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Apple announces social networking service which will display the music interests of friends via iTunes, iPhones and iPod TouchHaving cornered the MP3 player, mobile phone and computer tablet markets with the iPod, iPhone and iPad devices respectively, last night Apple announced its latest expansion – into social media – with Ping.Ping will be integrated into Apple’s latest iTunes software update and will enable users, or “Pingers”, to follow musicians, friends and others to see details including what music they’re buying and what concerts they’re attending.Steve Jobs, Apple’s chairman and chief executive, said the information will arrive in a long stream of updates, similar to the way Facebook and Twitter work.”Be as private or as public as you want. The privacy is super-easy to set up,” he said adding that users can choose to automatically accept followers or decide on a follower-by-follower basis – similar sounding controls to those on Twitter.The service is available immediately to more than 160 million iTunes users, Jobs said, and will also be available across the iPhone and iPod Touch ranges.The feature is believed to have been based on the technology Apple acquired with the purchase of the former online music store Lala.com last year.The iTunes logo will no longer feature a CD – mirroring the change in the program’s focus.Jobs unveiled a range of other upgrades to its products and services, including a new version of Apple TV – which will allow users to stream television programmes and films.The company is also releasing a revamped range of iPods, including an iPod touch with front- and rear-facing camera, Jobs told an assembled crowd of journalists, bloggers and analysts in California.Until now the Apple TV device was “never a huge hit”, admitted Jobs.The box originally allowed users to buy films and television programmes, but the latest version, which is smaller and, at $99, much cheaper than its $229 predecessor, will only allow the renting, rather than purchasing, of content.Users will pay $4.99 for high-definition films on the day they come out on DVD, while the rent of high-definition TV shows will be $0.99, Apple announced.”We’ve sold a lot of them, but it’s never been a huge hit,” Jobs said of Apple TV. The new version will be available within a month.Jobs also introduced a new design across the range of iPods, including the latest Nano, featuring a rotatable screen and a new Shuffle which sees the return of buttons – its predecessor was voice activated.The new iPod Touch will have front- and rear-facing cameras, the latter of which will be able to record HD video content, Jobs added.AppleComputingSteve JobsitunesSoftwareiPodiPhoneMobile phonesTelecomsUnited StatesAdam Gabbattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc unveiled an aggressive move into the Internet-television market on Wednesday, while also rolling out an overhauled lineup of its iPod devices.

