Journalism, radio and stuff like that
Is the upgrade enough to make the 3GS upgrade unnecessary? I think so…
Until third party developers really start to take advantage of the new APIs it’s evolution rather than revolution, but it does keep your phone current without forcing you to shell out any more cash.
The long-awaited Digital Britain report is out, and I’ve taken a look at it twice. First up, the key points:
We won’t be paying for a copyright quango, but our phones will be taxed to finance next-generation broadband – and while the government isn’t keen on criminalising file sharers, ISPs might have no choice but to throttle offenders’ connections.
Then, my take on it:
Digital Britain may not be as revolutionary as some people might have liked – but it’s nowhere near as bad as many of us feared.
If reports are true and Lord Carter’s off to the private sector as soon as Digital Britain’s PDF is posted, he’s not going to be leaving with an angry mob in hot pursuit.
Opera Unite puts a web server inside your browser. It’s really very clever.
When Opera promised to “reinvent the web” this morning, we were cynical – and when it started talking about inventing “Web 5.0” we set our word-guns to maximum mockery.
Then it showed us Unite. We’re not sure about Web 5.0, but we’re convinced that Unite really is worth getting excited about.
How do you install a browser when you don’t have a browser? The news that Windows 7 won’t include Internet Explorer in Europe has caused an outbreak of head-scratching – especially among those of us whose routers need a browser window to configure our connections in the first place.
The new Google Quick Search Box (QSB) for Mac is designed to make things easier.
Summon it with a quick key combination and you can use it to find and launch applications, track down elusive files, dig up contacts or search the web.
It sounds very familiar, with good reason: apps such as Quicksilver have been doing much the same for years. So is QSB a Quicksilver killer? The short answer is probably – but not quite yet.
We’re told that it costs between four and eight times more money to get a new customer than to retain an existing one, and that the way to make big piles of cash in the long term is to keep your customers sweet.
So why is O2 waving its corporate arse at its iPhone customers?
Another .net column has made its way online. This one’s about attention and the way that gadgets can remove you from the moment you’re filming, photographing or tweeting about.
Photos and videos are hyperlinks to memories, icons that your brain double-clicks to bring back the full experience – the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of a happy day or a crappy one.
Increasingly, though, we’re using gadgets to record the whole experience. That makes us passive observers, not active participants.
I thought I’d say something constructive in an op/ed for once, so I’ve written about Opera 10. It’s moved from alpha to beta, and it’s really rather good.
Internet Explorer 6, the gurning half-wit of the browser world, has nearly 17 per cent of the market. Opera, a truly great browser, has 0.72 per cent.
That’s lower than Netscape (0.74 per cent), which was shot and turned into glue months ago.
To say that Opera is better than Netscape or IE6 is like saying having sex with the love of your life is better than being boiled in oil while being stabbed with knives, or living in Doncaster.
Should ISPs advertise broadband services that don’t – can’t – deliver what the ads promise? Of course they shouldn’t.
If you aren’t unemployed or self-employed, BT is choking your connection at the very times you’re most likely to use it.
On the subject of iPlayer’s bandwidth demands BT says “We believe there is a real issue that content owners like the BBC need to address.”
Maybe there is, but there’s an issue BT needs to address right now. Its advertising specifically says you can use Option 1 for iPlayer, and you can’t.
Have you seen the demo of Spotify on Android yet?
If not, check it out and listen really carefully. That sound you can hear in the distance is Steve Jobs swearing.
It looks like Android has found its killer app.