external Macintosh HD (which was the externally mounted SSD).
The internal disk had just over 50GB of data and it took about an hour to clone (so you've got time for a couple of cups of tea).
There was a beep to indicate it had finished and that was that. Just to be sure Disk Utility was run again and the disk verified, it did throw up a few errors, but they were permission errors and quickly fixed (it took under 3 minutes to scan the disk on USB).
Then go into System Preferences and select "Start-up Disk" and select the external USB/Firewire disk and reboot. This should get the MacBook to boot of the newly set-up disk. Happily the MBP booted and the hard disk activity light flashed away showing it was using the external disk. Then shutdown and remove the power from the MBP.
Removing the screws from the base of the MacBook Pro was easy enough (a small Philips screwdriver is needed) and the bottom just lifts off. Make sure you remember which screws go where as some are long and some short, though not too difficult to just lay them out in the position of where they sit on a table surface.
There's a site iFixit which specialises in DIY Apple repairs etc. They state that the bar holding the drive in place uses Torx 6 screws, however on this late 2009 13" MBP the screws were also Philips and it came away very easily.
Then carefully remove the hard disk and very carefully pull away the ribbon cable attached to it. Get the SSD (which you've removed from the external case) and attach it to the ribbon cable and insert it back into the hard disk space. Place the disk bar back and screw into place and replace the bottom cover, making sure that the screws aren't over tightened. Put the screws in, in pairs, as this reduces the stresses on the case and put opposites in pairs. Lightly screw them in, then tighten them once all the screws are in.
All that's required to to turn the MBP on and hopefully it will all work.
The MBP will boot significantly faster and apps load much faster. Performing a disk permission verification (with the SSD in the MBP) took under a minute (compared with 3 minutes when connected through USB).
As a TV commercial Meerkat would say "Simples"
The disk used was a 256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s which is their latest generation of SSD.
Surprisingly it was all very easy, but there's a few things that need to be though about first.
Make sure you have an external (USB/Firewire) disk system that will take the SSD, plug it in and make sure it's recognised. It's unlikely to be formatted, so MacOS X will say it's unrecognised and ask to run Disk Utility. The disk needs to be partitioned (select partition type GUID) and a single partition, name it Macintosh HD (or SSD) and let Disk Utility do its magic. Once finished it will be mounted it and it appears as a USB or Firewire disk (depending what external system you have).
It's now all about cloning the internal hard disk, a couple of utilities were recommended Carbon Copy Clone and SuperDuper. In this instance Carbon Copy Clone did its magic and it was just configured to clone the Macintosh HD (the internal HD) and copy everything to the external Macintosh HD (which was the externally mounted SSD).
The internal disk had just over 50GB of data and it took about an hour to clone (so you've got time for a couple of cups of tea).
There was a beep to indicate it had finished and that was that. Just to be sure Disk Utility was run again and the disk verified, it did throw up a few errors, but they were permission errors and quickly fixed (it took under 3 minutes to scan the disk on USB).
Then go into System Preferences and select "Start-up Disk" and select the external USB/Firewire disk and reboot. This should get the MacBook to boot of the newly set-up disk. Happily the MBP booted and the hard disk activity light flashed away showing it was using the external disk. Then shutdown and remove the power from the MBP.
Removing the screws from the base of the MacBook Pro was easy enough (a small Philips screwdriver is needed) and the bottom just lifts off. Make sure you remember which screws go where as some are long and some short, though not too difficult to just lay them out in the position of where they sit on a table surface.
There's a site iFixit which specialises in DIY Apple repairs etc. They state that the bar holding the drive in place uses Torx 6 screws, however on this late 2009 13" MBP the screws were also Philips and it came away very easily.
Then carefully remove the hard disk and very carefully pull away the ribbon cable attached to it. Get the SSD (which you've removed from the external case) and attach it to the ribbon cable and insert it back into the hard disk space. Place the disk bar back and screw into place and replace the bottom cover, making sure that the screws aren't over tightened. Put the screws in, in pairs, as this reduces the stresses on the case and put opposites in pairs. Lightly screw them in, then tighten them once all the screws are in.