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Ban still looms despite temporary truce after BlackBerry maker RIM grants authorities access to ‘secure’ data passed between devicesAfter weeks of standoff between south Asia and North America, the Indian authorities yesterday won limited access to data from BlackBerry smartphones. The 800,000 users of the devices in the country had been threatened with a blackout because of the Delhi government’s growing fear that militants could use the BlackBerry’s secure network to plot terror attacks without fear of being monitored.The authorities can now get access to some data. The arrangement will be evaluated for 60 days, but the prospect of a ban still looms large for Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind the smartphones.India has also opened up a front against Google and Skype. The home secretary, GK Pillai, said the internet companies were being asked to set up servers in India so that the authorities there could monitor data.India’s moves underline the anxieties of emerging governments about the reach of western communications groups, and particularly the BlackBerry.The United Arab Emirates is threatening to block BlackBerry services by 11 October if it does not get access to encrypted messages. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon are also reviewing the future of BlackBerry services in their countries; all cite security fears over the level of encryption afforded to communication sent between devices.However, this strategy risks alienating the very global businesses such countries are trying to attract, because the employees of multinationals increasingly rely upon BlackBerrys to conduct their day-to-day work.RIM’s problems – its shares have fallen to a 17-month low – lie in the way BlackBerry devices get access to the internet and email through secure centres around the world using specialist encryption.BlackBerry’s Messenger instant-messaging service and its email service have different levels of security, and email security depends on the server being used. Since the BlackBerry was launched 11 years ago, it has been the mobile phone of choice for business users and governments across the world. But RIM’s reputation for producing apparently impenetrable security for high-profile customers is at risk of being irreparably damaged by these new demands.Last Thursday, RIM said it would lead an industry forum on how to allow law-enforcement agencies to get access to communication networks while not encroaching on the security needs of private enterprises. That was all well and good, Indian government sources told Reuters, but the country wanted a technical solution – and quickly. “The government’s position does not change,” the source said. “We are hopeful [RIM] will come up with some solution.”Risk that RIM will lose users’ trustThe problem for RIM is that if it gains governments’ trust by giving them the means to see messages, it will probably lose the trust – and perhaps the business – of users who have previously relied on its security as a way of avoiding the government’s gaze.A university professor in UAE, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Guardian: “The issue has received a lot of coverage in the UAE, but nothing compared to the conversation ‘on the ground’. Since virtually every Emirati aged 17 to 40 owns a BlackBerry and uses the messenger feature constantly, this has been of great concern to them.”I’d guess that around 30% accept this is for security reasons, while the rest believe it to be, at the least, intrusive. The latter believe it to be a response to a number of fairly high-profile Emiratis being attacked, derided, vilified via the messenger broadcast service. Emiratis send many broadcasts daily, and gossip runs through the community like wildfire.”One of the biggest issues for the countries concerned is this messenger broadcast function. Allowing users to send one-to-many messages to everyone in their contacts book has proved an effective and galvanising way of spreading comment, and is often used as a vehicle for anti-establishment opinion – something UAE authorities are sensitive about. “The government walks a very thin line between appearing liberal and modern to the west, and traditional and Islamic at home,” the professor said. “This issue cuts to the heart of the impossibility of doing both at once.The professor, who has owned a BlackBerry for more than a year, said he would have no qualms in switching to another device if RIM’s concessions infringed his right to communicate without fear of government interception. “I can only presume RIM is aware of this and is treading carefully,” he said. “I have faith in the company, as it clearly does little for them to give up what makes the device so valuable – its security.”He added: “This has been called another public relations disaster for the UAE, and I fail to see how someone will not point this out to the rulers – and they are exceptionally concerned with remaining attractive in the eyes of western governments,” he added. “This has done them no favours with the business community internationally nor with the majority of locals and expats domestically.”Falling foul of authorityBeing on the wrong side of officialdom is not new to the Canadian manufacturer. Ironically, given the more recent bout of security concerns, three years ago the French government banned its officials from using BlackBerry devices, citing fears that communication could be intercepted by countries hosting the enterprise servers – namely Canada, the US and the UK. When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the BlackBerry he had used on the campaign trail was replaced with one with extra security, approved by the US National Security Agency, which was concerned about people trying to tap it.Further east, security demands meant negotiations to take the BlackBerry to China and Russia took two years to resolve in both countries.Unlike Indian officials, who have slipped anonymous tidbits and soundbites to the news agencies, RIM has remained tight-lipped about its negotiations. In a rare public statement addressed to customers earlier this month, the Canadian manufacturer said it co-operated with all governments to a consistent level: “Any claims that we provide, or have ever provided, something unique to the government of one country that we have not offered to the governments of all countries, are unfounded.”The complexity and range of security solutions offered by RIM may be the source of the company’s friction with governments, said Leif-Olof Wallin, vice-president of the IT research company Gartner. “What seems to be the big challenge is that lots of BlackBerry service and infrastructure is not very well understood by the regulatory authorities or by its users,” Wallin said. “Although physically it is the same device, it can be used in lots of different scenarios.”Financially, Wallin said, a ban in India would have negligible impact on RIM’s global business, although the country was the second-largest mobile phone market in the world behind China. And RIM would emerge less tarnished than the countries involved.Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that there will be more than 600,000 BlackBerry sales in India this year and that India’s smartphone market will have reached approximately 12m – a figure forecast to grow to 40m by the end of 2015.”At the very last minute there will be an agreement in place,” Wallin predicted. “Banning BlackBerry devices in the country has significant implications affecting foreign diplomats, foreign enterprise executives. It would be a major inconvenience to lots of important allies.”Monitoring messages on a case-by case basisThat is not to say that the Indian or UAE governments will be given free rein to tap emails or messenger messages. “Our interpretation of RIM’s public statements is that the company is willing to facilitate mobile operators to lawfully intercept some messages,” said Wallin.”And BlackBerry will – on a case-by-case basis – be assisting network operators to decrypt BlackBerry Messenger, we think. With email between the BlackBerry and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, RIM simply does not have the capabilities to decrypt it, and the encryption key is unique to each user.”Though some of our clients are worried about what to do in case a ban is put in place, it looks like BlackBerry [manufacturer RIM] is benefiting from this as they’re not caving in – they’re being perceived as an honest secure company.”Gail Thompson, owner of a landscaping company based in Dubai and a BlackBerry owner, said the ill thought-out warnings were not atypical of Emirates officials. “I’m expecting them to backpedal on it,” Thompson said. “I’m anticipating that [the authorities will] issue a blanket mandate, then realise that it’s unworkable – that’s what I’m I’m hoping. I think they’ve had a kneejerk reaction to things.”They need to take into account that business people are coming into the country and [the UAE doesn't] need another hurdle in the economy,” Thompson said. “People are thinking that it’s ludicrous – we all understand that our emails and calls are monitored, it’s just part of our lives. I just think it’s a cultural thing out there.”But that thinking is not shared by all of UAE’s half a million BlackBerry users.A teacher who has lived in the region for 10 years and wished to remain anonymous said she would blame RIM “for caving into demands that compromise people’s privacy” if the manufacturer facilitated greater access to their emails.”There is no alternative but switching to another device,” she said. “If [RIM] allowed the government to intercept messages, I wouldn’t be sending you this email.”BlackBerryData and computer securityMobile phonesIndiaJosh Hallidayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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• Indian government threatens to block Research in Motion’s communication services for BlackBerrys• Canadian technology firm allows India greater access to communicationsThe Indian government has lifted a threat to block certain BlackBerry communication services following moves by the technology firm Research in Motion that could allow the country’s security authorities greater access to snoop on messages.Stepping back from the brink of a crackdown, India’s ministry of home affairs said RIM had made “certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and these would be operationalised immediately”. It did not offer any detail on these concessions and RIM, which is based in Toronto, declined to comment.RIM has been sucked into a series of showdowns with governments in Asia and the Middle East over the level of privacy provided by its ubiquitous handheld devices.India had previously set a deadline of the end of August for the Canadian technology company to make corporate emails and instant messaging more accessible to its security forces.Following RIM’s apparent concessions, the Indian government said today the situation would be reviewed in 60 days’ time. It added that the country’s telecoms ministry was examining whether all the subcontinent’s BlackBerry communications could be routed through a server physically located in India.The Indian government’s disquiet over BlackBerrys is thought to date back to a series of co-ordinated bombings and shootings in Mumbai in November 2008 that killed more than 150 people. Officials suspect that terrorists involved in the attacks communicated using encrypted messages on the devices.Striking the right balance between privacy and national security has become a significant headache for RIM, which has faced similar threats of a ban on Blackberry services in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.BlackBerryMobile phonesIndiaCanadaAndrew Clarkguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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Free iPhone app monitors heartbeat – and helps doctors save lives in remote areasThe stethoscope – medical icon, lifesaver and doctor’s best friend – is disappearing from hospitals across the world as physicians increasingly use their smartphones to monitor patients’ heartbeats.More than 3 million doctors have downloaded a 59p application – invented by Peter Bentley, a researcher from University College London – which turns an Apple iPhone into a stethoscope.Last week, Bentley introduced a free version of the app, which is being downloaded by more than 500 users a day. Experts say the software, a major advance in medical technology, has saved lives and enabled doctors in remote areas to access specialist expertise.”Everybody is very excited about the potential of the adoption of mobile phone technology into the medical workplace, and rightly so,” said Bentley, who initially developed the app “as a fun toy”.”Smartphones are incredibly powerful devices packed full of sensors, cameras, high-quality microphones with amazing displays,” he said. “They are capable of saving lives, saving money and improving healthcare in a dramatic fashion – and we carry these massively powerful computers in our pockets.”Bentley’s iStethoscope application is not the only mobile phone programme lightening doctors’ bags and transforming their practices: there are nearly 6,000 applications related to health in the Apple App Store. The uptake has been rapid. In late 2009, two-thirds of doctors and 42% of the public were using smartphones – in effect inexpensive handheld computers – for personal and professional reasons. More than 80% of doctors said they expected to own a smartphone by 2012.The trend looks likely to gain pace as younger doctors enter the workplace. Some medical schools issue students with smartphones. In America, Georgetown University, the University of Louisville and Ohio State University are among those requiring undergraduates to use one.However, experts say they are being prevented from exploiting the technology’s opportunities. Bentley says that he is unable to launch a new range of applications because of out-of-date regulations.”It’s much easier to develop technology than it is to get permission to use it,” he said. “I could create a mobile ultrasound scanner and an application to measure the oxygen content in blood, but the regulations stop me. We’re not allowed to turn the phone itself into a medical device, and what that precisely means is currently a grey area in terms of regulation. That’s the only reason we’re not seeing a flood of these devices yet.”Professor Ian Wells, head of the scientific computing section in the department of medical physics at the Royal Surrey County hospital in Guildford, agrees that innovation is being hindered by regulations that are “still in their infancy”.He said: “The approach of the regulators is not well worked out yet. There’s a wonderful new world out there but we need to find a way for regulators to protect patients and doctors, while not impeding innovation, research and development.”The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – the government body with responsibility for standards of safety, quality and performance in healthcare – recently set up the Medical Device Technology Forum, a group of industry representatives, regulators, users and scientists, to help establish how to regulate novel technologies.”This is such a complex area that we are currently looking at every application on a case-by-case basis,” said an MHRA spokesman. “We want to ensure that these new technologies are effectively regulated – thereby protecting health and avoiding unnecessary deterrents – while at the same time removing any unnecessary obstacles to manufacturers who wish to exploit new technologies for the benefit of patients.”European regulators are also striving to bring their guidelines up to date. A group of regulators from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden and the UK was set up last December to develop guidance for software under the European Medical Device Regulations. They are expected to report at the end of the year.AppsiPhoneDoctorsAppleMobile phonesHealthAmelia Hillguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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Tags: 10, 12, 3, all, App Store, apple, apple iphone, best, free, government, iphone, lg, line, mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, new, phone, phones, sam, uk, world

Many children get their first mobile phone on starting secondary school in September. We hunt down the best first deals for an 11-year-oldWhen to let your child have their first mobile phone is a contentious issue. But the chances are you’ll join the majority of parents and get them one when they start secondary school at 11.At this age many children start travelling to and from school alone and parents like the reassurance of knowing they can call home.So with a bewildering plethora of handset and tariff options, where do you start to find the best deal?Anthony Ball, director of mobile comparison website Onecompare.com says: “You can get a mobile contract for your child, but pay-as-you-go is probably the best move because of the level of control it gives parents. If your child uses the phone too much, the credit simply runs out until you decide to top it up, but they can still receive your texts and calls free.”There’s also little point buying an expensive, flashy phone that could serve as a “mugging magnet”.Many parents will have an old phone they can pass on to their child or, if not, they can pick up a basic model for under £20 and put in a free sim card now available from most major networks, which often offer bundles of texts, call time and, if want, internet access typically starting with a £10 top-up per month. But which one?”The difficulty of getting the first deal for an 11-year-old is that you have little idea of how, and how much, they are going to use their phone,” Ball says. “But as these sims are free and don’t tie you in to a long contract, you can try one and, if that doesn’t suit, simply switch to another.”Earlier this month Tesco Mobile targeted young users with its launch of, arguably, the UK’s cheapest sim-only monthly tariff which provides unlimited texts and 100 minutes of call time for £6 a month.But it’s not available instore – it’s only sold online and over the phone, and is based on a one-month sim-only rolling contract paid by direct debit which means that customers can cancel and switch to other providers should they choose after 30 days.It should particularly suit text-addicted youngsters. Tesco’s research shows that 16- to 24-year-olds are the most prolific texters and, on a personal note, I’ve found that a sim, offering unlimited texts, is definitely the best money-saving mobile option for my two aged 12 and 16.If, however, your child is likely to go over the 100-minute call-time allowance excess calls are charged at 20p per minute and the bill is added on to your £6 monthly direct debit, so the cost could quickly add up. As a safety measure, Tesco puts a £30 cap on the monthly amount you can run up on top of the £6 subscription.If that limit is reached, the phone is barred for outgoing calls (not, importantly, from incoming calls) until the paying customer – the parent in our scenario – calls Tesco Mobile to verify the amount of credit they are willing to pay.But this does highlight the difference between a standard pay-as-you-go deal, where your child cannot run up a bill, and a monthly contract, where they can.Below are a selection of the pay-as-you-go free sim deals on offer for a £10 monthly top-up from major networks which may suit an 11-year-old’s usage.O2 SimplicityFor £10 a month you get unlimited texts plus a choice of either 100 minutes call time to any UK network or 500MG of web time, enough to send and receive up to 500,000 emails a month or surf up to 5,000 web pages. Calls made in excess of those included in a package are charged daily at 25p per minute for the first three minutes, then 5p per minute for the rest of the day. Available at freesim.o2.co.ukOrange If you join Orange with a free sim and choose from one of its pay as you go “animal” packages, you receive £5 free credit with your first £10 top-up. Options include Racoon – a basic, no-frills package, giving a 15p flat call rate and 10p texts to any network any time. For a top-up of £10 per month, Dolphin gives you 300 free texts and free access to the internet subject to a monthly 100MB cap with calls charged at a minimum of 20p per minute and Canary gives you 100 free minutes call time to any mobile (not landlines) at evenings and weekends every month with excess calls charged at a minimum of 20p per minute. Available at freesim.orange.co.ukT-Mobile When you top up by £10 a month you get unlimited free texts as a bonus on top of your £10 credit to use on calls, web-surfing and so on. Call charges are 10p per minute to T-Mobile phones and 25p a minute to other UK mobile networks and landlines. Internet access charges are maximum £1 a day. Available at t-mobile.co.ukTesco Tesco offers a triple-your-money deal so that a top-up of £10 becomes £30 of credit. Free credit is given once a month and is valid for one month. If you top up again in the same month this generates free credit for the following month. Available at www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/Consumer affairsTelecomsMobile phonesChildrenJill Papworthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India may extend an August 31 deadline in its standoff with Research In Motion if the BlackBerry maker says it has a solution and asks for more time, a senior government source said on Friday.