All that's required to to turn the MBP on and hopefully it will all work.
The MBP will boot significantly faster and apps load much faster. Performing a disk permission verification (with the SSD in the MBP) took under a minute (compared with 3 minutes when connected through USB).
As a TV commercial Meerkat would say "Simples"
The disk used was a 256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s which is their latest generation of SSD.
2010/04/01
Port your Mobile number in a day
Ofcom is holding a short consultation on allowing consumers to port their number to a new mobile network with 1 working day.
Ofcom put forward four options to the mobile network operators (MNOs), which were: -
* Option A: recipient-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option B: donor-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option C: recipient-led process with porting completed the next working day
* Option D: donor-led process with porting completed the next working day
Ofcom wanted to have porting occur within 2 hours, but lost a legal battle from the MNOs and so Ofcom has now agreed on Option D which is the same process that takes place now (using a donor PAC code) but the time has been reduced from 2 working days to 1 working day. The PAC code must be supplied in 2 hours or less by phone or SMS.
A 2 hour port could have been achievable, but this would have meant holding a central database containing numbers and which network they belong. This would have meant expense and it also didn't suit the MNOs (who use HLR records to say the number is ported and point to the new network).
The consultation closes on 13/05/10
Ofcom put forward four options to the mobile network operators (MNOs), which were: -
* Option A: recipient-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option B: donor-led process with porting completed within two hours
* Option C: recipient-led process with porting completed the next working day
* Option D: donor-led process with porting completed the next working day
Ofcom wanted to have porting occur within 2 hours, but lost a legal battle from the MNOs and so Ofcom has now agreed on Option D which is the same process that takes place now (using a donor PAC code) but the time has been reduced from 2 working days to 1 working day. The PAC code must be supplied in 2 hours or less by phone or SMS.
A 2 hour port could have been achievable, but this would have meant holding a central database containing numbers and which network they belong. This would have meant expense and it also didn't suit the MNOs (who use HLR records to say the number is ported and point to the new network).
The consultation closes on 13/05/10
Ofcom proposes cuts to mobile termination rates
Ofcom is holding a Consultation on the wholesale mobile termination rates.
The current price controls end on 31st of March 2011 and Ofcom is proposing the following rates: -
2010/11 4.3 4.6
2011/12 2.5 2.5
2012/13 1.5 1.5
2013/14 0.9 0.9
Column one represents Vodafone O2/Orange/T-Mobile and column two represents H3G.
Other mobile network pricing is set on the basis of being fair and reasonable (i.e. this applies to Truphone, UK01 and other new entrants).
The mobile networks have seen the mobile termination rates slashed in recent years which is good news for consumers.
However this still doesn't address the mobile network operators setting retail rates that are unduly high (i.e. some of the new entrants may have a termination rate set by Ofcom of say 2.5p per minute, but the retail rate charged by a MNO is above 40p which prices the new entrant out the market).
The consultation closes on 23/06/10
The current price controls end on 31st of March 2011 and Ofcom is proposing the following rates: -
2010/11 4.3 4.6
2011/12 2.5 2.5
2012/13 1.5 1.5
2013/14 0.9 0.9
Column one represents Vodafone O2/Orange/T-Mobile and column two represents H3G.
Other mobile network pricing is set on the basis of being fair and reasonable (i.e. this applies to Truphone, UK01 and other new entrants).
The mobile networks have seen the mobile termination rates slashed in recent years which is good news for consumers.
However this still doesn't address the mobile network operators setting retail rates that are unduly high (i.e. some of the new entrants may have a termination rate set by Ofcom of say 2.5p per minute, but the retail rate charged by a MNO is above 40p which prices the new entrant out the market).
The consultation closes on 23/06/10
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