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Vodafone and Orange deny involvement in international premium rate phone line scam as six charged after 11 arrests

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Police arrest nine after smashing international premium rate phone line fraud using O2 contract SIMs

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16 to 24-year-olds particularly adept at juggling act, cramming nine and a half hours of media into six and a half hours of actual timeBritons are juggling several types of media at the same time to sate their appetite and leave enough time for everything else in their lives, the Ofcom study reveals.The average media consumer’s digital day is seven hours and five minutes. From breakfast radio to peaktime evening TV, via surfing and texting at home or at our desks, media takes up 45% of our time.The actual amount being consumed is even higher, Ofcom believes, with the boom in mobile computing helping Britons to multitask. “The ability of people to surf the web on their laptop while also watching TV has given people a licence to roam while staying connected,” said Peter Phillips, Ofcom’s strategy and market developments partner. A fifth of our media time is this kind of “simultaneous” consumption.Those aged between 16 and 24 are particularly adept at this juggling act, and are mopping up more media than any other age group. They cram nine and a half hours worth of media into six and a half hours of actual time – data that suggests the cliche of the youngster loafing in the lounge is an unfair one.”Sixteen-to-24-year-olds go out more, and spend less time watching TV,” Phillips commented. He also acknowledged that this multitasking can mean we devote less attention to any one media source, although this was more pronounced when using new technology. It appears we are simply better at combining reading, landline calls or TV watching with another activity without our attention drifting.Discovering that teenagers are happier than their parents to combine web surfing, phone calls, tweeting and TV is not exactly a revelation, and Ofcom’s research does show that some other truisms also still apply. The over 55s are still wedded to their TVs and radios (67% of all the media they consume), while computers, mobile phones and handheld gadgets make up 58% of 16- to 24-year olds’ media diet.But there are also plenty of surprises in this latest snapshot of the UK marketplace. The gap between the way different generations use old and new media is closing fast. For the first time, more than 50% of over-55s have broadband at home, and a third are sending and reading emails each day.There have also been some interesting changes in the importance people give to different media activities. Half of all adults said they would miss TV the most, up from 44% in 2005, followed by 15% who cited the internet (up from 8%) and 11% who would pine for their mobile phone (up from 10%). Hi-fi equipment and CD players have fallen most sharply in our affections with a mere 2% of people saying they would miss them the most, down from 13% four years ago. For the 16 to 24 age group, though, the mobile phone would be missed nearly as much as the telly.But the death of television as the dominant media platform appears to be far away as ever. TV continues to take centre stage in the evenings, partly due to the success of talent shows. However the box in the corner of the room is increasingly likely to be a high-definition flatscreen. More than five million households now have a HD set, up from 1.9 million in March 2009.”Television still has a central role in our lives. We are watching more TV than at any time in the last five years,” said James Thickett, Ofcom’s research director.While Simon Cowell can take some credit for maintaining the nation’s TV fix (measured at three hours and 45 minutes per day), another factor is the growing demand for time-shifted viewing, thanks to digital video recorders as well as catch-up TV services such as the BBC iPlayer or ITV Player.”The ability to watch what we want when we want it is bringing people back into the living room, said Phillips. Commercial broadcasters should not rejoice too much, though, as DVR owners have the option to skip through the adverts.While TV appears to have maintained its ability to hold our attention, 17% of viewing is still taking place alongside another media format – typically a computer or mobile phone.Smartphone sales have risen rapidly in the UK in recent years, up 81% in the 12 months to May. The research shows this led to much more media consumption “on the go”, although in many cases people appear to be heading straight for Facebook and staying there.The social networking site makes up 45% of the total time spent online on mobile phones during December 2009, Ofcom said. This may have been skewed by a surge of family photos or amusing Christmas party pictures, although the regulator also cited more recent data that illustrates Facebook’s remarkable “stickiness”.”The average user spent around six hours and 30 minutes on Facebook in May 2010, compared with nearly one hour 30 minutes for users of Google, and nearly two hours for users of MSN [Microsoft] services,” said the regulator. Twitter holds second place on the social networking ladder ahead of MySpace and LinkedIn, with traffic to its website up 56% in the past year.Increased adoption of high-powered mobile phones also means that more young people are abandoning their fixed broadband line.Ofcom’s research also shows the impact of the recession. Revenues in the telecoms industry were badly hit in 2009, falling for the first time since the regulator started tracking this data in the early 1990s. Ofcom said this was also due to increased price pressure as operators try to lure customers to take a bundle of services, and a tailing-off in the boom in mobile phone and broadband connections.With TV revenues contracting, it was little surprise that the amount consumers spend on communications fell again to £91.24 per month. Five years ago we spent an average of £100.71 per month. “Consumers are using communications services more – including phone calls, texting and the internet. Yet they are paying less despite getting more, partly through buying in bundles,” said Ofcom.Digital mediaSocial mediaSocial trendsOfcomInternetMobile phonesGadgetsGraeme Weardenguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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Similar to SkypeOut but like totally different Fring is trialling its own version of SkypeOut, the innovatively named FringOut, allowing Fring users to call fixed lines even if they still can’t speak to Skype users.…

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Police move to shut down criminal network suspected of global fraud using premium-rate phone lines and stolen iPhonesPolice have moved to shut down a criminal network suspected of running a complex global scam which made millions of pounds from UK mobile phone networks using stolen iPhones and premium-rate phone lines.Eight men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud in a series of early morning raids across England today.Officers had been investigating a complex conspiracy where mobile phones were purchased using false identities, and then the SIM cards used to call premium-rate phone lines owned by people involved in the scam.City of London police detectives seized dozens of mobile phones, hundreds of SIM cards, thousands of pounds in cash and fake documentation from homes in Southend, Walsall, central Birmingham, Middlesbrough, and Forest Gate and Southall in London this morning.The raids followed a month-long investigation into a rapidly growing criminal conspiracy profiting from the theft and illegal use of almost 1,000 mobile phones – the vast majority of which were iPhones.SIM cards were removed from illegally obtained phones then shipped abroad and plugged into automatic dialling machines, which repeatedly called lines that charged up to £10 a minute and were owned by members of the conspiracy.The cards accrued enormous bills in a matter of weeks, which were paid by mobile phone networks, but when the companies contacted the registered owners they invariably found people who had fallen victim to identity fraud.O2 was one of the networks hit by the scam, and had £1.2m stolen through premium phone lines in July alone. They contacted police with the results of their own investigation and worked in partnership with detectives from the City of London police – the national lead force for fraud – to uncover an elaborate and expensive fraud.Police now believe a gang of West Africans bought mobile phones on contracts from high street stores using false identities and stolen or fraudulent credit cards.The gang predominantly targeted iPhones for their high resale value. Once the phones were purchased they were sold to a middleman, believed to be based in Birmingham, who would split the SIM cards and handsets before selling the phones to criminal contacts abroad.The SIM cards were then sold to a gang based in London and Essex who were involved in running the premium phoneline scam.Police arrested several members of the gang, all of whom are of Pakistani origin, at homes in Forest Gate, Southall and Southend this morning.They are suspected of setting up a complex network of shell companies to launder the profits from the premium phone lines and hide their identities.At one home in Forest Gate, police found hundreds of SIM cards, £15,000-worth of iPhones still in their boxes, 20 bank cards and several fake passports. At another property they uncovered hundreds of letters that had been prepared to try to con people out of their savings with a promise of a lottery win, a scam known as a 419 con.Investigators have traced the stolen handsets and SIM cards all over the world, including several countries in the Middle East, continental Europe and Vietnam.Police are now hunting to find out where the profits went, as many of those involved lived “under the radar” in council houses with few obvious assets, apart from relatively expensive cars.Detective superintendent Bob Wishart said officers had struck at “a highly sophisticated criminal network” that had been targeting the telecommunications industry and stealing millions of pounds.”Our investigation found a crime gathering momentum,” he said.”Each month more SIM cards were being used to make more phone calls to premium-rate lines at more expense to the network provider.”The criminal exploitation of the latest consumer technology is a recurring theme of our work.”Our collaboration with O2 on this investigation highlights the benefits of how the private sector can work with the police to proactively target common threats to our communities.”Adrian Goreham, responsible for tackling fraud at O2, said: “This was a sophisticated and organised attempt to defraud mobile phone operators.”We are committed to reducing mobile phone crime and have a dedicated team that monitors and investigates such attempted criminal activity.”CrimeMobile phonesiPhoneAdam Gabbattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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Tags: 10, all, card, consumer, contract, global, iphone, latest, line, mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, networks, new, o2, phone, phones, sim, Sim Card, sol, test, uk, world

A round-up of deals available from mobile retailers online and on the high street

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Facebook will unveil its new location features at an event in Palo Alto late tonight, our time. The site has been working on these features for months, enabling ‘places’ tags to video and audio back in March and, no doubt, carefully watching the surge in use of services like Foursquare and Gowalla. Both have built significant traction with audiences but are also building partnerships with fairly enthusiastic venues, who benefit from very explicit near real-time information about their most committed customers. And customers, in turn, get discounts and prizes if they check in the most. Photo by _Yuki_K_ on Flickr. Some rights reservedNone of this will be lost on Facebook, who have also reportedly expressed interest in buying the lesser-known location-based service (LBS) Hot Potato.LBS is certainly one of the hottest topics in technology right now, and after years of promises and experimentation is finally starting to take off thanks to a combination of interest in casual gaming, improved and widespread GPS in mobiles and the rise of apps, which has brought these services to a new audience.But as well as needing to be seen to innovate in this area, Facebook’s interest is ultimately commercial. Those fledgling deals with venues and retailers have massive potential, picking up on the trend of downturn-friendly sites like Groupon that offer discounts to teams of well-organised consumers.Nearly one-third of Facebook’s traffic is generated from mobiles, so adding auto-geotagging from mobiles to photos and possibly status updates is probable. The site could tag any location mention in a status update, on a wall, in a photo album – any content on the site, in short – as well as any geo-tagged media posted to it.Location will be probably added to Facebook’s Platform for third-party developers, meaning Foursquare et al could plug in to Facebook’s userbase. Eventually, we can expect a standalone tab for location, probably a map visualising the locations of your friends – if not now, with the launch, then eventually once the backlash has died down.And that’s the most significant point. While the early adopters will be quite happy to play with this tool (and in fact wonder why it took Facebook so long) the wider public are still very uncomfortable with location features. That’s a natural part of the technology adoption process, and also a symptom of the shifting peception of what is acceptably private and what is acceptably public. We are heading towards open, but cautiously, and it is right that these services are scrutinised to make them as robust and safe as possible. You can imagine the headlines.Facebook knows that, and the only thing that matters about adding location data to Facebook profiles is how secure and uncomplicated the privacy settings are. One person’s ‘granularity’ is another person’s ‘complicated’, and Facebook had better hope users can turn privacy up to 11. I’d argue that of all the features Facebook has launched, and every  momentary backlash, this is by far the biggest opportunity for a serious balls up. That’s down to Facebook’s scale of half a billion people, the public’s discomfort with the commercial uses of their data (at least for those who care to think about it) and the uniquely risky implications of location services that go wrong. If they get it right, on the other hand, it could finally deliver the promise of location-based-services to the mainstream. In technology at least, that’s big news.FacebookSocial networkingSocial mediaLocation based servicesFoursquareGowallaMobile phonesDigital mediaJemima Kissguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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(Source The Guardian)

Tags: 10, all, consumer, deal, Deals, line, mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, mobiles, months, new, phone, phones, service, test, uk, update

Xbox Live on the go Microsoft has listed the Xbox Live games that will run on Windows Phone 7 handsets when the smartphone platform launches later this year. Among them, some well known titles.…

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(Source The Register)

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New Mobile & Latest Deal News!

Onestopphoneshop have the new Sony Ericsson Spiro on Orange with a massive £552 cash back. Line rental is just £25 per month, for that you get 400 anytime minutes to any network and unlimited texts.
The catch is that you need to claim the cash back in five stages by sending off your bills at month 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18. Onestopphoneshop is part of The Carphone Warehouse and claiming cash back shouldn’t be too difficult. The dates which you need to send off your bills are detailed after you place your order. Place reminders on your calendar and you could bag the latest Walkman phone with loads of minutes and texts plus £552 cash.
The total cost of the contract over 24 months will be just £47.76 after cash back, or effectively £1.99 per month on average.
What about the phone? The Spiro is one of the latest releases in the Walkman range. This compact slider features a 2.2 inch QVGA TFT screen and palm friendly dimensions of 92 x 48 x 17mm. The Walkman player offers a great music experience with TrackID music recognition and PlayNow that allows you to easily download new music to your phone. Listen to your favourite tracks with your own headphones via the 3.5mm audio jack or with a Bluetooth headset.
Social network integration with quick access to Facebook and Twitter ensures you get the latest updates when out and about and the web browser with GPRS/EDGE gets you to the latest news, weather and gossip quickly and easily.
The modest 2 megapixel camera takes great snaps and features 2x digital zoom and video recording capabilities. Store your captured moments on the expandable memory (up to 16GB) or share with family and friends via MMS or Bluetooth. The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a dual-band handset and also includes a FM Radio, calendar and built-in speakerphone.

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Apple has had a slow start with its new iAd platform, the WSJ reports. Only two of the 17 launch partners announced on 1 July started campaigns in that first month and only three more used it in August. Apple’s tight grip over the creative process is cited as one of the reasons advertisers are being hesitant. Photo by Jorge Quinteros on Flickr. Some rights reservedGiving a delightful insight into Apple’s own painstaking production process, creating the platform’s mobile ads is taking between eight to 10 weeks – and the building part, which is done by Apple, is taking two weeks longer than it should. Patrick Moorhead, director of mobile at the agency DraftFCB, said it is “a huge issue having Apple in the creative mix”, while Chanel, one of the launch partners,  doesn’t have any iAd campaign planned. Campaigns packages start at a cost of $1m but one brand, Nissan, claim the click-through rate for its interactive ad is five times higher than the conventional online campaign. While working efficiently with agencies seems Apple’s biggest challenge, it has claimed $60m in commitments this year from iAd’s advertisers. It is also poised to take advantage of the continued growth in mobile advertising, despite increasing competition from Google’s AdMob and Millennial Media, which eMarketer predicts will rise by 43% this year in the US alone – to $593m.iAd is due to debut in the UK this autumn.AppleAdvertisingMobile phonesDigital mediaJemima Kissguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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A round-up of deals available from mobile retailers online and on the high street

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BlackBerry maker RIM confident it can met Indian demands over security before 31 August deadlineBlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion is “optimistic” the company can resolve security demands from the Indian government regarding its popular smartphone.According to Reuters, RIM vice president Robert Crow said the Canadian firm’s negotiations with Indian officials are “a step in a long journey”.India yesterday issued a deadline of less than three weeks for RIM to resolve concerns over the security of its BlackBerry device, warning that the phone’s email and messenging service would be shut down by 31 August if no settlement is reached.”Our message to RIM and service providers is that if they don’t come up with a technical solution by 31 August, then the home ministry will take a view and will shut down BlackBerry Messenger and business enterprises services,” a spokesman for the ministry said.Indian officials have been meeting to discuss the future of telecommunications companies in the country, starting with the BlackBerry manufacturer. Similar concerns appear set to be addressed with search giant Google and internet telephony firm Skype at a later date.A senior Indian security official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters: “Wherever there is a concern on grounds of national security the government will want access and every country has a right to lawful interference.”We have concerns regarding [Google and Skype] services on grounds of national security and all those services which cannot be put to lawful interference.”In a public statement addressed to its approximately 800,000 BlackBerry customers in the country, RIM said that the company “genuinely tries to be as cooperative as possible with governments in the spirit of supporting legal and national security requirements, while also preserving the lawful needs of citizens and corporations”.RIM said that any negotiations over access to data would be “limited by four main principles”: that it was legal, that there would be “no greater access” to BlackBerry services than other services, that there would be no changes in the security for Enterprise customers, and it would not make “special deals for specific countries”.Nick Jones, a senior analyst at Gartner, said there is uncertainty over whether India is objecting to the use of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers in the country, which afford companies and organisations a higher level of security than for individual customers.Jones said it would be “exceedingly bad” for the Canadian manufacturer’s reputation if it was to change its security architecture to support requests from a government seeking to monitor customer information.Further, BlackBerry messaging is not subject to the same encryption process as email on the device, and so “may be less secure and more open to lawful interception”.”I believe that governments are being very naive about this,” Jones said. “If RIM is perceived as insecure, criminals and terrorists will just switch to more secure communication tools the government can’t intercept. There is a wide choice.”Being able to read RIM traffic is likely only to catch technically unsophisticated criminals who are probably not the big risk in any case.”BlackBerryMobile phonesIndiaTechnology sectorData protectionJosh Hallidayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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Tesco undercuts competitors with £6 deal for unlimited texts and 100 minutesTesco has launched what it believes is the UK’s cheapest sim-only mobile phone tariff, providing unlimited texts and 100 minutes for £6 a month.The deal, which is available online and over the phone, is based on a one month sim-only contract, so customers can switch easily to other providers should they choose. Customers will also earn Tesco Clubcard points with their monthly bill.Lance Batchelor from Tesco Mobile and Tesco Telecoms said: “This deal is ideal for a younger market or any text addict out there who doesn’t want to have to fork out a large amount each month but still wants to use their mobile to their hearts content.”We’ve seen a big increase in sim-only mobile tariffs as savvy spenders hang on to their handsets and shop around for the best tariffs available.”Recent research conducted by Tesco Mobile showed that 16- to 24-year-olds – who are the most prolific texters – are the highest spending age group for mobile contracts, with just under a third (31.6%) spending more than £30 a month on their mobile bills.Ernest Doku, communications expert with comparison website uSwitch, said: “I’m very impressed that Tesco’s pay monthly offering is so competitive. Their deals including handsets and longer contracts are not particularly attractive, but this undercuts their competitiors offering similar sim-only deals – it is great value for money.”Tesco already offers a £10 Pay monthly sim deal, which provides 400 minutes or 800 texts to your five favourite numbers.Internet, phones & broadbandConsumer affairsMobile phonesTescoJill Insleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Terms & Conditions

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(Source The Guardian)

Tags: 10, 3, best, card, cheapest, comparison, consumer, contract, deal, Deals, launches, line, mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, new, phone, phones, sim, tariff, tariffs, test, uk